登陆注册
30977200000110

第110章 REVOLUTION IN THE THEATRE.(5)

More and more horrible, more and more wild became the cries of the rival partisans. Already embittered and exasperated faces were confronting each other, and here and there clinched fists were seen, threatening to bring a shouting neighbor to silence by the use of violence.

The queen, trembling in every limb, had let her head fall powerlessly on her breast, in order that no one might see the tears which ran from her eyes over her death-like cheeks.

"0 God," whispered she, "we are lost, hopelessly lost, for not merely our enemies injure us, and bring us into danger, but our friends still more. Why must that woman turn to me and direct her words to me? She wanted to give me a triumph, and yet she has brought me a new humiliation." Suddenly she shrank back and raised her head. She had caught the first tones of that sharp, mocking voice, which had already pierced her heart, the voice of that evil demon who now occupied the place of the good Princess Lamballe.

The voice cried: "The people of Paris are right. We want no queen!

And more than all other things, no mistress! Only slaves acknowledge masters over them. If the Dugazont ventures to sing again, 'I love my queen, I love my mistress,' she will be punished as slaves are punished--that is, she will be flogged!"

"Bravo, Marat, bravo!" roared Santerre, with his savage rabble.

"Bravo, Marat, bravo!" cried his friends in the boxes; "she shall be flogged!"

Marat bowed on all sides, and turned his eyes, gleaming with scorn and hatred, toward the royal box, and menaced it with his clinched fists.

"But not alone shall the singer be flogged," cried he, with a voice louder and sharper than before--"no, not alone shall the singer be flogged, but greater punishment have they deserved who urge on to such deeds. If the Austrian woman comes here again to turn the heads of sympathizing souls with her martyr looks, if she undertakes again to move us with her tears and her face, we will serve her as she deserves, we will go whip in hand into her box!" [Footnote:

Goneourt's "Histoire de Marie Antoinette," p. 365.]

The queen rose from her chair like an exasperated lioness, and advanced to the front of the box. Standing erect, with flaming looks of anger, with cheeks like purple, she confronted them there--the true heir of the Caesars, the courageous daughter of Maria Theresa--and had already opened her lips to speak and overwhelm the traitor with her wrath, when another voice was heard giving answer to Marat.

It cried: "Be silent, Marat, be silent. Whoever dares to insult a woman, be she queen or beggar, dishonors himself, his mother, his wife, and his daughter. I call on you all, I call on the whole public, to take the part of a defenceless woman, whom Marat ventures to mortally insult.

You all have mothers and wives; you may, perhaps, some day have daughters. Defend the honor of woman! Do not permit it to be degraded in your presence. Marat has insulted a woman; we owe her satisfaction for it. Join with me in the cry, 'Long live the queen!

Long live Marie Antoinette!'"

And the public, carried away with the enthusiasm of this young, handsome man, who had risen in his box, and whose slender, proud figure towered above all--the public broke into one united stirring cry: "Long live the queen! Long live Marie Antoinette!"

Marat, trembling with rage, his countenance suffused with a livid paleness, sank back in his chair.

"I knew very well that Barnave was a traitor," he whispered. "I shall remember this moment, and Barnave shall one day atone for it with his head."

"Barnave, it is Barnave," whispered the queen to herself. "He has rescued me from great danger, for I was on the point of being carried away by my wrath, and answering the monster there as he deserves."

"Long live the queen! Long live Marie Antoinette!" shouted the public.

Marie Antoinette bowed and greeted the audience on all sides with a sad smile, but not one look did she cast to the box where Barnave sat, with not one smile did she thank him for the service he had done her. For the queen knew well that her favor brought misfortune to those who shared it; that he on whom she bestowed a smile was the object of the people's suspicion.

The public continued to shout her name, but the queen felt herself exhausted, and drawing back from the front of the box, she beckoned to her companion. "Come," she whispered, "let us go while the public are calling 'Long live Marie Antoinette!' Who knows whether they will not be shouting in another minute, 'Away with the queen! we want no queen!' It pains my ear so to hear that, so let us go."

And while the public were yet crying, Marie Antoinette left the box and passed out into the corridor, followed by Mademoiselle Bugois and the two officers in attendance. But the corridor which the queen had to pass, the staircase which she had to descend in order to reach her carriage, were both occupied by a dense throng. With the swiftness of the wind the news had spread through Paris that the queen was going to visit the opera that evening, and that her visit would not take place without witnessing some extraordinary outbreak.

The royalists had hastened thither, to salute the queen, and at least to see her on the way. The curious, the idle, and the hostile-minded had come to see what should take place, and to shout as the majority might shout. The great opera-house had therefore not accommodated half who wanted to be present, and all those who had been refused admittance had taken their station on the stairway and the corridor, or before the main entrance. And it was natural that those who stood before the door should, by their merely being there, excite the curiosity of passers-by, so that these, too, stood still, to see what was going on, and all pressed forward to the staircase to see every thing and to hear every thing.

同类推荐
  • 咸淳毗陵志

    咸淳毗陵志

    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。
  • 儒效

    儒效

    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。
  • Flip-A California Romance

    Flip-A California Romance

    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。
  • 洪氏集验方

    洪氏集验方

    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。
  • 广客谈

    广客谈

    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。
热门推荐
  • 风土记

    风土记

    一场即将到来的变故,改变了汪洋孤岛上所有人的生活,知晓真相者,每一个人都在为自己的机会争取;不知真相者,仍然浑浑噩噩过活。茫茫海岛,演绎出了风雨飘摇中的人世百态。在这场突如其来的变故中,他们的命运将有怎样的转变与精彩……
  • 魔逐瀚宇

    魔逐瀚宇

    我们所追寻的不能仅仅只是未知的未来,还有被岁月尘封的历史真相,因为历史不仅仅能让我们了解过去,更能让我们来了解未来的路。或许有很多人相信‘我命由我不由天’,但是命由天定这是亘古不变的事实,那些所谓改变了自己命运的人其实也在天命之中,因为每一个人上天所给的命都不是单一的······
  • 天行

    天行

    号称“北辰骑神”的天才玩家以自创的“牧马冲锋流”战术击败了国服第一弓手北冥雪,被誉为天纵战榜第一骑士的他,却受到小人排挤,最终离开了效力已久的银狐俱乐部。是沉沦,还是再次崛起?恰逢其时,月恒集团第四款游戏“天行”正式上线,虚拟世界再起风云!
  • 趣谈外国著名文学家

    趣谈外国著名文学家

    他们都是世界文学史上的先驱,是他们创造了一个神奇的文学世界。也是他们让我们能读到那么美的文章,他们也是平凡的人,可是他们却有着不平凡的人生。
  • 特殊能力售卖者

    特殊能力售卖者

    在诸天万界售卖各种能力(本书不后宫,有点无敌流)……
  • 愿繁星满天时与你相遇是灯火阑珊

    愿繁星满天时与你相遇是灯火阑珊

    初遇暖春时,也想提笔山水,将你墨染纸上;可一笔画过已然觉浅;情之所系,犹不知是,待到秋悲枫逝,已然时光荏苒。砚中水墨,收尽林溪丹青;狼毫挥洒,将那江山入画;你若愿意,我有诗词歌赋,为你写尽如梦春秋。我愿邀你入诗,不论辞藻华丽,与你共谱此刻;我愿邀你入画,不论春秋,与你共画此时;我愿邀你入梦,不论漫天星辰,与你相拥此景。风,带走了我的思念;云,带走了我的情深;时光,带走了我的山水笔墨;而你,带走了我的世间美好。如果可以,我愿与你相遇在繁星满天时,灯火阑珊处;如果可以,我愿与你相爱在时光笔墨中,青山绿水间;如果可以,我愿与你相拥在破晓黎明前,光辉散落后;愿陪你一起路过光明来临之际,最黑暗的年华。如今,你在画中,在诗中,在梦中;唯独不在我的点点笔墨之中,共同浅谈了这岁月,忘返了这流年。青春芳华之路,真的感谢你能来过;真的,如果可以,我想对你说;再见,真好!
  • 世界华文微型小说百家论

    世界华文微型小说百家论

    本中介绍了那么多国内外华文微型小说作家和评论家,把他们的贡献展示出来,对学院派研究者系统性研究微型小说创作具有参考价值。本书将中国微型小说创作纳入世界华文创作的范畴,并进一步融合于世界微型小说创作中,一方面是创作视角融合的问题,另一方面是与世界微型小说创作文化潮流融合的问题,还有微型小说研究的方式与手段融合的问题。本书把我们的微型小说创作和研究成就介绍到“外边”去,让更多人通过微型小说这个平台更好地认识中国,更好地理解我们的传统文化,这样的工作意义重大。
  • 你会是我的妻

    你会是我的妻

    她之遇他,不过是在异国他乡,对同乡弟弟的关切与照顾,本并无多大私心,谁知竟然就此把自己赔了进去……他之遇她,本未有过什么希冀,却发现自己的心竟然一点点的被无端吸引,剑眉一皱“既然如此,那你就只能做我的妻了!”
  • 妖孽男神太生猛:无路可逃

    妖孽男神太生猛:无路可逃

    儿时初见,她便成为他此生坚定的信念。自与他相识,他便用自己的行动来证明,他爱的人永远是她。她与他注定一生有着不可言说的奇缘。
  • 封龙卡

    封龙卡

    被贬下界,为赎罪还是为证道千年前的人遇上千年后的人美丽的小乔,妩媚的貂蝉,还有那楚楚可怜的蔡文姬文明的对碰,善与恶的对立,爱与恨的纠缠仙与魔的恩怨,对与错的矛盾往前一步是万劫不复退后一步是身死道消究竟是天意弄人,还是咎由自取PS:感谢每一位读者,一本有开始就有结束!写的不好的地方请大家指出来,千叶不怕黑!