Madame Tussaud

“What about Edmund and Johann?” Yachin worries.

My mother looks to me, but there is nothing I can offer.

It is the longest ten hours of our lives. While customers laugh over Madame du Barry and question whether my uncle’s guillotine might work, we sit at the caissier’s desk and wait for news. When the door opens at nine and it is Johann who comes through, my mother begins to weep.

“Johann!” she cries. She searches his body for cuts or wounds, and when she sees that he is sound, she takes him to her chest.

“Are they alive?” I whisper.

Johann separates himself from my mother. “Yes.” He recounts what happened after I fled, and although I’m aware of customers listening, I am too engrossed to send them away.

“There wasn’t a room in the palace they didn’t enter. When they found the king, they threatened him with pistols, and as God is my witness I thought they would shoot. But he was eloquent. For the first time in his life, the king knew what to say. He said he was the father of our country and a believer in liberty. That he would protect the Constitution until his dying breath and that the Austrians would never make their way into Paris. Then the mob forced a liberty cap on his head. It was shameful,” he admits. “It was embarrassing.”

TWO DAYS LATER, when Lafayette hears what has transpired in the Tuileries, he is beside himself with rage. He returns to Paris and calls for the destruction of the Jacobin Club, whose members participated in the storming of the Tuileries. In Tuesday’s salon, that is all we hear about.

“Liberty cannot coexist with men like Lafayette,” Robespierre threatens.

“So what do you propose?” the Duc wants to know.

Robespierre is thoughtful for a moment. “That death be brought to all traitors.”

Chapter 45

JULY

6, 1792

You are young, Camille Desmoulins, candor is on your lips … but you are often fooled by that very candor.

—JACQUES-PIERRE BRISSOT, REVOLUTIONARY LEADER

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MORE THAN THREE MONTHS, GOOD news is delivered to our doorstep. Camille has come to tell us that Lucile has survived childbirth and a healthy son, Horace, has been delivered. We are all overjoyed for him. Despite our vast differences in politics, he is a good man at heart. And for all of Lucile’s impassioned speeches, she has only wanted a better future for France.

“I know you are b-b-busy with the Salon,” Camille says. He is so excited that his stutter has returned. “But I was wondering if you might come to our ap-p-partment and sketch my son. We would like to have a wax model done of him.”

It is not an unusual request. If parents can afford it, many times they will want wax sculptures of their infants. Particularly if the children are stillborn.

I gather my papers while Camille goes next door to give Henri the news. When I step outside, he is trying to convince Henri to leave his caissier’s desk to visit Horace and Lucile. “Why not?” I encourage him. “It’s a beautiful day.”

“Are you suggesting I close the exhibition early and risk profit?”

I grin. “Of course not. Your assistant can stay here. That’s what he’s for.”

The three of us make our way through the streets. On every lamppost is a red and blue sign encouraging young men to enlist in the army. One of the posters catches Camille’s eye, and the color rises on his neck. “We are losing this war!” he says angrily. Several passersby turn to look at us. “I have a son to take care of, and the Austro-Prussian army is advancing. Every National Guardsman has been ordered to protect Paris, but with what weapons?” he asks. “With what cannon?”

“Is there any news from the fronts?” Henri asks cautiously.

It is not wise to appear too eager for word, especially if it is dire. The Assembly has ordered the closure of every theater, and our exhibits must show our patriotism in new ways: every model must wear a bonnet rouge, which the commoners are calling a liberty cap, and shoes that lace instead of buckle. Men’s knee breeches have been replaced with long striped pants, and women’s skirts must be white, red, and blue. Poor Madame du Barry, in her beautiful court dress, has been reduced to skirts a la circassienne, as if she’s wrapped herself in a tricolor flag. Only Robespierre, who stands at the Jacobin podium and preaches against hypocrisy, is allowed to retain his silk culottes and powdered wig.

“The news is not good,” Camille replies as we reach his apartment. “The Comte de Provence and the Comte d’Artois have joined forces with the Austrians and are commanding an army of emigres.” He stops on the stairs. “Please do not mention any of this to Lucile.”

Inside of Camille’s beautifully decorated salon, more than two dozen people are celebrating. There are spirits, wine, and bowls of tobacco for the men who are lighting up pipes. Lucile reclines in a chaise lounge at the center of the room, and the infant Horace is at her breast. The image is so striking that I ask Camille if he would like mother and son sculpted together.

“What do you think?” he asks Lucile. “A wax b-b-bust of mother and child?”

She looks lovingly into her little son’s face. “Why not?” she asks tenderly. “Then we can keep this moment forever.”

Camille finds me a chair, and while I take out my paper and ink, he introduces Henri to his friends. “Congratulations,” I tell Lucile.

She beams up at me with a mother’s pride. “It was all done so quickly. Everyone told me to expect labor pains for twenty-four hours, but it was over before it even began.”

“You are fortunate,” I say, beginning to sketch. She did not gain much weight in her pregnancy. She appears much the same, with her dark hair falling around her shoulders and her sharp eyes darting about the room.

“Well, soon it will be you.” She runs her finger down her son’s little nose, and her expression changes. “Do you think we have done right in naming him Horace Camille?” She searches the room. “His godfather is to be Robespierre, but he hasn’t come. Perhaps he is angry?”

“It has nothing to do with the name,” I promise her.

“Is it politics then?”

I look across the salon at Camille, who has his arm around Henri’s shoulders and is laughing. He specifically asked us not to speak about war. This is supposed to be a happy day, a time of new life, not of loss and death. “Yes,” I reply. “Politics.”

“You can tell me,” she says. “I’m not a delicate flower just because I’ve become a mother.”

Now I am caught between the truth and my promise. Finally, I say, “They have a difference of opinion on the war.”

Lucile leans back against the couch and groans. “It is always this way with Robespierre. You are either with him or against him, a traitor to the country or a defender of liberty. There is no in between. And he never forgets an indignity or a slight.”

I nod quietly and do not say anything.

“Now that Camille can live on my dowry, he has dedicated himself to the Jacobin Club. He is no longer a journalist, and I think this makes Robespierre envious,” she confides.

In place of Camille’s paper, a dozen new journals have sprung up, including Robespierre’s weekly La Defenseur de la Constitution. The bloodred cover symbolizes the bloodshed that liberty and equality require. I can imagine Robespierre being jealous now that Camille has both the money and the time to dedicate himself exclusively to politics, while he must still work for his living.

“This feud cannot continue,” Lucile says. “Camille and Robespierre have known each other since they were children. Marie, will you do a favor for me?”