Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/404



"'But,' I added, in leaving him, 'are you not afraid of having your hand forced by an interpellation from your colleague, Urbain, of the Commune?'

"Citizen Rigault smiled with the air of a man sure of his superiority.

"'Urbain,' he answered me with a gesture of disdain; 'I am not at all afraid of his interpellations; I fear no interpellation. The affair shall only come on when you give me the sign.'

"After this information, little academical, but entirely Parisian, I took leave of my redoubtable interlocutor, and I thanked him, promising not 'to give him a sign' so very soon.

"In leaving the palace, I entered my carriage and was conducted immediately to Mazas. I asked to see the Archbishop in his cell, and not in the parlor of the advocates. My request was accorded with a good grace.

"'He is quite ill,' the chief guardian told me.

"On entering the cell of the poor Archbishop, I was struck, in fact, by his air of suffering and depression. Thanks to the doctor of the establishment, the regulation hammock of the prisoners had been replaced by a bed. On this he was lying dressed, his beard and mustaches long, and on his head a small black skull-cap. He was dressed in a rather worn cassock, from beneath which fell the ends of a violet sash. His features were much changed, and his face very pale. The noise I made in entering caused him to turn his head. Without knowing me, he imagined who I was, and extended his hand with a sad and sweet smile, which was at the same time of penetrating finesse.

"'You are ill, monseigneur, and I disturb you. Had I not better come some other day?'

"'Oh, no; I thank you so much for coming. I am ill, quite ill. I have suffered for some time from an affection of