The Greatest Historical Novels. Rafael Sabatini
sink home. They sat silent and a little abashed, looking furtively at one another.
He resumed with an increase of asperity. 'If I do not instantly proceed to discover who are the grumblers, and to look into their affairs, it is because my hands are full already. I am content at present to confine myself to the task entrusted to me by the Committee and to such matters as may arise directly out of it. But at the first sign of any obstacle placed in my way, of any hostile criticism of my actions which might have the result of creating difficulties for me, I shall pursue my critic without mercy or scruple. I will show you, citizens, if you give me reason to think it necessary, that the cause of Liberty is not to be denied or impeded. I will show you this, if I have to take off some of your heads to make it clear. There's nothing like blood to wash away mutiny. And mutinous heads are best bestowed in the executioner's basket. Bear that in mind, citizens, and do not give me cause to speak to you again, or it will be in a very different tone.'
He paused again. He saw in their hangdog looks that he had cowed them.
'If any of you has anything to say to me, let him take this opportunity. If any of you has any complaint to voice, let him do so fearlessly and frankly now.'
A lantern-jawed fellow named Prieur, a grocer in the village, who in these rhetorical days had developed certain gifts of rustic oratory, shambled to his feet. He rose to reassure the Citizen-Agent that here all were loyal servants of the Committee of Public Safety; that, far from placing any obstacles in his path or criticising the measures which in his wisdom he thought fit to take on the Committee's behalf, their anxiety was to afford him every facility for the full performance of his duty. He went on to assure the Citizen-Agent that no man present had any ground upon which to fear the closest investigation of his actions. Whatever he might have added further was never uttered, for there André-Louis rudely interrupted him.
'Do you make yourself the sponsor of your colleagues? How can you do that? Speak to your own affairs, my friend, if you want me to attach credit to your words.'
Abashed, Prieur could only repeat in faltering accents his opening assurances. When he sat down, another rose to say precisely the same thing, and after him a third, whom André-Louis refused to hear.
'Am I to listen to each of you in turn assuring me of your loyalty? I have not the time to waste. And what are words? Let rather your actions afford me evidence of your civic virtues.'
Upon that he wished them a good-day, and abruptly left them.
They gave him no more trouble. On the contrary, after that interview, each member of the Revolutionary Committee vied with his colleagues to display a helpful zeal.
Nevertheless, André-Louis made all haste to complete the evidence of the formidable case he was preparing. At the end of a week he was in a position to take the final step.
Again he ordered the Mayor to convene the Revolutionary Committee. He constituted it into a court of inquiry, and elected to preside over it himself. He commanded that Thuillier and Bontemps should be brought before it.
Before admitting either, however, he had a statement to make and a question to ask.
'You have been brought here to examine the apparently anti-civic conduct of two citizens of the district, one of whom, Thuillier, is your own President. The aim of your inquiry is to determine whether they are to be sent for trial, or whether, their conduct satisfactorily explained, they may be restored to liberty.
'The Citizen Thuillier ordered the arrest here, a month or so ago, of a man named Thorin, whom he charged with conspiracy. Thuillier himself signed the order for this man's arrest, and it was countersigned of necessity by one of you. The Citizen-Commandant Lucas does not at this date remember by whom the order was countersigned. I shall be glad if he who countersigned it will now disclose himself.'
There was a pause. André-Louis did not permit it to be unduly protracted.
'I can, of course, send to Paris for the order itself, and thus ascertain. But it will save time and trouble, and it may also avoid suspicion attaching to him, if the member in question will frankly declare himself.'
Prieur cleared his throat, and leaned forward in his place at that long table. 'I believe I countersigned that order.'
'You believe?'
'I countersigned so many that I hesitate to be more precise. But I am almost sure of the order for Thorin's arrest.'
'You are almost sure? Stand up, citizen. Come, now. You must be quite sure. Thuillier must have said something to impress it upon your memory. He must have urged some good reason for this step. That is what I desire to know.'
'Ah, yes, I remember now.' The Adam's-apple in Prieur's stringy throat rose and fell as he swallowed hard. His knuckly hand moved nervously on the green baize cloth that covered the table against which he leaned. 'I remember. Yes, of course. Thuillier told me that Thorin had been guilty of conspiring against the Republic.'
'Was that all he told you? Surely he must have satisfied you that this was true before you signed away a man's life? Come, citizen. You have nothing to fear if only you will be frank with the Committee. It will, I know, be clear that you have been victimized. Thuillier was your President. It was natural that you should repose confidence in his word. But there must have been something more than his word.'
'He told me that he acted upon orders from Paris.'
'Paris could know nothing of a conspiracy in Blérancourt save upon information from Blérancourt. You see that, Citizen Prieur?'
'Oh, yes. I see that. I see that now. Now that you mention it.'
'But you did not see it at the time?'
'I trusted the Citizen-President.'
'That is what I have been supposing.' André-Louis for once was amiable. 'But he must have said whose were the orders he had received from Paris?'
Prieur looked desperately round him. He found all eyes turned upon him, and all were grave. Some seemed to condemn him. He swallowed again, and at last decided to answer.
'He told me that the orders were from the Citizen-Representative Saint-Just.'
There was a lively stir, and some murmurings at the mention of that formidable name. Boissancourt, at the table's end, wrote down the answer.
'Did he tell you anything of the nature of the conspiracy?'
'Nothing, Citizen-Agent. I asked, naturally. He answered that it was none of my business.'
'It did not occur to you that it was very much your business? That if there was a conspiracy here, there must be other conspirators, and that the arrests could not be confined to this Thorin? This did not occur to you, Citizen Prieur?' André-Louis had resumed his Rhadamanthine manner. Prieur's uneasiness increased.
'It may have passed through my mind. But the Citizen-President was insistent, and ... and ...'
'He coerced you, you would say?'
Prieur nodded slowly. 'It comes to that, I suppose.'
André-Louis looked at him in silence. Then abruptly he shifted his ground.
'Let us pass on. The order was from the Citizen-Representative Saint-Just. Tell me, citizen, had you ever before heard the name of this man Thorin connected in any way with that of Saint-Just?'
'I had heard what everybody in Blérancourt has heard. Thorin made no secret of his trouble. He accused Saint-Just of having seduced his wife, of having taken her to Paris, where it is said that he keeps her now. Anyone in Blérancourt will tell you this.'
'Ah! It explains a note from Saint-Just found among the papers of Thuillier. Yes, I think it explains it completely. You have that, Boissancourt?'
He paused. He was smiling a little. 'It is practically established, citizens, that there has, indeed, been a conspiracy with which Thorin is connected. But he seems to be connected with it rather as the victim. You may sit down, Citizen Prieur. Citizen-Commandant, order Thuillier to be brought before us.'
Prieur