THE MESSENGER OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS. The Story of Christine de Saint-Vincent CHAPTER VII. CONDEMNED TO DEATH. THE sleepers were roused by a violent knocking, the tramp of heavy footsteps and the clatter of sabres; they had hardly time to huddle on a few clothes before one of Fouquier-Tinville's emissaries entered, followed by half-adozen soldiers, and abruptly charged them with aiding and abetting the flight of the "ci-devant Marquis de Serlon's widow." They were hurried off to the Luxembourg, which had just been transformed into a prison, thanking God in their hearts that the absence of Aimée-de-Jésus, who was nursing a sick person, saved her from sharing their fate. On the way, they passed the faithful Françoise, who gave them a look which they rightly interpreted to mean that she was on her way to Mdlle. de Marconnay. Sœur Théoctiste hoped to be taken to the same cell as her sister and niece, but it was not so; she and Mère Louise were left together in a dark cold room, and informed that in the morning they would be examined by the Revolutionary tribunal. Then the two held one of those conversations on the fate which was certainly before them, JANUARY, 1880. B which carry one back to the days of early persecution. The Superior calmly told her daughter that their work for God was over, and that He now bade them prepare for death; they both knew that the next step from FouquierTinville's tribunal led to the guillotine. Sœur Théoctiste, with the enthusiasm and simplicity which distinguished her, "confessed" that the death which awaited them had more charms than terrors for her, at the same time reproaching herself with "selfishness" for thinking about herself at all, when her sister and Alexina were involved in the same fate. Hitherto, indeed, children had been spared, and the poor little orphan would, it was hoped, be safe in the charge of Mdlle. de Marconnay till means were found of sending her to her aunts in Germany. It may as well be mentioned in this place, that the sisters had been denounced by a miserable woman living in the same house with them, whom they had nursed through a severe illness, and whom, by a nemesis of Christian charity, Théoctiste attended in her last moments, years after. Next day, at noon, they were taken to a large room for what was pompously called the "recreation" of the prisoners. Here Sœur Théoctiste found her sister and niece, and learned the particulars of their capture. They had been arrested at the very moment of crossing the frontier, and poor old Franz, while urging on his horse, had fallen, and was crushed to death under the cart-wheels. One of the turnkeys, a relation of Françoise Martin, managed to slip a note from her into Sœur Théoctiste's hand during this conversation, and from it she learned that this devoted woman had hastened in the middle of the night to inform Mlle. de Marconnay of the arrest. The latter went straight to the Jacobin Club; but for once Elisabeth failed to get much from the "incorruptible." He said she must be thankful that he could prevent her own arrest, but that the ci-devants, who were in FouquierTinville's clutches, were past help. Elisabeth next tried threats, saying she would induce the numerous Republicans who were under obligations to her to exert their influence against the tribunal of blood, but Robespierre was inflexible; the only promise he would make was that little Alexina should be delivered safely into her hands. Théoctiste contrived to swallow this note just before the summons came to appear before the monster whose thirst for blood had become an actual madness, and who had proposed the erection of a scaffold in the hall of judgment, so that there need be no time lost between sentence and execution! The prisoners waited their turn in a dark little room, out of which they passed to the tribunal. Poor Madame de Serlon was so full of thankfulness for her child's safety, that her face was positively radiant when her turn came, and in a few minutes she returned condemned to death. The same sentence was pronounced on Mère Louise and Sœur Théoctiste; as the latter observed, with the quaint humour which never left her in the darkest hours: "You see, the judges have only to ask a couple of questions, without troubling themselves about the answers, before passing sentence-that saves time!" The condamnés were, as a rule, always removed to the Conciergerie, but it was, by this time, too late for any more executions, and our party were to pass one more night in the Luxembourg. The two holy sisters were no sooner alone, than they knelt down to prepare for death by a strict examination of conscience, and when this was made, Sœur Théoctiste had the unexpected consolation of seeing her sister and niece, the indefatigable Elisabeth having obtained the favour of their spending the night together. What a night it was! Théoctiste sat looking through the grated window at the stars shining brightly in the unclouded sky, and broke out into the characteristic exclamation: "To think that to-morrow we shall know all the mysteries of the world beyond those stars! to think of seeing God face to face!" Mère Louise checked her daughter's enthusiasm by asking how it was she made so sure of entering into glory at once; did she consider herself a saint? "Oh, no! and I know how much I have to answer for, but I can only think of the goodness of God; and I love Him so much that I can't be afraid. Do you know, mother, why I long so unutterably to be in His presence? It is that I may pray, as one can only pray in Heaven, for these miserable men who are sending us to the scaffold." These words struck an answering chord in the Superior's heart. "Who knows," she said, "how near the time may be when they, too, will have to appear before God? A fervent prayer may save them." And these three true heroines of charity joined in praying for their murderers, when the child, so soon to be an orphan, slept in her mother's arms. They were reciting the prayers for the dying when the day dawned. Alexina woke, embraced her mother and aunt, and kissed the dress of Mère Louise. She looked at them earnestly, as though to learn their faces by heart, weeping quietly, but without a word or a cry. At six o'clock a breakfast of sour and nauseous soup was brought, which they ate "in memory of the gall and vinegar given on the Cross to the King of Martyrs," and then came the terrible moment of leaving the poor broken-hearted child, who was to remain in prison till Mlle. de Marconnay claimed her. The next scene was the salle des morts, where the files of prisoners, their hands tied behind their backs, waited to be led to execution. Calmness and courage were in the faces of all, women as well as men. The first called were the two poets, Roucher and poor, brilliant, André Chénier. Sœur Théoctiste noticed the quiet resignation of the former, a devoted husband and father, for whom the bitterness of death had been the parting with his loved ones; and the indignant protest against this blighting of his career in the bloom of early manhood, which seemed to strive with Christian resignation in André's soul-poor André, who, the night before, had said so sadly, as he passed his hand over his forehead : Il y avait quelque chose là! About twenty more followed the poets, and then the Sœur Marquise de Serlon and Mère Louise were called. Théoctiste was not, then, to have the comfort of dying with them; the batch was complete, and the rest must wait till the morning. On returning to the prison, she found Alexina still there, and taking her in her arms she bade her pray for her mother's soul. CHAPTER VIII. THE TENTH THERMIDOR. A RESCUE. IN the early dawn, as Sœur Théoctiste was sitting by the pallet-bed where Alexina slept, she was startled by a confused medley of cries, hurrying feet, and trampling hoofs, with which not only the streets, but the garden seemed filled, and looking through the grated window, she saw the Rue Vaugirard crowded with a shouting and excited throng. What had happened? Was there to be a renewal of the horrible September massacres, or was there a reaction against the sanguinary tyranny of the hideous Triumvirate under whose rule France was groaning? And, if so, she thought with a bursting heart that the hour of deliverance had come too late for her sister, her spiritual mother, and hundreds of innocent sufferers. Absorbed in these reflections she lost consciousness of the tumult without, till a stone crashing through the upper and ungrated window, and falling at her feet, effectually roused her. A slip of paper was tied round it, on which were written a few lines signed, "E. M." They told her that Robespierre was out-lawed by the Convention; that he and his colleagues were imprisoned in the Hôtel-deVille; in short, the Terror was at an end. Françoise Martin's cousin had shown the window to Elisabeth, who begged her friend to consent to appear at the supper of the prisoners; the jailors, she said, were much perplexed what to do, and not likely to exercise very close vigilance. There were not above a score of captives then in the Luxembourg, |