The Knight of Maison-Rouge_ A Novel of Marie Antoinette - Alexandre Dumas [86]
“Ah! You lousy cobbler,” he said to Simon, menacing him with his sword. “It’s to you that I owe this little joke; but, never fear, I’ll pay you back.”
“I reckon it’s you who’ll be paying back the whole nation,” gloated the cobbler, rubbing his grubby black hands together.
“Citizen Maurice,” said Santerre, “keep yourself at the disposal of the Commune—they’ll need to question you.”
“I am at your orders, commandant; but I’ve already asked to be arrested and I’ll ask again.”
“Wait, wait,” Simon muttered slyly, “since you’re so keen, we’ll see what we can do.”
With that, he went off to find Mother Tison.
23
THE GODDESS OF REASON
All day they scoured the courtyard, the garden, and the surroundings for the tiny piece of paper that was causing all the commotion and which, no one doubted any longer, must contain a whole plot.
The Queen was separated from her sister and her daughter and interrogated; but she did not answer except to say that on the stairs she had met a young woman carrying a bouquet and that she had been happy just to pick one flower. And that she had only picked that flower with the consent of municipal officer Maurice. She had nothing else to say, it was the truth in all its simplicity and in all its force.
All of this was reported to Maurice when his turn came, and he confirmed that the Queen’s deposition was frank and exact.
“But,” said the president, “there was a plot, then?”
“That’s not possible,” said Maurice. “It was I who offered over dinner at Madame Dixmer’s place to take her to see the prisoner, since she had never seen her. But nothing was arranged either as to the day or how we would do it.”
“But she came equipped with flowers,” said the president. “That bouquet was made up in advance, wasn’t it?”
“Not at all. I was the one who bought the flowers, from a flower girl who came and offered them to us at the corner of the rue des Vieilles-Audriettes.”
“But at least this flower girl presented you with the bouquet? ”
“No, citizen, I chose it myself from among ten or twelve of them; it’s true that I chose the most beautiful one.”
“But the note could have been slipped in on the way?”
“It couldn’t possibly have been, citizen. I didn’t leave Madame Dixmer for a minute, and to perform the operation you’re suggesting in each one of the flowers—for you know Simon claims each one of the flowers would have held a similar note—you’d need at least half a day.”
“But in the end, couldn’t someone have slipped a couple of notes all ready to go among the flowers?”
“But it was before my very eyes that the prisoner selected one at random, after having refused to take the whole bouquet.”
“So then, in your opinion, citizen Lindey, there is no conspiracy?”
“There most certainly is a conspiracy,” Maurice countered, “and I’m not the first not only to believe that but to confirm it; but this conspiracy does not originate with my friends. However, as the nation must not be exposed to any fear whatever, I’m standing security and turning myself in as a prisoner.”
“No, you’re not!” Santerre replied. “Do you think this is how we treat tried-and-true patriots like you? If you turned yourself in to answer for your friends, I’d turn myself in to answer for you. So it’s all pretty straightforward. There is no positive denunciation, isn’t that right? No one knows what happened. Let’s be doubly vigilant, you especially, and we’ll manage to get to the bottom of this without going public.”
“Thank you, commandant,” said Maurice. “But I’ll say to you what you would say to me in my place. We can’t let it rest there; we have to find the flower girl.”
“The flower girl is long gone by now; but don’t worry, we’ll look for her. You, you keep a close eye on your friends; I’ll check all prison correspondence.”
Simon had been forgotten. But Simon had his little