{"id":2424,"date":"2025-03-30T08:41:19","date_gmt":"2025-03-30T08:41:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=2424"},"modified":"2025-03-30T08:41:19","modified_gmt":"2025-03-30T08:41:19","slug":"solange-by-alexandre-dumas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=2424","title":{"rendered":"Solange by Alexandre Dumas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When thousands are being executed, would you risk your life to save a stranger? That\u2019s the choice faced by Dr. Ledru in Solange by <a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/name-that-year-book-quiz\">Alexandre Dumas<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p><em>This post may contain affiliate links that earn us a commission at no extra cost to you.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Solange by Alexandre Dumas<\/h2>\n<div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"__youtube_prefs__ epyt-facade no-lazyload\"><button class=\"epyt-facade-play\"><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Solange by Alexandre Dumas<\/h2>\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">DR. LEDRU\u2019S STORY OF THE REIGN OF TERROR<\/h2>\n<p>Leaving l\u2019Abbaye, I walked straight across the Place Turenne to the Rue Tournon, where I had lodgings, when I heard a woman scream for help.<\/p>\n<p>It could not be an assault to commit robbery, for it was hardly ten o\u2019clock in the evening. I ran to the corner of the place whence the sounds proceeded, and by the light of the moon, just then breaking through the clouds, I beheld a woman in the midst of a patrol of sans-culottes.<\/p>\n<p>The lady observed me at the same instant, and seeing, by the character of my dress, that I did not belong to the common order of people, she ran toward me, exclaiming:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is M. Albert! He knows me! He will tell you that I am the daughter of Mme. Ledieu, the laundress.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With these words the poor creature, pale and trembling with excitement, seized my arm and clung to me as a shipwrecked sailor to a spar.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo matter whether you are the daughter of Mme. Ledieu or some one else, as you have no pass, you must go with us to the guard-house.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The young girl pressed my arm. I perceived in this pressure the expression of her great distress of mind. I understood it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo it is you, my poor Solange?\u201d I said. \u201cWhat are you doing here?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere, messieurs!\u201d she exclaimed in tones of deep anxiety; \u201cdo you believe me now?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou might at least say \u2018citizens!&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAh, sergeant, do not blame me for speaking that way,\u201d said the pretty young girl; \u201cmy mother has many customers among the great people, and taught me to be polite. That\u2019s how I acquired this bad habit\u2013the habit of the aristocrats; and, you know, sergeant, it\u2019s so hard to shake off old habits!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This answer, delivered in trembling accents, concealed a delicate irony that was lost on all save me. I asked myself, who is this young woman? The mystery seemed complete. This alone was clear; she was not the daughter of a laundress.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow did I come here, Citizen Albert?\u201d she asked. \u201cWell, I will tell you. I went to deliver some washing. The lady was not at home, and so I waited; for in these hard times every one needs what little money is coming to him. In that way it grew dark, and so I fell among these gentlemen\u2013beg pardon, I would say citizens. <\/p>\n<p>They asked for my pass. As I did not have it with me, they were going to take me to the guard-house. I cried out in terror, which brought you to the scene; and as luck would have it, you are a friend. I said to myself, as M. Albert knows my name to be Solange Ledieu, he will vouch for me; and that you will, will you not, M. Albert?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCertainly, I will vouch for you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVery well,\u201d said the leader of the patrol; \u201cand who, pray, will vouch for you, my friend?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDanton! Do you know him? Is he a good patriot?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, if Danton will vouch for you, I have nothing to say.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, there is a session of the Cordeliers to-day. Let us go there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGood,\u201d said the leader. \u201cCitizens, let us go to the Cordeliers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The club of the Cordeliers met at the old Cordelier monastery in the Rue l\u2019Observance. We arrived there after scarce a minute\u2019s walk. At the door I tore a page from my note-book, wrote a few words upon it with a lead pencil, gave it to the sergeant, and requested him to hand it to Danton, while I waited outside with the men.<\/p>\n<p>The sergeant entered the clubhouse and returned with Danton.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat!\u201d said he to me; \u201cthey have arrested you, my friend? You, the friend of Camilles\u2013you, one of the most loyal republicans? Citizens,\u201d he continued, addressing the sergeant, \u201cI vouch for him. Is that sufficient?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou vouch for him. Do you also vouch for her?\u201d asked the stubborn sergeant.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor her? To whom do you refer?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis girl.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor everything; for everybody who may be in his company. Does that satisfy you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes,\u201d said the man; \u201cespecially since I have had the privilege of seeing you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With a cheer for Danton, the patrol marched away. I was about to thank Danton, when his name was called repeatedly within.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPardon me, my friend,\u201d he said; \u201cyou hear? There is my hand; I must leave you\u2013the left. I gave my right to the sergeant. Who knows, the good patriot may have scrofula?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m coming!\u201d he exclaimed, addressing those within in his mighty voice with which he could pacify or arouse the masses. He hastened into the house.<\/p>\n<p>I remained standing at the door, alone with my unknown.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd now, my lady,\u201d I said, \u201cwhither would you have me escort you? I am at your disposal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy, to Mme. Ledieu,\u201d she said with a laugh. \u201cI told you she was my mother.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd where does Mme. Ledieu reside?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRue Ferou, 24.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen, let us proceed to Rue Ferou, 24.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On the way neither of us spoke a word. But by the light of the moon, enthroned in serene glory in the sky, I was able to observe her at my leisure. She was a charming girl of twenty or twenty-two\u2013brunette, with large blue eyes, more expressive of intelligence than melancholy\u2013a finely chiseled nose, mocking lips, teeth of pearl, hands like a queen\u2019s, and feet like a child\u2019s; and all these, in spite of her costume of a laundress, betokened an aristocratic air that had aroused the sergeant\u2019s suspicions not without justice.<\/p>\n<p>Arrived at the door of the house, we looked at each other a moment in silence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, my dear M. Albert, what do you wish?\u201d my fair unknown asked with a smile.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was about to say, my dear Mlle. Solange, that it was hardly worth while to meet if we are to part so soon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, I beg ten thousand pardons! I find it was well worth the while; for if I had not met you, I should have been dragged to the guard-house, and there it would have been discovered that I am not the daughter of Mme. Ledieu\u2013in fact, it would have developed that I am an aristocrat, and in all likelihood they would have cut off my head.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou admit, then, that you are an aristocrat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI admit nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt least you might tell me your name.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSolange.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know very well that this name, which I gave you on the inspiration of the moment, is not your right name.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo matter; I like it, and I am going to keep it\u2013at least for you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy should you keep it for me? if we are not to meet again?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI did not say that. I only said that if we should meet again it will not be necessary for you to know my name any more than that I should know yours. To me you will be known as Albert, and to you I shall always be Solange.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo be it, then; but I say, Solange,\u201d I began.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am listening, Albert,\u201d she replied.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou are an aristocrat\u2013that you admit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf I did not admit it, you would surmise it, and so my admission would be divested of half its merit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd you were pursued because you were suspected of being an aristocrat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI fear so.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd you are hiding to escape persecution?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the Rue Ferou, No. 24, with Mme. Ledieu, whose husband was my father\u2019s coachman. You see, I have no secret from you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd your father?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI shall make no concealment, my dear Albert, of anything that relates to me. But my fathers secrets are not my own. My father is in hiding, hoping to make his escape. That is all I can tell you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd what are you going to do?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGo with my father, if that be possible. If not, allow him to depart without me until the opportunity offers itself to me to join him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWere you coming from your father when the guard arrested you to-night?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cListen, dearest Solange.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am all attention.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou observed all that took place to-night?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes. I saw that you had powerful influence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI regret my power is not very great. However, I have friends.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI made the acquaintance of one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd you know he is not one of the least powerful men of the times.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo you intend to enlist his influence to enable my father to escape?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo, I reserve him for you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut my father?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have other ways of helping your father.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOther ways?\u201d exclaimed Solange, seizing my hands and studying me with an anxious expression.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf I serve your father, will you then sometimes think kindly of me?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, I shall all my life hold you in grateful remembrance!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She uttered these words with an enchanting expression of devotion. Then she looked at me beseechingly and said:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut will that satisfy you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAh, I was not mistaken. You are kind, generous. I thank you for my father and myself. Even if you should fail, I shall be grateful for what you have already done!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen shall we meet again, Solange?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen do you think it necessary to see me again?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo-morrow, when I hope to have good news for you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, then, to-morrow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHere.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHere in the street?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, mon Dieu!\u201d she exclaimed. \u201cYou see, it is the safest place. For thirty minutes, while we have been talking here, not a soul has passed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy may I not go to you, or you come to me?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause it would compromise the good people if you should come to me, and you would incur serious risk if I should go to you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, I would give you the pass of one of my relatives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd send your relative to the guillotine if I should be accidentally arrested!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTrue. I will bring you a pass made out in the name of Solange.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCharming! You observe Solange is my real name.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd the hour?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe same at which we met to-night\u2013ten o\u2019clock, if you please.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll right; ten o\u2019clock. And how shall we meet?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is very simple. Be at the door at five minutes of ten, and at ten I will come down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen, at ten to-morrow, dear Solange.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo-morrow at ten, dear Albert.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I wanted to kiss her hand; she offered me her brow.<\/p>\n<p>The next day I was in the street at half past nine. At a quarter of ten Solange opened the door. We were both ahead of time.<\/p>\n<p>With one leap I was by her side.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI see you have good news,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cExcellent! First, here is a pass for you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFirst my father!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She repelled my hand.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour father is saved, if he wishes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWishes, you say? What is required of him?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe must trust me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is assured.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHave you seen him?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have discussed the situation with him?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was unavoidable. Heaven will help us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you tell your father all?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI told him you had saved my life yesterday, and that you would perhaps save his to-morrow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo-morrow! Yes, quite right; to-morrow I shall save his life, if it is his will.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow? What? Speak! Speak! If that were possible, how fortunately all things have come to pass!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHowever\u2013\u201d I began hesitatingly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt will be impossible for you to accompany him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI told you I was resolute.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am quite confident, however, that I shall be able later to procure a passport for you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFirst tell me about my father; my own distress is less important.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, I told you I had friends, did I not?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo-day I sought out one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cProceed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA man whose name is familiar to you; whose name is a guarantee of courage and honor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd this man is?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMarceau.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGeneral Marceau?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTrue, he will keep a promise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, he has promised.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMon Dieu! How happy you make me! What has he promised? Tell me all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe has promised to help us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn what manner?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn a very simple manner. Kl\u00e9ber has just had him promoted to the command of the western army. He departs to-morrow night.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo-morrow night! We shall have no time to make the smallest preparation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are no preparations to make.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI do not understand.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe will take your father with him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy father?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, as his secretary. Arrived in the Vend\u00e9e, your father will pledge his word to the general to undertake nothing against France. From there he will escape to Brittany, and from Brittany to England. When he arrives in London, he will inform you; I shall obtain a passport for you, and you will join him in London.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo-morrow,\u201d exclaimed Solange; \u201cmy father departs tomorrow!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is no time to waste.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy father has not been informed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInform him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo-night?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo-night.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut how, at this hour?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have a pass and my arm.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTrue. My pass.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I gave it to her. She thrust it into her bosom.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow? your arm?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I gave her my arm, and we walked away. When we arrived at the Place Turenne\u2013that is, the spot where we had met the night before\u2013she said: \u201cAwait me here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I bowed and waited.<\/p>\n<p>She disappeared around the corner of what was formerly the H\u00f4tel Malignon. After a lapse of fifteen minutes she returned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCome,\u201d she said, \u201cmy father wishes to receive and thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She took my arm and led me up to the Rue St. Guillaume, opposite the H\u00f4tel Mortemart. Arrived here, she took a bunch of keys from her pocket, opened a small, concealed door, took me by the hand, conducted me up two flights of steps, and knocked in a peculiar manner.<\/p>\n<p>A man of forty-eight or fifty years opened the door. He was dressed as a working man and appeared to be a bookbinder. But at the first utterance that burst from his lips, the evidence of the seigneur was unmistakable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMonsieur,\u201d he said, \u201cProvidence has sent you to us. I regard you an emissary of fate. Is it true that you can save me, or, what is more, that you wish to save me?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I admitted him completely to my confidence. I informed him that Marceau would take him as his secretary, and would exact no promise other than that he would not take up arms against France.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI cheerfully promise it now, and will repeat it to him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thank you in his name as well as in my own.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut when does Marceau depart?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo-morrow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShall I go to him to-night?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhenever you please; he expects you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Father and daughter looked at each other.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it would be wise to go this very night,\u201d said Solange.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am ready; but if I should be arrested, seeing that I have no permit?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHere is mine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, I am known.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere does Marceau reside?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRue de l\u2019Universit\u00e9, 40, with his sister, Mlle. D\u00e9graviers-Marceau.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWill you accompany me?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI shall follow you at a distance, to accompany mademoiselle home when you are gone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow will Marceau know that I am the man of whom you spoke to him?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou will hand him this tri-colored cockade; that is the sign of identification.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd how shall I reward my liberator?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy allowing him to save your daughter also.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVery well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He put on his hat and extinguished the lights, and we descended by the gleam of the moon which penetrated the stair-windows.<\/p>\n<p>At the foot of the steps he took his daughter\u2019s arm, and by way of the Rue des Saints P\u00e8res we reached Rue de l\u2019Universit\u00e9. I followed them at a distance of ten paces. We arrived at No. 40 without having met any one. I rejoined them there.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is a good omen,\u201d I said; \u201cdo you wish me to go up with you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo. Do not compromise yourself any further. Await my daughter here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I bowed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd now, once more, thanks and farewell,\u201d he said, giving me his hand. \u201cLanguage has no words to express my gratitude. I pray that heaven may some day grant me the opportunity of giving fuller expression to my feelings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I answered him with a pressure of the hand.<\/p>\n<p>He entered the house. Solange followed him; but she, too, pressed my hand before she entered.<\/p>\n<p>In ten minutes the door was reopened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour friend,\u201d she said, \u201cis worthy of his name; he is as kind and considerate as yourself. He knows that it will contribute to my happiness to remain with my father until the moment of departure. His sister has ordered a bed placed in her room. To-morrow at three o\u2019clock my father will be out of danger. To-morrow evening at ten I shall expect you in the Rue Ferou, if the gratitude of a daughter who owes her father\u2019s life to you is worth the trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, be sure I shall come. Did your father charge you with any message for me?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe thanks you for your pass, which he returns to you, and begs you to join him as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhenever it may be your desire to go,\u201d I said, with a strange sensation at my heart.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt least, I must know where I am to join him,\u201d she said. \u201cAh, you are not yet rid of me!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I seized her hand and pressed it against my heart, but she offered me her brow, as on the previous evening, and said: \u201cUntil to-morrow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I kissed her on the brow; but now I no longer strained her hand against my breast, but her heaving bosom, her throbbing heart.<\/p>\n<p>I went home in a state of delirious ecstasy such as I had never experienced. Was it the consciousness of a generous action, or was it love for this adorable creature? I know not whether I slept or woke. I only know that all the harmonies of nature were singing within me; that the night seemed endless, and the day eternal; I know that though I wished to speed the time, I did not wish to lose a moment of the days still to come.<\/p>\n<p>The next day I was in the Rue Ferou at nine o\u2019clock. At half-past nine Solange made her appearance.<\/p>\n<p>She approached me and threw her arms around my neck.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSaved!\u201d she said; \u201cmy father is saved! And this I owe you. Oh, how I love you!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Two weeks later Solange received a letter announcing her father\u2019s safe arrival in England.<\/p>\n<p>The next day I brought her a passport.<\/p>\n<p>When Solange received it she burst into tears.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou do not love me!\u201d she exclaimed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love you better than my life,\u201d I replied; \u201cbut I pledged your father my word, and I must keep it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen, I will break mine,\u201d she said. \u201cYes, Albert; if you have the heart to let me go, I have not the courage to leave you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Alas, she remained!<\/p>\n<p>Three months had passed since that night on which we talked of her escape, and in all that time not a word of parting had passed her lips.<\/p>\n<p>Solange had taken lodgings in the Rue Turenne. I had rented them in her name. I knew no other, while she always addressed me as Albert. I had found her a place as teacher in a young ladies\u2019 seminary solely to withdraw her from the espionage of the revolutionary police, which had become more scrutinizing than ever.<\/p>\n<p>Sundays we passed together in the small dwelling, from the bedroom of which we could see the spot where we had first met. We exchanged letters daily, she writing to me under the name of Solange, and I to her under that of Albert.<\/p>\n<p>Those three months were the happiest of my life.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime I was making some interesting experiments suggested by one of the guillotiniers. I had obtained permission to make certain scientific tests with the bodies and heads of those who perished on the scaffold. Sad to say, available subjects were not wanting. Not a day passed but thirty or forty persons were guillotined, and blood flowed so copiously on the Place de la R\u00e9volution that it became necessary to dig a trench three feet deep around the scaffolding. This trench was covered with deals. One of them loosened under the feet of an eight-year-old lad, who fell into the abominable pit and was drowned.<\/p>\n<p>For self-evident reasons I said nothing to Solange of the studies that occupied my attention during the day. In the beginning my occupation had inspired me with pity and loathing, but as time wore on I said: \u201cThese studies are for the good of humanity,\u201d for I hoped to convince the lawmakers of the wisdom of abolishing capital punishment.<\/p>\n<p>The Cemetery of Clamart had been assigned to me, and all the heads and trunks of the victims of the executioner had been placed at my disposal. A small chapel in one corner of the cemetery had been converted into a kind of laboratory for my benefit. You know, when the queens were driven from the palaces, God was banished from the churches.<\/p>\n<p>Every day at six the horrible procession filed in. The bodies were heaped together in a wagon, the heads in a sack. I chose some bodies and heads in a haphazard fashion, while the remainder were thrown into a common grave.<\/p>\n<p>In the midst of this occupation with the dead, my love for Solange increased from day to day; while the poor child reciprocated my affection with the whole power of her pure soul.<\/p>\n<p>Often I had thought of making her my wife; often we had mutually pictured to ourselves the happiness of such a union. But in order to become my wife, it would be necessary for Solange to reveal her name; and this name, which was that of an emigrant, an aristocrat, meant death.<\/p>\n<p>Her father had repeatedly urged her by letter to hasten her departure, but she had informed him of our engagement. She had requested his consent, and he had given it, so that all had gone well to this extent.<\/p>\n<p>The trial and execution of the queen, Marie Antoinette, had plunged me, too, into deepest sadness. Solange was all tears, and we could not rid ourselves of a strange feeling of despondency, a presentiment of approaching danger, that compressed our hearts. In vain I tried to whisper courage to Solange. Weeping, she reclined in my arms, and I could not comfort her, because my own words lacked the ring of confidence.<\/p>\n<p>We passed the night together as usual, but the night was even more depressing than the day. I recall now that a dog, locked up in a room below us, howled till two o\u2019clock in the morning. The next day we were told that the dog\u2019s master had gone away with the key in his pocket, had been arrested on the way, tried at three, and executed at four.<\/p>\n<p>The time had come for us to part. Solange\u2019s duties at the school began at nine o\u2019clock in the morning. Her school was in the vicinity of the Botanic Gardens. I hesitated long to let her go; she, too, was loath to part from me. But it must be. Solange was prone to be an object of unpleasant inquiries.<\/p>\n<p>I called a conveyance and Accompanied her as far as the Rue des Fosses-Saint-Bernard, where I got out and left her to pursue her way alone. All the way we lay mutely wrapped in each other\u2019s arms, mingling tears with our kisses.<\/p>\n<p>After leaving the carriage, I stood as if rooted to the ground. I heard Solange call me, but I dared not go to her, because her face, moist with tears, and her hysterical manner were calculated to attract attention.<\/p>\n<p>Utterly wretched, I returned home, passing the entire day in writing to Solange. In the evening I sent her an entire volume of love-pledges.<\/p>\n<p>My letter had hardly gone to the post when I received one from her.<\/p>\n<p>She had been sharply reprimanded for coming late; had been subjected to a severe cross-examination, and threatened with forfeiture of her next holiday. But she vowed to join me even at the cost of her place. I thought I should go mad at the prospect of being parted from her a whole week. I was more depressed because a letter which had arrived from her father appeared to have been tampered with.<\/p>\n<p>I passed a wretched night and a still more miserable day.<\/p>\n<p>The next day the weather was appalling. Nature seemed to be dissolving in a cold, ceaseless rain\u2013a rain like that which announces the approach of winter. All the way to the laboratory my ears were tortured with the criers announcing the names of the condemned, a large number of men, women, and children. The bloody harvest was over-rich. I should not lack subjects for my investigations that day.<\/p>\n<p>The day ended early. At four o\u2019clock I arrived at Clamart; it was almost night.<\/p>\n<p>The view of the cemetery, with its large, new-made graves; the sparse, leafless trees that swayed in the wind, was desolate, almost appalling.<\/p>\n<p>A large, open pit yawned before me. It was to receive to-day\u2019s harvest from the Place de la R\u00e9volution. An exceedingly large number of victims was expected, for the pit was deeper than usual.<\/p>\n<p>Mechanically I approached the grave. At the bottom the water had gathered in a pool; my feet slipped; I came within an inch of falling in. My hair stood on end. The rain had drenched me to the skin. I shuddered and hastened into the laboratory.<\/p>\n<p>It was, as I have said, an abandoned chapel. My eyes searched\u2013I know not why\u2013to discover if some traces of the holy purpose to which the edifice had once been devoted did not still adhere to the walls or to the altar; but the walls were bare, the altar empty.<\/p>\n<p>I struck a light and deposited the candle on the operating-table on which lay scattered a miscellaneous assortment of the strange instruments I employed. I sat down and fell into a reverie. I thought of the poor queen, whom I had seen in her beauty, glory, and happiness, yesterday carted to the scaffold, pursued by the execrations of a people, to-day lying headless on the common sinners\u2019 bier\u2013she who had slept beneath the gilded canopy of the throne of the Tuileries and St. Cloud.<\/p>\n<p>As I sat thus, absorbed in gloomy meditation, wind and rain without redoubled in fury. The rain-drops dashed against the window-panes, the storm swept with melancholy moaning through the branches of the trees. Anon there mingled with the violence of the elements the sound of wheels.<\/p>\n<p>It was the executioner\u2019s red hearse with its ghastly freight from the Place de la R\u00e9volution.<\/p>\n<p>The door of the little chapel was pushed ajar, and two men, drenched with rain, entered, carrying a sack between them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere, M. Ledru,\u201d said the guillotinier; \u201cthere is what your heart longs for! Be in no hurry this night! We\u2019ll leave you to enjoy their society alone. Orders are not to cover them up till to-morrow, and so they\u2019ll not take cold.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With a horrible laugh, the two executioners deposited the sack in a corner, near the former altar, right in front of me. Thereupon they sauntered out, leaving open the door, which swung furiously on its hinges till my candle flashed and flared in the fierce draft.<\/p>\n<p>I heard them unharness the horse, lock the cemetery, and go away.<\/p>\n<p>I was strangely impelled to go with them, but an indefinable power fettered me in my place. I could not repress a shudder. I had no fear; but the violence of the storm, the splashing of the rain, the whistling sounds of the lashing branches, the shrill vibration of the atmosphere, which made my candle tremble\u2013all this filled me with a vague terror that began at the roots of my hair and communicated itself to every part of my body.<\/p>\n<p>Suddenly I fancied I heard a voice! A voice at once soft and plaintive; a voice within the chapel, pronouncing the name of \u201cAlbert!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I was startled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlbert!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But one person in all the world addressed me by that name!<\/p>\n<p>Slowly I directed my weeping eyes around the chapel, which, though small, was not completely lighted by the feeble rays of the candle, leaving the nooks and angles in darkness, and my look remained fixed on the blood-soaked sack near the altar with its hideous contents.<\/p>\n<p>At this moment the same voice repeated the same name, only it sounded fainter and more plaintive.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlbert!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I bolted out of my chair, frozen with horror.<\/p>\n<p>The voice seemed to proceed from the sack!<\/p>\n<p>I touched myself to make sure that I was awake; then I walked toward the sack with my arms extended before me, but stark and staring with horror. I thrust my hand into it. Then it seemed to me as if two lips, still warm, pressed a kiss upon my fingers!<\/p>\n<p>I had reached that stage of boundless terror where the excess of fear turns into the audacity of despair. I seized the head and collapsing in my chair, placed it in front of me.<\/p>\n<p>Then I gave vent to a fearful scream. This head, with its lips still warm, with the eyes half closed, was the head of Solange!<\/p>\n<p>I thought I should go mad.<\/p>\n<p>Three times I called:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSolange! Solange! Solange!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the third time she opened her eyes and looked at me. Tears trickled down her cheeks; then a moist glow darted from her eyes, as if the soul were passing, and the eyes closed, never to open again.<\/p>\n<p>I sprang to my feet a raving maniac, I wanted to fly; I knocked against the table; it fell. The candle was extinguished; the head rolled upon the floor, and I fell prostrate, as if a terrible fever had stricken me down\u2013an icy-shudder convulsed me, and, with a deep sigh, I swooned.<\/p>\n<p>The following morning at six the grave-diggers found me, cold as the flagstones on which I lay.<\/p>\n<p>Solange, betrayed by her father\u2019s letter, had been arrested the same day, condemned, and executed.<\/p>\n<p>The head that had called me, the eyes that had looked at me, were the head, the eyes, of Solange!<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"> Best Alexandre Dumas Books to Read<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3DQCezN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3KDPSdn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3KDPSdn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><br \/>\nClick on the image to get a copy<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<p>If you enjoyed Solange by Alexandre Dumas, check out <a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/the-mysterious-mansion-by-honore-de-balzac\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Mysterious Mansion by Honor\u00e9 De Balzac<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Narrated by Bruce Pirie, courtesy of Libravox.org<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When thousands are being executed, would you risk your life to save a stranger? That\u2019s the choice faced by Dr. Ledru in Solange by Alexandre Dumas. This post may contain affiliate links that earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. Solange by Alexandre Dumas Solange by Alexandre Dumas DR. LEDRU\u2019S STORY OF [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2424"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}