Rafael Sabatini - The Baker of Rousillon

Scævola, however, as he passed in in the wake of his followers, found occasion to murmur through set teeth to Bonchatel, "For to-night you have tricked me, my friend, and you have gained a respite. To-morrow we will resume the matter of the assignat."

With a leer and a grim nod he passed on and took his place at table. And so, in the hour of his triumph, poor Bonchatel's victory was dashed again with fear. In trepidation he approached me to whisper what had passed.

It was half-past eight already. If by ten o'clock we could reduce that pack of sans-culottes--by my faith, the title applied to them almost literally--to a state of helpless intoxication, I had a notion that Bonchatel would be saved, not until the morrow only, but for all time.

"Trust to me, Bonchatel," said I, for I was sanguine of success, "and for your part see that they are well plied with wine--particularly our friend the president."

He looked at me inquiringly, but, taking my seat at table, I threw myself into the conversation, and saw to it that the president's glass was ever at the brim. And so things fell out as I had hoped. The overfeeding of stomachs that were more accustomed to a mild starvation produced a torpor that was greatly aided by the wine. At half-past nine, when I rose from the table, I was--with the exception of Bonchatel himself--the only sober man present. Two members of the committee lay prone upon the board, snoring a hideous duet. Of the others, seven had slid from their chairs in quest of more ample quarters on the floor, whilst the eighth was still tippling bravely, and singing an old royalist song, for which he might have been guillotined had his companions been in a condition to have understood him. As for Scævola himself, his head was propped against the seat of his chair, and with legs thrust under the table he slept, peaceful as a babe.

Enjoining Bonchatel on no account to disturb them till I should return, I repaired to the mairie. I roused the mayor and bade him hold himself in readiness to receive the Citizen-Deputy Robespierre, who might arrive at any moment.

It was ten minutes after ten when a berline rattled down the street, pulling up at the mairie and depositing the slight, elegant figure of the great man of the Revolution--the incorruptible Maximilien Robespierre.

"Captain Verignac?" he inquired; and when I had answered in the affirmative, he bade me follow him indoors.

His letter had intimated to me that one of his motives for keeping secret the imminence of his visit was his desire to take the Committee of Public Safety by surprise. He was on a tour of inquiry, and by coming thus, unannounced, he was the better able to judge of the efficacy of the committees he inspected. It was upon his arrival at Rousillon that night that I had built, in suggesting to Bonchatel the plan he had adopted.

"You are choicely arrived, citizen," said I, with meaning emphasis. He looked up, inquiry in his mild eyes. "If you are not fatigued, citizen, I would ask you to accompany me to a house close by. You will be able to see the Committee of Rousillon in a rather effective manner."

"Why, certainly I will go with you. I like taking these bodies unawares. Are they sitting?"

"I left most of them lying, citizen," said I. "But you shall judge."

He took up the cloak he had doffed, and came with me, firing questions as we went, which I avoided, lest I should rob him of some of the shock that awaited him. I knocked softly on Bonchatel's door, and the baker came, himself, to open.

"Are they here?" I inquired.

"Yes, and likely to be till morning," he answered, as he admitted us, and never dreaming who it was came with me.

By the door of the inner room I paused, and turning to Robespierre--"In there, citizen, you will find the Committee of Rousillon at the business of the Nation in the manner in which it understands this business. Behold these patriots!" And throwing wide the door, I stepped aside that he might enter.

Amidst a chaos of empty bottles, fallen platters, broken glasses, and swinish sleepers, stood the Incorruptible in silence for some moments, his long, curious nose up-tilted, sniffing the air of that orgie chamber. Then he waved a daintily laced wrist towards those sans-culottes.

"Is this--is this the Committee?"

"It is, citizen--and I have the honour to present to you its president."

"This is no occasion for flippancy," he said, in cold reproof.

"I am not flippant," I cried--"I am afire with indignation."

"Is this the wonted method of their meetings?" he inquired.

"It would be a curious coincidence that it should be an exceptional one on the very night of your arrival at Rousillon, would it not?"

My evasion convinced him.

"Whose house is this?" he asked.

"That of Citizen Bonchatel, a baker upon whom I am billeted--which is how I come to know of this affair."

He looked up in surprise. "But how come they here?"

"Ah! that is the most outrageous characteristic of the whole affair. They came hither on a trumped-up matter of an assignat to institute an inquiry. This is how they discharge that duty. They have drunk an ocean of poor Bonchatel's wine."

A gleam of indignation flashed from his eye. "So! A matter of pretext to plunder a peaceable citizen," said he, catching at my insinuation. "Nothing less than tyranny."

"What else?" quoth I.

"We will soon set matters right. It were a pity to rouse them now. Have the National Guard called, and let them wake in prison. The new president of the new committee can deal with them upon a charge of negligence to the sacred interests of the Republic, and abuse of the position they occupied under it. What manner of man is this Bonchatel?"

I gave him a list of my host's virtues which more than satisfied him.

"I will see to it that he is appointed to the vacant presidency. It is well to have men of the people who are yet trustworthy. It emphasizes the new laws of equality, and shows also how virtue and merit may win any man promotion. To-morrow we will elect a fresh committee also."

When I returned from accompanying Robespierre back to the mairie, where he was to spend the night, I found that the National Guard had already executed his orders, and that the late Comité de Salut Public was sleeping itself sober in gaol. Bonchatel I found surveying the room wherein they had supped with sorrowful eyes.

"By my faith, Captain," he exclaimed, "I had been better advised had I taken that assignat."

"What now?" I asked, surprised.

"It would have been no more than a matter of twenty francs, whilst they have drunk more than I can reckon with dry eyes."

"But, sacré nom!" quoth I, "you forget that you are saved from Scævola's toils and made President of the Committee of Rousillon in his place--practically you are the ruler of Rousillon."

"True," said he whimsically; "which means that I must now become a true patriot and a true republican, no matter what my feelings. Soit!" he sighed. "I think we might make a fair beginning by sending Scævola to the national barber."