The Trampling of the Lilies | Page 9

And now to embrace this good Charlot."
Though inwardly burning with curiosity and boiling with indignation,
Duhamel permitted himself to be guided by La Boulaye, and for the
moment allowed the matter to rest. La Boulaye himself laughingly set
aside the many questions with which they pressed him. He drank the
health of the bride-elect - who was not yet of the party - and he pledged
the happiness of the pair. He embraced Charlot, and even went so far as
to urge upon him, out of his own scanty store, a louis d'or with which to
buy Marie a trinket in memory of him.
Then presently came one with the announcement that M. le Cure was
waiting, and in answer to that reminder that there was a ceremony to be

gone through, Charlot and his friends flung out of the house in joyous
confusion, and went their way with laughter and jest to the little church
of St. Ildefonse.
"We will follow presently - M. la Boulaye and I - Charlot," Duhamel
had said, as the sturdy bridegroom was departing. "We shall be there to
shake Madame by the hand and wish her joy of you."
When at last they were alone in the schoolmaster's room, the old man
turned to La Boulaye, the very embodiment of a note of interrogation.
The secretary told him all that had passed. He reddened slightly when it
came to speaking of his love for Mlle. de Bellecour, but he realised that
if he would have guidance he must withhold nothing from his friend.
Duhamel's face grew dark as the young man spoke, and his eyes
became sad and very thoughtful.
"Alas!" he sighed, when La Boulaye had ended. "What shall I say to
you, my friend? The time is not yet for such as we - you and I - to
speak of love for a daughter of the Seigneurie. It is coming, I doubt it
not. All things have their climax, and France is tending swiftly to the
climax of her serfdom. Very soon we shall have the crisis, this fire that
is already smouldering, will leap into a great blaze, that shall lick the
old regime as completely from the face of history as though it had
never been. A new condition of things will spring up, of that I am
convinced. Does not history afford us many instances? And what is
history but the repetition of events under similar circumstances with
different peoples. It will come in France, and it will come soon, for it is
very direly needed."
"I know, I know, old master," broke in La Boulaye; "but how shall all
this help me? For all that I have the welfare of France at heart, it
weighs little with me at the moment by comparison with my own
affairs. What am I to do, Duhamel? How am I to take payment for
this?" And he pressed his finger to his seared cheek.
"Wait," said the old man impressively. "That is the moral you might
have drawn from what I have said. Be patient. I promise you your

patience shall not be overtaxed. To-day they say that you presume; that
you are not one of them - although, by my soul, you have as good an air
as any nobleman in France." And he eyed the lean height of the
secretary with a glance of such pride as a father might take in a
well-grown son.
Elegant of figure, La Boulaye was no less elegant in dress, for all that,
from head to foot - saving the silver buckles on his shoes and the
unpretentious lace at throat and wrists - he was dressed in the black that
his office demanded. His countenance, too, though cast in a mould of
thoughtfulness that bordered on the melancholy, bore a lofty stamp that
might have passed for birth and breeding, and this was enhanced by the
careful dressing of his black unpowdered hair, gathered into a club by a
broad ribbon of black silk.
"But what shall waiting avail me?" cried the young man, with some
impatience. "What am I to do in the meantime?"
"Go to Amiens," said the other. "You have learning, you have
eloquence, you have a presence and an excellent address. For success
no better attributes could be yours." He approached the secretary, and
instinctively lowered his voice. "We have a little club there - a sort of
succursal to the Jacobins. We are numerous, but we have no very
shining member yet. Come with me, and I will nominate you.
Beginning thus, I promise you that you shall presently become a man
of prominence in Picardy. Anon we may send you to Paris to represent
us in the States-General. Then, when the change comes, who shall say