all through the summer of 1851—a year to be marked for all time in the minds of historians, not in red, but in black letters—the war of politics tossed france hither and thither.
there were, at this time, five parties contending for mastery. should one of these appear for the moment to be about to make itself secure in power, the other four would at once unite to tear the common adversary from his unstable position. of these parties, only two were of real cohesion: the legitimists and the bonapartists. the socialists, the moderate republicans, and the orleanists were too closely allied in the past to be friendly in the present. socialists are noisy, but rarely clever. a man who in france describes himself as moderate must not expect to be popular for any length of time. the orleanists were only just out of office. it was scarcely a year since louis philippe had died in exile at claremont—only three years since he signed his abdication and hurried across to newhaven. it was not the turn of the orleanists.
there is no quarrel so deadly as a family quarrel; no fall so sudden as that of a house divided against itself. all through the spring and summer of 1851 france exhibited herself in the eyes of the world a laughing-stock to her enemies, a thing of pity to those who loved that great country.
the republic of 1848 was already a house divided against itself.
its president, louis bonaparte, had been elected for four years. he was, as the law then stood, not eligible again until after the lapse of another four years. his party tried to abrogate this law, and failed. “no matter,” they said, “we shall elect him again, and president he shall be, despite the law.”
this was only one of a hundred such clouds, no bigger than a man's hand, arising at this time on the political horizon. for france was beginning to wander down that primrose path where a law is only a law so long as it is convenient.
there was one man, louis bonaparte, who kept his head when others lost that invaluable adjunct; who pushed on doggedly to a set purpose; whose task was hard even in france, and would have been impossible in any other country. for it is only in france that ridicule does not kill. and twice within the last fifteen years—once at strasbourg, once at boulogne—he had made the world hold its sides at the mention of his name, greeting with the laughter which is imbittered by scorn, a failure damned by ridicule.
it has been said that louis bonaparte never gave serious thought to the legitimist party. he had inherited, it would seem, that invaluable knowledge of men by which his uncle had risen to the greatest throne of modern times. he knew that a party is never for a moment equal to a man. and the legitimists had no man. they had only the comte de chambord.
at frohsdorff they still clung to their hopes, with that old-world belief in the ultimate revival of a dead regime which was eminently characteristic. and at frohsdorff there died, in the october of this year, the duchess of angouleme, marie therese charlotte, daughter of marie antoinette, who had despised her two uncles, louis xviii. and charles x., for the concessions they had made—who was more royalist than the king. she was the last of her generation, the last of her family, and with her died a part of the greatness of france, almost all the dignity of royalty, and the last master-mind of the bourbon race.
if, as albert de chantonnay stated, the failure of turner's bank was nothing but a ruse to gain time, it had the desired effect. for a space, nothing could be undertaken, and the marquis de gemosac and his friends were hindered from continuing the work they had so successfully begun.
all through the summer loo barebone remained in france, at gemosac as much as anywhere. the marquis de gemosac himself went to frohsdorff.
“if she had been ten years younger,” he said, on his return, “i could have persuaded her to receive you. she has money. all the influence is hers. it is she who has had the last word in all our affairs since the death of the duc de berri. but she is old—she is broken. i think she is dying, my friend.”
it was the time of the vintage again. barebone remembered the last vintage, and his journey through those provinces that supply all the world with wine, with dormer colville for a companion. since then he had journeyed alone. he had made a hundred new friends, had been welcomed in a hundred historic houses. wherever he had passed, he had left enthusiasm behind him—and he knew it.
he had grown accustomed to his own power, and yet its renewed evidence was a surprise to him every day. there was something unreal in it. there is always something unreal in fame, and great men know in their own hearts that they are not great. it is only the world that thinks them so. when they are alone—in a room by themselves—they feel for a moment their own smallness. but the door opens, and in an instant they arise and play their part mechanically.
this had come to be barebone's daily task. it was so easy to make his way in this world, which threw its doors open to him, greeted him with outstretched hands, and only asked him to charm them by being himself. he had not even to make an effort to appear to be that which he was not. he had only to be himself, and they were satisfied.
part of his role was juliette de gemosac. he found it quite easy to make love to her; and she, it seemed, desired nothing better. nothing definite had been said by the marquis de gemosac. they were not formally affianced. they were not forbidden to see each other. but the irregularity of these proceedings lent a certain spice of surreptitiousness to their intercourse which was not without its charm. they did not see so much of each other after loo had spoken to the marquis de gemosac on this subject; for barebone had to make visits to other parts of france. once or twice juliette herself went to stay with relatives. during these absences they did not write to each other.
it was, in fact, impossible for barebone to keep up any correspondence whatever. he heard that dormer colville was still in paris, seeking to snatch something from the wreck of mrs. st. pierre lawrence's fortune. the marquis de gemosac had been told that affairs might yet be arranged. he was no financier, however, he admitted; he did not understand such matters, and all that he knew was that the promised help from the englishwoman was not forthcoming.
“it is,” he concluded, “a question of looking elsewhere. it is not only that we want money. it is that we must have it at once.”
it was not, strictly speaking, loo's part to think of or to administer the money. his was the part to be played by kings—so easy, if the gift is there, so impossible to acquire if it be lacking—to know many people and to charm them all. thus the summer ripened into autumn. it had been another great vintage in the south, and bordeaux was more than usually busy when barebone arrived there, at daybreak, one morning in november, having posted from toulouse. he was more daring in winter, and went fearlessly through the streets. in cold weather it is so much easier for a man to conceal his identity; for a woman to hide her beauty, if she wish to—which is a large if. barebone could wear a fur collar and turn it up round that tell-tale chin, which made the passer-by pause and turn to look at him again if it was visible.
he breakfasted at the old-fashioned inn in the heart of the town, where to this day the diligences deposit their passengers, and then he made his way to the quay, from whence he would take passage down the river. it was a cold morning, and there are few colder cities, south of paris, than bordeaux. barebone hurried, his breath frozen on the fur of his collar. suddenly he stopped. his new self—that phantom second-nature bred of custom—vanished in the twinkling of an eye, and left him plain loo barebone, of farlingford, staring across the green water toward “the last hope,” deep-laden, anchored in mid-stream.
seeing him stop, a boatman ran toward him from a neighbouring flight of steps.
“an english ship, monsieur,” he said; “just come in. her anchors are hardly home. does monsieur wish to go on board?”
“of course i do, comrade—as quick as you like,” he answered, with a gay laugh. it was odd that the sight of this structure, made of human hands, should change him in a flash of thought, should make his heart leap in his breast.
in a few minutes he was seated in the wherry, half way out across the stream. already a face was looking over the bulwarks. the hands were on the forecastle, still busy clearing decks after the confusion of letting go anchor and hauling in the jib-boom.
barebone could see them leave off work and turn to look at him. one or two raised a hand in salutation and then turned again to their task. already the mate—a farlingford man, who had succeeded loo—was standing on the rail fingering a coil of rope.
“old man is down below,” he said, giving barebone a hand. from the forecastle came sundry grunts, and half a dozen heads were jerked sideways at him.
captain clubbe was in the cabin, where the remains of breakfast had been pushed to one end of the table to make room for pens and ink. the captain was laboriously filling in the countless documents required by the french custom-house. he looked up, pen in hand, and all the wrinkles, graven by years of hardship and trouble, were swept away like writing from a slate.
he laid aside his pen and held his hand out across the table.
“had your breakfast?” he asked, curtly, with a glance at the empty coffee-pot.
loo laughed as he sat down. it was all so familiar—the disorder of the cabin; the smell of lamp-oil; the low song of the wind through the rigging, that came humming in at the doorway, which was never closed, night or day, unless the seas were washing to and fro on the main deck. he knew everything so well; the very pen and the rarely used ink-pot; the captain's attitude, and the british care that he took not to speak with his lips that which was in his heart.
“well,” said captain clubbe, taking up his pen again, “how are you getting on?”
“with what?”
“with the business that brought you to this country,” answered clubbe, with a sudden gruffness; for he was, like the majority of big men, shy.
barebone looked at him across the table.
“do you know what the business is that brought me to this country?” he asked. and captain clubbe looked thoughtfully at the point of his pen.
“did the marquis de gemosac and dormer colville tell you everything, or only a little?”
“i don't suppose they told me everything,” was the reply. “why should they? i am only a seafaring man.”
“but they told you enough,” persisted barebone, “for you to draw your own conclusions as to my business over here.”
“yes,” answered clubbe, with a glance across the table. “is it going badly?”
“no. on the contrary, it is going splendidly,” answered barebone, gaily; and captain clubbe ducked his head down again over the papers of the french custom-house. “it is going splendidly, but—”
he paused. half an hour ago he had no thought in his mind of captain clubbe or of farlingford. he had come on board merely to greet his old friends, to hear some news of home, to take up for a moment that old self of bygone days and drop it again. and now, in half a dozen questions and answers, whither was he drifting? captain clubbe filled in a word, slowly and very legibly.
“but i am not the man, you know,” said barebone, slowly. it was as if the sight of that just man had bidden him cry out the truth. “i am not the man they think me. my father was not the son of louis xvi., i know that now. i did not know it at first, but i know it now. and i have been going on with the thing, all the same.”
clubbe sat back in his chair. he was large and ponderous in body. and the habit of the body at length becomes the nature of the mind.
“who has been telling you that?” he asked.
“dormer colville. he told me one thing first and then the other. only he and you and i know of it.”
“then he must have told one lie,” said clubbe, reflectively. “one that we know of. and what he says is of no value either way; for he doesn't know. no one knows. your father was a friend of mine, man and boy, and he didn't know. he was not the same as other men; i know that—but nothing more.”
“then, if you were me, you would give yourself the benefit of the doubt?” asked barebone, with a rather reckless laugh. “for the sake of others—for the sake of france?”
“not i,” replied clubbe, bluntly.
“but it is practically impossible to go back now,” explained loo. “it would be the ruin of all my friends, the downfall of france. in my position, what would you do?”
“i don't understand your position,” replied clubbe. “i don't understand politics; i am only a seafaring man. but there is only one thing to do—the square thing.”
“but,” protested dormer colville's pupil, “i cannot throw over my friends. i cannot abandon france now.”
“the square thing,” repeated the sailor, stubbornly. “the square thing; and damn your friends—damn france!”
he rose as he spoke, for they had both heard the customs officers come on board; and these functionaries were now bowing at the cabin-door.
