diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/styvn10.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/styvn10.txt | 7520 |
1 files changed, 7520 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/old/styvn10.txt b/old/styvn10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6527216 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/styvn10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7520 @@ +Project Gutenberg Etext The Suitors of Yvonne, by Rafael Sabatini +#14 in our series by Raphael Sabatini + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. The words +are carefully chosen to provide users with the information they +need about what they can legally do with the texts. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. We need your donations. + +Presently, contributions are only being solicited from people in: +Texas, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota, +Iowa, Indiana, and Vermont. As the requirements for other states +are met, additions to this list will be made and fund raising will +begin in the additional states. These donations should be made to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655 + + +Title: The Suitors of Yvonne + +Author: Raphael Sabatini + +Release Date: September, 2002 [Etext #3430] +[Yes, we are about one year ahead of schedule] +[Date first posted:] 04/20/01 + +Edition: + +Language: English + +Project Gutenberg Etext The Suitors of Yvonne, by Rafael Sabatini +******This file should be named styvn10.txt or styvn10.zip******* + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, styvn11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, styvn10a.txt + +This etext was produced by John Stuart Middleton +<j.middleton@worldnet.att.net> + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions, +all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a +copyright notice is included. Therefore, we usually do NOT keep any +of these books in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our books one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to send us error messages even years after +the official publication date. + +Please note: neither this list nor its contents are final till +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our sites at: +http://gutenberg.net +http://promo.net/pg + + +Those of you who want to download any Etext before announcement +can surf to them as follows, and just download by date; this is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext02 +or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext02 + +Or /etext01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. This +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If our value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour this year as we release fifty new Etext +files per month, or 500 more Etexts in 2000 for a total of 3000+ +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +should reach over 300 billion Etexts given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext +Files by December 31, 2001. [10,000 x 100,000,000 = 1 Trillion] +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +At our revised rates of production, we will reach only one-third +of that goal by the end of 2001, or about 3,333 Etexts unless we +manage to get some real funding. + +Something is needed to create a future for Project Gutenberg for +the next 100 years. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +Presently, contributions are only being solicited from people in: +Texas, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota, Iowa, +Indiana, and Vermont. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +has been approved as a 501(c)(3) organization by the US Internal +Revenue Service (IRS). Donations are tax-deductible to the extent +permitted by law. As the requirements for other states are met, +additions to this list will be made and fund raising will begin in the +additional states. + +All donations should be made to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation. Mail to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Avenue +Oxford, MS 38655 [USA] + +We are working with the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +to build more stable support and ensure the future of Project +Gutenberg. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information at: + +http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html + + +*** + +You can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +hart@pobox.com forwards to hart@prairienet.org and archive.org +if your mail bounces from archive.org, I will still see it, if +it bounces from prairienet.org, better resend later on. . . . + +We would prefer to send you this information by email. + + +Example command-line FTP session: + +ftp ftp.ibiblio.org +login: anonymous +password: your@login +cd pub/docs/books/gutenberg +cd etext90 through etext99 or etext00 through etext02, etc. +dir [to see files] +get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files] +GET GUTINDEX.?? [to get a year's listing of books, e.g., GUTINDEX.99] +GET GUTINDEX.ALL [to get a listing of ALL books] + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you can distribute copies of this etext if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this etext on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etexts, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext +under the Project's "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] the Project (and any other party you may receive this +etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold the Project, its directors, +officers, members and agents harmless from all liability, cost +and expense, including legal fees, that arise directly or +indirectly from any of the following that you do or cause: +[1] distribution of this etext, [2] alteration, modification, +or addition to the etext, or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + etext or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the etext (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain etexts, and royalty free copyright licenses. +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.07.00*END* + + + + + +This etext was produced by John Stuart Middleton +<j.middleton@worldnet.att.net> + + + + + +The Suitors of Yvonne +Being a Portion of the Memoirs of the Sieur Gaston de Luynes + +by Rafael Sabatini + + + + +CONTENTS + + + +CHAPTER + + I. OF HOW A BOY DRANK TOO MUCH WINE, AND WHAT CAME OF IT + + II. THE FRUIT OF INDISCRETION + + III. THE FIGHT IN THE HORSE-MARKET + + IV. FAIR RESCUERS + + V. MAZARIN, THE MATCH-MAKER + + VI. OF HOW ANDREA BECAME LOVESICK + + VII. THE CHÂTEAU DR CANAPLES + + VIII. THE FORESHADOW OF DISASTER + + IX. OF HOW A WHIP PROVED A BETTER ARGUMENT THAN A TONGUE + + X. THE CONSCIENCE OF MALPERTUIS + + XI. OF A WOMAN'S OBSTINACY + + XII. THE RESCUE + + XIII. THE HAND OF YVONNE + + XIV. OF WHAT BEFELL AT REAUX + + XV. OF MY RESURRECTION + + XVI. THE WAY OF WOMAN + + XVII. FATHER AND SON + +XVIII. OF HOW I LEFT CANAPLES + + XIX. OF MY RETURN TO PARIS + + XX. OF HOW THE CHEVALIER DE CANAPLES BECAME A FRONDEUR + + XXI. OF THE BARGAIN THAT ST. AUBAN DROVE WITH MY LORD CARDINAL + + XXII. OF MY SECOND JOURNEY TO CANAPLES + +XXIII. OF HOW ST. AUBAN CAME TO BLOIS + + XXIV. OF THE PASSING OF ST. AUBAN + + XXV. PLAY-ACTING + + XXVI. REPARATION + + + + +CHAPTER I + +OF HOW A BOY DRANK TOO MUCH WINE, AND WHAT CAME OF IT + + +Andrea de Mancini sprawled, ingloriously drunk, upon the floor. His legs +were thrust under the table, and his head rested against the chair from +which he had slipped; his long black hair was tossed and dishevelled; his +handsome, boyish face flushed and garbed in the vacant expression of +idiocy. + +"I beg a thousand pardons, M. de Luynes," quoth he in the thick, monotonous +voice of a man whose brain but ill controls his tongue,--"I beg a thousand +pardons for the unseemly poverty of our repast. 'T is no fault of mine. +My Lord Cardinal keeps a most unworthy table for me. Faugh! Uncle Giulio +is a Hebrew--if not by birth, by instinct. He carries his purse-strings in +a knot which it would break his heart to unfasten. But there! some day my +Lord Cardinal will go to heaven--to the lap of Abraham. I shall be rich +then, vastly rich, and I shall bid you to a banquet worthy of your most +noble blood. The Cardinal's health--perdition have him for the +niggardliest rogue unhung!" + +I pushed back my chair and rose. The conversation was taking a turn that +was too unhealthy to be pursued within the walls of the Palais Mazarin, +where there existed, albeit the law books made no reference to it, the +heinous crime of lèse-Eminence--a crime for which more men had been broken +than it pleases me to dwell on. + +"Your table, Master Andrea, needs no apology," I answered carelessly. +"Your wine, for instance, is beyond praise." + +"Ah, yes! The wine! But, ciel! Monsieur," he ejaculated, for a moment +opening wide his heavy eyelids, "do you believe 't was Mazarin provided it? +Pooh! 'T was a present made me by M. de la Motte, who seeks my interest +with my Lord Cardinal to obtain for him an appointment in his Eminence's +household, and thus thinks to earn my good will. He's a pestilent +creature, this la Motte," he added, with a hiccough,--"a pestilent +creature; but, Sangdieu! his wine is good, and I'll speak to my uncle. +Help me up, De Luynes. Help me up, I say; I would drink the health of this +provider of wines." + +I hurried forward, but he had struggled up unaided, and stood swaying with +one hand on the table and the other on the back of his chair. In vain did +I remonstrate with him that already he had drunk overmuch. + +"'T is a lie!" he shouted. "May not a gentleman sit upon the floor from +choice?" + +To emphasise his protestation he imprudently withdrew his hand from the +chair and struck at the air with his open palm. That gesture cost him his +balance. He staggered, toppled backward, and clutched madly at the +tablecloth as he fell, dragging glasses, bottles, dishes, tapers, and a +score of other things besides, with a deafening crash on to the floor. + +Then, as I stood aghast and alarmed, wondering who might have overheard the +thunder of his fall, the fool sat up amidst the ruins, and filled the room +with his shrieks of drunken laughter. + +"Silence, boy!" I thundered, springing towards him. "Silence! or we shall +have the whole house about our ears." + +And truly were my fears well grounded, for, before I could assist him to +rise, I heard the door behind me open. Apprehensively I turned, and +sickened to see that that which I had dreaded most was come to pass. A +tall, imposing figure in scarlet robes stood erect and scowling on the +threshold, and behind him his valet, Bernouin, bearing a lighted taper. + +Mancini's laugh faded into a tremulous cackle, then died out, and with +gaping mouth and glassy eyes he sat there staring at his uncle. + +Thus we stayed in silence while a man might count mayhap a dozen; then the +Cardinal's voice rang harsh and full of anger. + +"'T is thus that you fulfil your trust, M. de Luynes!" he said. + +"Your Eminence--" I began, scarce knowing what I should say, when he cut me +short. + +"I will deal with you presently and elsewhere." He stepped up to Andrea, +and surveyed him for a moment in disgust. "Get up, sir!" he commanded. +"Get up!" + +The lad sought to obey him with an alacrity that merited a kinder fate. +Had he been in less haste perchance he had been more successful. As it +was, he had got no farther than his knees when his right leg slid from +under him, and he fell prone among the shattered tableware, mumbling curses +and apologies in a breath. + +Mazarin stood gazing at him with an eye that was eloquent in scorn, then +bending down he spoke quickly to him in Italian. What he said I know not, +being ignorant of their mother tongue; but from the fierceness of his +utterance I'll wager my soul 't was nothing sweet to listen to. When he +had done with him, he turned to his valet. + +"Bernouin," said he, "summon M. de Mancini's servant and assist him to get +my nephew to bed. M. de Luynes, be good enough to take Bernouin's taper +and light me back to my apartments." + +Unsavoury as was the task, I had no choice but to obey, and to stalk on in +front of him, candle in hand, like an acolyte at Notre Dame, and in my +heart the profound conviction that I was about to have a bad quarter of an +hour with his Eminence. Nor was I wrong; for no sooner had we reached his +cabinet and the door had been closed than he turned upon me the full +measure of his wrath. + +"You miserable fool!" he snarled. "Did you think to trifle with the trust +which in a misguided moment I placed in you? Think you that, when a week +ago I saved you from starvation to clothe and feed you and give you a +lieutenancy in my guards, I should endure so foul an abuse as this? Think +you that I entrusted M. de Mancini's training in arms to you so that you +might lead him into the dissolute habits which have dragged you down to +what you are--to what you were before I rescued you--to what you will be +to-morrow when I shall have again abandoned you?" + +"Hear me, your Eminence!" I cried indignantly. "'T is no fault of mine. +Some fool hath sent M. de Mancini a basket of wine and--" + +"And you showed him how to abuse it," he broke in harshly. "You have +taught the boy to become a sot; in time, were he to remain under your +guidance, I make no doubt but that he would become a gamester and a +duellist as well. I was mad, perchance, to give him into your care; but I +have the good fortune to be still in time, before the mischief has sunk +farther, to withdraw him from it, and to cast you back into the kennel from +which I picked you." + +"Your Eminence does not mean--" + +"As God lives I do!" he cried. "You shall quit the Palais Royal this very +night, M. de Luynes, and if ever I find you unbidden within half a mile of +it, I will do that which out of a misguided sense of compassion I do not do +now--I will have you flung into an oubliette of the Bastille, where better +men than you have rotted before to-day. Per Dio! do you think that I am to +be fooled by such a thing as you?" + +"Does your Eminence dismiss me?" I cried aghast, and scarce crediting that +such was indeed the extreme measure upon which he had determined. + +"Have I not been plain enough?" he answered with a snarl. + +I realised to the full my unenviable position, and with the realisation of +it there overcame me the recklessness of him who has played his last stake +at the tables and lost. That recklessness it was that caused me to shrug +my shoulders with a laugh. I was a soldier of fortune--or should I say a +soldier of misfortune?--as rich in vice as I was poor in virtue; a man who +lived by the steel and parried the blows that came as best he might, or +parried them not at all--but never quailed. + +"As your Eminence pleases," I answered coolly, "albeit methinks that for +one who has shed his blood for France as freely as I have done, a little +clemency were not unfitting." + +He raised his eyebrows, and his lips curled in a malicious sneer. + +"You come of a family, M. de Luynes," he said slowly, "that is famed for +having shed the blood of others for France more freely than its own. You +are, I believe, the nephew of Albert de Luynes. Do you forget the Marshal +d'Ancre?" + +I felt the blood of anger hot in my face as I made haste to answer him: + +"There are many of us, Monseigneur, who have cause to blush for the +families they spring from--more cause, mayhap, than hath Gaston de Luynes." + +In my words perchance there was no offensive meaning, but in my tone and in +the look which I bent upon the Cardinal there was that which told him that +I alluded to his own obscure and dubious origin. He grew livid, and for a +moment methought he would have struck me: had he done so, then, indeed, the +history of Europe would have been other than it is to-day! He restrained +himself, however, and drawing himself to the full height of his majestic +figure he extended his arm towards the door. + +"Go," he said, in a voice that passion rendered hoarse. "Go, Monsieur. Go +quickly, while my clemency endures. Go before I summon the guard and deal +with you as your temerity deserves." + +I bowed--not without a taint of mockery, for I cared little what might +follow; then, with head erect and the firm tread of defiance, I stalked out +of his apartment, along the corridor, down the great staircase, across the +courtyard, past the guard,--which, ignorant of my disgrace, saluted me,-- +and out into the street. + +Then at last my head sank forward on my breast, and deep in thought I +wended my way home, oblivious of all around me, even the chill bite of the +February wind. + +In my mind I reviewed my wasted life, with the fleeting pleasures and the +enduring sorrows that it had brought me--or that I had drawn from it. The +Cardinal said no more than truth when he spoke of having saved me from +starvation. A week ago that was indeed what he had done. He had taken +pity on Gaston de Luynes, the nephew of that famous Albert de Luynes who +had been Constable of France in the early days of the late king's reign; he +had made me lieutenant of his guards and maître d'armes to his nephews +Andrea and Paolo de Mancini because he knew that a better blade than mine +could not be found in France, and because he thought it well to have such +swords as mine about him. + +A little week ago life had been replete with fresh promises, the gates of +the road to fame (and perchance fortune) had been opened to me anew, and +now--before I had fairly passed that gate I had been thrust rudely back, +and it had been slammed in my face because it pleased a fool to become a +sot whilst in my company. + +There is a subtle poetry in the contemplation of ruin. With ruin itself, +howbeit, there comes a prosaic dispelling of all idle dreams--a hard, a +grim, a vile reality. + +Ruin! 'T is an ugly word. A fitting one to carve upon the tombstone of a +reckless, godless, dissolute life such as mine had been. + +Back, Gaston de Luynes! back, to the kennel whence the Cardinal's hand did +for a moment pluck you; back, from the morning of hope to the night of +despair; back, to choose between starvation and the earning of a pauper's +fee as a master of fence! + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE FRUIT OF INDISCRETION + + +Despite the dejection to which I had become a prey, I slept no less soundly +that night than was my wont, and indeed it was not until late next morning +when someone knocked at my door that I awakened. + +I sat up in bed, and my first thought as I looked round the handsome room-- +which I had rented a week ago upon receiving the lieutenancy in the +Cardinal's guards--was for the position that I had lost and of the need +that there would be ere long to seek a lodging more humble and better +suited to my straitened circumstances. It was not without regret that such +a thought came to me, for my tastes had never been modest, and the house +was a fine one, situated in the Rue St. Antoine at a hundred paces or so +from the Jesuit convent. + +I had no time, however, to indulge the sorry mood that threatened to beset +me, for the knocking at my chamber door continued, until at length I +answered it with a command to enter. + +It was my servant Michelot, a grizzled veteran of huge frame and strength, +who had fought beside me at Rocroi, and who had thereafter become so +enamoured of my person--for some trivial service he swore I had rendered +him--that he had attached himself to me and my luckless fortunes. + +He came to inform me that M. de Mancini was below and craved immediate +speech with me. He had scarce done speaking, however, when Andrea himself, +having doubtless grown tired of waiting, appeared in the doorway. He wore +a sickly look, the result of his last night's debauch; but, more than that, +there was stamped upon his face a look of latent passion which made me +think at first that he was come to upbraid me. + +"Ah, still abed, Luynes?" was his greeting as he came forward. + +His cloak was wet and his boots splashed, which told me both that he had +come afoot and that it rained. + +"There are no duties that bid me rise," I answered sourly. + +He frowned at that, then, divesting himself of his cloak, he gave it to +Michelot, who, at a sign from me, withdrew. No sooner was the door closed +than the boy's whole manner changed. The simmering passion of which I had +detected signs welled up and seemed to choke him as he poured forth the +story that he had come to tell. + +"I have been insulted," he gasped. "Grossly insulted by a vile creature of +Monsieur d'Orleans's household. An hour ago in the ante-chamber at the +Palais Royal I was spoken of in my hearing as the besotted nephew of the +Italian adventurer." + +I sat up in bed tingling with excitement at the developments which already +I saw arising from his last night's imprudence. + +"Calmly, Andrea," I begged of him, "tell me calmly." + +"Mortdieu! How can I be calm? Ough! The thought of it chokes me. I was +a fool last night--a sot. For that, perchance, men have some right to +censure me. But, Sangdieu! that a ruffler of the stamp of Eugène de +Canaples should speak of it--should call me the nephew of an Italian +adventurer, should draw down upon me the cynical smile of a crowd of +courtly apes--pah! I am sick at the memory of it!" + +"Did you answer him?" + +"Pardieu! I should be worthy of the title he bestowed upon me had I not +done so. Oh, I answered him--not in words. I threw my hat in his face." + +"That was a passing eloquent reply!" + +"So eloquent that it left him speechless with amazement. He thought to +bully with impunity, and see me slink into hiding like a whipped dog, +terrified by his blustering tongue and dangerous reputation. But there!" +he broke off, "a meeting has been arranged for four o'clock at St. +Germain." + +"A meeting!" I exclaimed. + +"What else? Do you think the affront left any alternative?" + +"But--" + +"Yes, yes, I know," he interrupted, tossing his head. "I am going to be +killed. Verville has sworn that there shall be one less of the Italian +brood. That is why I have come to you, Luynes--to ask you to be my second. +I don't deserve it, perhaps. In my folly last night I did you an ill turn. +I unwittingly caused you to be stripped of your commission. But if I were +on my death-bed now, and begged a favour of you, you would not refuse it. +And what difference is there 'twixt me and one who is on his death-bed? Am +I not about to die?" + +"Peste! I hope not," I made answer with more lightness than I felt. "But +I'll stand by you with all my heart, Andrea." + +"And you'll avenge me?" he cried savagely, his Southern blood a-boiling. +"You'll not let him leave the ground alive?" + +"Not unless my opponent commits the indiscretion of killing me first. Who +seconds M. de Canaples?" + +"The Marquis de St. Auban and M. de Montmédy." + +"And who is the third in our party?" + +"I have none. I thought that perhaps you had a friend." + +"I! A friend?" I laughed bitterly. "Pshaw, Andrea! beggars have no +friends. But stay; find Stanislas de Gouville. There is no better blade +in Paris. If he will join us in this frolic, and you can hold off Canaples +until either St. Auban or Montmédy is disposed of, we may yet leave the +three of them on the field of battle. Courage, Andrea! Dum spiramus, +speramus." + +My words seemed to cheer him, and when presently he left me to seek out the +redoubtable Gouville, the poor lad's face was brighter by far than when he +had entered my room. + +Down in my heart, however, I was less hopeful than I had led him to +believe, and as I dressed after he had gone, 't was not without some +uneasiness that I turned the matter over in my mind. I had, during the +short period of our association, grown fond of Andrea de Mancini. Indeed +the wonted sweetness of the lad's temper, and the gentleness of his +disposition, were such as to breed affection in all who came in contact +with him. In a way, too, methought he had grown fond of me, and I had +known so few friends in life,--truth to tell I fear me that I had few of +the qualities that engender friendship,--that I was naturally prone to +appreciate a gift that from its rareness became doubly valuable. + +Hence was it that I trembled for the boy. He had shown aptitude with the +foils, and derived great profit from my tuition, yet he was too raw by far +to be pitted against so cunning a swordsman as Canaples. + +I had but finished dressing when a coach rumbled down the street and halted +by my door. Naturally I supposed that someone came to visit Coupri, the +apothecary,--to whom belonged this house in which I had my lodging,--and +did not give the matter a second thought until Michelot rushed in, with +eyes wide open, to announce that his Eminence, Cardinal Mazarin, commanded +my presence in the adjoining room. + +Amazed and deeply marvelling what so extraordinary a visit might portend, I +hastened to wait upon his Eminence. + +I found him standing by the window, and received from him a greeting that +was passing curt and cavalier. + +"Has M. de Mancini been here?" he inquired peremptorily, disregarding the +chair I offered him. + +"He has but left me, Monseigneur." + +"Then you know, sir, of the harvest which he has already reaped from the +indiscretion into which you led him last night?" + +"If Monseigneur alludes to the affront put upon M. de Mancini touching his +last night's indiscretion, by a bully of the Court, I am informed of it." + +"Pish, Monsieur! I do not follow your fine distinctions--possibly this is +due to my imperfect knowledge of the language of France, possibly to your +own imperfect acquaintance with the language of truth." + +"Monseigneur!" + +"Faugh!" he cried, half scornfully, half peevishly. "I came not here to +talk of you, but of my nephew. Why did he visit you?" + +"To do me the honour of asking me to second him at St. Germain this +evening." + +"And so you think that this duel is to be fought?--that my nephew is to be +murdered?" + +"We will endeavour to prevent his being--as your Eminence daintily puts +it--murdered. But for the rest, the duel, methinks, cannot be avoided." + +"Cannot!" he blazed. "Do you say cannot, M. de Luynes? Mark me well, sir: +I will use no dissimulation with you. My position in France is already a +sufficiently difficult one. Already we are threatened with a second +Fronde. It needs but such events as these to bring my family into +prominence and make it the butt for the ridicule that malcontents but wait +an opportunity to slur it with. This affair of Andrea's will lend itself +to a score or so of lampoons and pasquinades, all of which will cast an +injurious reflection upon my person and position. That, Monsieur, is, +methinks, sufficient evil to suffer at your hands. The late Cardinal would +have had you broken on the wheel for less. I have gone no farther than to +dismiss you from my service--a clemency for which you should be grateful. +But I shall not suffer that, in addition to the harm already done, Andrea +shall be murdered by Canaples." + +"I shall do my best to render him assistance." + +"You still misapprehend me. This duel, sir, must not take place." + +I shrugged my shoulders. + +"How does your Eminence propose to frustrate it? Will you arrest +Canaples?" + +"Upon what plea, Monsieur? Think you I am anxious to have the whole of +Paris howling in my ears?" + +"Then possibly it is your good purpose to enforce the late king's edict +against duelling, and send your guards to St. Germain to arrest the men +before they engage?" + +"Benone!" he sneered. "And what will Paris say if I now enforce a law that +for ten years has been disregarded? That I feared for my nephew's skin and +took this means of saving him. A pretty story to have on Paris's lips, +would it not be?" + +"Indeed, Monseigneur, you are right, but I doubt me the duel will needs be +fought." + +"Have I not already said that it shall not be fought?" + +Again I shrugged my shoulders. Mazarin grew tiresome with his repetitions. + +"How can it be avoided, your Eminence?" + +"Ah, Monsieur, that is your affair." + +"My affair?" + +"Assuredly. 'T was through your evil agency he was dragged into this +business, and through your agency he must be extricated from it." + +"Your Eminence jests!" + +"Undoubtedly,--'t is a jesting matter," he answered with terrible irony. +"Oh, I jest! Per Dio! yes. But I'll carry my jest so far as to have you +hanged if this duel be fought--aye, whether my nephew suffers hurt or not. +Now, sir, you know what fate awaits you; fight it--turn it aside--I have +shown you the way. The door, M. de Luynes." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE FIGHT IN THE HORSE-MARKET + + +I let him go without a word. There was that in his voice, in his eye, and +in the gesture wherewith he bade me hold the door for him, that cleared my +mind of any doubts touching the irrevocable character of his determination. +To plead was never an accomplishment of mine; to argue, I saw, would be to +waste the Cardinal's time to no purpose. + +And so I let him go,--and my curse with him,--and from my window I watched +his coach drive away in the drizzling rain, scattering the crowd of awe- +stricken loiterers who had collected at the rumour of his presence. + +With a fervent prayer that his patron saint, the devil, might see fit to +overset his coach and break his neck before he reached the Palace, I turned +from the window, and called Michelot. + +He was quick to answer my summons, bringing me the frugal measure of bread +and wine wherewith it was my custom to break my fast. Then, whilst I +munched my crust, I strode to and fro in the little chamber and exercised +my wits to their utmost for a solution to the puzzle his Eminence had set +me. + +One solution there was, and an easy one--flight. But I had promised Andrea +de Mancini that I would stand beside him at St. Germain; there was a +slender chance of saving him if I went, whilst, if I stayed away, there +would be nothing left for his Eminence to do but to offer up prayers for +the rest of his nephew's soul. + +Another idea I had, but it was desperate--and yet, so persistently did my +thoughts revert to it that in the end I determined to accept it. + +I drank a cup of Armagnac, cheered myself with an oath or two, and again I +called Michelot. When he came, I asked him if he were acquainted with M. +de Canaples, to which he replied that he was, having seen the gentleman in +my company. + +"Then," I said, "you will repair to M. de Canaples's lodging in the Rue des +Gesvres, and ascertain discreetly whether he be at home. If he is, you +will watch the house until he comes forth, then follow him, and bring me +word thereafter where he is to be found. Should he be already abroad +before you reach the Rue des Gesvres, endeavour to ascertain whither he has +gone, and return forthwith. But be discreet, Michelot. You understand?" + +He assured me that he did, and left me to nurse my unpleasant thoughts for +half an hour, returning at the end of that time with the information that +M. de Canaples was seated at dinner in the "Auberge du Soleil." + +Naught could have been more attuned to my purpose, and straightway I drew +on my boots, girt on my sword, and taking my hat and cloak, I sallied out +into the rain, and wended my way at a sharp pace towards the Rue St. +Honoré. + +One o'clock was striking as I crossed the threshold of the "Soleil" and +flung my dripping cloak to the first servant I chanced upon. + +I glanced round the well-filled room, and at one of the tables I espied my +quarry in company with St. Auban and Montmédy--the very gentlemen who were +to fight beside him that evening--and one Vilmorin, as arrant a coxcomb and +poltroon as could be found in France. With my beaver cocked at the back of +my head, and a general bearing that for aggressiveness would be hard to +surpass, I strode up to their table, and stood for a moment surveying them +with an insolent stare that made them pause in their conversation. They +raised their noble heads and bestowed upon me a look of haughty and +disdainful wonder,--such a look as one might bestow upon a misbehaving +lackey,--all save Vilmorin, who, with a coward's keen nose for danger, +turned slightly pale and fidgeted in his chair. I was well known to all of +them, but my attitude forbade all greeting. + +"Has M. de Luynes lost anything?" St. Auban inquired icily. + +"His wits, mayhap," quoth Canaples with a contemptuous shrug. + +He was a tall, powerfully built man, this Canaples, with a swart, cruel +face that was nevertheless not ill-favoured, and a profusion of black hair. + +"There is a temerity in M. de Canaples's rejoinder that I had not looked +for," I said banteringly. + +Canaples's brow was puckered in a frown. + +"Ha! And why not, Monsieur?" + +"Why not? Because it is not to be expected that one who fastens quarrels +upon schoolboys would evince the courage to beard Gaston de Luynes." + +"Monsieur!" the four of them cried in chorus, so loudly that the hum of +voices in the tavern became hushed, and all eyes were turned in our +direction. + +"M. de Canaples," I said calmly, "permit me to say that I can find no more +fitting expression for the contempt I hold you in than this." + +As I spoke I seized a corner of the tablecloth, and with a sudden tug I +swept it, with all it held, on to the floor. + +Dame! what a scene there was! In an instant the four of them were on their +feet,--as were half the occupants of the room, besides,--whilst poor +Vilmorin, who stood trembling like a maid who for the first time hears +words of love, raised his quavering voice to cry soothingly, "Messieurs, +Messieurs!" + +Canaples was livid with passion, but otherwise the calmest in that room, +saving perhaps myself. With a gesture he restrained Montmédy and St. +Auban. + +"I shall be happy to give Master de Luynes all the proof of my courage that +he may desire, and more, I warrant, than he will relish." + +"Bravely answered!" I cried, with an approving nod and a beaming smile. +"Be good enough to lead the way to a convenient spot." + +"I have other business at the moment," he answered calmly. "Let us say to- +morrow at--" + +"Faugh!" I broke in scornfully. "I knew it! Confess, Monsieur, that you +dare not light me now lest you should be unable to keep your appointments +for this evening." + +"Mille diables!" exclaimed St. Auban, "this insolence passes all bounds." + +"Each man in his turn if you please, gentlemen," I replied. "My present +affair is with M. de Canaples." + +There was a hot answer burning on St. Auban's lips, but Canaples was +beforehand with him. + +"Par la mort Dieu!" he cried; "you go too far, sir, with your 'dare' and +'dare not.' Is a broken gamester, a penniless adventurer, to tell Eugène +de Canaples what he dares? Come, sir; since you are eager for the taste of +steel, follow me, and say your prayers as you go." + +With that we left the inn, amidst a prodigious hubbub, and made our way to +the horse-market behind the Hôtel Vendôme. It was not to be expected, +albeit the place we had chosen was usually deserted at such an hour, that +after the fracas at the "Soleil" our meeting would go unattended. When we +faced each other--Canaples and I--there were at least some twenty persons +present, who came, despite the rain, to watch what they thought was like to +prove a pretty fight. Men of position were they for the most part, +gentlemen of the Court with here and there a soldier, and from the manner +in which they eyed me methought they favoured me but little. + +Our preparations were brief. The absence of seconds disposed of all +formalities, the rain made us impatient to be done, and in virtue of it +Canaples pompously announced that he would not risk a cold by stripping. +With interest did I grimly answer that he need fear no cold when I had done +with him. Then casting aside my cloak, I drew, and, professing myself also +disposed to retain my doublet, we forthwith engaged. + +He was no mean swordsman, this Canaples. Indeed, his reputation was +already widespread, and in the first shock of our meeting blades I felt +that rumour had been just for once. But I was strangely dispossessed of +any doubts touching the outcome; this being due perchance to a vain +confidence in my own skill, perchance to the spirit of contemptuous +raillery wherewith I had from the outset treated the affair, and which had +so taken root in my heart that even when we engaged I still, almost +unwittingly, persisted in it. + +In my face and attitude there was the reflection of this bantering, +flippant mood; it was to be read in the mocking disdain of my glance, in +the scornful curl of my lip, and even in the turn of my wrist as I put +aside my opponent's passes. All this, Canaples must have noted, and it was +not without effect upon his nerves. Moreover, there is in steel a subtle +magnetism which is the index of one's antagonist; and from the moment that +our blades slithered one against the other I make no doubt but that +Canaples grew aware of the confident, almost exultant mood in which I met +him, and which told him that I was his master. Add to this the fact that +whilst Canaples's nerves were unstrung by passion mine were held in check +by a mind as calm and cool as though our swords were baited, and consider +with what advantages I took my ground. + +He led the attack fiercely and furiously, as if I were a boy whose guard +was to be borne down by sheer weight of blows. I contented myself with +tapping his blade aside, and when at length, after essaying every trick in +his catalogue, he fell back baffled, I laughed a low laugh of derision that +drove him pale with fury. + +Again he came at me, almost before I was prepared for him, and his point, +parried with a downward stroke and narrowly averted, scratched my thigh, +but did more damage to my breeches than my skin. in exchange I touched him +playfully on the shoulder, and the sting of it drove him back a second +time. He was breathing hard by then, and would fain have paused awhile for +breath, but I saw no reason to be merciful. + +"Now, sir," I cried, saluting him as though our combat were but on the +point of starting--"to me! Guard yourself!" + +Again our swords clashed, and my blows now fell as swift on his blade as +his had done awhile ago on mine. So hard did I press him that he was +forced to give way before me. Back I drove him pace by pace, his wrist +growing weaker at each parry, each parry growing wider, and the +perspiration streaming down his ashen face. Panting he went, in that +backward flight before my onslaught, defending himself as best he could, +never thinking of a riposte--beaten already. Back, and yet back he went, +until he reached the railings and could back no farther, and so broken was +his spirit then that a groan escaped him. I answered with a laugh--my mood +was lusty and cruel--and thrust at him. Then, eluding his guard, I thrust +again, beneath it, and took him fairly in the middle of his doublet. + +He staggered, dropped his rapier, and caught at the railings, where for a +moment he hung swaying and gasping. Then his head fell forward, his grip +relaxed, and swooning he sank down into a heap. + +A dozen sprang to his aid, foremost amongst them being St. Auban and +Montmédy, whilst I drew back, suddenly realising my own spent condition, to +which the heat of the combat had hitherto rendered me insensible. I +mastered myself as best I might, and, dissembling my hard breathing, I +wiped my blade with a kerchief, an act which looked so calm and callous +that it drew from the crowd--for a crowd it had become by then--an angry +growl. 'T is thus with the vulgar; they are ever ready to sympathise with +the vanquished without ever pausing to ask themselves if his chastisement +may not be merited. + +In answer to the growl I tossed my head, and sheathing my sword I flung the +bloodstained kerchief into their very midst. The audacity of the gesture +left them breathless, and they growled no more, but stared. + +Then that outrageous fop, Vilmorin, who had been bending over Canaples, +started up and coming towards me with a face that was whiter than that of +the prostrate man, he proved himself so utterly bereft of wit by terror +that for once he had the temerity to usurp the words and actions of a brave +man. + +"You have murdered him!" he cried in a strident voice, and thrusting his +clenched fist within an inch of my face. "Do you hear me, you knave? You +have murdered him!" + +Now, as may be well conceived, I was in no mood to endure such words from +any man, so was but natural that for answer I caught the dainty Vicomte a +buffet that knocked him into the arms of the nearest bystander, and brought +him to his senses. + +"Fool," I snarled at him, "must I make another example before you believe +that Gaston de Luynes wears a sword?" + +"In the name of Heaven--" he began, putting forth his hands in a beseeching +gesture; but what more he said was drowned by the roar of anger that burst +from the onlookers, and it was like to have gone ill with me had not St. +Auban come to my aid at that most critical juncture. + +"Messieurs!" he cried, thrusting himself before me, and raising his hand to +crave silence, "hear me. I, a friend of M. de Canaples, tell you that you +wrong M. de Luynes. 'T was a fair fight--how the quarrel arose is no +concern of yours." + +Despite his words they still snarled and growled like the misbegotten curs +they were. But St. Auban was famous for the regal supper parties he gave, +to which all were eager to be bidden, and amidst that crowd, as I have +said, there were a score or so of gentlemen of the Court, who--with scant +regard for the right or wrong of the case and every regard to conciliate +this giver of suppers--came to range themselves beside and around us, and +thus protected me from the murderous designs of that rabble. + +Seeing how the gentlemen took my part, and deeming--in their blessed +ignorance--that what gentlemen did must be perforce well done, they grew +calm in the twinkling of an eye. Thereupon St. Auban, turning to me, +counselled me in a whisper to be gone, whilst the tide of opinion flowed in +my favour. Intent to act upon this good advice, I took a step towards the +little knot that had collected round Canaples, and with natural curiosity +inquired into the nature of his hurt. + +'T was Montmédy who answered me, scowling as he did so: + +"He may die of it, Monsieur. If he does not, his recovery will be at least +slow and difficult." + +I had been wise had I held my peace and gone; but, like a fool, I must +needs give utterance to what was in my mind. + +"Ah! At least there will be no duel at St. Germain this evening." + +Scarce had the words fallen from my lips when I saw in the faces of +Montmédy and St. Auban and half a dozen others the evidence of their +rashness. + +"So!" cried St. Auban in a voice that shook with rage. "That was your +object, eh? That you had fallen low, Master de Luynes, I knew, but I +dreamt not that in your fall you had come so low as this." + +"You dare?" + +"Pardieu! I dare more, Monsieur; I dare tell you--you, Gaston de Luynes, +spy and bravo of the Cardinal--that your object shall be defeated. That, +as God lives, this duel shall still be fought--by me instead of Canaples." + +"And I tell you, sir, that as God lives it shall not," I answered with a +vehemence not a whit less than his own. "To you and to what other fools +may think to follow in your footsteps, I say this: that not to-night nor +to-morrow nor the next day shall that duel be fought. Cowards and +poltroons you are, who seek to murder a beardless boy who has injured none +of you! But, by my soul! every man who sends a challenge to that boy will +I at once seek out and deal with as I have dealt with Eugène de Canaples. +Let those who are eager to try another world make the attempt. Adieu, +Messieurs!" + +And with a flourish of my sodden beaver, I turned and left them before they +had recovered from the vehemence of my words. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +FAIR RESCUERS + + +Like the calm of the heavens when pregnant with thunder was the calm of +that crowd. And as brief it was; for scarce had I taken a dozen steps when +my ears were assailed by a rumble of angry voices and a rush of feet. One +glance over my shoulder, one second's hesitation whether I should stay and +beard them, then the thought of Andrea de Mancini and of what would befall +him did this canaille vent its wrath upon me decided my course and sent me +hotfoot down the Rue Monarque. Howling and bellowing that rabble followed +in my wake, stumbling over one another in their indecent haste to reach me. + +But I was fleet of foot, and behind me there was that that would lend wings +to the most deliberate, so that when I turned into the open space before +the Hôtel Vendôme I had set a good fifty yards betwixt myself and the +foremost of my hunters. + +A coach was passing at that moment. I shouted, and the knave who drove +glanced at me, then up the Rue Monarque at my pursuers, whereupon, shaking +his head, he would have left me to my fate. But I was of another mind. I +dashed towards the vehicle, and as it passed me I caught at the window, +which luckily was open, and drawing up my legs I hung there despite the +shower of mud which the revolving wheels deposited upon me. + +From the bowels of the coach I was greeted by a woman's scream; a pale +face, and a profusion of fair hair flashed before my eyes. + +"Fear not, Madame," I shouted. "I am no assassin, but rather one who +stands in imminent peril of assassination, and who craves your protection." + +More I would have said, but at that juncture the lash of the coachman's +whip curled itself about my shoulders, and stung me vilely. + +"Get down, you rascal," he bellowed; "get down or I'll draw rein!" + +To obey him would have been madness. The crowd surged behind with hoots +and yells, and had I let go I must perforce have fallen into their hands. +So, instead of getting down as he inconsiderately counselled, I drew myself +farther up by a mighty effort, and thrust half my body into the coach, +whereupon the fair lady screamed again, and the whip caressed my legs. But +within the coach sat another woman, dark of hair and exquisite of face, who +eyed my advent with a disdainful glance. Her proud countenance bore the +stamp of courage, and to her it was that I directed my appeal. + +"Madame, permit me, I pray, to seek shelter in your carriage, and suffer me +to journey a little way with you. Quick, Madame! Your coachman is drawing +rein, and I shall of a certainty be murdered under your very nose unless +you bid him change his mind. To be murdered in itself is a trifling +matter, I avow, but it is not nice to behold, and I would not, for all the +world, offend your eyes with the spectacle of it." + +I had judged her rightly, and my tone of flippant recklessness won me her +sympathy and aid. Quickly thrusting her head through the other window: + +"Drive on, Louis," she commanded. "Faster!" Then turning to me, "You may +bring your legs into the coach if you choose, sir," she said. + +"Your words, Madame, are the sweetest music I have heard for months," I +answered drily, as I obeyed her. Then leaning out of the carriage again I +waved my hat gallantly to the mob which--now realising the futility of +further pursuit--had suddenly come to a halt. + +"Au plaisir de vous revoir, Messieurs," I shouted. "Come to me one by one, +and I'll keep the devil busy finding lodgings for you." + +They answered me with a yell, and I sat down content, and laughed. + +"You are not a coward, Monsieur," said the dark lady. + +"I have been accounted many unsavoury things, Madame, but my bitterest +enemies never dubbed me that." + +"Why, then, did you run away?" + +"Why? Ma foi! because in the excessive humility of my soul I recognised +myself unfit to die." + +She bit her lip and her tiny foot beat impatiently upon the floor. + +"You are trifling with me, Monsieur. Where do you wish to alight?" + +"Pray let that give you no concern; I can assure you that I am in no +haste." + +"You become impertinent, sir," she cried angrily. "Answer me, where are +you going?" + +"Where am I going? Oh, ah--to the Palais Royal." + +Her eyes opened very wide at that, and wandered over me with a look that +was passing eloquent. Indeed, I was a sorry spectacle for any woman's +eyes--particularly a pretty one's. Splashed from head to foot with mud, my +doublet saturated and my beaver dripping, with the feather hanging limp and +broken, whilst there was a rent in my breeches that had been made by +Canaples's sword, I take it that I had not the air of a courtier, and that +when I said that I went to the Palais Royal she might have justly held me +to be the adventurous lover of some kitchen wench. But unto the Palais +Royal go others besides courtiers and lovers--spies of the Cardinal, for +instance, and in her sudden coldness and the next question that fell from +her beauteous lips I read that she had guessed me one of these. + +"Why did the mob pursue you, Monsieur?" + +There was in her voice and gesture when she asked a question the +imperiousness of one accustomed to command replies. This pretty +queenliness it was that drove me to answer--as I had done before--in a +bantering strain. + +"Why did the mob pursue me? Hum! Why does the mob pursue great men? +Because it loves their company." + +Her matchless eyes flashed an angry glance, and the faint smile on my lips +must have tried her temper sorely. + +"What did you do to deserve this affection?" + +"A mere nothing--I killed a man," I answered coolly. "Or, at least, I left +him started on the road to--Paradise." + +The little flaxen-haired doll uttered a cry of horror, and covered her face +with her small white hands. My inquisitor, however, sat rigid and +unaffected. My answer had confirmed her suspicions. + +"Why did you kill him?" + +"Ma foi!" I replied, encouraging her thoughts, "because he sought to kill +me." + +"Ah! And why did he seek to kill you?" + +"Because I disturbed him at dinner." + +"Have a care how you trifle, sir!" she retorted, her eyes kindling again. + +"Upon my honour, 't was no more than that. I pulled the cloth from the +table whilst he ate. He was a quick-tempered gentleman, and my playfulness +offended him. That is all." + +Doubt appeared in her eyes, and it may have entered her mind that perchance +her judgment had been over-hasty. + +"Do you mean, sir, that you provoked a duel?" + +"Alas, Madame! It had become necessary. You see, M. de Canaples--" + +"Who?" Her voice rang sharp as the crack of a pistol. + +"Eh? M. de Canaples." + +"Was it he whom you killed?" + +From her tone, and the eager, strained expression of her face, it was not +difficult to read that some mighty interest of hers was involved in my +reply. It needed not the low moan that burst from her companion to tell me +so. + +"As I have said, Madame, it is possible that he is not dead--nay, even that +he will not die. For the rest, since you ask the question, my opponent +was, indeed, M. de Canaples--Eugène de Canaples." + +Her face went deadly white, and she sank back in her seat as if every nerve +in her body had of a sudden been bereft of power, whilst she of the fair +hair burst into tears. + +A pretty position was this for me!--luckily it endured not. The girl +roused herself from her momentary weakness, and, seizing the cord, she +tugged it violently. The coach drew up. + +"Alight, sir," she hissed--"go! I wish to Heaven that I had left you to +the vengeance of the people." + +Not so did I; nevertheless, as I alighted: "I am sorry, Madame, that you +did not," I answered. "Adieu!" + +The coach moved away, and I was left standing at the corner of the Rue St. +Honoré and the Rue des Bons Enfants, in the sorriest frame of mind +conceivable. The lady in the coach had saved my life, and for that I was +more grateful perchance than my life was worth. Out of gratitude sprang a +regret for the pain that I had undoubtedly caused her, and the sorrow which +it might have been my fate to cast over her life. + +Still, regret, albeit an admirable sentiment, was one whose existence was +usually brief in my bosom. Dame! Had I been a man of regrets I might have +spent the remainder of my days weeping over my past life. But the gods, +who had given me a character calculated to lead a man into misfortune, had +given me a stout heart wherewith to fight that misfortune, and an armour of +recklessness against which remorse, regrets, aye, and conscience itself, +rained blows in vain. + +And so it befell that presently I laughed myself out of the puerile humour +that was besetting me, and, finding myself chilled by inaction in my wet +clothes, I set off for the Palais Royal at a pace that was first cousin to +a run. + +Ten minutes later I stood in the presence of the most feared and hated man +in France. + +"Cospetto!" cried Mazarin as I entered his cabinet. "Have you swum the +Seine in your clothes?" + +"No, your Eminence, but I have been serving you in the rain for the past +hour." + +He smiled that peculiar smile of his that rendered hateful his otherwise +not ill-favoured countenance. It was a smile of the lips in which the eyes +had no part. + +"Yes," he said slowly, "I have heard of your achievements." + +"You have heard?" I ejaculated, amazed by the powers which this man +wielded. + +"Yes, I have heard. You are a brave man, M. de Luynes." + +"Pshaw, your Eminence!" I deprecated; "the poor are always brave. They +have naught to lose but their life, and that is not so sweet to them that +they lay much store by it. Howbeit, Monseigneur, your wishes have been +carried out. There will be no duel at St. Germain this evening." + +"Will there not? Hum! I am not so confident. You are a brave man, M. de +Luynes, but you lack that great auxiliary of valour--discretion. What need +to fling into the teeth of those fine gentlemen the reason you had for +spitting Canaples, eh? You have provoked a dozen enemies for Andrea where +only one existed." + +"I will answer for all of them," I retorted boastfully. + +"Fine words, M. de Luynes; but to support them how many men will you have +to kill? Pah! What if some fine morning there comes one who, despite your +vaunted swordsmanship, proves your master? What will become of that fool, +my nephew, eh?" + +And his uncanny smile again beamed on me. "Andrea is now packing his +valise. In an hour he will have left Paris secretly. He goes--but what +does it signify where he goes? He is compelled by your indiscretion to +withdraw from Court. Had you kept a close tongue in your foolish head--but +there! you did not, and so by a thoughtless word you undid all that you had +done so well. You may go, M. de Luynes. I have no further need of you-- +and thank Heaven that you leave the Palais Royal free to go whither your +fancy takes you, and not to journey to the Bastille or to Vincennes. I am +merciful, M. de Luynes--as merciful as you are brave; more merciful than +you are prudent. One word of warning, M. de Luynes: do not let me learn +that you are in my nephew's company, if you would not make me regret my +clemency and repair the error of it by having you hanged. And now, adieu!" + +I stood aghast. Was I indeed dismissed? Albeit naught had been said, I +had not doubted, since my interview with him that morning, that did I +succeed in saving Andrea my rank in his guards--and thereby a means of +livelihood--would be restored to me. And now matters were no better than +they had been before. He dismissed me with the assurance that he was +merciful. As God lives, it would have been as merciful to have hanged me! + +He met my astonished look with an eye that seemed to ask me why I lingered. +Then reading mayhap what was passing in my thoughts, he raised a little +silver whistle to his lips and blew softly upon it. + +"Bernouin," said he to his valet, who entered in answer to the summons, +"reconduct M. de Luynes." + +I remember drawing down upon my bedraggled person the curious gaze of the +numerous clients who thronged the Cardinal's ante-chamber, as I followed +Bernouin to the door which opened on to the corridor, and which he held for +me. And thus, for the second time within twenty-four hours, did I leave +the Palais Royal to wend my way home to the Rue St. Antoine with grim +despondency in my heart. + +I found Michelot on the point of setting out in search of me, with a note +which had been brought to my lodging half an hour ago, and which its bearer +had said was urgent. I took the letter, and bidding Michelot prepare me +fresh raiment that I might exchange for my wet clothes, I broke the seal +and read: + + +"A thousand thanks, dear friend, for the service you have rendered me and +of which his Eminence, my uncle, has informed me. I fear that you have +made many enemies for yourself through an action which will likely go +unrewarded, and that Paris is therefore as little suited at present to your +health as it is to mine. I am setting out for Blois on a mission of +exceeding delicacy wherein your advice and guidance would be of infinite +value to me. I shall remain at Choisy until to-morrow morning, and should +there be no ties to hold you in Paris, and you be minded to bear me +company, join me there at the Hôtel du Connétable where I shall lie +to-night. Your grateful and devoted + +ANDRE." + + +So! There was one at least who desired my company! I had not thought it. +"If there be no ties to hold you in Paris," he wrote. Dame! A change of +air would suit me vastly. I was resolved--a fig for the Cardinal's threat +to hang me if I were found in his nephew's company! + +"My suit of buff, Michelot," I shouted, springing to my feet, "and my +leather jerkin." + +He gazed at me in surprise. + +"Is Monsieur going a journey?" + +I answered him that I was, and as I spoke I began to divest myself of the +clothes I wore. "Pack my suit of pearl grey in the valise, with what +changes of linen I possess; then call Master Coupri that I may settle with +him. It may be some time before we return." + +In less than half an hour I was ready for the journey, spurred and booted, +with my rapier at my side, and in the pocket of my haut-dechausses a purse +containing some fifty pistoles--best part of which I had won from Vilmorin +at lansquenet some nights before, and which moderate sum represented all +the moneys that I possessed. + +Our horses were ready, my pistols holstered, and my valise strapped to +Michelot's saddle. Despite the desperate outlook of my fortunes, of which +I had made him fully cognisant, he insisted upon clinging to me, reminding +me that at Rocroi I had saved his life and that he would leave me only when +I bade him go. + +As four o'clock was striking at Nôtre Dame we crossed the Pont Neuf, and +going by the Quai des Augustins and the Rue de la Harpe, we quitted Paris +by the St. Michel Gate and took the road to Choisy. The rain had ceased, +but the air was keen and cold, and the wind cut like a sword-edge. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +MAZARIN, THE MATCH-MAKER + + +Twixt Paris and Choisy there lies but a distance of some two leagues, +which, given a fair horse, one may cover with ease in little more than half +an hour. So that as the twilight was deepening into night we drew rein +before the hostelry of the Connétable, in the only square the little +township boasts, and from the landlord I had that obsequious reception +which is ever accorded to him who travels with a body-servant. + +I found Andrea installed in a fair-sized and comfortable apartment, to the +original decoration of which he added not a little by bestowing his boots +in the centre of the floor, his hat, sword, and baldrick on the table, his +cloak on one chair, and his doublet on another. He himself sat toasting +his feet before the blazing logs, which cast a warm, reddish glow upon his +sable hair and dainty shirt of cambric. + +He sprang up as I entered, and came towards me with a look of pleasure on +his handsome, high-bred face, that did me good to see. + +"So, you have come, De Luynes," he cried, putting forth his hand. "I did +not dare to hope that you would." + +"No," I answered. "Truly it was not to be expected that I could be easily +lured from Paris just as my fortunes are nearing a high tide, and his +Eminence proposing to make me a Marshal of France and create me Duke. As +you say, you had scant grounds for hoping that my love for you would +suffice to make me renounce all these fine things for the mere sake of +accompanying you on your jaunt to Blois." + +He laughed, then fell to thanking me for having rid him of Canaples. I cut +him short at last, and in answer to his questions told him what had passed +'twixt his Eminence and me that afternoon. Then as the waiter entered to +spread our supper, the conversation assumed a less delicate character, +until we were again alone with the table and its steaming viands between +us. + +"You have not told me yet, Andrea, what takes you to Blois," quoth I then. + +"You shall learn. Little do you dream how closely interwoven are our +morning adventures with this journey of mine. To begin with, I go to Blois +to pay my dévoirs to the lady whom his Eminence has selected for my future +wife." + +"You were then right in describing this as a mission of great delicacy." + +"More than you think--I have never seen the lady." + +"Never seen her? And you go a-wooing a woman you have never seen?" + +"It is so. I have never seen her; but his Eminence has, and 't is he who +arranges the affair. Ah, the Cardinal is the greatest matchmaker in +France! My cousin Anna Martinozzi is destined for the Prince de Conti, my +sisters Olympia and Marianne he also hopes to marry to princes of the +blood, whilst I dare wager that he has thoughts of seating either Maria or +Hortensia upon the throne of France as the wife of Louis XIV., as soon as +his Majesty shall have reached a marriageable age. You may laugh, De +Luynes, nevertheless all this may come to pass, for my uncle has great +ambitions for his family, and it is even possible that should that poor, +wandering youth, Charles II. of England, ever return to the throne of his +fathers he may also become my brother-in-law. I am likely to become well +connected, De Luynes, so make a friend of me whilst I am humble. So much +for Mazarin's nieces. His nephews are too young for alliances just yet, +saving myself; and for me his Eminence has chosen one of the greatest +heiresses in France--Yvonne St. Albaret de Canaples." + +"Whom?" I shouted. + +He smiled. + +"Curious, is it not? She is the sister of the man whom I quarrelled with +this morning, and whom you fought with this afternoon. Now you will +understand my uncle's reasons for so strenuously desiring to prevent the +duel at St. Germain. It appears that the old Chevalier de Canaples is as +eager as the Cardinal to see his daughter wed to me, for his Eminence has +promised to create me Duke for a wedding gift. 'T will cost him little, +and 't will please these Canaples mightily. Naturally, had Eugène de +Canaples and I crossed swords, matters would have been rendered difficult." + +"When did you learn all this?" I inquired. + +"To-day, after the duel, and when it was known what St. Auban and Montmédy +had threatened me with. My uncle thought it well that I should withdraw +from Paris. He sent for me and told me what I have told you, adding that I +had best seize the opportunity, whilst my presence at Court was +undesirable, to repair to Blois and get my wooing done. I in part agreed +with him. The lady is very rich, and I am told that she is beautiful. I +shall see her, and if she pleases me, I'll woo her. If not, I'll return to +Paris." + +"But her brother will oppose you." + +"Her brother? Pooh! If he doesn't die of the sword-thrust you gave him, +which I am told is in the region of the lung and passing dangerous, he will +at least be abed for a couple of months to come." + +"But I, mon cher André? What rôle do you reserve for me, that you have +desired me to go with you?" + +"The rôle of Mentor if you will. Methought you would prove a merry comrade +to help one o'er a tedious journey, and knowing that there was little to +hold you to Paris, and probably sound reasons why you should desire to quit +it, meseemed that perhaps you would consent to bear me company. Who knows, +my knight errant, what adventures may await you and what fortunes? If the +heiress displeases me, it may be that she will please you--or mayhap there +is another heiress at Blois who will fall enamoured of those fierce +moustachios." + +I laughed with him at the improbability of such things befalling. I +carried in my bosom too large a heart, and one that was the property of +every wench I met--for just so long as I chanced to be in her company. + +It was no more than in harmony with this habit of mine, that when, next +morning in the common-room of the Connétable, I espied Jeanneton, the +landlord's daughter, and remarked that she was winsome and shapely, with a +complexion that would not have dishonoured a rose-petal, I permitted myself +to pinch her dainty cheek. She slapped mine in return, and in this +pleasant manner we became acquainted. + +"Sweet Jeanneton," quoth I with a laugh, "that was mightily ill-done! I +did but pinch your cheek as one may pinch a sweet-smelling bud, so that the +perfume of it may cling to one's fingers." + +"And I, sir," was the pert rejoinder, "did but slap yours as one may slap a +misbehaving urchin's; so that he may learn better manners." + +Nevertheless she was pleased with my courtly speech, and perchance also +with my moustachios, for a smile took the place of the frown wherewith she +had at first confronted me. Now, if I had uttered glib pleasantries in +answer to her frowns, how many more did not her smiles wring from me! I +discoursed to her in the very courtliest fashion of cows and pullets and +such other matters as interesting to her as they were mysterious to me. I +questioned her in a breath touching her father's pigs and the swain she +loved best in that little township, to all of which she answered me with a +charming wit, which would greatly divert you did I but recall her words +sufficiently to set them down. In five minutes we had become the best +friends in the world, which was attested by the protecting arm that I +slipped around her waist, as I asked her whether she loved that village +swain of hers better than she loved me, and refused to believe her when she +answered that she did. + +Outside two men were talking, one calling for a farrier, and when informed +that the only one in the village was absent and not likely to return till +noon, demanding relays of horses. The other--probably the hostler-- +answered him that the Connétable was not a post-house and that no horses +were to be had there. Then a woman's voice, sweet yet commanding, rose +above theirs. + +"Very well, Guilbert," it said. "We will await this farrier's return." + +"Let me go, Monsieur!" cried Jeanneton. "Some one comes." + +Now for myself I cared little who might come, but methought that it was +likely to do poor Jeanneton's fair name no benefit, if the arm of Gaston de +Luynes were seen about her waist. And so I obeyed her, but not quickly +enough; for already a shadow lay athwart the threshold, and in the doorway +stood a woman, whose eye took in the situation before we had altered it +sufficiently to avert suspicion. To my amazement I beheld the lady of the +coach--she who had saved me from the mob in Place Vendôme, and touching +whose identity I could have hazarded a shrewd guess. + +In her eyes also I saw the light of recognition which swiftly changed to +one of scorn. Then they passed from me to the vanishing Jeanneton, and +methought that she was about to call her back. She paused, however, and, +turning to the lackey who followed at her heels. + +"Guilbert," she said, "be good enough to call the landlord, and bid him +provide me with an apartment for the time that we may be forced to spend +here." + +But at this juncture the host himself came hurrying forward with many bows +and endless rubbing of hands, which argued untold deference. He regretted +that the hostelry of the Connétable, being but a poor inn, seldom honoured +as it was at that moment, possessed but one suite of private apartments, +and that was now occupied by a most noble gentleman. The lady tapped her +foot, and as at that moment her companion (who was none other than the +fair-haired doll I had seen with her on the previous day) entered the room, +she turned to speak with her, whilst I moved away towards the window. + +"Will this gentleman," she inquired, "lend me one of his rooms, think you?" + +"Hélas, Mademoiselle, he has but two, a bedroom and an ante-chamber, and he +is still abed." + +"Oh!" she cried in pretty anger, "this is insufferable! 'T is your fault, +Guilbert, you fool. Am I, then, to spend the day here in the common-room?" + +"No, no, Mademoiselle," exclaimed the host in his most soothing accents. +"Only for an hour, or less, perhaps, until this very noble lord is risen, +when assuredly--for he is young and very gallant--he will resign one or +both of his rooms to you." + +More was said between them, but my attention was suddenly drawn elsewhere. +Michelot burst into the room, disaster written on his face. + +"Monsieur," he cried, in great alarm, "the Marquis de St. Auban is riding +down the street with the Vicomte de Vilmorin and another gentleman." + +I rapped out an oath at the news; they had got scent of Andrea's +whereabouts, and were after him like sleuth-hounds on a trail. + +"Remain here, Michelot," I answered in a low voice. "Tell them that M. de +Mancini is not here, that the only occupant of the inn is your master, a +gentleman from Normandy, or Picardy, or where you will. See that they do +not guess our presence--the landlord fortunately is ignorant of M. de +Mancini's name." + +There was a clatter of horses' hoofs without, and I was barely in time to +escape by the door leading to the staircase, when St. Auban's heavy voice +rang out, calling the landlord. + +"I am in search of a gentleman named Andrea de Mancini," he said. "I am +told that he has journeyed hither, and that he is here at present. Am I +rightly informed?" + +I determined to remain where I was, and hear that conversation to the end. + +"There is a gentleman here," answered the host, "but I am ignorant of his +name. I will inquire." + +"You may spare yourself the trouble," Michelot interposed. "That is not +the gentleman's name. I am his servant." + +There was a moment's pause, then came Vilmorin's shrill voice. + +"You lie, knave! M. de Mancini is here. You are M. de Luynes's lackey, +and where the one is, there shall we find the other." + +"M. de Luynes?" came a voice unknown to me. "That is Mancini's sword-blade +of a friend, is it not? Well, why does he hide himself? Where is he? +Where is your master, rascal?" + +"I am here, Messieurs," I answered, throwing wide the door, and appearing, +grim and arrogant, upon the threshold. + +Mort de ma vie! Had they beheld the Devil, St. Auban and Vilmorin could +not have looked less pleased than they did when their eyes lighted upon me, +standing there surveying them with a sardonic grin. + +St. Auban muttered an oath, Vilmorin stifled a cry, whilst he who had so +loudly called to know where I hid myself--a frail little fellow, in the +uniform of the gardes du corps--now stood silent and abashed. + +The two women, who had withdrawn into a dark and retired corner of the +apartment, stood gazing with interest upon this pretty scene. + +"Well, gentlemen?" I asked in a tone of persiflage, as I took a step +towards them. "Have you naught to say to me, now that I have answered your +imperious summons? What! All dumb?" + +"Our affair is not with you," said St. Auban, curtly. + +"Pardon! Why, then, did you inquire where I was?" + +"Messieurs," exclaimed Vilmorin, whose face assumed the pallor usual to it +in moments of peril, "meseems we have been misinformed, and that M. de +Mancini is not here. Let us seek elsewhere." + +"Most excellent advice, gentlemen," I commented,--"seek elsewhere." + +"Monsieur," cried the little officer, turning purple, "it occurs to me that +you are mocking us." + +"Mocking you! Mocking you? Mocking a gentleman who has been tied to so +huge a sword as yours. Surely--surely, sir, you do not think--" + +"I'll not endure it," he broke in. "You shall answer to me for this." + +"Have a care, sir," I cried in alarm as he rushed forward. "Have a care, +sir, lest you trip over your sword." + +He halted, drew himself up, and, with a magnificent gesture: "I am Armand +de Malpertuis, lieutenant of his Majesty's guards," he announced, "and I +shall be grateful if you will do me the honour of taking a turn with me, +outside." + +"I am flattered beyond measure, M. Malappris--" + +"Mal-per-tuis," he corrected furiously. + +"Malpertuis," I echoed. "I am honoured beyond words, but I do not wish to +take a turn." + +"Mille diables, sir! Don't you understand? We must fight." + +"Must we, indeed? Again I am honoured; but, Monsieur, I don't fight +sparrows." + +"Gentlemen! Gentlemen!" cried St. Auban, thrusting himself between us. +"Malpertuis, have the goodness to wait until one affair is concluded before +you create a second one. Now, M. de Luynes, will you tell me whether M. de +Mancini is here or not?" + +"What if he should be?" + +"You will be wise to withdraw--we shall be three to two." + +"Three to two! Surely, Marquis, your reckoning is at fault. You cannot +count the Vicomte there as one; his knees are knocking together; at best he +is but a woman in man's clothes. As for your other friend, unless his +height misleads me, he is but a boy. Therefore, Monsieur, you see that the +advantage is with us. We are two men opposed to a man, a woman, and a +child, so that--" + +"In Heaven's name, sir," cried St. Auban, again interposing himself betwixt +me and the bellicose Malpertuis, "will you cease this foolishness? A word +with you in private, M. de Luynes." + +I permitted him to take me by the sleeve, and lead me aside, wondering the +while what curb it was that he was setting upon his temper, and what wily +motives he might have for adopting so conciliatory a tone. + +With many generations to come, the name of César de St. Auban must perforce +be familiar as that of one of the greatest roysterers and most courtly +libertines of the early days of Louis XIV., as well as that of a rabid +anti-cardinalist and frondeur, and one of the earliest of that new cabal of +nobility known as the petits-maîtres, whose leader the Prince de Condé was +destined to become a few years later. He was a man of about my own age, +that is to say, between thirty-two and thirty-three, and of my own frame, +tall, spare, and active. On his florid, débonnair countenance was stamped +his character of bon-viveur. In dress he was courtly in the extreme. His +doublet and haut-de-chausses were of wine-coloured velvet, richly laced, +and he still affected the hanging sleeves of a fast-disappearing fashion. +Valuable lace filled the tops of his black boots, a valuable jewel +glistened here and there upon his person, and one must needs have +pronounced him a fop but for the strength and resoluteness of his bearing, +and the long rapier that hung from his gold-embroidered baldrick. Such in +brief is a portrait of the man who now confronted me, his fine blue eyes +fixed upon my face, wherein methinks he read but little, search though he +might. + +"M. de Luynes," he murmured at last, "you appear to find entertainment in +making enemies, and you do it wantonly." + +"Have you brought me aside to instruct me in the art of making friends?" + +"Possibly, M. de Luynes; and without intending an offence, permit me to +remark that you need them." + +"Mayhap. But I do not seek them." + +"I have it in my heart to wish that you did; for I, M. de Luynes, seek to +make a friend of you. Nay, do not smile in that unbelieving fashion. I +have long esteemed you for those very qualities of dauntlessness and +defiance which have brought you so rich a crop of hatred. If you doubt my +words, perhaps you will recall my attitude towards you in the horse-market +yesterday, and let that speak. Without wishing to remind you of a service +done, I may yet mention that I stood betwixt you and the mob that sought to +avenge my friend Canaples. He was my friend; you stood there, as indeed +you have always stood, in the attitude of a foe. You wounded Canaples, +maltreated Vilmorin, defied me; and yet but for my intervention, mille +diables sir, you had been torn to pieces." + +"All this I grant is very true, Monsieur," I made reply, with deep +suspicion in my soul. "Yet, pardon me, if I confess that to me it proves +no more than that you acted as a generous enemy. Pardon my bluntness also- +-but what profit do you look to make from gaining my friendship?" + +"You are frank, Monsieur," he said, colouring slightly, "I will be none the +less so. I am a frondeur, an anti-cardinalist. In a word, I am a +gentleman and a Frenchman. An interloping foreigner, miserly, mean-souled, +and Jesuitical, springs up, wins himself into the graces of a foolish, +impetuous, wilful queen, and climbs the ladder which she holds for him to +the highest position in France. I allude to Mazarin; this Cardinal who is +not a priest; this minister of France who is not a Frenchman; this +belittler of nobles who is not a gentleman." + +"Mort Dieu, Monsieur--" + +"One moment, M. de Luynes. This adventurer, not content with the millions +which his avaricious talons have dragged from the people for his own +benefit, seeks, by means of illustrious alliances, to enrich a pack of +beggarly nieces and nephews that he has rescued from the squalor of their +Sicilian homes to bring hither. His nieces, the Mancinis and Martinozzis, +he is marrying to Dukes and Princes. 'T is not nice to witness, but 't is +the affair of the men who wed them. In seeking, however, to marry his +nephew Andrea to one of the greatest heiresses in France, he goes too far. +Yvonne de Canaples is for some noble countryman of her own--there are many +suitors to her hand--and for no nephew of Giulio Mazarini. Her brother +Eugène, himself, thinks thus, and therein, M. de Luynes, you have the real +motive of the quarrel which he provoked with Andrea, and which, had you not +interfered, could have had but one ending." + +"Why do you tell me all this, Monsieur?" I inquired coldly, betraying none +of the amazement his last words gave birth to. + +"So that you may know the true position of affairs, and, knowing it, see +the course which the name you bear must bid you follow. Because Canaples +failed am I here to-day. I had not counted upon meeting you, but since I +have met you, I have set the truth before you, confident that you will now +withdraw from an affair to which no real interest can bind you, leaving +matters to pursue their course." + +He eyed me, methought, almost anxiously from under his brows, as he awaited +my reply. It was briefer than he looked for. + +"You have wasted time, Monsieur." + +"How? You persist?" + +"Yes. I persist. Yet for the Cardinal I care nothing. Mazarin has +dismissed me from his service unjustly and unpaid. He has forbidden me his +nephew's company. In fact, did he know of my presence here with M. de +Mancini, he would probably carry out his threat to hang me." + +"Ciel!" cried St. Auban, "you are mad, if that be so. France is divided +into two parties, cardinalists and anti-cardinalists. You, sir, without +belonging to either, stand alone, an enemy to both. Your attitude is +preposterous!" + +"Nay, sir, not alone. There is Andrea de Mancini. The boy is my only +friend in a world of enemies. I am growing fond of him, Monsieur, and I +will stand by him, while my arm can wield a sword, in all that may advance +his fortunes and his happiness. That, Monsieur, is my last word." + +"Do not forget, M. de Luynes," he said--his suaveness all departed of a +sudden, and his tone full of menace and acidity--"do not forget that when a +wall may not be scaled it may be broken through." + +"Aye, Monsieur, but many of those who break through stand in danger of +being crushed by the falling stones," I answered, entering into the spirit +of his allegory. + +"There are many ways of striking," he said. + +"And many ways of being struck," I retorted with a sneer. + +Our words grew sinister, our eyes waxed fiery, and more might have followed +had not the door leading to the staircase opened at that moment to admit +Andrea himself. He came, elegant in dress and figure, with a smile upon +his handsome young face, whose noble features gave the lie to St. Auban's +assertion that he had been drawn from a squalid Sicilian home. Such faces +are not bred in squalor. + +In utter ignorance of the cabal against him, he greeted St. Auban--who was +well known to him--with a graceful bow, and also Vilmorin, who stood in the +doorway with Malpertuis, and who at the sight of Mancini grew visibly ill +at ease. In coming to Choisy, the Vicomte had clearly expected to do no +more than second St. Auban in the duel which he thought to see forced upon +Andrea. He now realised that if a fight there was, he might, by my +presence, be forced into it. Malpertuis looked fierce and tugged at his +moustachios, whilst his companions returned Andrea's salutation--St. Auban +gravely, and Vilmorin hesitatingly. + +"Ha, Gaston," said the boy, advancing towards me, "our host tells me that +two ladies who have been shipwrecked here wish to do me the honour of +occupying my apartments for an hour or so. Ha, there they are," he added, +as the two girls came suddenly forward. Then bowing--"Mesdames, I am +enchanted to set the poor room at your disposal for as long as it may +please you to honour it." + +As the ladies--of whose presence St. Auban had been unaware--appeared +before us, I shot a glance at the Marquis, and, from the start he gave upon +beholding them, I saw that things were as I had suspected. + +Before they could reply to Andrea, St. Auban suddenly advanced: + +"Mesdemoiselles," quoth he, "forgive me if in this miserable light I did +not earlier discover your presence and offer you my services. I do so now, +with the hope that you will honour me by making use of them." + +"Merci, M. de St. Auban," replied the dark-haired one--whom I guessed to be +none other than Yvonne de Canaples herself--"but, since this gentleman so +gallantly cedes his apartments to us, all our needs are satisfied. It +would be churlish to refuse that which is so graciously proffered." + +Her tone was cold in the extreme, as also was the inclination of her head +wherewith she favoured the Marquis. In arrant contrast were the pretty +words of thanks she addressed to Andrea, who stood by, blushing like a +girl, and a damnable scowl did this contrast draw from St. Auban, a scowl +that lasted until, escorted by the landlord, the two ladies had withdrawn. + +There was an awkward pause when they were gone, and methought from the look +on St. Auban's face that he was about to provoke a fight after all. Not +so, however, for, after staring at us like a clown whilst one might tell a +dozen, he turned and strode to the door, calling for his horse and those of +his companions. + +"Au révoir, M. de Luynes," he said significantly as he got into the saddle. + +"Au révoir, M. de Luynes," said also Malpertuis, coming close up to me. +"We shall meet again, believe me." + +"Pray God that we may not, if you would die in your bed," I answered +mockingly. "Adieu!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +OF HOW ANDREA BECAME LOVE-SICK + + +With what fictions I could call to mind I put off Andrea's questions +touching the peculiar fashion of St. Auban's leave-taking. Tell him the +truth and expose to him the situation whereof he was himself the +unconscious centre I dared not, lest his high-spirited impetuosity should +cause him to take into his own hands the reins of the affair, and thus +drive himself into irreparable disaster. + +Andrea himself showed scant concern, however, and was luckily content with +my hurriedly invented explanations; his thoughts had suddenly found +occupation in another and a gentler theme than the ill-humour of men, and +presently his tongue betrayed them when he drew the conversation to the +ladies to whom he had resigned his apartments. + +"Pardieu! Gaston," he burst out, "she is a lovely maid--saw you ever a +bonnier?" + +"Indeed she is very beautiful," I answered, laughing to myself at the +thought of how little he dreamt that it was of Yvonne St. Albaret de +Canaples that he spoke, and not minded for the while to enlighten him. + +"If she be as kind and gentle as she is beautiful, Gaston, well--Uncle +Giulio's plans are likely to suffer shipwreck. I shall not leave Choisy +until I have spoken to her; in fact, I shall not leave until she leaves." + +"Nevertheless, we shall still be able to set out, as we had projected, +after dining, for in an hour, or two at most, they will proceed on their +journey." + +He was silent for some moments, then: + +"To the devil with the Cardinal's plans!" quoth he, banging his fist on the +table. "I shall not go to Blois." + +"Pooh! Why not?" + +"Why not?" He halted for a moment, then in a meandering tone--"You have +read perchance in story-books," he said, "of love being born from the first +meeting of two pairs of eyes, as a spark is born of flint and steel, and +you may have laughed at the conceit, as I have laughed at it. But laugh no +more, Gaston; for I who stand before you am one who has experienced this +thing which poets tell of, and which hitherto I have held in ridicule. I +will not go to Blois because--because--enfin, because I intend to go where +she goes." + +"Then, mon cher, you will go to Blois. You will go to Blois, if not as a +dutiful nephew, resigned to obey his reverend uncle's wishes, at least +because fate forces you to follow a pair of eyes that have--hum, what was +it you said they did?" + +"Do you say that she is going to Blois? How do you know?" + +"Eh? How do I know? Oh, I heard her servant speaking with the hostler." + +"So much the better, then; for thus if his Eminence gets news of my +whereabouts, the news will not awaken his ever-ready suspicions. Ciel! How +beautiful she is! Noted you her eyes, her skin, and what hair, mon Dieu! +Like threads of gold!" + +"Like threads of gold?" I echoed. "You are dreaming, boy. Oh, St. Gris! I +understand; you are speaking of the fair-haired chit that was with her." + +He eyed me in amazement. + +"'T is you whose thoughts are wandering to that lanky, nose-in-the-air +Madame who accompanied her." + +I began a laugh that I broke off suddenly as I realised that it was not +Yvonne after all who had imprisoned his wits. The Cardinal's plans were, +indeed, likely to miscarry if he persisted thus. + +"But 't was the nose-in-the-air Madame, as you call her, with whom you +spoke!" + +"Aye, but it was the golden-haired lady that held my gaze. Pshaw! Who +would mention them in a breath?" + +"Who, indeed?" said I, but with a different meaning. + +Thereafter, seeing him listless, I suggested a turn in the village to +stretch our limbs before dining. But he would have none of it, and when I +pressed the point with sound reasoning touching the benefits which health +may cull from exercise, he grew petulant as a wayward child. She might +descend whilst he was absent. Indeed, she might require some slight +service that lay, perchance, in his power to render her. What an +opportunity would he not lose were he abroad? She might even depart before +we returned; and than that no greater calamity could just then befall him. +No, he would not stir a foot from the inn. A fig for exercise! to the +devil with health! who sought an appetite? Not he. He wished for no +appetite--could contrive no base and vulgar appetite for food, whilst his +soul, he swore, was being consumed by the overwhelming, all-effacing +appetite to behold her. + +Such meandering fools are most of us at nineteen, when the heart is young-- +a flawless mirror ready to hold the image of the first fair maid that looks +into it through our eyes, and as ready--Heaven knows!--to relinquish it +when the substance is withdrawn. + +But I, who was not nineteen, and the mirror of whose heart--to pursue my +metaphor--was dulled, warped, and cracked with much illusage, grew sick of +the boy's enthusiasm and the monotony of a conversation which I could +divert into no other channel from that upon which it had been started by a +little slip of a girl with hair of gold and sapphire eyes--I use Andrea's +words. And so I rose, and bidding him take root in the tavern, if so it +pleased his fancy, I left him there. + +Wrapped in my cloak, for the air was raw and damp, I strode aimlessly +along, revolving in my mind what had befallen at the Connétable that +morning, and speculating upon the issue that this quaint affair might have. +In matters of love, or rather, of matrimony--which is not quite the same +thing--opposition is common enough. But the opposers are usually members +of either of the interested families. Now the families--that is to say, +the heads of the families--being agreed and even anxious to bring about the +union of Yvonne de Canaples and Andrea de Mancini, it was something new to +have a cabal of persons who, from motives of principle--as St. Auban had +it--should oppose the alliance so relentlessly as to even resort to +violence if no other means occurred to them. It seemed vastly probable +that Andrea would be disposed of by a knife in the back, and more than +probable that a like fate would be reserved for me, since I had constituted +myself his guardian angel. For my own part, however, I had a pronounced +distaste to ending my days in so unostentatious a fashion. I had also a +notion that I should prove an exceedingly difficult person to assassinate, +and that those who sought to slip a knife into me would find my hide +peculiarly tough, and my hand peculiarly ready to return the compliment. + +So deeply did I sink into ponderings of this character that it was not +until two hours afterwards that I again found myself drawing near the +Connétable. + +I reached the inn to find by the door a coach, and by that coach Andrea; he +stood bareheaded, despite the cold, conversing, with all outward semblances +of profound respect, with those within it. + +So engrossed was he and so ecstatic, that my approach was unheeded, and +when presently I noted that the coach was Mademoiselle de Canaples's, I +ceased to wonder at the boy's unconsciousness of what took place around +him. + +Clearly the farrier had been found at last, and the horse shod afresh +during my absence. Loath to interrupt so pretty a scene, I waited, aloof, +until these adieux should be concluded, and whilst I waited there came to +me from the carriage a sweet, musical voice that was not Yvonne's. + +"May we not learn at least, Monsieur, the name of the gentleman to whose +courtesy we are indebted for having spent the past two hours without +discomfort?" + +"My name, Mademoiselle, is Andrea de Mancini, that of the humblest of your +servants, and one to whom your thanks are a more than lavish payment for +the trivial service he may have been fortunate enough to render you." + +Dame! What glibness doth a tongue acquire at Court! + +"M. Andrea de Mancini?" came Yvonne's voice in answer. "Surely a relative +of the Lord Cardinal?" + +"His nephew, Mademoiselle." + +"Ah! My father, sir, is a great admirer of your uncle." + +From the half-caressing tone, as much as from the very words she uttered, I +inferred that she was in ignorance of the compact into which his Eminence +had entered with her father--a bargain whereof she was herself a part. + +"I am rejoiced, indeed, Mademoiselle," replied Andrea with a bow, as though +the compliment had been paid to him. "Am I indiscreet in asking the name +of Monsieur your father?" + +"Indiscreet! Nay, Monsieur. You have a right to learn the name of those +who are under an obligation to you. My father is the Chevalier de +Canaples, of whom it is possible that you may have heard. I am Yvonne de +Canaples, of whom it is unlikely that you should have heard, and this is my +sister Geneviève, whom a like obscurity envelops." + +The boy's lips moved, but no sound came from them, whilst his cheeks went +white and red by turns. His courtliness of a moment ago had vanished, and +he stood sheepish and gauche as a clown. At length he so far mastered +himself as to bow and make a sign to the coachman, who thereupon gathered +up his reins. + +"You are going presumably to Blois?" he stammered with a nervous laugh, as +if the journey were a humorous proceeding. + +"Yes, Monsieur," answered Geneviève, "we are going home." + +"Why, then, it is possible that we shall meet again. I, too, am travelling +in that direction. A bientôt, Mesdemoiselles!" + +The whip cracked, the coach began to move, and the creaking of its wheels +drowned, so far as I was concerned, the female voices that answered his +farewell. The coachman roused his horses into an amble; the amble became a +trot, and the vehicle vanished round a corner. Some few idlers stopped to +gaze stupidly after it, but not half so stupidly as did my poor Andrea, +standing bareheaded where the coach had left him. + +I drew near, and laid my hand on his shoulder; at the touch he started like +one awakened suddenly, and looked up. + +"Ah--you are returned, Gaston." + +"To find that you have made a discovery, and are overwhelmed by your +error." + +"My error?" + +"Yes--that of falling in love with the wrong one. Hélas, it is but one of +those ironical jests wherewith Fate amuses herself at every step of our +lives. Had you fallen in love with Yvonne--and it passes my understanding +why you did not--everything would have gone smoothly with your wooing. +Unfortunately, you have a preference for fair hair--" + +"Have done," he interrupted peevishly. "What does it signify? To the +devil with Mazarin's plans!" + +"So you said this morning." + +"Yes, when I did not even dream her name was Canaples." + +"Nevertheless, she is the wrong Canaples." + +"For my uncle--but, mille diables! sir, 't is I who am to wed, and I shall +wed as my heart bids me." + +"Hum! And Mazarin?" + +"Faugh!" he answered, with an expressive shrug. + +"Well, since you are resolved, let us dine." + +"I have no appetite." + +"Let us dine notwithstanding. Eat you must if you would live; and unless +you live--think of it!--you'll never reach Blois." + +"Gaston, you are laughing at me! I do not wish to eat." + +I surveyed him gravely, with my arms akimbo. + +"Can love so expand the heart of man that it fills even his stomach? Well, +well, if you will not eat, at least have the grace to bear me company at +table. Come, Andrea," and I took his arm, "let us ascend to that chamber +which she has but just quitted. Who can tell but that we shall find there +some token of her recent presence? If nothing more, at least the air will +be pervaded by the perfume she affected, and since you scorn the humble +food of man, you can dine on that." + +He smiled despite himself as I drew him towards the staircase. + +"Scoffer!" quoth he. "Your callous soul knows naught of love." + +"Whereas you have had three hours' experience. Pardieu! You shall +instruct me in the gentle art." + +Alas, for those perfumes upon which I had proposed that he should feast +himself. If any the beautiful Geneviève had left behind her, they had been +smothered in the vulgar yet appetising odour of the steaming ragoût that +occupied the table. + +I prevailed at length upon the love-lorn boy to take some food, but I could +lead him to talk of naught save Geneviève de Canaples. Presently he took +to chiding me for the deliberateness wherewith I ate, and betrayed thereby +his impatience to be in the saddle and after her. I argued that whilst she +saw him not she might think of him. But the argument, though sound, +availed me little, and in the end I was forced--for all that I am a man +accustomed to please myself--to hurriedly end my repast, and pronounce +myself ready to start. + +As Andrea had with him some store of baggage--since his sojourn at Blois +was likely to be of some duration--he travelled in a coach. Into this +coach, then, we climbed--he and I. His valet, Silvio, occupied the seat +beside the coachman, whilst my stalwart Michelot rode behind leading my +horse by the bridle. In this fashion we set out, and ere long the silence +of my thoughtful companion, the monotonous rumbling of the vehicle, and, +most important of all factors, the good dinner that I had consumed, bred in +me a torpor that soon became a sleep. + +From a dream that, bound hand and foot, I was being dragged by St. Auban +and Malpertuis before the Cardinal, I awakened with a start to find that we +were clattering already through the streets of Etrechy; so that whilst I +had slept we had covered some six leagues. Twilight had already set in, +and Andrea lay back idly in the carriage, holding a book which it was +growing too dark to read, and between the leaves of which he had slipped +his forefinger to mark the place where he had paused. + +His eyes met mine as I looked round, and he smiled. "I should not have +thought, Gaston," he said, "that a man with so seared a conscience could +have slept thus soundly." + +"I have not slept soundly," I grumbled, recalling my dream. + +"Pardieu! you have slept long, at least." + +"Out of self-protection; so that I might not hear the name of Geneviève de +Canaples. 'T is a sweet name, but you render it monotonous." + +He laughed good-humouredly. + +"Have you never loved, Gaston?" + +"Often." + +"Ah--but I mean did you never conceive a great passion?" + +"Hundreds, boy." + +"But never such a one as mine!" + +"Assuredly not; for the world has never seen its fellow. Be good enough to +pull the cord, you Cupid incarnate. I wish to alight." + +"You wish to alight! Why?" + +"Because I am sick of love. I am going to ride awhile with Michelot whilst +you dream of her coral lips, her sapphire eyes, and what other gems +constitute her wondrous personality." + +Two minutes later I was in the saddle riding with Michelot in the wake of +the carriage. As I have already sought to indicate in these pages, +Michelot was as much my friend as my servant. It was therefore no more +than natural that I should communicate to him my fears touching what might +come of the machinations of St. Auban, Vilmorin, and even, perchance, of +that little firebrand, Malpertuis. + +Night fell while we talked, and at last the lights of Étampes, where we +proposed to lie, peeped at us from a distance, and food and warmth. + +It was eight o'clock when we reached the town, and a few moments later we +rattled into the courtyard of the Hôtel de l'Épée. + +Andrea was out of temper to learn that Mesdemoiselles de Canaples had +reached the place two hours earlier, taken fresh horses, and proceeded on +their journey, intending to reach Monnerville that night. He was even mad +enough to propose that we should follow their example, but my sober +arguments prevailed, and at Étampes we stayed till morning. + +Andrea withdrew early. But I, having chanced upon a certain M. de la +Vrillière, a courtier of Vilmorin's stamp, with whom I had some slight +acquaintance, and his purse being heavier than his wits, I spent a passing +profitable evening in his company. This pretty gentleman hailed my advent +with a delight that amazed me, and suggested that we should throw a main +together to kill time. The dice were found, and so clumsily did he use +them that in half an hour, playing for beggarly crowns, he had lost twenty +pistoles. Next he lost his temper, and with an oath pitched the cubes into +the fire, swearing that they were toys for children and that I must grant +him his révanche with cards. The cards were furnished us, and with a +fortune that varied little we played lansquenet until long past midnight. +The fire died out in the grate, and the air grew chill, until at last, with +a violent sneeze, La Vrillière protested that he would play no more. + +Cursing himself for the unluckiest being alive, the fool bade me good- +night, and left me seventy pistoles richer than when I had met him. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE CHÂTEAU DE CANAPLES + + +Despite the strenuous efforts which Andrea compelled us to put forth, we +did not again come up with Mesdemoiselles de Canaples, who in truth must +have travelled with greater speed than ladies are wont to. + +This circumstance bred much discomfort in Andrea's bosom; for in it he read +that his Geneviève thought not of him as he of her, else, knowing that he +followed the same road, she would have retarded their progress so that he +might overtake them. Thus argued he when on the following night, which was +that of Friday, we lay at Orleans. But when towards noon on Saturday our +journey ended with our arrival at Blois, he went so far as to conclude that +she had hastened on expressly to avoid him. Now, from what I had seen of +Mademoiselle Yvonne, methought I might hazard a guess that she it was who +commanded in these--and haply, too, in other--matters, and that the manner +of their journey had been such as was best to her wishes. + +With such an argument did I strive to appease Andrea's doubts; but all in +vain--which is indeed no matter for astonishment, for to reason with a man +in love is to reason with one who knows no reason. + +After a brief halt at the Lys de France--at which hostelry I hired myself a +room--we set out for the Château de Canaples, which is situated on the left +bank of the Loire, at a distance of about half a league from Blois in the +direction of Tours. + +We cut a brave enough figure as we rode down the Rue Vieille attended by +our servants, and many a rustic Blaisois stopped to gape at us, to nudge +his companion, and point us out, whispering the word "Paris." + +I had donned my grey velvet doublet--deeming the occasion worthy of it-- +whilst Andrea wore a handsome suit of black, with gold lace, which for +elegance it would have been difficult to surpass. An air of pensiveness +added interest to his handsome face and courtly figure, and methought that +Geneviève must be hard to please if she fell not a victim to his wooing. + +We proceeded along the road bordering the Loire, a road of rare beauty at +any other season of the year, but now bare of foliage, grey, bleak, and +sullen as the clouds overhead, and as cold to the eye as was the sharp wind +to the flesh. As we rode I fell to thinking of what my reception at the +Château de Canaples was likely to be, and almost to regret that I had +permitted Andrea to persuade me to accompany him. Long ago I had known the +Chevalier de Canaples, and for all the disparity in our ages--for he +counted twice my years--we had been friends and comrades. That, however, +was ten years ago, in the old days when I owned something more than the +name of Luynes. To-day I appeared before him as a ruined adventurer, a +soldier of fortune, a ruffler, a duellist who had almost slain his son in a +brawl, whose details might be known to him, but not its origin. Seeing me +in the company of Andrea de Mancini he might--who could say?--even deem me +one of those parasites who cling to young men of fortune so that they may +live at their expense. That the daughter would have formed such a conceit +of me I was assured; it but remained to see with what countenance the +father would greet me. + +From such speculations I was at length aroused by our arrival at the gates +of the Canaples park. Seeing them wide open, we rode between the two +massive columns of granite (each surmounted by a couchant lion holding the +escutcheon of the Canaples) and proceeded at an ambling pace up the avenue. +Through the naked trees the château became discernible--a brave old castle +that once had been the stronghold of a feudal race long dead. Grey it was, +and attuned, that day, to the rest of the grey landscape. But at its base +the ivy grew thick and green, and here and there long streaks of it crept +up almost to the battlements, whilst in one place it had gone higher yet +and clothed one of the quaint old turrets. A moat there had once been, but +this was now filled up and arranged into little mounds that became flower- +beds in summer. + +Resigning our horses to the keeping of our servants, we followed the grave +maître d'hôtel who had received us. He led us across the spacious hall, +which had all the appearance of an armoury, and up the regal staircase of +polished oak on to a landing wide and lofty. Here, turning to the left, he +opened a door and desired us to give ourselves the trouble of awaiting the +Chevalier. We entered a handsome room, hung in costly Dutch tapestry, and +richly furnished, yet with a sobriety of colour almost puritanical. The +long windows overlooked a broad terrace, enclosed in a grey stone +balustrade, from which some half-dozen steps led to a garden below. Beyond +that ran the swift waters of the Loire, and beyond that again, in the +distance, we beheld the famous Château de Chambord, built in the days of +the first Francis. + +I had but remarked these details when the door again opened, to admit a +short, slender man in whose black hair and beard the hand of time had +scattered but little of that white dust that marks its passage. His face +was pale, thin, and wrinkled, and his grey eyes had a nervous, restless +look that dwelt not long on anything. He was dressed in black, with simple +elegance, and his deep collar and ruffles were of the finest point. + +"Welcome to Canaples, M. de Mancini!" he exclaimed, as he hurried forward, +with a smile so winning that his countenance appeared transfigured by it. +"Welcome most cordially! We had not hoped that you would arrive so soon, +but fortunately my daughters, to whom you appear to have been of service at +Choisy, warned me that you were journeying hither. Your apartments, +therefore, are prepared for you, and we hope that you will honour Canaples +by long remaining its guest." + +Andrea thanked him becomingly. + +"In truth," he added, "my departure from Paris was somewhat sudden, but I +have a letter here from Monseigneur my uncle, which explains the matter." + +"No explanation is needed, my dear Andrea," replied the old nobleman, +abandoning the formalities that had marked his welcoming speech. "How left +you my Lord Cardinal?" he asked, as he took the letter. + +"In excellent health, but somewhat harassed, I fear, by the affairs of +State." + +"Ah, yes, yes. But stay. You are not alone." And Canaples's grey eyes +shot an almost furtive glance of inquiry in my direction. A second glance +followed the first and the Chevalier's brows were knit. Then he came a +step nearer, scanning my face. + +"Surely, surely, Monsieur," he exclaimed before Andrea had time to answer +him. "Were you not at Rocroi?" + +"Your memory flatters me, Monsieur," I replied with a laugh. "I was indeed +at Rocroi--captain in the regiment of chévaux-légers whereof you were +Mestre de Champ." + +"His name," said Andrea, "is Gaston de Luynes, my very dear friend, +counsellor, and, I might almost say, protector." + +"Pardieu, yes! Gaston de Luynes!" he ejaculated, seizing my hand in an +affectionate grip. "But how have you fared since Rocroi was fought? For a +soldier of such promise, one might have predicted great things in ten +years." + +"Hélas, Monsieur! I was dismissed the service after Senlac." + +"Dismissed the service!" + +"Pah!" I laughed, not without bitterness, 't is a long story and an ugly +one, divided 'twixt the dice-box, the bottle, and the scabbard. Ten years +ago I was a promising young captain, ardent and ambitious; to-day I am a +broken ruffler, unrecognised by my family--a man without hope, without +ambition, almost without honour." + +I know not what it was that impelled me to speak thus. Haply the wish that +since he must soon learn to what depths Gaston de Luynes had sunk, he +should at least learn it from my own lips at the outset. + +He shuddered at my concluding words, and had not Andrea at that moment put +his arm affectionately upon my shoulder, and declared me the bravest fellow +and truest friend in all the world, it is possible that the Chevalier de +Canaples would have sought an excuse to be rid of me. Such men as he seek +not the acquaintance of such men as I. + +To please Andrea was, however, of chief importance in his plans, and to +that motive I owe it that he pressed me to remain a guest at the château. +I declined the honour with the best grace I could command, determined that +whilst Andrea remained at Canaples I would lodge at the Lys de France in +Blois, independent and free to come or go as my fancy bade me. His +invitation that I should at least dine at Canaples I accepted; but with the +condition that he should repeat his invitation after he had heard something +that I wished to tell him. He assented with a puzzled look, and when +presently Andrea repaired to his apartments, and we were alone, I began. + +"You have doubtlessly received news, Monsieur, of a certain affair in which +your son had recently the misfortune to be dangerously wounded?" + +We were standing by the great marble fireplace, and Canaples was resting +one of his feet upon the huge brass andirons. He made a gesture of +impatience as I spoke. + +"My son, sir, is a fool! A good-for-nothing fool! Oh, I have heard of +this affair, a vulgar tavern brawl, the fifth in which his name has been +involved and besmirched. I had news this morning by a courier dispatched +me by my friend St. Simon, who imagines that I am deeply concerned in that +young profligate. I learn that he is out of danger, and that in a month or +so, he will be about again and ready to disgrace the name of Canaples +afresh. But there, sir; I crave your pardon for the interruption." + +I bowed, and when in answer to my questions he told me that he was in +ignorance of the details of the affair of which I spoke, I set about laying +those details before him. Beginning with the original provocation in the +Palais Royal and ending with the fight in the horse-market, I related the +whole story to him, but in an impersonal manner, and keeping my own name +out of my narrative. When I had done, Canaples muttered an oath of the +days of the fourth Henry. + +"Ventre St. Gris! Does the dog carry his audacity so far as to dare come +betwixt me and my wishes, and to strive against them? He sought to kill +Mancini, eh? Would to Heaven he had died by the hand of this fellow who +shielded the lad!" + +"Monsieur!" I cried, aghast at so unnatural an expression. + +"Pah!" he cried harshly. "He is my son in name alone, filial he never +was." + +"Nevertheless, Monsieur, he is still your son, your heir." + +"My heir? And what, pray, does he inherit? A title--a barren, landless +title! By his shameful conduct he alienated the affection of his uncle, +and his uncle has disinherited him in favour of Yvonne. 'T is she who will +be mistress of this château with its acres of land reaching from here to +Blois, and three times as far on the other side. My brother, sir, was the +rich Canaples, the owner of all this, and by his testament I am his heir +during my lifetime, the estates going to Yvonne at my death. So that you +see I have naught to leave; but if I had, not a dénier should go to my +worthless son!" + +He spread his thin hands before the blaze, and for a moment there was +silence. Then I proceeded to tell him of the cabal which had been formed +against Mancini, and of the part played by St. Auban. At the mention of +that name he started as if I had stung him. + +"What!" he thundered. "Is that ruffian also in the affair? Sangdieu! His +motives are not far to seek. He is a suitor--an unfavoured suitor--for the +hand of Yvonne, that seemingly still hopes. But you have not told me, +Monsieur, the name of this man who has stood betwixt Andrea and his +assassins." + +"Can you not guess, Monsieur?" quoth I, looking him squarely in the face. +"Did you not hear Andrea call me, even now, his protector." + +"You? And with what motive, pray?" + +"At first, as I have told you, because the Cardinal gave me no choice in +the matter touching your son. Since then my motive has lain in my +friendship for the boy. He has been kind and affectionate to one who has +known little kindness or affection in life. I seek to repay him by +advancing his interests and his happiness. That, Monsieur, is why I am +here to-day--to shield him from St. Auban and his fellows should they +appear again, as I believe they will." + +The old man stood up and eyed me for a moment as steadily as his +vacillating glance would permit him, then he held out his hand. + +"I trust, Monsieur," he said, "that you will do me the honour to dine with +us, and that whilst you are at Blois we shall see you at Canaples as often +as it may please you to cross its threshold." + +I took his hand, but without enthusiasm, for I understood that his words +sprang from no warmth of heart for me, but merely from the fact that he +beheld in me a likely ally to his designs of raising his daughter to the +rank of Duchess. + +Eugène de Canaples may have been a good-for-nothing knave; still, methought +his character scarce justified the callous indifference manifested by this +selfish, weak-minded old man towards his own son. + +There was a knock at the door, and a lackey--the same Guilbert whom I had +seen at Choisy in Mademoiselle's company--appeared with the announcement +that the Chevalier was served. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE FORESHADOW OF DISASTER + + +In the spacious dining salon of the Château de Canaples I found the two +daughters of my host awaiting us--those same two ladies of the coach in +Place Vendôme and of the hostelry at Choisy, the dark and stately icicle, +Yvonne, and the fair, playful doll, Geneviève. + +I bowed my best bow as the Chevalier presented me, and from the corner of +my eye, with inward malice, I watched them as I did so. Geneviève curtsied +with a puzzled air and a sidelong glance at her sister. Yvonne accorded me +the faintest, the coldest, inclination of her head, whilst her cheeks +assumed a colour that was unwonted. + +"We have met before, I think, Monsieur," she said disdainfully. + +"True, Mademoiselle--once," I answered, thinking only of the coach. + +"Twice, Monsieur," she corrected, whereupon I recalled how she had +surprised me with my arm about the waist of the inn-keeper's daughter, and +had Heaven given me shame I might have blushed. But if sweet Yvonne +thought to bring Gaston de Luynes to task for profiting by the good things +which God's providence sent his way, she was led by vanity into a +prodigious error. + +"Twice, indeed, Mademoiselle. But the service which you rendered me upon +the first occasion was so present to my mind just now that it eclipsed the +memory of our second meeting. I have ever since desired, Mademoiselle, +that an opportunity might be mine wherein to thank you for the preservation +of my life. I do so now, and at your service do I lay that life which you +preserved, and which is therefore as much yours as mine." + +Strive as I might I could not rid my tone of an ironical inflection. I was +goaded to it by her attitude, by the scornful turn of her lip and the +disdainful glance of her grey eyes--she had her father's eyes, saving that +her gaze was as steadfast as his was furtive. + +"What is this?" quoth Canaples. "You owe your life to my daughter? Pray +tell me of it." + +"With all my heart," I made haste to answer before Mademoiselle could +speak. "A week ago, I disagreed upon a question of great delicacy with a +certain gentleman who shall be nameless. The obvious result attended our +disagreement, and we fought 'neath the eyes of a vast company of +spectators. Right was on my side, and the gentleman hurt himself upon my +sword. Well, sir, the crowd snarled at me as though it were my fault that +this had so befallen, and I flouted the crowd in answer. They were a +hundred opposed to one, and so confident did this circumstance render them +of their superiority, that for once those whelps displayed sufficient +valour to attack me. I fled, and as a coach chanced to come that way, I +clutched at the window and hung there. Within the coach there were two +ladies, and one of them, taking compassion upon me, invited me to enter and +thus rescued me. That lady, sir," I ended with a bow, "was Mademoiselle +your daughter." + +In his eyes I read it that he had guessed the name of my nameless +gentleman. + +The ladies were struck dumb by my apparent effrontery. Yvonne at last +recovered sufficiently to ask if my presence at the château arose from my +being attached to M. de Mancini. Now, "attached" is an unpleasant word. A +courtier is attached to the King; a soldier to the army; there is +humiliation in neither of these. But to a private gentleman, a man may be +only attached as his secretary, his valet, or, possibly, as his bravo. +Therein lay the sting of her carefully chosen word. + +"I am M. de Mancini's friend," I answered with simple dignity. + +For all reply she raised her eyebrows in token of surprise; Canaples looked +askance; I bit my lip, and an awkward silence followed, which, luckily, was +quickly ended by the appearance of Andrea. + +The ladies received him graciously, and a faint blush might, to searching +eyes, have been perceived upon Geneviève's cheek. + +There came a delicate exchange of compliments, after which we got to table, +and for my part I did ample justice to the viands. + +I sat beside Geneviève, and vis-à-vis with Andrea, who occupied the place +of the honoured guest, at the host's right hand, with Yvonne beside him. +Me it concerned little where I sat, since the repast was all that I could +look for; not so the others. Andrea scowled at me because I was nearer to +Geneviève than he, and Yvonne frowned at me for other reasons. By +Geneviève I was utterly disregarded, and my endeavours to converse were +sorely unsuccessful--for one may not converse alone. + +I clearly saw that Yvonne only awaited an opportunity to unmask me, and +denounce me to her father as the man who had sought his son's life. + +This opportunity, however, came not until the moment of my departure from +the château, that evening. I was crossing the hail with the Chevalier de +Canaples, and we had stopped for a moment to admire a piece of old chain +armour of the days of the Crusaders. Andrea and Geneviève had preceded us, +and passed out through the open doorway, whilst Yvonne lingered upon the +threshold looking back. + +"I trust, M. de Luynes," said Canaples, as we moved towards her, "that you +will remember my invitation, and that whilst you remain at Biois we shall +see you here as often as you may be pleased to come; indeed, I trust that +you will be a daily visitor." + +Before I could utter a reply--"Father," exclaimed Mademoiselle, coming +forward, "do you know to whom you are offering the hospitality of +Canaples?" + +"Why that question, child? To M. de Luynes, M. de Mancini's friend." + +"And the would-be murderer of Eugène," she added fiercely. + +Canaples started. + +"Surely such affairs are not for women to meddle with," he cried. +"Moreover, M. de Luynes has already given me all details of the affair." + +Her eyes grew very wide at that. + +"He has told you? Yet you invite him hither?" she exclaimed. + +"M. de Luynes has naught wherewith to reproach himself, nor have I. Those +details which he has given me I may not impart to you; suffice it, however, +that I am satisfied that his conduct could not have been other than it was, +whereas that of my son reflects but little credit upon his name." + +She stamped her foot, and her eyes, blazing with anger, passed from one to +the other of us. + +"And you--you believe this man's story?" + +"Yvonne!" + +"Possibly," I interposed, coolly, "Mademoiselle may have received some +false account of it that justifies her evident unbelief in what I may have +told you." + +It is not easy to give a lie unless you can prove it a lie. I made her +realise this, and she bit her lip in vexation. Dame! What a pretty viper +I thought her at that moment! + +"Let me add, Yvonne," said her father, "that M. de Luynes and I are old +comrades in arms." Then turning to me--"My daughter, sir, is but a child, +and therefore hasty to pass judgment upon matters beyond her understanding. +Forget this foolish outburst, and remember only my assurance of an ever +cordial welcome." + +"With all my heart," I answered, after a moment's deliberation, during +which I had argued that for once I must stifle pride if I would serve +Andrea. + +"Ough!" was all Mademoiselle's comment as she turned her back upon me. +Nevertheless, I bowed and flourished my beaver to her retreating figure. + +Clearly Mademoiselle entertained for me exactly that degree of fondness +which a pious hermit feels for the devil, and if I might draw conclusions +from what evidences I had had of the strength of her character and the +weakness of her father's, our sojourn at Blois promised to afford me little +delectation. In fact, I foresaw many difficulties that might lead to +disaster should our Paris friends appear upon the scene--a contingency this +that seemed over-imminent. + +It was not my wont, howbeit, to brood over the evils that the future might +hold, and to this I owe it that I slept soundly that night in my room at +the Lys de France. + +It was a pleasant enough chamber on the first floor, overlooking the +street, and having an alcove attached to it which served for Michelot. + +Next day I visited the Château de Canaples early in the afternoon. The +weather was milder, and the glow of the sun heralded at last the near +approach of spring and brightened wondrously a landscape that had yesterday +worn so forbidding a look. + +This change it must have been that drew the ladies, and Andrea with them, +to walk in the park, where I came upon them as I rode up. Their laughter +rippled merrily and they appeared upon the best of terms until they espied +me. My advent was like a cloud that foretells a storm, and drove +Mesdemoiselles away, when they had accorded me a greeting that contained +scant graciousness. + +All unruffled by this act, from which I gathered that Yvonne the strong had +tutored Geneviève the frail concerning me, I consigned my horse to a groom +of the château, and linked arms with Andrea. + +"Well, boy," quoth I, "what progress?" + +He smiled radiantly. + +"My hopes are all surpassed. It exceeds belief that so poor a thing as I +should find favour in her eyes--what eyes, Gaston!" He broke off with a +sigh of rapture. + +"Peste, you have lost no time. And so, already you know that you find +favour, eh! How know you that?" + +"How? Need a man be told such things? There is an inexpressible--" + +"My good Andrea, seek not to express it, therefore," I interrupted hastily. +"Let it suffice that the inexpressible exists, and makes you happy. His +Eminence will doubtless share your joy! Have you written to him?" + +The mirth faded from the lad's face at the words, as the blossom fades +'neath the blighting touch of frost. What he said was so undutiful from a +nephew touching his uncle--particularly when that uncle is a prelate--that +I refrain from penning it. + +We were joined just then by the Chevalier, and together we strolled round +to the rose-garden--now, alas! naught but black and naked bushes--and down +to the edge of the Loire, yellow and swollen by the recent rains. + +"How lovely must be this place in summer," I mused, looking across the +water towards Chambord. "And, Dame," I cried, suddenly changing my +meditations, "what an ideal fencing ground is this even turf!" + +"The swordsman's instinct," laughed Canaples. + +And with that our talk shifted to swords, swordsmen, and sword-play, until +I suggested to Andrea that he should resume his practice, whereupon the +Chevalier offered to set a room at our disposal. + +"Nay, if you will pardon me, Monsieur, 't is not a room we want," I +answered. "A room is well enough at the outset, but it is the common error +of fencing-masters to continue their tutoring on a wooden floor. It +results from this that when the neophyte handles a real sword, and defends +his life upon the turf, the ground has a new feeling; its elasticity or +even its slipperiness discomposes him, and sets him at a disadvantage." + +He agreed with me, whilst Andrea expressed a wish to try the turf. Foils +were brought, and we whiled away best part of an half-hour. In the end, +the Chevalier, who had watched my play intently, offered to try a bout with +me. And so amazed was he with the result, that he had not done talking of +it when I left Canaples a few hours later--a homage this that earned me +some more than ordinarily unfriendly glances from Yvonne. No doubt since +the accomplishment was mine it became in her eyes characteristic of a bully +and a ruffler. + +During the week that followed I visited the château with regularity, and +with equal regularity did Andrea receive his fencing lessons. The object +of his presence at Canaples, however, was being frustrated more and more +each day, so far as the Cardinal and the Chevalier were concerned. + +He raved to me of Geneviève, the one perfect woman in all the world and +brought into it by a kind Providence for his own particular delectation. +In truth, love is like a rabid dog--whom it bites it renders mad; so open +grew his wooing, and so ardent, that one evening I thought well to take him +aside and caution him. + +"My dear Andrea," said I, "if you will love Geneviève, you will, and +there's an end of it. But if you would not have the Chevalier pack you +back to Paris and the anger of my Lord Cardinal, be circumspect, and at +least when M. de Canaples is by divide your homage equally betwixt the two. +'T were well if you dissembled even a slight preference for Yvonne--she +will not be misled by it, seeing how unmistakable at all other seasons must +be your wooing of Geneviève." + +He was forced to avow the wisdom of my counsel, and to be guided by it. + +Nevertheless, I rode back to my hostelry in no pleasant frame of mind. It +was more than likely that a short shrift and a length of hemp would be the +acknowledgment I should anon receive from Mazarin for my participation in +the miscarriage of his desires. + +I felt that disaster was on the wing. Call it a premonition; call it what +you will. I know but this; that as I rode into the courtyard of the Lys de +France, at dusk, the first man my eyes alighted on was the Marquis César de +St. Auban, and, in conversation with him, six of the most arrant-looking +ruffians that ever came out of Paris. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +OF HOW A WHIP PROVED A BETTER ARGUMENT THAN A TONGUE + + +"I crave Monsieur's pardon, but there is a gentleman below who desires to +speak with you immediately." + +"How does this gentleman call himself, M. l'Hote?" + +"M. le Marquis de St. Auban," answered the landlord, still standing in the +doorway. + +It wanted an hour or so to noon on the day following that of St. Auban's +arrival at Blois, and I was on the point of setting out for the château on +an errand of warning. + +It occurred to me to refuse to see the Marquis, but remembering betimes +that from your enemy's speech you may sometimes learn where to look for his +next attack, I thought better of it and bade my host admit him. + +I strode over to the fire, and stirring the burning logs, I put my back to +the blaze, and waited. + +Steps sounded on the stairs; there was the shuffling of the landlord's +slippered feet and the firm tread of my visitor, accompanied by the jingle +of spurs and the clank of his scabbard as it struck the balustrade. Then +my door was again opened, and St. Auban, as superbly dressed as ever, was +admitted. + +We bowed formally, as men bow who are about to cross swords, and whilst I +waited for him to speak, I noted that his face was pale and bore the +impress of suppressed anger. + +"So, M. de Luynes, again we meet." + +"By your seeking, M. le Marquis." + +"You are not polite." + +"You are not opportune." + +He smiled dangerously. + +"I learn, Monsieur, that you are a daily visitor at the Château de +Canaples." + +"Well, sir, what of it?" + +"This. I have been to Canaples this morning and, knowing that you will +learn anon, from that old dotard, what passed between us, I prefer that you +shall hear it first from me." + +I bowed to conceal a smile. + +"Thanks to you, M. de Luynes, I was ordered from the house. I--César de +St. Auban--have been ordered from the house of a provincial upstart! +Thanks to the calumnies which you poured into his ears." + +"Calumnies! Was that the word?" + +"I choose the word that suits me best," he answered, and the rage that was +in him at the affront he had suffered at the hands of the Chevalier de +Canaples was fast rising to the surface. "I warned you at Choisy of what +would befall. Your opposition and your alliance with M. de Mancini are +futile. You think to have gained a victory by winning over to your side an +old fool who will sacrifice his honour to see his daughter a duchess, but I +tell you, sir--" + +"That you hope to see her a marchioness," I put in calmly. "You see, M. de +St. Auban, I have learned something since I came to Blois." + +He grew livid with passion. + +"You shall learn more ere you quit it, you meddler! You shall be taught to +keep that long nose of yours out of matters that concern you not." + +I laughed. + +"Loud threats!" I answered jeeringly. + +"Never fear," he cried, "there is more to follow. To your cost shall you +learn it. By God, sir! do you think that I am to suffer a Sicilian +adventurer and a broken tavern ruffler to interfere with my designs?" + +Still I kept my temper. + +"So!" I said in a bantering tone. "You confess that you have designs. +Good! But what says the lady, eh? I am told that she is not yet +outrageously enamoured of you, for all your beauty!" + +Beside himself with passion, his hand sought his sword. But the gesture +was spasmodic. + +"Knave!" he snarled. + +"Knave to me? Have a care, St. Auban, or I'll find you a shroud for a +wedding garment." + +"Knave!" he repeated with a snarl. "What price are you paid by that boy?" + +"Pardieu, St. Auban! You shall answer to me for this." + +"Answer for it? To you!" And he laughed harshly. "You are mad, my +master. When did a St. Auban cross swords with a man of your stamp?" + +"M. le Marquis," I said, with a calmness that came of a stupendous effort, +"at Choisy you sought my friendship with high-sounding talk of principles +that opposed you to the proposed alliance, twixt the houses of Mancini and +Canaples. Since then I have learned that your motives were purely +personal. From my discovery I hold you to be a liar." + +"Monsieur!" + +"I have not yet done. You refuse to cross swords with me on the pretext +that you do not fight men of my stamp. I am no saint, sir, I confess. But +my sins cannot wash out my name--the name of a family accounted as good as +that of St. Auban, and one from which a Constable of France has sprung, +whereas yours has never yet bred aught but profligates and debauchees. You +are little better than I am, Marquis; indeed, you do many things that I +would not do, that I have never done. For instance, whilst refusing to +cross blades with me, who am a soldier and a man of the sword, you seek to +pick a fight with a beardless boy who hardly knows the use of a rapier, and +who--wittingly at least--has done you no wrong. Now, my master, you may +call me profligate, ruffler, gamester, duellist--what you will; but there +are two viler things you cannot dub me, and which, methinks, I have proven +you to be--liar and craven." + +And as I spoke the burning words, I stood close up to him and tapped his +breast as if to drive the epithets into his very heart. + +Rage he felt, indeed, and his distorted countenance was a sight fearful to +behold. + +"Now, my master," I added, setting my arms akimbo and laughing brutally in +his face, "will you fight?" + +For a moment he wavered, and surely meseemed that I had drawn him. Then: + +"No," he cried passionately. "I will not do dishonour to my sword." And +turning he made for the door, leaving me baffled. + +"Go, sir," I shouted, "but fame shall stalk fast behind you. Liar and +craven will I dub you throughout the whole of France." + +He stopped 'neath the lintel, and faced me again. + +"Fool," he sneered. "You'll need dispatch to spread my fame so far. By +this time to-morrow you'll be arrested. In three days you will be in the +Bastille, and there shall you lie until you rot to carrion." + +"Loud threats again!" I laughed, hoping by the taunt to learn more. + +"Loud perchance, but not empty. Learn that the Cardinal has knowledge of +your association with Mancini, and means to separate you. An officer of +the guards is on his way to Blois. He is at Meung by now. He bears a +warrant for your arrest and delivery to the governor of the Bastille. +Thereafter, none may say what will betide." And with a coarse burst of +laughter he left me, banging the door as he passed out. + +For a moment I stood there stricken by his parting words. He had sought to +wound me, and in this he had succeeded. But at what cost to himself? In +his blind rage, the fool had shown me that which he should have zealously +concealed, and what to him was but a stinging threat was to me a timely +warning. I saw the necessity for immediate action. Two things must I do; +kill St. Auban first, then fly the Cardinal's warrant as best I could. I +cast about me for means to carry out the first of these intentions. My eye +fell upon my riding-whip, lying on a chair close to my hand, and the sight +of it brought me the idea I sought. Seizing it, I bounded out of the room +and down the stairs, three steps at a stride. + +Along the corridor I sped and into the common-room, which at the moment was +tolerably full. As I entered by one door, the Marquis was within three +paces of the other, leading to the courtyard. + +My whip in the air, I sprang after him; and he, hearing the rush of my +onslaught, turned, then uttered a cry of pain as I brought the lash +caressingly about his shoulders. + +"Now, master craven," I shouted, "will that change your mind?" + +With an almost inarticulate cry, he sought to draw there and then, but +those about flung themselves upon us, and held us apart--I, passive and +unresisting; the Marquis, bellowing, struggling, and foaming at the mouth. + +"To meet you now would be to murder you, Marquis," I said coolly. "Send +your friends to me to appoint the time." + +"Soit!" he cried, his eyes blazing with a hate unspeakable. "At eight to- +morrow morning I shall await you on the green behind the castle of Blois." + +"At eight o'clock I shall be there," I answered. "And now, gentlemen, if +you will unhand me, I will return to my apartments." + +They let me go, but with many a growl and angry look, for in their eyes I +was no more than a coarse aggressor, whilst their sympathy was all for St. +Auban. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE CONSCIENCE OF MALPERTUIS + + +And so back to my room I went, my task accomplished, and so pleased was I +with what had passed that as I drew on my boots--preparing to set out to +Canaples--I laughed softly to myself. + +St. Auban I would dispose of in the morning. As for the other members of +the cabal, I deemed neither Vilmorin nor Malpertuis sufficiently formidable +to inspire uneasiness. St. Auban gone, they too would vanish. There +remained then Eugène de Canaples. Him, however, methought no great evil +was to be feared from. In Paris he might be as loud-voiced as he pleased, +but in his father's château--from what I had learned--'t was unlikely he +would so much as show himself. Moreover, he was wounded, and before he had +sufficiently recovered to offer interference it was more than probable that +Andrea would have married one or the other of Mesdemoiselles de Canaples-- +though I had a shrewd suspicion that it would be the wrong one, and there +again I feared trouble. + +As I stood up, booted and ready to descend, there came a gentle tap at my +door, and, in answer to my "Enter," there stood before me a very dainty and +foppish figure. I stared hard at the effeminate face and the long fair +locks of my visitor, thinking that I had become the dupe of my eyes. + +"M. de Vilmorin!" I murmured in astonishment, as he came forward, having +closed the door. "You here?" + +In answer, he bowed and greeted me with cold ceremoniousness. + +"I have been in Blois since yesterday, Monsieur." + +"In truth I might have guessed it, Vicomte. Your visit flatters me, for, +of course, I take it, you are come to pay me your respects," I said +ironically. "A glass of wine, Vicomte?" + +"A thousand thanks, Monsieur--no," he answered coldly in his mincing tones. +"It is concerning your affair with M. le Marquis de St. Auban that I am +come." And drawing forth a dainty kerchief, which filled the room with the +scent of ambregris, he tapped his lips with it affectedly. + +"Do you come as friend or--in some other capacity?" + +"I come as mediator." + +"Mediator!" I echoed, and my brow grew dark. "Sdeath! Has St. Auban's +courage lasted just so long as the sting of my whip?" + +He raised his eyebrows after a supercilious fashion that made me thirst to +strike the chair from under him. + +"You misapprehend me; M. de St. Auban has no desire to avert the duel. On +the contrary, he will not rest until the affront you have put upon him be +washed out--" + +"It will be, I'll answer for it." + +"Your answer, sir, is characteristic of a fanfarron. He who promises most +does not always fulfil most." + +I stared at him in amazement. + +"Shall I promise you something, Vicomte? Mortdieu! If you seek to pick a +quarrel with me--" + +"God forbid!" he ejaculated, turning colour. And his suddenly awakened +apprehensions swept aside the affectation that hitherto had marked his +speech and manner. + +"Then, Monsieur, be brief and state the sum of this mediation." + +"It is this, Monsieur. In the heat of the moment, M. le Marquis gave you, +in the hearing of half a score of people, an assignation for to-morrow +morning. News of the affair will spread rapidly through Blois, and it is +likely there will be no lack of spectators on the green to witness the +encounter. Therefore, as my friend thinks this will be as unpalatable to +you as it is to him, he has sent me to suggest a fresh rendezvous." + +"Pooh, sir," I answered lightly. "I care not, for myself, who comes. I am +accustomed to a crowd. Still, since M. de St. Auban finds it discomposing, +let us arrange otherwise." + +"There is yet another point. M. de St. Auban spoke to you, I believe, of +an officer who is coming hither charged with your arrest. It is probable +that he may reach Blois before morning, so that the Marquis thinks that to +make certain you might consent to meet him to-night." + +"Ma foi. St. Auban is indeed in earnest then! Convey to him my +expressions of admiration at this suddenly awakened courage. Be good +enough, Vicomte, to name the rendezvous." + +"Do you know the chapel of St. Sulpice des Reaux?" + +"What! Beyond the Loire?" + +"Precisely, Monsieur. About a league from Chambord by the river side." + +"I can find the place." + +"Will you meet us there at nine o'clock tonight?" + +I looked askance at him. + +"But why cross the river? This side affords many likely spots!" + +"Very true, Monsieur. But the Marquis has business at Chambord this +evening, after which there will be no reason--indeed, it will inconvenience +him exceedingly--to return to Blois." + +"What!" I cried, more and more astonished. "St. Auban is leaving Blois?" + +"This evening, sir." + +"But, voyons, Vicomte, why make an assignation in such a place and at +night, when at any hour of the day I can meet the Marquis on this side, +without suffering the inconvenience of crossing the river?" + +"There will be a bright moon, well up by nine o'clock. Moreover, remember +that you cannot, as you say, meet St. Auban on this side at any time he may +appoint, since to-night or to-morrow the officer who is in search of you +will arrive." + +I pondered for a moment. Then: + +"M. le Vicomte," I said, "in this matter of ground 't is I who have the +first voice." + +"How so?" + +"Because the Marquis is the affronted one." + +"Therefore he has a right to choose." + +"A right, yes. But that is not enough. The necessity to fight is on his +side. His honour is hurt, not mine; I have whipped him; I am content. Now +let him come to me." + +"Assuredly you will not be so ungenerous." + +"I do not care about journeying to Reaux to afford him satisfaction." + +"Does Monsieur fear anything?" + +"Vicomte, you go too far!" I cried, my pride gaining the mastery. "Since +it is asked of me,--I will go." + +"M. le Marquis will be grateful to you." + +"A fig for his gratitude," I answered, whereupon the Vicomte shrugged his +narrow shoulders, and, his errand done, took his leave of me. + +When he was gone I called Michelot, to tell him of the journey I must go +that night, so that he might hold himself in readiness. + +"Why--if Monsieur will pardon me," quoth he, "do you go to meet the Marquis +de St. Auban at St. Sulpice des Reaux by night?" + +"Precisely what I asked Vilmorin. The Marquis desires it, and--what will +you?--since I am going to kill the man, I can scarce do less than kill him +on a spot of his own choosing." + +Michelot screwed up his face and scratched at his grey beard with his huge +hand. + +"Does no suspicion of foul play cross your mind, Monsieur?" he inquired +timidly. + +"Shame on you, Michelot," I returned with some heat. "You do not yet +understand the ways of gentlemen. Think you that M. de St. Auban would +stoop to such a deed as that? He would be shamed for ever! Pooh, I would +as soon suspect my Lord Cardinal of stealing the chalices from Nôtre Dame. +Go, see to my horse. I am riding to Canaples." + +As I rode out towards the château I fell to thinking, and my thoughts +turning to Vilmorin, I marvelled at the part he was playing in this little +comedy of a cabal against Andrea de Mancini. His tastes and instincts were +of the boudoir, the ante-chamber, and the table. He wore a sword because +it was so ordained by fashion, and because the hilt was convenient for the +display of a jewel or two. Certainly 't was not for utility that it hung +beside him, and no man had ever seen it drawn. Nature had made him the +most pitiable coward begotten. Why then should he involve himself in an +affair which promised bloodshed, and which must be attended by many a risk +for him? There was in all this some mystery that I could not fathom. + +From the course into which they had slipped, my thoughts were diverted, +when I was within half a mile of the château, by the sight of a horseman +stationed, motionless, among the trees that bordered the road. It occurred +to me that men take not such a position without purpose--usually an evil +one. I slackened speed somewhat and rode on, watching him sharply. As I +came up, he walked his horse forward to meet me, and I beheld a man in the +uniform of the gardes du corps, in whom presently I recognised the little +sparrow Malpertuis, with whom I had exchanged witticisms at Choisy. He was +the one man wanting to complete the trinity that had come upon us at the +inn of the Connétable. + +It flashed across my mind that he might be the officer charged with my +arrest, and that he had arrived sooner than had been expected. If so, it +was likely to go ill with him, for I was not minded to be taken until St. +Auban's soul sped hellwards. + +He hailed me as I advanced, and indeed rode forward to meet me. + +"You are come at last, M. de Luynes," was his greeting. "I have waited for +you this hour past." + +"How knew you I should ride this way?" + +"I learnt that you would visit Canaples before noon. Be good enough to +quit the road, and pass under those trees with me. I have something to say +to you, but it were not well that we should be seen together." + +"For the sake of your character or mine, M. Malappris?" + +"Malpertuis!" he snapped. + +"Malpertuis," I corrected. "You were saying that we should not be seen +together." + +"St. Auban might hear of it." + +"Ah! And therefore?" + +"You shall learn." We were now under the trees, which albeit leafless yet +screened us partly from the road. He drew rein, and I followed his +example. + +"M. de Luynes," he began, "I am or was a member of the cabal formed against +Mazarin's aims in the matter of the marriage of Mademoiselle de Canaples to +his nephew. I joined hands with St. Auban, lured by his protestations that +it is not meet that such an heiress as Yvonne de Canaples should be forced +to marry a foreigner of no birth and less distinction, whilst France holds +so many noble suitors to her hand. This motive, by which I know that even +Eugène de Canaples was actuated, was, St. Auban gave me to understand, his +only one for embarking upon this business, as it was also Vilmorin's. Now, +M. de Luynes, I have today discovered that I had been duped by St. Auban +and his dupe, Vilmorin. St. Auban lied to me; another motive brings him +into the affair. He seeks himself, by any means that may present +themselves, to marry Yvonne--and her estates; whilst the girl, I am told, +loathes him beyond expression. Vilmorin again is actuated by no less a +purpose. And so, what think you these two knaves--this master knave and +his dupe--have determined? To carry off Mademoiselle by force!" + +"Sangdieu!" I burst out, and would have added more, but his gesture +silenced me, and he continued: + +"Vilmorin believes that St. Auban is helping him in this, whereas St. Auban +is but fooling him with ambiguous speeches until they have the lady safe. +Then might will assert itself, and St. Auban need but show his fangs to +drive the sneaking coward away from the prize he fondly dreams is to be +his." + +"When do these gentlemen propose to carry out their plan? Have they +determined that?" I inquired breathlessly. + +"Aye, they have. They hope to accomplish it this very day. Mademoiselle +de Canaples has received a letter wherein she is asked to meet her +anonymous writer in the coppice yonder, at the Angelus this evening, if she +would learn news of great importance to her touching a conspiracy against +her father." + +"Faugh!" I sneered. "'T is too poor a bait to lure her with." + +"Say you so? Believe me that unless she be dissuaded she will comply with +the invitation, so cunningly was the letter couched. A closed carriage +will be waiting at this very spot. Into this St. Auban, Vilmorin, and +their bravos will thrust the girl, then away through Blois and beyond it, +for a mile or so, in the direction of Meung, thereby misleading any chance +pursuers. There they will quit the coach and take a boat that is to be in +waiting for them and which will bear them back with the stream to Chambord. +Thereafter, God pity the poor lady if they get thus far without mishap." + +"Mort de ma vie!" I cried, slapping my thigh, "I understand!" And to +myself I thought of the assignation at St. Sulpice des Reaux, and the +reason for this, as also St. Auban's resolution to so suddenly quit Blois, +grew of a sudden clear to me. Also did I recall the riddle touching +Vilmorin's conduct which a few moments ago I had puzzled over, and of which +methought that I now held the solution. + +"What do you understand?" asked Malpertuis. + +"Something that was told me this morning," I made answer, then spoke of +gratitude, wherein he cut me short. + +"I ask no thanks," he said curtly. "You owe me none. What I have done is +not for love of you or Mancini--for I love neither of you. It is done +because noblesse m'oblige. I told St. Auban that I would have no part in +this outrage. But that is not enough; I owe it to my honour to attempt the +frustration of so dastardly a plan. You, M. de Luynes, appear to be the +most likely person to encompass this, in the interests of your friend +Mancini; I leave the matter, therefore, in your hands. Goodday!" + +And with this abrupt leave-taking, the little fellow doffed his hat to me, +and wheeling his horse he set spurs in its flanks, and was gone before a +word of mine could have stayed him. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +OF A WOMAN'S OBSTINACY + + +"M. de Luynes is a wizard," quoth Andrea, laughing, in answer to something +that had been said. + +It was afternoon. We had dined, and the bright sunshine and spring-like +mildness of the weather had lured us out upon the terrace. Yvonne and +Geneviève occupied the stone seat. Andrea had perched himself upon the +granite balustrade, and facing them he sat, swinging his shapely legs to +and fro as he chatted merrily, whilst on either side of him stood the +Chevalier de Canaples and I. + +"If M. de Luynes be as great a wizard in other things as with the sword, +then, pardieu, he is a fearful magician," said Canaples. + +I bowed, yet not so low but that I detected a sneer on Yvonne's lips. + +"So, pretty lady," said I to myself, "we shall see if presently your lip +will curl when I show you something of my wizard's art." + +And presently my chance came. M. de Canaples found reason to leave us, and +no sooner was he gone than Geneviève remembered that she had that day +discovered a budding leaf upon one of the rose bushes in the garden below. +Andrea naturally caused an argument by asserting that she was the victim of +her fancy, as it was by far too early in the year. By that means these two +found the plea they sought for quitting us, since neither could rest until +the other was convinced. + +So down they went into that rose garden which methought was like to prove +their fool's paradise, and Yvonne and I were left alone. Then she also +rose, but as she was on the point of quitting me: + +"Mademoiselle," I ventured, "will you honour me by remaining for a moment? +There is something that I would say to you." + +With raised eyebrows she gave me a glance mingled with that +superciliousness which she was for ever bestowing upon me, and which, from +the monotony of it alone, grew irksome. + +"What can you have to say to me, M. de Luynes?" + +"Will you not be seated? I shall not long detain you, nevertheless--" + +"If I stand, perchance you will be more brief. I am waiting, Monsieur." + +I shrugged my shoulders rudely. Why, indeed, be courteous where so little +courtesy was met with? + +"A little while ago, Mademoiselle, when M. de Mancini dubbed me a wizard +you were good enough to sneer. Now, a sneer, Mademoiselle, implies +unbelief, and I would convince you that you were wrong to disbelieve." + +"If you have no other motive for detaining me, suffer me to depart," she +interrupted with some warmth. "Whether you be a wizard or not is of no +moment to me." + +"And yet I dare swear that you will be of a different mind within five +minutes. A wizard is one who discloses things unknown to his fellow-men. +I am about to convince you that I can do this, and by convincing you I am +about to serve you." + +"I seek neither conviction nor service at your hands," she answered. + +"Your courtesy dumfounds me, Mademoiselle!" + +"No less than does your insolence dumfound me," she retorted, with crimson +cheeks. "Do you forget, sir, that I know you for what you are--a gamester, +a libertine, a duellist, the murderer of my brother?" + +"That your brother lives, Mademoiselle, is, methinks, sufficient proof that +I have not murdered him." + +"You willed his death if you did not encompass it; so 't is all one. Do +you not understand that it is because my father receives you here, thanks +to M. de Mancini, your friend--a friendship easily understood from the +advantages you must derive from it--that I consent to endure your presence +and the insult of your glance? Is it not enough that I should do this, and +have you not wit enough to discern it, without adding to my shame by your +insolent call upon my courtesy?" + +Her words cut me as no words that I ever heard, and, more than her words, +her tone of loathing and disgust unspeakable. For half that speech I +should have killed a man--indeed, I had killed men for less than half. And +yet, for all the passion that raged in my soul, I preserved upon my +countenance a smiling mask. That smile exhausted her patience and +increased her loathing, for with a contemptuous exclamation she turned +away. + +"Tarry but a moment, Mademoiselle," I cried, with a sudden note of command. +"Or, if you will go, go then; but take with you my assurance that before +nightfall you will weep bitterly for it." + +My words arrested her. The mystery of them awakened her curiosity. + +"You speak in riddles, Monsieur." + +"Like a true wizard, Mademoiselle. You received a letter this morning in a +handwriting unknown, and bearing no signature." + +She wheeled round and faced me again with a little gasp of astonishment. + +"How know you that? Ah! I understand; you wrote it!" + +"What shrewdness, Mademoiselle!" I laughed, ironically. "Come; think +again. What need have I to bid you meet me in the coppice yonder? May I +not speak freely with you here?" + +"You know the purport of that letter?" + +"I do, Mademoiselle, and I know more. I know that this hinted conspiracy +against your father is a trumped-up lie to lure you to the coppice." + +"And for what purpose, pray?" + +"An evil one,--your abduction. Shall I tell you who penned that note, and +who awaits you? The Marquis César de St. Auban." + +She shuddered as I pronounced the name, then, looking me straight between +the eyes--"How come you to know these things?" she inquired. + +"What does it signify, since I know them?" + +"This, Monsieur, that unless I learn how, I can attach no credit to your +preposterous story." + +"Not credit it!" I cried. "Let me assure you that I have spoken the truth; +let me swear it. Go to the coppice at the appointed time, and things will +fall out as I have predicted." + +"Again, Monsieur, how know you this?" she persisted, as women will. + +"I may not tell you." + +We stood close together, and her clear grey eyes met mine, her lip curling +in disdain. + +"You may not tell me? You need not. I can guess." And she tossed her +shapely head and laughed. "Seek some likelier story, Monsieur. Had you +not spoken of it, 't is likely I should have left the letter unheeded. But +your disinterested warning has determined me to go to this rendezvous. +Shall I tell you what I have guessed? That this conspiracy against my +father, the details of which you would not have me learn, is some evil of +your own devising. Ah! You change colour!" she cried, pointing to my +face. Then with a laugh of disdain she left me before I had sufficiently +recovered from my amazement to bid her stay. + +"Ciel!" I cried, as I watched the tall, lissom figure vanish through the +portals of the château. "Did ever God create so crass and obstinate a +thing as woman?" + +It occurred to me to tell Andrea, and bid him warn her. But then she would +guess that I had prompted him. Naught remained but to lay the matter +before the Chevalier de Canaples. Already I had informed him of my fracas +with St. Auban, and of the duel that was to be fought that night, and he, +in his turn, had given me the details of his stormy interview with the +Marquis, which had culminated in St. Auban's dismissal from Canaples. I +had not hitherto deemed it necessary to alarm him with the news imparted to +me by Malpertuis, imagining that did I inform Mademoiselle that would +suffice. + +Now, however, as I have said, no other course was left me but to tell him +of it. Accordingly, I went within and inquired of Guilbert, whom I met in +the hall, where I might find the Chevalier. He answered me that M. de +Canaples was not in the château. It was believed that he had gone with M. +Louis, the intendant of the estates, to visit the vineyards at Montcroix. + +The news made me choke with impatience. Already it was close upon five +o'clock, and in another hour the sun would set and the Angelus would toll +the knell of Mademoiselle's preposterous suspicions, unless in the meantime +I had speech with Canaples, and led him to employ a father's authority to +keep his daughter indoors. + +Fuming at the contretemps I called for my horse and set out at a brisk trot +for Montcroix. But my ride was fruitless. The vineyard peasants had not +seen the Chevalier for over a week. + +Now, 'twixt Montcroix and the château there lies a good league, and to make +matters worse, as I galloped furiously back to Canaples, an evil chance led +me to mistake the way and pursue a track that brought me out on the very +banks of the river, with a strong belt of trees screening the château from +sight, and defying me to repair my error by going straight ahead. + +I was forced to retrace my steps, and before I had regained the point where +I had gone astray a precious quarter of an hour was wasted, and the sun +already hung, a dull red globe, on the brink of the horizon. + +Clenching my teeth, I tore at my horse's flanks, and with a bloody heel I +drove the maddened brute along at a pace that might have cost us both +dearly. I dashed, at last, into the quadrangle, and, throwing the reins to +a gaping groom, I sprang up the steps. + +"Has the Chevalier returned?" I gasped breathlessly. + +"Not yet, Monsieur," answered Guilbert with a tranquillity that made me +desire to strangle him. "Is Mademoiselle in the château?" was my next +question, mechanically asked. + +"I saw her on the terrace some moments ago. She has not since come +within." + +Like one possessed I flew across the intervening room and out on to the +terrace. Geneviève and Andrea were walking there, deep in conversation. +At another time I might have cursed their lack of prudence. At the moment +I did not so much as remark it. + +"Where is Mademoiselle de Canaples?" I burst out. + +They gazed at me, as much astounded by my question and the abruptness of it +as by my apparent agitation. + +Has anything happened?" inquired Geneviève, her blue eyes wide open. + +"Yes--no; naught has happened. Tell me where she is. I must speak to +her." + +"She was here a while ago," said Andrea, "but she left us to stroll along +the river bank." + +"How long is it since she left you?" + +"A quarter of an hour, perhaps." + +"Something has happened!" cried Geneviève, and added more, maybe, but I +waited not to hear. + +Muttering curses as I ran--for 't was my way to curse where pious souls +might pray--I sped back to the quadrangle and my horse. + +"Follow me," I shouted to the groom, "you and as many of your fellows as +you can find. Follow me at once--at once, mark you--to the coppice by the +river." And without waiting for his answer, I sent my horse thundering +down the avenue. The sun was gone, leaving naught but a roseate streak to +tell of its passage, and at that moment a distant bell tinkled forth the +Angelus. + +With whip, spur, and imprecations I plied my steed, a prey to such +excitement as I had never known until that moment--not even in the carnage +of battle. + +I had no plan. My mind was a chaos of thought without a single clear idea +to light it, and I never so much as bethought me that single-handled I was +about to attempt to wrest Yvonne from the hands of perchance half a dozen +men. To save time I did not far pursue the road, but, clearing a hedge, I +galloped ventre-à-terre across the meadow towards the little coppice by the +waterside. As I rode I saw no sign of any moving thing. No sound +disturbed the evening stillness save the dull thump of my horse's hoofs +upon the turf, and a great fear arose in my heart that I might come too +late. + +At last I reached the belt of trees, and my fears grew into certainty. The +place was deserted. + +Then a fresh hope sprang up. Perchance, thinking of my warning, she had +seen the emptiness of her suspicions towards me, and had pursued that walk +of hers in another direction. + +But when I had penetrated to the little open space within that cluster of +naked trees, I had proof overwhelming that the worst had befallen. Not +only on the moist ground was stamped the impress of struggling feet, but on +a branch I found a strip of torn green velvet, and, remembering the dress +she had worn that day, I understood to the full the significance of that +rag, and, understanding it, I groaned aloud. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE RESCUE + + +Some precious moments did I waste standing with that green rag betwixt my +fingers, and I grew sick and numb in body and in mind. She was gone! +Carried off by a man I had reason to believe she hated, and whom God send +she might have no motive to hate more deeply hereafter! + +The ugly thought swelled until it blotted out all others, and in its train +there came a fury upon me that drove me to do by instinct that which +earlier I should have done by reason. I climbed back into the saddle, and +away across the meadow I went, journeying at an angle with the road, my +horse's head turned in the direction of Blois. That road at last was +gained, and on I thundered at a stretched gallop, praying that my hard-used +beast might last until the town was reached. + +Now, as I have already said, I am not a man who easily falls a prey to +excitement. It may have beset me in the heat of battle, when the fearsome +lust of blood and death makes of every man a raving maniac, thrilled with +mad joy at every stab he deals, and laughing with fierce passion at every +blow he takes, though in the taking of it his course be run. But, saving +at such wild times, never until then could I recall having been so little +master of myself. There was a fever in me; all hell was in my blood, and, +stranger still, and hitherto unknown at any season, there was a sickly fear +that mastered me, and drew out great beads of sweat upon my brow. Fear for +myself I have never known, for at no time has life so pampered me that the +thought of parting company with it concerned me greatly. Fear for another +I had not known till then--saving perchance the uneasiness that at times I +had felt touching Andrea--because never yet had I sufficiefltly cared. + +Thus far my thoughts took me, as I rode, and where I have halted did they +halt, and stupidly I went over their ground again, like one who gropes for +something in the dark,--because never yet had I sufficiently cared--I had +never cared. + +And then, ah Dieu! As I turned the thought over I understood, and, +understanding, I pursued the sentence where I had left off. + +But, caring at last, I was sick with fear of what might befall the one I +cared for! There lay the reason of the frenzied excitement whereof I had +become the slave. That it was that had brought the moisture to my brow and +curses to my lips; that it was that had caused me instinctively to thrust +the rag of green velvet within my doublet. + +Ciel! It was strange--aye, monstrous strange, and a right good jest for +fate to laugh at--that I, Gaston de Luynes, vile ruffler and worthless +spadassin, should have come to such a pass; I, whose forefinger had for the +past ten years uptilted the chin of every tavern wench I had chanced upon; +I, whose lips had never known the touch of other than the lips of these; I, +who had thought my heart long dead to tenderness and devotion, or to any +fondness save the animal one for my ignoble self. Yet there I rode as if +the Devil had me for a quarry,--panting, sweating, cursing, and well-nigh +sobbing with rage at a fear that I might come too late,--all because of a +proud lady who knew me for what I was and held me in contempt because of +her knowledge; all for a lady who had not the kindness for me that one +might spare a dog--who looked on me as something not good to see. + +Since there was no one to whom I might tell my story that he might mock me, +I mocked myself--with a laugh that startled passers-by and which, coupled +with the crazy pace at which I dashed into Blois, caused them, I doubt not, +to think me mad. Nor were they wrong, for mad indeed I deemed myself. + +That I trampled no one underfoot in my furious progress through the streets +is a miracle that passes my understanding. + +In the courtyard of the Lys de France I drew rein at last with a tug that +brought my shuddering brute on to his haunches and sent those who stood +about flying into the shelter of the doorways. + +"Another horse!" I shouted as I sprang to the ground. "Another horse at +once!" + +Then as I turned to inquire for Michelot, I espied him leaning stolidly +against the portecochère. + +"How long have you been there, Michelot?" I asked. + +"Half an hour, mayhap." + +"Saw you a closed carriage pass?" + +"Ten minutes ago I saw one go by, followed by M. de St. Auban and a +gentleman who greatly resembled M. de Vilmorin, besides an escort of four +of the most villainous knaves--" + +"That is the one," I broke in. "Quick, Michelot! Arm yourself and get +your horse; I have need of you. Come, knave, move yourself!" + +At the end of a few minutes we set out at a sharp trot, leaving the curious +ones whom my loud-voiced commands had assembled, to speculate upon the +meaning of so much bustle. Once clear of the township we gave the reins to +our horses, and our trot became a gallop as we travelled along the road to +Meung, with the Loire on our right. And as we went I briefly told Michelot +what was afoot, interlarding my explanations with prayers that we might +come upon the kidnappers before they crossed the river, and curses at the +flying pace of our mounts, which to my anxious mind seemed slow. + +At about a mile from Blois the road runs over an undulation of the ground +that is almost a hill. From the moment that I had left Canaples as the +Angelus was ringing, until the moment when our panting horses gained the +brow of that little eminence, only half an hour had sped. Still in that +half-hour the tints had all but faded from the sky, and the twilight +shadows grew thicker around us with every moment. Yet not so thick had +they become but that I could see a coach at a standstill in the hollow, +some three hundred yards beneath us, and, by it, half a dozen horses, of +which four were riderless and held by the two men who were still mounted. +Then, breathlessly scanning the field between the road and the river, I +espied five persons, half way across, and at the same distance from the +water that we were from the coach. Two men, whom I supposed to be St. +Auban and Vilmorin, were forcing along a woman, whose struggles, feeble +though they appeared--yet retarded their progress in some measure. Behind +them walked two others, musket on shoulder. + +I pointed them out to Michelot with a soft cry of joy. We were in time! + +Following with my eyes the course they appeared to be pursuing I saw by the +bank a boat, in which two men were waiting. Again I pointed, this time to +the boat. + +"Over the hedge, Michelot!" I cried. "We must ride in a straight line for +the water and so intercept them. Follow me." + +Over the hedge we went, and down the gentle slope at as round a pace as the +soft ground would with safety allow. I had reckoned upon being opposed to +six or even eight men, whereas there were but four, one of whom I knew was +hardly to be reckoned. Doubtless St. Auban had imagined himself safe from +pursuit when he left two of his bravos with the horses, probably to take +them on to Meung, and there cross with them and rejoin him. Two more, I +doubted not, were those seated at the oars. + +I laughed to myself as I took in all this, but, even as I laughed, those in +the field stood still, and sent up a shout that told me we had been +perceived. + +"On, Michelot, on!" I shouted, spurring my horse forward. Then, in answer +to their master's call, the two ruffians who had been doing duty as grooms +came pounding into the field. + +"Ride to meet them, Michelot!" I cried. Obediently he wheeled to the left, +and I caught the swish of his sword as it left the scabbard. + +St. Auban was now hurrying towards the river with his party. Already they +were but fifty yards from the boat, and a hundred still lay between him and +me. Furiously I pressed onward, and presently but half the distance +separated us, whilst they were still some thirty yards from their goal. + +Then his two bravos faced round to meet me, and one, standing some fifty +paces in advance of the other, levelled his musket and fired. But in his +haste he aimed too high; the bullet carried away my hat, and before the +smoke had cleared I was upon him. I had drawn a pistol from my holster, +but it was not needed; my horse passed over him before he could save +himself from my fearful charge. + +In the fast-fading light a second musket barrel shone, and I saw the second +ruffian taking aim at me with not a dozen yards between us. With the old +soldier's instinct I wrenched at the reins till I brought my horse on to +his haunches. It was high time, for simultaneously with my action the +fellow blazed at me, and the scream of pain that broke from my steed told +me that the poor brute had taken the bullet. With a bound that carried me +forward some six paces, the animal sank, quivering, to the ground. I +disengaged my feet from the stirrups as he fell, but the shock of it sent +me rolling on the ground, and the ruffian, seeing me fallen, sprang +forward, swinging his musket up above his head. I dodged the murderous +downward stroke, and as the stock buried itself close beside me in the soft +earth I rose on one knee and with a grim laugh I raised my pistol. I +brought the muzzle within a hand's breadth of his face, then fired and shot +him through the head. Perchance you'll say it was a murderous, cruel +stroke: mayhap it was, but at such seasons men stay not to unravel +niceties, but strike ere they themselves be stricken. + +Leaping over the twitching corpse, I got out my sword and sprang after St. +Auban, who, with Vilmorin and Yvonne, careless of what might betide his +followers, was now within ten paces of the boat. + +Pistol shots cracked behind me, and I wondered how Michelot was faring, but +dared not pause to look. + +The twain in the boat stood up, wielding their great oars, and methought +them on the point of coming to their master's aid, in which case my battle +had truly been a lost one. But that craven Vilmorin did me good service +then, for with a cry of fear at my approach, he abandoned his hold of +Yvonne, whose struggles were keeping both the men back; thus freed, he fled +towards the boat, and jumping in, he shouted to the men in his shrill, +quavering voice, to put off. Albeit they disobeyed him contemptuously and +waited for the Marquis; still they did not leave the boat, fearing, no +doubt, that if they did so the coward would put off alone. + +As for St. Auban, Vilmorin's flight left him unequal to the task of +dragging the girl along. She dug her heels into the ground, and, tug as he +might, for all that he set both hands to work, he could not move her. In +this plight I came upon him, and challenged him to stand and face me. + +With a bunch of oaths he got out his sword, but in doing so he was forced +to remove one of his hands from the girl's arm. Seizing the opportunity +with a ready wit and courage seldom found in women of her quality, she +twisted herself from the grip of his left hand, and came staggering towards +me for protection, holding up her pinioned wrists. With my blade I severed +the cord, whereupon she plucked the gag from her mouth, and sank against my +side, her struggles having left her weak indeed. + +As I set my arm about her waist to support her, my heart seemed to swell +within me, and strange melodies shaped themselves within my soul. + +St. Auban bore down upon me with a raucous oath, but the glittering point +of my rapier danced before his eyes and drove him back again. + +"To me, Vilmorin, you cowardly cur!" he shouted. "To me, you dogs!" + +He let fly at them a volley of blood-curdling oaths, then, without waiting +to see if they obeyed him, he came at me again, and our swords met. + +"Courage, Mademoiselle," I whispered, as a sigh that was almost a groan +escaped her. "Have no fear." + +But that fight was not destined to be fought, for, as again we engaged, +there came the fall of running feet behind me. It flashed across my mind +that Michelot had been worsted, and that my back was about to be assailed. +But in St. Auban's face I saw, as in a mirror, that he who came was +Michelot. + +"Mort de Christ!" snarled the Marquis, springing back beyond my reach. +"What can a man do with naught but fools and poltroons to serve him? +Faugh! We will continue our sword-play at St. Sulpice des Reaux to-night. +Au revoir, M. de Luynes!" + +Turning, he sheathed his sword, and, running down to the river, bounded +into the boat, where I heard him reviling Vilmorin with every foul name he +could call to mind. + +My blood was aflame, and I was not minded to wait for our meeting at Reaux. +Consigning Mademoiselle to the care of Michelot, who stood panting and +bleeding from a wound in his shoulder, I turned back to my dead horse, and +plucking the remaining pistol from the holster I ran down to the very edge +of the water. The boat was not ten yards from shore, and my action had +been unheeded by St. Auban, who was standing in the stern. + +Kneeling I took careful aim at him, and as God lives, I would have saved +much trouble that was to follow had I been allowed to fire. But at that +moment a hand was laid upon my arm, and Yvonne's sweet voice murmured in my +ear: + +"You have fought a brave and gallant fight, M. de Luynes, and you have done +a deed of which the knights of old might have been proud. Do not mar it by +an act of murder." + +"Murder, Mademoiselle!" I gasped, letting my hand fall. "Surely there is +no murder in this!" + +"A suspicion of it, I think, and so brave a man should have clean hands." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE HAND OF YVONNE + + +We did not long remain upon the field of battle. Indeed, if we lingered at +all it was but so that Mademoiselle might bandage Michelot's wound. And +whilst she did so, my stout henchman related to us how it had fared with +him, and how, having taken the two ruffians separately, he had been wounded +by the first, whom he repaid by splitting his skull, whereupon the second +one had discharged his pistol without effect, then made off towards the +road, whilst Michelot, remembering that I might need assistance, had let +him go. + +"There, good Michelot," quoth Mademoiselle, completing her task, "I have +done what little I can. And now, M. de Luynes, let us go." + +It was close upon seven o'clock, and night was at hand. Already the moon +was showing her large, full face above the tree-tops by Chambord, and +casting a silver streak athwart the stream. The plash of oars from the +Marquis's boat was waxing indistinct despite the stillness, whilst by the +eye the boat itself was no longer to be distinguished. + +As I turned, my glance fell upon the bravo whom I had shot. He lay stiff +and stark upon his back, his sightless eyes wide open and staring +heavenwards, his face all blood-smeared and ghastly to behold. + +Mademoiselle shuddered. "Let us go," she repeated in a faint whisper; her +eye had also fallen on that thing, and her voice was full of awe. She laid +her hand upon my sleeve and 'neath the suasion of her touch I moved away. + +To our surprise and joy we found St. Auban's coach where we had left it, +with two saddled horses tethered close by. The others had doubtless been +taken by the coachman and the bravo who had escaped Michelot, both of whom +had fled. These animals we looked upon as the spoils of war, and +accordingly when we set out in the coach,--Mademoiselle having desired me +to ride beside her therein,--Michelot wielding the reins, it was with those +two horses tethered behind. + +"Monsieur de Luynes," said my companion softly, "I fear that I have done +you a great injustice. Indeed, I know not how to crave your forgiveness, +how to thank you, or how to hide my shame at those words I spoke to you +this afternoon at Canaples." + +"Not another word on that score, Mademoiselle!" + +And to myself I thought of what recompense already had been mine. To me it +had been given to have her lean trustingly upon me, my arm about her waist, +whilst, sword in hand, I had fought for her. Dieu! Was that not something +to have lived for?--aye, and to have died for, methought. + +"I deserved, Monsieur," she continued presently, "that you should have left +me to my fate for all the odious things I uttered when you warned me of my +peril,--for the manner in which I have treated you since your coming to +Blois." + +"You have but treated me, Mademoiselle, in the only manner in which you +could treat one so far beneath you, one who is utterly unworthy that you +should bestow a single regret upon him." + +"You are strangely humble to-night, Monsieur. It is unwonted in you, and +for once you wrong yourself. You have not said that I am forgiven." + +"I have naught to forgive." + +"Hélas! you have--indeed you have!" + +"Eh, bien!" quoth I, with a return of my old tone of banter, "I forgive +then." + +Thereafter we travelled on in silence for some little while, my heart full +of joy at being so near to her, and the friendliness which she evinced for +me, and my mind casting o'er my joyous heart a cloud of some indefinable +evil presage. + +"You are a brave man, M. de Luynes," she murmured presently, "and I have +been taught that brave men are ever honourable and true." + +"Had they who taught you that known Gaston de Luynes, they would have told +you instead that it is possible for a vile man to have the one redeeming +virtue of courage, even as it is possible for a liar to have a countenance +that is sweet and innocent." + +"There speaks that humble mood you are affecting, and which sits upon you +as my father's clothes might do. Nay, Monsieur, I shall believe in my +first teaching, and be deaf to yours." + +Again there was a spell of silence. At last--"I have been thinking, +Monsieur," she said, "of that other occasion on which you rode with me. I +remember that you said you had killed a man, and when I asked you why, you +said that you had done it because he sought to kill you. Was that the +truth?" + +"Assuredly, Mademoiselle. We fought a duel, and it is customary in a duel +for each to seek to kill the other." + +"But why was this duel fought?" she cried, with some petulance. + +"I fear me, Mademoiselle, that I may not answer you," I said, recalling the +exact motives, and thinking how futile appeared the quarrel which Eugène de +Canaples had sought with Andrea when viewed in the light of what had since +befallen. + +"Was the quarrel of your seeking?" + +"In a measure it was, Mademoiselle." + +"In a measure!" she echoed. Then persisting, as women will--"Will you not +tell me what this measure was?" + +"Tenez, Mademoiselle," I answered in despair; "I will tell you just so much +as I may. Your brother had occasion to be opposed to certain projects that +were being formed in Paris by persons high in power around a beardless boy. +Himself of too small importance to dare wage war against those powerful +ones who would have crushed him, your brother sought to gain his ends by +sending a challenge to this boy. The lad was high-spirited and consented +to meet M. de Canaples, by whom he would assuredly have been murdered--'t +is the only word, Mademoiselle--had I not intervened as I did." + +She was silent for a moment. Then--"I believe you, Monsieur," she said +simply. "You fought, then, to shield another--but why?" + +"For three reasons, Mademoiselle. Firstly, those persons high in power +chose to think it my fault that the quarrel had arisen, and threatened to +hang me if the duel took place and the boy were harmed. Secondly, I myself +felt a kindness for the boy. Thirdly, because, whatever sins Heaven may +record against me, it has at least ever been my way to side against men +who, confident of their superiority, seek, with the cowardly courage of the +strong, to harm the weak. It is, Mademoiselle, the courage of the man who +knows no fear when he strikes a woman, yet who will shake with a palsy when +another man but threatens him." + +"Why did you not tell me all this before?" she whispered, after a pause. +And methought I caught a quaver in her voice. + +I laughed for answer, and she read my laugh aright; presently she pursued +her questions and asked me the name of the boy I had defended. But I +evaded her, telling her that she must need no further details to believe +me. + +"It is not that, Monsieur! I do believe you; I do indeed, but--" + +"Hark, Mademoiselle!" I cried suddenly, as the clatter of many hoofs +sounded near at hand. "What is that?" + +A shout rang out at that moment. "Halt! Who goes there?" + +"Mon Dieu!" exclaimed Mademoiselle, drawing close up to me, and again the +voice sounded, this time more sinister. + +"Halt, I say--in the King's name!" + +The coach came to a standstill, and through the window I beheld the shadowy +forms of several mounted men, and the feeble glare of a lantern. + +"Who travels in the carriage, knave?" came the voice again. + +"Mademoiselle de Canaples," answered Michelot; then, like a fool, he must +needs add: "Have a care whom you knave, my master, if you would grow old." + +"Pardieu! let us behold this Mademoiselle de Canaples who owns so fearful a +warrior for a coachman." + +The door was flung rudely open, and the man bearing the lantern--whose rays +shone upon a uniform of the Cardinal's guards--confronted us. + +With a chuckle he flashed the light in my face, then suddenly grew serious. + +"Peste! Is it indeed you, M. de Luynes?" quoth he; adding, with stern +politeness, "It grieves me to disturb you, but I have a warrant for your +arrest." + +He was fumbling in his doublet as he spoke, and during the time I had +leisure to scan his countenance, recognising, to my surprise, a young +lieutenant of the guards who had but recently served with me, and with whom +I had been on terms almost of friendship. His words, "I have a warrant for +your arrest," came like a bolt from the blue to enlighten me, and to remind +me of what St. Auban had that morning told me, and which for the nonce I +had all but forgotten. + +Upon hearing those same words, Yvonne, methought, grew pale, and her eyes +were bent upon me with a look of surprise and pity. + +"Upon what charge am I arrested?" I enquired, with forced composure. + +"My warrant mentions none, M. de Luynes. It is here." And he thrust +before me a paper, whose purport I could have read in its shape and seals. +Idly my eye ran along the words: + +"By these presents I charge and empower my lieutenant, Jean de Montrésor, +to seize where'er he may be found, hold, and conduct to Paris the Sieur +Gaston de Luynes--" + +And so further, until the Cardinal's signature ended the legal verbiage. + +"In the King's name, M. de Luynes," said Montrésor, firmly yet +deferentially, "your sword!" + +It would have been madness to do aught but comply with his request, and so +I surrendered my rapier, which he in his turn delivered to one of his +followers. Next I stepped down from the coach and turned to take leave of +Mademoiselle, whereupon Montrésor, thinking that peradventure matters were +as they appeared to be between us, and, being a man of fine feelings, +signed to his men to fall back, whilst he himself withdrew a few paces. + +"Adieu, Mademoiselle!" I said simply. "I shall carry with me for +consolation the memory that I have been of service to you, and I shall +ever--during the little time that may be left me--be grateful to Heaven for +the opportunity that it has afforded me of causing you--perchance without +sufficient reason--to think better of me. Adieu, Mademoiselle! God guard +you!" + +It was too dark to see her face, but my heart bounded with joy to catch in +her voice a quaver that argued, methought, regret for me. + +"What does it mean, M. de Luynes? Why are they taking you?" + +"Because I have displeased my Lord Cardinal, albeit, Mademoiselle, I swear +to you that I have no cause for shame at the reasons for which I am being +arrested." + +"My father is Monseigneur de Mazarin's friend," she cried. "He is also +yours. He shall exert for you what influence he possesses." + +"'T were useless, Mademoiselle. Besides, what does it signify? Again, +adieu!" + +She spoke no answering word, but silently held out her hand. Silently I +took it in mine, and for a moment I hesitated, thinking of what I was--of +what she was. At last, moved by some power that was greater than my will, +I stooped and pressed those shapely fingers to my lips. Then I stepped +suddenly back and closed the carriage door, oppressed by a feeling akin to +that of having done an evil deed. + +"Have I your permission to say a word to my servant, M. le Lieutenant?" I +inquired. + +He bowed assent, whereat, stepping close up to the horror-stricken +Michelot-- + +"Drive straight to the Château de Canaples," I said in a low voice. +"Thereafter return to the Lys de France and there wait until you hear from +me. Here, take my purse; there are some fifty pistoles in it." + +"Speak but the word, Monsieur," he growled, "and I'll pistol a couple of +these dogs." + +"Pah! You grow childish," I laughed, "or can you not see that fellow's +musket?" + +"Pardieu! I'll risk his aim! I never yet saw one of these curs shoot +straight." + +"No, no, obey me, Michelot. Think of Mademoiselle. Go! Adieu! If we +should not meet again, mon brave," I finished, as I seized his loyal hand, +"what few things of mine are at the hostelry shall belong to you, as well +as what may be left of this money. It is little enough payment, Michelot, +for all your faithfulness--" + +"Monsieur, Monsieur!" he cried. + +"Diable!" I muttered, "we are becoming women! Be off, you knave! Adieu!" + +The peremptoriness of my tone ended our leave-taking and caused him to grip +his reins and bring down his whip. The coach moved on. A white face, on +which the moonlight fell, glanced at me from the window, then to my staring +eyes naught was left but the back of the retreating vehicle, with one of +the two saddle-horses that had been tethered to it still ambling in its +wake. + +"M. de Montrésor," I said, thrusting my bullet-pierced hat upon my head, "I +am at your service." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +OF WHAT BEFELL AT REAUX + + +At my captor's bidding I mounted the horse which they had untethered from +the carriage, and we started off along the road which the coach itself had +disappeared upon a moment before. But we travelled at a gentle trot, +which, after that evening's furious riding, was welcome to me. + +With bitterness I reflected as I rode that the very moment at which +Mademoiselle de Canaples had brought herself to think better of me was like +to prove the last we should spend together. Yet not altogether bitter was +that reflection; for with it came also the consolation--whereof I had told +her--that I had not been taken before she had had cause to change her mind +concerning me. + +That she should care for me was too preposterous an idea to be nourished, +and, indeed, it was better--much better--that M. de Montrésor had come +before I, grown sanguine as lovers will, had again earned her scorn by +showing her what my heart contained. Much better was it that I should pass +for ever out of her life--as, indeed, methought I was like to pass out of +all life--whilst I could leave in her mind a kind remembrance and a +grateful regret, free from the stain that a subsequent possible presumption +of mine might have cast o'er it. + +Then my thoughts shifted to Andrea. St. Auban would hear of my removal, +and I cared not to think of what profit he might derive from it. To Yvonne +also his presence must hereafter be a menace, and in that wherein tonight +he had failed, he might, again, succeed. It was at this juncture of my +reverie that M. de Montrésor's pleasant young voice aroused me. + +"You appear downcast, M. de Luynes." + +"I, downcast!" I echoed, throwing back my head and laughing. "Nay. I was +but thinking. + +"Believe me, M. de Luynes," he said kindly, "when I tell you that it +grieves me to be charged with this matter. I have done my best to capture +you. That was my duty. But I should have rejoiced had I failed with the +consciousness of having done all in my power." + +"Thanks, Montrésor," I murmured, and silence followed. + +"I have been thinking, Monsieur," he went on presently, "that possibly the +absence of your sword causes you discomfort." + +"Eh? Discomfort? It does, most damnably!" + +"Give me your parole d'honneur that you will attempt no escape, and not +only shall your sword be returned to you, but you shall travel to Paris +with all comfort and dignity." + +Now, so amazed was I that I paused to stare at the officer who was young +enough to make such a proposal to a man of my reputation. He turned his +face towards me, and in the moonlight I could make out his questioning +glance. + +"Eh, bien, Monsieur?" + +"I am more than grateful to you, M. de Montrésor," I replied, "and I freely +give you my word of honour to seek no means of eluding you, nor to avail +myself of any that may be presented to me." + +I said this loud enough for those behind to hear, so that no surprise was +evinced when the lieutenant bade the man who bore my sword return it to me. + +If he who may chance to read these simple pages shall have gathered aught +of my character from their perusal, he will marvel, perchance, that I +should give the lieutenant my parole, instead rather of watching for an +opportunity to--at least--attempt an escape. Preeminent in my thoughts, +however, stood at that moment the necessity to remove St. Auban, and +methought that by acting as I did I saw a way by which, haply, I might +accomplish this. What might thereafter befall me seemed of little moment. + +"M. de Montrésor," I said presently, "your kindness impels me to set a +further tax upon your generosity." + +"That is, Monsieur?" + +"Bid your men fall back a little, and I will tell you." + +He made a sign to his troopers, and when the distance between us had been +sufficiently widened, I began: + +"There is a man at present across the river, yonder, who has done me no +little injury, and with whom I have a rendezvous at nine o'clock to-night +at St. Sulpice des Reaux, where our swords are to determine the difference +between us. I crave, Monsieur, your permission to keep that appointment." + +"Impossible!" he answered curtly. + +I took a deep breath like a man who is about to jump an obstacle in his +path. + +"Why impossible, Monsieur?" + +"Because you are a prisoner, and therefore no longer under obligation to +keep appointments." + +"How would you feel, Montrésor, if, burning to be avenged upon a man who +had done you irreparable wrong, you were arrested an hour before the time +at which you were to meet this man, sword in hand, and your captor--whose +leave you craved to keep the assignation--answered you with the word +'impossible'?" + +"Yes, yes, Monsieur," he replied impatiently. "But you forget my position. +Let us suppose that I allow you to go to St. Sulpice des Reaux. What if +you do not return?" + +"You mistrust me?" I exclaimed, my hopes melting. + +"You misapprehend me. I mean, what if you are killed?" + +"I do not think that I shall be." + +"Ah! But what if you are? What shall I say to my Lord Cardinal?" + +"Dame! That I am dead, and that he is saved the trouble of hanging me. +The most he can want of me is my life. Let us suppose that you had come an +hour later. You would have been forced to wait until after the encounter, +and, did I fall, matters would be no different." + +The young man fell to thinking, but I, knowing that it is not well to let +the young ponder overlong if you would bend them to your wishes, broke in +upon his reflections--"See, Montrésor, yonder are the lights of Blois; by +eight o'clock we shall be in the town. Come; grant me leave to cross the +Loire, and by ten o'clock, or half-past at the latest, I shall return to +sup with you or I shall be dead. I swear it." + +"Were I in your position," he answered musingly, "I know how I would be +treated, and, pardieu! come what may I shall deal with you accordingly. +You may go to your assignation, M. de Luynes, and may God prosper you." + +And thus it came to pass that shortly after eight o'clock, albeit a +prisoner, I rode into the courtyard of the Lys de France, and, alighting, I +stepped across the threshold of the inn, and strode up to a table at which +I had espied Michelot. He sat nursing a huge measure of wine, into the +depths of which he was gazing pensively, with an expression so glum upon +his weather-beaten countenance that it defies depicting. So deep was he in +his meditations, that albeit I stood by the table surveying him for a full +minute, he took no heed of me. + +"Allons, Michelot!" I said at length. "Wake up." + +He started up with a cry of amazement; surprise chased away the grief that +had been on his face, and a moment later joy unfeigned, and good to see, +took the place of surprise. + +"You have escaped, Monsieur!" he cried, and albeit caution made him utter +the words beneath his breath, a shout seemed to lurk somewhere in the +whisper. + +Pressing his hand I sat down and briefly told him how matters stood, and +how I came to be for the moment free. And when I had done I bade him, +since his wound had not proved serious, to get his hat and cloak and go +with me to find a boat. + +He obeyed me, and a quarter of an hour after we had quitted the hostelry he +was rowing me across the stream, whilst, wrapped in my cloak, I sat in the +stern, thinking of Yvonne. + +"Monsieur," said Michelot, "observe how swift is the stream. If I were to +let the boat drift we should be at Tours to-morrow, and from there it would +be easy to defy pursuit. We have enough money to reach Spain. What say +you, Monsieur?" + +"Say, you rascal? Why, bend your back to the work and set me ashore by St. +Sulpice in a quarter of an hour, or I'll forget that you have been my +friend. Would you see me dishonoured?" + +"Sooner than see you dead," he grumbled as he resumed his task. +Thereafter, whilst he rowed, Michelot entertained me with some quaint ideas +touching that which fine gentlemen call honour, and to what sorry passes it +was wont to bring them, concluding by thanking God that he was no gentleman +and had no honour to lead him into mischief. + +At last, however, our journey came to an end, and I sprang ashore some five +hundred paces from the little chapel, and almost exactly opposite the +Château de Canaples. I stood for a moment gazing across the water at the +lighted windows of the château, wondering which of those eyes that looked +out upon the night might be that of Yvonne's chamber. + +Then, bidding Michelot await me, or follow did I not return in half an +hour, I turned and moved away towards the chapel. + +There is a clearing in front of the little white edifice--which rather than +a temple is but a monument to the martyr who is said to have perished on +that spot in the days before Clovis. + +As I advanced into the centre of this open patch of ground, and stood clear +of the black silhouettes of the trees, cast about me by the moon, two men +appeared to detach themselves from the side wall of the chapel, and +advanced to meet me. + +Albeit they were wrapped in their cloaks--uptilted behind by their +protruding scabbards--it was not difficult to tell the tall figure and +stately bearing of St. Auban and the mincing gait of Vilmorin. + +I doffed my hat in a grave salutation, which was courteously returned. + +"I trust, Messieurs, that I have not kept you waiting?" + +"I was on the point of expressing that very hope, Monsieur," returned St. +Auban. "We have but arrived. Do you come alone?" + +"As you perceive." + +"Hum! M. le Vicomte, then, will act for both of us." + +I bowed in token of my satisfaction, and without more ado cast aside my +cloak, pleased to see that the affair was to be conducted with decency and +politeness, as such matters should ever be conducted, albeit impoliteness +may have marked their origin. + +The Marquis, having followed my example and divested himself of his cloak +and hat, unsheathed his rapier and delivered it to Vilmorin, who came +across with it to where I stood. When he was close to me I saw that he was +deadly pale; his teeth chattered, and the hand that held the weapon shook +as with a palsy. + +"Mu--Monsieur," he stammered, "will it please you to lend me your sword +that I may mu-measure it?" + +"What formalities!" I exclaimed with an amused smile, as I complied with +his request. "I am afraid you have caught a chill, Vicomte. The night air +is little suited to health so delicate." + +He answered me with a baleful glance, as silently he took my sword and set +it--point to hilt--with St. Auban's. He appeared to have found some slight +difference in the length, for he took two steps away from me, holding the +weapons well in the light, where for a moment he surveyed them attentively. +His hands shook so that the blades clattered one against the other the +while. But, of a sudden, taking both rapiers by the hilt, he struck the +blades together with a ringing clash, then flung them both behind him as +far as he could contrive, leaving me thunderstruck with amazement, and +marvelling whether fear had robbed him of his wits. + +Not until I perceived that the trees around me appeared to spring into life +did it occur to me that that clashing of blades was a signal, and that I +was trapped. With the realisation of it I was upon Vilmorin in a bound, +and with both hands I had caught the dog by the throat before he thought of +flight. The violence of my onslaught bore him to the ground, and I, not to +release my choking grip, went with him. + +For a moment we lay together where we had fallen, his slender body twisting +and writhing under me, his swelling face upturned and his protruding, +horror-stricken eyes gazing into mine that were fierce and pitiless. +Voices rang above me; someone stooped and strove to pluck me from my +victim; then below the left shoulder I felt a sting of pain, first cold +then hot, and I knew that I had been stabbed. + +Again I felt the blade thrust in, lower down and driven deeper; then, as +the knife was for the second time withdrawn, and my flesh sucked at the +steel,--the pain of it sending a shudder through me,--the instinct of +preservation overcame the sweet lust to strangle Vilmorin. I let him go +and, staggering to my feet, I turned to face those murderers who struck a +defenceless man behind. + +Swords gleamed around me: one, two, three, four, five, six, I counted, and +stood weak and dazed from loss of blood, gazing stupidly at the white +blades. Had I but had my sword I should have laid about me, and gone down +beneath their blows as befits a soldier. But the absence of that trusty +friend left me limp and helpless--cowed for the first time since I had +borne arms. + +Of a sudden I became aware that St. Auban stood opposite to me, hand on +hip, surveying me with a malicious leer. As our eyes met--"So, master +meddler," quoth he mockingly, "you crow less lustily than is your wont." + +"Hound!" I gasped, choking with rage, "if you are a man, if there be a +spark of pride or honour left in your lying, cowardly soul, order your +assassins to give me my sword, and, wounded though I be, I'll fight with +you this duel that you lured me here to fight." + +He laughed harshly. + +"I told you but this morning, Master de Luynes, that a St. Auban does not +fight men of your stamp. You forced a rendezvous upon me; you shall reap +the consequences." + +Despite the weakness arising from loss of blood, I sprang towards him, +beside myself with fury. But ere I had covered half the distance that lay +between us my arms were gripped from behind, and in my spent condition I +was held there, powerless, at the Marquis's mercy. He came slowly forward +until we were but some two feet apart. For a second he stood leering at +me, then, raising his hand, he struck me--struck a man whose arms another +held!--full upon the face. Passion for the moment lent me strength, and in +that moment I had wrenched my right arm free and returned his blow with +interest. + +With an oath he got out a dagger that hung from his baldrick. + +"Sang du Christ! Take that, you dog!" he snarled, burying the blade in my +breast as he spoke. + +"My God! You are murdering me!" I gasped. + +"Have you discovered it? What penetration!" he retorted, and those about +him laughed at his indecent jest! + +He made a sign, and the man who had held me withdrew his hands. I +staggered forward, deprived of his support, then a crashing blow took me +across the head. + +I swayed for an instant, and with arms upheld I clutched at the air, as if +I sought, by hanging to it, to save myself from falling; then the moon +appeared to go dark, a noise as of the sea beating upon its shore filled my +ears, and I seemed to be falling--falling--falling. + +A voice that buzzed and vibrated oddly, growing more distant at each word, +reached me as I sank. + +"Come," it said. "Fling that carrion into the river." + +Then nothingness engulfed me. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +OF MY RESURRECTION + + +Even as the blow which had plunged me into senselessness had imparted to me +the sinking sensation which I have feebly endeavoured to depict, so did the +first dim ray of returning consciousness bring with it the feeling that I +was again being buoyed upwards through the thick waters that had enveloped +me, to their surface, where intelligence and wakefulness awaited. + +And as I felt myself borne up and up in that effortless ascension, my +senses awake and my reason still half-dormant, an exquisite sense of +languor pervaded my whole being. Presently meseemed that the surface was +gained at last, and an instinct impelled me to open my eyes upon the light, +of which, through closed lids, I had become conscious. + +I beheld a fair-sized room superbly furnished, and flooded with amber +sunlight suggestive in itself of warmth and luxury, the vision of which +heightened the delicious torpor that held me in thrall. The bed I lay upon +was such, I told myself, as would not have disgraced a royal sleeper. It +was upheld by great pillars of black oak, carved with a score of fantastic +figures, and all around it, descending from the dome above, hung curtains +of rich damask, drawn back at the side that looked upon the window. Near +at hand stood a table laden with phials and such utensils as one sees by +the bedside of the wealthy sick. All this I beheld in a languid, +unreasoning fashion through my half-open lids, and albeit the luxury of the +room and the fine linen of my bed told me that this was neither my Paris +lodging in the Rue St. Antoine, nor yet my chamber at the hostelry of the +Lys de France, still I taxed not my brain with any questions touching my +whereabouts. + +I closed my eyes, and I must have slept again: when next I opened them a +burly figure stood in the deep bay of the latticed window, looking out +through the leaded panes. + +I recognised the stalwart frame of Michelot, and at last I asked myself +where I might be. It did not seem to occur to me that I had but to call +him to receive an answer to that question. Instead, I closed my eyes +again, and essayed to think. But just then there came a gentle scratching +at the door, and I could hear Michelot tiptoeing across the room; next he +and the one he had admitted tiptoed back towards my bedside, and as they +came I caught a whisper in a voice that seemed to drag me to full +consciousness. + +"How fares the poor invalid this morning?" + +"The fever is gone, Mademoiselle, and he may wake at any moment; indeed, it +is strange that he should sleep so long." + +"He will be the better for it when he does awaken. I will remain here +while you rest, Michelot. My poor fellow, you are almost as worn with your +vigils as he is with the fever." + +"Pooh! I am strong enough, Mademoiselle," he answered. "I will get a +mouthful of food and return, for I would be by when he wakes." + +Then their voices sank so low that as they withdrew I caught not what was +said. The door closed softly and for a space there was silence, broken at +last by a sigh above my head. With an answering sigh I opened wide my eyes +and feasted them upon the lovely face of Yvonne de Canaples, as she bent +over me with a look of tenderness and pity that at once recalled to me our +parting when I was arrested. + +But suddenly meeting the stare of my gaze, she drew back with a half- +stifled cry, whose meaning my dull wits sought not to interpret, but +methought I caught from her lips the words, "Thank God!" + +"Where am I, Mademoiselle?" I inquired, and the faintness of my voice +amazed me. + +"You know me!" she exclaimed, as though the thing were a miracle. Then +coming forward again, and setting her cool, sweet hand upon my forehead, + +"Hush," she murmured in the accents one might use to soothe a child. "You +are at Canaples, among friends. Now sleep." + +"At Canaples!" I echoed. "How came I here? I am a prisoner, am I not?" + +"A prisoner!" she exclaimed. "No, no, you are not a prisoner. You are +among friends." + +"Did I then but dream that Montrésor arrested me yesterday on the road to +Meung? Ah! I recollect! M. de Montrésor gave me leave on parole to go to +Reaux." + +Then, like an avalanche, remembrance swept down upon me, and my memory drew +a vivid picture of the happenings at St. Sulpice. + +"My God!" I cried. "Am I not dead, then?" And I sought to struggle up +into a sitting posture, but that gentle hand upon my forehead restrained +and robbed me of all will that was not hers. + +"Hush, Monsieur!" she said softly. "Lie still. By a miracle and the +faithfulness of Michelot you live. Be thankful, be content, and sleep." + +"But my wounds, Mademoiselle?" I inquired feebly. + +"They are healed." + +"Healed?" quoth I, and in my amazement my voice sounded louder than it had +yet done since my awakening. "Healed! Three such wounds as I took last +night, to say naught of a broken head, healed?" + +"'T was not last night, Monsieur." + +"Not last night? Was it not last night that I went to Reaux?" + +"It is nearly a month since that took place," she answered with a smile. +"For nearly a month have you lain unconscious upon that bed, with the angel +of Death at your pillow. You have fought and won a silent battle. Now +sleep, Monsieur, and ask no more questions until next you awaken, when +Michelot shall tell you all that took place." + +She held a glass to my lips from which I drank gratefully, then, with the +submissiveness of a babe, I obeyed her and slept. + +As she had promised, it was Michelot who greeted me when next I opened my +eyes, on the following day. There were tears in his eyes--eyes that had +looked grim and unmoved upon the horrors of the battlefield. + +From him I learned how, after they had flung me into the river, deeming me +dead already, St. Auban and his men had made off. The swift stream swirled +me along towards the spot where, in the boat, Michelot awaited my return +all unconscious of what was taking place. He had heard the splash, and had +suddenly stood up, on the point of going ashore, when my body rose within a +few feet of him. He spoke of the agony of mind wherewith he had suddenly +stretched forth and clutched me by my doublet, fearing that I was indeed +dead. He had lifted me into the boat to find that my heart still beat and +that the blood flowed from my wounds. These he had there and then bound up +in the only rude fashion he was master of, and forthwith, thinking of +Andrea and the Chevalier de Canaples, who were my friends, and of +Mademoiselle, who was my debtor, also seeing that the château was the +nearest place, he had rowed straight across to Canaples, and there I had +lain during the four weeks that had elapsed, nursed by Mademoiselle, +Andrea, and himself, and thus won back to life. + +Ah, Dieu! How good it was to know that someone there was still who cared +for worthless Gaston de Luynes a little--enough to watch beside him and +withhold his soul from the grim claws of Death. + +"What of M. de St. Auban?" I inquired presently. + +"He has not been seen since that night. Probably he feared that did he +come to Blois, the Chevalier would find means of punishing him for the +attempted abduction of Mademoiselle." + +"Ah, then Andrea is safe?" + +As if in answer to my question, the lad entered at that moment, and upon +seeing me sitting up, talking to Michelot, he uttered an exclamation of +joy, and hurried forward to my bedside. + +"Gaston, dear friend!" he cried, as he took my hand--and a thin, withered +hand it was. + +We talked long together,--we three,--and anon we were joined by the +Chevalier de Canaples, who offered me also, in his hesitating manner, his +felicitations. And with me they lingered until Yvonne came to drive them +with protestations from my bedside. + +Such, in brief, was the manner of my resurrection. For a week or so I +still kept my chamber; then one day towards the middle of April, the +weather being warm and the sun bright, Michelot assisted me to don my +clothes, which hung strangely empty upon my gaunt, emaciated frame, and, +leaning heavily upon my faithful henchman, I made my way below. + +In the salon I found the Chevalier de Canaples with Mesdemoiselles and +Andrea awaiting me, and the kindness wherewith they overwhelmed me, as I +sat propped up with pillows, was such that I asked myself again and again +if, indeed, I was that same Gaston de Luynes who but a little while ago had +held himself as destitute of friends as he was of fortune. I was the +pampered hero of the hour, and even little Geneviève had a sunny smile and +a kind word for me. + +Thereafter my recovery progressed with great strides, and gradually, day by +day, I felt more like my old vigorous self. They were happy days, for +Mademoiselle was often at my side, and ever kind to me; so kind was she +that presently, as my strength grew, there fell a great cloud athwart my +happiness--the thought that soon I must leave Canaples never to return +there,--leave Mademoiselle's presence never to come into it again. + +I was Monsieur de Montrésor's prisoner. I had learned that in common with +all others, save those at Canaples, he deemed me dead, and that, informed +of it by a message from St. Auban, he had returned to Paris on the day +following that of my journey to Reaux. Nevertheless, since I lived, he had +my parole, and it was my duty as soon as I had regained sufficient +strength, to journey to Paris and deliver myself into his hands. + +Nearer and nearer drew the dreaded hour in which I felt that I must leave +Canaples. On the last day of April I essayed a fencing bout with Andrea, +and so strong and supple did I prove myself that I was forced to realise +that the time was come. On the morrow I would go. + +As I was on the point of returning indoors with the foils under my arm, +Andrea called me back. + +"Gaston, I have something of importance to say to you. Will you take a +turn with me down yonder by the river?" + +There was a serious, almost nervous look on his comely face, which arrested +my attention. I dropped the foils, and taking his arm I went with him as +he bade me. We seated ourselves on the grass by the edge of the gurgling +waters, and he began: + +"It is now two months since we came to Blois: I, to pay my court to the +wealthy Mademoiselle de Canaples; you, to watch over and protect me--nay, +you need not interrupt me. Michelot has told me what St. Auban sought +here, and the true motives of your journey to St. Sulpice. Never shall I +be able to sufficiently prove my gratitude to you, my poor Gaston. But +tell me, dear friend, you who from the outset saw how matters stood, why +did you not inform St. Auban that he had no cause to hunt me down since I +intended not to come between him and Yvonne?" + +"Mon Dieu!" I exclaimed, "that little fair-haired coquette has--" + +"Gaston," he interrupted, "you go too fast. I love Geneviève de Canaples. +I have loved her, I think, since the moment I beheld her in the inn at +Choisy, and, what is more, she loves me." + +"So that--?" I asked with an ill-repressed sneer. + +"We have plighted our troth, and with her father's sanction, or without it, +she will do me the honour to become my wife." + +"Admirable!" I exclaimed. "And my Lord Cardinal?" + +"May hang himself on his stole for aught I care." + +"Ah! Truly a dutiful expression for a nephew who has thwarted his uncle's +plans!" + +"My uncle's plans are like himself, cold and selfish in their ambition." + +"Andrea, Andrea! Whatever your uncle may be, to those of your blood, at +least, he was never selfish." + +"Not selfish!" he cried. "Think you that he is enriching and contracting +great alliances for us because he loves us? No, no. Our uncle seeks to +gain our support and with it the support of those noble houses to which he +is allying us. The nobility opposes him, therefore he seeks to find +relatives among noblemen, so that he may weather the storm of which his +far-seeing eyes have already detected the first dim clouds. What to him +are my feelings, my inclinations, my affections? Things of no moment, to +be sacrificed so that I may serve him in the manner that will bring him the +most profit. Yet you call him not selfish! Were he not selfish, I should +go to him and say: 'I love Geneviève de Canaples. Create me Duke as you +would do, did I wed her sister, and the Chevalier de Canaples will not +withstand our union.' What think you would be his answer?" + +"I have a shrewd idea what his answer would be," I replied slowly. "Also I +have a shrewd idea of what he will say when he learns in what manner you +have defied his wishes." + +"He can but order me away from Court, or, at most, banish me from France." + +"And then what will become of you--of you and your wife?" + +"What is to become of us?" he cried in a tone that was almost that of +anger. "Think you that I am a pauper dependent upon my uncle's bounty? I +have an estate near Palermo, which, for all that it does not yield riches, +is yet sufficient to enable us to live with dignity and comfort. I have +told Geneviève, and she is content." + +I looked at his flushed face and laughed. + +"Well, well!" said I. "If you are resolved upon it, it is ended." + +He appeared to meditate for a moment, then--"We have decided to be married +by the Curé of St. Innocent on the day after to-morrow." + +"Crédieu!" I answered, with a whistle, "you have wasted no time in +determining your plans. Does Yvonne know of it?" + +"We have dared tell nobody," he replied; and a moment later he added +hesitatingly, "You, I know, will not betray us." + +"Do you know me so little that you doubt me on that score? Have no fear, +Andrea, I shall not speak. Besides, to-morrow, or the next day at latest, +I leave Canaples." + +"You do not mean that you are returning to the Lys de France!" + +"No. I am going farther than that. I am going to Paris." + +"To Paris?" + +"To Paris, to deliver myself up to M. de Montrésor, who gave me leave to go +to Reaux some seven weeks ago." + +"But it is madness, Gaston!" he ejaculated. + +"All virtue is madness in a world so sinful; nevertheless I go. In a +measure I am glad that things have fallen out with you as they have done, +for when the news goes abroad that you have married Geneviève de Canaples +and left the heiress free, your enemies will vanish, and you will have no +further need of me. New enemies you will have perchance, but in your +strife with them I could lend you no help, were I by." + +He sat in silence casting pebbles into the stream, and watching the ripples +they made upon the face of the waters. + +"Have you told Mademoiselle?" he asked at length. + +"Not yet. I shall tell her to-day. You also, Andrea, must take her into +your confidence touching your approaching marriage. That she will prove a +good friend to you I am assured." + +"But what reason shall I give form my secrecy?" he inquired, and inwardly I +smiled to see how the selfishness which love begets in us had caused him +already to forget my affairs, and how the thought of his own approaching +union effaced all thought of me and the doom to which I went. + +"Give no reason," I answered. "Let Genevieve tell her of what you +contemplate, and if a reason she must have, let Geneviève bid her come to +me. This much will I do for you in the matter; indeed, Andrea, it is the +last service I am like to render you." + +"Sh! Here comes the Chevalier. She shall be told to-day." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE WAY OF WOMAN + + +For all that I realised that this love of mine for Yvonne was as a child +still-born--a thing that had no existence save in the heart that had +begotten it--I rejoiced meanly at the thought that she was not destined to +become Andrea's wife. For since I understood that this woman--who to me +was like no other of her sex--was not for so poor a thing as Gaston de +Luynes, like the dog in the fable I wished that no other might possess her. +Inevitable it seemed that sooner or later one must come who would woo and +win her. But ere that befell, my Lord Cardinal would have meted out +justice to me--the justice of the rope meseemed--and I should not be by to +gnash my teeth in jealousy. + +That evening, when the Chevalier de Canaples had gone to pay a visit to his +vineyard,--the thing that, next to himself, he loved most in this world,-- +and whilst Geneviève and Andrea were vowing a deathless love to each other +in the rose garden, their favourite haunt when the Chevalier was absent, I +seized the opportunity for making my adieux to Yvonne. + +We were leaning together upon the balustrade of the terrace, and our faces +were turned towards the river and the wooded shores beyond--a landscape +this that was as alive and beautiful now as it had been dead and grey when +first I came to Canaples two months ago. + +Scarce were my first words spoken when she turned towards me, and +methought--but I was mad, I told myself--that there was a catch in her +voice as she exclaimed, "You are leaving us, Monsieur?" + +"To-morrow morning I shall crave Monsieur your father's permission to quit +Canaples." + +"But why, Monsieur? Have we not made you happy here?" + +"So happy, Mademoiselle," I answered with fervour, "that at times it passes +my belief that I am indeed Gaston de Luynes. But go I must. My honour +demands of me this sacrifice." + +And in answer to the look of astonishment that filled her wondrous eyes, I +told her what I had told Andrea touching my parole to Montrésor, and the +necessity of its redemption. As Andrea had done, she also dubbed it +madness, but her glance was, nevertheless, so full of admiration, that +methought to have earned it was worth the immolation of liberty--of life +perchance; who could say? + +"Before I go, Mademoiselle," I pursued, looking straight before me as I +spoke, and dimly conscious that her glance was bent upon my face--"before I +go, I fain would thank you for all that you have done for me here. Your +care has saved my life, Mademoiselle; your kindness, methinks, has saved my +soul. For it seems to me that I am no longer the same man whom Michelot +fished out of the Loire that night two months ago. I would thank you, +Mademoiselle, for the happiness that has been mine during the past few +days--a happiness such as for years has not fallen to my lot. To another +and worthier man, the task of thanking you might be an easy one; but to me, +who know myself to be so far beneath you, the obligation is so overwhelming +that I know of no words to fitly express it." + +"Monsieur, Monsieur, I beseech you! Already you have said overmuch." + +"Nay, Mademoiselle; not half enough." + +"Have you forgotten, then, what you did for me? Our trivial service to you +is but unseemly recompense. What other man would have come to my rescue as +you came, with such odds against you--and forgetting the affronting words +wherewith that very day I had met your warning? Tell me, Monsieur, who +would have done that?" + +"Why, any man who deemed himself a gentleman, and who possessed such +knowledge as I had." + +She laughed a laugh of unbelief. + +"You are mistaken, sir," she answered. "The deed was worthy of one of +those preux chevaliers we read of, and I have never known but one man +capable of accomplishing it." + +Those words and the tone wherein they were uttered set my brain on fire. I +turned towards her; our glances met, and her eyes--those eyes that but a +while ago had never looked on me without avowing the disdain wherein she +had held me--were now filled with a light of kindliness, of sympathy, of +tenderness that seemed more than I could endure. + +Already my hand was thrust into the bosom of my doublet, and my fingers +were about to drag forth that little shred of green velvet that I had found +in the coppice on the day of her abduction, and that I had kept ever since +as one keeps the relic of a departed saint. Another moment and I should +have poured out the story of the mad, hopeless passion that filled my heart +to bursting, when of a sudden--"Yvonne, Yvonne!" came Geneviève's fresh +voice from the other end of the terrace. The spell of that moment was +broken. + +Methought Mademoiselle made a little gesture of impatience as she answered +her sister's call; then, with a word of apology, she left me. + +Half dazed by the emotions that had made sport of me, I leaned over the +balustrade, and with my elbows on the stone and my chin on my palms, I +stared stupidly before me, thanking God for having sent Geneviève in time +to save me from again earning Mademoiselle's scorn. For as I grew sober I +did not doubt that with scorn she would have met the wild words that +already trembled on my lips. + +I laughed harshly and aloud, such a laugh as those in Hell may vent. +"Gaston, Gaston!" I muttered, "at thirty-two you are more a fool than ever +you were at twenty." + +I told myself then that my fancy had vested her tone and look with a +kindliness far beyond that which they contained, and as I thought of how I +had deemed impatient the little gesture wherewith she had greeted +Geneviève's interruption I laughed again. + +From the reverie into which, naturally enough, I lapsed, it was +Mademoiselle who aroused me. She stood beside me with an unrest of manner +so unusual in her, that straightway I guessed the substance of her talk +with Geneviève. + +"So, Mademoiselle," I said, without waiting for her to speak, "you have +learned what is afoot?" + +"I have," she answered. "That they love each other is no news to me. That +they intend to wed does not surprise me. But that they should contemplate +a secret marriage passes my comprehension." + +I cleared my throat as men will when about to embark upon a perilous +subject with no starting-point determined. + +"It is time, Mademoiselle," I began, "that you should learn the true cause +of M. de Mancini's presence at Canaples. It will enlighten you touching +his motives for a secret wedding. Had things fallen out as was intended by +those who planned his visit--Monsieur your father and my Lord Cardinal--it +is improbable that you would ever have heard that which it now becomes +necessary that I should tell you. I trust, Mademoiselle," I continued, +"that you will hear me in a neutral spirit, without permitting your +personal feelings to enter into your consideration of that which I shall +unfold." + +"So long a preface augurs anything but well," she interposed, looking +monstrous serious. + +"Not ill, at least, I hope. Hear me then. Your father and his Eminence +are friends; the one has a daughter who is said to be very wealthy and whom +he, with fond ambition, desires to see wedded to a man who can give her an +illustrious name; the other possesses a nephew whom he can ennoble by the +highest title that a man may bear who is not a prince of the blood,--and +borne indeed by few who are not,--and whom he desires to see contract an +alliance that will bring him enough of riches to enable him to bear his +title with becoming dignity." I glanced at Mademoiselle, whose cheeks were +growing an ominous red. + +"Well, Mademoiselle," I continued, "your father and Monseigneur de Mazarin +appear to have bared their heart's desire to each other, and M. de Mancini +was sent to Canaples to woo and win your father's elder daughter." + +A long pause followed, during which she stood with face aflame, averted +eyes, and heaving bosom, betraying the feelings that stormed within her at +the disclosure of the bargain whereof she had been a part. At length--"Oh, +Monsieur!" she exclaimed in a choking voice, and clenching her shapely +hands, "to think--" + +"I beseech you not to think, Mademoiselle," I interrupted calmly, for, +having taken the first plunge, I was now master of myself. "The ironical +little god, whom the ancients painted with bandaged eyes, has led M. de +Mancini by the nose in this matter, and things have gone awry for the +plotters. There, Mademoiselle, you have the reason for a clandestine +union. Did Monsieur your father guess how Andrea's affections have"--I +caught the word "miscarried" betimes, and substituted--"gone against his +wishes, his opposition is not a thing to be doubted." + +"Are you sure there is no mistake?" she inquired after a pause. "Is all +this really true, Monsieur?" + +"It is, indeed." + +"But how comes it that my father has seen naught of what has been so plain +to me--that M. de Mancini was ever at my sister's side?" + +"Your father, Mademoiselle, is much engrossed in his vineyard. Moreover, +when the Chevalier has been at hand he has been careful to show no greater +regard for the one than for the other of you. I instructed him in this +duplicity many weeks ago." + +She looked at me for a moment. + +"Oh, Monsieur," she cried passionately, "how deep is my humiliation! To +think that I was made a part of so vile a bargain! Oh, I am glad that M. +de Mancini has proved above the sordid task to which they set him--glad +that he will dupe the Cardinal and my father." + +"So am not I, Mademoiselle," I exclaimed. She vouchsafed me a stare of +ineffable surprise. + +"How? + +"Diable!" I answered. "I am M. de Mancini's friend. It was to shield him +that I fought your brother; again, because of my attitude towards him was +it that I went perilously near assassination at Reaux. Enemies sprang up +about him when the Cardinal's matrimonial projects became known. Your +brother picked a quarrel with him, and when I had dealt with your brother, +St. Auban appeared, and after St. Auban there were others. When it is +known that he has played this trick upon 'Uncle Giulio' his enemies will +disappear; but, on the other hand, his prospects will all be blighted, and +for that I am sorry." + +"So that was the motive of your duel with Eugène!" + +"At last you learn it." + +"And," she added in a curious voice, "you would have been better pleased +had M. de Mancini carried out his uncle's wishes?" + +"It matters little what I would think, Mademoiselle," I answered guardedly, +for I could not read that curious tone of hers. + +"Nevertheless, I am curious to hear your answer." + +What answer could I make? The truth--that for all my fine talk, I was at +heart and in a sense right glad that she was not to become Andrea's wife-- +would have seemed ungallant. Moreover, I must have added the explanation +that I desired to see her no man's wife, so that I might not seem to +contradict myself. Therefore-- + +"In truth, Mademoiselle," I answered, lying glibly, "it would have given me +more pleasure had Andrea chosen to obey his Eminence." + +Her manner froze upon the instant. + +"In the consideration of your friend's advancement," she replied, half +contemptuously, "you forget, M. de Luynes, to consider me. Am I, then, a +thing to be bartered into the hands of the first fortune-hunter who woos me +because he has been bidden so to do, and who is to marry me for political +purposes? Pshaw, M. de Luynes!" she added, with a scornful laugh, "after +all, I was a fool to expect aught else from--" + +She checked herself abruptly, and a sudden access of mercy left the +stinging "you" unuttered. I stood by, dumb and sheepish, not understanding +how the words that I had deemed gallant could have brought this tempest +down upon my head. Before I could say aught that might have righted +matters, or perchance made them worse--"Since you leave Canaples to- +morrow," quoth she, "I will say 'Adieu,' Monsieur, for it is unlikely that +we shall meet again." + +With a slight inclination of her head, and withholding her hand +intentionally, she moved away, whilst I stood, as only a fool or a statue +would stand, and watched her go. + +Once she paused, and, indeed, half turned, whereupon hope knocked at my +heart again; but before I had admitted it, she had resumed her walk towards +the house. Hungrily I followed her graceful, lissom figure with my eyes +until she had crossed the threshold. Then, with a dull ache in my breast, +I flung myself upon a stone seat, and, addressing myself to the setting sun +for want of a better audience, I roundly cursed her sex for the knottiest +puzzle that had ever plagued the mind of man in the unravelling. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +FATHER AND SON + + +"Gaston," quoth Andrea next morning, "you will remain at Canaples until to- +morrow? You must, for to-morrow I am to be wed, and I would fain have your +good wishes ere you go." + +"Nice hands, mine, to seek a benediction at," I grumbled. + +"But you will remain? Come, Gaston, we have been good friends, you and I, +and who knows when next we shall meet? Believe me, I shall value your 'God +speed' above all others." + +"Likely enough, since it will be the only one you'll hear." + +But for all my sneers he was not to be put off. He talked and coaxed so +winningly that in the end--albeit I am a man not easily turned from the +course he has set himself--the affectionate pleading in his fresh young +voice and the affectionate look in his dark eyes won me to his way. + +Forthwith I went in quest of the Chevalier, whom, at the indication of a +lackey, I discovered in the room it pleased him to call his study--that +same room into which we had been ushered on the day of our arrival at +Canaples. I told him that on the morrow I must set out for Paris, and +albeit he at first expressed a polite regret, yet when I had shown him how +my honour was involved in my speedy return thither, he did not urge me to +put off my departure. + +"It grieves me, sir, that you must go, and I deeply regret the motive that +is taking you. Yet I hope that his Eminence, in recognition of the +services you have rendered his nephew, will see fit to forget what cause +for resentment he may have against you, and render you your liberty. If +you will give me leave, Monsieur, I will write to his Eminence in this +strain, and you shall be the bearer of my letter." + +I thanked him, with a smile of deprecation, as I thought of the true cause +of Mazarin's resentment, which was precisely that of the plea upon which M. +de Canaples sought to obtain for me my liberation. + +"And now, Monsieur," he pursued nervously, "touching Andrea and his visit +here, I would say a word to you who are his friend, and may haply know +something of his mind. It is over two months since he came here, and yet +the--er--affair which we had hoped to bring about seems no nearer its +conclusion than when first he came. Of late I have watched him and I have +watched Yvonne; they are certainly good friends, yet not even the frail +barrier of formality appears overcome betwixt them, and I am beginning to +fear that Andrea is not only lukewarm in this matter, but is forgetful of +his uncle's wishes and selfishly indifferent to Monseigneur's projects and +mine, which, as he well knows, are the reason of his sojourn at my château. +What think you of this, M. de Luynes?" + +He shot a furtive glance at me as he spoke, and with his long, lean +forefinger he combed his beard in a nervous fashion. + +I gave a short laugh to cover my embarrassment at the question. + +"What do I think, Monsieur?" I echoed to gain time. Then, thinking that a +sententious answer would be the most fitting,--"Ma foi! Love is as the +spark that lies latent in flint and steel: for days and weeks these two may +be as close together as you please, and naught will come of it; but one +fine day, a hand--the hand of chance--will strike the one against the +other, and lo!--the spark is born!" + +"You speak in parables, Monsieur," was his caustic comment. + +"'T is in parables that all religions are preached," I returned, "and love, +methinks, is a great religion in this world." + +"Love, sir, love!" he cried petulantly. "The word makes me sick! What has +love to do with this union? Love, sir, is a pretty theme for poets, +romancers, and fools. The imagination of such a sentiment--for it is a +sentiment that does not live save in the imagination--may serve to draw +peasants and other lowbred clods into wedlock. With such as we--with +gentlemen--it has naught to do. So let that be, Monsieur. Andrea de +Mancini came hither to wed my daughter." + +"And I am certain, Monsieur," I answered stoutly, "that Andrea will wed +your daughter." + +"You speak with confidence." + +"I know Andrea well. Signs that may be hidden to you are clear to me, and +I have faith in my prophecy." + +He looked at me, and fell a victim to my confidence of manner. The +petulancy died out of his face. + +"Well, well! We will hope. My Lord Cardinal is to create him Duke, and he +will assume as title his wife's estate, becoming known to history as Andrea +de Mancini, Duke of Canaples. Thus shall a great house be founded that +will bear our name. You see the importance of it?" + +"Clearly." + +"And how reasonable is my anxiety?" + +"Assuredly." + +"And you are in sympathy with me?" + +"Pardieu! Why else did I go so near to killing your son?" + +"True," he mused. Then suddenly he added, "Apropos, have you heard that +Eugène has become one of the leaders of these frondeur madmen?" + +"Ah! Then he is quite recovered?" + +"Unfortunately," he assented with a grimace, and thus our interview ended. + +That day wore slowly to its close. I wandered hither and thither in the +château and the grounds, hungering throughout the long hours for a word +with Mademoiselle--a glimpse of her, at least. + +But all day long she kept her chamber, the pretext being that she was beset +by a migraine. By accident I came upon her that evening, at last, in the +salon; yet my advent was the signal for her departure, and all the words +she had for me were: + +"Still at Canaples, Monsieur? I thought you were to have left this +morning." She looked paler than her wont, and her eyes were somewhat red. + +"I am remaining until to-morrow," said I awkwardly. + +"Vraiement!" was all she answered, and she was gone. + +Next morning the Chevalier and I breakfasted alone. Mademoiselle's +migraine was worse. Geneviève was nursing, so her maid brought word-- +whilst Andrea had gone out an hour before and had not returned. + +The Chevalier shot me an apologetic glance across the board. + +"'T is a poor 'God speed' to you, M. de Luynes." + +I made light of it and turned the conversation into an indifferent channel, +wherein it abided until, filling himself a bumper of Anjou, the Chevalier +solemnly drank to my safe journey and good fortune in Paris. + +At that moment Andrea entered by the door abutting on the terrace balcony. +He was flushed, and his eyes sparkled with a joyous fever. Profuse was he +in his apologies, which, howbeit, were passing vague in character, and +which he brought to a close by pledging me as the Chevalier had done +already. + +As we rose, Geneviève appeared with the news that Yvonne was somewhat +better, adding that she had come to take leave of me. Her composure +surprised me gladly, for albeit in her eyes there was also a telltale +light, the lids, demurely downcast as was her wont, amply screened it from +the vulgar gaze. + +Andrea would tell his father-in-law of the marriage later in the day; and +for all I am not a chicken-hearted man, still I had no stomach to be at +hand when the storm broke. + +The moment having come for my departure, and Michelot awaiting me already +with the horses in the courtyard, M. de Canaples left us to seek the letter +which I was to carry to his Eminence. So soon as the door had closed upon +him, Andrea came forward, leading his bride by the hand, and asked me to +wish them happiness. + +"With all my heart," I answered; "and if happiness be accorded you in a +measure with the fervency of my wishes then shall you, indeed, be happy. +Each of you I congratulate upon the companion in life you have chosen. +Cherish him, Mademoi--Madame, for he is loyal and true--and such are rare +in this world." + +It is possible that I might have said more in this benign and fatherly +strain--for it seemed to me that this new role I had assumed suited me +wondrous well--but a shadow that drew our eyes towards the nearest window +interrupted me. And what we saw there drew a cry from Andrea, a shudder +from Geneviève, and from me a gasp that was half amazement, half dismay. +For, leaning upon the sill, surveying us with a sardonic, evil grin, we +beheld Eugène de Canaples, the man whom I had left with a sword-thrust +through his middle behind the Hôtel Vendôme two months ago. Whence was he +sprung, and why came he thus to his father's house? + +He started as I faced him, for doubtless St. Auban had boasted to him that +he had killed me in a duel. For a moment he remained at the window, then +he disappeared, and we could hear the ring of his spurred heel as he walked +along the balcony towards the door. + +And simultaneously came the quick, hurrying steps of the Chevalier de +Canaples, as he crossed the hall, returning with the letter he had gone to +fetch. + +Geneviève shuddered again, and looked fearfully from one door to the other; +Andrea drew a sharp breath like a man in pain, whilst I rapped out an oath +to brace my nerves for the scene which we all three foresaw. Then in +silence we waited, some subtle instinct warning us of the disaster that +impended. + +The steps on the balcony halted, and a second later those in the hall; and +then, as though the thing had been rehearsed and timed so that the +spectators might derive the utmost effect from it, the doors opened +together, and on the opposing thresholds, with the width of the room +betwixt them, stood father and son confronted. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +OF HOW I LEFT CANAPLES + + +Whilst a man might tell a dozen did those two remain motionless, the one +eyeing the other. But their bearing was as widely different as their +figures; Eugène's stalwart frame stood firm and erect, insolence in every +line of it, reflected perchance from the smile that lurked about the +corners of his thinlipped mouth. + +The hat, which he had not had the grace to doff, set jauntily upon his +straight black hair, the jerkin of leather which he wore, and the stout +sword which hung from the plainest of belts, all served to give him the air +of a ruffler, or tavern knight. + +The Chevalier, on the other hand, stood as if turned to stone. From his +enervated fingers the letter fluttered to the ground, and on his pale, thin +face was to be read a displeasure mixed with fear. + +At length, with an oath, the old man broke the silence. + +"What seek you at Canaples?" he asked in a quivering voice, as he advanced +into the room. "Are you so dead to shame that you dare present yourself +with such effrontery? Off with your hat, sir!" he blazed, stamping his +foot, and going from pale to crimson. "Off with your hat, or Mortdieu, +I'll have you flung out of doors by my grooms." + +This show of vehemence, as sudden as it was unexpected, drew from Eugène a +meek obedience that I had not looked for. Nevertheless, the young man's +lip curled as he uncovered. + +"How fatherly is your greeting!" he sneered. The Chevalier's eyes flashed +a glance that lacked no venom at his son. + +"What manner of greeting did you look for?" he returned hotly. "Did you +expect me to set a ring upon your finger, and have the fattened calf killed +in honour of your return? Sangdieu, sir! Have you come hither to show me +how a father should welcome the profligate son who has dishonoured his +name? Why are you here, unbidden? Answer me, sir!" + +A deep flush overspread Eugène's cheeks. + +"I had thought when I crossed the threshold that this was the Château de +Canaples, or else that my name was Canaples--I know not which. Clearly I +was mistaken, for here is a lady who has no word either of greeting or +intercession for me, and who, therefore, cannot be my sister, and yonder a +man whom I should never look to find in my father's house." + +I took a step forward, a hot answer on my lips, when from the doorway at my +back came Yvonne's sweet voice. + +"Eugène! You here?" + +"As you see, Sister. Though had you delayed your coming 't is probable you +would no longer have found me, for your father welcomes me with oaths and +threatens me with his grooms." + +She cast a reproachful glance upon the Chevalier, 'neath which the anger +seemed to die out of him; then she went forward with hands outstretched and +a sad smile upon her lips. + +"Yvonne!" The Chevalier's voice rang out sharp and sudden. + +She stopped. + +"I forbid you to approach that man!" + +For a moment she appeared to hesitate; then, leisurely pursuing her way, +she set her hands upon her brother's shoulders and embraced him. + +The Chevalier swore through set teeth; Geneviève trembled, Andrea looked +askance, and I laughed softly at the Chevalier's discomfiture. Eugène +flung his hat and cloak into a corner and strode across the room to where +his father stood. + +"And now, Monsieur, since I have travelled all the way from Paris to save +my house from a step that will bring it into the contempt of all France, I +shall not go until you have heard me." + +The Chevalier shrugged his shoulders and made as if to turn away. Yvonne's +greeting of her brother appeared to have quenched the spark of spirit that +for a moment had glimmered in the little man's breast. + +"Monsieur," cried Eugène, "believe me that what I have to say is of the +utmost consequence, and say it I will--whether before these strangers or in +your private ear shall be as you elect." + +The old man glanced about him like one who seeks a way of escape. At +last--"If say it you must," he growled, "say it here and now. And when you +have said it, go." + +Eugène scowled at me, and from me to Andrea. To pay him for that scowl, I +had it in my mind to stay; but, overcoming the clownish thought, I took +Andrea by the arm. + +"Come, Andrea," I said, "we will take a turn outside while these family +matters are in discussion." + +I had a shrewd idea what was the substance of Eugène's mission to +Canaples--to expostulate with his father touching the proposed marriage of +Yvonne to the Cardinal's nephew. + +Nor was I wrong, for when, some moments later, the Chevalier recalled us +from the terrace, where we were strolling--"What think you he has come +hither to tell me?" he inquired as we entered. He pointed to his son as he +spoke, and passion shook his slender frame as the breeze shakes a leaf. +Mademoiselle and Geneviève sat hand in hand--Yvonne deadly pale, Geneviève +weeping. + +"What think you he has the effrontery to say? Têtedieu! it seems that he +has profited little by the lesson you read him in the horse-market about +meddling in matters which concern him not. He has come hither to tell me +that he will not permit his sister to wed the Cardinal's nephew; that he +will not have the estates of Canaples pass into the hands of a foreign +upstart. He, forsooth--he! he! he!" And at each utterance of the pronoun +he lunged with his forefinger in the direction of his son. "This he is not +ashamed to utter before Yvonne herself!" + +"You compelled me to do so," cried Eugène angrily. + +"I?" ejaculated the Chevalier. "Did I compel you to come hither with your +'I will' and 'I will not'? Who are you, that you should give laws at +Canaples? And he adds, sir," quoth the old knight excitedly, "that sooner +than allow this marriage to take place he will kill M. de Mancini." + +"I shall be happy to afford him the opportunity!" shouted Andrea, bounding +forward. + +Eugène looked up quickly and gave a short laugh. Thereupon followed a wild +hubbub; everyone rushed forward and everyone talked; even little Geneviève +--louder than all the rest. + +"You shall not fight! You shall not fight!" she cried, and her voice was +so laden with command that all others grew silent and all eyes were turned +upon her. + +"What affair is this of yours, little one?" quoth Eugène. + +"'T is this," she answered, panting, "that you need fear no marriage 'twixt +my sister and Andrea." + +In her eagerness she had cast caution to the winds of heaven. Her father +and brother stared askance at her; I gave an inward groan. + +"Andrea!" echoed Eugène at last. "What is this man to you that you speak +thus of him?" + +The girl flung herself upon her father's breast. + +"Father," she sobbed, "dear father, forgive!" + +The Chevalier's brow grew dark; roughly he seized her by the arms and, +holding her at arm's length, scanned her face. + +"What must I forgive?" he inquired in a thick voice. "What is M. de +Mancini to you?" + +Some sinister note in her father's voice caused the girl to grow of a +sudden calm and to assume a rigidity that reminded me of her sister. + +"He is my husband!" she answered. And there was a note of pride--almost of +triumph--in her voice. + +An awful silence followed the launching of that thunderbolt. Eugène stood +with open mouth, staring now at Geneviève, now at his father. Andrea set +his arm about his bride's waist, and her fair head was laid trustingly upon +his shoulder. The Chevalier's eyes rolled ominously. At length he spoke +in a dangerously calm voice. + +"How long is it--how long have you been wed?" + +"We were wed in Blois an hour ago," answered Geneviève. + +Something that was like a grunt escaped the Chevalier, then his eye +fastened upon me, and his anger boiled up. + +"You knew of this?" he asked, coming towards me. + +"I knew of it." + +"Then you lied to me yesterday." + +I drew myself up, stiff as a broomstick. + +"I do not understand," I answered coldly. + +"Did you not give me your assurance that M. de Mancini would marry Yvonne?" + +"I did not, Monsieur. I did but tell you that he would wed your daughter. +And, ma foi! your daughter he has wed." + +"You have fooled me, scélérat!" he blazed out. "You, who have been +sheltered by--" + +"Father!" Yvonne interrupted, taking his arm. "M. de Luynes has behaved no +worse than have I, or any one of us, in this matter." + +"No!" he cried, and pointed to Andrea. "'T is you who have wrought this +infamy. Eugène," he exclaimed, turning of a sudden to his son, "you have a +sword; wipe out this shame." + +"Shame!" echoed Geneviève. "Oh, father, where is the shame? If it were no +shame for Andrea to marry Yvonne, surely--" + +"Silence!" he thundered. "Eugène--" + +But Eugène answered him with a contemptuous laugh. + +"You are quick enough to call upon my sword, now that things have not +fallen out as you would have them. Where are your grooms now, Monsieur?" + +"Insolent hound!" cried his father indignantly. Then, letting fall his +arms with something that was near akin to a sob--"Is there no one left to +do aught but mock me?" he groaned. + +But this weakness was no more than momentary. + +"Out of my house, sir!" he blazed, turning upon Andrea, and for a moment +methought he would have struck him. "Out of my house--you and this wife of +yours!" + +"Father!" sobbed Geneviève, with hands outstretched in entreaty. + +"Out of my house," he repeated, "and you also, M. de Luynes. Away with +you! Go with the master you have served so well." And, turning on his +heel, he strode towards the door. + +"Father--dear father!" cried Geneviève, following him: he slammed the door +in her face for answer. + +With a moan she sank down upon her knees, her frail body shaken by +convulsive sobs--Dieu! what a bridal morn was hers! + +Andrea and Yvonne raised her and led her to a chair. Eugène watched them +with a cynical eye, then laughed brutally, and, gathering up his hat and +cloak, he moved towards the balcony door and vanished. + +"Is M. de Luynes still there?" quoth Geneviève presently. + +"I am here, Madame." + +"You had best set out, Monsieur," she said. "We shall follow soon--very +soon." + +I took Andrea aside and asked him whither it was his intention to take his +wife. He replied that they would go to Chambord, where they would remain +for some weeks in the hope that the Chevalier might relent sufficiently to +forgive them. Thereafter it was his purpose to take his bride home to his +Sicilian demesne. + +Our farewells were soon spoken; yet none the less warm, for all its +brevity, was my leave-taking of Andrea, and our wishes for each other's +happiness were as fervent as the human heart can shape. We little thought +that we were not destined to meet again for years. + +Yvonne's adieu was cold and formal--so cold and formal that it seemed to +rob the sunshine of its glory for me as I stepped out into the open air. + +After all, what mattered it? I was a fool to have entertained a single +tender thought concerning her. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +OF MY RETURN TO PARIS + + +Scant cause is there for me to tarry over the details of my return to +Paris. A sad enough journey was it; as sad for my poor Michelot as for +myself, since he rode with one so dejected as I. + +Things had gone ill, and I feared that when the Cardinal heard the story +things would go worse, for Mazarin was never a tolerant man, nor one to be +led by the gospel of mercy and forgiveness. For myself I foresaw the rope +--possibly even the wheel; and a hundred times a day I dubbed myself a fool +for obeying the voice of honour with such punctiliousness when so grim a +reward awaited me. What mood was on me--me, Gaston de Luynes, whose honour +had been long since besmirched and tattered until no outward semblance of +honour was left? + +But swift in the footsteps of that question would come the answer--Yvonne. +Ay, truly enough, it was because in my heart I had dared to hold a +sentiment of love for her, the purest--nay, the only pure--thing my heart +had held for many a year, that I would set nothing vile to keep company +with that sentiment; that until my sun should set--and already it dropped +swiftly towards life's horizon--my actions should be the actions of such a +man as might win Yvonne's affections. + +But let that be. This idle restrospective mood can interest you but +little; nor can you profit from it, unless, indeed, it be by noting how +holy and cleansing to the heart of man is the love--albeit unrequited--that +he bears a good woman. + +As we drew near Meung--where we lay on that first night of our journey--a +light travelling chaise, going in the same direction, passed us at a +gallop. As it flashed by, I caught a glimpse of Eugène de Canaples's swart +face through the window. Whether the recognition was mutual I cannot say-- +nor does it signify. + +When we reached the Hôtel de la Couronne, half an hour later, we saw that +same chaise disappearing round a corner of the street, whilst through the +porte-cochère the hostler was leading a pair of horses, foam-flecked and +steaming with sweat. + +Whither went Master Canaples at such a rate, and in a haste that caused him +to travel day and night? To a goal he little looked for--or rather, which, +in the madness of his headlong rush, he could not see. So I was to learn +ere long. + +Next day I awoke betimes, and setting my window wide to let in the fresh, +clean-smelling air of that May morning I made shift to dress. Save for the +cackle of the poultry which had strayed into the courtyard, and the noisy +yawns and sleep-laden ejaculations of the stable-boy, who was drawing water +for the horses, all was still, for it had not yet gone five o'clock. + +But of a sudden a door opened somewhere, and a step rang out, accompanied +by the jangle of spurs, and with it came a sharp, unpleasant voice calling +for its owner's horse. There was a familiar sound in those shrill accents +that caused me to thrust my head through the casement. But I was quick to +withdraw it, as I recognised in the gaily dressed little fellow below my +old friend Malpertuis. + +I know not what impulse made me draw back so suddenly. The action was as +much the child of instinct as of the lately acquired habit of concealing my +face from the gaze of all who were likely to spread abroad the news that I +still lived. + +From behind my curtains I watched Malpertuis ride out of the yard, saying, +in answer to a parting question of the landlord, who had come upon the +scene, that he would breakfast at Beaugency. + +Then, as he rode down the street, he of a sudden raised his discordant +voice and sang to the accompaniment of his horse's hoofs. And the burden +of his song ran thus: + + A frondeur wind + Got up to-day, + 'Gainst Mazarin + It blows, they say. + +I listened in amazement to his raven's voice. + +Whither was he bound, I asked myself, and whence a haste that made him set +out fasting, with an anti-cardinalist ditty on his lips, and ride two +leagues to seek a breakfast in a village that did not hold an inn where a +dog might be housed in comfort? + +Like Eugène de Canaples, he also travelled towards a goal that he little +dreamt of. And so albeit the one went south and the other north, these two +men were, between them, drawing together the thread of this narrative of +mine, as anon you shall learn. + +We reached Paris at dusk three days later, and we went straight to my old +lodging in the Rue St. Antoine. + +Coupri started and gasped upon beholding me, and not until I had cursed him +for a fool in a voice that was passing human would he believe that I was no +ghost. He too had heard the rumour of my death. + +I dispatched Michelot to the Palais Royal, where--without permitting his +motive to transpire--he was to ascertain for me whether M. de Montrésor was +in Paris, whether he still dwelt at the Hôtel des Cloches, and at what hour +he could be found there. + +Whilst he was away I went up to my room, and there I found a letter which +Coupri informed me had been left by a lackey a month ago--before the report +that I had been killed had reached Paris--and since lain forgotten. It was +a delicate note, to which still hung the ghost of a perfume; there were no +arms on the seal, but the writing I took to be that of my aunt, the +Duchesse de Chevreuse, and vaguely marvelling what motive she could have +had for communicating with me, I cut the silk. + +It was, indeed, from the Duchesse, but it contained no more than a request +that I should visit her at her hôtel on the day following upon that on +which she had written, adding that she had pleasing news for me. + +I thrust the note into my pocket with a sigh. Of what could it avail me +now to present myself at her hôtel? Her invitation was for a month ago. +Since then she would likely enough have heard the rumour that had been +current, and would have ceased to expect me. + +I caught myself wondering whether the news might have caused her a pang of +regret, and somehow methought this possible. For of all my relatives, +Madame de Chevreuse was the only one--and she was but my aunt by marriage-- +who of late years had shown me any kindness, or even recognition. I +marvelled what her pleasing news could be, and I concluded that probably +she had heard of my difficulties, and wished once again to help me out of +them. Well, my purse was hollow, indeed, at the moment, but I need not +trouble her, since I was going somewhere where purses are not needed--on a +journey to which no expenses are attached. + +In my heart, nevertheless, I blessed the gracious lady, who, for all the +lies that the world may have told of her, was the kindest woman I had +known, and the best--save one other. + +I was still musing when Michelot returned with the information that M. de +Montrésor was to be found at the Hôtel des Cloches, whither he had gone to +sup a few minutes before. Straightway I set out, bidding him attend me, +and, muffled in my cloak, I proceeded at a brisk pace to the Rue des Fosses +St. Germain, where the lieutenant's auberge was situated. + +I left Michelot in the common-room, and, preceded by the plump little woman +who owned the house, I ascended to Montrésor's chamber. I found the young +soldier at table, and, fortunately, alone. He rose as I entered, and as +the hostess, retreating, closed the door, I doffed my hat, and letting fall +my cloak revealed myself. His lips parted, and I heard the hiss of an +indrawn breath as his astonished eyes fell upon my countenance. My laugh +dispelled his doubts that I might be other than flesh and blood--yet not +his doubts touching my identity. He caught up a taper and, coming forward, +he cast the light on my face for a moment, then setting the candle back +upon the table, he vented his surprise in an oath or two, which was natural +enough in one of his calling. + +"'T is clear, Lieutenant," quoth I, as I detached my sword from the +baldrick, "that you believed me dead. Fate willed, however, that I should +be restored to life, and so soon as I had recovered sufficient strength to +undertake the journey to Paris, I set out. I arrived an hour ago, and here +I am, to redeem my word of honour, and surrender the sword and liberty +which you but lent me." + +I placed my rapier on the table and waited for him to speak. Instead, +however, he continued to stare at me for some moments, and when at last he +did break the silence, it was to burst into a laugh that poured from his +throat in rich, mellow peals, as he lay back in his chair. + +My wrath arose. Had I travelled from Blois, and done what I deemed the +most honourable deed of my life, to be laughed at for my pains by a foppish +young jackanapes of his Eminence's guards? Something of my displeasure +must he have seen reflected on my face, for of a sudden he checked his +mirth. + +"Forgive me, M. de Luynes," he gasped. "Pardieu, 't is no matter for +laughter, and albeit I laughed with more zest than courtesy, I give you my +word that my admiration for you vastly exceeds my amusement. M. de +Luynes," he added, rising and holding out his hand to me, "there are liars +in Paris who give you an evil name--men who laughed at me when they heard +that I had given you leave to go on parole to St. Sulpice des Reaux that +night, trusting to your word of honour that you would return if you lived. +His Eminence dubbed me a fool and went near to dismissing me from his +service, and yet I have now the proof that my confidence was not misplaced, +since even though you were believed to be dead, you did not hesitate to +bring me your sword." + +"Monsieur, spare me!" I exclaimed, for in truth his compliments waxed as +irksome as had been his whilom merriment. + +He continued, however, his laudatory address, and when it was at last +ended, and he paused exhausted alike in breath and brain, it was to take up +my sword and return it to me with my parole, pronouncing me a free man, and +advising me to let men continue to think me dead, and to withdraw from +France. He cut short my half-protesting thanks, and calling the hostess +bade her set another cover, whilst me he invited to share his supper. And +as we ate he again urged upon me the advice that I should go abroad. + +"For by Heaven," he added, "Mazarin has been as a raging beast since the +news was brought him yesterday of his nephew's marriage." + +"How?" I cried. "He has heard already?" + +"He has, indeed; and should he learn that your flesh still walks the earth, +methinks it would go worse with you than it went even with Eugène de +Canaples." + +In answer to the questions with which I excitedly plied him, I drew from +him the story of how Eugène had arrived the day before in Paris, and gone +straight to the Palais Royal. M. de Montrésor had been on guard in the +ante-chamber, and in virtue of an excitement noticeable in Canaples's +bearing, coupled with the ill-odour wherein already he was held by Mazarin, +the lieutenant's presence had been commanded in the Cardinal's closet +during the interview--for his Eminence was never like to acquire fame for +valour. + +In his exultation at what had chanced, and at the manner in which Mazarin's +Château en Espagne had been dispelled, Canaples used little caution, or +even discretion, in what he said. In fact, from what Montrésor told me, I +gathered that the fool's eagerness to be the first to bear the tidings to +Mazarin sprang from a rash desire to gloat over the Cardinal's +discomfiture. He had told his story insolently--almost derisively--and +Mazarin's fury, driven beyond bounds already by what he had heard, became a +very tempest of passion 'neath the lash of Canaples's impertinences. And, +naturally enough, that tempest had burst upon the only head available-- +Eugène de Canaples's--and the Cardinal had answered his jibes with interest +by calling upon Montrésor to arrest the fellow and bear him to the +Bastille. + +When the astonished and sobered Canaples had indignantly asked upon what +charge he was being robbed of his liberty, the Cardinal had laughed at him, +and answered with his never-failing axiom that "He who sings, pays." + +"You sang lustily enough just now," his Eminence had added, "and you shall +pay by lodging awhile in an oubliette of the Bastille, where you may lift +up your voice to sing the De profundis." + +"Was my name not mentioned?" I anxiously inquired when Montrésor had +finished. + +"Not once. You may depend that I should have remarked it. After I had +taken Canaples away, the Cardinal, I am told, sat down, and, still +trembling with rage, wrote a letter which he straightway dispatched to the +Chevalier Armand de Canaples, at Blois. + +"No doubt," I mused, "he attributes much blame to me for what has come to +pass." + +"Not a doubt of it. This morning he said to me that it was a pity your +wings had not been clipped before you left Paris, and that his misplaced +clemency had helped to bring him great misfortunes. You see, therefore, M. +de Luynes, that your sojourn in France will be attended with great peril. +I advise you to try Spain; 't is a martial country where a man of the sword +may find honourable and even profitable employment." + +His counsel I deemed sound. But how follow it? Then of a sudden I +bethought me of Madame de Chevreuse's friendly letter. Doubtless she would +assist me once again, and in such an extremity as this. And with the +conception of the thought came the resolution to visit her on the morrow. +That formed, I gave myself up to the task of drinking M. de Montrésor under +the table with an abandon which had not been mine for months. In each +goblet that I drained, methought I saw Yvonne's sweet face floating on the +surface of the red Armagnac; it looked now sad, now reproachful, still I +drank on, and in each cup I pledged her. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +OF HOW THE CHEVALIER DE CANAPLES BECAME A FRONDEUR + + +It wanted an hour or so to noon next day as I drove across the Pont Neuf in +a closed carriage, and was borne down the Rue St. Dominique to the portals +of that splendid palace, facing the Jacobins, which bears the title of the +"Hôtel de Luynes," and over the portals of which is carved the escutcheon +of our house. + +Michelot--in obedience to the orders I had given him--got down only to be +informed that Madame la Duchesse was in the country. The lackey who was +summoned did not know where the lady might be found, nor when she might +return to Paris. And so I was compelled to drive back almost despairingly +to the Rue St. Antoine, and there lie concealed, nursing my impatience, +until my aunt should return. + +Daily I sent Michelot to the Hôtel de Luynes to make the same inquiry, and +to return daily with the same dispiriting reply--that there was no news of +Madame la Duchesse. + +In this fashion some three weeks wore themselves out, during which period I +lay in my concealment, a prey to weariness unutterable. I might not +venture forth save at night, unless I wore a mask; and as masks were no +longer to be worn without attracting notice--as during the late king's +reign--I dared not indulge the practice. + +Certainly my ennui was greatly relieved by the visits of Montrésor, which +grew very frequent, the lad appearing to have conceived a kindness for me; +and during those three weeks our fellowship at nights over a bottle or two +engendered naturally enough a friendship and an intimacy between us. + +I had written to Andrea on the morrow of my return to Paris, to tell him +how kindly Montrésor had dealt with me, and some ten days later the +following letter was brought me by the lieutenant--to whom, for safety, it +had been forwarded: + + +"MY VERY DEAR GASTON: + +I have no words wherewith to express my joy at the good news you send me, +which terminates the anxiety that has been mine since you left us on the +disastrous morning of our nuptials. + +The uncertainty touching your fate, the fear that the worst might have +befallen you, and the realisation that I--for whom you have done so much-- +might do naught for you in your hour of need, has been the one cloud to mar +the sunshine of my own bliss. + +That cloud your letter has dispelled, and the knowledge of your safety +renders my happiness complete. + +The Chevalier maintains his unforgiving mood, as no doubt doth also my Lord +Cardinal. But what to me are the frowns of either, so that my lady smile? +My little Geneviève is yet somewhat vexed in spirit at all this, but I am +teaching her to have faith in Time, the patron saint of all lovers who +follow not the course their parents set them. And so that time may be +allowed to intercede and appeal to the parent heart with the potent prayer +of a daughter's absence, I shall take my lady from Chambord some three days +hence. We shall travel by easy stages to Marseilles, and there take ship +for Palermo. + +And so, dear, trusty friend, until we meet again, fare you well and may God +hold you safe from the wickedness of man, devil, and my Lord Cardinal. + +For all that you have done for me, no words of mine can thank you, but +should you determine to quit this France of yours, and journey to Palermo +after me, you shall never want a roof to shelter you or a board to sit at, +so long as roof and board are owned by him who signs himself, in love at +least, your brother-- + +ANDREA DE MANCINI." + + +With a sigh I set the letter down. A sigh of love and gratitude it was; a +sigh also of regret for the bright, happy boy who had been the source alike +of my recent joys and sorrows, and whom methought I was not likely to see +again for many a day, since the peaceful vegetation of his Sicilian home +held little attraction for me, a man of action. + +It was on the evening of the last Sunday in May, whilst the bell of the +Jesuits, close by, was tinkling out its summons to vespers, that Montrésor +burst suddenly into my room with the request that I should get my hat and +cloak and go with him to pay a visit. In reply to my questions-- +"Monseigneur's letter to Armand de Canaples," he said, "has borne fruit +already. Come with me and you shall learn how." + +He led me past the Bastille and up the Rue des Tournelles to the door of an +unpretentious house, upon which he knocked. We were admitted by an old +woman to whom Montrésor appeared to be known, for, after exchanging a word +or two with her, he himself led the way upstairs and opened the door of a +room for me. + +By the melancholy light of a single taper burning upon the table I beheld a +fair-sized room containing a curtained bed. + +My companion took up the candle, and stepping to the bedside, he drew apart +the curtains. + +Lying there I beheld a man whose countenance, despite its pallor and the +bloody bandages about his brow, I recognised for that of the little +spitfire Malpertuis. + +As the light fell upon his face, the little fellow opened his eyes, and +upon beholding me at his side he made a sudden movement which wrung from +him a cry of pain. + +"Lie still, Monsieur," said Montrésor quietly. + +But for all the lieutenant's remonstrances, he struggled up into a sitting +posture, requesting Montrésor to set the pillows at his back. + +"Thank God you are here, M. de Luynes!" he said. "I learnt at Canaples +that you were not dead." + +"You have been to Canaples?" + +"I was a guest of the Chevalier for twelve days. I arrived there on the +day after your departure." + +"You!" I ejaculated. "Pray what took you to Canaples?" + +"What took me there?" he echoed, turning his feverish eyes upon me, almost +with fierceness. "The same motive that led me to join hands with that +ruffian St. Auban, when he spoke of waging war against Mancini; the same +motive that led me to break with him when I saw through his plans, and when +the abduction of Mademoiselle was on foot; the same motive that made me +come to you and tell you of the proposed abduction so that you might +interfere if you had the power, or cause others to do so if you had not." + +I lay back in my chair and stared at him. Was this, then, another suitor +of Yvonne de Canaples, and were all men mad with love of her? + +Presently he continued: + +"When I heard that St. Auban was in Paris, having apparently abandoned all +hope in connection with Mademoiselle, I obtained a letter from M. de la +Rochefoucauld--who is an intimate friend of mine--and armed with this I set +out. As luck would have it I got embroiled in the streets of Blois with a +couple of cardinalist gentlemen, who chose to be offended by lampoon of the +Fronde that I was humming. I am not a patient man, and I am even +indiscreet in moments of choler. I ended by crying, "Down with Mazarin and +all his creatures," and I would of a certainty have had my throat slit, had +not a slight and elegant gentleman interposed, and, exercising a wonderful +influence over my assailants, extricated me from my predicament. This +gentleman was the Chevalier de Canaples. He was strangely enough in a mood +to be pleased by an anti-cardinalist ditty, for his rage against Andrea de +Mancini--which he took no pains to conceal--had extended already to the +Cardinal, and from morn till night he did little else but revile the whole +Italian brood--as he chose to dub the Cardinal's family." + +I recognised the old knight's weak, vacillating character in this, a +creature of moods that, like the vane on a steeple, turns this way or that, +as the wind blows. + +"I crave your patience, M. de Luynes," he continued, "and beg of you to +hear my story so that you may determine whether you will save the Canaples +from the danger that threatens them. I only ask that you dispatch a +reliable messenger to Blois. But hear me out first. In virtue as much of +La Rochefoucauld's letters as of the sentiments which the Chevalier heard +me express, I became the honoured guest at his château. Three days after +my arrival I sustained a shock by the unexpected appearance at Canaples of +St. Auban. The Chevalier, however, refused him admittance, and, baffled, +the Marquis was forced to withdraw. But he went no farther than Blois, +where he hired himself a room at the Lys de France. The Chevalier hated +him as a mad dog hates water--almost as much as he hated you. He spoke +often of you, and always bitterly." + +Before I knew what I had said-- + +"And Mademoiselle?" I burst out. "Did she ever mention my name?" + +Malpertuis looked up quickly at the question, and a wan smile flickered +round his lips. + +"Once she spoke of you to me--pityingly, as one might speak of a dead man +whose life had not been good." + +"Yes, yes," I broke in. "It matters little. Your story, M. Malpertuis." + +"After I had been at the château ten days, we learnt that Eugène de +Canaples had been sent to the Bastille. The news came in a letter penned +by his Eminence himself--a bitter, viperish letter, with a covert threat in +every line. The Chevalier's anger went white hot as he read the +disappointed Cardinal's epistle. His Eminence accused Eugène of being a +frondeur; M. de Canaples, whose politics had grown sadly rusted in the +country, asked me the meaning of the word. I explained to him the petty +squabbles between Court and Parliament, in consequence of the extortionate +imposts and of Mazarin's avariciousness. I avowed myself a partisan of the +Fronde, and within three days the Chevalier--who but a little time before +had sought an alliance with the Cardinal's family--had become as rabid a +frondeur as M. de Gondi, as fierce an anticardinalist as M. de Beaufort. + +"I humoured him in his new madness, with the result that ere long from +being a frondeur in heart, he thirsted to become a frondeur in deeds, and +he ended by begging me to bear a letter from him to the Coadjutor of Paris, +wherein he offered to place at M. de Gondi's disposal, towards the expenses +of the civil war which he believed to be imminent,--as, indeed, it is,--the +sum of sixty thousand livres. + +"Now albeit I had gone to Canaples for purposes of my own, and not as an +agent of M. le Coadjuteur's, still for many reasons I saw fit to undertake +the Chevalier's commission. And so, bearing the letter in question, which +was hot and unguarded, and charged with endless treasonable matter, I set +out four days later for Paris, arriving here yesterday. + +"I little knew that I had been followed by St. Auban. His suspicions must +have been awakened, I know not how, and clearly they were confirmed when I +stopped before the Coadjutor's house last night. I was about to mount the +steps, when of a sudden I was seized from behind by half a dozen hands and +dragged into a side street. I got free for a moment and attempted to +defend myself, but besides St. Auban there were two others. They broke my +sword and attempted to break my skull, in which they went perilously near +succeeding, as you see. Albeit half-swooning, I had yet sufficient +consciousness left to realise that my pockets were being emptied, and that +at last they had torn open my doublet and withdrawn the treasonable letter +from the breast of it. + +"I was left bleeding in the kennel, and there I lay for nigh upon an hour +until a passer-by succoured me and carried out my request to be brought +hither and put to bed." + +He ceased, and for some moments there was silence, broken only by the +wounded man's laboured breathing, which argued that his narrative had left +him fatigued. At last I sprang up. + +"The Chevalier de Canaples must be warned," I exclaimed. + +"'T is an ugly business," muttered Montrésor. "I'll wager a hundred that +Mazarin will hang the Chevalier if he catches him just now." + +"He would not dare!" cried Malpertuis. + +"Not dare?" echoed the lieutenant. "The man who imprisoned the Princes of +Condé and Conti, and the Duke of Beaufort, not dare hang a provincial +knight with never a friend at Court! Pah, Monsieur, you do not know +Cardinal Mazarin." + +I realised to the full how likely Montrésor's prophecy was to be fulfilled, +and before I left Malpertuis I assured him that he had not poured his story +into the ears of an indifferent listener, and that I would straightway find +means of communicating with Canaples. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +OF THE BARGAIN THAT ST. AUBAN DROVE WITH MY LORD CARDINAL + + +From the wounded man's bedside I wended my steps back to the Rue St. +Antoine, resolved to start for Blois that very night; and beside me walked +Montrésor, with bent head, like a man deep in thought. + +At my door I paused to take my leave of the lieutenant, for I was in haste +to have my preparations made, and to be gone. But Montrésor appeared not +minded to be dismissed thus easily. + +"What plan have you formed?" he asked. + +"The only plan there is to form--to set out for Canaples at once." + +"Hum!" he grunted, and again was silent. Then, suddenly throwing back his +head, "Par la mort Dieu!" he cried, "I care not what comes of it; I'll tell +you what I know. Lead the way to your chamber, M. de Luynes, and delay +your departure until you have heard me." + +Surprised as much by his words as by the tone in which he uttered them, +which was that of a man who is angry with himself, I passively did as I was +bidden. + +Once within my little ante-chamber, he turned the key with his own hands, +and pointing to the door of my bedroom--"In there, Monsieur," quoth he, "we +shall be safe from listeners." + +Deeper grew my astonishment at all this mystery, as we passed into the room +beyond. + +"Now, M. de Luynes," he cried, flinging down his hat, "for no apparent +reason I am about to commit treason; I am about to betray the hand that +pays me." + +"If no reason exists, why do so evil a deed?" I inquired calmly. "I have +learnt during our association to wish you well, Montrésor; if by telling me +that which your tongue burns to tell, you shall have cause for shame, the +door is yonder. Go before harm is done, and leave me alone to fight my +battle out." + +He stood up, and for a moment he seemed to waver, then dismissing his +doubts with an abrupt gesture, he sat down again. + +"There is no wrong in what I do. Right is with you, M. de Luynes, and if I +break faith with the might I serve, it is because that might is an unjust +one; I do but betray the false to the true, and there can be little shame +in such an act. Moreover, I have a reason--but let that be." + +He was silent for a moment, then he resumed: + +"Most of that which you have learnt from Malpertuis to-night, I myself +could have told you. Yes; St. Auban has carried Canaples's letter to the +Cardinal already. I heard from his lips to-day--for I was present at the +interview--how the document had been wrested from Malpertuis. For your +sake, so that you might learn all he knew, I sought the fellow out, and +having found him in the Rue des Tournelles, I took you thither." + +In a very fever of excitement I listened. + +"To take up the thread of the story where Malpertuis left off, let me tell +you that St. Auban sought an audience with Mazarin this morning, and by +virtue of a note which he desired an usher to deliver to his Eminence, he +was admitted, the first of all the clients that for hours had thronged the +ante-room. As in the instance of the audience to Eugène de Canaples, so +upon this occasion did it chance that the Cardinal's fears touching St. +Auban's purpose had been roused, for he bade me stand behind the curtains +in his cabinet. + +"The Marquis spoke bluntly enough, and with rude candour he stated that +since Mazarin had failed to bring the Canaples estates into his family by +marriage, he came to set before his Eminence a proof so utter of Canaples's +treason that it would enable him to snatch the estates by confiscation. +The Cardinal may have been staggered by St. Auban's bluntness, but his +avaricious instincts led him to stifle his feelings and bid the Marquis to +set this proof before him. But St. Auban had a bargain to drive--a +preposterous one methought. He demanded that in return for his delivering +into the hands of Mazarin the person of Armand de Canaples together with an +incontestable proof that the Chevalier was in league with the frondeurs, +and had offered to place a large sum of money at their disposal, he was to +receive as recompense the demesne of Canaples on the outskirts of Blois, +together with one third of the confiscated estates. At first Mazarin +gasped at his audacity, then laughed at him, whereupon St. Auban politely +craved his Eminence's permission to withdraw. This the Cardinal, however, +refused him, and bidding him remain, he sought to bargain with him. But +the Marquis replied that he was unversed in the ways of trade and barter, +and that he had no mind to enter into them. From bargaining the Cardinal +passed on to threatening and from threatening to whining, and so on until +the end--St. Auban preserving a firm demeanour--the comedy was played out +and Mazarin fell in with his proposal and his terms. + +"Mille diables!" I cried. "And has St. Auban set out?" + +"He starts to-morrow, and I go with him. When finally the Cardinal had +consented, the Marquis demanded and obtained from him a promise in writing, +signed and sealed by Mazarin, that he should receive a third of the +Canaples estates and the demesne on the outskirts of Blois, in exchange for +the body of Armand de Canaples, dead or alive, and a proof of treason +sufficient to warrant his arrest and the confiscation of his estates. +Next, seeing in what regard the Seigneur is held by the people of Blois, +and fearing that his arrest might be opposed by many of his adherents, the +Marquis has demanded a troop of twenty men. This Mazarin has also granted +him, entrusting the command of the troop to me, under St. Auban. Further, +the Marquis has stipulated that the greatest secrecy is to be observed, and +has expressed his purpose of going upon this enterprise disguised and +masked, for--as he rightly opines--when months hence he enters into +possession of the demesne of Canaples in the character of purchaser, did +the Blaisois recognise in him the man who sold the Chevalier, his life +would stand in hourly peril." + +I heard him through patiently enough; yet when he stopped, my pent-up +feelings burst all bonds, and I resolved there and then to go in quest of +that Judas, St. Auban, and make an end of his plotting, for all time. But +Montrésor restrained me, showing me how futile such a course must prove, +and how I risked losing all chance of aiding those at Canaples. + +He was right. First I must warn the Chevalier--afterwards I would deal +with St. Auban. + +Someone knocked at that moment, and with the entrance of Michelot, my talk +with Montrésor came perforce to an end. For Michelot brought me the news +that for days I had been awaiting; Madame de Chevreuse had returned to +Paris at last. + +But for Montrésor's remonstrances it is likely that I should have set out +forthwith to wait upon her. I permitted myself, however, to be persuaded +that the lateness of the hour would render my visit unwelcome, and so I +determined in the end--albeit grudgingly--to put off my departure for Blois +until the morrow. + +Noon had but struck from Nôtre Dame, next day, as I mounted the steps of +the Hôtel de Luynes. My swagger, and that brave suit of pearl grey velvet +with its silver lace, bore me unchallenged past the gorgeous suisse, who +stood, majestic, in the doorway. + +But, for the first mincing lackey I chanced upon, more was needed to gain +me an audience. And so, as I did not choose to speak my name, I drew a +ring from my finger and bade him bear it to the Duchesse. + +He obeyed me in this, and presently returning, he bowed low and begged of +me to follow him, for, as I had thought, albeit Madame de Chevreuse might +not know to whom that ring belonged, yet the arms of Luynes carved upon the +stone had sufficed to ensure an interview. + +I was ushered into a pretty boudoir, hung in blue and gold, which +overlooked the garden, and wherein, reclining upon a couch, with a book of +Bois Robert's verses in her white and slender hand, I found my beautiful +aunt. + +Of this famous lady, who was the cherished friend and more than sister of +Anne of Austria, much has been written; much that is good, and more--far +more--that is ill, for those who have a queen for friend shall never lack +for enemies. But those who have praised and those who have censured have +at least been at one touching her marvellous beauty. At the time whereof I +write it is not possible that she could be less than forty-six, and yet her +figure was slender and shapely and still endowed with the grace of +girlhood; her face delicate of tint, and little marked by time--or even by +the sufferings to which, in the late king's reign, Cardinal de Richelieu +had subjected her; her eyes were blue and peaceful as a summer sky; her +hair was the colour of ripe corn. He would be a hardy guesser who set her +age at so much as thirty. + +My appearance she greeted by letting fall her book, and lifting up her +hands--the loveliest in France--she uttered a little cry of surprise. + +"Is it really you, Gaston?" she asked. + +Albeit it was growing wearisome to be thus greeted by all to whom I showed +myself, yet I studied courtesy in my reply, and then, 'neath the suasion of +her kindliness, I related all that had befallen me since first I had +journeyed to Blois, in Andrea de Mancini's company, withholding, however, +all allusions to my feelings towards Yvonne. Why betray them when they +were doomed to be stifled in the breast that begat them? But Madame de +Chevreuse had not been born a woman and lived six and forty years to no +purpose. + +"And this maid with as many suitors as Penelope, is she very beautiful?" +she inquired slyly. + +"France does not hold her equal," I answered, falling like a simpleton into +the trap she had set me. + +"This to me?" quoth she archly. "Fi donc, Gaston! Your evil ways have +taught you as little gallantry as dissimulation." And her merry ripple of +laughter showed me how in six words I had betrayed that which I had been at +such pains to hide. + +But before I could, by protestations, plunge deeper than I stood already, +the Duchesse turned the conversation adroitly to the matter of that letter +of hers, wherein she had bidden me wait upon her. + +A cousin of mine--one Marion de Luynes, who, like myself, had, through the +evil of his ways, become an outcast from his family--was lately dead. +Unlike me, however, he was no adventurous soldier of fortune, but a man of +peace, with an estate in Provence that had a rent-roll of five thousand +livres a year. On his death-bed he had cast about him for an heir, +unwilling that his estate should swell the fortunes of the family that in +life had disowned him. Into his ear some kindly angel had whispered my +name, and the memory that I shared with him the frowns of our house, and +that my plight must be passing pitiful, had set up a bond of sympathy +between us, which had led him to will his lands to me. Of Madame de +Chevreuse--who clearly was the patron saint of those of her first husband's +nephews who chanced to tread ungodly ways--my cousin Marion had besought +that she should see to the fulfilment of his last wishes. + +My brain reeled beneath the first shock of that unlooked-for news. Already +I saw myself transformed from a needy adventurer into a gentleman of +fortune, and methought my road to Yvonne lay open, all obstacles removed. +But swiftly there followed the thought of my own position, and truly it +seemed that a cruel irony lay in the manner wherein things had fallen out, +since did I declare myself to be alive and claim the Provence estates, the +Cardinal's claws would be quick to seize me. + +Thus much I told Madame de Chevreuse, but her answer cheered me, and said +much for my late cousin's prudence. + +"Nay," she cried. "Marion was ever shrewd. Knowing that men who live by +the sword, as you have lived, are often wont to die by the sword,--and that +suddenly at times,--he has made provision that in the event of your being +dead his estates shall come to me, who have been the most indulgent of his +relatives. This, my dear Gaston, has already taken place, for we believed +you dead; and therein fortune has been kind to you, for now, while +receiving the revenues of your lands--which the world will look upon as +mine--I shall contrive that they reach you wherever you may be, until such +a time as you may elect to come to life again." + +Now but for the respect in which I held her, I could have taken the pretty +Duchesse in my arms and kissed her. + +Restraining myself, however, I contented myself by kissing her hand, and +told her of the journey I was going, then craved another boon of her. No +matter what the issue of that journey, and whether I went alone or +accompanied, I was determined to quit France and repair to Spain. There I +would abide until the Parliament, the Court, or the knife of some chance +assassin, or even Nature herself should strip Mazarin of his power. + +Now, at the Court of Spain it was well known that my aunt's influence was +vast, and so, the boon I craved was that she should aid me to a position in +the Spanish service that would allow me during my exile to find occupation +and perchance renown. To this my aunt most graciously acceded, and when at +length I took my leave--with such gratitude in my heart that what words I +could think of seemed but clumsily to express it--I bore in the breast of +my doublet a letter to Don Juan de Cordova--a noble of great prominence at +the Spanish Court--and in the pocket of my haut-de-chausses a rouleau of +two hundred gold pistoles, as welcome as they were heavy. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +OF MY SECOND JOURNEY TO CANAPLES + + +An hour after I had quitted the Hôtel de Luynes, Michelot and I left Paris +by the barrier St. Michel and took the Orleans road. How different it +looked in the bright June sunshine, to the picture which it had presented +to our eyes on that February evening, four months ago, when last we had set +out upon that same journey! + +Not only in nature had a change been wrought, but in my very self. My +journey then had been aimless, and I had scarcely known whither I was bound +nor had I fostered any great concern thereon. Now I rode in hot haste with +a determined purpose, a man of altered fortunes and altered character. + +Into Choisy we clattered at a brisk pace, but at the sight of the inn of +the Connétable such memories surged up that I was forced to draw rein and +call for a cup of Anjou, which I drank in the saddle. Thereafter we rode +without interruption through Longjumeau, Arpajon, and Etrechy, and so well +did we use our horses that as night fell we reached Étampes. + +From inquiries that Michelot had made on the road, we learned that no troop +such as that which rode with St. Auban had lately passed that way, so that +'t was clear we were in front of them. + +But scarce had we finished supper in the little room which I had hired at +the Gros Paon, when, from below, a stamping of hoofs, the jangle of arms, +and the shouts of many men told me that we were overtaken. + +Clearly I did not burn with a desire to linger, but rather it seemed to me +that although night had closed in, black and moonless, we must set out +again, and push on to Monnerville, albeit our beasts were worn and the +distance a good three leagues. + +With due precaution we effected our departure, and thereafter had a spur +been needed to speed us on our way that spur we had in the knowledge that +St. Auban came close upon our heels. At Monnerville we slept, and next +morning we were early afoot; by four o'clock in the afternoon we had +reached Orleans, whence--with fresh horses--we pursued our journey as far +as Meung, where we lay that night. + +There we were joined by a sturdy rascal whom Michelot enlisted into my +service, seeing that not only did my means allow, but the enterprise upon +which I went might perchance demand another body servant. This recruit was +a swart, powerfully built man of about my own age; trusty, and a lover of +hard knocks, as Michelot--who had long counted him among his friends-- +assured me. He owned the euphonious name of Abdon. + +I spent twenty pistoles in suitable raiment and a horse for him, and as we +left Meung next day the knave cut a brave enough figure that added not a +little to my importance to have at my heels. + +This, however, so retarded our departure, that night had fallen by the time +we reached Blois. Still our journey had been a passing swift one. We had +left Paris on a Monday, the fourth of June--I have good cause to remember, +since on that day I entered both upon my thirty-second year and my altered +fortunes; on the evening of Wednesday we reached Blois, having covered a +distance of forty-three leagues in less than three days. + +Bidding Michelot carry my valise to the hostelry of the Vigne d'Or, and +there await my coming, I called to Abdon to attend me, and rode on, jaded +and travel-stained though I was, to Canaples, realising fully that there +was no time to lose. + +Old Guilbert, who came in answer to my knock at the door of the château, +looked askance when he beheld me, and when I bade him carry my compliments +to the Chevalier, with the message that I desired immediate speech of him +on a matter of the gravest moment, he shook his grey head and protested +that it would be futile to obey me. Yet, in the end, when I had insisted, +he went upon my errand, but only to return with a disturbed countenance, to +tell me that the Chevalier refused to see me. + +"But I must speak to him, Guilbert," I exclaimed, setting foot upon the top +step. "I have travelled expressly from Paris." + +The man stood firm and again shook his head. + +"I beseech you not to insist, Monsieur. M. le Chevalier has sworn to +dismiss me if I permit you to set foot within the château." + +"Mille diables! This is madness! I seek to serve him," I cried, my temper +rising fast. "At least, Guilbert, will you tell Mademoiselle that I am +here, and that I--" + +"I may carry no more messages for you, Monsieur," he broke in. "Listen! +There is M. le Chevalier." + +In reality I could hear the old knight's voice, loud and shrill with anger, +and a moment later Louis, his intendant, came across the hall. + +"Guilbert," he commanded harshly, "close the door. The night air is keen." + +My cheeks aflame with anger, I still made one last attempt to gain an +audience. + +"Master Louis," I exclaimed, "will you do me the favour to tell M. de +Canaples--" + +"You are wasting time, Monsieur," he interrupted. "M. de Canaples will not +see you. He bids you close the door, Guilbert." + +"Pardieu! he shall see me!" + +"The door, Guilbert!" + +I took a step forward, but before I could gain the threshold, the door was +slammed in my face, and as I stood there, quivering with anger and +disappointment, I heard the bolts being shot within. + +I turned with an oath. + +"Come, Abdon," I growled, as I climbed once more into the saddle, "let us +leave the fool to the fate he has chosen." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +OF HOW ST. AUBAN CAME TO BLOIS + + +In silence we rode back to Blois. Not that I lacked matter for +conversation. Anger and chagrin at the thought that I had come upon this +journey to earn naught but an insult and to have a door slammed in my face +made my gorge rise until it went near to choking me. I burned to revile +Canaples aloud, but Abdon's was not the ear into which I might pour the hot +words that welled up to my lips. + +Yet if silent, the curses that I heaped upon the Chevalier's crassness were +none the less fervent, and to myself I thought with grim relish of how soon +and how dearly he would pay for the affront he had put upon me. + +That satisfaction, however, endured not long; for presently I bethought me +of how heavily the punishment would fall upon Yvonne--and yet, of how she +would be left to the mercy of St. Auban, whose warrant from Mazarin would +invest with almost any and every power at Canaples. + +I ground my teeth at the sudden thought, and for a moment I was on the +point of going back and forcing my way into the château at the sword point +if necessary, to warn and save the Chevalier in spite of himself and +unthanked. + +It was not in such a fashion that I had thought to see my mission to +Canaples accomplished; I had dreamt of gratitude, and gratitude unbars the +door to much. Nevertheless, whether or not I earned it, I must return, and +succeed where for want of insistence I had failed awhile ago. + +Of a certainty I should have acted thus, but that at the very moment upon +which I formed the resolution Abdon drew my attention to a dark shadow by +the roadside not twenty paces in front of us. This proved to be the +motionless figure of a horseman. + +As soon as I was assured of it, I reined in my horse, and taking a pistol +from the holster, I levelled it at the shadow, accompanying the act by a +sonorous-- + +"Who goes there?" + +The shadow stirred, and Michelot's voice answered me: + +'T is I, Monsieur. They have arrived. I came to warn you." + +"Who has arrived?" I shouted. + +"The soldiers. They are lodged at the Lys de France." + +An oath was the only comment I made as I turned the news over in my mind. +I must return to Canaples. + +Then another thought occurred to me. The Chevalier was capable of going to +extremes to keep me from entering his house; he might for instance greet me +with a blunderbuss. It was not the fear of that that deterred me, but the +fear that did a charge of lead get mixed with my poor brains before I had +said what I went to say, matters would be no better, and there would be one +poor knave the less to adorn the world. + +"What shall we do, Michelot?" I groaned, appealing in my despair to my +henchman. + +"Might it not be well to seek speech with M. de Montrésor?" quoth he. + +I shrugged my shoulders. Nevertheless, after a moment's deliberation I +determined to make the attempt; if I succeeded something might come of it. + +And so I pushed on to Blois with my knaves close at my heels. + +Up the Rue Vieille we proceeded with caution, for the hostelry of the Vigne +d'Or, where Michelot had hired me a room, fortunately overlooking the +street, fronted the Lys de France, where St. Auban and his men were housed. + +I gained that room of mine without mishap, and my first action was to deal +summarily with a fat and well-roasted capon which the landlord set before +me--for an empty stomach is a poor comrade in a desperate situation. That +meal, washed down with the best part of a bottle of red Anjou, did much to +restore me alike in body and in mind. + +From my open window I gazed across the street at the Lys de France. The +door of the common-room, opening upon the street, was set wide, and across +the threshold came a flood of light in which there flitted the black +figures of maybe a dozen amazed rustics, drawn thither for all the world as +bats are drawn to a glare. + +And there they hovered with open mouths and stupid eyes, hearkening to the +din of voices that floated out on the tranquil air, the snatches of ribald +songs, the raucous bursts of laughter, the clink of glasses, the clank of +steel, the rattle of dice, and the strange soldier oaths that fell with +every throw, and which to them must have sounded almost as words of some +foreign tongue. + +Whilst I stood by my window, the landlord entered my room, and coming up to +me-- + +"Thank Heaven they are not housed at the Vigne d'Or," he said. "It will +take Maître Bernard a week to rid his house of the stench of leather. They +are part of a stray company that is on its way to fight the Spaniards," he +informed me. "But methinks they will be forced to spend two or three days +at Blois; their horses are sadly jaded and will need that rest before they +can take the road again, thanks to the pace at which their boy of an +officer must have led them. There is a gentleman with them who wears a +mask. 'T is whispered that he is a prince of the blood who has made a vow +not to uncover his face until this war be ended, in expiation of some sin +committed in mad Paris." + +I heard him in silence, and when he had done I thanked him for his +information. So! This was the story that the crafty St. Auban had spread +abroad to lull suspicion touching the real nature of their presence until +their horses should be fit to undertake the return journey to Paris, or +until he should have secured the person of M. de Canaples. + +Towards eleven o'clock, as the lights in the hostelry opposite were burning +low, I descended, and made my way out into the now deserted street. The +troopers had apparently seen fit--or else been ordered--to seek their beds, +for the place had grown silent, and a servant was in the act of making fast +the door for the night. The porte-cochère was half closed, and a man +carrying a lantern was making fast the bolt, whistling aimlessly to +himself. Through the half of the door that was yet open, I beheld a window +from which the light fell upon a distant corner of the courtyard. + +I drew near the fellow with the lantern, in whom I recognised René, the +hostler, and as I approached he flashed the light upon my face; then with a +gasp--"M. de Luynes," he exclaimed, remembering me from the time when I had +lodged at the Lys de France, three months ago. + +"Sh!" I whispered, pressing a louis d'or into his hand. "Whose window is +that, René?" And I pointed towards the light. + +"That," he replied, "is the room of the lieutenant and the gentleman in the +mask." + +"I must take a look at them, René, and whilst I am looking I shall search +my pocket for another louis. Now let me in." + +"I dare not, Monsieur. Maître Bernard may call me, and if the doors are +not closed--" + +"Dame!" I broke in. "I shall stay but a moment." + +"But--" + +"And you will have easily earned a louis d'or. If Bernard calls you-- +peste, tell him that you have let fall something, and that you are seeking +it. There, let me pass." + +1 got past him at last, and made my way swiftly towards the other end of +the quadrangle. + +As I approached, the sound of voices smote my ear, for the lighted window +stood open. I stopped within half a dozen paces of it, and climbed on to +the step of a coach that stood there. Thence I could look straight into +the room, whilst the darkness hid me from the eyes of those I watched. + +Three men there were; Montrésor, the sergeant of his troop, and a tall man +dressed in black, and wearing a black silk mask. This I concluded to be +St. Auban, despite the profusion of fair locks that fell upon his +shoulders, concealing--I rightly guessed--his natural hair, which was as +black as my own. It was a cunning addition to his disguise, and one well +calculated to lead people on to the wrong scent hereafter. + +Presently, as I watched them, St. Auban spoke, and his voice was that of a +man whose gums are toothless, or else whose nether lip is drawn in over his +teeth whilst he speaks. Here again the dissimulation was as effective as +it was simple. + +"So; that is concluded," were the words that reached me. "To-morrow we +will install our men at the château, for while we remain here it is +preposterous to lodge them at an inn. On the following day I hope that we +may be able to set out again." + +"If we could obtain fresh horses--" began the sergeant, when he of the mask +interrupted him. + +"Sangdieu! Think you my purse is bottomless? We return as we came, with +the Cardinal's horses. What signify a day or two, after all? Come--call +the landlord to light me to my room." + +I had heard enough. But more than that, whilst I listened, an idea had of +a sudden sprung up in my mind which did away with the necessity of gaining +speech with Montresor--a contingency, moreover, that now presented +insuperable difficulties. + +So I got down softly from my perch and made my way out of the yard, and, +after fulfilling my part of the bargain with René, across to the Vigne d'Or +and to my room, there to sit and mature the plan that of a sudden I had +conceived. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +OF THE PASSING OF ST. AUBAN + + +Dame! What an ado there was next day in Blois, when the news came that the +troopers had installed themselves at the Château de Canaples and that the +Chevalier had been arrested for treason by order of the Lord Cardinal, and +that he would be taken to Paris, and--probably--the scaffold. + +Men gathered in little knots at street corners, and with sullen brows and +threatening gestures they talked of the affair; and the more they talked, +the more clouded grew their looks, and more than one anti-cardinalist +pasquinade was heard in Blois that day. + +Given a leader those men would have laid hands upon pikes and muskets, and +gone to the Chevalier's rescue. As I observed them, the thought did cross +my mind that I might contrive a pretty fight in the rose garden of Canaples +were I so inclined. And so inclined I should, indeed, have been but for +the plan that had come to me like an inspiration from above, and which +methought would prove safer in the end. + +To carry out this plan of mine, I quitted Blois at nightfall, with my two +knaves, having paid my reckoning at the Lys de France, and given out that +we were journeying to Tours. We followed the road that leads to Canaples, +until we reached the first trees bordering the park. There I dismounted, +and, leaving Abdon to guard the horses, I made my way on foot, accompanied +by Michelot, towards the garden. + +We gained this, and were on the point of quitting the shadow of the trees, +when of a sudden, by the light of the crescent moon, I beheld a man walking +in one of the alleys, not a hundred paces from where we stood. I had but +time to seize Michelot by the collar of his pourpoint and draw him towards +me. But as he trod precipitately backwards a twig snapped 'neath his foot +with a report that in the surrounding stillness was like a pistol shot. + +I caught my breath as he who walked in the garden stood still, his face, +wrapped in the shadows of his hat, turned towards us. + +"Who goes there?" he shouted. Then getting no reply he came resolutely +forward, whilst I drew a pistol wherewith to welcome him did he come too +near. + +On he came, and already I had brought my pistol to a level with his head, +when fortunately he repeated his question, "Who goes there?"--and this time +I recognised the voice of Montrésor, the very man I could then most wish to +meet. + +"Hist! Montrésor!" I called softly. "'T is I--Luynes." + +"So!" he exclaimed, coming close up to me. "You have reached Canaples at +last!" + +"At last?" I echoed. + +"Whom have you there?" he inquired abruptly. + +"Only Michelot." + +"Bid him fall behind a little." + +When Michelot had complied with this request, "You see, M. de Luynes," +quoth the officer, "that you have arrived too late." + +There was a certain coldness in his tone that made me seek by my reply to +sound him. + +"Indeed, I trust not, my friend. With your assistance I hope to get M. de +Canaples from the clutches of St. Auban." + +He shook his head. + +"It is impossible that I should help you," he replied with increasing +coldness. "Already once for your sake have I broken faith to those who pay +me, by setting you in a position to forestall St. Auban and get M. de +Canaples away before his arrival. Unfortunately, you have dallied on the +road, M. de Luynes, and Canaples is already a prisoner--a doomed one, I +fear." + +"Is that your last word, Montrésor?" I inquired sadly. + +"I am sorry," he answered in softened tones, "but you must see that I +cannot do otherwise. I warned you; more you cannot expect of me." + +I sighed, and stood musing for an instant. Then--"You are right, +Montrésor. Nevertheless, I am still grateful to you for the warning you +gave me in Paris. God pity and help Canaples! Adieu, Montrésor. I do not +think that you will see me again." + +He took my hand, but as he did so he pushed me back into the shadow from +which I had stepped to proffer it him. + +"Peste!" he ejaculated. "The moon was full upon your face, and did St. +Auban chance to look out, he must have seen you." + +I followed the indication of his thumb, and noted the lighted window to +which he pointed. A moment later he was gone, and as I joined Michelot, I +chuckled softly to myself. + +For two hours and more I sat in the shrubbery, conversing in whispers with +Michelot, and watching the lights in the château die out one by one, until +St. Auban's window, which opened on to the terrace balcony, was the only +one that was not wrapt in darkness. + +I waited a little while longer, then rising I cautiously made a tour of +inspection. Peace reigned everywhere, and the only sign of life was the +sentry, who with musket on shoulder paced in front of the main entrance, a +silent testimony of St. Auban's mistrust of the Blaisois and of his fears +of a possible surprise. + +Satisfied that everyone slept I retraced my steps to the shrubbery where +Michelot awaited me, watching the square of light, and after exchanging +word with him, I again stepped forth. + +When I was half way across the intervening space of garden, treading with +infinite precaution, a dark shadow obscured the window, which a second +later was thrown open. Crouching hastily behind a boxwood hedge, I watched +St. Auban--for I guessed that he it was--as he leaned out and gazed +skywards. + +For a little while he remained there, then he withdrew, leaving the +casement open, and presently I caught the grating of a chair on the parquet +floor within. If ever the gods favoured mortal, they favoured me at that +moment. + +Stealthily as a cat I sprang towards the terrace, the steps to which I +climbed on hands and knees. Stooping, I sped silently across it until I +had gained the flower-bed immediately below the window that had drawn me to +it. Crouching there--for did I stand upright my chin would be on a level +with the sill--I paused to listen for some moments. The only sound I +caught was a rustle, as of paper. Emboldened, I took a deep breath, and +standing up I gazed straight into the chamber. + +By the light of four tapers in heavy silver sconces, I beheld St. Auban +seated at a table littered with parchments, over which he was intently +poring. His back was towards me, and his long black hair hung straight +upon his shoulders. On the table, amid the papers, lay his golden wig and +black mask, and on the floor in the centre of the room, his back and breast +of blackened steel and his sword. + +It needed but little shrewdness to guess those parchments before him to be +legal documents touching the Canaples estates, and his occupation that of +casting up exactly what profit he would reap from his infamous work of +betrayal. + +So intent was the hound upon his calculations that my cautious movements +passed unheeded by him as I got astride of the window ledge. It was only +when I swung my right leg into the room that he turned his head, but before +his eyes reached me I was standing upright and motionless within the +chamber. + +I have seen fear of many sorts writ large upon the faces of men of many +conditions--from the awe that blanches the cheek of the boy soldier when +first he hears the cannon thundering to the terror that glazes the eye of +the vanquished swordsman who at every moment expects the deadly point in +his heart. But never had I gazed upon a countenance filled with such +abject ghastly terror as that which came over St. Auban's when his eyes met +mine that night. + +He sprang up with an inarticulate cry that sank into something that I can +but liken to the rattle which issues from the throat of expiring men. For +a second he stood where he had risen, then terror loosened his knees, and +he sank back into his chair. His mouth fell open, and the trembling lips +were drawn down at the corners like those of a sobbing child; his cheeks +turned whiter than the lawn collar at his throat, and his eyes, wide open +in a horrid stare, were fixed on mine and, powerless to avert them, he met +my gaze--cold, stern, and implacable. + +For a moment we remained thus, and I marvelled greatly to see a man whose +heart, if full of evil, I had yet deemed stout enough, stricken by fear +into so parlous and pitiful a condition. + +Then I had the explanation of it as he lifted his right hand and made the +sign of the cross, first upon himself, then in the air, whilst his lips +moved, and I guessed that to himself he was muttering some prayer of +exorcising purport. There was the solution of the terror--sweat that stood +out in beads upon his brow--he had deemed me a spectre; the spectre of a +man he believed to have foully done to death on a spot across the Loire +visible from the window at my back. + +At last he sufficiently mastered himself to break the awful silence. + +"What do you want?" he whispered; then, his voice gaining power as he used +it-- "Speak," he commanded. "Man or devil, speak!" + +I laughed for answer, harshly, mockingly; for never had I known a fiercer, +crueller mood. At the sound of that laugh, satanical though may have been +its ring, he sprang up again, and unsheathing a dagger he took a step +towards me. + +"We shall see of what you are made," he cried. "If you blast me in the +act, I'll strike you!" + +I laughed again, and raising my arm I gave him the nozzle of a pistol to +contemplate. + +"Stand where you are, St. Auban, or, by the God above us, I'll send your +ghost a-wandering," quoth I coolly. + +My voice, which I take it had nothing ghostly in it, and still more the +levelled pistol, which of all implements is the most unghostly, dispelled +his dread. The colour crept slowly back to his cheeks, and his mouth +closed with a snap of determination. + +"Is it, indeed, you, master meddler?" he said. "Peste! I thought you dead +these three months." + +"And you are overcome with joy to find that you were in error, eh, Marquis? +We Luynes die hard." + +"It seems so, indeed," he answered with a cool effrontery past crediting in +one who but a moment ago had looked so pitiful. "What do you seek at +Canaples?" + +"Many things, Marquis. You among others." + +"You have come to murder me," he cried, and again alarm overspread his +countenance. + +"Hoity, toity, Marquis! We do not all follow the same trade. Who talks of +murder? Faugh!" + +Again he took a step towards me, but again the nozzle of my pistol drove +him back. To have pistoled him there and then as he deserved would have +brought the household about my ears, and that would have defeated my +object. To have fallen upon him and slain him with silent steel would have +equally embarrassed me, as you shall understand anon. + +"You and I had a rendezvous at St. Sulpice des Reaux," I said calmly, "to +which you came with a band of hired assassins. For this you deserve to be +shot like the dog you are. But I have it in my heart to be generous to +you," I added in a tone of irony. "Come, take up your sword." + +"To what purpose?" + +"Do you question me? Take up your sword, man, and do my bidding; thus +shall you have a slender chance of life. Refuse and I pistol you without +compunction. So now put on that wig and mask." + +When he obeyed me in this--"Now listen, St. Auban," I said. "You and I are +going together to that willow copse whither three months ago you lured +Yvonne de Canaples for the purpose of abducting her. On that spot you and +I shall presently face each other sword in hand, with none other to witness +our meeting save God, in whose hands the issue lies. That is your chance; +at the first sign that you meditate playing me any tricks, that chance is +lost to you." And I tapped my pistol significantly. "Now climb out +through that window." + +When he had done so, I bade him stand six paces away whilst I followed, and +to discourage any foolish indiscretion on his part I again showed him my +pistol. + +He answered me with an impatient gesture, and by the light that fell on his +face I saw him sneer. + +"Come on, you fool," he snarled, "and have done threatening. I'll talk to +you in the copse. And tread softly lest you arouse the sentry on the other +side." + +Rejoiced to see the man so wide awake in him, I followed him closely across +the terrace, and through the rose garden to the bank of the river. This we +followed until we came at last to the belt of willows, where, having found +a suitable patch of even and springy turf, I drew my sword and invited him +to make ready. + +"Will you not strip?" he inquired sullenly. + +"I do not think so," I answered. "The night air is sharp. Nevertheless, +do you make ready as best you deem fit, and that speedily, Monsieur." + +With an exclamation of contempt, he divested himself of his wig, mask, and +doublet, then drawing his sword, he came forward, and announced himself at +my disposal. + +As well you may conceive, we wasted no time in compliments, but straightway +went to work, and that with a zest that drew sparks from our rapiers at the +first contact. + +The Marquis attacked me furiously, and therein lay his only chance; for a +fierce, rude sword-play that is easily dealt with in broad daylight is +vastly discomposing in such pale moonshine as lighted us. I defended +myself warily, for of a sudden I had grown conscious of the danger that I +ran did he once by luck or strength get past my guard with that point of +his which in the spare light I could not follow closely enough to feel +secure. + +'Neath the fury of his onslaught I was compelled to break ground more than +once, and each time he was so swift to follow up his advantage that I had +ne'er a chance to retaliate. + +Still fear or doubt of the issue I had none. I needed but to wait until +the Marquis's fury was spent by want of breath, to make an end of it. And +presently that which I waited for came about. His attack began to lag in +vigour, and the pressure of his blade to need less resistance, whilst his +breathing grew noisy as that of a broken-winded horse. Then with the rage +of a gambler who loses at every throw, he cursed and reviled me with every +thrust or lunge that I turned aside. + +My turn was come; yet I held back, and let him spend his strength to the +utmost drop, whilst with my elbow close against my side and by an easy play +of wrist, I diverted each murderous stroke of his point that came again and +again for my heart. + +When at last he had wasted in blasphemies what little breath his wild +exertions had left him, I let him feel on his blade the twist that heralded +my first riposte. He caught the thrust, and retreated a step, his +blasphemous tongue silenced, and his livid face bathed in perspiration. + +Cruelly I toyed with him then, and with every disengagement I made him +realise that he was mastered, and that if I withheld the coup de grâce it +was but to prolong his agony. And to add to the bitterness of that agony +of his, I derided him whilst I fenced; with a recitation of his many sins I +mocked him, showing him how ripe he was for hell, and asking him how it +felt to die unshriven with such a load upon his soul. + +Goaded to rage by my bitter words, he grit his teeth, and gathered what +rags of strength were left him for a final effort, And before I knew what +he was about, he had dropped on to his left knee, and with his body thrown +forward and supported within a foot of the ground by his left arm, he came, +like a snake, under my guard with his point directed upwards. + +So swift had been this movement and so unlooked-for, that had I not sprung +backwards in the very nick of time, this narrative of mine had ne'er been +written. With a jeering laugh I knocked aside his sword, but even as I +disengaged, to thrust at him, he knelt up and caught my blade in his left +hand, and for all that it ate its way through the flesh to the very bones +of his fingers, he clung to it with that fierce strength and blind courage +that is born of despair. + +Then raising himself on his knees again, he struck at me wildly. I swung +aside, and as his sword, missing its goal, shot past me, I caught his wrist +in a grip from which I contemptuously invited him to free himself. With +that began a fierce tugging and panting on both sides, which, however, was +of short duration, for presently, my blade, having severed the last sinew +of his fingers, was set free. Simultaneously I let go his wrist, pushing +his arm from me so violently that in his exhausted condition it caused him +to fall over on his side. + +In an instant, however, he was up and at me again. Again our swords +clashed--but once only. It was time to finish. With a vigorous +disengagement I got past his feeble guard and sent my blade into him full +in the middle of his chest and out again at his back until a foot or so of +glittering steel protruded. + +A shudder ran through him, and his mouth worked oddly, whilst spasmodically +he still sought, without avail, to raise his sword; then as I recovered my +blade, a half-stifled cry broke from his lips, and throwing up his arms, he +staggered and fell in a heap. + +As I turned him over to see if he were dead, his eyes met mine, and were +full of piteous entreaty; his lips moved, and presently I caught the words: + +"I am sped, Luynes." Then struggling up, and in a louder voice: "A +priest!" he gasped. "Get me a priest, Luynes. Jesu! Have mer--" + +A rush of blood choked him and cut short his utterance. He writhed and +twitched for a moment, then his chin sank forward and he fell back, death +starkening his limbs and glazing the eyes which stared hideously upwards at +the cold, pitiless moon. + +Such was the passing of the Marquis César de St. Auban. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +PLAY-ACTING + + +For a little while I stood gazing down at my work, my mind full of the +unsolvable mysteries of life and death; then I bethought me that time stood +not still for me, and that something yet remained to be accomplished ere my +evening's task were done. + +And forthwith I made shift to do a thing at the memory of which my blood is +chilled and my soul is filled with loathing even now--albeit the gulf of +many years separates me from that June night at Canaples. + +To pass succinctly o'er an episode on which I have scant heart to tarry, +suffice it you to know that using my sash as a rope I bound a heavy stone +to St. Auban's ankle; then lifting the body in my arms, I half dragged, +half bore it across the little stretch of intervening sward to the water's +edge, and flung it in. + +As I write I have the hideous picture in my mind, and again I can see St. +Auban's ghastly face grinning up at me through the moonlit waters, until at +last it was mercifully swallowed up in their black depths, and naught but a +circling wavelet that spread swiftly across the stream was left to tell of +what had chanced. + +I dare not dwell upon the feelings that assailed me as I stooped to rinse +the blood from my hands, nor yet of the feverish haste wherewith I tore my +blood-stained doublet from my back, and hurled it wide into the stream. +For all my callousness I was sick and unmanned by that which had befallen. + +No time, however, did I waste in mawkish sentiment, but setting my teeth +hard, I turned away from the river, and back to the trampled ground of our +recent conflict. There, with no other witness save the moon, I clad myself +in the Marquis's doublet of black velvet; I set his mask of silk upon my +face, his golden wig upon my head, and over that his sable hat with its +drooping feather. Next I buckled on his sword belt, wherefrom hung his +rapier that I had sheathed. + +In Blois that day I had taken the precaution--knowing the errand upon which +I came--to procure myself haut-de-chausses of black velvet, and black +leather boots with gilt spurs that closely resembled those which St. Auban +had worn in life. + +Now, as I have already written, St. Auban and I were of much the same build +and stature, and so methought with confidence that he would have shrewd +eyes, indeed, who could infer from my appearance that I was other than the +same masked gentleman who had that very day ridden into Canaples at the +head of a troop of his Eminence's guards. + +I made my way swiftly back along the path that St. Auban and I had together +trodden but a little while ago, and past the château until I came to the +shrubbery where Michelot--faithful to the orders I had given him--awaited +my return. From his concealment he had seen me leave the château with the +Marquis, and as I suddenly loomed up before him now, he took me for the man +whose clothes I wore, and naturally enough assumed that ill had befallen +Gaston de Luynes. Of a certainty I had been pistolled by him had I not +spoken in time. I lingered but to give him certain necessary orders; then, +whilst he went off to join Abdon and see to their fulfilment, I made my way +stealthily, with eyes keeping watch around me, across the terrace, and +through the window into the room that St. Auban had left to follow me to +his death. + +The tapers still burned, and in all respects the chamber was as it had +been; the back and breast pieces still lay upon the floor, and on the table +the littered documents. The door I ascertained had been locked on the +inside, a precaution which St. Auban had no doubt taken so that none might +spy upon the work that busied him. + +I closed and made fast the window, then I bethought me that, being in +ignorance of the whereabouts of St. Auban's bed-chamber, I must perforce +spend the night as best I could within that very room. + +And so I sat me down and pondered deeply o'er the work that was to come, +the part I was about to play, and the details of its playing. In this +manner did I while away perchance an hour; through the next one I must have +slept, for I awakened with a start to find three tapers spent and the last +one spluttering, and in the sky the streaks that heralded the summer dawn. + +Again I fell to thinking; again I slept, and woke again to find the night +gone and the sunlight on my face. Someone knocked at the door, and that +knocking vibrated through my brain and set me wide-awake, indeed. It was +as the signal to uplift the curtain and let my play-acting commence. + +Hastily I rose and shot a glance at the mirror to see that my wig hung +straight and that my mask was rightly adjusted. I started at my own +reflection, for methought that from the glass 't was St. Auban who looked +at me, as I had seen him look the night before when he had donned those +things at my command. + +"Holà there, within!" came Montrésor's voice. "Monsieur le Capitaine!" A +fresh shower of blows descended on the oak panels. + +I yawned with prodigious sonority, and overturned a chair with my foot. +Then bracing myself for the ordeal, through which I looked to what scant +information I possessed and my own mother wit, to bear me successfully, I +strode across to admit my visitor. + +Muffling my voice, as I had heard St. Auban do at the inn, by drawing my +nether lip over my teeth-- + +"Pardieu!" quoth I, as I opened the door, "it seems, Lieutenant, that I +must have fallen asleep over those musty documents." + +I trembled as I watched him, waiting for his reply, and I thanked Heaven +that in the rôle I had assumed a mask was worn, not only because it hid my +features, but because it hid the emotions which these might have betrayed. + +"I was beginning to fear," he replied coldly, and without so much as +looking at me, "that worse had befallen you." + +I breathed again. + +"You mean--?" + +"Pooh, nothing," said he half contemptuously. "Only methinks 't were well +whilst we remain at Canaples that you do not spend your nights in a room +within such easy access of the terrace." + +"Your advice no doubt is sound, but as I shall not spend another night at +Canaples, it comes too late." + +"You mean, Monsieur--?" + +"That we set out for Paris to-day." + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"Oh, ça! I have just visited the stables, and there are not four horses +fit for the journey. So that unless you have in mind the purchase of fresh +animals--" + +"Pish! My purse is not bottomless," I broke in, repeating the very words +that I heard St. Auban utter. + +"So you said once before, Monsieur. Still, unless you are prepared to take +that course, the only alternative is to remain here until the horses are +sufficiently recovered. But perhaps you think of walking?" he added with a +sniff. + +"Such is your opinion, your time being worthless and it being of little +moment where you spend it. I have conceived a plan." + +"Ah!" + +"Has it not occurred to you that the danger which threatens us and which +calls for the protection of a troop is only on this side of the Loire, +where the Blaisois might be minded to attempt a rescue of the Chevalier? +But over yonder, Chevalier, on the Chambord side, who cares a fig for the +Lord of Canaples or his fate? None; is it not so?" + +He made an assenting gesture, whereupon I continued: + +"This being so, I have bethought me that it will suffice if I take but +three or four men and the sergeant as an escort, and cross the river with +our prisoner after nightfall, travelling along the opposite shore until we +reach Orleans. What think you, Lieutenant?" + +He shrugged his shoulders again. + +"'T is you who command here," he answered with apathy, "not I." + +"Nevertheless, do you not think the plan a safe one, as well as one that +will allay his Eminence's very natural impatience?" + +"Oh, it is safe enough, I doubt not," he replied coldly. + +"Your enthusiasm determines me," quoth I, with an irony that made him +wince. "And we will follow the plan, since you agree with me touching its +excellence. But keep the matter to yourself until an hour or so after +sunset." + +He bowed, so utterly my dupe that I could have laughed at him. Then-- +"There is a little matter that I would mention," he said. "Mademoiselle de +Canaples has expressed a wish to accompany her father to Paris and has +asked me whether this will be permitted her." + +My heart leaped. Surely the gods fought on my side! + +"I cannot permit it," I answered icily. + +"Monsieur, you are pitiless," he protested in a tone of indignation for +which I would gladly have embraced him. + +I feigned to ponder. + +"The matter needs consideration. Tell Mademoiselle that I will discuss it +with her at noon, if she will condescend to await me on the terrace; I will +then give her my definite reply. And now, Lieutenant, let us breakfast." + +As completely as I had duped Montrésor did I presently dupe those of the +troopers with whom I came in contact, among others the sergeant--and anon +the Chevalier himself. + +From the brief interview that I had with him I discovered that whilst he +but vaguely suspected me to be St. Auban--and when I say "he suspected me" +I mean he suspected him whose place I had taken--he was, nevertheless, +aware of the profit which his captor, whoever he might be, derived from +this business. It soon grew clear to me from what he said that St. Auban +had mocked him with it whilst concealing his identity; that he had told him +how he had obtained from Malpertuis the treasonable letter, and of the +bargain which it had enabled him to strike with Mazarin. I did not long +remain in his company, and, deeming the time not yet ripe for disclosures, +I said little in answer to his lengthy tirades, which had, I guessed, for +scope to trap me into betraying the identity he but suspected. + +It wanted a few minutes to noon as I left the room in which the old +nobleman was confined, and by the door of which a trooper was stationed, +musket on shoulder. With every pulse a-throbbing at the thought of my +approaching interview with Mademoiselle, I made my way below and out into +the bright sunshine, the soldiers I chanced to meet saluting me as I passed +them. + +On the terrace I found Mademoiselle already awaiting me. She was standing, +as often I had seen her stand, with her back turned towards me and her +elbows resting upon the balustrade. But as my step sounded behind her, she +turned, and stood gazing at me with a face so grief-stricken and pale that +I burned to unmask and set her torturing fears at rest. I doffed my hat +and greeted her with a silent bow, which she contemptuously disregarded. + +"My lieutenant tells me, Mademoiselle," said I in my counterfeited voice, +"that it is your desire to bear Monsieur your father company upon this +journey of his to Paris." + +"With your permission, sir," she answered in a choking voice. + +"It is a matter for consideration, Mademoiselle," I pursued. "There are in +it many features that may have escaped you, and which I shall discuss with +you if you will honour me by stepping into the garden below." + +"Why will not the terrace serve?" + +"Because I may have that to say which I would not have overheard." + +She knit her brows and stared at me as though she would penetrate the black +cloth that hid my face. At last she shrugged her shoulders, and letting +her arms fall to her side in a gesture of helplessness and resignation-- + +"Soit; I will go with you," was all she said. + +Side by side we went down the steps as a pair of lovers might have gone, +save that her face was white and drawn, and that her eyes looked straight +before her, and never once, until we reached the gravel path below, at her +companion. Side by side we walked along one of the rose-bordered alleys, +until at length I stopped. + +"Mademoiselle," I said, speaking in the natural tones of that good-for- +naught Gaston de Luynes, "I have already decided, and you have my +permission to accompany your father." + +At the sound of my voice she started, and with her left hand clutching at +the region of her heart, she stood, her head thrust forward, and on her +face the look of one who is confronted with some awful doubt. That look +was brief, however, and swift to replace it was one of hideous revelation. + +"In God's name, who are you?" she cried in accents that bespoke internal +agony. + +"Already you have guessed it, Mademoiselle," I answered, and I would have +added that which should have brought comfort to her distraught mind, when-- + +"You!" she gasped in a voice of profound horror. "You! You, the Judas who +has sold my father to the Cardinal for a paltry share in our estates. And +I believed that mask of yours to hide the face of St. Auban!" + +Her words froze me into a stony mass of insensibility. There was no logic +in my attitude; I see it now. Appearances were all against me, and her +belief no more than justified. I overlooked all this, and instead of +saving time by recounting how I came to be there and thus delivering her +from the anguish that was torturing her, I stood, dumb and cruel, cut to +the quick by her scorn and her suspicions that I was capable of such a +thing as she imputed, and listening to the dictates of an empty pride that +prompted me to make her pay full penalty. + +"Oh, God pity me!" she wailed. "Have you naught to say?" + +Still I maintained my mad, resentful silence. And presently, as one who +muses-- + +"You!" she said again. "You, whom I--" She stopped short. "Oh! The +shame of it!" she moaned. + +Reason at last came uppermost, and as in my mind I completed her broken +sentence, my heart gave a great throb and I was thawed to a gentler +purpose. + +"Mademoiselle!" I exclaimed. + +But even as I spoke, she turned, and sweeping aside her gown that it might +not touch me, she moved rapidly towards the steps we had just descended. +Full of remorse, I sprang after her. + +"Mademoiselle! Hear me," I cried, and put forth my hand to stay her. +Thereat she wheeled round and faced me, a blaze of fury in her grey eyes. + +"Dare not to touch me," she panted. "You thief, you hound!" + +I recoiled, and, like one turned to stone, I stood and watched her mount +the steps, my feelings swaying violently between anger and sorrow. Then my +eye fell upon Montrésor standing on the topmost step, and on his face there +was a sneering, insolent smile which told me that he had heard the epithets +she had bestowed upon me. + +Albeit I sought that day another interview with Yvonne, I did not gain it, +and so I was forced to sun myself in solitude upon the terrace. But I +cherished for my consolation that broken sentence of hers, whereby I read +that the coldness which she had evinced for me before I left Canaples had +only been assumed. + +And presently as I recalled what talks we had had, and one in particular +from which it now appeared to me that her coldness had sprung, a light +seemed suddenly to break upon my mind, as perchance it hath long ago broken +upon the minds of those who may happen upon these pages, and whose wits in +matters amorous are of a keener temper than were mine. + +I who in all things had been arrogant, presumptuous, and self-satisfied, +had methought erred for once through over-humility. + +And, indeed, even as I sat and pondered on that June day, it seemed to me a +thing incredible that she whom I accounted the most queenly and superb of +women should have deigned to grant a tender thought to one so mean, so far +beneath her as I had ever held myself to be. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +REPARATION + + +Things came to pass that night as I had planned, and the fates which of +late had smiled upon me were kind unto the end. + +Soon after ten, and before the moon had risen, a silent procession wended +its way from the château to the river. First went Montrésor and two of his +men; next came the Chevalier with Mademoiselle, and on either side of them +a trooper; whilst I, in head-piece and back and breast of steel, went last +with Mathurin, the sergeant--who warmly praised the plan I had devised for +the conveyance of M. de Canaples to Paris without further loss of time. + +Two boats which I had caused to be secretly procured were in readiness, and +by these a couple of soldiers awaited us, holding the bridles of eight +horses, one of which was equipped with a lady's saddle. Five of these +belonged--or had belonged--to the Chevalier, whilst the others were three +of those that had brought the troop from Paris, and which I, in the teeth +of all protestations, had adjudged sufficiently recovered for the return +journey. + +The embarkation was safely effected, M. de Canaples and Mademoiselle in one +boat with Montrésor, Mathurin, and myself; the sergeant took the oars; +Montrésor and I kept watch over our prisoner. In the other boat came the +four troopers, who were to accompany us, and one other who was to take the +boats, and Montrésor in them, back to Canaples. For the lieutenant was +returning, so that he might, with the remainder of the troop, follow us to +Paris so soon as the condition of the horses would permit it. + +The beasts we took with us were swimming the stream, guided and upheld by +the men in the other boat. + +Just as the moon began to show her face our bow grated on the shore at the +very point where I had intended that we should land. I sprang out and +turned to assist Mademoiselle. + +But, disdaining my proffered hand, she stepped ashore unaided. The +Chevalier came next, and after him Montrésor and Mathurin. + +Awhile we waited until the troopers brought their boat to land, then when +they had got the snorting animals safely ashore, I bade them look to the +prisoner, and requested Montrésor and Mathurin to step aside with me, as I +had something to communicate to them. + +Walking between the pair, I drew them some twenty paces away from the group +by the water, towards a certain thicket in which I had bidden Michelot +await me. + +"It has occurred to me, Messieurs," I began, speaking slowly and +deliberately as we paced along,--"it has occurred to me that despite all +the precautions taken to carry out my Lord Cardinal's wishes--a work at +least in which you, yourselves, have evinced a degree of zeal that I cannot +too highly commend to his Eminence--the possibility yet remains of some +mistake of trivial appearance, of some slight flaw that might yet cause the +miscarriage of those wishes." + +They turned towards me, and although I could not make out the expressions +of their faces, in the gloom, yet I doubted not but that they were puzzled +ones at that lengthy and apparently meaningless harangue. + +The sergeant was the first to speak, albeit I am certain that he understood +the less. + +"I venture, M. le Capitaine, to think that your fears, though very natural, +are groundless." + +"Say you so?" quoth I, with a backward glance to assure myself that we were +screened by the trees from the eyes of those behind us. "Say you so? +Well, well, mayhap you are right, though you speak of my fears being +groundless. I alluded to some possible mistake of yours--yours and M. de +Montrésor's--not of mine. And, by Heaven, a monstrous flaw there is in +this business, for if either of you so much as whisper I'll blow your +brains out!" + +And to emphasise these words, as sinister as they were unlooked-for, I +raised both hands suddenly from beneath my cloak, and clapped the cold nose +of a pistol to the head of each of them. + +I was obeyed as men are obeyed who thus uncompromisingly prove the force of +their commands. Seeing them resigned, I whistled softly, and in answer +there was a rustle from among the neighbouring trees, and presently two +shadows emerged from the thicket. In less time than it takes me to relate +it, Montrésor and his sergeant found themselves gagged, and each securely +bound to a tree. + +Then, with Michelot and Abdon following a short distance behind me, I made +my way back to the troopers, and, feigning to stumble as I approached, I +hurtled so violently against two of them that I knocked the pair headlong +into the stream. + +Scarce was it done, and almost before the remaining three had realised it, +there was a pistol at the head of each of them and sweet promises of an +eternal hereafter being whispered in their ears. They bore themselves with +charming discretion, and like lambs we led them each to a tree and dealt +with them as we had dealt with their officers, whilst the Chevalier and his +daughter watched us, bewildered and dumfounded at what they saw. + +As soon as the other two had crawled--all unconscious of the fates of their +comrades--out of the river, we served them also in a like manner. + +Bidding Abdon and Michelot lead the horses, and still speaking in my +assumed voice, I desired Mademoiselle and the Chevalier--who had not yet +sufficiently recovered from his bewilderment to have found his tongue--to +follow me. I led the way up the gentle slope to the spot where our first +victims were pinioned. + +Montrésor's comely young face looked monstrous wicked in the moonlight, and +his eyes rolled curiously as he beheld me. Stepping up to him I freed him +of his gag--an act which I had almost regretted a moment later, for he +cleared his throat with so lusty a torrent of profanity that methought the +heavens must have fallen on us. At last when he was done with that-- +"Before you leave me in this plight, M. de St. Auban," quoth he, "perchance +you will satisfy me with an explanation of your unfathomable deeds and of +this violence." + +"St. Auban!" exclaimed the Chevalier. + +"St. Auban!" cried Yvonne. + +And albeit wonder rang in both their voices, yet their minds I knew went +different ways. + +"No, not St. Auban," I answered with a laugh and putting aside all +counterfeit of speech. + +"Par la mort Dieu! I know that voice," cried Montrésor. + +"Mayhap, indeed! And know you not this face?" And as I spoke I whipped +away my wig and mask, and thrust my countenance close up to his. + +"Thunder of God!" ejaculated the boy. Then--"Pardieu," he added, "there is +Michelot! How came I not to recognise him?" + +"Since you would not assist me, Montrésor, you see I was forced to do +without you." + +"But St. Auban?" he gasped. "Where is he?" + +"In heaven, I hope--but I doubt it sadly." + +"You have killed him?" + +There and then, as briefly as I might, I told him, whilst the others stood +by to listen, how I had come upon the Marquis in the château the night +before and what had passed thereafter. + +"And now," I said, as I cut his bonds, "it grieves me to charge you with an +impolite errand to his Eminence, but--" + +"I'll not return to him," he burst out. "I dare not. Mon Dieu, you have +ruined me, Luynes!" + +"Then come with me, and I'll build your fortunes anew and on a sounder +foundation. I have an influential letter in my pocket that should procure +us fortune in the service of the King of Spain." + +He needed little pressing to fall in with my invitation, so we set the +sergeant free, and him instead I charged with a message that must have +given Mazarin endless pleasure when it was delivered to him. But he had +the Canaples estates wherewith to console himself and his never-failing +maxim that "chi canta, paga." Touching the Canaples estates, however, he +did not long enjoy them, for when he went into exile, two years later, the +Parliament returned them to their rightful owner. + +The Chevalier de Canaples approached me timidly. + +"Monsieur," quoth he, "I have wronged you very deeply. And this generous +rescue of one who has so little merited your aid truly puts me to so much +shame that I know not what thanks to offer you." + +"Then offer none, Monsieur," I answered, taking his proffered hand. +"Moreover, time presses and we have a possible pursuit to baffle. So to +horse, Monsieurs." + +I assisted Mademoiselle to mount, and she passively suffered me to do her +this office, having no word for me, and keeping her face averted from my +earnest gaze. + +I sighed as I turned to mount the horse Michelot held for me; but methinks +'t was more a sigh of satisfaction than of pain. + + . . . . . . . . + +All that night we travelled and all next day until Tours was reached +towards evening. There we halted for a sorely needed rest and for fresh +horses. + +Three days later we arrived at Nantes, and a week from the night of the +Chevalier's rescue we took ship from that port to Santander. + +That same evening, as I leaned upon the taffrail watching the distant coast +line of my beloved France, whose soil meseemed I was not like to tread +again for years, Yvonne came softly up behind me. + +"Monsieur," she said in a voice that trembled somewhat, "I have, indeed, +misjudged you. The shame of it has made me hold aloof from you since we +left Blois. I cannot tell you, Monsieur, how deep that shame has been, or +with what sorrow I have been beset for the words I uttered at Canaples. +Had I but paused to think--" + +"Nay, nay, Mademoiselle, 't was all my fault, I swear. I left you overlong +the dupe of appearances." + +"But I should not have believed them so easily. Say that I am forgiven, +Monsieur," she pleaded; "tell me what reparation I can make." + +"There is one reparation that you can make if you are so minded," I +answered, "but 'tis a life-long reparation." + +They were bold words, indeed, but my voice played the coward and shook so +vilely that it bereft them of half their boldness. But, ah, Dieu, what +joy, what ecstasy was mine to see how they were read by her; to remark the +rich, warm blood dyeing her cheeks in a bewitching blush; to behold the +sparkle that brightened her matchless eyes as they met mine! + +"Yvonne!" + +"Gaston!" + +She was in my arms at last, and the work of reparation was begun whilst +together we gazed across the sun-gilt sea towards the fading shores of +France. + +If you be curious to learn how, guided by the gentle hand of her who +plucked me from the vile ways that in my old life I had trodden, I have +since achieved greatness, honour, and renown, History will tell you. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext The Suitors of Yvonne, by Rafael Sabatini + |