第 63 页

At this moment Rosemonde, while glancing round her, recognised Guillaume

and Pierre, but she was so amazed to see the latter in ordinary civilian

garb that she did not dare to speak to him. Leaning forward she

acquainted Duthil and Massot with her surprise, and they both turned

round to look. From motives of discretion, however, they pretended that

they did not recognise the Froments.

The heat in court was now becoming quite unbearable, and one lady had

already fainted. At last the presiding judge again raised his lisping

voice, and managed to restore silence. Salvat, who had remained standing,

now held a few sheets of paper, and with some difficulty he made the

judge understand that he desired to complete his interrogatory by reading

a declaration, which he had drawn up in prison, and in which he explained

his reasons for his crime. For a moment M. de Larombiere hesitated, all

surprise and indignation at such a request; but he was aware that he

could not legally impose silence on the prisoner, and so he signified his

consent with a gesture of mingled irritation and disdain. Thereupon

Salvat began his perusal much after the fashion of a schoolboy, hemming

and hawing here and there, occasionally becoming confused, and then

bringing out certain words with wonderful emphasis, which evidently

pleased him. This declaration of his was the usual cry of suffering and

revolt already raised by so many disinherited ones. It referred to all

the frightful want of the lower spheres; the toiler unable to find a

livelihood in his toil; a whole class, the most numerous and worthy of

the classes, dying of starvation; whilst, on the other hand, were the

privileged ones, gorged with wealth, and wallowing in satiety, yet

refusing to part with even the crumbs from their tables, determined as

they were to restore nothing whatever of the wealth which they had

stolen. And so it became necessary to take everything away from them, to

rouse them from their egotism by terrible warnings, and to proclaim to

them even with the crash of bombs that the day of justice had come. The

unhappy man spoke that word "justice" in a ringing voice which seemed to

fill the whole court. But the emotion of those who heard him reached its

highest pitch when, after declaring that he laid down his life for the

cause, and expected nothing but a verdict of death from the jury, he

added, as if prophetically, that his blood would assuredly give birth to

other martyrs. They might send him to the scaffold, said he, but he knew

that his example would bear fruit. After him would come another avenger,

and yet another, and others still, until the old and rotten social system

should have crumbled away so as to make room for the society of justice

and happiness of which he was one of the apostles.

The presiding judge, in his impatience and agitation, twice endeavoured

to interrupt Salvat. But the other read on and on with the imperturbable

conscientiousness of one who fears that he may not give proper utterance

to his most important words. He must have been thinking of that perusal

ever since he had been in prison. It was the decisive act of his suicide,

the act by which he proclaimed that he gave his life for the glory of

dying in the cause of mankind. And when he had finished he sat down

between the gendarmes with glowing eyes and flushed cheeks, as if he

inwardly experienced some deep joy.

To destroy the effect which the declaration had produced--a commingling

of fear and compassion--the judge at once wished to proceed with the

hearing of the witnesses. Of these there was an interminable procession;

though little interest attached to their evidence, for none of them had

any revelations to make. Most attention perhaps was paid to the measured

statements of Grandidier, who had been obliged to dismiss Salvat from his

employ on account of the Anarchist propaganda he had carried on. Then the

prisoner's brother-in-law, Toussaint, the mechanician, also seemed a very

worthy fellow if one might judge him by the manner in which he strove to

put things favourably for Salvat, without in any way departing from the

truth. After Toussaint's evidence considerable time was taken up by the

discussions between the experts, who disagreed in public as much as they

had disagreed in their reports. Although they were all of opinion that

dynamite could not have been the explosive employed in the bomb, they

indulged in the most extraordinary and contradictory suppositions as to

this explosive's real nature. Eventually a written opinion given by the

illustrious _savant_ Bertheroy was read; and this, after clearly setting

forth the known facts, concluded that one found oneself in presence of a

new explosive of prodigious power, the formula of which he himself was

unable to specify.

Then detective Mondesir and commissary Dupot came in turn to relate the

various phases of the man hunt in the Bois de Boulogne. In Mondesir

centred all the gaiety of the proceedings, thanks to the guardroom

sallies with which he enlivened his narrative. And in like way the

greatest grief, a perfect shudder of revolt and compassion, was roused by

the errand girl's grandmother, a poor, bent, withered old woman, whom the

prosecution had cruelly constrained to attend the court, and who wept and

looked quite dismayed, unable as she was to understand what was wanted of

her. When she had withdrawn, the only remaining witnesses were those for

the defence, a procession of foremen and comrades, who all declared that

they had known Salvat as a very worthy fellow, an intelligent and zealous

workman, who did not drink, but was extremely fond of his daughter, and

incapable of an act of dishonesty or cruelty.

It was already four o'clock when the evidence of the witnesses came to an

end. The atmosphere in court was now quite stifling, feverish fatigue

flushed every face, and a kind of ruddy dust obscured the waning light

which fell from the windows. Women were fanning themselves and men were

mopping their foreheads. However, the passion roused by the scene still

brought a glow of cruel delight to every eye. And no one stirred.

"Ah!" sighed Rosemonde all at once, "to think that I hoped to drink a cup

of tea at a friend's at five o'clock. I shall die of thirst and

starvation here."

"We shall certainly be kept till seven," replied Massot. "I can't offer

to go and fetch you a roll, for I shouldn't be readmitted."

Then Duthil, who had not ceased shrugging his shoulders while Salvat read

his declaration, exclaimed: "What childish things he said, didn't he? And

to think that the fool is going to die for all that! Rich and poor,

indeed! Why, there will always be rich and poor. And it's equally certain

that when a man is poor his one great desire is to become rich. If that

fellow is in the dock to-day it's simply because he failed to make

money."

While the others were thus conversing, Pierre for his part was feeling

extremely anxious about his brother, who sat beside him in silence, pale

and utterly upset. Pierre sought his hand and covertly pressed it. Then

in a low voice he inquired: "Do you feel ill? Shall we go away?"

Guillaume answered him by discreetly and affectionately returning his

handshake. He was all right, he would remain till the end, however much

he might be stirred by exasperation.

It was now Monsieur Lehmann, the public prosecutor, who rose to address

the court. He had a large, stern mouth, and was squarely built, with a

stubborn Jewish face. Nevertheless he was known to be a man of dexterous,

supple nature, one who had a foot in every political camp, and invariably

contrived to be on good terms with the powers that were. This explained

his rapid rise in life, and the constant favour he enjoyed. In the very

first words he spoke he alluded to the new ministry gazetted that

morning, referring pointedly to the strong-handed man who had undertaken

the task of reassuring peaceable citizens and making evil-doers tremble.

Then he fell upon the wretched Salvat with extraordinary vehemence,

recounting the whole of his life, and exhibiting him as a bandit

expressly born for the perpetration of crime, a monster who was bound to

end by committing some abominable and cowardly outrage. Next he

flagellated Anarchism and its partisans. The Anarchists were a mere herd

of vagabonds and thieves, said he. That had been shown by the recent

robbery at the Princess de Harn's house. The ignoble gang that had been

arrested for that affair had given the apostles of the Anarchist doctrine

as their references! And that was what the application of Anarchist

theories resulted in--burglary and filth, pending a favourable hour for

wholesale pillage and murder! For nearly a couple of hours the public

prosecutor continued in this fashion, throwing truth and logic to the

winds, and exclusively striving to alarm his hearers. He made all

possible use of the terror which had reigned in Paris, and figuratively

brandished the corpse of the poor little victim, the pretty errand girl,

as if it were a blood-red flag, before pointing to the pale hand,

preserved in spirits of wine, with a gesture of compassionate horror

which sent a shudder through his audience. And he ended, as he had begun,

by inspiriting the jurors, and telling them that they might fearlessly do

their duty now that those at the head of the State were firmly resolved

to give no heed to threats.

Then the young advocate entrusted with the defence in his turn spoke. And

he really said what there was to say with great clearness and precision.

He was of a different school from that of the public prosecutor: his

eloquence was very simple and smooth, his only passion seemed to be zeal

for truth. Moreover, it was sufficient for him to show Salvat's career in

its proper light, to depict him pursued by social fatalities since his

childhood, and to explain the final action of his career by all that he

had suffered and all that had sprung up in his dreamy brain. Was not his

crime the crime of one and all? Who was there that did not feel, if only

in a small degree, responsible for that bomb which a penniless, starving

workman had deposited on the threshold of a wealthy man's abode--a

wealthy man whose name bespoke the injustice of the social system: so

much enjoyment on the one hand and so much privation on the other! If one

of us happened to lose his head, and felt impelled to hasten the advent

of happiness by violence in such troublous times, when so many burning

problems claimed solution, ought he to be deprived of his life in the

name of justice, when none could swear that they had not in some measure

contributed to his madness? Following up this question, Salvat's counsel

dwelt at length on the period that witnessed the crime, a period of so

many scandals and collapses, when the old world was giving birth to a new

one amidst the most terrible struggles and pangs. And he concluded by

begging the jury to show themselves humane, to resist all passion and

terror, and to pacify the rival classes by a wise verdict, instead of

prolonging social warfare by giving the starvelings yet another martyr to

avenge.

It was past six o'clock when M. de Larombiere began to sum up in a

partial and flowery fashion, in which one detected how grieved and angry

he was at having such a shrill little voice. Then the judges and the

jurors withdrew, and the prisoner was led away, leaving the spectators

waiting amidst an uproar of feverish impatience. Some more ladies had

fainted, and it had even been necessary to carry out a gentleman who had

been overcome by the cruel heat. However, the others stubbornly remained

there, not one of them quitting his place.

"Ah! it won't take long now," said Massot. "The jurors brought their

verdict all ready in their pockets. I was looking at them while that

little advocate was telling them such sensible things. They all looked as

if they were comfortably asleep in the gloom."

Then Duthil turned to the Princess and asked her, "Are you still hungry?"

"Oh! I'm starving," she replied. "I shall never be able to wait till I

get home. You will have to take me to eat a biscuit somewhere.... All

the same, however, it's very exciting to see a man's life staked on a yes

or a no."

Meantime Pierre, finding Guillaume still more feverish and grieved, had

once again taken hold of his hand. Neither of them spoke, so great was

the distress that they experienced for many reasons which they themselves

could not have precisely defined. It seemed to them, however, that all

human misery--inclusive of their own, the affections, the hopes, the

griefs which brought them suffering--was sobbing and quivering in that

buzzing hall. Twilight had gradually fallen there, but as the end was now

so near it had doubtless been thought unnecessary to light the

chandeliers. And thus large vague shadows, dimming and shrouding the

serried throng, now hovered about in the last gleams of the day. The

ladies in light gowns yonder, behind the bench, looked like pale phantoms

with all-devouring eyes, whilst the numerous groups of black-robed

advocates formed large sombre patches which gradually spread everywhere.

The greyish painting of the Christ had already vanished, and on the walls

one only saw the glaring white bust of the Republic, which resembled some

frigid death's head starting forth from the darkness.

"Ah!" Massot once more exclaimed, "I knew that it wouldn't take long!"

Indeed, the jurors were returning after less than a quarter of an hour's

absence. Then the judges likewise came back and took their seats.

Increased emotion stirred the throng, a great gust seemed to sweep

through the court, a gust of anxiety, which made every head sway. Some

people had risen to their feet, and others gave vent to involuntary

exclamations. The foreman of the jury, a gentleman with a broad red face,

had to wait a moment before speaking. At last in a sharp but somewhat