Not only that; but the village, light-headed with famine, fire,and bell-ringing, and bethinking itself that Monsieur Gabelle had todo with the collection of rent and taxes- though it was but a smallinstalment of taxes, and no rent at all, that Gabelle had got in thoselatter days- became impatient for an interview with him, and,surrounding his house, summoned him to come forth for personalconference. Whereupon, Monsieur Gabelle did heavily bar his door,and retire to hold counsel with himself. The result of that conferencewas, that Gabelle again withdrew himself to his housetop behind hisstack of chimneys; this time resolved, if his door were broken in, to pitchhimself head foremost over the parapet, and crush a man or two below  HKUE DSE.

Probably, Monsieur Gabelle passed a long night up there, with thedistant chateau for fire and candle, and the beating at his door,combined with the joy-ringing, for music; not to mention his having anill-omened lamp slung across the road before his posting-house gate,which the village showed a lively inclination to displace in hisfavour. A trying suspense, to be passing a whole summer night on thebrink of the black ocean, ready to take that plunge into it upon whichMonsieur Gabelle had resolved! But, the friendly dawn appearing atlast, and the rush- candles of the village guttering out, the peoplehappily dispersed, and Monsieur Gabelle came down bringing his lifewith him for that while.

Within a hundred miles, and in the light of other fires, therewere other functionaries less fortunate, that night and othernights, whom the rising sun found hanging across once-peacefulstreets, where they had been born and bred; also, there were othervillagers and townspeople less fortunate than the mender of roadsand his fellows, upon whom the functionaries and soldiery turnedwith success, and whom they strung up in their turn. But, the fiercefigures were steadily wending East, West, North, and South, be that asit would; and whosoever hung, fire burned. The altitude of the gallowsthat would turn to water and quench it, no functionary, by any stretchof mathematics, was able to calculate successfully  HKUE ENG.

IN SUCH RISINGS of fire and risings of sea- the firm earth shaken bythe rushes of an angry ocean which had now no ebb, but was always onthe flow, higher and higher, to the terror and wonder of the beholderson the shore- three years of tempest were consumed. Three morebirthdays of little Lucie had been woven by the golden thread into thepeaceful tissue of the life of her home.

Many a night and many a day had its inmates listened to the echoesin the corner, with hearts that failed them when they heard thethronging feet. For, the footsteps had become to their minds as thefootsteps of a people, tumultuous under a red flag and with theircountry declared in danger, changed into wild beasts, by terribleenchantment long persisted in.

Monseigneur, as a class, had dissociated himself from the phenomenonof his not being, appreciated: of his being so little wanted inFrance, as to incur considerable danger of receiving his dismissalfrom it, and this life together. Like the fabled rustic who raised theDevil with infinite pains, and was so terrified at the sight of himthat he could ask the Enemy no question, but immediately fled; so,Monseigneur, after boldly reading the Lord’s Prayer backwards for agreat number of years, and performing many other potent spells forcompelling the Evil One, no sooner beheld him in his terrors than hetook to his noble heels  HKUE ENG.

“I would not say happily, my friend,” returned the uncle, withrefined politeness; “I would not be sure of that. A good opportunityfor consideration, surrounded by the advantages of solitude, mightinfluence your destiny to far greater advantage than you influenceit for yourself. But it is useless to discuss the question. I am, asyou say, at a disadvantage. These little instruments of correction,these gentle aids to the power and honour of families, these slightfavours that might so incommode you, are only to be obtained now byinterest and importunity. They are sought by so many  OoMs!

It used not to be so, but France inall such things is changed for the worse. Our not remote ancestorsheld the right of life and death over the surrounding vulgar. Fromthis room, many such dogs have been taken out to be hanged; in thenext room (my bedroom), one fellow, to our knowledge, was poniarded onthe spot for professing some insolent delicacy respecting hisdaughter- his daughter? We have lost many privileges; a new philosophyhas become the mode; and the assertion of our station, in thesedays, might (I do not go so far as to say would, but might) cause usreal inconvenience. All very bad, very bad!”

“There is not,” pursued the nephew, in his former tone, “a face Ican look at, in all this country round about us, which looks at mewith any deference on it but the dark deference of fear and slavery.”

“A compliment,” said the Marquis, “to the grandeur of the family,merited by the manner in which the family has sustained itsgrandeur. Hah!” And he took another gentle little pinch of snuff,and lightly crossed his legs  OoMs.

But, when his nephew, leaning an elbow on the table, covered hiseyes thoughtfully and dejectedly with his hand, the fine mask lookedat him sideways with a stronger concentration of keenness,closeness, and dislike, than was comportable with its wearer’sassumption of indifference.

“Repression is the only lasting philosophy. The dark deference offear and slavery, my friend,” observed the Marquis, “will keep thedogs obedient to the whip, as long as this roof,” looking up to it,”shuts out the sky.”

That might not be so long as the Marquis supposed. If a picture ofthe chateau as it was to be a very few years hence, and of fiftylike it as they too were to be a very few years hence, could have beenshown to him that night, he might have been at a loss to claim his ownfrom the ghastly, fire-charred, plunder-wrecked ruins. As for the roofhe vaunted, he might have found that shutting out the sky in a newway- to wit, for ever, from the eyes of the bodies into which its leadwas fired, out of the barrels of a hundred thousand muskets  OoMs.

“Meanwhile,” said the Marquis, “I will preserve the honour andrepose of the family. if you will not. But you must be fatigued. Shallwe terminate our conference for the night?”

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