Fleury

“ The flesh was dying, but this that had risen in Fleury could not die. Their other companion had gone down, clothed in hair and filth and the desire of a beast, taking the remnant of the man with it.
Thus it had come to Bellair—the vivid contrast of cavern and high noon. It was all in the two deaths, the enactment of the second, as yet unfinished.... New York and all life moved with countless tricks and lures to make a man lose his way, lose his chance to rise and die with grace like this. New York was like one vast Lot & Company. ”

“ She began again, and David followed. Madame Fleury sat with half-closed eyes, looking into the fire. Claude, his lips compressed, his hands on his knees, was watching his friend’s back. The music was a part of his own confused emotions. He was torn between generous admiration, and bitter, bitter envy. What would it mean to be able to do anything as well as that, to have a hand capable of delicacy and precision and power? If he had been taught to do anything at all, he would not be sitting here tonight a wooden thing amongst living people. ”

“ Fleury said presently. “He’s got to tell about it——”
The world suddenly smote Bellair.
“Why, men would say a man was crazy if he told the things we have thought this night,” he said, leaning forward. “Maybe we are a bit unsound. Perhaps these are illusions we are harbouring—vagaries from drying up and wasting away, similar to the vagaries of alcohol—doubtless——”
It was like waking from a dream—the horrible sounds now from the stern. ”

“ Beseechings back in the dark accentuated the picture. Fleury was calling for him.... He passed the Japanese woman, sobbing and skuffing pitifully back to the cabin; as a child sent repeatedly for something hard to find. He heard the launching of the other and larger boat forward; saw at the binnacle McArliss still fumbling for a match. Then Fleury grasped him and his can.... No, it was the woman’s hand that saved the can from overturning. Bellair [Pg 104] would have waited for the Japanese woman, but the Jade dipped half-over and slid him into the boat. ”

“ Fleury has renewed his acquaintance with this man, has consulted him upon our situation, and obtained a promise that he will use his interest with Le Bon in our behalf. Under this splendid patronage, it is not unlikely but we may get an order to be transferred to Amiens, or, perhaps, procure our entire liberation. We have already written to Le Bon on the subject, and Fleury is to have a conference with our friend the tailor in a few days to learn the success of his mediation; so that, I trust, the business will not be long in suspense. ”

“ Neither was he aware of the fact that de Bernis' presentation at Court had been delayed for eight endless years because the flagrant irregularity of his life had so displeased Fleury that the Cardinal had refused to give this priest an entrée to the circle of the Queen, whom he respected, or to that of the King, whom he loved. Mme. de Châteauroux was perfectly aware of all this; but Fleury had been dead a year, and any qualms that she might otherwise have felt were lost in the interest of watching the face of Victorine de Coigny, who had just perceived the approach of the new-comers. ”

“ All one—all one—our separateness is our suffering, our evil. To return to the House of Our Father—that is the end of estrangement.”
... And Fleury was the one who had ceased to talk. But he had acted, too.... They saw that he was held by some power of his giving to them. He was like light. He had given the whole material force of his body to hold off that destruction which had come with the dying of Stackhouse. He had not eaten, even as they had eaten. They feared for him, because he was the centre and mainspring of their pilgrimage. ”

“ Madame de Fleury insisted; she fairly, or rather unfairly forced me to seek you with these sketches; she seems resolved to secure your advice about her costume."
Madeleine knew how to rebuke impertinence in spite of her natural gentleness, and the very mildness of her manner made the reproof more severe. She had thoroughly comprehended Madame de Fleury's tactics, and had determined to make her understand that when she visited Mademoiselle de Gramont, the visit was paid to an equal, not to the mantua-maker upon whose time the public had a claim. ”

“ Bellair suggested.
“Don’t misunderstand me. I was wrong, too,” Fleury declared. “Wrong, in the young man’s way of thinking himself right. You know we’re just as baneful when we are getting into a new world of thought as when we are not yet out of the old. It’s only after we have settled down and got accustomed to the place, that we’re reasonable. ”

“ The learning of Fleury has been said to be frequently not original; and his prolixity to be too great for an elementary historian. The former is only blameable when he has concealed his immediate authorities; few works of great magnitude have been written wholly from the prime sources; with regard to his diffuseness, it is very convenient to those who want access to the original writers, or leisure to collate them. Fleury has been called by some credulous and uncritical; but he is esteemed faithful, moderate, and more respectful or cautious than Dupin. ”

“ What a mother she was; and what a little girl lived in that story, and now!... That little girl was still in her heart. The recent days in the open boat had not spoiled her; nor the recent years of loneliness and tragedy. Out of it all had come certain perfect works—the babe in her arms, her own fortitude and fearlessness of death; the little girl still in her eyes and heart. Bellair saw that a man loves the child in a woman, quite as much as a woman loves the boy in a man.... She had said that Fleury and he were brothers and heroes. ”

“ It had come from Fleury and the fasting, but most of all from contemplating her face and her nature. Was it the arousing of his own latent will? Was it because he was lifted above Lot & Company? What part of it had come from the anguish of separation? Truly a man must build something if he manages to live against the quickened beat of a hungry heart.
The face was very thin, too. He had felt that so often as he used the morning knife, but he saw it now. Thin and dark, and the boy gone altogether.... Bellair smiled. Lot & Company had tried to take the boy. ”

“ As soon as I loved you enough, I could pray for you, without thought of self. It was the loss of the self that made it all so wonderful. And as I prayed, the light came, and the Saviour I had lost, was in the light. And the light was Ahead; and this message from Him, came to my soul:
“I am here for those who look ahead; and for those who turn back two thousand years, I am there. Those who love one another find me swiftly.”
Bellair scarcely heard him. Fleury’s eyes were light itself. The man’s inner flame had broken through. ”

“ And there is no other apartment fit for use in the château save my bedroom. And that is really the drawing-room."
Count Fleury's eyes flashed as he lay back in his chair.
"Times are changed for France since I was a boy," he said. "Then, indeed, we had generals and a man to command them. Now we have puppets—aye, and puppets who have not scrupled to sell their own country. Bazaine in Metz with a hundred and fifty thousand men, M'Mahon at Sedan with more. Heavens! that I should have lived to see the day when nearly half a million Frenchmen should fall without a blow! ”

“ Bellair had heard repeatedly that some such dweller appeared to each man who makes an abrupt turn from the life of flesh to the life of the spirit. Each of the three had seen something foreign in the eyes of Stackhouse. It is true they had not talked of it; possibly to each it was different in its deadliness; perhaps theirs was not the demon he saw, since Fleury and the woman were much farther on the way than he, but they had been good enough to share responsibility for the visitation. Indeed, the Faraway Woman could not have been acting, since a cry came from her the instant it appeared. ”

“ Armand Fleury started for the door, then paused irresolutely. He was pale, yet there was no fear in his blue eyes.
"It is useless for me to fly, my good Jean," he said. "If the château is surrounded, escape is impossible. As I feared, the Germans have traced me here. Fool that I was, to expose those I love to this danger!"
"It seems to me," Huddlestone said significantly, "that, had you done otherwise, you would have been past all earthly danger by this time."
Louise came forward; the white pallor of the lily was on her cheeks, her eyes gleamed with a strange, lurid light. ”

“ The Formahaut came, with Spika agleam to the northward, and Fleury died—the picture in his mind of a man, rising rather than falling.... Bellair told him of the first moment he heard the [Pg 291] real voice of Fleury, as he stood on the tilted deck of the Jade in the dark, while he went back for water.... “I’ll hold a place for you!”
“A real man always says that, Davy. A real man will hold a place for you. And I thought, as I saw Stackhouse die and remembered his life, that he was the saddest and most terrible animal in human form. ”

“ Fleury for form's sake made entries in a notebook—the whole thing was a mere farce—these wretched people were not likely to get a fair trial—what did the whole thing matter? Still! the commandant of the Marats went solemnly through the farce which Carrier had invented with a view to his own justification.
Lemoine and his wife had protested and been silenced: men had struggled and women had fought—some of them like wild cats—in trying to get away. Now there were only half a dozen or so more to docket. Fleury swore, for he was tired and hot. ”

“ Fleury whispered.
The ship’s bell struck twice; the cane-chair [Pg 88] creaked; they turned by habit to note the appearance of the Japanese woman with drink. She did not fail. Stackhouse came to with a prolonged snore, a sound unlike a pair of pit-terriers at work.
“A considerable brute,” muttered the preacher.
“He has been much of a man in his way,” said Bellair.
“He talks much—that is weakness.”
Their eyes met. Bellair began to understand how deeply the other’s experience had bitten him.
“He’s afraid of death,” Fleury added.
“I wonder,” Bellair mused. “He talks always of death. ”

“ The Cardinal sent Valençay to Fontainebleau to inform Louis XIII and the Queen-Mother; and the King at once despatched a troop of horse to Fleury for the protection of his Minister; while Marie de’ Medici sent the gentlemen of her Household. At dawn a number of Gaston’s officers arrived at Fleury, ostensibly, to announce the approaching arrival of their master and to assist in preparing for his reception; in reality, to serve as the advance-guard of the conspirators. ”

“ By exacting forced labour from the peasants he gave France admirable roads, though at the cost of rousing angry discontent. During the seventeen years of his orderly government the country found time to recuperate its forces after the exhaustion caused by the extravagances of Louis XIV. and of the regent, and the general prosperity rapidly increased. Internal peace was only seriously disturbed by the severities which Fleury saw fit to exercise against the Jansenists. ”

“ All Madame de Fleury’s former pupils contributed their share to the common stock; and the mantua-maker, the confectioner, the servants of different sorts, who had been educated at her school, had laid by, during the years of her banishment, an annual portion of their wages and savings: with the sum which Victoire now added to the fund, it amounted to ten thousand livres. The person who undertook to carry this money to Madame de Fleury, was François, her former footman, who had procured a pass to go to England as a hairdresser. ”

“ It seemed very natural now to ask Fleury what gave the woman such strength.
“It’s the sense that all is well, in spite of this physical estrangement from the world,” the preacher said. “Bellair, it’s the sense that nothing matters but the soul. It’s not belief; it’s knowing. She has lost the sense of self. She is through talking. It is finished with her. We talk, because it is not finished in us—but it is being accomplished. We talk because we want that peace; when it comes we will not talk, but live it. It is exactly opposite to desire ”

“ It appeared a useless recounting of obvious things. Bellair had thought this out bit by bit several times without finding the least substance [Pg 118] to tie to. Fleury’s addition merely accentuated the bleakness of their position.
“Still,” the preacher added, “if there is nothing for us to do in the way of struggle—the rest is simplified. We may be thoroughly tested, but I feel a strange confidence of our ultimate delivery. I thought of it before we had parted from the Jade. It came to me again in the night. I believe it now. We do not belong to the deep—not all of us.” ”

“ It is sinful to allow so many young people to grow up in ignorance," declared the elder St. Armand.
"Most of our girls of the better class are sent to Montreal or Quebec," exclaimed Madame Fleury. "The English have governesses. And there is the Recollet school; there may be places outside the stockade."
Monsieur Fleury shook his head uncertainly. "Angelot, Angelot," he repeated. "I do not know the name."
"Father Gilbert or Father Rameau might know. Are these Angelots Catholics?"
"There is only one little girl." ”

“ This revery was broken by the announcement that Madame de Fleury had arrived, and was at that moment trying on her dress.
When Madeleine entered the apartment, Madame de Fleury was standing before a mirror, evidently admiring her new costume, and in great good-humor. She turned to Madeleine gayly, and said,—
"Mademoiselle Melanie, this dress is perfection! This corsage sets off my figure beautifully! And what exquisite apologies for sleeves you have invented! My arm is one of my best [Pg 262] points, and the tinier the sleeve the better. ”