Robert Tournay Part 34

he went on sternly.

"It is unnecessary. We met last at Falzenberg," said Tournay, eyeing him with disdain.

"Where you were on terms of intimacy with Prussian officers," said de Lacheville. "I will not dwell upon the fact of your having a.s.sisted an aristocrat to escape from prison; but I will testify to your having come in disguise to the enemies of France and entered into a secret understanding with them. I was serving those same enemies at the time, I will admit," and the marquis shrugged his shoulders, "but as the Citizen Robespierre has said, I have repented of it, and have come here to make atonement by faithful devotion to the nation. One of the greatest of my pleasures is to help unmask a hypocrite."

Tournay addressed Robespierre.

"Do you believe this man's story?"

"You have already admitted having gone over the frontier," was the suave rejoinder.

"I did go, yes."

"Will you deny having been closeted alone with General von Waldenmeer?"

"No, but"--

"Do you suppose any tribunal in the land would hold you guiltless upon such testimony and such admissions?"

"Permit me to ask you two questions," said Tournay.

Robespierre acquiesced.

"Admitting that this--_citizen's_ accusation is true, why did I return to Wissembourg and do my best to defeat the enemy with whom I am accused by him of being on friendly terms?"

"There are hundreds of similar precedents--Dumouriez's, for example."

"Admitting, then, that I have already been false to one trust, how is it that you are prepared to trust me now to play the spy for your committee?" continued Tournay, with contempt ringing in his voice.

Again the peculiar smile flitted across Robespierre's pale features.

"All men are to be trusted as far as their self-interest leads them," he answered. "None are to be trusted implicitly. You will be watched closely and will doubtless prove faithful. It will be to your decided advantage to attend to the committee's business efficiently. Your little interview with the Prussian general, from which nothing has resulted, may be forgotten for the time."

Tournay's anger during the interview had several times risen to white heat. Not even his sense of danger enabled him longer to repress it.

"I have already told you that I would have nothing to do with the commission of your committee!" he cried hotly. "And as for this man's accusations, let him make them in court and I will answer him. Let him repeat them in the streets and I will thrust the lies back into his throat and choke him with them." As he spoke he advanced toward de Lacheville who paled and retreated a step or two. "If any man accuses me of disloyalty to the Republic," continued Tournay, turning and addressing Robespierre, "unless he takes revenge behind the bar of a tribunal he shall answer to me personally. I will defend my honor with my own hand."

Robespierre turned pale and took a step or two in the direction of the bell-rope.

"You may have an opportunity to answer the charges before the tribunal,"

he said coldly.

"Why did you not bring them in to-day's inquiry?" demanded Tournay.

"I do not announce my reasons nor divulge my plans," was the reply. "It is enough to know that I had need of you. Neither am I in the habit of having my will opposed. You would do best to yield before it is too late."

"Robespierre," cried Tournay, the blood mounting to his forehead, "you have played the tyrant too long! You are not 'in the habit of having your will opposed?' I have not learned to bend and truckle to your will, doing your bidding like a dog; and, by Heaven! I will not now. Bring your charges against me before your tribunal, packed as it is with your creatures, and I will answer them, but my answer shall be addressed to the Nation. My appeal will be to the People. I will denounce you for what you are, a tyrant. And a coward--too"--he continued, as Robespierre, with ashen lips, rang the bell violently. "You shall be known for what you are, and when you are once known the people will cease to fear you."

He strode toward the committee's president, who, with trembling knees, stood tugging at the bell-rope. De Lacheville had long since fled from the room; and Robespierre, pulling his courage together with an effort, lifted his hand and pointed a trembling finger at Tournay.

"Stop where you are!" he shrieked. "Come a step nearer me at your peril!"

"I am not going to do you any injury," was Tournay's reply in a tone of contempt; "I despise you too much to do you personal violence; I leave you to your fears, citizen president."

There was a sound of heavy footsteps in the corridor, and Tournay moved toward the door to be confronted by a file of soldiers.

"Henriot, you drunken snail," cried Robespierre, "why did you not answer my summons? Arrest this man."

Tournay turned a look upon Robespierre which made the latter quail notwithstanding the guard that surrounded him.

"You had this all arranged," said the colonel quietly.

"I was prepared," replied Robespierre grimly.

Tournay turned away with contempt. "Dictator, your time will be short,"

he murmured.

"Come, citizen colonel," said the Commandant Henriot, "I must trouble you for your sword."

"Where are you going to take me?" asked Tournay as he delivered up his weapon.

Henriot glanced at his chief as if for instructions.

"To the Luxembourg," was the order. Then, without looking at Tournay, Robespierre left the room.

"May I send word to a friend at my lodgings?" Tournay asked of Henriot.

"No," was the short rejoinder, "you must come with me on the instant."

In the corridor stood de Lacheville. He smiled triumphantly as he saw Tournay pa.s.s out between the file of soldiers.

"De Lacheville," said Tournay scornfully, "you have played the part of a fool as well as a coward. A few days and you also will be in prison."

His guards hurried him on, and he could not hear de Lacheville's answer.

At the doorway that led into the street stood La Liberte.

"Out of the way, citizeness!" growled Henriot.

"Out of the way yourself, Citizen Henriot," was the woman's reply, and she pushed through the soldiers until she stood at Tournay's elbow.

"Come, citizeness, none of that; you cannot speak to the prisoner,"

growled Henriot a second time.

"I was afraid of this," she whispered in Tournay's ear.

"Will you take a message for me?" he asked in a quick whisper.

"Yes."