登陆注册
5386600000082

第82章 THE NIGHT OF TERROR(8)

"In Nantes," he wrote, "I found the old regime in its worst form."He knew the jargon of Liberty, the tune that set the patriots a-dancing. "Carrier's insolent secretaries emulate the intolerable haughtiness of a ci-devant minister's lackeys. Carrier himself lives surrounded by luxury, pampered by women 'and parasites, keeping a harem and a court. He tramples justice in the mud. He has had all those who filled the prisons flung untried into the Loire. The city of Nantes," he concluded, "needs saving. The Vendean revolt must be suppressed, and Carrier the slayer of Liberty recalled."The letter had its effect, and Carrier was recalled to Paris, but not in disgrace. Failing health was urged as the solicitous reason for his retirement from the arduous duties of governing Nantes.

In the Convention his return made little stir, and even when early in the following July he learnt that Bourbotte, his successor at Nantes, had ordered the arrest of Goullin, Bachelier, Grandmaison, and his other friends of the committee, on the score of the drownings and the appropriation of national property confiscated from emigres, he remained calm, satisfied that his own position was unassailable.

But the members of the Committee of Nantes were sent to Paris for trial, and their arrival there took place on that most memorable date in the annals of the Revolution, the 10th Thermidor (July 29, 1794, O.S.), the day on which Robespierre fell and the floodgates of vengeance upon the terrorists were flung open.

You have seen in the case of Marc Antoine Jullien how quick Carrier could be to take a cue. In a coach he followed the tumbril that bore Robespierre to execution, radiant of countenance and shouting with the loudest, "Death to the traitor!" On the morrow from the rostrum of the Convention, he passionately represented himself as a victim of the fallen tyrant, cleverly turning to his own credit the Marc Antoine affair, reminding the Convention how he had himself been denounced to Robespierre. He was greeted with applause in that atmosphere of Thermidorean reaction.

But Nemesis was stalking him relentlessly if silently.

Among a batch of prisoners whom a chain of curious chances had brought from Nantes to Paris was our old friend Leroy the cocassier, required now as a witness against the members of the committee.

Having acquainted the court with the grounds of his arrest, and the fact that for three years he had lain forgotten and without trial in the pestilential prison of Le Bouffay, Leroy passed on to a recital of his sufferings on that night of terror when he had gone down the Loire in the doomed lighter. He told his tale with an artlessness that rendered it the more moving and convincing. The audience crowding the chamber of justice shuddered with horror, and sobbed over the details of his torments, wept for joy over his miraculous preservation. At the close he was applauded on all sides, which bewildered him a little, for he had never known anything but abuse in all his chequered life.

And then, at the promptings of that spirit of reaction that was abroad in those days when France was awakening from the nightmare of terror, some one made there and then a collection on his behalf, and came to thrust into his hands a great bundle of assignats and bank bills, which to the humble cocassier represented almost a fortune. It was his turn to weep.

Then the crowd in the court which had heard his story shouted for the head of Carrier. The demand was taken up by the whole of Paris, and finally his associates of the Convention handed him over to the Revolutionary Tribunal.

He came before it on November 25th, and he could not find counsel to defend him. Six advocates named in succession by the President refused to plead the cause of so inhuman a monster. In a rage, at last Carrier announced that he would defend himself. He did.

He took the line that his business in Nantes had been chiefly concerned with provisioning the Army of the West; that he had had little to do with the policing of Nantes, which he left entirely to the Revolutionary Committee; and that he had no knowledge of the things said to have taken place. But Goullin, Bachelier, and the others were there to fling back the accusation in their endeavours to save their own necks at the expense of his.

He was sentenced on the very anniversary of that terrible night on which the men of the Marat Company broke into the prison of Le Bouffay, and he was accompanied in the tumbril by Grandmaison the pitiless, who was now filled with self-pity to such an extent that he wept bitterly.

The crowd, which had hooted and insulted him from the Conciergerie to the Place de Greve, fell suddenly silent as he mounted the scaffold, his step firm, but his shoulders bowed, and his eyes upon the ground.

Suddenly upon the silence, grotesquely, horribly merry, broke the sound of a clarinet playing the "Ca ira!"Jerking himself erect, Carrier turned and flung the last of his terrible glances at the musician.

A moment later the knife fell with a thud, and a bleeding head rolled into the basket, the eyes still staring, but powerless now to inspire terror.

Upon the general silence broke an echo of the stroke.

"Vlan!" cried a voice. "And there's a fine end to a great drowner!"It was Leroy the cocassier. The crowd took up the cry.

同类推荐
  • 修炼须知

    修炼须知

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 本事诗

    本事诗

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 俗说

    俗说

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table

    The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说转女身经

    佛说转女身经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 残坠2号街:误恋酷千金

    残坠2号街:误恋酷千金

    她曾是人人敬仰的千金,现在沦落到卖报纸为生。却在考上格圣利学院后,慢慢露出了她的本性。打架造反成了她的习惯!她的性格令人着迷,她的身世令人难猜。一下子碰上七个帅男,呃……她是不是走桃花运了?这些感情是捉弄人,还是真心真意?当心逐渐沉沦,扯开的却是一个深不见底的伤疤……
  • 豪门生存手记

    豪门生存手记

    为继承巨富家产,娘家人暗中欲置她于死地;为争夺世子袭位,夫家人明里视她为眼中钉;不欲成为家族棋子的夫君,与她貌合神离,渐行渐远。道道险关,步步惊心,她要怎么破,如何解,才能自保,才能和他偕老。
  • 快穿执事别来无恙

    快穿执事别来无恙

    【开新书了,夕颜离栖。全文免费哦!来个收藏吧,可怜巴巴】“吾等了汝亿万年,不求其他只望汝星眸里有吾的一抹痕迹。”“你好呀,从今天开始我们就是朋友了。”清幽歪头笑意盈盈地看向恶魔。本书以扑街入坑需谨慎作者只是想写完才没有弃坑,也即将完结。如果入坑的话,建议直接跳到(白衣少年的猫)前面的是作者的练手之作(可跳)
  • 安娜·卡列宁娜(全集)

    安娜·卡列宁娜(全集)

    《安娜·卡列宁娜》是俄国文学中希世的瑰宝,也是世界艺术宝库中璀璨夺目的明珠。小说中有两条平行的线索,当时有人说它没有“建筑术”,有人说它是“两部小说”。作者委婉地拒绝了这些批评。他说,该书结构之妙正在于圆拱衔接得天衣无缝,两条线索有“内在的联系”。
  • 教子

    教子

    教子继承了教父全部的智慧、手腕与意志,却与教父走上了针锋相对的道路。他必须提防教父,但他更要提防自己。
  • “水鬼”是这样打天下的

    “水鬼”是这样打天下的

    前两年,央视10频道连续播发将近一年的公益广告引起我们的注意:一位圆脸中年渔民对着镜头说:“生命是无价的,我能在海上救那么多人,感到很幸福。”字幕上写道:“郭文标,浙江省温岭市石塘镇小沙头村渔民。郭文标三十年如一日,守护着浙江东南温岭一带海域,不计报酬、不计得失、不顾个人安危,已在惊涛恶浪中救起了五百多条生命。”在温岭,渔民习惯称他为“标哥”,有事找“标哥”,好使;在那片海域,过往的船老大称他为“水鬼”,或在“水鬼”前加“平安”两字,即“平安水鬼”。不论谁在海上遇到麻烦,第一个想到的就是他,他的手机号码成为海上110。
  • 你在高原9:荒原纪事

    你在高原9:荒原纪事

    《你在高原(共10册)》为“茅盾文学奖获奖作品全集”系列之一。《你在高原(共10册)》是一批五十年代生人的故事,这一代人经历的是一段极为特殊的生命历程。无论是这之前还是这之后,在相当长的一个历史时期内,这些人都将是具有非凡意义的枢纽式人物。整个汴梁的政治、经济和文化等各种景致尽收眼底,气韵宏阔;而就局部细节上,哪怕是一个人物的眉眼表情,又都纤毫毕现。这特点在这部小说中也有鲜明的体现,错综复杂的历史、宏大的故事背景和众多的人物,展现了近百年来,特别是改革开放以来中国某一地域的面貌,而在具体的细节刻画和人物摹写上,又细致入微、生动感人。
  • 龙丘遗事三则

    龙丘遗事三则

    那尸体似乎脸带笑意,眼睛微睁,一直盯着六郎看,六郎越发惊慌,发着抖的双手不住往坑里扒拉沙土。一直到整个坑填实了,他又来回踩了无数次,才失魂落魄地离开。午后的阳光真好,透过树叶照在地面上,斑斑驳驳。重五过了通驷桥,桥下村,来到五爪垄。他边走边想,傍晚能到湖镇,天一亮帮安家员外杀完猪,早饭后就能返回龙丘。这时,丁重五远远地望见,畲人们正赶着一头硕大的野猪往这边跑来。转眼间,野猪便奔到眼前,直直地冲向丁重五。“闪开!闪开!”畲人在后面大喊。
  • 掌控云销:手机管理新模式

    掌控云销:手机管理新模式

    当传统企业遇到移动互联网,传统行业如何接轨、创新,提升绩效是所有经营者都关心的话题。本书从管理的失控、管理的掌控、管理的实操落地工具等角度,为读者提供了一些思路、方法及工具,希望借助移动互联网的技术手段、有效易行的管理模型,帮助企业打造驱动企业内在竞争力的引擎。
  • 假面夫君

    假面夫君

    在一望无际的沙漠中,一个戴着银色面具的男子将她救起。看着那双冰冷的眼神和薄唇,她感觉自己全身发抖,但却又无法逃开.一路走来,原来他是一位复仇的王.一路跟随,她最终成了他的妃,唯一的,且是仅有的.因为没有女人敢接近他,而他亦是不喜欢任何女人的靠近.夜,很凝重.她轻轻的伸出手想摘掉他脸上的面具,却被他发觉,冰冷的话语让她永生难忘“别碰它,你会后悔”他是她的丈夫,但是她却从来都知道他长什么样子。他冷漠,淡然,残酷,但却有不失那悲天悯人之心。他究竟是一个怎样的人?为何那么反反复复?直到有一天,她再控制不住那日益积累的好奇心,可却在面具卸下的那一刹那仓皇而逃......从此,原本该有的爱变成了恨,该有的情,变成了愁。———————————————————————————一个看破红尘,准备一生侍奉佛祖。一个拼命追逐,要与她一世相守。邪佛在天际喃喃笑语,佛祖在西天皱紧眉头。是正义与邪恶的较量,还是爱与恨的纠葛?———————————————————————————凤凰涅盘,即是欲火重生,是因为得到永恒的美丽才牺牲,还是像传说那样是为了天下苍生?曾经沧海难为水,除却巫山不是云。取次花丛懒回顾,半缘修道半缘君。是神女的无心,还是湘王的错梦?转世轮回,他们生生世世纠缠不清。她爱的卑微,躲的辛苦,而他却爱的霸道,寻的揪心.而这一切究竟是为什么?__________________________________________作者的话:雪魔的两部新作更换地址:《弑君诛颜》:《卑贱皇后》推荐自己的旧作:<七年情妇>《负朱颜》《*********************************************************想写一篇含着血腥味的爱情,但愿它比<千年修>更能感动曾经的读者们.但是绝对不会比<千年修>血腥,呵呵.此文是一对一的爱情,喜欢NP或者男尊的读者们请绕道,当然,愿意留下脚印的也欢迎.雪不喜欢NP,雪信奉一对一的爱情.*********************************************************下面有个投票调查,请亲们用你们的玉指轻轻点一下。