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212 «!>« &>&***? £Saturday,
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The Apprenticeship Of Life. By G. H. Lew...
An uncomfortable silence followed . She felt that she had gone too far , and yet could not retract her words without aggravating the insult . Armand accepted the sarcasm as the spirit of a spoiled child—the expression of a prejudice he perfectly well understood , and could therefore overlook . But it made them even more distant to each other than before . Some weeks after that the conversation happened to fall upon the assassination of the Due de Berri . Adrienne felt some ebullition of sarcasm against republicans rising to her lips , and was about to exclaim with a triumphant sneer , " This is the revolutionary mode of accomplishing equality ! " when she remembered that Armand was present ; and , still somewhat remorseful for her former impertinence , she restrained herself from adding to it . On
his part Armand thought ' * Mademoiselle Laboissiere will throw this crime upon the republicans , " and was awaiting her sarcasms . Presently he rose , and walked to the sofa on which she sat . Smiling gently as he took his station opposite to her , he said : " I fear , Mademoiselle , that this tragedy heightens your impressions regarding my party . You are thinking—if I may be so bold as to interpret your thoughts—that Louvel was a Republican . " She coloured as he spoke , which showed him that he had read her thoughts aright , and answered :
" Nay , it would be as unjust to condemn a party on the acts of a madman who may belong to it as to accuse Christianity of the crimes committed by men professing to be Christians . But your allusion to an impertinence of mine makes me painfully conscious that I have not yet repaired it ... " " Oh , Mademoiselle ! " " It was a very foolish speech to make , had no Republican been present , " she continued ; * ' a gratuitous insult in your presence . May I unsay the words ? Will you forgive me ? " She held out her hand as she spoke , with a gesture of inimitable grace and frankness which would have disarmed his anger had he been angry : he took
it with equal frankness , and replied : " You lay more stress upon an idle phrase than it will bear . " " But , if idle phrases give pain .. . " " Yours gave me none ; on the contrary , I have often thought with you how glorious the republic is in our ideal , and how sadly deficient humanity is in men to fitly realize that ideal . Is it not the same with Christianity—that larger , grander ideal of all man ' s aspirations—is it not something infinitely purer and higher than what Christian men realize ? This has made me
tolerant of Republican shortcomings . This has made me see that , if the men are not always men after my own heart , the greater is the need of that doctrine which is to elevate them . Republicanism is the rei ^ n of Justice in place of Privilege . When men have lived that life , as well as thought itwhen they have acted on the principles of fraternity , as well as written and sp oken on them , then we may hope to see Republicans not unworthy of a Republic . " " When ! " said Adrienne smiling , and shaking her head .
" You think it a dream , I know . " " I do , indeed . " " Yet dreams have led the world ! If we do not dream we snore ! If hopes of something higher lead us not to raise our looks to heaven , the baser necessities of our nature will roll us in the mud . Why do we walk erect if it is not to contemplate the stars ? Dream—yes , I dream of many things ! I dream that the divine doctrine of Christ will one day become a living reality , and not a compromise , that men will act upon it , live in it , strengthened by it , moved by it , filled by it , and not , as now , simply believe in it . " " Do you mean that we do not act as . we believe ? "
" I do . How can I otherwise , when I see tradesmen selling by false weights , manufacturers practising every trick , gentlemen boasting of their vices , and statesmen defending iniquities on the plea of expediency ? I mean that any man acting up to the Christian doctrine in this society of ours would be regarded as a monster or a madman . The idea of fraternity excites contemptuous laughter , and as to realizing justice to all men , there is no doctrine pronounced more anarchical " " And is not that owing to ' 93 ? When the Republic inaugurated the reign of justice did iV not sicken mankind with its odious ^/ justice ? "
" Ah ! that unhappy ! 93 , what a clog it is upon the wheels of progress how its crimes , its follies , its ignorance , and its madness have bewildered the reason of men ! Yes , ' 03 was the reign of injustice and of tyranny . I will tell you why . It wanted the two great elements of social organization-Peace and Faith . It was an outburst of the oppressed against the oppressors —or , let me say , of the unprivileged against the privileged . It was an act of violence , and was met by violence . To conquer for itself a place in the world the Republic had to march through the blood of its opponents . Here was one great obstacle to its success : it was a War and not a social Arrangement . Observe , I do not here excuse the crimes which disgraced that age , I merely show how it was that those crimes became permitted by the nationthey were all committed in the name of public safety ! "
• ' Anil yet in spite of victorious armies it fell to pieces ! It conquered Europe , but it decayed from within , and how willingly it succumbed to the strong hand of Napoleon ! "
" It fell to pieces heiiuse it had no hiith to make it cohere . The Republic was irreligious ; without a religion how can society exist ? What was to be expected of a nation which could suiler that horrible farce of Robespierre lU'crceiuy the existence of the Supreme Being ?"
" I am astonished and delighted , M . de Fayol , to hear such opinions from you . I thought you were a thorough-going Republican . " " So I am . " " Yet you ' renounce ' 93 ! you laugh at Robespierre ! I thought—now will you forgive me this bit of impertinence ?—I thought you aspired to be the Robespierre of this age . " " Heaven defend me ! All I admire in the revolution is the Declaration of Rights of Man , and the energy with which men then believed . It was a time when they were willing to die for their opinions ... " " And now ?" " Now they ostentatiously proclaim their readiness to die , but no one can make them ready to act /" " You will become a Bonapartist yet ! " she added laughing . He shook his head and smiled mournfully . Their peace was made . From that moment they became friends . In a short while they became lovers . Not that either of them felt distinctly aware of the state of their affections . As a married man she had never thought of him as a lover ; and if an uncomfortable suspicion would ever and anon arise in her mind she forced it back again precipitately , and refused to listen to such suggestions . This continued some months ; but every day Armand ' s uneasiness grew stronger , and the consciousness that he had outlived his love for Hortense became clearer . Before he met Adrienne he had merely been uneasy at home ; he felt a void in his life ; he felt that study , society , politics , work , all were insufficient to restore that buoyant elasticity of spirit which in former days had made existence so delightful ; but since he had known Adrienne a deeper gloom overshadowed his soul , and he was tormented with the consciousness of having linked his fate with that of a woman who could not now fill his heart . Such was the state of affairs on the opening of this chapter . The General stood leaning against the mantelpiece talking to Captain Cassone . Colonel Delamare was paying his clumsy addresses to Adrienne . Armand sat silent and thoughtful , as he usually was when not talking with Adrienne , or discussing some political subject . One of the guests suddenly exclaimed : " By the way ! I have a bit of news . A murder was committed last night at St . Denis on the body of Marchand , a Police Spy . He was found this morning pierced right through the heart . " " Indeed , " said Colonel Delamare carelessly . " A police agent , " added the General . " Ah ! few will regret him . " Captain Cassone fingered an ornament on the mantelpiece . Impossible to have guessed that these three men were in any degree implicated in the police agent ' s death . " One of his victims or his dupes , I suppose , " said the first speaker , " ha 3 taken this vengeance . Or else some one has anticipated his betrayal . " " It is one of the ugliest points in conspiracies , " said Armand , " that assassination always forms one of their means of action . For my part I repudiate every scheme that needs such aid . The baptism of blood is a curse . " " Yet , " interposed the General , " you must admit there are occasions when blood becomes inevitable . " " I admit no such occasion , short of an open appeal to arms . I understand barricades , I do not understand murder . " " Suppose your cause to be imperilled by one man , would you hesitate to remove him ?" " I should . " " Suppose you belonged to a conspiracy in which hundreds like you risked their heads , and then suppose a police agent had discovered your plot , knew the principal' conspirators , and was in a fair way to bring them all to the block , would you sacrifice them to any scruples respecting him ?" "No ; I should conceive myself justified in keeping him prisoner until every trace of the conspiracy had been destroyed and every man put on his guard—I should , in fact , take care of their safety—but nothing could make me consent to murder him , even to ensure the success of my cause . " " This man will never join us , " said Captain Cassone to the General in an under tone . ; " he shrinks from bloodshed like a woman . " " He ' s a dreamer ! " replied the General . A dreamer they all thought him—even Adrienne—because he wished to keep his conscience unsullied amidst the conflict of politics ; a dreamer they thought him because he never left out of sight the moral aspects of all political questions ! When the guests departed , Armand as usual stayed behind , to have a little private chat with Adrienne and the General . " Were you serious , M . de J- ' ayol , in what you said about the necessity of never under any circumstances shedding blood ? " " Perfectly serious . " The General was thoughtful for some minutes ; at last he said : — " What will you say of me when I tell you that I was a party to Marchand ' s fate ?' i ( You ?—impossible ! " * ' You appe ir thunderstruck . It is true . ' I wish to show you how sometimes cruel necessities will occur which force your hand to violence . " Armand was agitated and curious . The General told him the whole story of the Agent and his duel with Colonel Delamare , and wound up with asking him whether his views were now changed ? " It was a duel , " said Arraand , " and , although a forced duel , still it was
212 «!>« &>&***? £Saturday,
212 «!>« &>&***? £ Saturday ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 25, 1850, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25051850/page/20/
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