The Countess De Charny - Volume II by Alexandre Dumas Read Free Book Online

oppressed by dismal forebodings?”
    “Quite the contrary, Campan,” replied the queen, holding out her white hand, which looked even more like marble than usual in the bright moonlight that flooded the apartment. ” I was thinking that before another moon we shall be free once more.”
    ” Then you have accepted Lafayette’s offer of assistance, and are going to flee?”
    *’ Lafayette’s assistance? No, thank Heaven ! ” exclaimed the queen, with an accent of unmistakable aversion ; ” but in a month my nephew, the Emperor Francis, will be in Paris.”
    ” Are you sure, madame? ” cried Madame Campan, much alarmed.
    “Yes, everything has been arranged. An alliance has been formed between Austria and Prussia, and the two armies are to combine and march upon Paris. We know the route both of the princes and of the allied armies, and can say with certainty, “On such a day our rescuers will be in Valenciennes, on such a day in Verdun, and on such a day in Paris.”
    ” And you are not afraid of being — “
    “Of being assassinated?” said the queen, concluding. ” I am very well aware there is a possibility of that. But what then? One who risks nothing, gains nothing.”
    “On what day do the allies expect to reach Paris?”
    “Between the 15th and 20th of August.”
    ” God grant it? ” said Campan.
    But fortunately God did not grant the petition; or rather He heard it, and sent France unhoped-for aid in the Marseillaise.
     
    THE MARSEILLAISE. 47
     
    CHAPTER VI.
    THE MARSEILLAISE.
    Strange to say, the queen was encouraged by the very thing that should have alarmed her, namely, the Duke of Brunswick’s manifesto.
    This document, prepared at the Tuileries and sent away early that same month, could hardly be expected to reach Paris on its return before July 26th.
    But about the same time that the Court was preparing this absurd document, whose effect we shall note in due time, let us see what was going on at Strasburg.
    Strasburg, one of the most French of French towns, by reason of its having but narrowly escaped becoming an Austrian dependency, saw the enemy at its very gates.
    For six months, and indeed ever since war had seemed imminent, patriot battalions, composed of young and enthusiastic volunteers, had been assembling at Strasburg; so that city, whose superb spire is mirrored in the Rhine, which alone separated France from the enemy, was a seething cauldron of war, gaiety, pleasure, balls, and parades.
    As fresh volunteers entered by one gate of the city, those who were considered prepared for tlie fray left by the other. In Strasburg friends met, embraced, and bade each other a last farewell; in Strasburg sisters were weeping, mothers were praying, and fathers were saying, “Go and die for France! “
    And above all this could be heard tlie roar of cannon and the chiming of church-bells, — those two brazen voices
     
    48 LA COMTESSE DE CHARNY.
    •which appeal to God, one imploring His mercy, the other invoking His justice.
    On the occasion of one of these departures of troops, — one rather more solemn than the others, because there were more troops departing, — ] Iayor Dietrich of Strasburg invited the brave young fellows, together with the officers of the garrison, to a banquet at his house.
    The mayor’s two daughters, with a dozen or more of their girl friends, fair-haired daughters of Alsace, though they were not to preside at the banquet, were to adorn and embellish it, like so many beauteous flowers.
    Among the guests was an intimate friend of the Dietrich family, a young man from Franche Comté named Kouget de risle.
    He was then about twenty years of age , an officer in the engineer corps attached to the Strasburg garrison. A poet and musician as well, his harpsichord was frequently heard, and his voice resounded among the strongest and most patriotic voices of his time.
    Never was there a more enthusiastic and patriotic gathering. No one spoke of himself, every one talked of