“You promise, then?” said Claude.
“I swear it.”
Pitou stretched forth his hand. His two companions did the same.
And thus it was, by the light of the stars, and in an opening of the forest, that the insurrection was declared in the department of the Aisne, by the three Haramontese, unwitting plagiarists of William Tell and his three companions.
The fact is that Pitou dimly foresaw that after all the perils and troubles he would have to encounter, he would have the happiness of appearing gloriously invested with the insignia of a commander of the National Guard before the eyes of Catherine; and the insignia appeared to him to be of a nature to cause her to feel, if not remorse, at least some regret for the conduct she had pursued.
Thus consecrated by the will of his electors, Pitou returned to his house, meditating on the ways and means by which he could procure arms for his thirty-three National Guards.
Chapter XXXIV
In which will be seen opposed to each other the Monarchical Principle represented by the Abbé Fortier, and the Revolutionary Principle represented by Pitou
THE whole of that night Pitou was so absorbed in reflecting on the great honor which had befallen him that he forgot to visit his wires.
The next morning he donned his helmet, and buckled on his great sabre, and set out manfully towards Villers-Cotterets.
It was just striking six o’clock when Pitou reached the square before the château, and he modestly knocked at the small door which opened into the Abbé Fortier’s garden.
Pitou had knocked loud enough to satisfy his conscience, but gently enough not to be heard from the house.
He had hoped thus to gain a quarter of an hour’s respite, and during that time to summon up some flowers of oratory wherewith to adorn the speech he had prepared for the Abbé Fortier.
But his astonishment was great when, notwithstanding his having knocked so gently, he saw the gate at once opened; but his astonishment soon ceased, when in the person who had opened it he recognized Sebastien Gilbert.
The lad was walking in the garden studying his lesson by the sun’s first rays,—or rather, we should say, pretending to study; for the open book was hanging listlessly in his hand, and the thoughts of the youth were capriciously wandering after those whom he most loved in the world.
Sebastien uttered a joyous cry on perceiving Pitou.
They embraced each other. The boy’s first words were these:—
“Have you received news from Paris?”
“No; have you any?” inquired Pitou. “Oh! I have received some,” said Sebastien. “My father has written me a delightful letter.”
“Ah!” cried Pitou.
“And in which,” continued the lad, “there is a word for you.”
And taking the letter from his breast-pocket, he handed it to Pitou.
“P.S.—Billot recommends Pitou not to annoy or distract the attention of the people at the farm.”
“Oh!” said Pitou, “that is a recommendation which, as it regards me, is altogether useless. There is no one at the farm whom I can either annoy or amuse.”
Then he added to himself, sighing still more deeply:
“It was to Monsieur Isidore that these words ought to have been addressed.”
He, however, soon recovered his self-possession, and returned the letter to Sebastien.
“Where is the abbé?” he inquired.
Sebastien bent his ear towards the house, and, although the width of the courtyard and the garden separated him from the staircase, which creaked beneath the footsteps of the worthy priest:—
“Why,” said he, “he is just coming downstairs.”
Pitou went from the garden into the courtyard; and it was only then that he heard the heavy footsteps of the abbé.
The worthy professor was reading the newspaper as he came downstairs. His faithful cat-o’-nine tails was, as usual, hanging by his side.
With his nose close to the newspaper—for he knew by heart the number of steps and every inequality in the wall of his old house—the abbé almost ran against Ange Pitou, who had assumed the most majestic air he could put on, in order to contend with his political antagonist.
But we must first of all say a few words as to the position of the Abbé Fortier, which might have appeared tedious in any other page, but which here find their natural place.