THE COMPLETE WORKS OF ÉMILE ZOLA. Эмиль Золя
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Название: THE COMPLETE WORKS OF ÉMILE ZOLA

Автор: Эмиль Золя

Издательство: Bookwire

Жанр: Языкознание

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isbn: 9788027233410

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СКАЧАТЬ Fine’s arms. Besides, he was in hopes that as the Prefecture was near, all the quarter would take fire: perhaps, even, barricades might be raised in the neighbouring streets; in a word he awaited some event that would facilitate the capture of the little one, and he vowed to himself he would act boldly, and risk all to succeed.

      As he took a last glance at the door, recalling to memory the inside of the house, which he had been studying for some time, he saw a young woman leave it rapidly, holding a child in her arms. He recognised Fine and little Joseph. This sudden exit alarmed him, and he proceeded to follow the young woman.

      Fine walked along hurriedly, without turning her head, impatient to arrive at her destination. She went down the Rue de Breteuil, up the Cannebière to the Place Royale and entered the narrow streets of the old town. Mathéus continued hurrying along behind her, wondering where she could be going to, and they thus reached the Place aux Œufs together. There, Fine suddenly disappeared in a house, and Mathéus remained for a few minutes in the centre of the square, perplexed, seeking to turn the precautions the Cayols were taking to his advantage.

      Marius, who had been warned by his brother on the previous evening, of the troubles that might occur in the neighbourhood of the Prefecture, had decided not to leave Joseph in the house on the Cours Bonaparte. He had vague fears of a surprise; he felt that M. de Cazalis must be there, in the dark, watching for the first opportunity that occurred. When there is fighting in the streets, there are often burglaries in the houses.

      Marius consequently thought it would not be prudent to keep the child in the room where they would certainly come to look for him in case an attempt were made to gain possession of him, and he arranged with Fine that they would hide him somewhere else, no later than the next morning. For that purpose they selected the little lodging the former flower-girl had long occupied on the Place aux Œufs and where her brother Cadet still resided. While Marius was running about the streets to watch over Philippe, his wife had just come to seek refuge with the child in a corner of Marseille where she never thought she could be discovered. As she ascended the stairs she felt quite happy, saying to herself that she and the little one were saved.

      Mathéus, after having taken two or three turns under the trees, approached a post of National Guards who were at a corner of the square. This post was occupied by men belonging to a Republican company and the spy saw at once with whom he had to deal.

      “It seems there will be fighting opposite the Prefecture,” he remarked to the lieutenant.

      The latter feigned not to hear. After an instant Mathéus continued:

      “This would be a splendid place for barricades! Just look, one would almost think the ground had been specially prepared for them.”

      The lieutenant glanced complaisantly around him and ended by making up his mind to speak.

      “Yes, yes,” he said, “there would only be a few narrow lanes to block. The workmen are our brothers, we will not fight against them.”

      Mathéus, whom the lieutenant had mistaken for a navvy, gave him a vigorous shake of the hand and hurried away. Chance had served him well: his plan of campaign was now complete. When he reached the mansion of M. de Cazalis he was panting for breath.

      “All is going on well!” he exclaimed. “I’ll be answerable for success!”

      He then noticed that M. de Cazalis was wearing the uniform of a National Guard.

      “What is the meaning of this masquerade?” he inquired in surprise. “I came to advise you not to show yourself,”

      “I cannot keep still,” answered the ex-deputy; “I’m too impatient, I must see for myself. Let us go down.”

      They went down and Mathéus related his morning’s work to his master. As they approached the Prefecture, they heard a dull and terrible sound, the first roar of the riot.

      CHAPTER XIV

      THE RIOT

      WHILST Mathéus had been following Fine and had called to inform M. de Cazalis of what he had done, the column of workmen was descending towards the Cannebière. This column, which had started from the railway station, then only comprised a few hundred workmen; but as it advanced, it recruited all whom it met on its road. Men and women, the floating population of the streets, were dragged along by this human torrent which poured down from the heights of Marseille. When the manifestation issued from the Rue de Noailles, it extended to the bottom of the Cours like an immense flood. Thousands of heads were there, swaying about like the waves of a human ocean.

      A dull, confused sound, similar to the harsh voice of the sea, ran through the ranks of this multitude. Still, it was frightfully calm. It advanced gloomy and mute, without uttering a cry, without doing any damage. It fell upon, swarmed upon Marseille, it seemed unconscious of its acts and appeared to obey natural laws of downfall and passion. An enormous rock hurled from the plain, would thus have rolled to the Port.

      White and blue blouses predominated in the ranks. There were a few bright-coloured skirts of women, and from distance to distance, the black spots of coats: dark clothes worn by men whom the people seemed to obey. The crowd descended the Cannebière with a threatening murmur, passing between the rows of houses like a running stream full of multi-coloured reflex.

      Philippe marched at the head amidst a lot of workmen, with his head thrown back and a harsh, resolute expression on his countenance. He wore a black frock coat which he had buttoned up closely, and which fitted him in at the waist like a military tunic. One felt he was ready for the struggle, that he awaited and desired it. His eye was clear, his lips were firmly set together and he uttered not a word. The pale, silent workmen by whom he was surrounded, glanced at him from time to time and seemed to be awaiting his orders.

      As the column entered the Rue Saint Ferréol, there was a slight tumult; it halted for one or two minutes, then marched on again. The street, as far as the square where it ends, was empty, a few shopkeepers had put up their shutters; people were looking out from the windows; there was a deathlike silence, broken only by the deep sound of the tramp of the crowd.

      In the middle of the empty street and at the corner of a narrow thoroughfare that crossed it, those who were in the first rank perceived a short, delicate-looking man awaiting the column. As soon as Philippe was near him, he recognised his brother. Marius without uttering a word, placed himself beside him and walked quietly amidst the rioters. The two brothers exchanged a simple look. The people must have thought they were strangers to each other.

      And the human flood continued to roll on thus to the Place Saint Ferréol.

      There, at a few yards from the square, further advance was arrested by a cordon of troops. The crowd was without arms, and the soldiers’ bayonets glittered in the sun. Murmurs of surprise and anger ran through the first ranks and rapidly spread from one end to the other of the column, the tail of which was still on the Cannebière. The workmen said in a low angry tone that they wanted to slaughter them, that they must be surrounded by troops and that the manifestation had only been authorized, in order that they might be massacred at ease.

      While these murmurs were increasing, four delegates left the ranks and asked to be taken to the Commissary of the Government, as had been arranged the day before. They had hardly disappeared behind the line of soldiers when an irreparable event occurred attended by most sanguinary consequences.

      When those at the tail of the column heard talk of troops under arms, bayonets and massacre, they apparently thought that those СКАЧАТЬ