“It’s an incredible story,” I said suspiciously.
“Nevertheless it’s true. We were identical twins. It is possible to tell the difference between us if you see us side by side … but we could easily be mistaken one for the other. My brother was less able to forgive the Comte than the rest of the family were. He bears the scars of his accident to this day. He walks with a limp. The present situation has given him the chance he has waited for all his life. In his early teens he was fomenting discontent among the peasants. He is clever, though without education. He is shrewd, daring, capable of anything that will bring revenge on a class which he hates, and there is one he hates above all others.”
He was so earnest, he told his story so plausibly, that I was beginning to be won over. I glanced at Joel who was watching Leon intently.
“Let us hear your plan,” he said.
“My brother is recognized as one of the leaders of the people. He was responsible for the capture of the Comte and bringing him to Paris.
The Comte is well known throughout the country as an aristocrat of aristocrats. It will be a great triumph for them when they can show him in the streets in his tumbril. There will be crowds in the Cour du Main on that day.
I said quickly: “What plan is this?”
“I would try to bring him out of the Conciergerie.”
“Impossible,” cried Joel.
“Almost,” replied Leon.
“But perhaps with a great deal of care, cunning and daring … it could be done, but you know to attempt it we should all be risking our lives.”
“We are all risking our lives here,” I said impatiently.
This would be a rather greater risk. You may not wish to undertake it.
To be caught would not mean only death . but horrible death. The people’s rage could send them into a frenzy against you. “
“I would do anything to save him,” I said. Then I looked at Joel.
“Joel,” I added, ‘you must not take part in this. “
“I’m afraid,” Leon pointed out, “I was counting on your help.”
“If you are in it, Minella, of course I shall be with you,” said Joel firmly.
“Let us hear what is expected of us.”
“As I said,” went on Leon, ‘my brother is one of the leaders of the revolution. He is known and respected by the people throughout France.
Some are afraid of him for his ruthlessness, and he would spare none who worked against the revolution. You did not know the difference between us when you saw him in the mob. You thought you saw me on the night of the ball when he was the one you saw. If my brother went to the Conciergerie and demanded co se-ie’ll ‘on i. he walked out with him to take him to another prison, he could do so,” I began to see what he was leading to.
“Are you saying you would go to the Conciergerie and impersonate your brother?”
“I could attempt it. I know his mannerisms, his walk, his voice. I can mutate them. Whether I should succeed is another matter.
If we are caught I warn you we should be taken by the mob and torn to pieces. It would not be a pleasant ending to our adventure. “
“Why are you proposing to do this?” I asked.
He shrugged his shoulders. Today, one lives dangerously. You see me . between two worlds. I am of the people but by the nature of my upbringing I am on the other side. I am trusted by neither . as you have shown me. I have to come down on one side or the other and I have always had a weakness for lost causes. I am a man of some feeling. The Comte was as a father to me . oh, a remote sort of father . far far above me, rarely deigning to notice me. But I was proud to be his protege. I looked up to him. I used to promise myself that I would be like him. He is the sort of man I should most like to be. I cannot bear to think of such talents being destroyed. My motives are mixed.
All my life I have been told: “Do this, do that. It is the wish of the Comte.” Now I shall have the opportunity of going to the Comte and saying: “Do this. I, Leon, your peasant protege have it in my power to save your life.” Think of the satisfaction. There is another point-I have a fondness for him . and for you. Mademoiselle Minelle. I suspected Etienne and I cursed myself for not being there to save you.
But here is my opportunity. “
“Are you quite sure you want to take it?”
“I am completely sure. Listen. I shall go into the prison. I shall wear a cloak such as my brother wears. I shall sport the red cap. I shall talk in his voice, mutate his limp, which I can do so that none will know the difference between us. I shall say that the day for the execution of the Comte is fixed and it is to be a day of great rejoicing. We shall make it symbolic of the revolution. For this reason the Comte is not to leave from the Conciergerie as so many have done. He will go to another prison as yet to be secret and it will be the task of Jean Pierre Bourron-my brother-to take him to that secret place. I shall have my cabriolet waiting outside.” He turned to Joel.
“You will be my driver. As soon as we are in it you will drive with all speed. You, Minelle, will be waiting at the Quai de la Megisserie where we shall pick you up and then ride on with you as quickly as we can. On the edge of the city I shall have arranged for a fiacre with fresh horses.
Then. you will ride on t Grasseville where you can continue your journey to the coast. “
“It sounds as though it might work,” said Joel.
“It will need very careful planning.”
“You may rest assured that I have given my deepest thought to this.
Are you prepared to join me? “
I looked at Joel. What were we asking of him? He had come to France to take me home, to offer me marriage, and now we were suggesting that he should risk his life and perhaps face a terrible death-in order that I might find a future with another man.
But he was Joel and he did not hesitate as I knew he would not. I could almost hear my mother: “You see how right I was. He would be such a good husband to you.”
“Of course we must save the Comte,” said Joel. And I loved him for his calm reconciliation to whatever fate had to offer him. He was admirable, I knew, as the Comte could never be. But how perverse are our emotions!
Then,” said Leon, ‘let us get down to the details. If this is to work everything must go right all the way through. Not until you are on English soil will you be safe.”
All that night we were together . the three of us. Every detail was discussed over and over again. Leon reminded us once more of the risks we were running and impressed on us that only if we were prepared to consider the terrible cost of failure should we undertake this task.
Could it succeed?
I had watched them leave in the cabriolet, Joel disguised as the driver, Leon wrapped in the kind of clothes his brother favoured, the red cap on his head.
When they had left I went to take up my place at the Quai de la Megisserie.
There were many people in the streets as night came but we dared not attempt our rescue by day. I had tried to look like an old woman. My hair was completely hidden by my hood and I bent my back as I shuffled along the streets. They were terrifying, those streets by night. One could ever be sure when one would be confronted by some horrible sight. The shops were barricaded. Many of them had been looted.
Fires would spring up anywhere at any time. One would meet gangs of children singing (yd Ira.
Paris was the last place one should be in if one did not belong to it.
Perhaps this would be my last night here. It must be. I refused to contemplate failure.
How long the waiting seemed! I must be ready. I had been told to be there to step immediately into the cabriolet as it came along beside me. If it did not come in an hour, I was to make my way to our lodging in the Rue Saint-Jacques and wait there. If I heard nothing by the morning I was to leave Paris and make my way to Grasseville, where Margot and Robert would be waiting tor me to leave for England.