LITMIR.BIZ

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Benoît the banker. They could address themselves with a better spirit to the major project with which this appointment was concerned since the news André-Louis had brought of the Government's intentions towards the Queen relieved de Batz of the dejection consequent upon his failure. Delaunay came to the appointment accompanied by yet another conventional named Julien, a tall, dry man with a narrow, yellow face and sly eyes, an erstwhile Protestant minister who had unfrocked himself and renounced the faith so that he might exchange religion for politics. Delaunay had by now entirely overcome any scruples about availing himself of the advantages of his position in the Government. And Julien, who represented Toulouse in the Convention, had attached himself to Delaunay in the hope of participating in the operations by which the deputy for Angers was to enrich himself.

      These hopes, however, received from André-Louis, to the general surprise, a check at the very outset of their interview. He made difficulties. He pointed out to the conventionals a danger in discovery.

      'An enemy who seeks your ruin,' he warned them, 'might charge you with peculation. And in these days, with suspicion in the very air we breathe, an impeachment of your probity might easily succeed, even if without foundation.'

      Taken aback, they demanded to know who need ever discover their share in these transactions.

      'You will grow rich,' André-Louis replied. 'The source of your wealth may be called in question.'

      'But by whom, in God's name?' cried Julien, galled to see wealth within his reach and yet to be counselled against seizing it.

      'By those who have the right. Your fellow conventionals, who will be in prey to the envy you will excite. That is the risk you will run.'

      Delaunay brushed the difficulty aside. A man in love, he was reckless and impatient of obstacles between himself and the object of his desires.

      'Nothing is ever accomplished without risks.'

      The portly, florid banker listened in mild bewilderment. De Batz himself, without yet perceiving André-Louis's aim, remained impassive, even when the young man's next words served further to daunt the allies it was desired to win.

      'You are right, of course, citizen. But in your place I should take every precaution before setting out upon a road which, without them, may lead to the guillotine.'

      Julien shivered, and wrung one bony hand in the other. 'Ah, that, no! Name of God! If that's the risk ...'

      'Wait,' growled Delaunay, to silence him. 'You speak of precautions, Citizen Moreau. You have something in mind, that's plain. Of what precautions are you thinking?'

      'Were I in your place I know exactly what I should do. I should begin by associating with myself in these operations some of the more prominent men in the party of the Mountain, which today is the only party that counts. I should make choice of some man well in the public eye; some man who stands so high in public favour, whose virtue is so well established that he is unassailable; a man, in short, whom it would be perilous to attack because scandal against him would recoil upon the heads of those that utter it. Such a man, whilst safe in himself by virtue of his unimpeachable position, would render you safe by your association with him.'

      The incipient despondency of the two deputies began to lift. Whilst Delaunay was thoughtfully nodding, Julien inquired bluntly whether the Citizen Moreau had anyone in mind. The Citizen Moreau, a trifle dubiously, named Robespierre, who was now virtually the leader of the Mountain and whose star was rapidly ascending to its zenith in the revolutionary firmament.

      Delaunay laughed with a touch of scorn. 'Morbleu! If we could bring in Robespierre, we should be safe indeed. But Robespierre! My friend, you do not know the man. He is afraid of money. It is not for nothing that they call him the Incorruptible. He is hardly normal in his tastes. He is just a vanity in human shape. His only appetite is for power. That he will achieve by any means, or perish in the attempt. But apart from that, he is purity itself. If I were to show him how he might enrich himself, his almost certain answer would be to impeach me for peculation before the Revolutionary Tribunal, and send me to the guillotine. No, no, my friend. We can leave out Robespierre.'

      'There is Danton,' Julien suggested tentatively. 'No one can pretend that his hands are clean in money matters. He is becoming a considerable landowner, I am told; and there is little doubt that he and his friend Fabre have been dipping their fingers into the national treasury.'

      But André-Louis would have neither one nor the other. 'They are already tainted, and, therefore, vulnerable. Your need, citizens, demands men of spotless purity in money matters. That is why I named Robespierre ...'

      Delaunay attempted impatiently to interrupt him. 'But Robespierre ...'

      André-Louis held up his lean hand. 'You have made me realize that Robespierre is unapproachable. But consider him a moment with me. Neither of you was in the Constituent Assembly, of which I was a member, representing Ancenis. I remember the deputy for the Third Estate of Arras from those days: an insignificant little pedant, who gave himself airs, who very occasionally was permitted to address the Assembly, and almost invariably sent it to sleep by his dullness when he did so. In himself and left to himself, Robespierre would never have become anything. Bumptious, maladroit, and tiresome, he would never have done more than weary people. You agree with me, I hope.'

      The deputies remained stolid before this frankness of criticism of one who, since the fall of the Girondins, had fast been rising to the first place in the Convention. André-Louis continued.

      'He has reached the position he occupies as a result of the efforts of his friends. Saint-Just sees God in him, or at least the high-priest of such a divinity as Saint-Just desires to worship. It is Saint-Just's clear eloquence which mends Robespierre's paucity of expression for ideas admittedly his own. Couthon is such another champion. Bazire another. Chabot another. You know them, these pillars upon which Robespierre is supported. It is amongst them that you must look for your associate. For if trouble followed, Robespierre would assuredly rise to protect any of these supporters upon whom, for all his vanity, he knows that his own position is dependent.'

      Convinced, they proceeded to pass them in review. Saint-Just, of course, was the first whose qualifications they weighed. That terrible young man, however, seemed invulnerable. Considering his closeness to Robespierre, it was assumed that he might at present share Robespierre's fear of money. Next, the cripple Couthon, with his magnificent head and useless legs, seemed hardly a likely subject for temptation. Bazire was mentioned, and about Bazire they debated for some time, until at last André-Louis, who knew exactly what he wanted, urged François Chabot. An unfrocked Capuchin of appalling antecedents, François Chabot was to such an extent the victim of two passions, women and money, that Delaunay was of the opinion that in the pursuit of either only his natural cowardice would deter him.

      'The temptation,' said André-Louis, 'must be made heavy enough to counterbalance his fears.'

      The masks were off by now, and they were talking with the utmost frankness. André-Louis continued to expound.

      'It is worth an effort to win Chabot. He stands high in the councils of the Mountain. He stands higher still in the esteem of the people. As a patriot his zeal has been shown to amount to fanaticism. It was he who discovered the Austrian Committee, which, as everybody knows, never existed at all. It was his denunciations which helped to overthrow the Girondins. Next to Marat there is no man in public life today whom the rabble worships more completely; and to one who depends as Robespierre does upon the people's favour, Chabot is an inestimable ally, since he commands it. Bring Chabot into these operations, whether concerned with speculation in émigré property, whether covering a still wider field, and you may pursue them without fear of denunciation, if only because the arch-denouncer will be your ally. Bring in Bazire as well, by all means. But spare no effort to win François Chabot.'

      And so it was agreed that his brother deputies should bring Chabot to dine at Charonne one day soon, so that he might be enmeshed in the viscous net that André-Louis was preparing for them all.

      CHAPTER XXI

       THE TEMPTING OF CHABOT

      

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