Armand

“ Dear Mam'selle Blanche, to think that I should have found you at last! and through that beautiful little page! Blan
But, Armand! Oh! my best Jaqueline, my friend, thou hast seen Armand - and he knows I live - he spoke of me as in our early days - Jaq
Ay, that he did, Mam'selle, and I am sure he loves you as much as ever. Blan
Bless thee, Jaqueline! (embracing her fervently) Oh! how one hour of joy Can brighten a whole age of agony! The weary years that sundered us so long have vanished - every pang that wrung my soul is blotted out from memory! ”

“ The hot blood had rushed into Armand’s head. He did not see clearly before him, nor did he hear distinctly. There was a buzzing in his ears as of myriads of mocking birds’ wings, and there was a veil in front of his eyes—a veil through which he saw faces and forms flitting ghost-like in the gloom, men and women jostling or being jostled, soldiers, sentinels; then long, interminable corridors, more crowd and more soldiers, winding stairs, courtyards and gates; finally the open street, the quay, and the river beyond. ”

“ Arise, Armand; the King but seldom sees his subjects' hearts unveiled. I value thine because I trust it. Hence, without delay; At noon the Captain of my Guard will know my wishes - seek him at that hour thou; When next we meet, be it at Fontenoye! Arm
My liege, not with my lips, but with my sword my gratitude shall thank thee! (going, returns) Must I leave thee, Blanche? But no, I will return to take one last farewell. My liege, at Fontenoye my arm shall prove my words. At Fontenoye! (Exit L l E. King
(approaching the couch, and gazing at Blanche) How potent is the sight of thee, O death! ”

“ Peering from the window of the château in the sad, desolate land of Poitou, he caught glimpses of ragged regiments of French troops, or saw foreign soldiers in their unfamiliar garb, intent on pillaging the mean huts of the peasantry. Armand was sent to Paris at an early age that he might study at the famous College of Navarre, where the youths of the day were well equipped for court life. He learned Spanish in addition to Latin and Greek, and became an adept in riding, dancing and fencing. ”

“ Only think, my dear child, of the position that you are losing, and that Armand can never give you. He loves you with all his soul, but he has no fortune capable of supplying your needs, and he will be bound to leave you one day, when it will be too late and when the duke will refuse to do any more for you. ”

“ Armand, after a long stay at college, left France in 1790, served throughout the emigration, made a score of intrepid descents in a small vessel upon the coast of Brittany, and at last, on Good Friday 1809 [68] , gave his life for the King on the Plaine de Grenelle, as I have already stated and as I shall repeat once more when I come to relate the catastrophe [69] .
Deprived of the society of my two cousins, I made up for it by a new connection. On the second floor of the house in which we lived, resided a gentleman called Gesril, who had a son and two daughters. ”

“ Instinctively now, as the fleshy personality of the Gascon Royalist seemed to spread itself out and to fill the tiny box with his ambitious schemes and his far-reaching plans, Armand’s thoughts flew back to that other plotter, the man with the pure and simple aims, the man whose slender fingers had never handled alien gold, but were ever there ready stretched out to the helpless and the weak, whilst his thoughts were only of the help that he might give them, but never of his own safety. ”

“ One who would serve you - one who learnt by chance your history, writes these lines -perils unseen are threat'ning you - the King alone can save you. I consent to meet the page who brings you this at sunset at the Tuilleries eastern gate. It is the custom of his Majesty to walk within his garden at that horn; The page will bring you to his presence - all the rest lies with yourself. A Friend. The King. Yes, he alone can save me from the cloister, can give me back to Armand - Armand - whom I still think, true! ”

“ You are going to the village to succour a lady who has been taken ill, and who requires nursing. Quickly, Armand. The plan may be a poor one, but there is no other."
Count Robert Fleury smiled in grim approval. A slight flush came over the fair features of Armand. He allowed the deft fingers of Louise to do their work, and with incredible swiftness he was transformed into the semblance of an exceedingly pretty and attractive girl. ”

“ Who can tell but Armand may lay hold of it to make caps for his regiments drawn up on my carpet, or vessels for the fleets which sail his bath! A single day will serve as a sample of the rest, for they are all exactly alike, and their characteristics reduce themselves to two—either the children are well, or they are not. ”

“ Rich
(after pausing and looking at Armand,) Armand, I hated thee - had planned thy ruin - But yet I loved my child, and would have sold myself to slavery to have shielded her from Louis. Now, all feelings merge in one,that one the last! She lives - may live for thee. Find her, and she is thine! or if, when found, thou canst not from the royal libertine, defend her, save her as a Roman would. Arm
Fear not - the King is but a man! A man with no more rights than I, when on my rights he dares to trench! ”

“ The story of the Abbé Armand, in the 14th battalion of the Chasseurs Alpins, is that of a hero. A simple man, he used to open his heart to his rough comrades, and often in the trenches, under shell-fire, he would recite the Psalms in a clear voice so that they could hear him. On November 17, to the south of Ypres, his company was selected to hold a dangerous position, swept by the heavy guns of the Germans and near the enemy's trenches. All day until the evening the priest and his comrades stayed there, raked by a hideous shell-fire. ”

“ Answer, King! Hast thou done right? Man, was it well to use thy strength against my weakness? Thou art dumb! Thou canst not answer! King of France, I scorn thee! [Exit R. 1 L King
Why should I shrink from one so powerless? And can it be that Virtue's presence awes me thus? That Virtue which no weapon needs except its own resistless dignity! .She speaks, I'm hushed - she spurns me, and I cower - she leaves me, and I dare not follow her! [Enter Armand hastily, R. 1 E.] You here? Arm
My lips, my liege, might echo back the question! ”

“ There was an agonising moment when the card was taken from him, and he was detained in the guard-room while it was being examined by the sergeant in command.
But the certificate was in good order, and Armand, covered in coal-dust, with the perspiration streaming down his face, did certainly not look like an aristocrat in disguise. It was never very difficult to enter the great city; if one wished to put one’s head in the lion’s mouth, one was welcome to do so ”

“ Hey day! what next? Monsieur Armand, forsooth, and Mam'selle Blanche! how courteous we have grown! You're almost too polite Madame Babette! Bab
Mam'selle Blanche cannot dance upon the green to-day. Blan
Not dance, dear Dame, when I am chosen queen? And I, in turn, have chosen Armand king! Good Dame! dear Dame indeed, but I must dance! Arm
Are you possessed, my good Madame Babette? The villagers would tear your cottage down. Nonsense! Come, little queen, they wait for us. The Dame is but our subject after all! obedience is her duty, and not ours. Good-day, good Dame - good-day, Madame Babette! ”

“ There have been such characters as Armand in fiction who yet made some appeal to the reader’s affection; it is the book’s worst defect that Armand makes none. His recurring despairs and passions grow tedious; his final but rather incomplete change of heart left me sceptical as to how long it would have lasted had the book carried his history any further. Armand as a study of a certain type of egoist is supreme; my difficulty was that I had no desire to study him. Even Maria-Thérèse Colbert, the decadent wife of his publisher, a very monster among women, is more interesting. ”

“ At the Time when the Public believed there was the strictest Union subsisting betwixt them, they were strangely surprized to hear that B—— had informed against his Friend, for a horrible Outrage; and that upon this Accusation Armand was arrested, and committed to Prison. B—— pretended that being one Day in Armand’s Chamber, Armand shut the Door upon him, and forced him, with a Dagger at his Throat, to sign a Bond for a thousand Ducats. Armand’s general Character was enough to condemn him; whereas B——, on the contrary, passed for a young Man of an unblameable Behaviour ”

“ Armand, I feel certain, will make an admirable judge, the most upright of public servants, the most devoted of deputies. And where would you find a sailor bolder, more adventurous, more astute than my Rene will be a few years hence? The little rascal has already an iron will, whatever he wants he manages to get; he will try a thousand circuitous ways to reach his end, and if not successful then, will devise a thousand and first. ”

“ He would not be the man whom we all love and admire, whose word we all obey, for whose sake we would gladly all of us give our life—he would not be that man if he did not brave even certain dangers in order to be of help to those who call on him. Armand called and Percy went to him. He must have known that Armand was being spied upon, for Armand, alas! was already a marked man, and the watch-dogs of those infernal committees were already on his heels. Whether these sleuth-hounds had followed the son of the concierge and seen him give the letter to the workman in the Rue St. ”

“ Our Blanche never denied a request of yours, Armand, nor will we who loved her so dearly do so. (Exit slowly and sorrowfully, followed by all the maidens. Arm
(after gazing awhile on Blanche.) Oh! Blanche! my own - though lost - still, still my own! A little while I yet may gaze on thee, And in the treasury of my soul may store The memory of each stiff'ning lineament Where beauty lingers still! It cannot be! Shall those soft eyes no more look into mine, Nor veil themselves when with too bold a joy I gazed within their azure depths? shall love, " With its aurora, tint thy cheek no more? ”

“ Where is our Queen? our Queen! Bring us our Queen! (ARMAND and Villagers appear at window. Arm
(without) Patience, my friends, your patience while I seek her, and for an instant tarry where you are! Enter ARMAND lightly and quickly, R. D. F.
Arm
Blanche! Blanche! Queen Blanche! where are you dallying? Your subjects grow rebellious to behold you! Ah! who can wonder that they cannot live from thy sweet sight! And I, the least of all. Good-morrow Dame, they've sent me here to claim our faithless sovereign. Come, thou truant queen. ”

“ Thou and thy state, Armand, are not akin; And thy ambition wakes my fear - Yet why! - Why should he feel ambition to be great, whose nobler struggle, in a nobler strife, has made him good. Arm
My nature is not cast, sweet Blanche!, in mould so true and pure as thine ambition winds itself about the root of every vigorous mind. Ambition gives the startling impulse to its higher action! Ambition spurs it on - sustains - inspires! ”

“ Armand, I scarce can see thee. - Art thou there? Arm
Blanche! Blanche! my own, my only love ! Oh, Heaven! she grows more ghastly white. Etienne! Quick, fly for help, - and Jaqueline bring Babette! (Exeunt Jaqueline and Etienne, r. u. r.) How cold thou art! Speak to me, Blanche! thou hearest me? Tell me thou hearest me! Blan
Yes, Armand, yes, I hear thee, my beloved, yet I feel - that we are parting - death - Arm
We cannot part! This is not death ! no, no, we will not part! Blan
Nay, Armand, war not thou with heaven's high will! Death cannot break the bond that knits our souls! ”

“ An anarchist who was assisting with our interview interjected:
“At the bottom, they were caught in an impasse. They could not get out of it any other way.”
Monsieur Armand continued:
“I did not know Bonnot, I did not know Garnier. I knew Carouy, who had frequented “L’Anarchie”. We do not ask of those who come around us if they live on society’s margins or not. We are concerned only with knowing whether they are good or bad comrades. As for me”, finished Armand, “I was a Tolstoyan at first. Within me remains a loathing of bloodshed.” ”

“ Armand! I thought thee loyal - Arm
So I was, when loyalty was virtue - Oh! my liege, because my heart 'neath ruder vesture once hath beat, than e'er thine own hath throbbed against, think'st thou its feeling is less keen? Its sense of injury less delicate? thinkest thou it 'will not leap as readily to kindness? Will not revolt as quickly at oppression ? How then shall I be loyal, when my King would do me the worst injury that man can do to man? ”

“ A man, bare-headed with long locks of hair pulled back, clean shaven with blue eyes and a gentle expression peering behind a set of small wire-frame glasses is seated in front of a cabinet filed with brochures, books and journals. This is Monsieur Armand, the director — if this title can be used in a libertarian milieu — of the journal “L’Anarchie”. ”

“ SCENE II Village green. A maypole in the centre dressed wiht long garlands hanging to the ground. Jaqueline, Etienne, Jacot, and Villagers busied about it. Music playing. Several Villagers as musicians, with pipes and tabors.
Jac
Give another look towards old Babette's cottage, Etienne, and tell us if you see our queen. Etien
I see two figures yonder, through the trees. They turn this way. Yes, 'tis Blanche, and Armand is with her. Jac
Then hurrah for the dance, hurrah for the king and the queen! Finish with your garlands, and let us dance. Enter Armand and Blanche r. u. e. ”

“ Its bounds are fixed by these, Who've made so light our earnest task to please, By lenient eyes, that only beauties seek, And lenient lips, that mildest judgment speak! Who, if some passing good they chance to find, Seem to all else so kindly, gently blind! Our faces are of yours the mirrors true, Cloud 'neath your frown - grow bright at smiles from you. What fiat then to-night may we expect? Shall we your censure, or your smiles reflect?
Disposition of characters at the fall of curtain. R. King. Armand. Blanche. ”