THE COMPLETE WORKS OF ÉMILE ZOLA. Эмиль Золя
gazed on her with astonishment. She had never before been to the cottage at that hour, and something very serious must have happened for her to have risked such a visit, which was compromising for her.
“What is the matter?” he inquired.
“They are there,” answered Fine, heaving a great sigh, “I saw them on the road and began running across country to get here before them.”
“Who do you mean?”
She stared at him as if surprised at his inquiry.
“Ah! yes,” she answered, “you don’t know. I came to tell you they were going to arrest you this evening.”
“Arrest me this evening!” exclaimed the young man, drawing himself up in a passion.
“This afternoon,” continued the former flower-girl, “Marius ascertained, by providential chance, that M. de Cazalis had applied for two gendarmes to make an arrest near Saint-Barnabé.”
“Always, always that man!”
“Then, Marius who came home mad with grief, sent me off here to take the child and beg you to fly.”
Philippe made a step towards the door.
“Eh! no,” exclaimed the young woman, in despair, “it is too late now. I have not come in time. I tell you they are there.”
Sobbing, she seated herself on a chair near little Joseph, and watched him sleeping, feeling quite broken down. Philippe looked round the room in search of an issue.
“And no means of safety!” he murmured. “Ah! I prefer to risk all. Give me the child. Night is falling and I shall perhaps have time to escape.”
He stooped down to take Joseph, when Fine seized hold of his hands, making an energetic sign to him to listen. Then, in the terrible silence, they heard the sound of footsteps before the house, and almost at the same moment the stocks of muskets came in contact with the door, whilst a stern voice shouted:
“Open, in the name of the law!”
Philippe turned ghastly pale and slid down on the sofa beside his son.
“All is lost,” he murmured.
“Don’t open,” said Fine, in an undertone. “Marius impressed upon me, in case you were unable to fly, that you were to put as many impediments as possible to your arrest, so as to gain time.”
“Why did not he come himself?”
“I don’t know. He did not tell me what his plans were. He ran off on his side while I took a fly to get here.”
“He didn’t tell you if he would come and give us assistance?”
“No. I repeat he is mad with grief. I only heard him murmur: ‘I hope to heaven I may succeed.’”
At that moment, the stocks of the muskets were heard knocking more violently at the door and the terrifying cry resounded:
“Open, in the name of. the law!”
Fine placed her finger on her lips to tell Philippe to preserve absolute silence. Each blow, each word made them start and increased their alarm. Little Joseph continued sleeping between them, but in an uneasy and agitated slumber.
The gendarmes had already been knocking and shouting for five minutes, and in the end one of them said to M. de Cazalis that the cottage appeared empty, and they had no power to burst open the door.
“If we were sure your man was inside,” he added, “we would soon send the lock flying; but we cannot run the risk of such a thing, with the chance of not finding him there.”
“The man is certainly there,” exclaimed Mathéus, “I saw him enter.”
“I will answer for everything,” added M. de Cazalis, “I’d be responsible for what you do.”
The two gendarmes shook their heads, knowing perfectly well that they alone would be punished if they broke into a house. They only had orders to arrest the person pointed out to them and were not inclined to go beyond their instructions.
M. de Cazalis was in despair at their irresolution and at seeing them unwilling to proceed any further, when a voice was heard inside the dwelling.
“Do you hear?” he said. “You can see the house is not empty and that our man is within!”
It was little Joseph who had just opened his eyes. Frightened at finding himself in the dark and at the sound of loud voices, he had burst out crying. Fine, in alarm, had endeavoured in vain to quiet him with kisses, but unsuccessfully. The son betrayed the father.
The gendarmes knocked again and shouted out:
“If you don’t open, we’ll burst in the door!”
At the violent blows from the stocks of the muskets against the wood, Philippe understood that the door would not resist for very long. He got up and lit the lamp, no longer afraid of the light betraying him. Joseph terrified by the battering outside, which shook the whole house, screamed louder than ever, and Fine, who had risen and was nursing him in her arms, walked backwards and forwards in despair, powerless to calm him.
“Oh! let him cry,” Philippe said to her. “They know I am here now.”
And he went and kissed his child, murmuring in a broken voice:
“Poor little darling!”
As he looked at him his eyes were filled with great tears. When he had kissed him a last time, he quickly advanced towards the door.
Fine stopped him.
“What! Are you going to open to them?” she inquired in agony.
“Eh! yes,” he answered. “Don’t you hear? The wood’s giving way and the lock’s ready to fly off. Ayasse may return at any moment, and besides, now that flight is impossible, I won’t have the door damaged any further.”
“For pity’s sake, wait a little longer. Let us gain time.”
“Gain time. Why? Isn’t it all up?”
“No, I’ve faith in Marius. He impressed on me to put as many obstacles as possible in the way of your arrest, and I implore you to conform to his entreaty. It is a question of your own safety.”
Philippe shook his head.
“They will make me pay dearly for every minute’s resistance,” he said. “It’s better not to struggle uselessly.”
Fine saw that despair had transformed him into a coward, and she knew not what to say to instil energy into him. All at once she had an idea:
“But,” she exclaimed, “what will become of Joseph? As soon as you are arrested, these men will take him.”
The young man, who already had a hand almost on a bolt, turned round pale and trembling and returned to Fine’s side.
“Didn’t you tell me Cazalis was there with the gendarmes?” he inquired.
“Yes,” she answered.
He turned very pale again, and stammered out in a choking voice.
“Oh! I understand it all now. Wretched egotist that I am, I was only thinking of my own safety and my child was in greater danger than myself! You are right, they only come to arrest me here, in order to steal Joseph. What is there to be done? Good heavens!”
At that moment such a violent blow was given to the door, that the wood cracked, as if it were about to split in two, and Philippe gazed round about him bewildered.
“No issue!” he continued, “and in a few moments the door will be broken in. What can be done, good heavens! to escape them!”
The blows became more and more redoutable. One felt that the gendarmes were becoming furious at the long resistance. Philippe remained for a few seconds with his head between