‘You’ve got it all wrong, Mademoiselle Becker,’ Victor assured her, grasping her bicycle with both hands and wheeling it to the back of the shop. ‘It’s nothing to do with that.’
‘What is it to do with then? Monsieur Mori?’
Kenji Mori took refuge next to the fireplace.
‘The body of a man killed during the clashes in the Latin Quarter yesterday has just been taken to Hôpital de la Charité,’ he replied, placing a hand on the bust of Molière.
‘I was there, I walked slap bang into a squad of municipal guards coming out of Rue Jacob,’ bleated Euphrosine Pignot. ‘I said to myself: “The Uhlans are coming. It’s the Siege all over again!”’
She pointed accusingly at Kenji.
‘And to think you sent my boy on an errand today of all days! He’ll be massacred.’
‘We were unaware of how serious things were – this was supposed to be a peaceful procession. Don’t worry, Joseph can take care of himself,’ mumbled Kenji.
‘Cold-hearted, that’s what you are,’ muttered Euphrosine. ‘I saw the students in a semicircle outside the hospital gates holding their canes end to end. The sergeant raised his white glove and gave the order to charge. I didn’t hang about – I ran straight here,’ she told Helga Becker, who had taken off her Tyrolean hat and was busy straightening her braids.
‘Ach, ja, das ist wirklich,18 Madame Pignot, soldiers are a threat to women’s virtue. Incidentally, Monsieur Legris, are you happy with your new Swift Cycle?’
‘I hardly think this is the right time …’
Victor hurried to open the door to a man in an opera hat, whom he greeted with great reverence, like an honoured guest.
‘Please, come in, Monsieur France. What news?’
‘The protestors, about a hundred and fifty of them, were perched on the hospital railings. The police from the sixth arrondissement made them get down and the mounted guards of the 4th Brigade gave the charge. Can you hear? They’re clearing the streets right now.’
The sound of thundering hooves grew louder.
‘I’d advise you to bolt the door,’ said Anatole France.
Outside, people were scattering in all directions; some flattened themselves against the walls, others fled towards the river Seine pursued by mounted guards waving sabres. The riders’ costumes formed a red streak merging with the black and bay horses. Victor, strangely detached, wished he had a chronophotographic camera to capture these events in motion.19
Silence descended once more, punctuated by an occasional distant sound. Rue des Saints-Pères was strewn with canes, hats and shoes, evidence of the violent nature of the clashes.
‘This situation bears some similarities to July 1789, when the people of Paris learnt of Necker’s dismissal – the French Revolution, what a marvellous subject. Who knows, I may write a novel about it one day,’20 said Anatole France. ‘Kenji, dear fellow, what’s become of the chairs?’
‘Revolution!’ cried Euphrosine. ‘Holy Mother of God! And my boy’s out there all alone! He’ll be torn to shreds. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, bring him back to me alive!’
No sooner had Joseph reached Rue de Vaugirard than the noise from Boulevard Saint-Germain became audible again. He was enjoying the gentle breeze, when suddenly he screwed up his eyes at what looked like plumes of filthy smoke curling above the rooftops at the other end of Rue Monsieur-le-Prince. It was clear from where he was standing a few blocks away that this was no small fire. He raced towards the blaze, turning his face away from the bursts of heat. A faded four-storey building stood above two shops. Enveloped by flames, the colours on the shop signs had turned acid yellow. Joseph stopped dead in his tracks. The bookbinder’s premises were by now a roaring inferno, which had begun to spread to the storehouse next door. A frail hand squeezed his arm and a hoarse voice made him jump.
‘I was having a kip while my mates were at the bistro having lunch and I had a dream. Yes, Monsieur, I dreamt I could smell burning and it woke me up. I’d be a goner otherwise!’
The man staggered off to join the other tenants on the pavement opposite. They stood, motionless, surveying the scene of devastation in silence, grey confetti raining down on their heads.
Joseph went over to an old man in a workman’s smock.
‘How did the fire start?’
‘Dunno. I was having a snack at the cheese seller’s with my workers when we heard a bang and suddenly the whole lot went up in flames. Lucky we weren’t inside,’ he said, pointing to the storehouse.
‘What about Monsieur Andrésy? Have you seen him?’
The old man shook his head.
Joseph searched in vain for the bookbinder among the people who’d escaped the blaze, but he was nowhere to be seen.
‘This is terrible! What if he’s trapped inside?’
The man shrugged helplessly.
Joseph suddenly felt sick and leant against the wall.
‘He’s dead,’ he wailed.
He wiped his face and hands with a handkerchief.
‘Here’s the fire brigade at last!’ a woman cried.
The firemen with their extending ladders, hook ladders, ropes and pumps formed a team of muscle and machine to fight the blaze. A fireman grabbed a slack hose and his sub-officer signalled to the man in charge of working the steam pump. The hose jerked into life, its spirals slowly unwinding on the pavement, water spurting at intervals from its nozzle.
It took more than two hours to bring the blaze under control. A blackened frame was all that remained of the bookbinder’s shop and apartment.
Head down, Joseph took advantage of the general confusion to step over the charred threshold. The books had been reduced to a soggy mass of cinders. He picked up a scrap of leather, which fell apart in his hands. He found three burnt tubes about four inches in length and, without thinking, put them in his pocket, then he went up to the owner of the storehouse.
‘Are you sure you heard an explosion?’
‘Well, I suppose it could have been those blasted students. What a disaster! Now we’re out of a job. What the blazes will we do?’
‘It could have been a gas explosion,’ ventured a woman with a beaky nose.
‘Have you seen Monsieur Andrésy?’
‘The poor fellow was trapped inside,’ the woman replied. ‘My charcuterie is just opposite. I can see everything from my window. He was leaning over his press when the fire started. It’s terrible, and with all that paper in there …’
The Elzévir bookshop had ceased to be a temporary refuge. The customers filed out, and Anatole France followed, escorted by Kenji. Only Fräulein Becker resisted venturing out on her bicycle until the rioters were fully under control. She said she would go to the top of the Ferris Tension Wheel – the pièce de résistance at the Chicago World’s Fair21 – sooner than expose herself and her precious machine to the dangers of the arsonists and the forces of order.
Much to Victor’s annoyance, Madame Ballu, the concierge at number 18, burst in, eager to exchange impressions with her friend Euphrosine. The three women, like the three Fates, were standing at the counter prattling away when suddenly they cried out