The express, which turned up at the usual time, was taken by storm. When would it get to Paris? They would guarantee nothing as to that.
I had the luck to find myself a place as eighth in a second-class carriage. Opposite me two old maids never stopped talking, in a whisper, probably about everything on earth but the news of the day. A bourgeois2 couple with a crew of sulky children argued for hours about opening the windows.
There was a minute inspection3 of the baggage at the Pontarlier custom-house. Nothing occurred. We got back into the train. The speed was fast until D?le; there we slowed down noticeably.
[Pg 41]
There was a long stop at Dijon. The station already seemed to be under military occupation. Very few civilians4 on the platforms, but behind the gates, the murmur5 of a crowd come for news, kept back by sentries6 with fixed7 bayonets.
The news-seller, despoiled8 of her wares9, was hawking10 round nothing but some illustrated11 comic and sporting papers; I bought two or three from her, but did not read them.
We left Dijon towards eleven o'clock. From there onwards, mad rushes, sudden stoppages, and breathless progress, alternated.
Laroche at last.
There, the Paris papers had just arrived. We threw ourselves upon them. I managed to get one. I was surrounded at once. People squashed up against me to get at least a glimpse of the stop-press and headlines. I was not very accommodating about exhibiting my paper, and I soon succeeded in shaking them off, and getting back to my carriage.
The train started off again.
Standing12 up in the corridor, I admit that I read and re-read the leading article without skipping a single line.
I expected a good leader and was not disappointed. I relished13 the indispensable paragraph on the past and future of France, on the sacred union in face of the enemy.
My neighbour nudged me with his elbow.
"Oh! Isn't it just what everyone is thinking?"
"Yes, yes."
Exact information was what I really thirsted for. I remember two headlines: "To-morrow?" and "A Day at the Quai d'Orsay." In a prominent position the President's Proclamation. The article was a[Pg 42] success: the obvious thing to say. "Mobilisation is not war." But there was no mistaking it; the spark had caught, the fire was already crackling.
I learnt the news of the preceding days, including the assassination14 of Jaurès, merely from allusions—to me they were so many claps of thunder!
One main point stood out: Germany's declaration of war on Russia. Like a shot France was dragged in, automatically. A well-laid scheme on the part of the Wilhelmstrasse. The odious15 article from the Cologne Gazette which was reproduced everywhere had been a final eye-opener.
One amusing detail: Hervé asking to be allowed to go! Another rather shocked me: Telegrams from various places on "the Enthusiasm in the Provinces...." I had just come from the provinces!
I had finished reading. It was evident that my neighbour was dying to talk. Feeling charitably disposed I gave him an opening. In five minutes I had learnt all there was to know about his antecedents, his family, and his profession. He had passed his legal examinations, taking the degree of licentiate, and was the son of a lawyer. He was coming back from Autun, the home of his maternal16 grandfather. What times we were living through, sir! The day before when the official telegram had arrived, ah, what enthusiasm there had been; I ought to have seen the factory hands rushing out shouting: "To the front!"
"You saw them then?"
"Oh no, I didn't!"
He had read this description in the Mémorial d'Autun.
He asked me childish questions about our chances, and the schemes at headquarters.
[Pg 43]
I sententiously put forward the idea of an offensive in Alsace. He jumped at it.
"To take the offensive. Yes, yes. That was the only thing to be done."
He confided18 in me that he too was a non-commissioned officer in the reserves, attached to the 74th Rouens. He was to rejoin the next day. He asked my name, and gave me his address. He offered me his friendship as a brother-in-arms. I was tempted19 to be touched by the thought that here was one of the young men of my own age, who would fight, and perhaps fall, at my side on the plains of Lorraine. But my scepticism and coldness offered too strong a resistance, and when I heard him exclaim: "If we've got to be killed, we've got to be, and that's all about it!" my indignation was aroused. Sincere! He was sincere enough; a puppet who came near to being a hero! There were such beings, incapable20 of reasoning for themselves, always ready to set out to fight for never mind which side. Yesterday for the Church. To-day for the State. To-morrow for some social chimera21. If it had only been themselves they disposed of!... But they were in the majority, it was they who oppressed us.
Much irritated, I wickedly said to myself: "Let him sell his life cheaply! It certainly isn't worth much!"
I escaped from him and gained a distant door, whither he did not follow me.
Our journey was drawing to an end. The train had put on speed. With shrieks22 of pride and whirling smoke and sparks, our powerful engine dragged us towards the City, the huge magnet which, at this time was rallying so many friendly forces. The intoxication23 of this attrac[Pg 44]tion made itself felt twenty kilometres away. The six-fold rails gleamed in the sun on the sand embankments. We thundered along, without slackening our speed, through the suburb stations, whose names were slurred24 by our haste. Crowds of people huddled25 together on the platforms, gazed at us in respectful silence. Maisons-Alfort, Charenton. We went ahead of ten trains which were crawling along the side lines, and speeding up their connecting-rods in vain. Smoke darkened the air. We passed by high houses, grimy with soot26, whose windows, where the washing was put out to dry overhung our cutting. Then came the metallic27 crash of the double bridge flung across the rivers where they join,—the moat outside the walls—Paris! We were in Paris!
I was thrilled with excitement. Capital of the civilised world, head of a great nation at war! From here had leaped out the old call to arms! Leaning out, I tried to distinguish beyond the line of railway-carriages, sidings and signal-boxes, in the streets skirting the line, in the avenues we crossed on heavy iron bridges, the residents, and passers-by, all those who had just lived through such rousing hours here.
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1
influx
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| n.流入，注入 | |
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2
bourgeois
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| adj./n.追求物质享受的(人)；中产阶级分子 | |
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inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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civilians
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| 平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓 | |
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murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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sentries
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| 哨兵，步兵( sentry的名词复数 ) | |
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7
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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despoiled
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| v.掠夺，抢劫( despoil的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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9
wares
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| n. 货物, 商品 | |
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10
hawking
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| 利用鹰行猎 | |
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illustrated
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| adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词 | |
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12
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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13
relished
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| v.欣赏( relish的过去式和过去分词 )；从…获得乐趣；渴望 | |
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14
assassination
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| n.暗杀；暗杀事件 | |
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15
odious
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| adj.可憎的，讨厌的 | |
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16
maternal
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| adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的 | |
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17
regain
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| vt.重新获得，收复，恢复 | |
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18
confided
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| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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20
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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21
chimera
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| n.神话怪物；梦幻 | |
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22
shrieks
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| n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
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23
intoxication
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| n.wild excitement;drunkenness；poisoning | |
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24
slurred
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| 含糊地说出( slur的过去式和过去分词 )； 含糊地发…的声； 侮辱； 连唱 | |
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25
huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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soot
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| n.煤烟，烟尘；vt.熏以煤烟 | |
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27
metallic
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| adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的 | |
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mingle
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| vt.使混合，使相混；vi.混合起来；相交往 | |
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