Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution

Chapter 42

NOVEMBER

29, 1791

How many hearts are open to fraternity and sweet equality!

—JOURNAL DE PARIS

BUT IT IS NEARLY TWO MONTHS BEFORE CURTIUS CAN ARRANGE for a pass. And although the guards know me, they are extremely cautious. They search my basket, with its heavy blocks of wax and clay; then they pass around my caliper, conferring with one another as to whether the tool might be used for escape.

“Do you understand what this new Constitution means?” the oldest guard asks.

“Yes.”

“There’s to be no bowing or scraping to the king or queen, and they are no longer to be called Your Majesty. You may now sit in their presence and keep your hat on your head. They are no different from you and me.”

“I understand.”

He nods for me to go on. Inside, the air is chill. Whoever has been put in charge of tending the fires has not been doing their duty. Or possibly, they were dismissed. The halls are nearly empty, and it’s strange to be passing through them alone. I feel small and cold beneath the half-lit chandeliers and tapestries. It’s like being on board an abandoned ship.

“Marie.”

I put my hand to my chest, and Johann laughs. “Did I frighten you?”

“Where has everyone gone?” I ask him.

“Most of the courtiers have been sent away, and those who could afford it have fled to Koblenz to be with the rest of the émigrés.” He lowers his voice. “All of the royal family’s closest friends are gone, including Angélique de Bombelles.”

“She left Madame?”

“The princesse instructed her to.”

Johann follows me down the hall, and I notice that he is wearing a thicker cloak. “New?” I ask as we climb the stairs.

He exhales so that I can see his breath. “For every guard in the Tuileries. How is Maman? Isabel and I are thinking of coming on Saturday evening. Is there anything we should bring?”

“Paschal. That’s all Maman is really interested in. She asked yesterday about Edmund, but I told her I never see him. Is he—”

“Still angry. I try not to see him either.”

We reach the door to Madame Élisabeth’s salon. There are no ushers, so my brother opens the door for me and announces grandly, “Mademoiselle Grosholtz.”

It is a miserable scene inside. Madame Élisabeth is alone on her couch, buried beneath three blankets for warmth. Her greyhounds are huddled together, shivering visibly as they bury their noses in their paws. “Madame!” I exclaim. “It’s freezing in here.”

“They won’t light the fires for me.”

“This cannot continue. We must ask the guards for firewood,” I say.

“You can ask, but they will tell you no.”

I look down at the tiny, shivering dogs and reply, “We’ll see about that.” I go back into the hall, but Johann is gone. The first guard I find, I ask for firewood.

“And who are you?” the young soldier asks. “Madame’s new servant?”

“I am the owner of the Salon de Cire,” I reply, “along with my uncle, Curtius, who is a captain in your army.”

A light flickers in his eyes. “You mean the wax modeler on the Boulevard du Temple?”

“Yes.”

“And you are his sculptress?” The boy looks me up and down.

“I am also his niece.”

“I’ve always wondered about those figures,” he says. “How do you decide who to place inside your exhibition?”

“We look for well-known patriots and celebrated servicemen.” I step closer to him. “Like yourself.”

He laughs self-consciously. “Me?”

“Do you know what it is to be immortal? To have your face seen by thousands of passersby?”

His eyes go wide.

“Perhaps you would like to come to the Salon, and I shall make a model of you.”

“Really?”

He cannot be more than fifteen or sixteen. What is he doing here, guarding the Tuileries? “Yes. And all I ask is a simple favor.”

He backs away and scowls. “So there’s a price!”

“Everything comes with a price,” I say evenly. “Especially fame. All I want is some firewood for Madame Élisabeth.”

“I don’t know that I can get that,” he says. He names the guard who is in charge of it.

“Can he be convinced?”

“If there is a good reason.” He hesitates. “But how will I know if I’m to be a model?”

“Because tomorrow you’ll come to the Salon de Cire and I shall make you famous.”

Within the hour, there is a crackling fire. Madame Élisabeth is thanking me again and again for my kindness. “Look at them.” She indicates her dogs, who have curled up as close to the flames as possible. Even by the light of the fire, wrapped in an ermine cloak, she looks pale and cold.

“The guard has promised to bring you wood every morning and evening.”

“What did you say?”

“That there might be a wax model in it for him. For a great deal of timber.”

We both laugh, and I feel closer to her than I ever have before.

“It was very good of you to come,” she says. “Most courtiers left after … after we fled. And those who haven’t escaped abroad are too frightened to come back. My brother has no one to attend his coucher. Neither does the queen. In the morning, when it’s time for her to dress, she is practically alone. And at night,” she confides, “I can hear her weeping.”

I think on the tragic irony of this. For years, the queen tried to avoid the rigid ceremonies of the court, and now she desperately needs them back. She has discovered that without them, there is nothing to separate her from us.

“It’s too cold for wax modeling today,” I tell her, “but I am happy to continue coming here.”

“It would have to be on Wednesdays. The guards have forbidden us any entertainments on Fridays. That is the day the queen used to see her friends.”

Wednesdays are busy days for the Salon. But I think of all of her unfinished saints and the loneliness she must feel her with only her dogs to keep her company, and I nod. “Certainly. I am sorry for all of this,” I begin.

She sighs heavily. “I hear the National Assembly has renamed itself the Legislative Assembly. And that Robespierre has been made president of the Jacobin Club. I heard his portrait is hanging in the Paris Salon.”

Citizens are suffering, there is no bread, and now coffee and sugar are scarce. But Robespierre’s portrait is displayed next to Curtius’s wax model of the dauphin. “He’s not a member of the Legislative Assembly,” I assure her. “His only power is as the president of the Jacobin Club.”

“But the members of the Legislative Assembly will listen to him. Most of them are Jacobins as well, and their Club is hungry for war.”

“Robespierre will never vote for that. If France were to be defeated, he knows it would return to a monarchy. Whatever gains might be had in winning, Robespierre would never put the Constitution at risk. He considers himself to be a man of great principles.”

“Is that why they are calling him The Incorruptible?”

No, I think. They are calling him The Incorruptible because that is what people wish to believe, and the people’s imagination has proven stronger than reality these past three years.