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diff --git a/15763.txt b/15763.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1ebf32d --- /dev/null +++ b/15763.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12706 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Count Hannibal, by Stanley J. Weyman + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Count Hannibal + A Romance of the Court of France + + +Author: Stanley J. Weyman + +Release Date: May 3, 2005 [eBook #15763] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COUNT HANNIBAL*** + + + + + + +This eBook was prepared by Les Bowler from the 1922 John Murray edition. + + + + + +COUNT HANNIBAL +A ROMANCE OF THE COURT OF FRANCE. +by Stanley J. Weyman. + + +SORORI +SUA CAUSSA CARAE +PRO ERGA MATREM AMORE +ETIAM CARIORI +HOC FRATER. + +CONTENTS + +I. CRIMSON FAVOURS +II. HANNIBAL DE SAULX, COMTE DE TAVANNES +III. THE HOUSE NEXT THE GOLDEN MAID +IV. THE EVE OF THE FEAST +V. A ROUGH WOOING +VI. "WHO TOUCHES TAVANNES?" +VII. IN THE AMPHITHEATRE +VIII. TWO HENS AND AN EGG +IX. UNSTABLE +X. MADAME ST. LO +XI. A BARGAIN +XII. IN THE HALL OF THE LOUVRE +XIII. DIPLOMACY +XIV. TOO SHORT A SPOON +XV. THE BROTHER OF ST. MAGLOIRE +XVI. AT CLOSE QUARTERS +XVII. THE DUEL +XVIII. ANDROMEDA, PERSEUS BEING ABSENT +XIX. IN THE ORLEANNAIS +XX. ON THE CASTLE HILL +XXI. SHE WOULD, AND WOULD NOT +XXII. PLAYING WITH FIRE +XXIII. A MIND, AND NOT A MIND +XXIV. AT THE KING'S INN +XXV. THE COMPANY OF THE BLEEDING HEART +XXVI. TEMPER +XXVII. THE BLACK TOWN +XXVIII. IN THE LITTLE CHAPTER-HOUSE +XXIX. THE ESCAPE +XXX. SACRILEGE! +XXXI. THE FLIGHT FROM ANGERS +XXXII. THE ORDEAL BY STEEL +XXXIII. THE AMBUSH +XXXIV. "WHICH WILL YOU, MADAME?" +XXXV. AGAINST THE WALL +XXXVI. HIS KINGDOM + + + + +CHAPTER I. CRIMSON FAVOURS. + + +M. de Tavannes smiled. Mademoiselle averted her eyes, and shivered; as +if the air, even of that close summer night, entering by the door at her +elbow, chilled her. And then came a welcome interruption. + +"Tavannes!" + +"Sire!" + +Count Hannibal rose slowly. The King had called, and he had no choice +but to obey and go. Yet he hung a last moment over his companion, his +hateful breath stirring her hair. + +"Our pleasure is cut short too soon, Mademoiselle," he said, in the tone, +and with the look, she loathed. "But for a few hours only. We shall +meet to-morrow. Or, it may be--earlier." + +She did not answer, and "Tavannes!" the King repeated with violence. +"Tavannes! Mordieu!" his Majesty continued, looking round furiously. +"Will no one fetch him? Sacre nom, am I King, or a dog of a--" + +"I come, sire!" the Count cried hastily. For Charles, King of France, +Ninth of the name, was none of the most patient; and scarce another in +the Court would have ventured to keep him waiting so long. "I come, +sire; I come!" Tavannes repeated, as he moved from Mademoiselle's side. + +He shouldered his way through the circle of courtiers, who barred the +road to the presence, and in part hid her from observation. He pushed +past the table at which Charles and the Comte de Rochefoucauld had been +playing primero, and at which the latter still sat, trifling idly with +the cards. Three more paces, and he reached the King, who stood in the +_ruelle_ with Rambouillet and the Italian Marshal. It was the latter +who, a moment before, had summoned his Majesty from his game. + +Mademoiselle, watching him go, saw so much; so much, and the King's +roving eyes and haggard face, and the four figures, posed apart in the +fuller light of the upper half of the Chamber. Then the circle of +courtiers came together before her, and she sat back on her stool. A +fluttering, long-drawn sigh escaped her. Now, if she could slip out and +make her escape! Now--she looked round. She was not far from the door; +to withdraw seemed easy. But a staring, whispering knot of gentlemen and +pages blocked the way; and the girl, ignorant of the etiquette of the +Court, and with no more than a week's experience of Paris, had not the +courage to rise and pass alone through the group. + +She had come to the Louvre this Saturday evening under the wing of Madame +d'Yverne, her _fiance's_ cousin. By ill-hap Madame had been summoned to +the Princess Dowager's closet, and perforce had left her. Still, +Mademoiselle had her betrothed, and in his charge had sat herself down to +wait, nothing loth, in the great gallery, where all was bustle and gaiety +and entertainment. For this, the seventh day of the fetes, held to +celebrate the marriage of the King of Navarre and Charles's sister--a +marriage which was to reconcile the two factions of the Huguenots and the +Catholics, so long at war--saw the Louvre as gay, as full, and as lively +as the first of the fete days had found it; and in the humours of the +throng, in the ceaseless passage of masks and maids of honour, guards and +bishops, Swiss in the black, white, and green of Anjou, and Huguenot +nobles in more sombre habits, the country-bred girl had found recreation +and to spare. Until gradually the evening had worn away and she had +begun to feel nervous; and M. de Tignonville, her betrothed, placing her +in the embrasure of a window, had gone to seek Madame. + +She had waited for a time without much misgiving; expecting each moment +to see him return. He would be back before she could count a hundred; he +would be back before she could number the leagues that separated her from +her beloved province, and the home by the Biscay Sea, to which even in +that brilliant scene her thoughts turned fondly. But the minutes had +passed, and passed, and he had not returned. Worse, in his place +Tavannes--not the Marshal, but his brother, Count Hannibal--had found +her; he, whose odious court, at once a menace and an insult, had subtly +enveloped her for a week past. He had sat down beside her, he had taken +possession of her, and, profiting by her inexperience, had played on her +fears and smiled at her dislike. Finally, whether she would or no, he +had swept her with him into the Chamber. The rest had been an obsession, +a nightmare, from which only the King's voice summoning Tavannes to his +side had relieved her. + +Her aim now was to escape before he returned, and before another, seeing +her alone, adopted his _role_ and was rude to her. Already the courtiers +about her were beginning to stare, the pages to turn and titter and +whisper. Direct her gaze as she might, she met some eye watching her, +some couple enjoying her confusion. To make matters worse, she presently +discovered that she was the only woman in the Chamber; and she conceived +the notion that she had no right to be there at that hour. At the +thought her cheeks burned, her eyes dropped; the room seemed to buzz with +her name, with gross words and jests, and gibes at her expense. + +At last, when the situation had grown nearly unbearable, the group before +the door parted, and Tignonville appeared. The girl rose with a cry of +relief, and he came to her. The courtiers glanced at the two and smiled. + +He did not conceal his astonishment at finding her there. "But, +Mademoiselle, how is this?" he asked, in a low voice. He was as +conscious of the attention they attracted as she was, and as uncertain on +the point of her right to be there. "I left you in the gallery. I came +back, missed you, and--" + +She stopped him by a gesture. "Not here!" she muttered, with suppressed +impatience. "I will tell you outside. Take me--take me out, if you +please, Monsieur, at once!" + +He was as glad to be gone as she was to go. The group by the doorway +parted; she passed through it, he followed. In a moment the two stood in +the great gallery, above the Salle des Caryatides. The crowd which had +paraded here an hour before was gone, and the vast echoing apartment, +used at that date as a guard-room, was well-nigh empty. Only at rare +intervals, in the embrasure of a window or the recess of a door, a couple +talked softly. At the farther end, near the head of the staircase which +led to the hall below, and the courtyard, a group of armed Swiss lounged +on guard. Mademoiselle shot a keen glance up and down, then she turned +to her lover, her face hot with indignation. + +"Why did you leave me?" she asked. "Why did you leave me, if you could +not come back at once? Do you understand, sir," she continued, "that it +was at your instance I came to Paris, that I came to this Court, and that +I look to you for protection?" + +"Surely," he said. "And--" + +"And do you think Carlat and his wife fit guardians for me? Should I +have come or thought of coming to this wedding, but for your promise, and +Madame your cousin's? If I had not deemed myself almost your wife," she +continued warmly, "and secure of your protection, should I have come +within a hundred miles of this dreadful city? To which, had I my will, +none of our people should have come." + +"Dreadful? Pardieu, not so dreadful," he answered, smiling, and striving +to give the dispute a playful turn. "You have seen more in a week than +you would have seen at Vrillac in a lifetime, Mademoiselle." + +"And I choke!" she retorted; "I choke! Do you not see how they look at +us, at us Huguenots, in the street? How they, who live here, point at us +and curse us? How the very dogs scent us out and snarl at our heels, and +the babes cross themselves when we go by? Can you see the Place des +Gastines and not think what stood there? Can you pass the Greve at night +and not fill the air above the river with screams and wailings and +horrible cries--the cries of our people murdered on that spot?" She +paused for breath, recovered herself a little, and in a lower tone, "For +me," she said, "I think of Philippa de Luns by day and by night! The +eaves are a threat to me; the tiles would fall on us had they their will; +the houses nod to--to--" + +"To what, Mademoiselle?" he asked, shrugging his shoulders and assuming a +tone of cynicism. + +"To crush us! Yes, Monsieur, to crush us!" + +"And all this because I left you for a moment?" + +"For an hour--or well-nigh an hour," she answered more soberly. + +"But if I could not help it?" + +"You should have thought of that--before you brought me to Paris, +Monsieur. In these troublous times." + +He coloured warmly. "You are unjust, Mademoiselle," he said. "There are +things you forget; in a Court one is not always master of one's self." + +"I know it," she answered dryly, thinking of that through which she had +gone. + +"But you do not know what happened!" he returned with impatience. "You +do not understand that I am not to blame. Madame d'Yverne, when I +reached the Princess Dowager's closet, had left to go to the Queen of +Navarre. I hurried after her, and found a score of gentlemen in the King +of Navarre's chamber. They were holding a council, and they begged, nay, +they compelled me to remain." + +"And it was that which detained you so long?" + +"To be sure, Mademoiselle." + +"And not--Madame St. Lo?" + +M. de Tignonville's face turned scarlet. The thrust in tierce was +unexpected. This, then, was the key to Mademoiselle's spirt of temper. + +"I do not understand you," he stammered. + +"How long were you in the King of Navarre's chamber, and how long with +Madame St. Lo?" she asked with fine irony. "Or no, I will not tempt +you," she went on quickly, seeing him hesitate. "I heard you talking to +Madame St. Lo in the gallery while I sat within. And I know how long you +were with her." + +"I met Madame as I returned," he stammered, his face still hot, "and I +asked her where you were. I did not know, Mademoiselle, that I was not +to speak to ladies of my acquaintance." + +"I was alone, and I was waiting." + +"I could not know that--for certain," he answered, making the best of it. +"You were not where I left you. I thought, I confess--that you had gone. +That you had gone home." + +"With whom? With whom?" she repeated pitilessly. "Was it likely? With +whom was I to go? And yet it is true, I might have gone home had I +pleased--with M. de Tavannes! Yes," she continued, in a tone of keen +reproach, and with the blood mounting to her forehead, "it is to that, +Monsieur, you expose me! To be pursued, molested, harassed by a man +whose look terrifies me, and whose touch I--I detest! To be addressed +wherever I go by a man whose every word proves that he thinks me game for +the hunter, and you a thing he may neglect. You are a man and you do not +know, you cannot know what I suffer! What I have suffered this week past +whenever you have left my side!" + +Tignonville looked gloomy. "What has he said to you?" he asked, between +his teeth. + +"Nothing I can tell you," she answered, with a shudder. "It was he who +took me into the Chamber." + +"Why did you go?" + +"Wait until he bids you do something," she answered. "His manner, his +smile, his tone, all frighten me. And to-night, in all these there was a +something worse, a hundred times worse than when I saw him last--on +Thursday! He seemed to--to gloat on me," the girl stammered, with a +flush of shame, "as if I were his! Oh, Monsieur, I wish we had not left +our Poitou! Shall we ever see Vrillac again, and the fishers' huts about +the port, and the sea beating blue against the long brown causeway?" + +He had listened darkly, almost sullenly; but at this, seeing the tears +gather in her eyes, he forced a laugh. + +"Why, you are as bad as M. de Rosny and the Vidame!" he said. "And they +are as full of fears as an egg is of meat! Since the Admiral was wounded +by that scoundrel on Friday, they think all Paris is in a league against +us." + +"And why not?" she asked, her cheek grown pale, her eyes reading his +eyes. + +"Why not? Why, because it is a monstrous thing even to think of!" +Tignonville answered, with the confidence of one who did not use the +argument for the first time. "Could they insult the King more deeply +than by such a suspicion? A Borgia may kill his guests, but it was never +a practice of the Kings of France! Pardieu, I have no patience with +them! They may lodge where they please, across the river, or without the +walls if they choose, the Rue de l'Arbre Sec is good enough for me, and +the King's name sufficient surety!" + +"I know you are not apt to be fearful," she answered, smiling; and she +looked at him with a woman's pride in her lover. "All the same, you will +not desert me again, sir, will you?" + +He vowed he would not, kissed her hand, looked into her eyes; then +melting to her, stammering, blundering, he named Madame St. Lo. She +stopped him. + +"There is no need," she said, answering his look with kind eyes, and +refusing to hear his protestations. "In a fortnight will you not be my +husband? How should I distrust you? It was only that while she talked, +I waited--I waited; and--and that Madame St. Lo is Count Hannibal's +cousin. For a moment I was mad enough to dream that she held you on +purpose. You do not think it was so?" + +"She!" he cried sharply; and he winced, as if the thought hurt him. +"Absurd! The truth is, Mademoiselle," he continued with a little heat, +"you are like so many of our people! You think a Catholic capable of the +worst." + +"We have long thought so at Vrillac," she answered gravely. + +"That's over now, if people would only understand. This wedding has put +an end to all that. But I'm harking back," he continued awkwardly; and +he stopped. "Instead, let me take you home." + +"If you please. Carlat and the servants should be below." + +He took her left hand in his right after the wont of the day, and with +his other hand touching his sword-hilt, he led her down the staircase, +that by a single turn reached the courtyard of the palace. Here a mob of +armed servants, of lacqueys, and footboys, some bearing torches, and some +carrying their masters' cloaks and _galoshes_, loitered to and fro. Had +M. de Tignonville been a little more observant, or a trifle less occupied +with his own importance, he might have noted more than one face which +looked darkly on him; he might have caught more than one overt sneer at +his expense. But in the business of summoning Carlat--Mademoiselle de +Vrillac's steward and major-domo--he lost the contemptuous +"Christaudins!" that hissed from a footboy's lips, and the "Southern +dogs!" that died in the moustachios of a bully in the livery of the +King's brother. He was engaged in finding the steward, and in aiding him +to cloak his mistress; then with a ruffling air, a new acquirement, which +he had picked up since he came to Paris, he made a way for her through +the crowd. A moment, and the three, followed by half a dozen armed +servants, bearing pikes and torches, detached themselves from the throng, +and crossing the courtyard, with its rows of lighted windows, passed out +by the gate between the Tennis Courts, and so into the Rue des Fosses de +St. Germain. + +Before them, against a sky in which the last faint glow of evening still +contended with the stars, the spire and pointed arches of the church of +St. Germain rose darkly graceful. It was something after nine: the heat +of the August day brooded over the crowded city, and dulled the faint +distant ring of arms and armour that yet would make itself heard above +the hush; a hush which was not silence so much as a subdued hum. As +Mademoiselle passed the closed house beside the Cloister of St. Germain, +where only the day before Admiral Coligny, the leader of the Huguenots, +had been wounded, she pressed her escort's hand, and involuntarily drew +nearer to him. But he laughed at her. + +"It was a private blow," he said, answering her unspoken thought. "It is +like enough the Guises sped it. But they know now what is the King's +will, and they have taken the hint and withdrawn themselves. It will not +happen again, Mademoiselle. For proof, see the guards"--they were +passing the end of the Rue Bethizy, in the corner house of which, +abutting on the Rue de l'Arbre Sec, Coligny had his lodgings--"whom the +King has placed for his security. Fifty pikes under Cosseins." + +"Cosseins?" she repeated. "But I thought Cosseins--" + +"Was not wont to love us!" Tignonville answered, with a confident +chuckle. "He was not. But the dogs lick where the master wills, +Mademoiselle. He was not, but he does. This marriage has altered all." + +"I hope it may not prove an unlucky one!" she murmured. She felt +impelled to say it. + +"Not it!" he answered confidently. "Why should it?" + +They stopped, as he spoke, before the last house, at the corner of the +Rue St. Honore opposite the Croix du Tiroir; which rose shadowy in the +middle of the four ways. He hammered on the door. + +"But," she said softly, looking in his face, "the change is sudden, is it +not? The King was not wont to be so good to us!" + +"The King was not King until now," he answered warmly. "That is what I +am trying to persuade our people. Believe me, Mademoiselle, you may +sleep without fear; and early in the morning I will be with you. Carlat, +have a care of your mistress until morning, and let Madame lie in her +chamber. She is nervous to-night. There, sweet, until morning! God +keep you, and pleasant dreams!" + +He uncovered, and bowing over her hand, kissed it; and the door being +open he would have turned away. But she lingered as if unwilling to +enter. + +"There is--do you hear it--a stir in _that_ quarter?" she said, pointing +across the Rue St. Honore. "What lies there?" + +"Northward? The markets," he answered. "'Tis nothing. They say, you +know, that Paris never sleeps. Good night, sweet, and a fair awakening!" + +She shivered as she had shivered under Tavannes' eye. And still she +lingered, keeping him. + +"Are you going to your lodging at once?" she asked--for the sake, it +seemed, of saying something. + +"I?" he answered a little hurriedly. "No, I was thinking of paying +Rochefoucauld the compliment of seeing him home. He has taken a new +lodging to be near the Admiral; a horrid bare place in the Rue Bethizy, +without furniture, but he would go into it to-day. And he has a sort of +claim on my family, you know." + +"Yes," she said simply. "Of course. Then I must not detain you. God +keep you safe," she continued, with a faint quiver in her tone; and her +lip trembled. "Good night, and fair dreams, Monsieur." + +He echoed the words gallantly. "Of you, sweet!" he cried; and turning +away with a gesture of farewell, he set off on his return. + +He walked briskly, nor did he look back, though she stood awhile gazing +after him. She was not aware that she gave thought to this; nor that it +hurt her. Yet when bolt and bar had shot behind her, and she had mounted +the cold, bare staircase of that day--when she had heard the dull echoing +footsteps of her attendants as they withdrew to their lairs and sleeping- +places, and still more when she had crossed the threshold of her chamber, +and signed to Madame Carlat and her woman to listen--it is certain she +felt a lack of something. + +Perhaps the chill that possessed her came of that lack, which she neither +defined nor acknowledged. Or possibly it came of the night air, August +though it was; or of sheer nervousness, or of the remembrance of Count +Hannibal's smile. Whatever its origin, she took it to bed with her and +long after the house slept round her, long after the crowded quarter of +the Halles had begun to heave and the Sorbonne to vomit a black-frocked +band, long after the tall houses in the gabled streets, from St. Antoine +to Montmartre and from St. Denis on the north to St. Jacques on the +south, had burst into rows of twinkling lights--nay, long after the +Quarter of the Louvre alone remained dark, girdled by this strange +midnight brightness--she lay awake. At length she too slept, and dreamed +of home and the wide skies of Poitou, and her castle of Vrillac washed +day and night by the Biscay tides. + + + + +CHAPTER II. HANNIBAL DE SAULX, COMTE DE TAVANNES. + + +"Tavannes!" + +"Sire." + +Tavannes, we know, had been slow to obey the summons. Emerging from the +crowd, he found that the King, with Retz and Rambouillet, his Marshal des +Logis, had retired to the farther end of the Chamber; apparently Charles +had forgotten that he had called. His head a little bent--he was tall +and had a natural stoop--the King seemed to be listening to a low but +continuous murmur of voices which proceeded from the door of his closet. +One voice frequently raised was beyond doubt a woman's; a foreign accent, +smooth and silky, marked another; a third, that from time to time broke +in, wilful and impetuous, was the voice of Monsieur, the King's brother, +Catherine de Medicis' favourite son. Tavannes, waiting respectfully two +paces behind the King, could catch little that was said; but Charles, +something more, it seemed, for on a sudden he laughed, a violent, +mirthless laugh. And he clapped Rambouillet on the shoulder. + +"There!" he said, with one of his horrible oaths, "'tis settled! 'Tis +settled! Go, man, and take your orders! And you, M. de Retz," he +continued, in a tone of savage mockery, "go, my lord, and give them!" + +"I, sire?" the Italian Marshal answered, in accents of deprecation. There +were times when the young King would show his impatience of the Italian +ring, the Retzs and Biragues, the Strozzis and Gondys, with whom his +mother surrounded him. + +"Yes, you!" Charles answered. "You and my lady mother! And in God's +name answer for it at the day!" he continued vehemently. "You will have +it! You will not let me rest till you have it! Then have it, only see +to it, it be done thoroughly! There shall not be one left to cast it in +the King's teeth and cry, 'Et tu, Carole!' Swim, swim in blood if you +will," he continued, with growing wildness. "Oh, 'twill be a merry +night! And it's true so far, you may kill fleas all day, but burn the +coat, and there's an end. So burn it, burn it, and--" He broke off with +a start as he discovered Tavannes at his elbow. "God's death, man!" he +cried roughly, "who sent for you?" + +"Your Majesty called me," Tavannes answered; while, partly urged by the +King's hand, and partly anxious to escape, the others slipped into the +closet and left them together. + +"I sent for you? I called your brother, the Marshal!" + +"He is within, sire," Tavannes answered, indicating the closet. "A +moment ago I heard his voice." + +Charles passed his shaking hand across his eyes. "Is he?" he muttered. +"So he is! I heard it too. And--and a man cannot be in two places at +once!" Then, while his haggard gaze, passing by Tavannes, roved round +the Chamber, he laid his hand on Count Hannibal's breast. "They give me +no peace, Madame and the Guises," he whispered, his face hectic with +excitement. "They will have it. They say that Coligny--they say that he +beards me in my own palace. And--and, _mordieu_," with sudden violence, +"it's true. It's true enough! It was but to-day he was for making terms +with me! With me, the King! Making terms! So it shall be, by God and +Devil, it shall! But not six or seven! No, no. All! All! There shall +not be one left to say to me, 'You did it!'" + +"Softly, sire," Tavannes answered; for Charles had gradually raised his +voice. "You will be observed." + +For the first time the young King--he was but twenty-two years old, God +pity him!--looked at his companion. + +"To be sure," he whispered; and his eyes grew cunning. "Besides, and +after all, there's another way, if I choose. Oh, I've thought and +thought, I'd have you know." And shrugging his shoulders, almost to his +ears, he raised and lowered his open hands alternately, while his back +hid the movement from the Chamber. "See-saw! See-saw!" he muttered. +"And the King between the two, you see. That's Madame's king-craft. +She's shown me that a hundred times. But look you, it is as easy to +lower the one as the other," with a cunning glance at Tavannes' face, "or +to cut off the right as the left. And--and the Admiral's an old man and +will pass; and for the matter of that I like to hear him talk. He talks +well. While the others, Guise and his kind, are young, and I've thought, +oh, yes, I've thought--but there," with a sudden harsh laugh, "my lady +mother will have it her own way. And for this time she shall, but, All! +All! Even Foucauld, there! Do you mark him. He's sorting the cards. Do +you see him--as he will be to-morrow, with the slit in his throat and his +teeth showing? Why, God!" his voice rising almost to a scream, "the +candles by him are burning blue!" And with a shaking hand, his face +convulsed, the young King clutched his companion's arm, and pinched it. + +Count Hannibal shrugged his shoulders, but answered nothing. + +"D'you think we shall see them afterwards?" Charles resumed, in a sharp, +eager whisper. "In our dreams, man? Or when the watchman cries, and we +awake, and the monks are singing lauds at St. Germain, and--and the taper +is low?" + +Tavannes' lip curled. "I don't dream, sire," he answered coldly, "and I +seldom wake. For the rest, I fear my enemies neither alive nor dead." + +"Don't you? By G-d, I wish I didn't," the young man exclaimed. His brow +was wet with sweat. "I wish I didn't. But there, it's settled. They've +settled it, and I would it were done! What do you think of--of it, man? +What do you think of it, yourself?" + +Count Hannibal's face was inscrutable. "I think nothing, sire," he said +dryly. "It is for your Majesty and your council to think. It is enough +for me that it is the King's will." + +"But you'll not flinch?" Charles muttered, with a quick look of +suspicion. "But there," with a monstrous oath, "I know you'll not! I +believe you'd as soon kill a monk--though, thank God," and he crossed +himself devoutly, "there is no question of that--as a man. And sooner +than a maiden." + +"Much sooner, sire," Tavannes answered grimly. "If you have any orders +in the monkish direction--no? Then your Majesty must not talk to me +longer. M. de Rochefoucauld is beginning to wonder what is keeping your +Majesty from your game. And others are marking you, sire." + +"By the Lord!" Charles exclaimed, a ring of wonder mingled with horror in +his tone, "if they knew what was in our minds they'd mark us more! Yet, +see Nancay there beside the door? He is unmoved. He looks to-day as he +looked yesterday. Yet he has charge of the work in the palace--" + +For the first time Tavannes allowed a movement of surprise to escape him. + +"In the palace?" he muttered. "Is it to be done here, too, sire?" + +"Would you let some escape, to return by-and-by and cut our throats?" the +King retorted, with a strange spirt of fury; an incapacity to maintain +the same attitude of mind for two minutes together was the most fatal +weakness of his ill-balanced nature. "No. All! All!" he repeated with +vehemence. "Didn't Noah people the earth with eight? But I'll not leave +eight! My cousins, for they are blood-royal, shall live if they will +recant. And my old nurse, whether or no. And Pare, for no one else +understands my complexion. And--" + +"And Rochefoucauld, doubtless, sire?" + +The King, whose eye had sought his favourite companion, withdrew it. He +darted a glance at Tavannes. + +"Foucauld? Who said so?" he muttered jealously. "Not I! But we shall +see. We shall see! And do you see that you spare no one, M. le Comte, +without an order. That is your business." + +"I understand, sire," Tavannes answered coolly. And after a moment's +silence, seeing that the King had done with him, he bowed low and +withdrew; watched by the circle, as all about a King were watched in the +days when a King's breath meant life or death, and his smile made the +fortunes of men. As he passed Rochefoucauld, the latter looked up and +nodded. + +"What keeps brother Charles?" he muttered. "He's madder than ever to- +night. Is it a masque or a murder he is planning?" + +"The vapours," Tavannes answered, with a sneer. "Old tales his old nurse +has stuffed him withal. He'll come by-and-by, and 'twill be well if you +can divert him." + +"I will, if he come," Rochefoucauld answered, shuffling the cards. "If +not 'tis Chicot's business, and he should attend to it. I'm tired, and +shall to bed." + +"He will come," Tavannes answered, and moved, as if to go on. Then he +paused for a last word. "He will come," he muttered, stooping and +speaking under his breath, his eyes on the other's face. "But play him +lightly. He is in an ugly mood. Please him, if you can, and it may +serve." + +The eyes of the two met an instant, and those of Foucauld--so the King +called his Huguenot favourite--betrayed some surprise; for Count Hannibal +and he were not intimate. But seeing that the other was in earnest, he +raised his brows in acknowledgment. Tavannes nodded carelessly in +return, looked an instant at the cards on the table, and passed on, +pushed his way through the circle, and reached the door. He was lifting +the curtain to go out, when Nancay, the Captain of the Guard, plucked his +sleeve. + +"What have you been saying to Foucauld, M. de Tavannes?" he muttered. + +"I?" + +"Yes," with a jealous glance, "you, M. le Comte." + +Count Hannibal looked at him with the sudden ferocity that made the man a +proverb at Court. + +"What I chose, M. le Capitaine des Suisses!" he hissed. And his hand +closed like a vice on the other's wrist. "What I chose, look you! And +remember, another time, that I am not a Huguenot, and say what I please." + +"But there is great need of care," Nancay protested, stammering and +flinching. "And--and I have orders, M. le Comte." + +"Your orders are not for me," Tavannes answered, releasing his arm with a +contemptuous gesture. "And look you, man, do not cross my path to-night. +You know our motto? Who touches my brother, touches Tavannes! Be warned +by it." + +Nancay scowled. "But the priests say, 'If your hand offend you, cut it +off!'" he muttered. + +Tavannes laughed, a sinister laugh. "If you offend me I'll cut your +throat," he said; and with no ceremony he went out, and dropped the +curtain behind him. + +Nancay looked after him, his face pale with rage. "Curse him!" he +whispered, rubbing his wrist. "If he were any one else I would teach +him! But he would as soon run you through in the presence as in the Pre +aux Clercs! And his brother, the Marshal, has the King's ear! And +Madame Catherine's too, which is worse!" + +He was still fuming, when an officer in the colours of Monsieur, the +King's brother, entered hurriedly, and keeping his hand on the curtain, +looked anxiously round the Chamber. As soon as his eye found Nancay, his +face cleared. + +"Have you the reckoning?" he muttered. + +"There are seventeen Huguenots in the palace besides their Highnesses," +Nancay replied, in the same cautious tone. "Not counting two or three +who are neither the one thing nor the other. In addition, there are the +two Montmorencies; but they are to go safe for fear of their brother, who +is not in the trap. He is too like his father, the old Bench-burner, to +be lightly wronged! And, besides, there is Pare, who is to go to his +Majesty's closet as soon as the gates are shut. If the King decides to +save any one else, he will send him to his closet. So 'tis all clear and +arranged here. If you are forward outside, it will be well! Who deals +with the gentleman with the tooth-pick?" + +"The Admiral? Monsieur, Guise, and the Grand Prior; Cosseins and Besme +have charge. 'Tis to be done first. Then the Provost will raise the +town. He will have a body of stout fellows ready at three or four +rendezvous, so that the fire may blaze up everywhere at once. Marcel, +the ex-provost, has the same commission south of the river. Orders to +light the town as for a frolic have been given, and the Halles will be +ready." + +Nancay nodded, reflected a moment, and then with an involuntary shudder-- + +"God!" he exclaimed, "it will shake the world!" + +"You think so?" + +"Ay, will it not!" His next words showed that he bore Tavannes' warning +in mind. "For me, my friend, I go in mail to-night," he said. "There +will be many a score paid before morning, besides his Majesty's. And +many a left-handed blow will be struck in the _melee_!" + +The other crossed himself. "Grant none light here!" he said devoutly. +And with a last look he nodded and went out. + +In the doorway he jostled a person who was in the act of entering. It +was M. de Tignonville, who, seeing Nancay at his elbow, saluted him, and +stood looking round. The young man's face was flushed, his eyes were +bright with unwonted excitement. + +"M. de Rochefoucauld?" he asked eagerly. "He has not left yet?" + +Nancay caught the thrill in his voice, and marked the young man's flushed +face and altered bearing. He noted, too, the crumpled paper he carried +half-hidden in his hand; and the Captain's countenance grew dark. He +drew a step nearer, and his hand reached softly for his dagger. But his +voice, when he spoke, was smooth as the surface of the pleasure-loving +Court, smooth as the externals of all things in Paris that summer +evening. + +"He is here still," he said. "Have you news, M. de Tignonville?" + +"News?" + +"For M. de Rochefoucauld?" + +Tignonville laughed. "No," he said. "I am here to see him to his +lodging, that is all. News, Captain? What made you think so?" + +"That which you have in your hand," Nancay answered, his fears relieved. + +The young man blushed to the roots of his hair. "It is not for him," he +said. + +"I can see that, Monsieur," Nancay answered politely. "He has his +successes, but all the billets-doux do not go one way." + +The young man laughed, a conscious, flattered laugh. He was handsome, +with such a face as women love, but there was a lack of ease in the way +he wore his Court suit. It was a trifle finer, too, than accorded with +Huguenot taste; or it looked the finer for the way he wore it, even as +Teligny's and Foucauld's velvet capes and stiff brocades lost their +richness and became but the adjuncts, fitting and graceful, of the men. +Odder still, as Tignonville laughed, half hiding and half revealing the +dainty scented paper in his hand, his clothes seemed smarter and he more +awkward than usual. + +"It is from a lady," he admitted. "But a bit of badinage, I assure you, +nothing more!" + +"Understood!" M. de Nancay murmured politely. "I congratulate you." + +"But--" + +"I say I congratulate you!" + +"But it is nothing." + +"Oh, I understand. And see, the King is about to rise. Go forward, +Monsieur," he continued benevolently. "A young man should show himself. +Besides, his Majesty likes you well," he added, with a leer. He had an +unpleasant sense of humour, had his Majesty's Captain of the Guard; and +this evening somewhat more than ordinary on which to exercise it. + +Tignonville held too good an opinion of himself to suspect the other of +badinage; and thus encouraged, he pushed his way to the front of the +circle. During his absence with his betrothed, the crowd in the Chamber +had grown thin, the candles had burned an inch shorter in the sconces. +But though many who had been there had left, the more select remained, +and the King's return to his seat had given the company a fillip. An air +of feverish gaiety, common in the unhealthy life of the Court, prevailed. +At a table abreast of the King, Montpensier and Marshal Cosse were dicing +and disputing, with now a yell of glee, and now an oath, that betrayed +which way fortune inclined. At the back of the King's chair, Chicot, his +gentleman-jester, hung over Charles's shoulder, now scanning his cards, +and now making hideous faces that threw the on-lookers into fits of +laughter. Farther up the Chamber, at the end of the alcove, Marshal +Tavannes--our Hannibal's brother--occupied a low stool, which was set +opposite the open door of the closet. Through this doorway a slender +foot, silk-clad, shot now and again into sight; it came, it vanished, it +came again, the gallant Marshal striving at each appearance to rob it of +its slipper, a dainty jewelled thing of crimson velvet. He failed +thrice, a peal of laughter greeting each failure. At the fourth essay, +he upset his stool and fell to the floor, but held the slipper. And not +the slipper only, but the foot. Amid a flutter of silken skirts and +dainty laces--while the hidden beauty shrilly protested--he dragged first +the ankle, and then a shapely leg into sight. The circle applauded; the +lady, feeling herself still drawn on, screamed loudly and more loudly. +All save the King and his opponent turned to look. And then the sport +came to a sudden end. A sinewy hand appeared, interposed, released; for +an instant the dark, handsome face of Guise looked through the doorway. +It was gone as soon as seen; it was there a second only. But more than +one recognised it, and wondered. For was not the young Duke in evil +odour with the King by reason of the attack on the Admiral? And had he +not been chased from Paris only that morning and forbidden to return? + +They were still wondering, still gazing, when abruptly--as he did all +things--Charles thrust back his chair. + +"Foucauld, you owe me ten pieces!" he cried with glee, and he slapped the +table. "Pay, my friend; pay!" + +"To-morrow, little master; to-morrow!" Rochefoucauld answered in the same +tone. And he rose to his feet. + +"To-morrow!" Charles repeated. "To-morrow?" And on the word his jaw +fell. He looked wildly round. His face was ghastly. + +"Well, sire, and why not?" Rochefoucauld answered in astonishment. And +in his turn he looked round, wondering; and a chill fell on him. "Why +not?" he repeated. + +For a moment no one answered him: the silence in the Chamber was intense. +Where he looked, wherever he looked, he met solemn, wondering eyes, such +eyes as gaze on men in their coffins. + +"What has come to you all?" he cried, with an effort. "What is the jest, +for faith, sire, I don't see it?" + +The King seemed incapable of speech, and it was Chicot who filled the +gap. + +"It is pretty apparent," he said, with a rude laugh. "The cock will lay +and Foucauld will pay--to-morrow!" + +The young nobleman's colour rose; between him and the Gascon gentleman +was no love lost. + +"There are some debts I pay to-day," he cried haughtily. "For the rest, +farewell my little master! When one does not understand the jest it is +time to be gone." + +He was halfway to the door, watched by all, when the King spoke. + +"Foucauld!" he cried, in an odd, strangled voice. "Foucauld!" And the +Huguenot favourite turned back, wondering. "One minute!" the King +continued, in the same forced voice. "Stay till morning--in my closet. +It is late now. We'll play away the rest of the night!" + +"Your Majesty must excuse me," Rochefoucauld answered frankly. "I am +dead asleep." + +"You can sleep in the Garde-Robe," the King persisted. + +"Thank you for nothing, sire!" was the gay answer. "I know that bed! I +shall sleep longer and better in my own." + +The King shuddered, but strove to hide the movement under a shrug of his +shoulders. He turned away. + +"It is God's will!" he muttered. He was white to the lips. + +Rochefoucauld did not catch the words. "Good night, sire," he cried. +"Farewell, little master." And with a nod here and there, he passed to +the door, followed by Mergey and Chamont, two gentlemen of his suite. + +Nancay raised the curtain with an obsequious gesture. "Pardon me, M. le +Comte," he said, "do you go to his Highness's?" + +"For a few minutes, Nancay." + +"Permit me to go with you. The guards may be set." + +"Do so, my friend," Rochefoucauld answered. "Ah, Tignonville, is it +you?" + +"I am come to attend you to your lodging," the young man said. And he +ranged up beside the other, as, the curtain fallen behind them, they +walked along the gallery. + +Rochefoucauld stopped and laid his hand on Tignonville's sleeve. + +"Thanks, dear lad," he said, "but I am going to the Princess Dowager's. +Afterwards to his Highness's. I may be detained an hour or more. You +will not like to wait so long." + +M. de Tignonville's face fell ludicrously. "Well, no," he said. "I--I +don't think I could wait so long--to-night." + +"Then come to-morrow night," Rochefoucauld answered, with good nature. + +"With pleasure," the other cried heartily, his relief evident. +"Certainly. With pleasure." And, nodding good night, they parted. + +While Rochefoucauld, with Nancay at his side and his gentlemen attending +him, passed along the echoing and now empty gallery, the younger man +bounded down the stairs to the great hall of the Caryatides, his face +radiant. He for one was not sleepy. + + + + +CHAPTER III. THE HOUSE NEXT THE GOLDEN MAID. + + +We have it on record that before the Comte de la Rochefoucauld left the +Louvre that night he received the strongest hints of the peril which +threatened him; and at least one written warning was handed to him by a +stranger in black, and by him in turn was communicated to the King of +Navarre. We are told further that when he took his final leave, about +the hour of eleven, he found the courtyard brilliantly lighted, and the +three companies of guards--Swiss, Scotch, and French--drawn up in ranked +array from the door of the great hall to the gate which opened on the +street. But, the chronicler adds, neither this precaution, sinister as +it appeared to some of his suite, nor the grave farewell which +Rambouillet, from his post at the gate, took of one of his gentlemen, +shook that chivalrous soul or sapped its generous confidence. + +M. de Tignonville was young and less versed in danger than the Governor +of Rochelle; with him, had he seen so much, it might have been different. +But he left the Louvre an hour earlier--at a time when the precincts of +the palace, gloomy-seeming to us in the light cast by coming events, wore +their wonted aspect. His thoughts, moreover, as he crossed the +courtyard, were otherwise employed. So much so, indeed, that though he +signed to his two servants to follow him, he seemed barely conscious what +he was doing; nor did he shake off his reverie until he reached the +corner of the Rue Baillet. Here the voices of the Swiss who stood on +guard opposite Coligny's lodgings, at the end of the Rue Bethizy, could +be plainly heard. They had kindled a fire in an iron basket set in the +middle of the road, and knots of them were visible in the distance, +moving to and fro about their piled arms. + +Tignonville paused before he came within the radius of the firelight, +and, turning, bade his servants take their way home. "I shall follow, +but I have business first," he added curtly. + +The elder of the two demurred. "The streets are not too safe," he said. +"In two hours or less, my lord, it will be midnight. And then--" + +"Go, booby; do you think I am a child?" his master retorted angrily. +"I've my sword and can use it. I shall not be long. And do you hear, +men, keep a still tongue, will you?" + +The men, country fellows, obeyed reluctantly, and with a full intention +of sneaking after him the moment he had turned his back. But he +suspected them of this, and stood where he was until they had passed the +fire, and could no longer detect his movements. Then he plunged quickly +into the Rue Baillet, gained through it the Rue du Roule, and traversing +that also, turned to the right into the Rue Ferronerie, the main +thoroughfare, east and west, of Paris. Here he halted in front of the +long, dark outer wall of the Cemetery of the Innocents, in which, across +the tombstones and among the sepulchres of dead Paris, the living Paris +of that day, bought and sold, walked, gossiped, and made love. + +About him things were to be seen that would have seemed stranger to him +had he been less strange to the city. From the quarter of the markets +north of him, a quarter which fenced in the cemetery on two sides, the +same dull murmur proceeded, which Mademoiselle de Vrillac had remarked an +hour earlier. The sky above the cemetery glowed with reflected light, +the cause of which was not far to seek, for every window of the tall +houses that overlooked it, and the huddle of booths about it, contributed +a share of the illumination. At an hour late even for Paris, an hour +when honest men should have been sunk in slumber, this strange brilliance +did for a moment perplex him; but the past week had been so full of +fetes, of masques and frolics, often devised on the moment and dependent +on the King's whim, that he set this also down to such a cause, and +wondered no more. + +The lights in the houses did not serve the purpose he had in his mind, +but beside the closed gate of the cemetery, and between two stalls, was a +votive lamp burning before an image of the Mother and Child. He crossed +to this, and assuring himself by a glance to right and left that he stood +in no danger from prowlers, he drew a note from his breast. It had been +slipped into his hand in the gallery before he saw Mademoiselle to her +lodging; it had been in his possession barely an hour. But brief as its +contents were, and easily committed to memory, he had perused it thrice +already. + +"At the house next the Golden Maid, Rue Cinq Diamants, an hour before +midnight, you may find the door open should you desire to talk farther +with C. St. L." + +As he read it for the fourth time the light of the lamp fell athwart his +face; and even as his fine clothes had never seemed to fit him worse than +when he faintly denied the imputations of gallantry launched at him by +Nancay, so his features had never looked less handsome than they did now. +The glow of vanity which warmed his cheek as he read the message, the +smile of conceit which wreathed his lips, bespoke a nature not of the +most noble; or the lamp did him less than justice. Presently he kissed +the note, and hid it. He waited until the clock of St. Jacques struck +the hour before midnight; and then moving forward, he turned to the right +by way of the narrow neck leading to the Rue Lombard. He walked in the +kennel here, his sword in his hand and his eyes looking to right and +left; for the place was notorious for robberies. But though he saw more +than one figure lurking in a doorway or under the arch that led to a +passage, it vanished on his nearer approach. In less than a minute he +reached the southern end of the street that bore the odd title of the +Five Diamonds. + +Situate in the crowded quarter of the butchers, and almost in the shadow +of their famous church, this street--which farther north was continued in +the Rue Quimcampoix--presented in those days a not uncommon mingling of +poverty and wealth. On one side of the street a row of lofty gabled +houses, built under Francis the First, sheltered persons of good +condition; on the other, divided from these by the width of the road and +a reeking kennel, a row of peat-houses, the hovels of cobblers and +sausage-makers, leaned against shapeless timber houses which tottered +upwards in a medley of sagging roofs and bulging gutters. Tignonville +was strange to the place, and nine nights out of ten he would have been +at a disadvantage. But, thanks to the tapers that to-night shone in many +windows, he made out enough to see that he need search only the one side; +and with a beating heart he passed along the row of newer houses, looking +eagerly for the sign of the Golden Maid. + +He found it at last; and then for a moment he stood puzzled. The note +said, next door to the Golden Maid, but it did not say on which side. He +scrutinised the nearer house, but he saw nothing to determine him; and he +was proceeding to the farther, when he caught sight of two men, who, +ambushed behind a horse-block on the opposite side of the roadway, seemed +to be watching his movements. Their presence flurried him; but much to +his relief his next glance at the houses showed him that the door of the +farther one was unlatched. It stood slightly ajar, permitting a beam of +light to escape into the street. + +He stepped quickly to it--the sooner he was within the house the +better--pushed the door open and entered. As soon as he was inside he +tried to close the entrance behind him, but he found he could not; the +door would not shut. After a brief trial he abandoned the attempt and +passed quickly on, through a bare lighted passage which led to the foot +of a staircase, equally bare. He stood at this point an instant and +listened, in the hope that Madame's maid would come to him. At first he +heard nothing save his own breathing; then a gruff voice from above +startled him. + +"This way, Monsieur," it said. "You are early, but not too soon!" + +So Madame trusted her footman! M. de Tignonville shrugged his shoulders; +but after all, it was no affair of his, and he went up. Halfway to the +top, however, he stood, an oath on his lips. Two men had entered by the +open door below--even as he had entered! And as quietly! + +The imprudence of it! The imprudence of leaving the door so that it +could not be closed! He turned, and descended to meet them, his teeth +set, his hand on his sword, one conjecture after another whirling in his +brain. Was he beset? Was it a trap? Was it a rival? Was it chance? +Two steps he descended; and then the voice he had heard before cried +again, but more imperatively-- + +"No, Monsieur, this way! Did you not hear me? This way, and be quick, +if you please. By-and-by there will be a crowd, and then the more we +have dealt with the better!" + +He knew now that he had made a mistake, that he had entered the wrong +house; and naturally his impulse was to continue his descent and secure +his retreat. But the pause had brought the two men who had entered face +to face with him, and they showed no signs of giving way. On the +contrary. + +"The room is above, Monsieur," the foremost said, in a matter-of-fact +tone, and with a slight salutation. "After you, if you please," and he +signed to him to return. + +He was a burly man, grim and truculent in appearance, and his follower +was like him. Tignonville hesitated, then turned and ascended. But as +soon as he had reached the landing where they could pass him, he turned +again. + +"I have made a mistake, I think," he said. "I have entered the wrong +house." + +"Are you for the house next the Golden Maid, Monsieur?" + +"Yes." + +"Rue Cinq Diamants, Quarter of the Boucherie?" + +"Yes." + +"No mistake, then," the stout man replied firmly. "You are early, that +is all. You have arms, I see. Maillard!"--to the person whose voice +Tignonville had heard at the head of the stairs--"A white sleeve, and a +cross for Monsieur's hat, and his name on the register. Come, make a +beginning! Make a beginning, man." + +"To be sure, Monsieur. All is ready." + +"Then lose no time, I say. Here are others, also early in the good +cause. Gentlemen, welcome! Welcome all who are for the true faith! +Death to the heretics! 'Kill, and no quarter!' is the word to-night!" + +"Death to the heretics!" the last comers cried in chorus. "Kill and no +quarter! At what hour, M. le Prevot?" + +"At daybreak," the Provost answered importantly. "But have no fear, the +tocsin will sound. The King and our good man M. de Guise have all in +hand. A white sleeve, a white cross, and a sharp knife shall rid Paris +of the vermin! Gentlemen of the quarter, the word of the night is 'Kill, +and no quarter! Death to the Huguenots!'" + +"Death! Death to the Huguenots! Kill, and no quarter!" A dozen--the +room was beginning to fill--waved their weapons and echoed the cry. + +Tignonville had been fortunate enough to apprehend the position--and the +peril in which he stood--before Maillard advanced to him bearing a white +linen sleeve. In the instant of discovery his heart had stood a moment, +the blood had left his cheeks; but with some faults, he was no coward, +and he managed to hide his emotion. He held out his left arm, and +suffered the beadle to pass the sleeve over it and to secure the white +linen above the elbow. Then at a gesture he gave up his velvet cap, and +saw it decorated with a white cross of the same material. + +"Now the register, Monsieur," Maillard continued briskly; and waving him +in the direction of a clerk, who sat at the end of the long table, having +a book and a ink-horn before him, he turned to the next comer. + +Tignonville would fain have avoided the ordeal of the register, but the +clerk's eye was on him. He had been fortunate so far, but he knew that +the least breath of suspicion would destroy him, and summoning his wits +together he gave his name in a steady voice. "Anne Desmartins." It was +his mother's maiden name, and the first that came into his mind. + +"Of Paris?" + +"Recently; by birth, of the Limousin." + +"Good, Monsieur," the clerk answered, writing in the name. And he turned +to the next. "And you, my friend?" + + + + +CHAPTER IV. THE EVE OF THE FEAST. + + +It was Tignonville's salvation that the men who crowded the long white- +walled room, and exchanged vile boasts under the naked flaring lights, +were of all classes. There were butchers, natives of the surrounding +quarter whom the scent of blood had drawn from their lairs; and there +were priests with hatchet faces, who whispered in the butchers' ears. +There were gentlemen of the robe, and plain mechanics, rich merchants in +their gowns, and bare-armed ragpickers, sleek choristers, and shabby led- +captains; but differ as they might in other points, in one thing all were +alike. From all, gentle or simple, rose the same cry for blood, the same +aspiration to be first equipped for the fray. In one corner a man of +rank stood silent and apart, his hand on his sword, the working of his +face alone betraying the storm that reigned within. In another, a Norman +horse-dealer talked in low whispers with two thieves. In a third, a gold- +wire drawer addressed an admiring group from the Sorbonne; and meantime +the middle of the floor grew into a seething mass of muttering, scowling +men, through whom the last comers, thrust as they might, had much ado to +force their way. + +And from all under the low ceiling rose a ceaseless hum, though none +spoke loud. "Kill! kill! kill!" was the burden; the accompaniment such +profanities and blasphemies as had long disgraced the Paris pulpits, and +day by day had fanned the bigotry--already at a white heat--of the +Parisian populace. Tignonville turned sick as he listened, and would +fain have closed his ears. But for his life he dared not. And presently +a cripple in a beggar's garb, a dwarfish, filthy creature with matted +hair, twitched his sleeve, and offered him a whetstone. + +"Are you sharp, noble sir?" he asked, with a leer. "Are you sharp? It's +surprising how the edge goes on the bone. A cut and thrust? Well, every +man to his taste. But give me a broad butcher's knife and I'll ask no +help, be it man, woman, or child!" + +A bystander, a lean man in rusty black, chuckled as he listened. + +"But the woman or the child for choice, eh, Jehan?" he said. And he +looked to Tignonville to join in the jest. + +"Ay, give me a white throat for choice!" the cripple answered, with +horrible zest. "And there'll be delicate necks to prick to-night! Lord, +I think I hear them squeal! You don't need it, sir?" he continued, again +proffering the whetstone. "No? Then I'll give my blade another whet, in +the name of our Lady, the Saints, and good Father Pezelay!" + +"Ay, and give me a turn!" the lean man cried, proffering his weapon. "May +I die if I do not kill one of the accursed for every finger of my hands!" + +"And toe of my feet!" the cripple answered, not to be outdone. "And toe +of my feet! A full score!" + +"'Tis according to your sins!" the other, who had something of the air of +a Churchman, answered. "The more heretics killed, the more sins +forgiven. Remember that, brother, and spare not if your soul be +burdened! They blaspheme God and call Him paste! In the paste of their +own blood," he continued ferociously, "I will knead them and roll them +out, saith the good Father Pezelay, my master!" + +The cripple crossed himself. "Whom God keep," he said. "He is a good +man. But you are looking ill, noble sir?" he continued, peering +curiously at the young Huguenot. + +"'Tis the heat," Tignonville muttered. "The night is stifling, and the +lights make it worse. I will go nearer the door." + +He hoped to escape them; he had some hope even of escaping from the room +and giving the alarm. But when he had forced his way to the threshold, +he found it guarded by two pikemen; and glancing back to see if his +movements were observed--for he knew that his agitation might have +awakened suspicion--he found that the taller of the two whom he had left, +the black-garbed man with the hungry face, was watching him a-tiptoe, +over the shoulders of the crowd. + +With that, and the sense of his impotence, the lights began to swim +before his eyes. The catastrophe that overhung his party, the fate so +treacherously prepared for all whom he loved and all with whom his +fortunes were bound up, confused his brain almost to delirium. He strove +to think, to calculate chances, to imagine some way in which he might +escape from the room, or from a window might cry the alarm. But he could +not bring his mind to a point. Instead, in lightning flashes he foresaw +what must happen: his betrothed in the hands of the murderers; the fair +face that had smiled on him frozen with terror; brave men, the fighters +of Montauban, the defenders of Angely, strewn dead through the dark lanes +of the city. And now a gust of passion, and now a shudder of fear, +seized him; and in any other assembly his agitation must have led to +detection. But in that room were many twitching faces and trembling +hands. Murder, cruel, midnight, and most foul, wrung even from the +murderers her toll of horror. While some, to hide the nervousness they +felt, babbled of what they would do, others betrayed by the intentness +with which they awaited the signal, the dreadful anticipations that +possessed their souls. + +Before he had formed any plan, a movement took place near the door. The +stairs shook beneath the sudden trampling of feet, a voice cried "De par +le Roi! De par le Roi!" and the babel of the room died down. The throng +swayed and fell back on either hand, and Marshal Tavannes entered, +wearing half armour, with a white sash; he was followed by six or eight +gentlemen in like guise. Amid cries of "Jarnac! Jarnac!"--for to him +the credit of that famous fight, nominally won by the King's brother, was +popularly given--he advanced up the room, met the Provost of the +merchants, and began to confer with him. Apparently he asked the latter +to select some men who could be trusted on a special mission, for the +Provost looked round and beckoned to his side one or two of higher rank +than the herd, and then one or two of the most truculent aspect. + +Tignonville trembled lest he should be singled out. He had hidden +himself as well as he could at the rear of the crowd by the door; but his +dress, so much above the common, rendered him conspicuous. He fancied +that the Provost's eye ranged the crowd for him; and to avoid it and +efface himself he moved a pace to his left. + +The step was fatal. It saved him from the Provost, but it brought him +face to face and eye to eye with Count Hannibal, who stood in the first +rank at his brother's elbow. Tavannes stared an instant as if he doubted +his eyesight. Then, as doubt gave slow place to certainty, and surprise +to amazement, he smiled. And after a moment he looked another way. + +Tignonville's heart gave a great bump and seemed to stand still. The +lights whirled before his eyes, there was a roaring in his ears. He +waited for the word that should denounce him. It did not come. And +still it did not come; and Marshal Tavannes was turning. Yes, turning, +and going; the Provost, bowing low, was attending him to the door; his +suite were opening on either side to let him pass. And Count Hannibal? +Count Hannibal was following also, as if nothing had occurred. As if he +had seen nothing! + +The young man caught his breath. Was it possible that he had imagined +the start of recognition, the steady scrutiny, the sinister smile? No; +for as Tavannes followed the others, he hung an instant on his heel, +their eyes met again, and once more he smiled. In the next breath he was +gone through the doorway, his spurs rang on the stairs; and the babel of +the crowd, checked by the great man's presence, broke out anew, and +louder. + +Tignonville shuddered. He was saved as by a miracle; saved, he did not +know how. But the respite, though its strangeness diverted his thoughts +for a while, brought short relief. The horrors which impended over +others surged afresh into his mind, and filled him with a maddening sense +of impotence. To be one hour, only one short half-hour without! To run +through the sleeping streets, and scream in the dull ears which a King's +flatteries had stopped as with wool! To go up and down and shake into +life the guests whose royal lodgings daybreak would turn to a shambles +reeking with their blood! They slept, the gentle Teligny, the brave +Pardaillan, the gallant Rochefoucauld, Piles the hero of St. Jean, while +the cruel city stirred rustling about them, and doom crept whispering to +the door. They slept, they and a thousand others, gentle and simple, +young and old; while the half-mad Valois shifted between two opinions, +and the Italian woman, accursed daughter of an accursed race, cried, +"Hark!" at her window, and looked eastwards for the dawn. + +And the women? The woman he was to marry? And the others? In an access +of passion he thrust aside those who stood between, he pushed his way, +disregarding complaints, disregarding opposition, to the door. But the +pikes lay across it, and he could not utter a syllable to save his life. +He would have flung himself on the doorkeepers, for he was losing control +of himself; but as he drew back for the spring, a hand clutched his +sleeve, and a voice he loathed hummed in his ear. + +"No, fair play, noble sir; fair play!" the cripple Jehan muttered, +forcibly drawing him aside. "All start together, and it's no man's loss. +But if there is any little business," he continued, lowering his tone and +peering with a cunning look into the other's face, "of your own, noble +sir, or your friends', anything or anybody you want despatched, count on +me. It were better, perhaps, you didn't appear in it yourself, and a man +you can trust--" + +"What do you mean?" the young man cried, recoiling from him. + +"No need to look surprised, noble sir," the lean man, who had joined +them, answered in a soothing tone. "Who kills to-night does God service, +and who serves God much may serve himself a little. 'Thou shalt not +muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn,' says good Father Pezelay." + +"Hear, hear!" the cripple chimed in eagerly, his impatience such that he +danced on his toes. "He preaches as well as the good father his master! +So frankly, noble sir, what is it? What is it? A woman grown ugly? A +rich man grown old, with perchance a will in his chest? Or a young heir +that stands in my lord's way? Whichever it be, or whatever it be, trust +me and our friend here, and my butcher's gully shall cut the knot." + +Tignonville shook his head. + +"But something there is," the lean man persisted obstinately; and he cast +a suspicious glance at Tignonville's clothes. It was evident that the +two had discussed him, and the motives of his presence there. "Have the +dice proved fickle, my lord, and are you for the jewellers' shops on the +bridge to fill your purse again? If so, take my word, it were better to +go three than one, and we'll enlist." + +"Ay, we know shops on the bridge where you can plunge your arm elbow-deep +in gold," the cripple muttered, his eyes sparkling greedily. "There's +Baillet's, noble sir! There's a shop for you! And there's the man's +shop who works for the King. He's lame like me. And I know the way to +all. Oh, it will be a merry night if they ring before the dawn. It must +be near daybreak now. And what's that?" + +Ay, what was it? A score of voices called for silence; a breathless hush +fell on the crowd. A moment the fiercest listened, with parted lips and +starting eyes. Then, "It was the bell!" cried one, "let us out!" "It +was not!" cried another. "It was a pistol shot!" "Anyhow let us out!" +the crowd roared in chorus; "let us out!" And they pressed in a furious +mass towards the door, as if they would force it, signal or no signal. + +But the pikemen stood fast, and the throng, checked in their first rush, +turned on one another, and broke into wrangling and disputing; boasting, +and calling Heaven and the saints to witness how thoroughly, how +pitilessly, how remorselessly they would purge Paris of this leprosy when +the signal did sound. Until again above the babel a man cried "Silence!" +and again they listened. And this time, dulled by walls and distance, +but unmistakable by the ears of fear or hate, the heavy note of a bell +came to them on the hot night air. It was the boom, sullen and menacing, +of the death signal. + +The doorkeepers lowered their pikes, and with a wild rush, as of wolves +swarming on their prey, the band stormed the door, and thrust and +struggled and battled a way down the narrow staircase, and along the +narrow passage. "A bas les Huguenots! Mort aux Huguenots!" they +shouted; and shrieking, sweating, spurning with vile hands, viler faces, +they poured pell-mell into the street, and added their clamour to the +boom of the tocsin that, as by magic and in a moment, turned the streets +of Paris into a hell of blood and cruelty. For as it was here, so it was +in a dozen other quarters. + +Quickly as they streamed out--and to have issued more quickly would have +been impossible--fiercely as they pushed and fought and clove their way, +Tignonville was of the foremost. And for a moment, seeing the street +clear before him and almost empty, the Huguenot thought that he might do +something. He might outstrip the stream of rapine, he might carry the +alarm; at worst he might reach his betrothed before harm befell her. But +when he had sped fifty yards, his heart sank. True, none passed him; but +under the spell of the alarm-bell the stones themselves seemed to turn to +men. Houses, courts, alleys, the very churches vomited men. In a +twinkling the street was alive with men, roared with them as with a +rushing tide, gleamed with their lights and weapons, thundered with the +volume of their thousand voices. He was no longer ahead, men were +running before him, behind him, on his right hand and on his left. In +every side-street, every passage, men were running; and not men only, but +women, children, furious creatures without age or sex. And all the time +the bell tolled overhead, tolled faster and faster, and louder and +louder; and shots and screams, and the clash of arms, and the fall of +strong doors began to swell the maelstrom of sound. + +He was in the Rue St. Honore now, and speeding westward. But the flood +still rose with him, and roared abreast of him. Nay, it outstripped him. +When he came, panting, within sight of his goal, and lacked but a hundred +paces of it, he found his passage barred by a dense mass of people moving +slowly to meet him. In the heart of the press the light of a dozen +torches shone on half as many riders mailed and armed; whose eyes, as +they moved on, and the furious gleaming eyes of the rabble about them, +never left the gabled roofs on their right. On these from time to time a +white-clad figure showed itself, and passed from chimney-stack to chimney- +stack, or, stooping low, ran along the parapet. Every time that this +happened, the men on horseback pointed upwards and the mob foamed with +rage. + +Tignonville groaned, but he could not help. Unable to go forward, he +turned, and with others hurrying, shouting, and brandishing weapons, he +pressed into the Rue du Roule, passed through it, and gained the Bethizy. +But here, as he might have foreseen, all passage was barred at the Hotel +Ponthieu by a horde of savages, who danced and yelled and sang songs +round the Admiral's body, which lay in the middle of the way; while to +right and left men were bursting into houses and forcing new victims into +the street. The worst had happened there, and he turned panting, +regained the Rue St. Honore, and, crossing it and turning left-handed, +darted through side streets until he came again into the main +thoroughfare a little beyond the Croix du Tiroir, that marked the corner +of Mademoiselle's house. + +Here his last hope left him. The street swarmed with bands of men +hurrying to and fro as in a sacked city. The scum of the Halles, the +rabble of the quarter poured this way and that, here at random, there +swayed and directed by a few knots of men-at-arms, whose corselets +reflected the glare of a hundred torches. At one time and within sight, +three or four houses were being stormed. On every side rose +heart-rending cries, mingled with brutal laughter, with savage jests, +with cries of "To the river!" The most cruel of cities had burst its +bounds and was not to be stayed; nor would be stayed until the Seine ran +red to the sea, and leagues below, in pleasant Normandy hamlets, men, for +fear of the pestilence, pushed the corpses from the bridges with poles +and boat-hooks. + +All this Tignonville saw, though his eyes, leaping the turmoil, looked +only to the door at which he had left Mademoiselle a few hours earlier. +There a crowd of men pressed and struggled; but from the spot where he +stood he could see no more. That was enough, however. Rage nerved him, +and despair; his world was dying round him. If he could not save her he +would avenge her. Recklessly he plunged into the tumult; blade in hand, +with vigorous blows he thrust his way through, his white sleeve and the +white cross in his hat gaining him passage until he reached the fringe of +the band who beset the door. Here his first attempt to pass failed; and +he might have remained hampered by the crowd, if a squad of archers had +not ridden up. As they spurred to the spot, heedless over whom they +rode, he clutched a stirrup, and was borne with them into the heart of +the crowd. In a twinkling he stood on the threshold of the house, face +to face and foot to foot with Count Hannibal, who stood also on the +threshold, but with his back to the door, which, unbarred and unbolted, +gaped open behind him. + + + + +CHAPTER V. ROUGH WOOING. + + +The young man had caught the delirium that was abroad that night. The +rage of the trapped beast was in his heart, his hand held a sword. To +strike blindly, to strike without question the first who withstood him +was the wild-beast instinct; and if Count Hannibal had not spoken on the +instant, the Marshal's brother had said his last word in the world. + +Yet as he stood there, a head above the crowd, he seemed unconscious +alike of Tignonville and the point that all but pricked his breast. Swart +and grim-visaged, his harsh features distorted by the glare which shone +upon him, he looked beyond the Huguenot to the sea of tossing arms and +raging faces that surged about the saddles of the horsemen. It was to +these he spoke. + +"Begone, dogs!" he cried, in a voice that startled the nearest, "or I +will whip you away with my stirrup-leathers! Do you hear? Begone! This +house is not for you! Burn, kill, plunder where you will, but go hence!" + +"But 'tis on the list!" one of the wretches yelled. "'Tis on the list!" +And he pushed forward until he stood at Tignonville's elbow. + +"And has no cross!" shrieked another, thrusting himself forward in his +turn. "See you, let us by, whoever you are! In the King's name, kill! +It has no cross!" + +"Then," Tavannes thundered, "will I nail you for a cross to the front of +it! No cross, say you? I will make one of you, foul crow!" + +And as he spoke, his arm shot out; the man recoiled, his fellow likewise. +But one of the mounted archers took up the matter. + +"Nay, but, my lord," he said--he knew Tavannes--"it is the King's will +there be no favour shown to-night to any, small or great. And this house +is registered, and is full of heretics." + +"And has no cross!" the rabble urged in chorus. And they leapt up and +down in their impatience, and to see the better. "And has no cross!" +they persisted. They could understand that. Of what use crosses, if +they were not to kill where there was no cross? Daylight was not +plainer. Tavannes' face grew dark, and he shook his finger at the archer +who had spoken. + +"Rogue," he cried, "does the King's will run here only? Are there no +other houses to sack or men to kill, that you must beard me? And favour? +You will have little of mine, if you do not budge and take your vile tail +with you! Off! Or must I cry 'Tavannes!' and bid my people sweep you +from the streets?" + +The foremost rank hesitated, awed by his manner and his name; while the +rearmost, attracted by the prospect of easier pillage, had gone off +already. The rest wavered; and another and another broke away. The +archer who had put himself forward saw which way the wind was blowing, +and he shrugged his shoulders. + +"Well, my lord, as you will," he said sullenly. "All the same I would +advise you to close the door and bolt and bar. We shall not be the last +to call to-day." And he turned his horse in ill-humour, and forced it, +snorting and plunging, through the crowd. + +"Bolt and bar?" Tavannes cried after him in fury. "See you my answer to +that!" And turning on the threshold, "Within there!" he cried. "Open +the shutters and set lights, and the table! Light, I say; light! And +lay on quickly, if you value your lives! And throw open, for I sup with +your mistress to-night, if it rain blood without! Do you hear me, +rogues? Set on!" + +He flung the last word at the quaking servants; then he turned again to +the street. He saw that the crowd was melting, and, looking in +Tignonville's face, he laughed aloud. + +"Does Monsieur sup with us?" he said. "To complete the party? Or will +he choose to sup with our friends yonder? It is for him to say. I +confess, for my part," with an awful smile, "their hospitality seems a +trifle crude, and boisterous." + +Tignonville looked behind him and shuddered. The same horde which had so +lately pressed about the door had found a victim lower down the street, +and, as Tavannes spoke, came driving back along the roadway, a mass of +tossing lights and leaping, running figures, from the heart of which rose +the screams of a creature in torture. So terrible were the sounds that +Tignonville leant half swooning against the door-post; and even the iron +heart of Tavannes seemed moved for a moment. + +For a moment only: then he looked at his companion, and his lip curled. + +"You'll join us, I think?" he said, with an undisguised sneer. "Then, +after you, Monsieur. They are opening the shutters. Doubtless the table +is laid, and Mademoiselle is expecting us. After you, Monsieur, if you +please. A few hours ago I should have gone first, for you, in this +house"--with a sinister smile--"were at home! Now, we have changed +places." + +Whatever he meant by the gibe--and some smack of an evil jest lurked in +his tone--he played the host so far as to urge his bewildered companion +along the passage and into the living-chamber on the left, where he had +seen from without that his orders to light and lay were being executed. A +dozen candles shone on the board, and lit up the apartment. What the +house contained of food and wine had been got together and set on the +table; from the low, wide window, beetle-browed and diamond-paned, which +extended the whole length of the room and looked on the street at the +height of a man's head above the roadway, the shutters had been +removed--doubtless by trembling and reluctant fingers. To such eyes of +passers-by as looked in, from the inferno of driving crowds and gleaming +weapons which prevailed outside--and not outside only, but throughout +Paris--the brilliant room and the laid table must have seemed strange +indeed! + +To Tignonville, all that had happened, all that was happening, seemed a +dream: a dream his entrance under the gentle impulsion of this man who +dominated him; a dream Mademoiselle standing behind the table with +blanched face and stony eyes; a dream the cowering servants huddled in a +corner beyond her; a dream his silence, her silence, the moment of +waiting before Count Hannibal spoke. + +When he did speak it was to count the servants. "One, two, three, four, +five," he said. "And two of them women. Mademoiselle is but poorly +attended. Are there not"--and he turned to her--"some lacking?" + +The girl opened her lips twice, but no sound issued. The third time-- + +"Two went out," she muttered in a hoarse, strangled voice, "and have not +returned." + +"And have not returned?" he answered, raising his eyebrows. "Then I fear +we must not wait for them. We might wait long!" And turning sharply to +the panic-stricken servants, "Go you to your places! Do you not see that +Mademoiselle waits to be served?" + +The girl shuddered and spoke. + +"Do you wish me," she muttered, in the same strangled tone, "to play this +farce--to the end?" + +"The end may be better, Mademoiselle, than you think," he answered, +bowing. And then to the miserable servants, who hung back afraid to +leave the shelter of their mistress's skirts, "To your places!" he cried. +"Set Mademoiselle's chair. Are you so remiss on other days? If so," +with a look of terrible meaning, "you will be the less loss! Now, +Mademoiselle, may I have the honour? And when we are at table we can +talk." + +He extended his hand, and, obedient to his gesture, she moved to the +place at the head of the table, but without letting her fingers come into +contact with his. He gave no sign that he noticed this, but he strode to +the place on her right, and signed to Tignonville to take that on her +left. + +"Will you not be seated?" he continued. For she kept her feet. + +She turned her head stiffly, until for the first time her eyes looked +into his. A shudder more violent than the last shook her. + +"Had you not better--kill us at once?" she whispered. The blood had +forsaken even her lips. Her face was the face of a statue--white, +beautiful, lifeless. + +"I think not," he said gravely. "Be seated, and let us hope for the +best. And you, sir," he continued, turning to Carlat, "serve your +mistress with wine. She needs it." + +The steward filled for her, and then for each of the men, his shaking +hand spilling as much as it poured. Nor was this strange. Above the din +and uproar of the street, above the crash of distant doors, above the +tocsin that still rang from the reeling steeple of St. Germain's, the +great bell of the Palais on the island had just begun to hurl its note of +doom upon the town. A woman crouching at the end of the chamber burst +into hysterical weeping, but, at a glance from Tavannes' terrible eye, +was mute again. + +Tignonville found voice at last. "Have they--killed the Admiral?" he +muttered, his eyes on the table. + +"M. Coligny? An hour ago." + +"And Teligny?" + +"Him also." + +"M. de Rochefoucauld?" + +"They are dealing with M. le Comte now, I believe," Tavannes answered. +"He had his chance and cast it away." And he began to eat. + +The man at the table shuddered. The woman continued to look before her, +but her lips moved as if she prayed. Suddenly a rush of feet, a roar of +voices surged past the window; for a moment the glare of the torches, +which danced ruddily on the walls of the room, showed a severed head +borne above the multitude on a pike. Mademoiselle, with a low cry, made +an effort to rise, but Count Hannibal grasped her wrist, and she sank +back half fainting. Then the nearer clamour sank a little, and the +bells, unchallenged, flung their iron tongues above the maddened city. In +the east the dawn was growing; soon its grey light would fall on cold +hearths, on battered doors and shattered weapons, on hordes of wretches +drunk with greed and hate. + +When he could be heard, "What are you going to do with us?" the man asked +hoarsely. + +"That depends," Count Hannibal replied, after a moment's thought. + +"On what?" + +"On Mademoiselle de Vrillac." + +The other's eyes gleamed with passion. He leaned forward. + +"What has she to do with it?" he cried. And he stood up and sat down +again in a breath. + +Tavannes raised his eyebrows with a blandness that seemed at odds with +his harsh visage. + +"I will answer that question by another question," he replied. "How many +are there in the house, my friend?" + +"You can count." + +Tavannes counted again. "Seven?" he said. Tignonville nodded +impatiently. + +"Seven lives?" + +"Well?" + +"Well, Monsieur, you know the King's will?" + +"I can guess it," the other replied furiously. And he cursed the King, +and the King's mother, calling her Jezebel. + +"You can guess it?" Tavannes answered; and then with sudden heat, as if +that which he had to say could not be said even by him in cold blood, +"Nay, you know it! You heard it from the archer at the door. You heard +him say, 'No favour, no quarter for man, for woman, or for child. So +says the King.' You heard it, but you fence with me. Foucauld, with +whom his Majesty played to-night, hand to hand and face to face--Foucauld +is dead! And you think to live? You?" he continued, lashing himself +into passion. "I know not by what chance you came where I saw you an +hour gone, nor by what chance you came by that and that"--pointing with +accusing finger to the badges the Huguenot wore. "But this I know! I +have but to cry your name from yonder casement, nay, Monsieur, I have but +to stand aside when the mob go their rounds from house to house, as they +will go presently, and you will perish as certainly as you have hitherto +escaped!" + +For the second time Mademoiselle turned and looked at him. + +"Then," she whispered, with white lips, "to what end this--mockery?" + +"To the end that seven lives may be saved, Mademoiselle," he answered, +bowing. + +"At a price?" she muttered. + +"At a price," he answered. "A price which women do not find it hard to +pay--at Court. 'Tis paid every day for pleasure or a whim, for rank or +the _entree_, for robes and gewgaws. Few, Mademoiselle, are privileged +to buy a life; still fewer, seven!" + +She began to tremble. "I would rather die--seven times!" she cried, her +voice quivering. And she tried to rise, but sat down again. + +"And these?" he said, indicating the servants. + +"Far, far rather!" she repeated passionately. + +"And Monsieur? And Monsieur?" he urged with stern persistence, while his +eyes passed lightly from her to Tignonville and back to her again, their +depths inscrutable. "If you love Monsieur, Mademoiselle, and I believe +you do--" + +"I can die with him!" she cried. + +"And he with you?" + +She writhed in her chair. + +"And he with you?" Count Hannibal repeated, with emphasis; and he thrust +forward his head. "For that is the question. Think, think, +Mademoiselle. It is in my power to save from death him whom you love; to +save you; to save this _canaille_, if it so please you. It is in my +power to save him, to save you, to save all; and I will save all--at a +price! If, on the other hand, you deny me that price, I will as +certainly leave all to perish, as perish they will, before the sun that +is now rising sets to-night!" + +Mademoiselle looked straight before her, the flicker of a dreadful +prescience in her eyes. + +"And the price?" she muttered. "The price?" + +"You, Mademoiselle." + +"I?" + +"Yes, you! Nay, why fence with me?" he continued gently. "You knew it, +you have said it. You have read it in my eyes these seven days." + +She did not speak, or move, or seem to breathe. As he said, she had +foreseen, she had known the answer. But Tignonville, it seemed, had not. +He sprang to his feet. + +"M. de Tavannes," he cried, "you are a villain!" + +"Monsieur?" + +"You are a villain! But you shall pay for this!" the young man continued +vehemently. "You shall not leave this room alive! You shall pay for +this insult!" + +"Insult?" Tavannes answered in apparent surprise; and then, as if +comprehension broke upon him, "Ah! Monsieur mistakes me," he said, with a +broad sweep of the hand. "And Mademoiselle also, perhaps? Oh! be +content, she shall have bell, book, and candle; she shall be tied as +tight as Holy Church can tie her! Or, if she please, and one survive, +she shall have a priest of her own church--you call it a church? She +shall have whichever of the two will serve her better. 'Tis one to me! +But for paying me, Monsieur," he continued, with irony in voice and +manner; "when, I pray you? In Eternity? For if you refuse my offer, you +have done with time. Now? I have but to sound this whistle"--he touched +a silver whistle which hung at his breast--"and there are those within +hearing will do your business before you make two passes. Dismiss the +notion, sir, and understand. You are in my power. Paris runs with +blood, as noble as yours, as innocent as hers. If you would not perish +with the rest, decide! And quickly! For what you have seen are but the +forerunners, what you have heard are but the gentle whispers that predict +the gale. Do not parley too long; so long that even I may no longer save +you." + +"I would rather die!" Mademoiselle moaned, her face covered. "I would +rather die!" + +"And see him die?" he answered quietly. "And see these die? Think, +think, child!" + +"You will not do it!" she gasped. She shook from head to foot. + +"I shall do nothing," he answered firmly. "I shall but leave you to your +fate, and these to theirs. In the King's teeth I dare save my wife and +her people; but no others. You must choose--and quickly." + +One of the frightened women--it was Mademoiselle's tiring-maid, a girl +called Javette--made a movement, as if to throw herself at her mistress's +feet. Tignonville drove her to her place with a word. He turned to +Count Hannibal. + +"But, M. le Comte," he said, "you must be mad! Mad, to wish to marry her +in this way! You do not love her. You do not want her. What is she to +you more than other women?" + +"What is she to you more than other women?" Tavannes retorted, in a tone +so sharp and incisive that Tignonville started, and a faint touch of +colour crept into the wan cheek of the girl, who sat between them, the +prize of the contest. "What is she more to you than other women? Is she +more? And yet--you want her!" + +"She is more to me," Tignonville answered. + +"Is she?" the other retorted, with a ring of keen meaning. "Is she? But +we bandy words and the storm is rising, as I warned you it would rise. +Enough for you that I _do_ want her. Enough for you that I _will_ have +her. She shall be the wife, the willing wife, of Hannibal de Tavannes--or +I leave her to her fate, and you to yours!" + +"Ah, God!" she moaned. "The willing wife!" + +"Ay, Mademoiselle, the willing wife," he answered sternly. "Or no man's +wife!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. WHO TOUCHES TAVANNES? + + +In saying that the storm was rising Count Hannibal had said no more than +the truth. A new mob had a minute before burst from the eastward into +the Rue St. Honore; and the roar of its thousand voices swelled louder +than the importunate clangour of the bells. Behind its moving masses the +dawn of a new day--Sunday, the 24th of August, the feast of St. +Bartholomew--was breaking over the Bastille, as if to aid the crowd in +its cruel work. The gabled streets, the lanes, and gothic courts, the +stifling wynds, where the work awaited the workers, still lay in +twilight; still the gleam of the torches, falling on the house-fronts, +heralded the coming of the crowd. But the dawn was growing, the sun was +about to rise. Soon the day would be here, giving up the lurking +fugitive whom darkness, more pitiful, had spared, and stamping with +legality the horrors that night had striven to hide. + +And with day, with the full light, killing would grow more easy, escape +more hard. Already they were killing on the bridge where the rich +goldsmiths lived, on the wharves, on the river. They were killing at the +Louvre, in the courtyard under the King's eyes, and below the windows of +the Medicis. They were killing in St. Martin and St. Denis and St. +Antoine; wherever hate, or bigotry, or private malice impelled the hand. +From the whole city went up a din of lamentation, and wrath, and +foreboding. From the Cour des Miracles, from the markets, from the +Boucherie, from every haunt of crime and misery, hordes of wretched +creatures poured forth; some to rob on their own account, and where they +listed, none gainsaying; more to join themselves to one of the armed +bands whose business it was to go from street to street, and house to +house, quelling resistance, and executing through Paris the high justice +of the King. + +It was one of these swollen bands which had entered the street while +Tavannes spoke; nor could he have called to his aid a more powerful +advocate. As the deep "A bas! A bas!" rolled like thunder along the +fronts of the houses, as the more strident "Tuez! Tuez!" drew nearer and +nearer, and the lights of the oncoming multitude began to flicker on the +shuttered gables, the fortitude of the servants gave way. Madame Carlat, +shivering in every limb, burst into moaning; the tiring-maid, Javette, +flung herself in terror at Mademoiselle's knees, and, writhing herself +about them, shrieked to her to save her, only to save her! One of the +men moved forward on impulse, as if he would close the shutters; and only +old Carlat remained silent, praying mutely with moving lips and a stern, +set face. + +And Count Hannibal? As the glare of the links in the street grew +brighter, and ousted the sickly daylight, his form seemed to dilate. He +stilled the shrieking woman by a glance. + +"Choose! Mademoiselle, and quickly!" he said. "For I can only save my +wife and her people! Quick, for the pinch is coming, and 'twill be no +boy's play." + +A shot, a scream from the street, a rush of racing feet before the window +seconded his words. + +"Quick, Mademoiselle!" he cried. And his breath came a little faster. +"Quick, before it be too late! Will you save life, or will you kill?" + +She looked at her lover with eyes of agony, dumbly questioning him. But +he made no sign, and only Tavannes marked the look. + +"Monsieur has done what he can to save himself," he said, with a sneer. +"He has donned the livery of the King's servants; he has said, 'Whoever +perishes, I will live!' But--" + +"Curse you!" the young man cried, and, stung to madness, he tore the +cross from his cap and flung it on the ground. He seized his white +sleeve and ripped it from shoulder to elbow. Then, when it hung by the +string only, he held his hand. + +"Curse you!" he cried furiously. "I will not at your bidding! I may +save her yet! I _will_ save her!" + +"Fool!" Tavannes answered--but his words were barely audible above the +deafening uproar. "Can you fight a thousand? Look! Look!" and seizing +the other's wrist he pointed to the window. + +The street glowed like a furnace in the red light of torches, raised on +poles above a sea of heads; an endless sea of heads, and gaping faces, +and tossing arms which swept on and on, and on and by. For a while it +seemed that the torrent would flow past them and would leave them safe. +Then came a check, a confused outcry, a surging this way and that; the +torches reeled to and fro, and finally, with a dull roar of "Open! Open!" +the mob faced about to the house and the lighted window. + +For a second it seemed that even Count Hannibal's iron nerves shook a +little. He stood between the sullen group that surrounded the disordered +table and the maddened rabble, that gloated on the victims before they +tore them to pieces. "Open! Open!" the mob howled: and a man dashed in +the window with his pike. + +In that crisis Mademoiselle's eyes met Tavannes' for the fraction of a +second. She did not speak; nor, had she retained the power to frame the +words, would they have been audible. But something she must have looked, +and something of import, though no other than he marked or understood it. +For in a flash he was at the window and his hand was raised for silence. + +"Back!" he thundered. "Back, knaves!" And he whistled shrilly. "Do +what you will," he went on in the same tone, "but not here! Pass on! +Pass on!--do you hear?" + +But the crowd were not to be lightly diverted. With a persistence brutal +and unquestioning they continued to howl, "Open! Open!" while the man +who had broken the window the moment before, Jehan, the cripple with the +hideous face, seized the lead-work, and tore away a great piece of it. +Then, laying hold of a bar, he tried to drag it out, setting one foot +against the wall below. Tavannes saw what he did, and his frame seemed +to dilate with the fury and violence of his character. + +"Dogs!" he shouted, "must I call out my riders and scatter you? Must I +flog you through the streets with stirrup-leathers? I am Tavannes; +beware of me! I have claws and teeth and I bite!" he continued, the +scorn in his words exceeding even the rage of the crowd, at which he +flung them. "Kill where you please, rob where you please, but not where +I am! Or I will hang you by the heels on Montfaucon, man by man! I will +flay your backs. Go! Go! I am Tavannes!" + +But the mob, cowed for a moment by the thunder of his voice, by his +arrogance and recklessness, showed at this that their patience was +exhausted. With a yell which drowned his tones they swayed forward; a +dozen thundered on the door, crying, "In the King's name!" As many more +tore out the remainder of the casement, seized the bars of the window, +and strove to pull them out or to climb between them. Jehan, the +cripple, with whom Tignonville had rubbed elbows at the rendezvous, led +the way. + +Count Hannibal watched them a moment, his harsh face bent down to them, +his features plain in the glare of the torches. But when the cripple, +raised on the others' shoulders, and emboldened by his adversary's +inactivity, began to squeeze himself through the bars, Tavannes raised a +pistol, which he had held unseen behind him, cocked it at leisure, and +levelled it at the foul face which leered close to his. The dwarf saw +the weapon and tried to retreat; but it was too late. A flash, a scream, +and the wretch, shot through the throat, flung up his hands, and fell +back into the arms of a lean man in black who had lent him his shoulder +to ascend. + +For a few seconds the smoke of the pistol filled the window and the room. +There was a cry that the Huguenots were escaping, that the Huguenots were +resisting, that it was a plot; and some shouted to guard the back and +some to watch the roof, and some to be gone. But when the fumes cleared +away, the mob saw, with stupor, that all was as it had been. Count +Hannibal stood where he had stood before, a grim smile on his lips. + +"Who comes next?" he cried in a tone of mockery. "I have more pistols!" +And then with a sudden change to ferocity, "You dogs!" he went on. "You +scum of a filthy city, sweepings of the Halles! Do you think to beard +me? Do you think to frighten me or murder me? I am Tavannes, and this +is my house, and were there a score of Huguenots in it, you should not +touch one, nor harm a hair of his head! Begone, I say again, while you +may! Seek women and children, and kill them. But not here!" + +For an instant the mingled scorn and brutality of his words silenced +them. Then from the rear of the crowd came an answer--the roar of an +arquebuse. The ball whizzed past Count Hannibal's head, and, splashing +the plaster from the wall within a pace of Tignonville, dropped to the +ground. + +Tavannes laughed. "Bungler!" he cried. "Were you in my troop I would +dip your trigger-finger in boiling oil to teach you to shoot! But you +weary me, dogs. I must teach you a lesson, must I?" And he lifted a +pistol and levelled it. The crowd did not know whether it was the one he +had discharged or another, but they gave back with a sharp gasp. "I must +teach you, must I?" he continued with scorn. "Here, Bigot, Badelon, +drive me these blusterers! Rid the street of them! A Tavannes! A +Tavannes!" + +Not by word or look had he before this betrayed that he had supports. But +as he cried the name, a dozen men armed to the teeth, who had stood +motionless under the Croix du Tiroir, fell in a line on the right flank +of the crowd. The surprise for those nearest them was complete. With +the flash of the pikes before their eyes, with the cold steel in fancy +between their ribs, they fled every way, uncertain how many pursued, or +if any pursuit there was. For a moment the mob, which a few minutes +before had seemed so formidable that a regiment might have quailed before +it, bade fair to be routed by a dozen pikes. + +And so, had all in the crowd been what he termed them, the rabble and +sweepings of the streets, it would have been. But in the heart of it, +and felt rather than seen, were a handful of another kidney; Sorbonne +students and fierce-eyed priests, with three or four mounted archers, the +nucleus that, moving through the streets, had drawn together this +concourse. And these with threats and curse and gleaming eyes stood +fast, even Tavannes' dare-devils recoiling before the tonsure. The check +thus caused allowed those who had budged a breathing space. They rallied +behind the black robes, and began to stone the pikes; who in their turn +withdrew until they formed two groups, standing on their defence, the one +before the window, the other before the door. + +Count Hannibal had watched the attack and the check, as a man watches a +play; with smiling interest. In the panic, the torches had been dropped +or extinguished, and now between the house and the sullen crowd which +hung back, yet grew moment by moment more dangerous, the daylight fell +cold on the littered street and the cripple's huddled form prone in the +gutter. A priest raised on the shoulders of the lean man in black began +to harangue the mob, and the dull roar of assent, the brandished arms +which greeted his appeal, had their effect on Tavannes' men. They looked +to the window, and muttered among themselves. It was plain that they had +no stomach for a fight with the Church, and were anxious for the order to +withdraw. + +But Count Hannibal gave no order, and, much as his people feared the +cowls, they feared him more. Meanwhile the speaker's eloquence rose +higher; he pointed with frenzied gestures to the house. The mob groaned, +and suddenly a volley of stones fell among the pikemen, whose corselets +rattled under the shower. The priest seized that moment. He sprang to +the ground, and to the front. He caught up his robe and waved his hand, +and the rabble, as if impelled by a single will, rolled forward in a huge +one-fronted thundering wave, before which the two handfuls of +pikemen--afraid to strike, yet afraid to fly--were swept away like straws +upon the tide. + +But against the solid walls and oak-barred door of the house the wave +beat, only to fall back again, a broken, seething mass of brandished arms +and ravening faces. One point alone was vulnerable, the window, and +there in the gap stood Tavannes. Quick as thought he fired two pistols +into the crowd; then, while the smoke for a moment hid all, he whistled. + +Whether the signal was a summons to his men to fight their way back--as +they were doing to the best of their power--or he had resources still +unseen, was not to be known. For as the smoke began to rise, and while +the rabble before the window, cowed by the fall of two of their number, +were still pushing backward instead of forward, there rose behind them +strange sounds--yells, and the clatter of hoofs, mingled with screams of +alarm. A second, and into the loose skirts of the crowd came charging +helter-skelter, pell-mell, a score of galloping, shrieking, cursing +horsemen, attended by twice as many footmen, who clung to their stirrups +or to the tails of the horses, and yelled and whooped, and struck in +unison with the maddened riders. + +"On! on!" the foremost shrieked, rolling in his saddle, and foaming at +the mouth. "Bleed in August, bleed in May! Kill!" And he fired a +pistol among the rabble, who fled every way to escape his rearing, +plunging charger. + +"Kill! Kill!" cried his followers, cutting the air with their swords, and +rolling to and fro on their horses in drunken emulation. "Bleed in +August, bleed in May!" + +"On! On!" cried the leader, as the crowd which beset the house fled +every way before his reckless onset. "Bleed in August, bleed in May!" + +The rabble fled, but not so quickly but that one or two were ridden down, +and this for an instant checked the riders. Before they could pass on-- + +"Ohe!" cried Count Hannibal from his window. "Ohe!" with a shout of +laughter, "ride over them, dear brother! Make me a clean street for my +wedding!" + +Marshal Tavannes--for he, the hero of Jarnac, was the leader of this wild +orgy--turned that way, and strove to rein in his horse. + +"What ails them?" he cried, as the maddened animal reared upright, its +iron hoofs striking fire from the slippery pavement. + +"They are rearing like thy Bayard!" Count Hannibal answered. "Whip them, +whip them for me! Tavannes! Tavannes!" + +"What? This canaille?" + +"Ay, that canaille!" + +"Who touches my brother, touches Tavannes!" the Marshal replied, and +spurred his horse among the rabble, who had fled to the sides of the +street and now strove hard to efface themselves against the walls. +"Begone, dogs; begone!" he cried, still hunting them. And then, "You +would bite, would you?" And snatching another pistol from his boot, he +fired it among them, careless whom he hit. "Ha! ha! That stirs you, +does it!" he continued, as the wretches fled headlong. "Who touches my +brother, touches Tavannes! On! On!" + +Suddenly, from a doorway near at hand, a sombre figure darted into the +roadway, caught the Marshal's rein, and for a second checked his course. +The priest--for a priest it was, Father Pezelay, the same who had +addressed the mob--held up a warning hand. + +"Halt!" he cried, with burning eyes. "Halt, my lord! It is written, +thou shalt not spare the Canaanitish woman. 'Tis not to spare the King +has given command and a sword, but to kill! 'Tis not to harbour, but to +smite! To smite!" + +"Then smite I will!" the Marshal retorted, and with the butt of his +pistol struck the zealot down. Then, with as much indifference as he +would have treated a Huguenot, he spurred his horse over him, with a mad +laugh at his jest. "Who touches my brother, touches Tavannes!" he +yelled. "Touches Tavannes! On! On! Bleed in August, bleed in May!" + +"On!" shouted his followers, striking about them in the same desperate +fashion. They were young nobles who had spent the night feasting at the +Palace, and, drunk with wine and mad with excitement, had left the Louvre +at daybreak to rouse the city. "A Jarnac! A Jarnac!" they cried, and +some saluted Count Hannibal as they passed. And so, shouting and +spurring and following their leader, they swept away down the now empty +street, carrying terror and a flame wherever their horses bore them that +morning. + +Tavannes, his hands on the ledge of the shattered window, leaned out +laughing, and followed them with his eyes. A moment, and the mob was +gone, the street was empty; and one by one, with sheepish faces, his +pikemen emerged from the doorways and alleys in which they had taken +refuge. They gathered about the three huddled forms which lay prone and +still in the gutter: or, not three--two. For even as they approached +them, one, the priest, rose slowly and giddily to his feet. He turned a +face bleeding, lean, and relentless towards the window at which Tavannes +stood. Solemnly, with the sign of the cross, and with uplifted hands, he +cursed him in bed and at board, by day and by night, in walking, in +riding, in standing, in the day of battle, and at the hour of death. The +pikemen fell back appalled, and hid their eyes; and those who were of the +north crossed themselves, and those who came from the south bent two +fingers horse-shoe fashion. But Hannibal de Tavannes laughed; laughed in +his moustache, his teeth showing, and bade them move that carrion to a +distance, for it would smell when the sun was high. Then he turned his +back on the street, and looked into the room. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. IN THE AMPHITHEATRE. + + +The movements of the women had overturned two of the candles; a third had +guttered out. The three which still burned, contending pallidly with the +daylight that each moment grew stronger, imparted to the scene the air of +a debauch too long sustained. The disordered board, the wan faces of the +servants cowering in their corner, Mademoiselle's frozen look of misery, +all increased the likeness; which a common exhaustion so far strengthened +that when Tavannes turned from the window, and, flushed with his triumph, +met the others' eyes, his seemed the only vigour, and he the only man in +the company. True, beneath the exhaustion, beneath the collapse of his +victims, there burned passions, hatreds, repulsions, as fierce as the +hidden fires of the volcano; but for the time they smouldered ash-choked +and inert. + +He flung the discharged pistols on the table. "If yonder raven speak +truth," he said, "I am like to pay dearly for my wife, and have short +time to call her wife. The more need, Mademoiselle, for speed, +therefore. You know the old saying, 'Short signing, long seisin'? Shall +it be my priest, or your minister?" + +M. de Tignonville started forward. "She promised nothing!" he cried. And +he struck his hand on the table. + +Count Hannibal smiled, his lip curling. "That," he replied, "is for +Mademoiselle to say." + +"But if she says it? If she says it, Monsieur? What then?" + +Tavannes drew forth a comfit-box, such as it was the fashion of the day +to carry, as men of a later time carried a snuff-box. He slowly chose a +prune. + +"If she says it?" he answered. "Then M. de Tignonville has regained his +sweetheart. And M. de Tavannes has lost his bride." + +"You say so?" + +"Yes. But--" + +"But what?" + +"But she will not say it," Tavannes replied coolly. + +"Why not?" + +"Why not?" + +"Yes, Monsieur, why not?" the younger man repeated, trembling. + +"Because, M. de Tignonville, it is not true." + +"But she did not speak!" Tignonville retorted, with passion--the futile +passion of the bird which beats its wings against a cage. "She did not +speak. She could not promise, therefore." + +Tavannes ate the prune slowly, seemed to give a little thought to its +flavour, approved it a true Agen plum, and at last spoke. + +"It is not for you to say whether she promised," he returned dryly, "nor +for me. It is for Mademoiselle." + +"You leave it to her?" + +"I leave it to her to say whether she promised." + +"Then she must say No!" Tignonville cried in a tone of triumph and +relief. "For she did not speak. Mademoiselle, listen!" he continued, +turning with outstretched hands and appealing to her with passion. "Do +you hear? Do you understand? You have but to speak to be free! You +have but to say the word, and Monsieur lets you go! In God's name, +speak! Speak then, Clotilde! Oh!" with a gesture of despair, as she did +not answer, but continued to sit stony and hopeless, looking straight +before her, her hands picking convulsively at the fringe of her girdle. +"She does not understand! Fright has stunned her! Be merciful, +Monsieur. Give her time to recover, to know what she does. Fright has +turned her brain." + +Count Hannibal smiled. "I knew her father and her uncle," he said, "and +in their time the Vrillacs were not wont to be cowards. Monsieur +forgets, too," he continued with fine irony, "that he speaks of my +betrothed." + +"It is a lie!" + +Tavannes raised his eyebrows. "You are in my power," he said. "For the +rest, if it be a lie, Mademoiselle has but to say so." + +"You hear him?" Tignonville cried. "Then speak, Mademoiselle! Clotilde, +speak! Say you never spoke, you never promised him!" + +The young man's voice quivered with indignation, with rage, with pain; +but most, if the truth be told, with shame--the shame of a position +strange and unparalleled. For in proportion as the fear of death instant +and violent was lifted from him, reflection awoke, and the situation in +which he stood took uglier shape. It was not so much love that cried to +her, love that suffered, anguished by the prospect of love lost; as in +the highest natures it might have been. Rather it was the man's pride +which suffered: the pride of a high spirit which found itself helpless +between the hammer and the anvil, in a position so false that hereafter +men might say of the unfortunate that he had bartered his mistress for +his life. He had not! But he had perforce to stand by; he had to be +passive under stress of circumstances, and by the sacrifice, if she +consummated it, he would in fact be saved. + +There was the pinch. No wonder that he cried to her in a voice which +roused even the servants from their lethargy of fear. + +"Say it!" he cried. "Say it, before it be too late. Say, you did not +promise!" + +Slowly she turned her face to him. "I cannot," she whispered; "I cannot. +Go," she continued, a spasm distorting her features. "Go, Monsieur. +Leave me. It is over." + +"What?" he exclaimed. "You promised him?" + +She bowed her head. + +"Then," the young man cried, in a transport of resentment, "I will be no +part of the price. See! There! And there!" He tore the white sleeve +wholly from his arm, and, rending it in twain, flung it on the floor and +trampled on it. "It shall never be said that I stood by and let you buy +my life! I go into the street and I take my chance." And he turned to +the door. + +But Tavannes was before him. "No!" he said; "you will stay here, M. de +Tignonville!" And he set his back against the door. + +The young man looked at him, his face convulsed with passion. + +"I shall stay here?" he cried. "And why, Monsieur? What is it to you if +I choose to perish?" + +"Only this," Tavannes retorted. "I am answerable to Mademoiselle now, in +an hour I shall be answerable to my wife--for your life. Live, then, +Monsieur; you have no choice. In a month you will thank me--and her." + +"I am your prisoner?" + +"Precisely." + +"And I must stay here--to be tortured?" Tignonville cried. + +Count Hannibal's eyes sparkled. Sudden stormy changes, from indifference +to ferocity, from irony to invective, were characteristic of the man. + +"Tortured!" he repeated grimly. "You talk of torture while Piles and +Pardaillan, Teligny and Rochefoucauld lie dead in the street! While your +cause sinks withered in a night, like a gourd! While your servants fall +butchered, and France rises round you in a tide of blood! Bah!"--with a +gesture of disdain--"you make me also talk, and I have no love for talk, +and small time. Mademoiselle, you at least act and do not talk. By your +leave I return in an hour, and I bring with me--shall it be my priest, or +your minister?" + +She looked at him with the face of one who awakes slowly to the full +horror, the full dread, of her position. For a moment she did not +answer. Then-- + +"A minister," she muttered, her voice scarcely audible. + +He nodded. "A minister," he said lightly. "Very well, if I can find +one." And walking to the shattered, gaping casement--through which the +cool morning air blew into the room and gently stirred the hair of the +unhappy girl--he said some words to the man on guard outside. Then he +turned to the door, but on the threshold he paused, looked with a strange +expression at the pair, and signed to Carlat and the servants to go out +before him. + +"Up, and lie close above!" he growled. "Open a window or look out, and +you will pay dearly for it! Do you hear? Up! Up! You, too, old crop- +ears. What! would you?"--with a sudden glare as Carlat hesitated--"that +is better! Mademoiselle, until my return." + +He saw them all out, followed them, and closed the door on the two; who, +left together, alone with the gaping window and the disordered feast, +maintained a strange silence. The girl, gripping one hand in the other +as if to quell her rising horror, sat looking before her, and seemed +barely to breathe. The man, leaning against the wall at a little +distance, bent his eyes, not on her, but on the floor, his face gloomy +and distorted. + +His first thought should have been of her and for her; his first impulse +to console, if he could not save her. His it should have been to soften, +were that possible, the fate before her; to prove to her by words of +farewell, the purest and most sacred, that the sacrifice she was making, +not to save her own life but the lives of others, was appreciated by him +who paid with her the price. + +And all these things, and more, may have been in M. de Tignonville's +mind; they may even have been uppermost in it, but they found no +expression. The man remained sunk in a sombre reverie. He had the +appearance of thinking of himself, not of her; of his own position, not +of hers. Otherwise he must have looked at her, he must have turned to +her; he must have owned the subtle attraction of her unspoken appeal when +she drew a deep breath and slowly turned her eyes on him, mute, asking, +waiting what he should offer. + +Surely he should have! Yet it was long before he responded. He sat +buried in thought of himself, and his position, the vile, the unworthy +position in which her act had placed him. At length the constraint of +her gaze wrought on him, or his thoughts became unbearable; and he looked +up and met her eyes, and with an oath he sprang to his feet. + +"It shall not be!" he cried, in a tone low, but full of fury. "You shall +not do it! I will kill him first! I will kill him with this hand! Or--" +a step took him to the window, a step brought him back--ay, brought him +back exultant, and with a changed face. "Or better, we will thwart him +yet. See, Mademoiselle, do you see? Heaven is merciful! For a moment +the cage is open!" His eye shone with excitement, the sweat of sudden +hope stood on his brow as he pointed to the unguarded casement. "Come! +it is our one chance!" And he caught her by her arm and strove to draw +her to the window. + +But she hung back, staring at him. "Oh no, no!" she cried. + +"Yes, yes! I say!" he responded. "You do not understand. The way is +open! We can escape, Clotilde, we can escape!" + +"I cannot! I cannot!" she wailed, still resisting him. + +"You are afraid?" + +"Afraid?" she repeated the word in a tone of wonder. "No, but I cannot. +I promised him. I cannot. And, O God!" she continued, in a sudden +outburst of grief, as the sense of general loss, of the great common +tragedy broke on her and whelmed for the moment her private misery. "Why +should we think of ourselves? They are dead, they are dying, who were +ours, whom we loved! Why should we think to live? What does it matter +how it fares with us? We cannot be happy. Happy?" she continued wildly. +"Are any happy now? Or is the world all changed in a night? No, we +could not be happy. And at least you will live, Tignonville. I have +that to console me." + +"Live!" he responded vehemently. "I live? I would rather die a thousand +times. A thousand times rather than live shamed! Than see you +sacrificed to that devil! Than go out with a brand on my brow, for every +man to point at me! I would rather die a thousand times!" + +"And do you think that I would not?" she answered, shivering. "Better, +far better die than--than live with him!" + +"Then why not die?" + +She stared at him, wide-eyed, and a sudden stillness possessed her. +"How?" she whispered. "What do you mean?" + +"That!" he said. As he spoke, he raised his hand and signed to her to +listen. A sullen murmur, distant as yet, but borne to the ear on the +fresh morning air, foretold the rising of another storm. The sound grew +in intensity, even while she listened; and yet for a moment she +misunderstood him. "O God!" she cried, out of the agony of nerves +overwrought, "will that bell never stop? Will it never stop? Will no +one stop it?" + +"'Tis not the bell!" he cried, seizing her hand as if to focus her +attention. "It is the mob you hear. They are returning. We have but to +stand a moment at this open window, we have but to show ourselves to +them, and we need live no longer! Mademoiselle! Clotilde!--if you mean +what you say, if you are in earnest, the way is open!" + +"And we shall die--together!" + +"Yes, together. But have you the courage?" + +"The courage?" she cried, a brave smile lighting the whiteness of her +face. "The courage were needed to live. The courage were needed to do +that. I am ready, quite ready. It can be no sin! To live with that in +front of me were the sin! Come!" For the moment she had forgotten her +people, her promise, all! It seemed to her that death would absolve her +from all. "Come!" + +He moved with her under the impulse of her hand until they stood at the +gaping window. The murmur, which he had heard indistinctly a moment +before, had grown to a roar of voices. The mob, on its return eastward +along the Rue St. Honore, was nearing the house. He stood, his arm +supporting her, and they waited, a little within the window. Suddenly he +stooped, his face hardly less white than hers: their eyes met; he would +have kissed her. + +She did not withdraw from his arm, but she drew back her face, her eyes +half shut. + +"No!" she murmured. "No! While I live I am his. But we die together, +Tignonville! We die together. It will not last long, will it? And +afterwards--" + +She did not finish the sentence, but her lips moved in prayer, and over +her features came a far-away look; such a look as that which on the face +of another Huguenot lady, Philippa de Luns--vilely done to death in the +Place Maubert fourteen years before--silenced the ribald jests of the +lowest rabble in the world. An hour or two earlier, awed by the +abruptness of the outburst, Mademoiselle had shrunk from her fate; she +had known fear. Now that she stood out voluntarily to meet it, she, like +many a woman before and since, feared no longer. She was lifted out of +and above herself. + +But death was long in coming. Some cause beyond their knowledge stayed +the onrush of the mob along the street. The din, indeed, persisted, +deafened, shook them; but the crowd seemed to be at a stand a few doors +down the Rue St. Honore. For a half-minute, a long half-minute, which +appeared an age, it drew no nearer. Would it draw nearer? Would it come +on? Or would it turn again? + +The doubt, so much worse than despair, began to sap that courage of the +man which is always better fitted to do than to suffer. The sweat rose +on Tignonville's brow as he stood listening, his arm round the girl--as +he stood listening and waiting. It is possible that when he had said a +minute or two earlier that he would rather die a thousand times than live +thus shamed, he had spoken beyond the mark. Or it is possible that he +had meant his words to the full. But in this case he had not pictured +what was to come, he had not gauged correctly his power of passive +endurance. He was as brave as the ordinary man, as the ordinary soldier; +but martyrdom, the apotheosis of resignation, comes more naturally to +women than to men, more hardly to men than to women. Yet had the crisis +come quickly he might have met it. But he had to wait, and to wait with +that howling of wild beasts in his ears; and for this he was not +prepared. A woman might be content to die after this fashion; but a man? +His colour went and came, his eyes began to rove hither and thither. Was +it even now too late to escape? Too late to avoid the consequences of +the girl's silly persistence? Too late to--? Her eyes were closed, she +hung half lifeless on his arm. She would not know, she need not know +until afterwards. And afterwards she would thank him! +Afterwards--meantime the window was open, the street was empty, and still +the crowd hung back and did not come. + +He remembered that two doors away was a narrow passage, which leaving the +Rue St. Honore turned at right angles under a beetling archway, to emerge +in the Rue du Roule. If he could gain that passage unseen by the mob! He +_would_ gain it. With a swift movement, his mind made up, he took a step +forward. He tightened his grasp of the girl's waist, and, seizing with +his left hand the end of the bar which the assailants had torn from its +setting in the window jamb, he turned to lower himself. One long step +would land him in the street. + +At that moment she awoke from the stupor of exaltation. She opened her +eyes with a startled movement; and her eyes met his. + +He was in the act of stepping backwards and downwards, dragging her after +him. But it was not this betrayed him. It was his face, which in an +instant told her all, and that he sought not death, but life! She +struggled upright and strove to free herself. But he had the purchase of +the bar, and by this time he was furious as well as determined. Whether +she would or no, he would save her, he would drag her out. Then, as +consciousness fully returned, she, too, took fire. + +"No!" she cried, "I will not!" and she struggled more violently. + +"You shall!" he retorted between his teeth. "You shall not perish here." + +But she had her hands free, and as he spoke she thrust him from her +passionately, desperately, with all her strength. He had his one foot in +the air at the moment, and in a flash it was done. With a cry of rage he +lost his balance, and, still holding the bar, reeled backwards through +the window; while Mademoiselle, panting and half fainting, +recoiled--recoiled into the arms of Hannibal de Tavannes, who, unseen by +either, had entered the room a long minute before. From the threshold, +and with a smile, all his own, he had watched the contest and the result. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. TWO HENS AND AN EGG. + + +M. de Tignonville was shaken by the fall, and in the usual course of +things he would have lain where he was, and groaned. But when a man has +once turned his back on death he is apt to fancy it at his shoulder. He +has small stomach for surprises, and is in haste to set as great a +distance as possible between the ugly thing and himself. So it was with +the Huguenot. Shot suddenly into the full publicity of the street, he +knew that at any instant danger might take him by the nape; and he was on +his legs and glancing up and down before the clatter of his fall had +travelled the length of three houses. + +The rabble were still a hundred paces away, piled up and pressed about a +house where men were being hunted as men hunt rats. He saw that he was +unnoted, and apprehension gave place to rage. His thoughts turned back +hissing hot to the thing that had happened, and in a paroxysm of shame he +shook his fist at the gaping casement and the sneering face of his rival, +dimly seen in the background. If a look would have killed Tavannes--and +her--it had not been wanting. + +For it was not only the man M. de Tignonville hated at this moment; he +hated Mademoiselle also, the unwitting agent of the other's triumph. She +had thrust him from her; she had refused to be guided by him; she had +resisted, thwarted, shamed him. Then let her take the consequences. She +willed to perish: let her perish! + +He did not acknowledge even to himself the real cause of offence, the +proof to which she had put his courage, and the failure of that courage +to stand the test. Yet it was this, though he had himself provoked the +trial, which burned up his chivalry, as the smuggler's fire burns up the +dwarf heath upon the Landes. It was the discovery that in an heroic hour +he was no hero that gave force to his passionate gesture, and next moment +sent him storming down the beetling passage to the Rue du Roule, his +heart a maelstrom of fierce vows and fiercer menaces. + +He had reached the further end of the alley and was on the point of +entering the street before he remembered that he had nowhere to go. His +lodgings were no longer his, since his landlord knew him to be a +Huguenot, and would doubtless betray him. To approach those of his faith +whom he had frequented was to expose them to danger; and, beyond the +religion, he had few acquaintances and those of the newest. Yet the +streets were impossible. He walked them on the utmost edge of peril; he +lurked in them under the blade of an impending axe. And, whether he +walked or lurked, he went at the mercy of the first comers bold enough to +take his life. + +The sweat stood on his brow as he paused under the low arch of the alley- +end, tasting the bitter forlornness of the dog banned and set for death +in that sunlit city. In every window of the gable end which faced his +hiding-place he fancied an eye watching his movements; in every distant +step he heard the footfall of doom coming that way to his discovery. And +while he trembled, he had to reflect, to think, to form some plan. + +In the town was no place for him, and short of the open country no +safety. And how could he gain the open country? If he succeeded in +reaching one of the gates--St. Antoine, or St. Denis, in itself a task of +difficulty--it would only be to find the gate closed, and the guard on +the alert. At last it flashed on him that he might cross the river; and +at the notion hope awoke. It was possible that the massacre had not +extended to the southern suburb; possible, that if it had, the Huguenots +who lay there--Frontenay, and Montgomery, and Chartres, with the men of +the North--might be strong enough to check it, and even to turn the +tables on the Parisians. + +His colour returned. He was no coward, as soldiers go; if it came to +fighting he had courage enough. He could not hope to cross the river by +the bridge, for there, where the goldsmiths lived, the mob were like to +be most busy. But if he could reach the bank he might procure a boat at +some deserted point, or, at the worst, he might swim across. + +From the Louvre at his back came the sound of gunshots; from every +quarter the murmur of distant crowds, or the faint lamentable cries of +victims. But the empty street before him promised an easy passage, and +he ventured into it and passed quickly through it. He met no one, and no +one molested him; but as he went he had glimpses of pale faces that from +behind the casements watched him come and turned to watch him go; and so +heavy on his nerves was the pressure of this silent ominous attention, +that he blundered at the end of the street. He should have taken the +southerly turning; instead he held on, found himself in the Rue +Ferronerie, and a moment later was all but in the arms of a band of city +guards, who were making a house-to-house visitation. + +He owed his safety rather to the condition of the street than to his +presence of mind. The Rue Ferronerie, narrow in itself, was so choked at +this date by stalls and bulkheads, that an edict directing the removal of +those which abutted on the cemetery had been issued a little before. +Nothing had been done on it, however, and this neck of Paris, this main +thoroughfare between the east and the west, between the fashionable +quarter of the Marais and the fashionable quarter of the Louvre, was +still a devious huddle of sheds and pent-houses. Tignonville slid behind +one of these, found that it masked the mouth of an alley, and, heedless +whither the passage led, ran hurriedly along it. Every instant he +expected to hear the hue and cry behind him, and he did not halt or draw +breath until he had left the soldiers far in the rear, and found himself +astray at the junction of four noisome lanes, over two of which the +projecting gables fairly met. Above the two others a scrap of sky +appeared, but this was too small to indicate in which direction the river +lay. + +Tignonville hesitated, but not for long; a burst of voices heralded a new +danger, and he shrank into a doorway. Along one of the lanes a troop of +children, the biggest not twelve years old, came dancing and leaping +round something which they dragged by a string. Now one of the hindmost +would burl it onward with a kick, now another, amid screams of childish +laughter, tripped headlong over the cord; now at the crossways they +stopped to wrangle and question which way they should go, or whose turn +it was to pull and whose to follow. At last they started afresh with a +whoop, the leader singing and all plucking the string to the cadence of +the air. Their plaything leapt and dropped, sprang forward, and lingered +like a thing of life. But it was no thing of life, as Tignonville saw +with a shudder when they passed him. The object of their sport was the +naked body of a child, an infant! + +His gorge rose at the sight. Fear such as he had not before experienced +chilled his marrow. This was hate indeed, a hate before which the strong +man quailed; the hate of which Mademoiselle had spoken when she said that +the babes crossed themselves at her passing, and the houses tottered to +fall upon her! + +He paused a minute to recover himself, so deeply had the sight moved him; +and as he stood, he wondered if that hate already had its cold eye fixed +on him. Instinctively his gaze searched the opposite wall, but save for +two small double-grated windows it was blind; time-stained and +stone-built, dark with the ordure of the city lane, it seemed but the +back of a house, which looked another way. The outer gates of an arched +doorway were open, and a loaded haycart, touching either side and +brushing the arch above, blocked the passage. His gaze, leaving the +windows, dropped to this--he scanned it a moment; and on a sudden he +stiffened. Between the hay and the arch a hand flickered an instant, +then vanished. + +Tignonville stared. At first he thought his eyes had tricked him. Then +the hand appeared again, and this time it conveyed an unmistakable +invitation. It is not from the unknown or the hidden that the fugitive +has aught to fear, and Tignonville, after casting a glance down the +lane--which revealed a single man standing with his face the other +way--slipped across and pushed between the hay and the wall. He coughed. + +A voice whispered to him to climb up; a friendly hand clutched him in the +act, and aided him. In a second he was lying on his face, tight squeezed +between the hay and the roof of the arch. Beside him lay a man whose +features his eyes, unaccustomed to the gloom, could not discern. But the +man knew him and whispered his name. + +"You know me?" Tignonville muttered in astonishment. + +"I marked you, M. de Tignonville, at the preaching last Sunday," the +stranger answered placidly. + +"You were there?" + +"I preached." + +"Then you are M. la Tribe!" + +"I am," the clergyman answered quietly. "They seized me on my threshold, +but I left my cloak in their hands and fled. One tore my stocking with +his point, another my doublet, but not a hair of my head was injured. +They hunted me to the end of the next street, but I lived and still live, +and shall live to lift up my voice against this wicked city." + +The sympathy between the Huguenot by faith and the Huguenot by politics +was imperfect. Tignonville, like most men of rank of the younger +generation, was a Huguenot by politics; and he was in a bitter humour. He +felt, perhaps, that it was men such as this who had driven the other side +to excesses such as these; and he hardly repressed a sneer. + +"I wish I felt as sure!" he muttered bluntly. "You know that all our +people are dead?" + +"He can save by few or by many," the preacher answered devoutly. "We are +of the few, blessed be God, and shall see Israel victorious, and our +people as a flock of sheep!" + +"I see small chance of it," Tignonville answered contemptuously. + +"I know it as certainly as I knew before you came, M. de Tignonville, +that you would come!" + +"That _I_ should come?" + +"That some one would come," La Tribe answered, correcting himself. "I +knew not who it would be until you appeared and placed yourself in the +doorway over against me, even as Obadiah in the Holy Book passed before +the hiding-place of Elijah." + +The two lay on their faces side by side, the rafters of the archway low +on their heads. Tignonville lifted himself a little, and peered anew at +the other. He fancied that La Tribe's mind, shaken by the horrors of the +morning and his narrow escape, had given way. + +"You rave, man," he said. "This is no time for visions." + +"I said naught of visions," the other answered. + +"Then why so sure that we shall escape?" + +"I am certified of it," La Tribe replied. "And more than that, I know +that we shall lie here some days. The time has not been revealed to me, +but it will be days and a day. Then we shall leave this place unharmed, +as we entered it, and, whatever betide others, we shall live." + +Tignonville shrugged his shoulders. "I tell you, you rave, M. la Tribe," +he said petulantly. "At any moment we may be discovered. Even now I +hear footsteps." + +"They tracked me well-nigh to this place," the minister answered +placidly. + +"The deuce they did!" Tignonville muttered, with irritation. He dared +not raise his voice. "I would you had told me that before I joined you, +Monsieur, and I had found some safer hiding-place! When we are +discovered--" + +"Then," the other continued calmly, "you will see." + +"In any case we shall be better farther back," Tignonville retorted. +"Here, we are within an ace of being seen from the lane." And he began +to wriggle himself backwards. + +The minister laid his hand on him. "Have a care!" he muttered. "And do +not move, but listen. And you will understand. When I reached this +place--it would be about five o'clock this morning--breathless, and +expecting each minute to be dragged forth to make my confession before +men, I despaired as you despair now. Like Elijah under the juniper tree, +I said, 'It is enough, O Lord! Take my soul also, for I am no better +than my fellows!' All the sky was black before my eyes, and my ears were +filled with the wailings of the little ones and the lamentations of +women. 'O Lord, it is enough,' I prayed. 'Take my soul, or, if it be +Thy will, then, as the angel was sent to take the cakes to Elijah, give +me also a sign that I shall live.'" + +For a moment he paused, struggling with overpowering emotion. Even his +impatient listener, hitherto incredulous, caught the infection, and in a +tone of awe murmured-- + +"Yes? And then, M. la Tribe!" + +"The sign was given me. The words were scarcely out of my mouth when a +hen flew up, and, scratching a nest in the hay at my feet, presently laid +an egg." + +Tignonville stared. "It was timely, I admit," he said. "But it is no +uncommon thing. Probably it has its nest here and lays daily." + +"Young man, this is new-mown hay," the minister answered solemnly. "This +cart was brought here no further back than yesterday. It smells of the +meadow, and the flowers hold their colour. No, the fowl was sent. To- +morrow it will return, and the next, and the next, until the plague be +stayed and I go hence. But that is not all. A while later a second hen +appeared, and I thought it would lay in the same nest. But it made a new +one, on the side on which you lie and not far from your foot. Then I +knew that I was to have a companion, and that God had laid also for him a +table in the wilderness." + +"It did lay, then?" + +"It is still on the nest, beside your foot." + +Tignonville was about to reply when the preacher grasped his arm and by a +sign enjoined silence. He did so not a moment too soon. Preoccupied by +the story, narrator and listener had paid no heed to what was passing in +the lane, and the voices of men speaking close at hand took them by +surprise. From the first words which reached them, it was clear that the +speakers were the same who had chased La Tribe as far as the meeting of +the four ways, and, losing him there, had spent the morning in other +business. Now they had returned to hunt him down; and but for a wrangle +which arose among them and detained them, they had stolen on their quarry +before their coming was suspected. + +"'Twas this way he ran!" "No, 'twas the other!" they contended; and +their words, winged with vile threats and oaths, grew noisy and hot. The +two listeners dared scarcely to breathe. The danger was so near, it was +so certain that if the men came three paces farther, they would observe +and search the haycart, that Tignonville fancied the steel already at his +throat. He felt the hay rustle under his slightest movement, and gripped +one hand with the other to restrain the tremor of overpowering +excitement. Yet when he glanced at the minister he found him unmoved, a +smile on his face. And M. de Tignonville could have cursed him for his +folly. + +For the men were coming on! An instant, and they perceived the cart, and +the ruffian who had advised this route pounced on it in triumph. + +"There! Did I not say so?" he cried. "He is curled up in that hay, for +the Satan's grub he is! That is where he is, see you!" + +"Maybe," another answered grudgingly, as they gathered before it. "And +maybe not, Simon!" + +"To hell with your maybe not!" the first replied. And he drove his pike +deep into the hay and turned it viciously. + +The two on the top controlled themselves. Tignonville's face was livid; +of himself he would have slid down amongst them and taken his chance, +preferring to die fighting, to die in the open, rather than to perish +like a rat in a stack. But La Tribe had gripped his arm and held him +fast. + +The man whom the others called Simon thrust again, but too low and +without result. He was for trying a third time, when one of his comrades +who had gone to the other side of the lane announced that the men were on +the top of the hay. + +"Can you see them?" + +"No, but there's room and to spare." + +"Oh, a curse on your room!" Simon retorted. "Well, you can look." + +"If that's all, I'll soon look!" was the answer. And the rogue, forcing +himself between the hay and the side of the gateway, found the wheel of +the cart, and began to raise himself on it. + +Tignonville, who lay on that hand, heard, though he could not see his +movements. He knew what they meant, he knew that in a twinkling he must +be discovered; and with a last prayer he gathered himself for a spring. + +It seemed an age before the intruder's head appeared on a level with the +hay; and then the alarm came from another quarter. The hen which had +made its nest at Tignonville's feet, disturbed by the movement or by the +newcomer's hand, flew out with a rush and flutter as of a great firework. +Upsetting the startled Simon, who slipped swearing to the ground, it +swooped scolding and clucking over the heads of the other men, and +reaching the street in safety, scuttled off at speed, its outspread wings +sweeping the earth in its rage. + +They laughed uproariously as Simon emerged, rubbing his elbow. + +"There's for you! There's your preacher!" his opponent jeered. + +"D---n her! she gives tongue as fast as any of them!" gibed a second. +"Will you try again, Simon? You may find another love-letter there!" + +"Have done!" a third cried impatiently. "He'll not be where the hen is! +Let's back! Let's back! I said before that it wasn't this way he +turned! He's made for the river." + +"The plague in his vitals!" Simon replied furiously. "Wherever he is, +I'll find him!" And, reluctant to confess himself wrong, he lingered, +casting vengeful glances at the hay. + +But one of the other men cursed him for a fool; and presently, forced to +accept his defeat or be left alone, he rejoined his fellows. Slowly the +footsteps and voices receded along the lane; slowly, until silence +swallowed them, and on the quivering strained senses of the two who +remained behind, descended the gentle influence of twilight and the sweet +scent of the new-mown hay on which they lay. + +La Tribe turned to his companion, his eyes shining. "Our soul is +escaped," he murmured, "even as a bird out of the snare of the fowler. +The snare is broken and we are delivered!" His voice shook as he +whispered the ancient words of triumph. + +But when they came to look in the nest at Tignonville's feet there was no +egg! + + + + +CHAPTER IX. UNSTABLE. + + +And that troubled M. la Tribe no little, although he did not impart his +thoughts to his companion. Instead they talked in whispers of the things +which had happened; of the Admiral, of Teligny, whom all loved, of +Rochefoucauld the accomplished, the King's friend; of the princes in the +Louvre whom they gave up for lost, and of the Huguenot nobles on the +farther side of the river, of whose safety there seemed some hope. +Tignonville--he best knew why--said nothing of the fate of his betrothed, +or of his own adventures in that connection. But each told the other how +the alarm had reached him, and painted in broken words his reluctance to +believe in treachery so black. Thence they passed to the future of the +cause, and of that took views as opposite as light and darkness, as +Papegot and Huguenot. The one was confident, the other in despair. And +some time in the afternoon, worn out by the awful experiences of the last +twelve hours, they fell asleep, their heads on their arms, the hay +tickling their faces; and, with death stalking the lane beside them, +slept soundly until after sundown. + +When they awoke hunger awoke with them, and urged on La Tribe's mind the +question of the missing egg. It was not altogether the prick of appetite +which troubled him, but regarding the hiding-place in which they lay as +an ark of refuge providentially supplied, protected and victualled, he +could not refrain from asking reverently what the deficiency meant. It +was not as if one hen only had appeared; as if no farther prospect had +been extended. But up to a certain point the message was clear. Then +when the Hand of Providence had shown itself most plainly, and in a +manner to melt the heart with awe and thankfulness, the message had been +blurred. Seriously the Huguenot asked himself what it portended. + +To Tignonville, if he thought of it at all, the matter was the matter of +an egg, and stopped there. An egg might alleviate the growing pangs of +hunger; its non-appearance was a disappointment, but he traced the matter +no farther. It must be confessed, too, that the haycart was to him only +a haycart--and not an ark; and the sooner he was safely away from it the +better he would be pleased. While La Tribe, lying snug and warm beside +him, thanked God for a lot so different from that of such of his fellows +as had escaped--whom he pictured crouching in dank cellars, or on roof- +trees exposed to the heat by day and the dews by night--the young man +grew more and more restive. + +Hunger pricked him, and the meanness of the part he had played moved him +to action. About midnight, resisting the dissuasions of his companion, +he would have sallied out in search of food if the passage of a turbulent +crowd had not warned him that the work of murder was still proceeding. He +curbed himself after that and lay until daylight. But, ill content with +his own conduct, on fire when he thought of his betrothed, he was in no +temper to bear hardship cheerfully or long; and gradually there rose +before his mind the picture of Madame St. Lo's smiling face, and the fair +hair which curled low on the white of her neck. + +He would, and he would not. Death that had stalked so near him preached +its solemn sermon. But death and pleasure are never far apart; and at no +time and nowhere have they jostled one another more familiarly than in +that age, wherever the influence of Italy and Italian art and Italian +hopelessness extended. Again, on the one side, La Tribe's example went +for something with his comrade in misfortune; but in the other scale hung +relief from discomfort, with the prospect of a woman's smiles and a +woman's flatteries, of dainty dishes, luxury, and passion. If he went +now, he went to her from the jaws of death, with the glamour of adventure +and peril about him; and the very going into her presence was a lure. +Moreover, if he had been willing while his betrothed was still his, why +not now when he had lost her? + +It was this last reflection--and one other thing which came on a sudden +into his mind--which turned the scale. About noon he sat up in the hay, +and, abruptly and sullenly, "I'll lie here no longer," he said; and he +dropped his legs over the side. "I shall go." + +The movement was so unexpected that La Tribe stared at him in silence. +Then, "You will run a great risk, M. de Tignonville," he said gravely, +"if you do. You may go as far under cover of night as the river, or you +may reach one of the gates. But as to crossing the one or passing the +other, I reckon it a thing impossible." + +"I shall not wait until night," Tignonville answered curtly, a ring of +defiance in his tone. "I shall go now! I'll lie here no longer!" + +"Now?" + +"Yes, now." + +"You will be mad if you do," the other replied. He thought it the +petulant outcry of youth tired of inaction; a protest, and nothing more. + +He was speedily undeceived. "Mad or not, I am going!" Tignonville +retorted. And he slid to the ground, and from the covert of the hanging +fringe of hay looked warily up and down the lane. "It is clear, I +think," he said. "Good-bye." And with no more, without one upward +glance or a gesture of the hand, with no further adieu or word of +gratitude, he walked out into the lane, turned briskly to the left, and +vanished. + +The minister uttered a cry of surprise, and made as if he would descend +also. + +"Come back, sir!" he called, as loudly as he dared. "M. de Tignonville, +come back! This is folly or worse!" + +But M. de Tignonville was gone. + +La Tribe listened a while, unable to believe it, and still expecting his +return. At last, hearing nothing, he slid, greatly excited, to the +ground and looked out. It was not until he had peered up and down the +lane and made sure that it was empty that he could persuade himself that +the other had gone for good. Then he climbed slowly and seriously to his +place again, and sighed as he settled himself. + +"Unstable as water thou shalt not excel!" he muttered. "Now I know why +there was only one egg." + +Meanwhile Tignonville, after putting a hundred yards between himself and +his bedfellow, plunged into the first dark entry which presented itself. +Hurriedly, and with a frowning face, he cut off his left sleeve from +shoulder to wrist; and this act, by disclosing his linen, put him in +possession of the white sleeve which he had once involuntarily donned, +and once discarded. The white cross on the cap he could not assume, for +he was bareheaded. But he had little doubt that the sleeve would +suffice, and with a bold demeanour he made his way northward until he +reached again the Rue Ferronerie. + +Excited groups were wandering up and down the street, and, fearing to +traverse its crowded narrows, he went by lanes parallel with it as far as +the Rue St. Denis, which he crossed. Everywhere he saw houses gutted and +doors burst in, and traces of a cruelty and a fanaticism almost +incredible. Near the Rue des Lombards he saw a dead child, stripped +stark and hanged on the hook of a cobbler's shutter. A little farther on +in the same street he stepped over the body of a handsome young woman, +distinguished by the length and beauty of her hair. To obtain her +bracelets, her captors had cut off her hands; afterwards--but God knows +how long afterwards--a passer-by, more pitiful than his fellows, had put +her out of her misery with a spit, which still remained plunged in her +body. + +M. de Tignonville shuddered at the sight, and at others like it. He +loathed the symbol he wore, and himself for wearing it; and more than +once his better nature bade him return and play the nobler part. Once he +did turn with that intention. But he had set his mind on comfort and +pleasure, and the value of these things is raised, not lowered, by danger +and uncertainty. Quickly his stoicism oozed away; he turned again. +Barely avoiding the rush of a crowd of wretches who were bearing a +swooning victim to the river, he hurried through the Rue des Lombards, +and reached in safety the house beside the Golden Maid. + +He had no doubt now on which side of the Maid Madame St. Lo lived; the +house was plain before him. He had only to knock. But in proportion as +he approached his haven, his anxiety grew. To lose all, with all in his +grasp, to fail upon the threshold, was a thing which bore no looking at; +and it was with a nervous hand and eyes cast fearfully behind him that he +plied the heavy iron knocker which adorned the door. + +He could not turn his gaze from a knot of ruffians, who were gathered +under one of the tottering gables on the farther side of the street. They +seemed to be watching him, and he fancied--though the distance rendered +this impossible--that he could see suspicion growing in their eyes. At +any moment they might cross the roadway, they might approach, they might +challenge him. And at the thought he knocked and knocked again. Why did +not the porter come? + +Ay, why? For now a score of contingencies came into the young man's mind +and tortured him. Had Madame St. Lo withdrawn to safer quarters and +closed the house? Or, good Catholic as she was, had she given way to +panic, and determined to open to no one? Or was she ill? Or had she +perished in the general disorder? Or-- + +And then, even as the men began to slink towards him, his heart leapt. He +heard a footstep heavy and slow move through the house. It came nearer +and nearer. A moment, and an iron-grated Judas-hole in the door slid +open, and a servant, an elderly man, sleek and respectable, looked out at +him. + +Tignonville could scarcely speak for excitement. "Madame St. Lo?" he +muttered tremulously. "I come to her from her cousin the Comte de +Tavannes. Quick! quick! if you please. Open to me!" + +"Monsieur is alone?" + +"Yes! Yes!" + +The man nodded gravely and slid back the bolts. He allowed M. de +Tignonville to enter, then with care he secured the door, and led the way +across a small square court, paved with red tiles and enclosed by the +house, but open above to the sunshine and the blue sky. A gallery which +ran round the upper floor looked on this court, in which a great quiet +reigned, broken only by the music of a fountain. A vine climbed on the +wooden pillars which supported the gallery, and, aspiring higher, +embraced the wide carved eaves, and even tapestried with green the three +gables that on each side of the court broke the skyline. The grapes hung +nearly ripe, and amid their clusters and the green lattice of their +foliage Tignonville's gaze sought eagerly but in vain the laughing eyes +and piquant face of his new mistress. For with the closing of the door, +and the passing from him of the horrors of the streets, he had entered, +as by magic, a new and smiling world; a world of tennis and roses, of +tinkling voices and women's wiles, a world which smacked of Florence and +the South, and love and life; a world which his late experiences had set +so far away from him, his memory of it seemed a dream. Now, as he drank +in its stillness and its fragrance, as he felt its safety and its luxury +lap him round once more, he sighed. And with that breath he rid himself +of much. + +The servant led him to a parlour, a cool shady room on the farther side +of the tiny quadrangle, and, muttering something inaudible, withdrew. A +moment later a frolicsome laugh, and the light flutter of a woman's skirt +as she tripped across the court, brought the blood to his cheeks. He +went a step nearer to the door, and his eyes grew bright. + + + + +CHAPTER X. MADAME ST. LO. + + +So far excitement had supported Tignonville in his escape. It was only +when he knew himself safe, when he heard Madame St. Lo's footstep in the +courtyard and knew that in a moment he would see her, that he knew also +that he was failing for want of food. The room seemed to go round with +him; the window to shift, the light to flicker. And then again, with +equal abruptness, he grew strong and steady and perfectly master of +himself. Nay, never had he felt a confidence in himself so overwhelming +or a capacity so complete. The triumph of that which he had done, the +knowledge that of so many he, almost alone, had escaped, filled his brain +with a delicious and intoxicating vanity. When the door opened, and +Madame St. Lo appeared on the threshold, he advanced holding out his +arms. He expected that she would fall into them. + +But Madame only backed and curtseyed, a mischievous light in her eyes. + +"A thousand thanks, Monsieur!" she said, "but you are more ready than I!" +And she remained by the door. + +"I have come to you through all!" he cried, speaking loudly because of a +humming in his ears. "They are lying in the streets! They are dying, +are dead, are hunted, are pursued, are perishing! But I have come +through all to you!" + +She curtseyed anew. "So I see, Monsieur!" she answered. "I am +flattered!" But she did not advance, and gradually, light-headed as he +was, he began to see that she looked at him with an odd closeness. And +he took offence. + +"I say, Madame, I have come to you!" he repeated. "And you do not seem +pleased!" + +She came forward a step and looked at him still more oddly. + +"Oh yes," she said. "I am pleased, M. de Tignonville. It is what I +intended. But tell me how you have fared. You are not hurt?" + +"Not a hair!" he cried boastfully. And he told her in a dozen windy +sentences of the adventure of the haycart and his narrow escape. He +wound up with a foolish meaningless laugh. + +"Then you have not eaten for thirty-six hours?" she said. And when he +did not answer, "I understand," she continued, nodding and speaking as to +a child. And she rang a silver handbell and gave an order. + +She addressed the servant in her usual tone, but to Tignonville's ear her +voice seemed to fall to a whisper. Her figure--she was small and fairy- +like--began to sway before him; and then in a moment, as it seemed to +him, she was gone, and he was seated at a table, his trembling fingers +grasping a cup of wine which the elderly servant who had admitted him was +holding to his lips. On the table before him were a spit of partridges +and a cake of white bread. When he had swallowed a second mouthful of +wine--which cleared his eyes as by magic--the man urged him to eat. And +he fell to with an appetite that grew as he ate. + +By-and-by, feeling himself again, he became aware that two of Madame's +women were peering at him through the open doorway. He looked that way +and they fled giggling into the court; but in a moment they were back +again, and the sound of their tittering drew his eyes anew to the door. +It was the custom of the day for ladies of rank to wait on their +favourites at table; and he wondered if Madame were with them, and why +she did not come and serve him herself. + +But for a while longer the savour of the roasted game took up the major +part of his thoughts; and when prudence warned him to desist, and he sat +back, satisfied after his long fast, he was in no mood to be critical. +Perhaps--for somewhere in the house he heard a lute--Madame was +entertaining those whom she could not leave? Or deluding some who might +betray him if they discovered him? + +From that his mind turned back to the streets and the horrors through +which he had passed; but for a moment and no more. A shudder, an emotion +of prayerful pity, and he recalled his thoughts. In the quiet of the +cool room, looking on the sunny, vine-clad court, with the tinkle of the +lute and the murmurous sound of women's voices in his ears, it was hard +to believe that the things from which he had emerged were real. It was +still more unpleasant, and as futile, to dwell on them. A day of +reckoning would come, and, if La Tribe were right, the cause would rally, +bristling with pikes and snorting with war-horses, and the blood spilled +in this wicked city would cry aloud for vengeance. But the hour was not +yet. He had lost his mistress, and for that atonement must be exacted. +But in the present another mistress awaited him, and as a man could only +die once, and might die at any minute, so he could only live once, and in +the present. Then _vogue la galere_! + +As he roused himself from this brief reverie and fell to wondering how +long he was to be left to himself, a rosebud tossed by an unseen hand +struck him on the breast and dropped to his knees. To seize it and kiss +it gallantly, to spring to his feet and look about him were instinctive +movements. But he could see no one; and, in the hope of surprising the +giver, he stole to the window. The sound of the lute and the distant +tinkle of laughter persisted. The court, save for a page, who lay asleep +on a bench in the gallery, was empty. Tignonville scanned the boy +suspiciously; a male disguise was often adopted by the court ladies, and +if Madame would play a prank on him, this was a thing to be reckoned +with. But a boy it seemed to be, and after a while the young man went +back to his seat. + +Even as he sat down, a second flower struck him more sharply in the face, +and this time he darted not to the window but to the door. He opened it +quickly and looked out, but again he was too late. + +"I shall catch you presently, _ma reine_!" he murmured tenderly, with +intent to be heard. And he closed the door. But, wiser this time, he +waited with his hand on the latch until he heard the rustling of a skirt, +and saw the line of light at the foot of the door darkened by a shadow. +That moment he flung the door wide, and, clasping the wearer of the skirt +in his arms, kissed her lips before she had time to resist. + +Then he fell back as if he had been shot! For the wearer of the skirt, +she whom he had kissed, was Madame St. Lo's woman, and behind her stood +Madame herself, laughing, laughing, laughing with all the gay abandonment +of her light little heart. + +"Oh, the gallant gentleman!" she cried, and clapped her hands effusively. +"Was ever recovery so rapid? Or triumph so speedy? Suzanne, my child; +you surpass Venus. Your charms conquer before they are seen!" + +M. de Tignonville had put poor Suzanne from him as if she burned; and hot +and embarrassed, cursing his haste, he stood looking awkwardly at them. + +"Madame," he stammered at last, "you know quite well that--" + +"Seeing is believing!" + +"That I thought it was you!" + +"Oh, what I have lost!" she replied. And she looked archly at Suzanne, +who giggled and tossed her head. + +He was growing angry. "But, Madame," he protested, "you know--" + +"I know what I know, and I have seen what I have seen!" Madame answered +merrily. And she hummed, + + "'Ce fut le plus grand jour d'este + Que m'embrassa la belle Suzanne!' + +Oh yes, I know what I know!" she repeated. And she fell again to +laughing immoderately; while the pretty piece of mischief beside her hung +her head, and, putting a finger in her mouth, mocked him with an +affectation of modesty. + +The young man glowered at them between rage and embarrassment. This was +not the reception, nor this the hero's return to which he had looked +forward. And a doubt began to take form in his mind. The mistress he +had pictured would not laugh at kisses given to another; nor forget in a +twinkling the straits through which he had come to her, the hell from +which he had plucked himself! Possibly the court ladies held love as +cheap as this, and lovers but as playthings, butts for their wit, and +pegs on which to hang their laughter. But--but he began to doubt, and, +perplexed and irritated, he showed his feelings. + +"Madame," he said stiffly, "a jest is an excellent thing. But pardon me +if I say that it is ill played on a fasting man." + +Madame desisted from laughter that she might speak. "A fasting man?" she +cried. "And he has eaten two partridges!" + +"Fasting from love, Madame." + +Madame St. Lo held up her hands. "And it's not two minutes since he took +a kiss!" + +He winced, was silent a moment, and then seeing that he got nothing by +the tone he had adopted he cried for quarter. + +"A little mercy, Madame, as you are beautiful," he said, wooing her with +his eyes. "Do not plague me beyond what a man can bear. Dismiss, I pray +you, this good creature--whose charms do but set off yours as the star +leads the eye to the moon--and make me the happiest man in the world by +so much of your company as you will vouchsafe to give me." + +"That may be but a very little," she answered, letting her eyes fall +coyly, and affecting to handle the tucker of her low ruff. But he saw +that her lip twitched; and he could have sworn that she mocked him to +Suzanne, for the girl giggled. + +Still by an effort he controlled his feelings. "Why so cruel?" he +murmured, in a tone meant for her alone, and with a look to match. "You +were not so hard when I spoke with you in the gallery, two evenings ago, +Madame." + +"Was I not?" she asked. "Did I look like this? And this?" And, +languishing, she looked at him very sweetly after two fashions. + +"Something." + +"Oh, then I meant nothing!" she retorted with sudden vivacity. And she +made a face at him, laughing under his nose. "I do that when I mean +nothing, Monsieur! Do you see? But you are Gascon, and given, I fear, +to flatter yourself." + +Then he saw clearly that she played with him: and resentment, chagrin, +pique got the better of his courtesy. + +"I flatter myself?" he cried, his voice choked with rage. "It may be I +do now, Madame, but did I flatter myself when you wrote me this note?" +And he drew it out and flourished it in her face. "Did I imagine when I +read this? Or is it not in your hand? It is a forgery, perhaps," he +continued bitterly. "Or it means nothing? Nothing, this note bidding me +be at Madame St. Lo's at an hour before midnight--it means nothing? At +an hour before midnight, Madame!" + +"On Saturday night? The night before last night?" + +"On Saturday night, the night before last night! But Madame knows +nothing of it? Nothing, I suppose?" + +She shrugged her shoulders and smiled cheerfully on him. "Oh yes, I +wrote it," she said. "But what of that, M. de Tignonville?" + +"What of that?" + +"Yes, Monsieur, what of that? Did you think it was written out of love +for you?" + +He was staggered for the moment by her coolness. "Out of what, then?" he +cried hoarsely. "Out of what, then, if not out of love?" + +"Why, out of pity, my little gentleman!" she answered sharply. "And +trouble thrown away, it seems. Love!" And she laughed so merrily and +spontaneously it cut him to the heart. "No; but you said a dainty thing +or two, and smiled a smile; and like a fool, and like a woman, I was +sorry for the innocent calf that bleated so prettily on its way to the +butcher's! And I would lock you up, and save your life, I thought, until +the blood-letting was over. Now you have it, M. de Tignonville, and I +hope you like it." + +Like it, when every word she uttered stripped him of the selfish +illusions in which he had wrapped himself against the blasts of +ill-fortune? Like it, when the prospect of her charms had bribed him +from the path of fortitude, when for her sake he had been false to his +mistress, to his friends, to his faith, to his cause? Like it, when he +knew as he listened that all was lost, and nothing gained, not even this +poor, unworthy, shameful compensation? Like it? No wonder that words +failed him, and he glared at her in rage, in misery, in shame. + +"Oh, if you don't like it," she continued, tossing her head after a +momentary pause, "then you should not have come! It is of no profit to +glower at me, Monsieur. You do not frighten me." + +"I would--I would to God I had not come!" he groaned. + +"And, I dare say, that you had never seen me--since you cannot win me!" + +"That too," he exclaimed. + +She was of an extraordinary levity, and at that, after staring at him a +moment, she broke into shrill laughter. + +"A little more, and I'll send you to my cousin Hannibal!" she said. "You +do not know how anxious he is to see you. Have you a mind," with a +waggish look, "to play bride's man, M. de Tignonville? Or will you give +away the bride? It is not too late, though soon it will be!" + +He winced, and from red grew pale. "What do you mean?" he stammered; +and, averting his eyes in shame, seeing now all the littleness, all the +baseness of his position, "Has he--married her?" he continued. + +"Ho, ho!" she cried in triumph. "I've hit you now, have I, Monsieur? +I've hit you!" And mocking him, "Has he--married her?" she lisped. "No; +but he will marry her, have no fear of that! He will marry her. He +waits but to get a priest. Would you like to see what he says?" she +continued, playing with him as a cat plays with a mouse. "I had a note +from him yesterday. Would you like to see how welcome you'll be at the +wedding?" And she flaunted a piece of paper before his eyes. + +"Give it me," he said. + +She let him seize it the while she shrugged her shoulders. "It's your +affair, not mine," she said. "See it if you like, and keep it if you +like. Cousin Hannibal wastes few words." + +That was true, for the paper contained but a dozen or fifteen words, and +an initial by way of signature. + +"I may need your shaveling to-morrow afternoon. Send him, and +Tignonville in safeguard if he come.--H." + +"I can guess what use he has for a priest," she said. "It is not to +confess him, I warrant. It's long, I fear, since Hannibal told his +beads." + +M. de Tignonville swore. "I would I had the confessing of him!" he said +between his teeth. + +She clapped her hands in glee. "Why should you not?" she cried. "Why +should you not? 'Tis time yet, since I am to send to-day and have not +sent. Will you be the shaveling to go confess or marry him?" And she +laughed recklessly. "Will you, M. de Tignonville? The cowl will mask +you as well as another, and pass you through the streets better than a +cut sleeve. He will have both his wishes, lover and clerk in one then. +And it will be pull monk, pull Hannibal with a vengeance." + +Tignonville gazed at her, and as he gazed courage and hope awoke in his +eyes. What if, after all, he could undo the past? What if, after all, +he could retrace the false step he had taken, and place himself again +where he had been--by _her_ side? + +"If you meant it!" he exclaimed, his breath coming fast. "If you only +meant what you say, Madame." + +"If?" she answered, opening her eyes. "And why should I not mean it?" + +"Because," he replied slowly, "cowl or no cowl, when I meet your cousin--" + +"'Twill go hard with him?" she cried, with a mocking laugh. "And you +think I fear for him. That is it, is it?" + +He nodded. + +"I fear just _so much_ for him!" she retorted with contempt. "Just so +much!" And coming a step nearer to Tignonville she snapped her small +white fingers under his nose. "Do you see? No, M. de Tignonville," she +continued, "you do not know Count Hannibal if you think that he fears, or +that any fear for him. If you will beard the lion in his den, the risk +will be yours, not his!" + +The young man's face glowed. "I take the risk!" he cried. "And I thank +you for the chance; that, Madame, whatever betide. But--" + +"But what?" she asked, seeing that he hesitated and that his face fell. + +"If he afterwards learn that you have played him a trick," he said, "will +he not punish you?" + +"Punish me?" + +He nodded. + +Madame laughed her high disdain. "You do not yet know Hannibal de +Tavannes," she said. "He does not war with women." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. A BARGAIN. + + +It is the wont of the sex to snatch at an ell where an inch is offered, +and to press an advantage in circumstances in which a man, acknowledging +the claims of generosity, scruples to ask for more. The habit, now +ingrained, may have sprung from long dependence on the male, and is one +which a hundred instances, from the time of Judith downwards, prove to be +at its strongest where the need is greatest. + +When Mademoiselle de Vrillac came out of the hour-long swoon into which +her lover's defection had cast her, the expectation of the worst was so +strong upon her that she could not at once credit the respite which +Madame Carlat hastened to announce. She could not believe that she still +lay safe, in her own room above stairs; that she was in the care of her +own servants, and that the chamber held no presence more hateful than +that of the good woman who sat weeping beside her. + +As was to be expected, she came to herself sighing and shuddering, +trembling with nervous exhaustion. She looked for _him_, as soon as she +looked for any; and even when she had seen the door locked and double- +locked, she doubted--doubted, and shook and hid herself in the hangings +of the bed. The noise of the riot and rapine which prevailed in the +city, and which reached the ear even in that locked room--and although +the window, of paper, with an upper pane of glass, looked into a +courtyard--was enough to drive the blood from a woman's cheeks. But it +was fear of the house, not of the street, fear from within, not from +without, which impelled the girl into the darkest corner and shook her +wits. She could not believe that even this short respite was hers, until +she had repeatedly heard the fact confirmed at Madame Carlat's mouth. + +"You are deceiving me!" she cried more than once. And each time she +started up in fresh terror. "He never said that he would not return +until to-morrow!" + +"He did, my lamb, he did!" the old woman answered with tears. "Would I +deceive you?" + +"He said he would not return?" + +"He said he would not return until to-morrow. You had until to-morrow, +he said." + +"And then?" + +"He would come and bring the priest with him," Madame Carlat replied +sorrowfully. + +"The priest? To-morrow!" Mademoiselle cried. "The priest!" and she +crouched anew with hot eyes behind the hangings of the bed, and, +shivering, hid her face. + +But this for a time only. As soon as she had made certain of the +respite, and that she had until the morrow, her courage rose, and with it +the instinct of which mention has been made. Count Hannibal had granted +a respite; short as it was, and no more than the barest humanity +required, to grant one at all was not the act of the mere butcher who +holds the trembling lamb, unresisting, in his hands. It was an act--no +more, again be it said, than humanity required--and yet an act which +bespoke an expectation of some return, of some correlative advantage. It +was not in the part of the mere brigand. Something had been granted. +Something short of the utmost in the captor's power had been exacted. He +had shown that there were things he would not do. + +Then might not something more be won from him? A further delay, another +point; something, no matter what, which could be turned to advantage? +With the brigand it is not possible to bargain. But who gives a little +may give more; who gives a day may give a week; who gives a week may give +a month. And a month? Her heart leapt up. A month seemed a lifetime, +an eternity, to her who had but until to-morrow! + +Yet there was one consideration which might have daunted a spirit less +brave. To obtain aught from Tavannes it was needful to ask him, and to +ask him it was needful to see him; and to see him _before_ that to-morrow +which meant so much to her. It was necessary, in a word, to run some +risk; but without risk the card could not be played, and she did not +hesitate. It might turn out that she was wrong, that the man was not +only pitiless and without bowels of mercy, but lacked also the shred of +decency for which she gave him credit, and on which she counted. In that +case, if she sent for him--but she would not consider that case. + +The position of the window, while it increased the women's safety, +debarred them from all knowledge of what was going forward, except that +which their ears afforded them. They had no means of judging whether +Tavannes remained in the house or had sallied forth to play his part in +the work of murder. Madame Carlat, indeed, had no desire to know +anything. In that room above stairs, with the door double-locked, lay a +hope of safety in the present, and of ultimate deliverance; there she had +a respite from terror, as long as she kept the world outside. To her, +therefore, the notion of sending for Tavannes, or communicating with him, +came as a thunderbolt. Was her mistress mad? Did she wish to court her +fate? To reach Tavannes they must apply to his riders, for Carlat and +the men-servants were confined above. Those riders were grim, brutal +men, who might resort to rudeness on their own account. And Madame, +clinging in a paroxysm of terror to her mistress, suggested all manner of +horrors, one on top of the other, until she increased her own terror +tenfold. And yet, to do her justice, nothing that even her frenzied +imagination suggested exceeded the things which the streets of Paris, +fruitful mother of horrors, were witnessing at that very hour. As we now +know. + +For it was noon--or a little more--of Sunday, August the twenty-fourth, +"a holiday, and therefore the people could more conveniently find leisure +to kill and plunder." From the bridges, and particularly from the stone +bridge of Notre Dame--while they lay safe in that locked room, and +Tignonville crouched in his haymow--Huguenots less fortunate were being +cast, bound hand and foot, into the Seine. On the river bank Spire +Niquet, the bookman, was being burnt over a slow fire, fed with his own +books. In their houses, Ramus the scholar and Goujon the sculptor--than +whom Paris has neither seen nor deserved a greater--were being butchered +like sheep; and in the Valley of Misery, now the Quai de la Megisserie, +seven hundred persons who had sought refuge in the prisons were being +beaten to death with bludgeons. Nay, at this hour--a little sooner or a +little later, what matters it?--M. de Tignonville's own cousin, Madame +d'Yverne, the darling of the Louvre the day before, perished in the hands +of the mob; and the sister of M. de Taverny, equally ill-fated, died in +the same fashion, after being dragged through the streets. + +Madame Carlat, then, went not a whit beyond the mark in her argument. But +Mademoiselle had made up her mind, and was not to be dissuaded. + +"If I am to be Monsieur's wife," she said with quivering nostrils, "shall +I fear his servants?" + +And opening the door herself, for the others would not, she called. The +man who answered was a Norman; and short of stature, and wrinkled and low- +browed of feature, with a thatch of hair and a full beard, he seemed the +embodiment of the women's apprehensions. Moreover, his _patois_ of the +cider-land was little better than German to them; their southern, softer +tongue was sheer Italian to him. But he seemed not ill-disposed, or +Mademoiselle's air overawed him; and presently she made him understand, +and with a nod he descended to carry her message. + +Then Mademoiselle's heart began to beat; and beat more quickly when she +heard _his_ step--alas! she knew it already, knew it from all others--on +the stairs. The table was set, the card must be played, to win or lose. +It might be that with the low opinion he held of women he would think her +reconciled to her lot; he would think this an overture, a step towards +kinder treatment, one more proof of the inconstancy of the lower and the +weaker sex, made to be men's playthings. And at that thought her eyes +grew hot with rage. But if it were so, she must still put up with it. +She must still put up with it! She had sent for him, and he was +coming--he was at the door! + +He entered, and she breathed more freely. For once his face lacked the +sneer, the look of smiling possession, which she had come to know and +hate. It was grave, expectant, even suspicious; still harsh and dark, +akin, as she now observed, to the low-browed, furrowed face of the rider +who had summoned him. But the offensive look was gone, and she could +breathe. + +He closed the door behind him, but he did not advance into the room. + +"At your pleasure, Mademoiselle?" he said simply. "You sent for me, I +think." + +She was on her feet, standing before him with something of the +submissiveness of Roxana before her conqueror. + +"I did," she said; and stopped at that, her hand to her side as if she +could not continue. But presently in a low voice, "I have heard," she +went on, "what you said, Monsieur, after I lost consciousness." + +"Yes?" he said; and was silent. Nor did he lose his watchful look. + +"I am obliged to you for your thought of me," she continued in a faint +voice, "and I shall be still further obliged--I speak to you thus quickly +and thus early--if you will grant me a somewhat longer time." + +"Do you mean--if I will postpone our marriage?" + +"Yes, Monsieur." + +"It is impossible!" + +"Do not say that," she cried, raising her voice impulsively. "I appeal +to your generosity. And for a short, a very short, time only." + +"It is impossible," he answered quietly. "And for reasons, Mademoiselle. +In the first place, I can more easily protect my wife. In the second, I +am even now summoned to the Louvre, and should be on my way thither. By +to-morrow evening, unless I am mistaken in the business on which I am +required, I shall be on my way to a distant province with royal letters. +It is essential that our marriage take place before I go." + +"Why?" she asked stubbornly. + +He shrugged his shoulders. "Why?" he repeated. "Can you ask, +Mademoiselle, after the events of last night? Because, if you please, I +do not wish to share the fate of M. de Tignonville. Because in these +days life is uncertain, and death too certain. Because it was our turn +last night, and it may be the turn of your friends--to-morrow night!" + +"Then some have escaped?" she cried. + +He smiled. "I am glad to find you so shrewd," he replied. "In an honest +wife it is an excellent quality. Yes, Mademoiselle; one or two." + +"Who? Who? I pray you tell me." + +"M. de Montgomery, who slept beyond the river, for one; and the Vidame, +and some with him. M. de Biron, whom I count a Huguenot, and who holds +the Arsenal in the King's teeth, for another. And a few more. Enough, +in a word, Mademoiselle, to keep us wakeful. It is impossible, +therefore, for me to postpone the fulfilment of your promise." + +"A promise on conditions!" she retorted, in rage that she could win no +more. And every line of her splendid figure, every tone of her voice +flamed sudden, hot rebellion. "I do not go for nothing! You gave me the +lives of all in the house, Monsieur! Of all!" she repeated with passion. +"And all are not here! Before I marry you, you must show me M. de +Tignonville alive and safe!" + +He shrugged his shoulders. "He has taken himself off," he said. "It is +naught to me what happens to him now." + +"It is all to me!" she retorted. + +At that he glared at her, the veins of his forehead swelling suddenly. +But after a seeming struggle with himself he put the insult by, perhaps +for future reckoning and account. + +"I did what I could," he said sullenly. "Had I willed it he had died +there and then in the room below. I gave him his life. If he has risked +it anew and lost it, it is naught to me." + +"It was his life you gave me," she repeated stubbornly. "His life--and +the others. But that is not all," she continued; "you promised me a +minister." + +He nodded, smiling sourly to himself, as if this confirmed a suspicion he +had entertained. + +"Or a priest," he said. + +"No, a minister." + +"If one could be obtained. If not, a priest." + +"No, it was to be at my will; and I will a minister! I will a minister!" +she cried passionately. "Show me M. de Tignonville alive, and bring me a +minister of my faith, and I will keep my promise, M. de Tavannes. Have +no fear of that. But otherwise, I will not." + +"You will not?" he cried. "You will not?" + +"No!" + +"You will not marry me?" + +"No!" + +The moment she had said it fear seized her, and she could have fled from +him, screaming. The flash of his eyes, the sudden passion of his face, +burned themselves into her memory. She thought for a second that he +would spring on her and strike her down. Yet though the women behind her +held their breath, she faced him, and did not quail; and to that, she +fancied, she owed it that he controlled himself. + +"You will not?" he repeated, as if he could not understand such +resistance to his will--as if he could not credit his ears. "You will +not?" But after that, when he had said it three times, he laughed; a +laugh, however, with a snarl in it that chilled her blood. + +"You bargain, do you?" he said. "You will have the last tittle of the +price, will you? And have thought of this and that to put me off, and to +gain time until your lover, who is all to you, comes to save you? Oh, +clever girl! clever! But have you thought where you stand--woman? Do +you know that if I gave the word to my people they would treat you as the +commonest baggage that tramps the Froidmantel? Do you know that it rests +with me to save you, or to throw you to the wolves whose ravening you +hear?" And he pointed to the window. "Minister? Priest?" he continued +grimly. "_Mon Dieu_, Mademoiselle, I stand astonished at my moderation. +You chatter to me of ministers and priests, and the one or the other, +when it might be neither! When you are as much and as hopelessly in my +power to-day as the wench in my kitchen! You! You flout me, and make +terms with me! You!" + +And he came so near her with his dark harsh face, his tone rose so +menacing on the last word, that her nerves, shattered before, gave way, +and, unable to control herself, she flinched with a low cry, thinking he +would strike her. + +He did not follow, nor move to follow; but he laughed a low laugh of +content. And his eyes devoured her. + +"Ho! ho!" he said. "We are not so brave as we pretend to be, it seems. +And yet you dared to chaffer with me? You thought to thwart me--Tavannes! +_Mon Dieu_, Mademoiselle, to what did you trust? To what did you trust? +Ay, and to what do you trust?" + +She knew that by the movement which fear had forced from her she had +jeopardized everything. That she stood to lose all and more than all +which she had thought to win by a bold front. A woman less brave, of a +spirit less firm, would have given up the contest, and have been glad to +escape so. But this woman, though her bloodless face showed that she +knew what cause she had for fear, and though her heart was indeed sick +with terror, held her ground at the point to which she had retreated. She +played her last card. + +"To what do I trust?" she muttered with trembling lips. + +"Yes, Mademoiselle," he answered between his teeth. "To what do you +trust--that you play with Tavannes?" + +"To his honour, Monsieur," she answered faintly. "And to your promise." + +He looked at her with his mocking smile. "And yet," he sneered, "you +thought a moment ago that I should strike you. You thought that I should +beat you! And now it is my honour and my promise! Oh, clever, clever, +Mademoiselle! 'Tis so that women make fools of men. I knew that +something of this kind was on foot when you sent for me, for I know women +and their ways. But, let me tell you, it is an ill time to speak of +honour when the streets are red! And of promises when the King's word is +'No faith with a heretic!'" + +"Yet you will keep yours," she said bravely. + +He did not answer at once, and hope which was almost dead in her breast +began to recover; nay, presently sprang up erect. For the man hesitated, +it was evident; he brooded with a puckered brow and gloomy eyes; an +observer might have fancied that he traced pain as well as doubt in his +face. At last-- + +"There is a thing," he said slowly and with a sort of glare at her, +"which, it may be, you have not reckoned. You press me now, and will +stand on your terms and your conditions, your _ifs_ and your _unlesses_! +You will have the most from me, and the bargain and a little beside the +bargain! But I would have you think if you are wise. Bethink you how it +will be between us when you are my wife--if you press me so now, +Mademoiselle. How will it sweeten things then? How will it soften them? +And to what, I pray you, will you trust for fair treatment then, if you +will be so against me now?" + +She shuddered. "To the mercy of my husband," she said in a low voice. +And her chin sank on her breast. + +"You will be content to trust to that?" he answered grimly. And his tone +and the lifting of his brow promised little clemency. "Bethink you! 'Tis +your rights now, and your terms, Mademoiselle! And then it will be only +my mercy--Madame." + +"I am content," she muttered faintly. + +"And the Lord have mercy on my soul, is what you would add," he retorted, +"so much trust have you in my mercy! And you are right! You are right, +since you have played this trick on me. But as you will. If you will +have it so, have it so! You shall stand on your conditions now; you +shall have your pennyweight and full advantage, and the rigour of the +pact. But afterwards--afterwards, Madame de Tavannes--" + +He did not finish his sentence, for at the first word which granted her +petition, Mademoiselle had sunk down on the low wooden window-seat beside +which she stood, and, cowering into its farthest corner, her face hidden +on her arms, had burst into violent weeping. Her hair, hastily knotted +up in the hurry of the previous night, hung in a thick plait to the curve +of her waist; the nape of her neck showed beside it milk-white. The man +stood awhile contemplating her in silence, his gloomy eyes watching the +pitiful movement of her shoulders, the convulsive heaving of her figure. +But he did not offer to touch her, and at length he turned about. First +one and then the other of her women quailed and shrank under his gaze; he +seemed about to add something. But he did not speak. The sentence he +had left unfinished, the long look he bent on the weeping girl as he +turned from her, spoke more eloquently of the future than a score of +orations. + +"_Afterwards, Madame de Tavannes_!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII. IN THE HALL OF THE LOUVRE. + + +It is a strange thing that love--or passion, if the sudden fancy for +Mademoiselle which had seized Count Hannibal be deemed unworthy of the +higher name--should so entirely possess the souls of those who harbour it +that the greatest events and the most astounding catastrophes, even +measures which set their mark for all time on a nation, are to them of +importance only so far as they affect the pursuit of the fair one. + +As Tavannes, after leaving Mademoiselle, rode through the paved lanes, +beneath the gabled houses, and under the shadow of the Gothic spires of +his day, he saw a score of sights, moving to pity, or wrath, or wonder. +He saw Paris as a city sacked; a slaughter-house, where for a week a +masque had moved to stately music; blood on the nailed doors and the +close-set window bars; and at the corners of the ways strewn garments, +broken weapons, the livid dead in heaps. But he saw all with eyes which +in all and everywhere, among living and dead, sought only Tignonville; +Tignonville first, and next a heretic minister, with enough of life in +him to do his office. + +Probably it was to this that one man hunted through Paris owed his escape +that day. He sprang from a narrow passage full in Tavannes' view, and, +hair on end, his eyes starting from his head, ran blindly--as a hare will +run when chased--along the street to meet Count Hannibal's company. The +man's face was wet with the dews of death, his lungs seemed cracking, his +breath hissed from him as he ran. His pursuers were hard on him, and, +seeing him headed by Count Hannibal's party, yelled in triumph, holding +him for dead. And dead he would have been within thirty seconds had +Tavannes played his part. But his thoughts were elsewhere. Either he +took the poor wretch for Tignonville, or for the minister on whom his +mind was running; anyway he suffered him to slip under the belly of his +horse; then, to make matters worse, he wheeled to follow him in so +untimely and clumsy a fashion that his horse blocked the way and stopped +the pursuers in their tracks. The quarry slipped into an alley and +vanished. The hunters stood and blasphemed, and even for a moment seemed +inclined to resent the mistake. But Tavannes smiled; a broader smile +lightened the faces of the six iron-clad men behind him; and for some +reason the gang of ruffians thought better of it and slunk aside. + +There are hard men, who feel scorn of the things which in the breasts of +others excite pity. Tavannes' lip curled as he rode on through the +streets, looking this way and that, and seeing what a King twenty-two +years old had made of his capital. His lip curled most of all when he +came, passing between the two tennis-courts, to the east gate of the +Louvre, and found the entrance locked and guarded, and all communication +between city and palace cut off. Such a proof of unkingly panic, in a +crisis wrought by the King himself, astonished him less a few minutes +later, when, the keys having been brought and the door opened, he entered +the courtyard of the fortress. + +Within and about the door of the gatehouse some three-score archers and +arquebusiers stood to their arms; not in array, but in disorderly groups, +from which the babble of voices, of feverish laughter, and strained jests +rose without ceasing. The weltering sun, of which the beams just topped +the farther side of the quadrangle, fell slantwise on their armour, and +heightened their exaggerated and restless movements. To a calm eye they +seemed like men acting in a nightmare. Their fitful talk and disjointed +gestures, their sweating brows and damp hair, no less than the sullen, +brooding silence of one here and there, bespoke the abnormal and the +terrible. There were livid faces among them, and twitching cheeks, and +some who swallowed much; and some again who bared their crimson arms and +bragged insanely of the part they had played. But perhaps the most +striking thing was the thirst, the desire, the demand for news, and for +fresh excitement. In the space of time it took him to pass through them, +Count Hannibal heard a dozen rumours of what was passing in the city; +that Montgomery and the gentlemen who had slept beyond the river had +escaped on horseback in their shirts; that Guise had been shot in the +pursuit; that he had captured the Vidame de Chartres and all the +fugitives; that he had never left the city; that he was even then +entering by the Porte de Bucy. Again that Biron had surrendered the +Arsenal, that he had threatened to fire on the city, that he was dead, +that with the Huguenots who had escaped he was marching on the Louvre, +that-- + +And then Tavannes passed out of the blinding sunshine, and out of earshot +of their babble, and had plain in his sight across the quadrangle, the +new facade, Italian, graceful, of the Renaissance; which rose in smiling +contrast with the three dark Gothic sides that now, the central tower +removed, frowned unimpeded at one another. But what was this which lay +along the foot of the new Italian wall? This, round which some stood, +gazing curiously, while others strewed fresh sand about it, or after long +downward-looking glanced up to answer the question of a person at a +window? + +Death; and over death--death in its most cruel aspect--a cloud of +buzzing, whirling flies, and the smell, never to be forgotten, of much +spilled blood. From a doorway hard by came shrill bursts of hysterical +laughter; and with the laughter plumped out, even as Tavannes crossed the +court, a young girl, thrust forth it seemed by her fellows, for she +turned about and struggled as she came. Once outside she hung back, +giggling and protesting, half willing, half unwilling; and meeting +Tavannes' eye thrust her way in again with a whirl of her petticoats, and +a shriek. But before he had taken four paces she was out again. + +He paused to see who she was, and his thoughts involuntarily went back to +the woman he had left weeping in the upper room. Then he turned about +again and stood to count the dead. He identified Piles, identified +Pardaillan, identified Soubise--whose corpse the murderers had robbed of +the last rag--and Touchet and St. Galais. He made his reckoning with an +unmoved face, and with the same face stopped and stared, and moved from +one to another; had he not seen the slaughter about "_le petit homme_" at +Jarnac, and the dead of three pitched fields? But when a bystander, +smirking obsequiously, passed him a jest on Soubise, and with his finger +pointed the jest, he had the same hard unmoved face for the gibe as for +the dead. And the jester shrank away, abashed and perplexed by his stare +and his reticence. + +Halfway up the staircase to the great gallery or guard-room above, Count +Hannibal found his brother, the Marshal, huddled together in drunken +slumber on a seat in a recess. In the gallery to which he passed on +without awakening him, a crowd of courtiers and ladies, with arquebusiers +and captains of the quarters, walked to and fro, talking in whispers; or +peeped over shoulders towards the inner end of the hall, where the +querulous voice of the King rose now and again above the hum. As +Tavannes moved that way, Nancay, in the act of passing out, booted and +armed for the road, met him and almost jostled him. + +"Ah, well met, M. le Comte," he sneered, with as much hostility as he +dared betray. "The King has asked for you twice." + +"I am going to him. And you? Whither in such a hurry, M. Nancay?" + +"To Chatillon." + +"On pleasant business?" + +"Enough that it is on the King's!" Nancay replied, with unexpected +temper. "I hope that you may find yours as pleasant!" he added with a +grin. And he went on. + +The gleam of malice in the man's eye warned Tavannes to pause. He looked +round for some one who might be in the secret, saw the Provost of the +Merchants, and approached him. + +"What's amiss, M. le Charron?" he asked. "Is not the affair going as it +should?" + +"'Tis about the Arsenal, M. le Comte," the Provost answered busily. "M. +de Biron is harbouring the vermin there. He has lowered the portcullis +and pointed his culverins over the gate and will not yield it or listen +to reason. The King would bring him to terms, but no one will venture +himself inside with the message. Rats in a trap, you know, bite hard, +and care little whom they bite." + +"I begin to understand." + +"Precisely, M. le Comte. His Majesty would have sent M. de Nancay. But +he elected to go to Chatillon, to seize the young brood there. The +Admiral's children, you comprehend." + +"Whose teeth are not yet grown! He was wise." + +"To be sure, M. de Tavannes, to be sure. But the King was annoyed, and +on top of that came a priest with complaints, and if I may make so bold +as to advise you, you will not--" + +But Tavannes fancied that he had caught the gist of the difficulty, and +with a nod he moved on; and so he missed the warning which the other had +it in his mind to give. A moment and he reached the inner circle, and +there halted, disconcerted, nay taken aback. For as soon as he showed +his face, the King, who was pacing to and fro like a caged beast, before +a table at which three clerks knelt on cushions, espied him, and stood +still. With a glare of something like madness in his eyes, Charles +raised his hand, and with a shaking finger singled him out. + +"So, by G-d, you are there!" he cried, with a volley of blasphemy. And +he signed to those about Count Hannibal to stand away from him. "You are +there, are you? And you are not afraid to show your face? I tell you, +it's you and such as you bring us into contempt! so that it is said +everywhere Guise does all and serves God, and we follow because we must! +It's you, and such as you, are stumbling-blocks to our good folk of +Paris! Are you traitor, sirrah?" he continued with passion, "or are you +of our brother Alencon's opinions, that you traverse our orders to the +damnation of your soul and our discredit? Are you traitor? Or are you +heretic? Or what are you? God in heaven, will you answer me, man, or +shall I send you where you will find your tongue?" + +"I know not of what your Majesty accuses me," Count Hannibal answered, +with a scarcely perceptible shrug of the shoulders. + +"I? 'Tis not I," the King retorted. His hair hung damp on his brow, and +he dried his hands continually; while his gestures had the ill-measured +and eccentric violence of an epileptic. "Here, you! Speak, father, and +confound him!" + +Then Tavannes discovered on the farther side of the circle the priest +whom his brother had ridden down that morning. Father Pezelay's pale +hatchet-face gleamed paler than ordinary; and a great bandage hid one +temple and part of his face. But below the bandage the flame of his eyes +was not lessened, nor the venom of his tongue. To the King he had +come--for no other would deal with his violent opponent; to the King's +presence! and, as he prepared to blast his adversary, now his chance was +come, his long lean frame, in its narrow black cassock, seemed to grow +longer, leaner, more baleful, more snake-like. He stood there a fitting +representative of the dark fanaticism of Paris, which Charles and his +successor--the last of a doomed line--alternately used as tool or feared +as master; and to which the most debased and the most immoral of courts +paid, in its sober hours, a vile and slavish homage. Even in the midst +of the drunken, shameless courtiers--who stood, if they stood for +anything, for that other influence of the day, the Renaissance--he was to +be reckoned with; and Count Hannibal knew it. He knew that in the eyes +not of Charles only, but of nine out of ten who listened to him, a priest +was more sacred than a virgin, and a tonsure than all the virtues of +spotless innocence. + +"Shall the King give with one hand and withdraw with the other?" the +priest began, in a voice hoarse yet strident, a voice borne high above +the crowd on the wings of passion. "Shall he spare of the best of the +men and the maidens whom God hath doomed, whom the Church hath devoted, +whom the King hath given? Is the King's hand shortened or his word +annulled that a man does as he forbiddeth and leaves undone what he +commandeth? Is God mocked? Woe, woe unto you," he continued, turning +swiftly, arms uplifted, towards Tavannes, "who please yourself with the +red and white of their maidens and take of the best of the spoil, sparing +where the King's word is 'Spare not'! Who strike at Holy Church with the +sword! Who--" + +"Answer, sirrah!" Charles cried, spurning the floor in his fury. He +could not listen long to any man. "Is it so? Is it so? Do you do these +things?" + +Count Hannibal shrugged his shoulders and was about to answer, when a +thick, drunken voice rose from the crowd behind him. + +"Is it what? Eh! Is it what?" it droned. And a figure with bloodshot +eyes, disordered beard, and rich clothes awry, forced its way through the +obsequious circle. It was Marshal Tavannes. "Eh, what? You'd beard the +King, would you?" he hiccoughed truculently, his eyes on Father Pezelay, +his hand on his sword. "Were you a priest ten times--" + +"Silence!" Charles cried, almost foaming with rage at this fresh +interruption. "It's not he, fool! 'Tis your pestilent brother." + +"Who touches my brother touches Tavannes!" the Marshal answered with a +menacing gesture. He was sober enough, it appeared, to hear what was +said, but not to comprehend its drift; and this caused a titter, which +immediately excited his rage. He turned and seized the nearest laugher +by the ear. "Insolent!" he cried. "I will teach you to laugh when the +King speaks! Puppy! Who laughs at his Majesty or touches my brother has +to do with Tavannes!" + +The King, in a rage that almost deprived him of speech, stamped the floor +twice. + +"Idiot!" he cried. "Imbecile! Let the man go! 'Tis not he! 'Tis your +heretic brother, I tell you! By all the Saints! By the body of--" and +he poured forth a flood of oaths. "Will you listen to me and be silent! +Will you--your brother--" + +"If he be not your Majesty's servant, I will kill him with this sword!" +the irrepressible Marshal struck in. "As I have killed ten to-day! Ten!" +And, staggering back, he only saved himself from falling by clutching +Chicot about the neck. + +"Steady, my pretty Marechale!" the jester cried, chucking him under the +chin with one hand, while with some difficulty he supported him with the +other--for he, too, was far from sober-- + + "Pretty Margot, toy with me, + Maiden bashful--" + +"Silence!" Charles cried, darting forth his long arms in a fury of +impatience. "God, have I killed every man of sense? Are you all gone +mad? Silence! Do you hear? Silence! And let me hear what he has to +say," with a movement towards Count Hannibal. "And look you, sirrah," he +continued with a curse, "see that it be to the purpose!" + +"If it be a question of your Majesty's service," Tavannes answered, "and +obedience to your Majesty's orders, I am deeper in it than he who stands +there!" with a sign towards the priest. "I give my word for that. And I +will prove it." + +"How, sir?" Charles cried. "How, how, how? How will you prove it?" + +"By doing for you, sire, what he will not do!" Tavannes answered +scornfully. "Let him stand out, and if he will serve his Church as I +will serve my King--" + +"Blaspheme not!" cried the priest. + +"Chatter not!" Tavannes retorted hardily, "but do! Better is he," he +continued, "who takes a city than he who slays women! Nay, sire," he +went on hurriedly, seeing the King start, "be not angry, but hear me! You +would send to Biron, to the Arsenal? You seek a messenger, sire? Then +let the good father be the man. Let him take your Majesty's will to +Biron, and let him see the Grand Master face to face, and bring him to +reason. Or, if he will not, I will! Let that be the test!" + +"Ay, ay!" cried Marshal de Tavannes, "you say well, brother! Let him!" + +"And if he will not, I will!" Tavannes repeated. "Let that be the test, +sire." + +The King wheeled suddenly to Father Pezelay. "You hear, father?" he +said. "What say you?" + +The priest's face grew sallow, and more sallow. He knew that the walls +of the Arsenal sheltered men whose hands no convention and no order of +Biron's would keep from his throat, were the grim gate and frowning +culverins once passed; men who had seen their women and children, their +wives and sisters immolated at his word, and now asked naught but to +stand face to face and eye to eye with him and tear him limb from limb +before they died! The challenge, therefore, was one-sided and unfair; +but for that very reason it shook him. The astuteness of the man who, +taken by surprise, had conceived this snare filled him with dread. He +dared not accept, and he scarcely dared to refuse the offer. And +meantime the eyes of the courtiers, who grinned in their beards, were on +him. At length he spoke, but it was in a voice which had lost its +boldness and assurance. + +"It is not for me to clear myself," he cried, shrill and violent, "but +for those who are accused, for those who have belied the King's word, and +set at nought his Christian orders. For you, Count Hannibal, heretic, or +no better than heretic, it is easy to say 'I go.' For you go but to your +own, and your own will receive you!" + +"Then you will not go?" with a jeer. + +"At your command? No!" the priest shrieked with passion. "His Majesty +knows whether I serve him." + +"I know," Charles cried, stamping his foot in a fury, "that you all serve +me when it pleases you! That you are all sticks of the same faggot, wood +of the same bundle, hell-babes in your own business, and sluggards in +mine! You kill to-day and you'll lay it to me to-morrow! Ay, you will! +you will!" he repeated frantically, and drove home the asseveration with +a fearful oath. "The dead are as good servants as you! Foucauld was +better! Foucauld? Foucauld? Ah, my God!" + +And abruptly in presence of them all, with the sacred name, which he so +often defiled, on his lips, Charles turned, and covering his face burst +into childish weeping; while a great silence fell on all--on Bussy with +the blood of his cousin Resnel on his point, on Fervacques, the betrayer +of his friend, on Chicot, the slayer of his rival, on Cocconnas the +cruel--on men with hands unwashed from the slaughter, and on the +shameless women who lined the walls; on all who used this sobbing man for +their stepping-stone, and, to attain their ends and gain their purposes, +trampled his dull soul in blood and mire. + +One looked at another in consternation. Fear grew in eyes that a moment +before were bold; cheeks turned pale that a moment before were hectic. If +_he_ changed as rapidly as this, if so little dependence could be placed +on his moods or his resolutions, who was safe? Whose turn might it not +be to-morrow? Or who might not be held accountable for the deeds done +this day? Many, from whom remorse had seemed far distant a while before, +shuddered and glanced behind them. It was as if the dead who lay stark +without the doors, ay, and the countless dead of Paris, with whose +shrieks the air was laden, had flocked in shadowy shape into the hall; +and there, standing beside their murderers, had whispered with their cold +breath in the living ears, "A reckoning! A reckoning! As I am, thou +shalt be!" + +It was Count Hannibal who broke the spell and the silence, and with his +hand on his brother's shoulder stood forward. + +"Nay, sire," he cried, in a voice which rang defiant in the roof, and +seemed to challenge alike the living and the dead, "if all deny the deed, +yet will not I! What we have done we have done! So be it! The dead are +dead! So be it! For the rest, your Majesty has still one servant who +will do your will, one soldier whose life is at your disposition! I have +said I will go, and I go, sire. And you, churchman," he continued, +turning in bitter scorn to the priest, "do you go too--to church! To +church, shaveling! Go, watch and pray for us! Fast and flog for us! +Whip those shoulders, whip them till the blood runs down! For it is all, +it seems, you will do for your King!" + +Charles turned. "Silence, railer!" he said in a broken voice. "Sow no +more troubles! Already," a shudder shook his tall ungainly form, "I see +blood, blood, blood everywhere! Blood? Ah, God, shall I from this time +see anything else? But there is no turning back. There is no undoing. +So, do you go to Biron. And do you," he went on, sullenly addressing +Marshal Tavannes, "take him and tell him what it is needful he should +know." + +"'Tis done, sire!" the Marshal cried, with a hiccough. "Come, brother!" + +But when the two, the courtiers making quick way for them, had passed +down the hall to the door, the Marshal tapped Hannibal's sleeve. + +"It was touch and go," he muttered; it was plain he had been more sober +than he seemed. "Mind you, it does not do to thwart our little master in +his fits! Remember that another time, or worse will come of it, brother. +As it is, you came out of it finely and tripped that black devil's heels +to a marvel! But you won't be so mad as to go to Biron?" + +"Yes," Count Hannibal answered coldly. "I shall go." + +"Better not! Better not!" the Marshal answered. "'Twill be easier to go +in than to come out--with a whole throat! Have you taken wild cats in +the hollow of a tree? The young first, and then the she-cat? Well, it +will be that! Take my advice, brother. Have after Montgomery, if you +please, ride with Nancay to Chatillon--he is mounting now--go where you +please out of Paris, but don't go there! Biron hates us, hates me. And +for the King, if he do not see you for a few days, 'twill blow over in a +week." + +Count Hannibal shrugged his shoulders. "No," he said, "I shall go." + +The Marshal stared a moment. "Morbleu!" he said, "why? 'Tis not to +please the King, I know. What do you think to find there, brother?" + +"A minister," Hannibal answered gently. "I want one with life in him, +and they are scarce in the open. So I must to covert after him." And, +twitching his sword-belt a little nearer to his hand, he passed across +the court to the gate, and to his horses. + +The Marshal went back laughing, and, slapping his thigh as he entered the +hall, jostled by accident a gentleman who was passing out. + +"What is it?" the Gascon cried hotly; for it was Chicot he had jostled. + +"Who touches my brother touches Tavannes!" the Marshal hiccoughed. And, +smiting his thigh anew, he went off into another fit of laughter. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. DIPLOMACY. + + +Where the old wall of Paris, of which no vestige remains, ran down on the +east to the north bank of the river, the space in the angle between the +Seine and the ramparts beyond the Rue St. Pol wore at this date an aspect +typical of the troubles of the time. Along the waterside the gloomy old +Palace of St. Pol, once the residence of the mad King Charles the +Sixth--and his wife, the abandoned Isabeau de Baviere--sprawled its maze +of mouldering courts and ruined galleries; a dreary monument of the +Gothic days which were passing from France. Its spacious curtilage and +dark pleasaunces covered all the ground between the river and the Rue St. +Antoine; and north of this, under the shadow of the eight great towers of +the Bastille, which looked, four outward to check the stranger, four +inward to bridle the town, a second palace, beginning where St. Pol +ended, carried the realm of decay to the city wall. + +This second palace was the Hotel des Tournelles, a fantastic medley of +turrets, spires, and gables, that equally with its neighbour recalled the +days of the English domination; it had been the abode of the Regent +Bedford. From his time it had remained for a hundred years the town +residence of the kings of France; but the death of Henry II., slain in +its lists by the lance of the same Montgomery who was this day fleeing +for his life before Guise, had given his widow a distaste for it. +Catherine de Medicis, her sons, and the Court had abandoned it; already +its gardens lay a tangled wilderness, its roofs let in the rain, rats +played where kings had slept; and in "our palace of the Tournelles" +reigned only silence and decay. Unless, indeed, as was whispered abroad, +the grim shade of the eleventh Louis sometimes walked in its desolate +precincts. + +In the innermost angle between the ramparts and the river, shut off from +the rest of Paris by the decaying courts and enceintes of these forsaken +palaces, stood the Arsenal. Destroyed in great part by the explosion of +a powder-mill a few years earlier, it was in the main new; and by reason +of its river frontage, which terminated at the ruined tower of Billy, and +its proximity to the Bastille, it was esteemed one of the keys of Paris. +It was the appanage of the Master of the Ordnance, and within its walls +M. de Biron, a Huguenot in politics, if not in creed, who held the office +at this time, had secured himself on the first alarm. During the day he +had admitted a number of refugees, whose courage or good luck had led +them to his gate; and as night fell--on such a carnage as the hapless +city had not beheld since the great slaughter of the Armagnacs, one +hundred and fifty-four years earlier--the glow of his matches through the +dusk, and the sullen tramp of his watchmen as they paced the walls, +indicated that there was still one place in Paris where the King's will +did not run. + +In comparison of the disorder which prevailed in the city, a deadly quiet +reigned here; a stillness so chill that a timid man must have stood and +hesitated to approach. But a stranger who about nightfall rode down the +street towards the entrance, a single footman running at his stirrup, +only nodded a stern approval of the preparations. As he drew nearer he +cast an attentive eye this way and that; nor stayed until a hoarse +challenge brought him up when he had come within six horses' lengths of +the Arsenal gate. He reined up then, and raising his voice, asked in +clear tones for M. de Biron. + +"Go," he continued boldly, "tell the Grand Master that one from the King +is here, and would speak with him." + +"From the King of France?" the officer on the gate asked. + +"Surely! Is there more than one king in France?" + +A curse and a bitter cry of "King? King Herod!" were followed by a +muttered discussion that, in the ears of one of the two who waited in the +gloom below, boded little good. The two could descry figures moving to +and fro before the faint red light of the smouldering matches; and +presently a man on the gate kindled a torch, and held it so as to fling +its light downward. The stranger's attendant cowered behind the horse. + +"Have a care, my lord!" he whispered. "They are aiming at us!" + +If so the rider's bold front and unmoved demeanour gave them pause. +Presently, "I will send for the Grand Master" the man who had spoken +before announced. "In whose name, monsieur?" + +"No matter," the stranger answered. "Say, one from the King." + +"You are alone?" + +"I shall enter alone." + +The assurance seemed to be satisfactory, for the man answered "Good!" and +after a brief delay a wicket in the gate was opened, the portcullis +creaked upward, and a plank was thrust across the ditch. The horseman +waited until the preparations were complete; then he slid to the ground, +threw his rein to the servant, and boldly walked across. In an instant +he left behind him the dark street, the river, and the sounds of outrage, +which the night breeze bore from the farther bank, and found himself +within the vaulted gateway, in a bright glare of light, the centre of a +ring of gleaming eyes and angry faces. + +The light blinded him for a few seconds; but the guards, on their side, +were in no better case. For the stranger was masked; and in their +ignorance who it was looked at them through the slits in the black velvet +they stared, disconcerted, and at a loss. There were some there with +naked weapons in their hands who would have struck him through had they +known who he was; and more who would have stood aside while the deed was +done. But the uncertainty--that and the masked man's tone paralyzed +them. For they reflected that he might be anyone. Conde, indeed, stood +too small, but Navarre, if he lived, might fill that cloak; or Guise, or +Anjou, or the King himself. And while some would not have scrupled to +strike the blood royal, more would have been quick to protect and avenge +it. And so before the dark uncertainty of the mask, before the riddle of +the smiling eyes which glittered through the slits, they stared +irresolute; until a hand, the hand of one bolder than his fellows, was +raised to pluck away the screen. + +The unknown dealt the fellow a buffet with his fist. "Down, rascal!" he +said hoarsely. "And you"--to the officer--"show me instantly to M. de +Biron!" + +But the lieutenant, who stood in fear of his men, looked at him +doubtfully. + +"Nay," he said, "not so fast!" And one of the others, taking the lead, +cried, "No! We may have no need of M. de Biron. Your name, monsieur, +first." + +With a quick movement the stranger gripped the officer's wrist. + +"Tell your master," he said, "that he who clasped his wrist _thus_ on the +night of Pentecost is here, and would speak with him! And say, mark you, +that I will come to him, not he to me!" + +The sign and the tone imposed upon the boldest. Two-thirds of the watch +were Huguenots, who burned to avenge the blood of their fellows; and +these, overriding their officer, had agreed to deal with the intruder, if +a Papegot, without recourse to the Grand Master, whose moderation they +dreaded. A knife-thrust in the ribs, and another body in the ditch--why +not, when such things were done outside? But even these doubted now; and +M. Peridol, the lieutenant, reading in the eyes of his men the suspicions +which he had himself conceived, was only anxious to obey, if they would +let him. So gravely was he impressed, indeed, by the bearing of the +unknown that he turned when he had withdrawn, and came back to assure +himself that the men meditated no harm in his absence; nor until he had +exchanged a whisper with one of them would he leave them and go. + +While he was gone on his errand the envoy leaned against the wall of the +gateway, and, with his chin sunk on his breast and his mind fallen into +reverie, seemed unconscious of the dark glances of which he was the +target. He remained in this position until the officer came back, +followed by a man with a lanthorn. Their coming roused the unknown, who, +invited to follow Peridol, traversed two courts without remark, and in +the same silence entered a building in the extreme eastern corner of the +enceinte abutting on the ruined Tour de Billy. Here, in an upper floor, +the Governor of the Arsenal had established his temporary lodging. + +The chamber into which the stranger was introduced betrayed the haste in +which it had been prepared for its occupant. Two silver lamps which hung +from the beams of the unceiled roof shed light on a medley of arms and +inlaid armour, of parchments, books and steel caskets, which encumbered +not the tables only, but the stools and chests that, after the fashion of +that day, stood formally along the arras. In the midst of the disorder, +on the bare floor, walked the man who, more than any other, had been +instrumental in drawing the Huguenots to Paris--and to their doom. It +was no marvel that the events of the day, the surprise and horror, still +rode his mind; nor wonderful that even he, who passed for a model of +stiffness and reticence, betrayed for once the indignation which filled +his breast. Until the officer had withdrawn and closed the door he did, +indeed, keep silence; standing beside the table and eyeing his visitor +with a lofty porte and a stern glance. But the moment he was assured +that they were alone he spoke. + +"Your Highness may unmask now," he said, making no effort to hide his +contempt. "Yet were you well advised to take the precaution, since you +had hardly come at me in safety without it. Had those who keep the gate +seen you, I would not have answered for your Highness's life. The more +shame," he continued vehemently, "on the deeds of this day which have +compelled the brother of a king of France to hide his face in his own +capital and in his own fortress. For I dare to say, Monsieur, what no +other will say, now the Admiral is dead. You have brought back the days +of the Armagnacs. You have brought bloody days and an evil name on +France, and I pray God that you may not pay in your turn what you have +exacted. But if you continue to be advised by M. de Guise, this I will +say, Monsieur"--and his voice fell low and stern. "Burgundy slew +Orleans, indeed; but he came in his turn to the Bridge of Montereau." + +"You take me for Monsieur?" the unknown asked. And it was plain that he +smiled under his mask. + +Biron's face altered. "I take you," he answered sharply, "for him whose +sign you sent me." + +"The wisest are sometimes astray," the other answered with a low laugh. +And he took off his mask. + +The Grand Master started back, his eyes sparkling with anger. + +"M. de Tavannes?" he cried, and for a moment he was silent in sheer +astonishment. Then, striking his hand on the table, "What means this +trickery?" he asked. + +"It is of the simplest," Tavannes answered coolly. "And yet, as you just +now said, I had hardly come at you without it. And I had to come at you. +No, M. de Biron," he added quickly, as Biron in a rage laid his hand on a +bell which stood beside him on the table, "you cannot that way undo what +is done." + +"I can at least deliver you," the Grand Master answered, in heat, "to +those who will deal with you as you have dealt with us and ours." + +"It will avail you nothing," Count Hannibal replied soberly. "For see +here, Grand Master, I come from the King. If you are at war with him, +and hold his fortress in his teeth, I am his ambassador and sacrosanct. +If you are at peace with him and hold it at his will, I am his servant, +and safe also." + +"At peace and safe?" Biron cried, his voice trembling with indignation. +"And are those safe or at peace who came here trusting to _his_ word, who +lay in his palace and slept in his beds? Where are they, and how have +they fared, that you dare appeal to the law of nations, or he to the +loyalty of Biron? And for you to beard me, whose brother to-day hounded +the dogs of this vile city on the noblest in France, who have leagued +yourself with a crew of foreigners to do a deed which will make our +country stink in the nostrils of the world when we are dust! You, to +come here and talk of peace and safety! M. de Tavannes"--and he struck +his hand on the table--"you are a bold man. I know why the King had a +will to send you, but I know not why you had the will to come." + +"That I will tell you later," Count Hannibal answered coolly. "For the +King, first. My message is brief, M. de Biron. Have you a mind to hold +the scales in France?" + +"Between?" Biron asked contemptuously. + +"Between the Lorrainers and the Huguenots." + +The Grand Master scowled fiercely. "I have played the go-between once +too often," he growled. + +"It is no question of going between, it is a question of holding +between," Tavannes answered coolly. "It is a question--but, in a word, +have you a mind, M. de Biron, to be Governor of Rochelle? The King, +having dealt the blow that has been struck to-day, looks to follow up +severity, as a wise ruler should, with indulgence. And to quiet the +minds of the Rochellois he would set over them a ruler at once acceptable +to them--or war must come of it--and faithful to his Majesty. Such a +man, M. de Biron, will in such a post be Master of the Kingdom; for he +will hold the doors of Janus, and as he bridles his sea-dogs, or unchains +them, there will be peace or war in France." + +"Is all that from the King's mouth?" Biron asked with sarcasm. But his +passion had died down. He was grown thoughtful, suspicious; he eyed the +other intently as if he would read his heart. + +"The offer is his, and the reflections are mine," Tavannes answered +dryly. "Let me add one more. The Admiral is dead. The King of Navarre +and the Prince of Conde are prisoners. Who is now to balance the +Italians and the Guises? The Grand Master--if he be wise and content to +give the law to France from the citadel of Rochelle." + +Biron stared at the speaker in astonishment at his frankness. + +"You are a bold man," he cried at last. "But _timeo Danaos et dona +ferentes_," he continued bitterly. "You offer, sir, too much." + +"The offer is the King's." + +"And the conditions? The price?" + +"That you remain quiet, M. de Biron." + +"In the Arsenal?" + +"In the Arsenal. And do not too openly counteract the King's will. That +is all." + +The Grand Master looked puzzled. "I will give up no one," he said. "No +one! Let that be understood." + +"The King requires no one." + +A pause. Then, "Does M. de Guise know of the offer?" Biron inquired; and +his eye grew bright. He hated the Guises and was hated by them. It was +_there_ he was a Huguenot. + +"He has gone far to-day," Count Hannibal answered dryly. "And if no +worse come of it should be content. Madame Catherine knows of it." + +The Grand Master was aware that Marshal Tavannes depended on the Queen- +mother; and he shrugged his shoulders. + +"Ay, 'tis like her policy," he muttered. "'Tis like her!" And pointing +his guest to a cushioned chest which stood against the wall, he sat down +in a chair beside the table and thought awhile, his brow wrinkled, his +eyes dreaming. By-and-by he laughed sourly. "You have lighted the +fire," he said, "and would fain I put it out." + +"We would have you hinder it spreading." + +"You have done the deed and are loth to pay the blood-money. That is it, +is it? + +"We prefer to pay it to M. de Biron," Count Hannibal answered civilly. + +Again the Grand Master was silent awhile. At length he looked up and +fixed Tavannes with eyes keen as steel. + +"What is behind?" he growled. "Say, man, what is it? What is behind?" + +"If there be aught behind, I do not know it," Tavannes answered +steadfastly. + +M. de Biron relaxed the fixity of his gaze. "But you said that you had +an object?" he returned. + +"I had--in being the bearer of the message." + +"What was it?" + +"My object? To learn two things." + +"The first, if it please you?" The Grand Master's chin stuck out a +little, as he spoke. + +"Have you in the Arsenal a M. de Tignonville, a gentleman of Poitou?" + +"I have not," Biron answered curtly. "The second?" + +"Have you here a Huguenot minister?" + +"I have not. And if I had I should not give him up," he added firmly. + +Tavannes shrugged his shoulders. "I have a use for one," he said +carelessly. "But it need not harm him." + +"For what, then, do you need him?" + +"To marry me." + +The other stared. "But you are a Catholic," he said. + +"But she is a Huguenot," Tavannes answered. + +The Grand Master did not attempt to hide his astonishment. + +"And she sticks on that?" he exclaimed. "To-day?" + +"She sticks on that. To-day." + +"To-day? _Nom de Dieu_! To-day! Well," brushing the matter aside after +a pause of bewilderment, "any way, I cannot help her. I have no minister +here. If there be aught else I can do for her--" + +"Nothing, I thank you," Tavannes answered. "Then it only remains for me +to take your answer to the King?" And he rose politely, and taking his +mask from the table prepared to assume it. + +M. de Biron gazed at him a moment without speaking, as if he pondered on +the answer he should give. At length he nodded, and rang the bell which +stood beside him. + +"The mask!" he muttered in a low voice as footsteps sounded without. And, +obedient to the hint, Tavannes disguised himself. A second later the +officer who had introduced him opened the door and entered. + +"Peridol," M. de Biron said--he had risen to his feet--"I have received a +message which needs confirmation; and to obtain this I must leave the +Arsenal. I am going to the house--you will remember this--of Marshal +Tavannes, who will be responsible for my person; in the mean time this +gentleman will remain under strict guard in the south chamber upstairs. +You will treat him as a hostage, with all respect, and will allow him to +preserve his _incognito_. But if I do not return by noon to-morrow, you +will deliver him to the men below, who will know how to deal with him." + +Count Hannibal made no attempt to interrupt him, nor did he betray the +discomfiture which he undoubtedly felt. But as the Grand Master paused-- + +"M. de Biron," he said, in a voice harsh and low, "you will answer to me +for this!" And his eyes glittered through the slits in the mask. + +"Possibly, but not to-day or to-morrow!" Biron replied, shrugging his +shoulders contemptuously. "Peridol! see the gentleman bestowed as I have +ordered, and then return to me. Monsieur," with a bow, half courteous, +half ironical, "let me commend to you the advantages of silence and your +mask." And he waved his hand in the direction of the door. + +A moment Count Hannibal hesitated. He was in the heart of a hostile +fortress where the resistance of a single man armed to the teeth must +have been futile; and he was unarmed, save for a poniard. Nevertheless, +for a moment the impulse to spring on Biron, and with the dagger at his +throat to make his life the price of a safe passage, was strong. Then--for +with the warp of a harsh and passionate character were interwrought an +odd shrewdness and some things little suspected--he resigned himself. +Bowing gravely, he turned with dignity, and in silence followed the +officer from the room. + +Peridol had two men in waiting at the door. From one of these the +lieutenant took a lanthorn, and, with an air at once sullen and +deferential, led the way up the stone staircase to the floor over that in +which M. de Biron had his lodging. Tavannes followed; the two guards +came last, carrying a second lanthorn. At the head of the staircase, +whence a bare passage ran, north and south, the procession turned right- +handed, and, passing two doors, halted before the third and last, which +faced them at the end of the passage. The lieutenant unlocked it with a +key which he took from a hook beside the doorpost. Then, holding up his +light, he invited his charge to enter. + +The room was not small, but it was low in the roof, and prison-like, it +had bare walls and smoke-marks on the ceiling. The window, set in a deep +recess, the floor of which rose a foot above that of the room, was +unglazed; and through the gloomy orifice the night wind blew in, laden +even on that August evening with the dank mist of the river flats. A +table, two stools, and a truckle bed without straw or covering made up +the furniture; but Peridol, after glancing round, ordered one of the men +to fetch a truss of straw and the other to bring up a pitcher of wine. +While they were gone Tavannes and he stood silently waiting, until, +observing that the captive's eyes sought the window, the lieutenant +laughed. + +"No bars?" he said. "No, Monsieur, and no need of them. You will not go +by that road, bars or no bars." + +"What is below?" Count Hannibal asked carelessly. "The river?" + +"Yes, Monsieur," with a grin; "but not water. Mud, and six feet of it, +soft as Christmas porridge, but not so sweet. I've known two puppies +thrown in under this window that did not weigh more than a fat pullet +apiece. One was gone before you could count fifty, and the other did not +live thrice as long--nor would have lasted that time, but that it fell on +the first and clung to it." + +Tavannes dismissed the matter with a shrug, and, drawing his cloak about +him, set a stool against the wall and sat down. The men who brought in +the wine and the bundle of straw were inquisitive, and would have +loitered, scanning him stealthily; but Peridol hurried them away. The +lieutenant himself stayed only to cast a glance round the room, and to +mutter that he would return when his lord returned; then, with a "Good +night" which said more for his manners than his good will, he followed +them out. A moment later the grating of the key in the lock and the +sound of the bolts as they sped home told Tavannes that he was a +prisoner. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. TOO SHORT A SPOON. + + +Count Hannibal remained seated, his chin sunk on his breast, until his +ear assured him that the three men had descended the stairs to the floor +below. Then he rose, and, taking the lanthorn from the table, on which +Peridol had placed it, he went softly to the door, which, like the +window, stood in a recess--in this case the prolongation of the passage. +A brief scrutiny satisfied him that escape that way was impossible, and +he turned, after a cursory glance at the floor and ceiling, to the dark, +windy aperture which yawned at the end of the apartment. Placing the +lanthorn on the table, and covering it with his cloak, he mounted the +window recess, and, stepping to the unguarded edge, looked out. + +He knew, rather than saw, that Peridol had told the truth. The smell of +the aguish flats which fringed that part of Paris rose strong in his +nostrils. He guessed that the sluggish arm of the Seine which divided +the Arsenal from the Ile des Louviers crawled below; but the night was +dark, and it was impossible to discern land from water. He fancied that +he could trace the outline of the island--an uninhabited place, given up +to wood piles; but the lights of the college quarter beyond it, which +rose feebly twinkling to the crown of St. Genevieve, confused his sight +and rendered the nearer gloom more opaque. From that direction and from +the Cite to his right came sounds which told of a city still heaving in +its blood-stained sleep, and even in its dreams planning further +excesses. Now a distant shot, and now a faint murmur on one of the +bridges, or a far-off cry, raucous, sudden, curdled the blood. But even +of what was passing under cover of the darkness, he could learn little; +and after standing awhile with a hand on either side of the window he +found the night air chill. He stepped back, and, descending to the +floor, uncovered the lanthorn and set it on the table. His thoughts +travelled back to the preparations he had made the night before with a +view to securing Mademoiselle's person, and he considered, with a grim +smile, how little he had foreseen that within twenty-four hours he would +himself be a prisoner. Presently, finding his mask oppressive, he +removed it, and, laying it on the table before him, sat scowling at the +light. + +Biron had jockeyed him cleverly. Well, the worse for Armand de Gontaut +de Biron if after this adventure the luck went against him! But in the +mean time? In the mean time his fate was sealed if harm befell Biron. +And what the King's real mind in Biron's case was, and what the Queen- +Mother's, he could not say; just as it was impossible to predict how far, +when they had the Grand Master at their mercy, they would resist the +temptation to add him to the victims. If Biron placed himself at once in +Marshal Tavannes' hands, all might be well. But if he ventured within +the long arm of the Guises, or went directly to the Louvre, the fact that +with the Grand Master's fate Count Hannibal's was bound up, would not +weigh a straw. In such crises the great sacrificed the less great, the +less great the small, without a scruple. And the Guises did not love +Count Hannibal; he was not loved by many. Even the strength of his +brother the Marshal stood rather in the favour of the King's heir, for +whom he had won the battle of Jarnac, than intrinsically; and, durable in +ordinary times, might snap in the clash of forces and interests which the +desperate madness of this day had let loose on Paris. + +It was not the peril in which he stood, however--though, with the cold +clear eye of the man who had often faced peril, he appreciated it to a +nicety--that Count Hannibal found least bearable, but his enforced +inactivity. He had thought to ride the whirlwind and direct the storm, +and out of the danger of others to compact his own success. Instead he +lay here, not only powerless to guide his destiny, which hung on the +discretion of another, but unable to stretch forth a finger to further +his plans. + +As he sat looking darkly at the lanthorn, his mind followed Biron and his +riders through the midnight streets along St. Antoine and La Verrerie, +through the gloomy narrows of the Rue la Ferronerie, and so past the +house in the Rue St. Honore where Mademoiselle sat awaiting the +morrow--sat awaiting Tignonville, the minister, the marriage! Doubtless +there were still bands of plunderers roaming to and fro; at the barriers +troops of archers stopping the suspected; at the windows pale faces +gazing down; at the gates of the Temple, and of the walled enclosures +which largely made up the city, strong guards set to prevent invasion. +Biron would go with sufficient to secure himself; and unless he +encountered the bodyguard of Guise his passage would quiet the town. But +was it so certain that _she_ was safe? He knew his men, and while he had +been free he had not hesitated to leave her in their care. But now that +he could not go, now that he could not raise a hand to help, the +confidence which had not failed him in straits more dangerous grew weak. +He pictured the things which might happen, at which, in his normal frame +of mind, he would have laughed. Now they troubled him so that he started +at a shadow, so that he quailed at a thought. He, who last night, when +free to act, had timed his coming and her rescue to a minute! Who had +rejoiced in the peril, since with the glamour of such things foolish +women were taken! Who had not flinched when the crowd roared most +fiercely for her blood! + +Why had he suffered himself to be trapped? Why indeed? And thrice in +passion he paced the room. Long ago the famous Nostradamus had told him +that he would live to be a king, but of the smallest kingdom in the +world. "Every man is a king in his coffin," he had answered. "The grave +is cold and your kingdom shall be warm," the wizard had rejoined. On +which the courtiers had laughed, promising him a Moorish island and a +black queen. And he had gibed with the rest, but secretly had taken note +of the sovereign counties of France, their rulers and their heirs. Now +he held the thought in horror, foreseeing no county, but the cage under +the stifling tiles at Loches, in which Cardinal Balue and many another +had worn out their hearts. + +He came to that thought not by way of his own peril, but of +Mademoiselle's; which affected him in so novel a fashion that he wondered +at his folly. At last, tired of watching the shadows which the draught +set dancing on the wall, he drew his cloak about him and lay down on the +straw. He had kept vigil the previous night, and in a few minutes, with +a campaigner's ease, he was asleep. + +Midnight had struck. About two the light in the lanthorn burned low in +the socket, and with a soft sputtering went out. For an hour after that +the room lay still, silent, dark; then slowly the grey dawn, the greyer +for the river mist which wrapped the neighbourhood in a clammy shroud, +began to creep into the room and discover the vague shapes of things. +Again an hour passed, and the sun was rising above Montreuil, and here +and there the river began to shimmer through the fog. But in the room it +was barely daylight when the sleeper awoke, and sat up, his face +expectant. Something had roused him. He listened. + +His ear, and the habit of vigilance which a life of danger instils, had +not deceived him. There were men moving in the passage; men who shuffled +their feet impatiently. Had Biron returned? Or had aught happened to +him, and were these men come to avenge him? Count Hannibal rose and +stole across the boards to the door, and, setting his ear to it, +listened. + +He listened while a man might count a hundred and fifty, counting slowly. +Then, for the third part of a second, he turned his head, and his eyes +travelled the room. He stooped again and listened more closely, scarcely +breathing. There were voices as well as feet to be heard now; one +voice--he thought it was Peridol's--which held on long, now low, now +rising into violence. Others were audible at intervals, but only in a +growl or a bitter exclamation, that told of minds made up and hands which +would not be restrained. He caught his own name, _Tavannes_--the mask +was useless, then! And once a noisy movement which came to nothing, +foiled, he fancied, by Peridol. + +He knew enough. He rose to his full height, and his eyes seemed a little +closer together; an ugly smile curved his lips. His gaze travelled over +the objects in the room, the bare stools and table, the lanthorn, the +wine-pitcher; beyond these, in a corner, the cloak and straw on the low +bed. The light, cold and grey, fell cheerlessly on the dull chamber, and +showed it in harmony with the ominous whisper which grew in the gallery; +with the stern-faced listener who stood, his one hand on the door. He +looked, but he found nothing to his purpose, nothing to serve his end, +whatever his end was; and with a quick light step he left the door, +mounted the window recess, and, poised on the very edge, looked down. + +If he thought to escape that way his hope was desperate. The depth to +the water-level was not, he judged, twelve feet. But Peridol had told +the truth. Below lay not water, but a smooth surface of viscid slime, +here luminous with the florescence of rottenness, there furrowed by a +tiny runnel of moisture which sluggishly crept across it to the slow +stream beyond. This quicksand, vile and treacherous, lapped the wall +below the window, and more than accounted for the absence of bars or +fastenings. But, leaning far out, he saw that it ended at the angle of +the building, at a point twenty feet or so to the right of his position. + +He sprang to the floor again, and listened an instant; then, with guarded +movements--for there was fear in the air, fear in the silent room, and at +any moment the rush might be made, the door burst in--he set the lanthorn +and wine-pitcher on the floor, and took up the table in his arms. He +began to carry it to the window, but, halfway thither, his eye told him +that it would not pass through the opening, and he set it down again and +glided to the bed. Again he was thwarted; the bed was screwed to the +floor. Another might have despaired at that, but he rose with no sign of +dismay, and listening, always listening, he spread his cloak on the +floor, and deftly, with as little noise and rustling as might be, be +piled the straw in it, compressed the bundle, and, cutting the bed-cords +with his dagger, bound all together with them. In three steps he was in +the embrasure of the window, and, even as the men in the passage thrust +the lieutenant aside and with a sudden uproar came down to the door, he +flung the bundle lightly and carefully to the right--so lightly and +carefully, and with so nice and deliberate a calculation, that it seemed +odd it fell beyond the reach of an ordinary leap. + +An instant and he was on the floor again. The men had to unlock, to draw +back the bolts, to draw back the door which opened outwards; their +numbers, as well as their savage haste, impeded them. When they burst in +at last, with a roar of "To the river! To the river!"--burst in a rush +of struggling shoulders and lowered pikes, they found him standing, a +solitary figure, on the further side of the table, his arms folded. And +the sight of the passive figure for a moment stayed them. + +"Say your prayers, child of Satan!" cried the leader, waving his weapon. +"We give you one minute!" + +"Ay, one minute!" his followers chimed in. "Be ready!" + +"You would murder me?" he said with dignity. And when they shouted +assent, "Good!" he answered. "It is between you and M. de Biron, whose +guest I am. But"--with a glance which passed round the ring of glaring +eyes and working features--"I would leave a last word for some one. Is +there any one here who values a safe-conduct from the King? 'Tis for two +men coming and going for a fortnight." And he held up a slip of paper. + +The leader cried, "To hell with his safe-conduct! Say your prayers!" + +But all were not of his mind. On one or two of the savage faces--the +faces, for the most part, of honest men maddened by their wrongs--flashed +an avaricious gleam. A safe-conduct? To avenge, to slay, to kill--and +to go safe! For some minds such a thing has an invincible fascination. A +man thrust himself forward. + +"Ay, I'll have it!" he cried. "Give it here!" + +"It is yours," Count Hannibal answered, "if you will carry ten words to +Marshal Tavannes--when I am gone." + +The man's neighbour laid a restraining hand on his shoulder. + +"And Marshal Tavannes will pay you finely," he said. + +But Maudron, the man who had offered, shook off the hand. + +"If I take the message!" he muttered in a grim aside. "Do you think me +mad?" And then aloud he cried, "Ay, I'll take your message! Give me the +paper." + +"You swear you will take it?" + +The man had no intention of taking it, but he perjured himself and went +forward. The others would have pressed round too, half in envy, half in +scorn; but Tavannes by a gesture stayed them. + +"Gentlemen, I ask a minute only," he said. "A minute for a dying man is +not much. Your friends had as much." + +And the fellows, acknowledging the claim and assured that their victim +could not escape, let Maudron go round the table to him. + +The man was in haste and ill at ease, conscious of his evil intentions +and the fraud he was practising; and at once greedy to have, yet ashamed +of the bargain he was making. His attention was divided between the slip +of paper, on which his eyes fixed themselves, and the attitude of his +comrades; he paid little heed to Count Hannibal, whom he knew to be +unarmed. Only when Tavannes seemed to ponder on his message, and to be +fain to delay, "Go on," he muttered with brutal frankness; "your time is +up!" + +Tavannes started, the paper slipped from his fingers. Maudron saw a +chance of getting it without committing himself, and quick as the thought +leapt up in his mind he stooped, and grasped the paper, and would have +leapt back with it! But quick as he, and quicker, Tavannes too stooped, +gripped him by the waist, and with a prodigious effort, and a yell in +which all the man's stormy nature, restrained to a part during the last +few minutes, broke forth, he flung the ill-fated wretch head first +through the window. + +The movement carried Tavannes himself--even while his victim's scream +rang through the chamber--into the embrasure. An instant he hung on the +verge; then, as the men, a moment thunderstruck, sprang forward to avenge +their comrade, he leapt out, jumping for the struggling body that had +struck the mud, and now lay in it face downwards. + +He alighted on it, and drove it deep into the quaking slime; but he +himself bounded off right-handed. The peril was appalling, the +possibility untried, the chance one which only a doomed man would have +taken. But he reached the straw-bale, and it gave him a momentary, a +precarious footing. He could not regain his balance, he could not even +for an instant stand upright on it. But from its support he leapt on +convulsively, and, as a pike, flung from above, wounded him in the +shoulder, he fell his length in the slough--but forward, with his +outstretched hands resting on soil of a harder nature. They sank, it is +true, to the elbow, but he dragged his body forward on them, and forward, +and freeing one by a last effort of strength--he could not free both, +and, as it was, half his face was submerged--he reached out another yard, +and gripped a balk of wood, which projected from the corner of the +building for the purpose of fending off the stream in flood-time. + +The men at the window shrieked with rage as he slowly drew himself from +the slough, and stood from head to foot a pillar of mud. Shout as they +might, they had no firearms, and, crowded together in the narrow +embrasure, they could take no aim with their pikes. They could only look +on in furious impotence, flinging curses at him until he passed from +their view, behind the angle of the building. + +Here for a score of yards a strip of hard foreshore ran between mud and +wall. He struggled along it until he reached the end of the wall; then +with a shuddering glance at the black heaving pit from which he had +escaped, and which yet gurgled above the body of the hapless Maudron--a +tribute to horror which even his fierce nature could not withhold--he +turned and painfully climbed the river-bank. The pike-wound in his +shoulder was slight, but the effort had been supreme; the sweat poured +from his brow, his visage was grey and drawn. Nevertheless, when he had +put fifty paces between himself and the buildings of the Arsenal he +paused, and turned. He saw that the men had run to other windows which +looked that way; and his face lightened and his form dilated with +triumph. + +He shook his fist at them. "Ho, fools!" he cried, "you kill not Tavannes +so! Till our next meeting at Montfaucon, fare you well!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV. THE BROTHER OF ST. MAGLOIRE. + + +As the exertion of power is for the most part pleasing, so the exercise +of that which a woman possesses over a man is especially pleasant. When +in addition a risk of no ordinary kind has been run, and the happy issue +has been barely expected--above all when the momentary gain seems an +augury of final victory--it is impossible that a feeling akin to +exultation should not arise in the mind, however black the horizon, and +however distant the fair haven. + +The situation in which Count Hannibal left Mademoiselle de Vrillac will +be remembered. She had prevailed over him; but in return he had bowed +her to the earth, partly by subtle threats, and partly by sheer savagery. +He had left her weeping, with the words "Madame de Tavannes" ringing doom +in her ears, and the dark phantom of his will pointing onward to an +inevitable future. Had she abandoned hope, it would have been natural. + +But the girl was of a spirit not long nor easily cowed; and Tavannes had +not left her half an hour before the reflection, that so far the honours +of the day were hers, rose up to console her. In spite of his power and +her impotence, she had imposed her will upon his; she had established an +influence over him, she had discovered a scruple which stayed him, and a +limit beyond which he would not pass. In the result she might escape; +for the conditions which he had accepted with an ill grace might prove +beyond his fulfilling. She might escape! True, many in her place would +have feared a worse fate and harsher handling. But there lay half the +merit of her victory. It had left her not only in a better position, but +with a new confidence in her power over her adversary. He would insist +on the bargain struck between them; within its four corners she could +look for no indulgence. But if the conditions proved to be beyond his +power, she believed that he would spare her: with an ill grace, indeed, +with such ferocity and coarse reviling as her woman's pride might +scarcely support. But he would spare her. + +And if the worst befell her? She would still have the consolation of +knowing that from the cataclysm which had overwhelmed her friends she had +ransomed those most dear to her. Owing to the position of her chamber, +she saw nothing of the excesses to which Paris gave itself up during the +remainder of that day, and to which it returned with unabated zest on the +following morning. But the Carlats and her women learned from the guards +below what was passing; and quaking and cowering in their corners fixed +frightened eyes on her, who was their stay and hope. How could she prove +false to them? How doom them to perish, had there been no question of +her lover? + +Of him she sat thinking by the hour together. She recalled with solemn +tenderness the moment in which he had devoted himself to the death which +came but halfway to seize them; nor was she slow to forgive his +subsequent withdrawal, and his attempt to rescue her in spite of herself. +She found the impulse to die glorious; the withdrawal--for the actor was +her lover--a thing done for her, which he would not have done for +himself, and which she quickly forgave him. The revulsion of feeling +which had conquered her at the time, and led her to tear herself from +him, no longer moved her much while all in his action that might have +seemed in other eyes less than heroic, all in his conduct--in a crisis +demanding the highest--that smacked of common or mean, vanished, for she +still clung to him. Clung to him, not so much with the passion of the +mature woman, as with the maiden and sentimental affection of one who has +now no hope of possessing, and for whom love no longer spells life, but +sacrifice. + +She had leisure for these musings, for she was left to herself all that +day, and until late on the following day. Her own servants waited on +her, and it was known that below stairs Count Hannibal's riders kept +sullen ward behind barred doors and shuttered windows, refusing admission +to all who came. Now and again echoes of the riot which filled the +streets with bloodshed reached her ears: or word of the more striking +occurrences was brought to her by Madame Carlat. And early on this +second day, Monday, it was whispered that M. de Tavannes had not +returned, and that the men below were growing uneasy. + +At last, when the suspense below and above was growing tense, it was +broken. Footsteps and voices were heard ascending the stairs, the +trampling and hubbub were followed by a heavy knock; perforce the door +was opened. While Mademoiselle, who had risen, awaited with a beating +heart she knew not what, a cowled father, in the dress of the monks of +St. Magloire, stood on the threshold, and, crossing himself, muttered the +words of benediction. He entered slowly. + +No sight could have been more dreadful to Mademoiselle; for it set at +naught the conditions which she had so hardly exacted. What if Count +Hannibal were behind, were even now mounting the stairs, prepared to +force her to a marriage before this shaveling? Or ready to proceed, if +she refused, to the last extremity? Sudden terror taking her by the +throat choked her; her colour fled, her hand flew to her breast. Yet, +before the door had closed on Bigot, she had recovered herself. + +"This intrusion is not by M. de Tavannes' orders!" she cried, stepping +forward haughtily. "This person has no business here. How dare you +admit him?" + +The Norman showed his bearded visage a moment at the door. + +"My lord's orders," he muttered sullenly. And he closed the door on +them. + +She had a Huguenot's hatred of a cowl; and, in this crisis, her reasons +for fearing it. Her eyes blazed with indignation. + +"Enough!" she cried, pointing, with a gesture of dismissal, to the door. +"Go back to him who sent you! If he will insult me, let him do it to my +face! If he will perjure himself, let him forswear himself in person. +Or, if you come on your own account," she continued, flinging prudence to +the winds, "as your brethren came to Philippa de Luns, to offer me the +choice you offered her, I give you her answer! If I had thought of +myself only, I had not lived so long! And rather than bear your presence +or hear your arguments--" + +She came to a sudden, odd, quavering pause on the word; her lips remained +parted, she swayed an instant on her feet. The next moment Madame +Carlat, to whom the visitor had turned his shoulder, doubted her eyes, +for Mademoiselle was in the monk's arms! + +"Clotilde! Clotilde!" he cried, and held her to him. + +For the monk was M. de Tignonville! Under the cowl was the lover with +whom Mademoiselle's thoughts had been engaged. In this disguise, and +armed with Tavannes' note to Madame St. Lo--which the guards below knew +for Count Hannibal's hand, though they were unable to decipher the +contents--he had found no difficulty in making his way to her. + +He had learned before he entered that Tavannes was abroad, and was aware, +therefore, that he ran little risk. But his betrothed, who knew nothing +of his adventures in the interval, saw in him one who came to her at the +greatest risk, across unnumbered perils, through streets swimming with +blood. And though she had never embraced him save in the crisis of the +massacre, though she had never called him by his Christian name, in the +joy of this meeting she abandoned herself to him, she clung to him +weeping, she forgot for the time his defection, and thought only of him +who had returned to her so gallantly, who brought into the room a breath +of Poitou, and the sea, and the old days, and the old life; and at the +sight of whom the horrors of the last two days fell from her--for the +moment. + +And Madame Carlat wept also, and in the room was a sound of weeping. The +least moved was, for a certainty, M. de Tignonville himself, who, as we +know, had gone through much that day. But even his heart swelled, partly +with pride, partly with thankfulness that he had returned to one who +loved him so well. Fate had been kinder to him than he deserved; but he +need not confess that now. When he had brought off the _coup_ which he +had in his mind, he would hasten to forget that he had entertained other +ideas. + +Mademoiselle had been the first to be carried away; she was also the +first to recover herself. + +"I had forgotten," she cried suddenly, "I had forgotten," and she wrested +herself from his embrace with violence, and stood panting, her face +white, her eyes affrighted. "I must not! And you--I had forgotten that +too! To be here, Monsieur, is the worst office you can do me. You must +go! Go, Monsieur, in mercy I beg of you, while it is possible. Every +moment you are here, every moment you spend in this house, I shudder." + +"You need not fear for me," he said, in a tone of bravado. He did not +understand. + +"I fear for myself!" she answered. And then, wringing her hands, divided +between her love for him and her fear for herself, "Oh, forgive me!" she +said. "You do not know that he has promised to spare me, if he cannot +produce you, and--and--a minister? He has granted me that; but I thought +when you entered that he had gone back on his word, and sent a priest, +and it maddened me! I could not bear to think that I had gained nothing. +Now you understand, and you will pardon me, Monsieur? If he cannot +produce you I am saved. Go then, leave me, I beg, without a moment's +delay." + +He laughed derisively as he turned back his cowl and squared his +shoulders. + +"All that is over!" he said, "over and done with, sweet! M. de Tavannes +is at this moment a prisoner in the Arsenal. On my way hither I fell in +with M. de Biron, and he told me. The Grand Master, who would have had +me join his company, had been all night at Marshal Tavannes' hotel, where +he had been detained longer than he expected. He stood pledged to +release Count Hannibal on his return, but at my request he consented to +hold him one hour, and to do also a little thing for me." + +The glow of hope which had transfigured her face faded slowly. + +"It will not help," she said, "if he find you here." + +"He will not! Nor you!" + +"How, Monsieur?" + +"In a few minutes," he explained--he could not hide his exultation, "a +message will come from the Arsenal in the name of Tavannes, bidding the +monk he sent to you bring you to him. A spoken message, corroborated by +my presence, should suffice: '_Bid the monk who is now with +Mademoiselle_,' it will run, '_bring her to me at the Arsenal, and let +four pikes guard them hither_.' When I begged M. de Biron to do this, he +laughed. 'I can do better,' he said. 'They shall bring one of Count +Hannibal's gloves, which he left on my table. Always supposing my +rascals have done him no harm, which God forbid, for I am answerable.'" + +Tignonville, delighted with the stratagem which the meeting with Biron +had suggested, could see no flaw in it. She could, and though she heard +him to the end, no second glow of hope softened the lines of her +features. With a gesture full of dignity, which took in not only Madame +Carlat and the waiting-woman who stood at the door, but the absent +servants-- + +"And what of these?" she said. "What of these? You forget them, +Monsieur. You do not think, you cannot have thought, that I would +abandon them? That I would leave them to such mercy as he, defeated, +might extend to them? No, you forgot them." + +He did not know what to answer, for the jealous eyes of the frightened +waiting-woman, fierce with the fierceness of a hunted animal, were on +him. The Carlat and she had heard, could hear. At last-- + +"Better one than none!" he muttered, in a voice so low that if the +servants caught his meaning it was but indistinctly. "I have to think of +you." + +"And I of them," she answered firmly. "Nor is that all. Were they not +here, it could not be. My word is passed--though a moment ago, Monsieur, +in the joy of seeing you I forgot it. And how," she continued, "if I +keep not my word, can I expect him to keep his? Or how, if I am ready to +break the bond, on this happening which I never expected, can I hold him +to conditions which he loves as little--as little as I love him?" + +Her voice dropped piteously on the last words; her eyes, craving her +lover's pardon, sought his. But rage, not pity or admiration, was the +feeling roused in Tignonville's breast. He stood staring at her, struck +dumb by folly so immense. At last-- + +"You cannot mean this," he blurted out. "You cannot mean, Mademoiselle, +that you intend to stand on that! To keep a promise wrung from you by +force, by treachery, in the midst of such horrors as he and his have +brought upon us! It is inconceivable!" + +She shook her head. "I promised," she said. + +"You were forced to it." + +"But the promise saved our lives." + +"From murderers! From assassins!" he protested. + +She shook her head. "I cannot go back," she said firmly; "I cannot." + +"Then you are willing to marry him," he cried in ignoble anger. "That is +it! Nay, you must wish to marry him! For, as for his conditions, +Mademoiselle," the young man continued, with an insulting laugh, "you +cannot think seriously of them. _He_ keep conditions and you in his +power! He, Count Hannibal! But for the matter of that, and were he in +the mind to keep them, what are they? There are plenty of ministers. I +left one only this morning. I could lay my hand on one in five minutes. +He has only to find one, therefore--and to find me!" + +"Yes, Monsieur," she cried, trembling with wounded pride, "it is for that +reason I implore you to go. The sooner you leave me, the sooner you +place yourself in a position of security, the happier for me! Every +moment that you spend here, you endanger both yourself and me!" + +"If you will not be persuaded--" + +"I shall not be persuaded," she answered firmly, "and you do but"--alas! +her pride began to break down, her voice to quiver, she looked piteously +at him--"by staying here make it harder for me to--to--" + +"Hush!" cried Madame Carlat. "Hush!" And as they started and turned +towards her--she was at the end of the chamber by the door, almost out of +earshot--she raised a warning hand. "Listen!" she muttered, "some one +has entered the house." + +"'Tis my messenger from Biron," Tignonville answered sullenly. And he +drew his cowl over his face, and, hiding his hands in his sleeves, moved +towards the door. But on the threshold he turned and held out his arms. +He could not go thus. "Mademoiselle! Clotilde!" he cried with passion, +"for the last time, listen to me, come with me. Be persuaded!" + +"Hush!" Madame Carlat interposed again, and turned a scared face on them. +"It is no messenger! It is Tavannes himself: I know his voice." And she +wrung her hands. "_Oh, mon Dieu, mon Dieu_, what are we to do?" she +continued, panic-stricken. And she looked all ways about the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. AT CLOSE QUARTERS. + + +Fear leapt into Mademoiselle's eyes, but she commanded herself. She +signed to Madame Carlat to be silent, and they listened, gazing at one +another, hoping against hope that the woman was mistaken. A long moment +they waited, and some were beginning to breathe again, when the strident +tones of Count Hannibal's voice rolled up the staircase, and put an end +to doubt. Mademoiselle grasped the table and stood supporting herself by +it. + +"What are we to do?" she muttered. "What are we to do?" and she turned +distractedly towards the women. The courage which had supported her in +her lover's absence had abandoned her now. "If he finds him here I am +lost! I am lost!" + +"He will not know me," Tignonville muttered. But he spoke uncertainly; +and his gaze, shifting hither and thither, belied the boldness of his +words. + +Madame Carlat's eyes flew round the room; on her for once the burden +seemed to rest. Alas! the room had no second door, and the windows +looked on a courtyard guarded by Tavannes' people. And even now Count +Hannibal's step rang on the stair! his hand was almost on the latch. The +woman wrung her hands; then, a thought striking her, she darted to a +corner where Mademoiselle's robes hung on pegs against the wall. + +"Here!" she cried, raising them. "Behind these! He may not be seen +here! Quick, Monsieur, quick! Hide yourself!" + +It was a forlorn hope--the suggestion of one who had not thought out the +position; and, whatever its promise, Mademoiselle's pride revolted +against it. + +"No," she cried. "Not there!" while Tignonville, who knew that the step +was useless, since Count Hannibal must have learned that a monk had +entered, held his ground. + +"You could not deny yourself?" he muttered hurriedly. + +"And a priest with me?" she answered; and she shook her head. + +There was no time for more, and even as Mademoiselle spoke Count +Hannibal's knuckles tapped the door. She cast a last look at her lover. +He had turned his back on the window; the light no longer fell on his +face. It was possible that he might pass unrecognized, if Tavannes' stay +was brief; at any rate, the risk must be run. In a half stifled voice +she bade her woman, Javette, open the door. Count Hannibal bowed low as +he entered; and he deceived the others. But he did not deceive her. He +had not crossed the threshold before she repented that she had not acted +on Tignonville's suggestion, and denied herself. For what could escape +those hard keen eyes, which swept the room, saw all, and seemed to see +nothing--those eyes in which there dwelt even now a glint of cruel +humour? He might deceive others, but she who panted within his grasp, as +the wild bird palpitates in the hand of the fowler, was not deceived! He +saw, he knew! although, as he bowed, and smiling, stood upright, he +looked only at her. + +"I expected to be with you before this," he said courteously, "but I have +been detained. First, Mademoiselle, by some of your friends, who were +reluctant to part with me; then by some of your enemies, who, finding me +in no handsome case, took me for a Huguenot escaped from the river, and +drove me to shifts to get clear of them. However, now I am come, I have +news." + +"News?" she muttered with dry lips. It could hardly be good news. + +"Yes, Mademoiselle, of M. de Tignonville," he answered. "I have little +doubt that I shall be able to produce him this evening, and so to satisfy +one of your scruples. And as I trust that this good father," he went on, +turning to the ecclesiastic, and speaking with the sneer from which he +seldom refrained, Catholic as he was, when he mentioned a priest, "has by +this time succeeded in removing the other, and persuading you to accept +his ministrations--" + +"No!" she cried impulsively. + +"No?" with a dubious smile, and a glance from one to the other. "Oh, I +had hoped better things. But he still may? He still may. I am sure he +may. In which case, Mademoiselle, your modesty must pardon me if I plead +urgency, and fix the hour after supper this evening for the fulfilment of +your promise." + +She turned white to the lips. "After supper?" she gasped. + +"Yes, Mademoiselle, this evening. Shall I say--at eight o'clock?" + +In horror of the thing which menaced her, of the thing from which only +two hours separated her, she could find no words but those which she had +already used. The worst was upon her; worse than the worst could not +befall her. + +"But he has not persuaded me!" she cried, clenching her hands in passion. +"He has not persuaded me!" + +"Still he may, Mademoiselle." + +"He will not!" she cried wildly. "He will not!" + +The room was going round with her. The precipice yawned at her feet; its +naked terrors turned her brain. She had been pushed nearer, and nearer, +and nearer; struggle as she might, she was on the verge. A mist rose +before her eyes, and though they thought she listened she understood +nothing of what was passing. When she came to herself, after the lapse +of a minute, Count Hannibal was speaking. + +"Permit him another trial," he was saying in a tone of bland irony. "A +short time longer, Mademoiselle! One more assault, father! The weapons +of the Church could not be better directed or to a more worthy object; +and, successful, shall not fail of due recognition and an earthly +reward." + +And while she listened, half fainting, with a humming in her ears, he was +gone. The door closed on him, and the three--Mademoiselle's woman had +withdrawn when she opened to him--looked at one another. The girl parted +her lips to speak, but she only smiled piteously; and it was M. de +Tignonville who broke the silence, in a tone which betrayed rather relief +than any other feeling. + +"Come, all is not lost yet," he said briskly. "If I can escape from the +house--" + +"He knows you," she answered. + +"What?" + +"He knows you," Mademoiselle repeated in a tone almost apathetic. "I +read it in his eyes. He knew you at once: and knew, too," she added +bitterly, "that he had here under his hand one of the two things he +required." + +"Then why did he hide his knowledge?" the young man retorted sharply. + +"Why?" she answered. "To induce me to waive the other condition in the +hope of saving you. Oh!" she continued in a tone of bitter raillery, "he +has the cunning of hell, of the priests! You are no match for him, +Monsieur. Nor I; nor any of us. And"--with a gesture of despair--"he +will be my master! He will break me to his will and to his hand! I +shall be his! His, body and soul, body and soul!" she continued +drearily, as she sank into a chair and, rocking herself to and fro, +covered her face. "I shall be his! His till I die!" + +The man's eyes burned, and the pulse in his temples beat wildly. + +"But you shall not!" he exclaimed. "I may be no match for him in +cunning, you say well. But I can kill him. And I will!" He paced up +and down. "I will!" + +"You should have done it when he was here," she answered, half in scorn, +half in earnest. + +"It is not too late," he cried; and then he stopped, silenced by the +opening door. It was Javette who entered. They looked at her, and +before she spoke were on their feet. Her face, white and eager, marking +something besides fear, announced that she brought news. She closed the +door behind her, and in a moment it was told. + +"Monsieur can escape, if he is quick," she cried in a low tone; and they +saw that she trembled with excitement. "They are at supper. But he must +be quick! He must be quick!" + +"Is not the door guarded?" + +"It is, but--" + +"And he knows! Your mistress says that he knows that I am here." + +For a moment Javette looked startled. "It is possible," she muttered. +"But he has gone out." + +Madame Carlat clapped her hands. "I heard the door close," she said, +"three minutes ago." + +"And if Monsieur can reach the room in which he supped last night, the +window that was broken is only blocked"--she swallowed once or twice in +her excitement--"with something he can move. And then Monsieur is in the +street, where his cowl will protect him." + +"But Count Hannibal's men?" he asked eagerly. + +"They are eating in the lodge by the door." + +"Ha! And they cannot see the other room from there?" + +Javette nodded. Her tale told, she seemed to be unable to add a word. +Mademoiselle, who knew her for a craven, wondered that she had found +courage either to note what she had or to bring the news. But as +Providence had been so good to them as to put it into this woman's head +to act as she had, it behoved them to use the opportunity--the last, the +very last opportunity they might have. + +She turned to Tignonville. "Oh, go!" she cried feverishly. "Go, I beg! +Go now, Monsieur! The greatest kindness you can do me is to place +yourself as quickly as possible beyond his reach." A faint colour, the +flush of hope, had returned to her cheeks. Her eyes glittered. + +"Right, Mademoiselle!" he cried, obedient for once, "I go! And do you be +of good courage." + +He held her hand: an instant, then, moving to the door, he opened it and +listened. They all pressed behind him to hear. A murmur of voices, low +and distant, mounted the staircase and bore out the girl's tale; apart +from this the house was silent. Tignonville cast a last look at +Mademoiselle, and, with a gesture of farewell, glided a-tiptoe to the +stairs and began to descend, his face hidden in his cowl. They watched +him reach the angle of the staircase, they watched him vanish beyond it; +and still they listened, looking at one another when a board creaked or +the voices below were hushed for a moment. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. THE DUEL. + + +At the foot of the staircase Tignonville paused. The droning Norman +voices of the men on guard issued from an open door a few paces before +him on the left. He caught a jest, the coarse chuckling laughter which +attended it, and the gurgle of applause which followed; and he knew that +at any moment one of the men might step out and discover him. Fortunately +the door of the room with the shattered window was almost within reach of +his hand on the right side of the passage, and he stepped softly to it. +He stood an instant hesitating, his hand on the latch; then, alarmed by a +movement in the guard-room, as if some were rising, he pushed the door in +a panic, slid into the room, and shut the door behind him. He was safe, +and he had made no noise; but at the table, at supper, with his back to +him and his face to the partly closed window, sat Count Hannibal! + +The young man's heart stood still. For a long minute he gazed at the +Count's back, spellbound and unable to stir. Then, as Tavannes ate on +without looking round, he began to take courage. Possibly he had entered +so quietly that he had not been heard, or possibly his entrance was taken +for that of a servant. In either case, there was a chance that he might +retire after the same fashion; and he had actually raised the latch, and +was drawing the door to him with infinite precaution, when Tavannes' +voice struck him, as it were, in the face. + +"Pray do not admit the draught, M. de Tignonville," he said, without +looking round. "In your cowl you do not feel it, but it is otherwise +with me." + +The unfortunate Tignonville stood transfixed, glaring at the back of the +other's head. For an instant he could not find his voice. At last-- + +"Curse you!" he hissed in a transport of rage. "Curse you! You did +know, then? And she was right." + +"If you mean that I expected you, to be sure, Monsieur," Count Hannibal +answered. "See, your place is laid. You will not feel the air from +without there. The very becoming dress which you have adopted secures +you from cold. But--do you not find it somewhat oppressive this summer +weather?" + +"Curse you!" the young man cried, trembling. + +Tavannes turned and looked at him with a dark smile. "The curse may +fall," he said, "but I fancy it will not be in consequence of your +petitions, Monsieur. And now, were it not better you played the man?" + +"If I were armed," the other cried passionately, "you would not insult +me!" + +"Sit down, sir, sit down," Count Hannibal answered sternly. "We will +talk of that presently. In the mean time I have something to say to you. +Will you not eat?" + +But Tignonville would not. + +"Very well," Count Hannibal answered; and he went on with his supper. "I +am indifferent whether you eat or not. It is enough for me that you are +one of the two things I lacked an hour ago; and that I have you, M. de +Tignonville. And through you I look to obtain the other." + +"What other?" Tignonville cried. + +"A minister," Tavannes answered, smiling. "A minister. There are not +many left in Paris--of your faith. But you met one this morning, I +know." + +"I? I met one?" + +"Yes, Monsieur, you! And can lay your hand on him in five minutes, you +know." + +M. de Tignonville gasped. His face turned a shade paler. + +"You have a spy," he cried. "You have a spy upstairs!" + +Tavannes raised his cup to his lips, and drank. When he had set it down-- + +"It may be," he said, and he shrugged his shoulders. "I know, it boots +not how I know. It is my business to make the most of my knowledge--and +of yours!" + +M. de Tignonville laughed rudely. "Make the most of your own," he said; +"you will have none of mine." + +"That remains to be seen," Count Hannibal answered. "Carry your mind +back two days, M. de Tignonville. Had I gone to Mademoiselle de Vrillac +last Saturday and said to her 'Marry me, or promise to marry me,' what +answer would she have given?" + +"She would have called you an insolent!" the young man replied hotly. +"And I--" + +"No matter what you would have done!" Tavannes said. "Suffice it that +she would have answered as you suggest. Yet to-day she has given me her +promise." + +"Yes," the young man retorted, "in circumstances in which no man of +honour--" + +"Let us say in peculiar circumstances." + +"Well?" + +"Which still exist! Mark me, M. de Tignonville," Count Hannibal +continued, leaning forward and eyeing the young man with meaning, "_which +still exist_! And may have the same effect on another's will as on hers! +Listen! Do you hear?" And rising from his seat with a darkening face, +he pointed to the partly shuttered window, through which the measured +tramp of a body of men came heavily to the ear. "Do you hear, Monsieur? +Do you understand? As it was yesterday it is to-day! They killed the +President La Place this morning! And they are searching! They are still +searching! The river is not yet full, nor the gibbet glutted! I have +but to open that window and denounce you, and your life would hang by no +stronger thread than the life of a mad dog which they chase through the +streets!" + +The younger man had risen also. He stood confronting Tavannes, the cowl +fallen back from his face, his eyes dilated. + +"You think to frighten me!" he cried. "You think that I am craven enough +to sacrifice her to save myself. You--" + +"You were craven enough to draw back yesterday, when you stood at this +window and waited for death!" Count Hannibal answered brutally. "You +flinched then, and may flinch again!" + +"Try me!" Tignonville retorted, trembling with passion. "Try me!" And +then, as the other stared at him and made no movement, "But you dare +not!" he cried. "You dare not!" + +"No?" + +"No! For if I die you lose her!" Tignonville replied in a voice of +triumph. "Ha, ha! I touch you there!" he continued. "You dare not, for +my safety is part of the price, and is more to you than it is to myself! +You may threaten, M. de Tavannes, you may bluster, and shout and point to +the window"--and he mocked, with a disdainful mimicry, the other's +gesture--"but my safety is more to you than to me! And 'twill end +there!" + +"You believe that?" + +"I know it!" + +In two strides Count Hannibal was at the window. He seized a great piece +of the boarding which closed one-half of the opening; he wrenched it +away. A flood of evening light burst in through the aperture, and fell +on and heightened the flushed passion of his features, as he turned again +to his opponent. + +"Then if you know it," he cried vehemently, "in God's name act upon it!" +And he pointed to the window. + +"Act upon it?" + +"Ay, act upon it!" Tavannes repeated, with a glance of flame. "The road +is open! If you would save your mistress, behold the way! If you would +save her from the embrace she abhors, from the eyes under which she +trembles, from the hand of a master, there lies the way! And it is not +her glove only you will save, but herself, her soul, her body! So," he +continued, with a certain wildness, and in a tone wherein contempt and +bitterness were mingled, "to the lions, brave lover! Will you your life +for her honour? Will you death that she may live a maid? Will you your +head to save her finger? Then, leap down! leap down! The lists are +open, the sand is strewed! Out of your own mouth I have it that if you +perish she is saved! Then out, Monsieur! Cry 'I am a Huguenot!' And +God's will be done!" + +Tignonville was livid. "Rather, your will!" he panted. "Your will, you +devil! Nevertheless--" + +"You will go! Ha! ha! You will go!" + +For an instant it seemed that he would go. Stung by the challenge, +wrought on by the contempt in which Tavannes held him, he shot a look of +hate at the tempter; he caught his breath, and laid his hand on the edge +of the shuttering as if he would leap out. + +But it goes hard with him who has once turned back from the foe. The +evening light, glancing cold on the burnished pike-points of a group of +archers who stood near, caught his eye and went chill to his heart. +Death, not in the arena, not in the sight of shouting thousands, but in +this darkening street, with an enemy laughing from the window, death with +no revenge to follow, with no certainty that after all she would be safe, +such a death could be compassed only by pure love--the love of a child +for a parent, of a parent for a child, of a man for the one woman in the +world! + +He recoiled. "You would not spare her!" he cried, his face damp with +sweat--for he knew now that he would not go. "You want to be rid of me! +You would fool me, and then--" + +"Out of your own mouth you are convict!" Count Hannibal retorted gravely. +"It was you who said it! But still I swear it! Shall I swear it to +you?" + +But Tignonville recoiled another step and was silent. + +"No? O _preux chevalier_, O gallant knight! I knew it! Do you think +that I did not know with whom I had to deal?" And Count Hannibal burst +into harsh laughter, turning his back on the other, as if he no longer +counted. "You will neither die with her nor for her! You were better in +her petticoats and she in your breeches! Or no, you are best as you are, +good father! Take my advice, M. de Tignonville, have done with arms; and +with a string of beads, and soft words, and talk of Holy Mother Church, +you will fool the women as surely as the best of them! They are not all +like my cousin, a flouting, gibing, jeering woman--you had poor fortune +there, I fear?" + +"If I had a sword!" Tignonville hissed, his face livid with rage. "You +call me coward, because I will not die to please you. But give me a +sword, and I will show you if I am a coward!" + +Tavannes stood still. "You are there, are you?" he said in an altered +tone. "I--" + +"Give me a sword," Tignonville repeated, holding out his open trembling +hands. "A sword! A sword! 'Tis easy taunting an unarmed man, but--" + +"You wish to fight?" + +"I ask no more! No more! Give me a sword," he urged, his voice +quivering with eagerness. "It is you who are the coward!" + +Count Hannibal stared at him. "And what am I to get by fighting you?" he +reasoned slowly. "You are in my power. I can do with you as I please. I +can call from this window and denounce you, or I can summon my men--" + +"Coward! Coward!" + +"Ay? Well, I will tell you what I will do," with a subtle smile. "I +will give you a sword, M. de Tignonville, and I will meet you foot to +foot here, in this room, on a condition." + +"What is it? What is it?" the young man cried with incredible eagerness. +"Name your condition!" + +"That if I get the better of you, you find me a minister." + +"I find you a--" + +"A minister. Yes, that is it. Or tell me where I can find one." + +The young man recoiled. "Never!" he said. + +"You know where to find one." + +"Never! Never!" + +"You can lay your hand on one in five minutes, you know." + +"I will not." + +"Then I shall not fight you!" Count Hannibal answered coolly; and he +turned from him, and back again. "You will pardon me if I say, M. de +Tignonville, that you are in as many minds about fighting as about dying! +I do not think that you would have made your fortune at Court. Moreover, +there is a thing which I fancy you have not considered. If we fight you +may kill me, in which case the condition will not help me much. Or +I--which is more likely--" he added, with a harsh smile, "may kill you, +and again I am no better placed." + +The young man's pallid features betrayed the conflict in his breast. To +do him justice, his hand itched for the sword-hilt--he was brave enough +for that; he hated, and only so could he avenge himself. But the penalty +if he had the worse! And yet what of it? He was in hell now, in a hell +of humiliation, shame, defeat, tormented by this fiend! 'Twas only to +risk a lower hell. + +At last, "I will do it!" he cried hoarsely. "Give me a sword and look to +yourself." + +"You promise?" + +"Yes, yes, I promise!" + +"Good," Count Hannibal answered suavely, "but we cannot fight so, we must +have more light." + +And striding to the door he opened it, and calling the Norman bade him +move the table and bring candles--a dozen candles; for in the narrow +streets the light was waning, and in the half-shuttered room it was +growing dusk. Tignonville, listening with a throbbing brain, wondered +that the attendant expressed no surprise and said no word--until Tavannes +added to his orders one for a pair of swords. + +Then, "Monsieur's sword is here," Bigot answered in his half-intelligible +patois. "He left it here yester morning." + +"You are a good fellow, Bigot," Tavannes answered, with a gaiety and good- +humour which astonished Tignonville. "And one of these days you shall +marry Suzanne." + +The Norman smiled sourly and went in search of the weapon. + +"You have a poniard?" Count Hannibal continued in the same tone of +unusual good temper, which had already struck Tignonville. "Excellent! +Will you strip, then, or--as we are? Very good, Monsieur; in the +unlikely event of fortune declaring for you, you will be in a better +condition to take care of yourself. A man running through the streets in +his shirt is exposed to inconveniences!" And he laughed gaily. + +While he laughed the other listened; and his rage began to give place to +wonder. A man who regarded as a pastime a sword and dagger conflict +between four walls, who, having his adversary in his power, was ready to +discard the advantage, to descend into the lists, and to risk life for a +whim, a fancy--such a man was outside his experience, though in Poitou in +those days of war were men reckoned brave. For what, he asked himself as +he waited, had Tavannes to gain by fighting? The possession of +Mademoiselle? But Mademoiselle, if his passion for her overwhelmed him, +was in his power; and if his promise were a barrier--which seemed +inconceivable in the light of his reputation--he had only to wait, and to- +morrow, or the next day, or the next, a minister would be found, and +without risk he could gain that for which he was now risking all. + +Tignonville did not know that it was in the other's nature to find +pleasure in such utmost ventures. Nevertheless the recklessness to which +Tavannes' action bore witness had its effect upon him. By the time the +young man's sword arrived something of his passion for the conflict had +evaporated; and though the touch of the hilt restored his determination, +the locked door, the confined space, and the unaccustomed light went a +certain distance towards substituting despair for courage. + +The use of the dagger in the duels of that day, however, rendered despair +itself formidable. And Tignonville, when he took his place, appeared +anything but a mean antagonist. He had removed his robe and cowl, and +lithe and active as a cat he stood as it were on springs, throwing his +weight now on this foot and now on that, and was continually in motion. +The table bearing the candles had been pushed against the window, the +boarding of which had been replaced by Bigot before he left the room. +Tignonville had this, and consequently the lights, on his dagger hand; +and he plumed himself on the advantage, considering his point the more +difficult to follow. + +Count Hannibal did not seem to notice this, however. "Are you ready?" he +asked. And then-- + +"On guard!" he cried, and he stamped the echo to the word. But, that +done, instead of bearing the other down with a headlong rush +characteristic of the man--as Tignonville feared--he held off warily, +stooping low; and when his slow opening was met by one as cautious, he +began to taunt his antagonist. + +"Come!" he cried, and feinted half-heartedly. "Come, Monsieur, are we +going to fight, or play at fighting?" + +"Fight yourself, then!" Tignonville answered, his breath quickened by +excitement and growing hope. "'Tis not I hold back!" And he lunged, but +was put aside. + +"Ca! ca!" Tavannes retorted; and he lunged and parried in his turn, but +loosely and at a distance. + +After which the two moved nearer the door, their eyes glittering as they +watched one another, their knees bent, the sinews of their backs +straining for the leap. Suddenly Tavannes thrust, and leapt away, and as +his antagonist thrust in return the Count swept the blade aside with a +strong parry, and for a moment seemed to be on the point of falling on +Tignonville with the poniard. But Tignonville retired his right foot +nimbly, which brought them front to front again. And the younger man +laughed. + +"Try again, M. le Comte!" he said. And, with the word, he dashed in +himself quick as light; for a second the blades ground on one another, +the daggers hovered, the two suffused faces glared into one another; then +the pair disengaged again. + +The blood trickled from a scratch on Count Hannibal's neck; half an inch +to the right and the point had found his throat. And Tignonville, +elated, laughed anew, and swaying from side to side on his hips, watched +with growing confidence for a second chance. Lithe as one of the +leopards Charles kept at the Louvre, he stooped lower and lower, and more +and more with each moment took the attitude of the assailant, watching +for an opening; while Count Hannibal, his face dark and his eyes +vigilant, stood increasingly on the defence. The light was waning a +little, the wicks of the candles were burning long; but neither noticed +it or dared to remove his eyes from the other's. Their laboured +breathing found an echo on the farther side of the door, but this again +neither observed. + +"Well?" Count Hannibal said at last. "Are you coming?" + +"When I please," Tignonville answered; and he feinted but drew back. + +The other did the same, and again they watched one another, their eyes +seeming to grow smaller and smaller. Gradually a smile had birth on +Tignonville's lips. He thrust! It was parried! He thrust +again--parried! Tavannes, grown still more cautious, gave a yard. +Tignonville pushed on, but did not allow confidence to master caution. He +began, indeed, to taunt his adversary; to flout and jeer him. But it was +with a motive. + +For suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he repeated the peculiar +thrust which had been successful before. This time, however, Tavannes +was ready. He put aside the blade with a quick parade, and instead of +making a riposte sprang within the other's guard. The two came face to +face and breast to shoulder, and struck furiously with their daggers. +Count Hannibal was outside his opponent's sword and had the advantage. +Tignonville's dagger fell, but glanced off the metalwork of the other's +hilt; Tavannes' fell swift and hard between the young man's eyes. The +Huguenot flung up his hands and staggered back, falling his length on the +floor. + +In an instant Count Hannibal was on his breast, and had knocked away his +dagger. Then-- + +"You own yourself vanquished?" he cried. + +The young man, blinded by the blood which trickled down his face, made a +sign with his hands. Count Hannibal rose to his feet again, and stood a +moment looking at his foe without speaking. Presently he seemed to be +satisfied. He nodded, and going to the table dipped a napkin in water. +He brought it, and carefully supporting Tignonville's head, laved his +brow. + +"It is as I thought," he said, when he had stanched the blood. "You are +not hurt, man. You are stunned. It is no more than a bruise." + +The young man was coming to himself. "But I thought--" he muttered, and +broke off to pass his hand over his face. Then he got up slowly, reeling +a little, "I thought it was the point," he muttered. + +"No, it was the pommel," Tavannes answered dryly. "It would not have +served me to kill you. I could have done that ten times." + +Tignonville groaned, and, sitting down at the table, held the napkin to +his aching head. One of the candles had been overturned in the struggle +and lay on the floor, flaring in a little pool of grease. Tavannes set +his heel upon it; then, striding to the farther end of the room, he +picked up Tignonville's dagger and placed it beside his sword on the +table. He looked about to see if aught else remained to do, and, finding +nothing, he returned to Tignonville's side. + +"Now, Monsieur," he said in a voice hard and constrained, "I must ask you +to perform your part of the bargain." + +A groan of anguish broke from the unhappy man. And yet he had set his +life on the cast; what more could he have done? + +"You will not harm him?" he muttered. + +"He shall go safe," Count Hannibal replied gravely. + +"And--" he fought a moment with his pride, then blurted out the words, +"you will not tell her--that it was through me--you found him?" + +"I will not," Tavannes answered in the same tone. He stooped and picked +up the other's robe and cowl, which had fallen from a chair--so that as +he spoke his eyes were averted. "She shall never know through me," he +said. + +And Tignonville, his face hidden in his hands, told him. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. ANDROMEDA, PERSEUS BEING ABSENT. + + +Little by little--while they fought below--the gloom had thickened, and +night had fallen in the room above. But Mademoiselle would not have +candles brought. Seated in the darkness, on the uppermost step of the +stairs, her hands clasped about her knees, she listened and listened, as +if by that action she could avert misfortune; or as if, by going so far +forward to meet it, she could turn aside the worst. The women shivering +in the darkness about her would fain have struck a light and drawn her +back into the room, for they felt safer there. But she was not to be +moved. The laughter and chatter of the men in the guard-room, the coming +and going of Bigot as he passed, below but out of sight, had no terrors +for her; nay, she breathed more freely on the bare open landing of the +staircase than in the close confines of a room which her fears made +hateful to her. Here at least she could listen, her face unseen; and +listening she bore the suspense more easily. + +A turn in the staircase, with the noise which proceeded from the guard- +room, rendered it difficult to hear what happened in the closed room +below. But she thought that if an alarm were raised there she must hear +it; and as the moments passed and nothing happened, she began to feel +confident that her lover had made good his escape by the window. + +Presently she got a fright. Three or four men came from the guard-room +and went, as it seemed to her, to the door of the room with the shattered +casement. She told herself that she had rejoiced too soon, and her heart +stood still. She waited for a rush of feet, a cry, a struggle. But +except an uncertain muffled sound which lasted for some minutes, and was +followed by a dull shock, she heard nothing more. And presently the men +went back whispering, the noise in the guard-room which had been +partially hushed broke forth anew, and perplexed but relieved she +breathed again. Surely he had escaped by this time. Surely by this time +he was far away, in the Arsenal, or in some place of refuge! And she +might take courage, and feel that for this day the peril was overpast. + +"Mademoiselle will have the lights now?" one of the women ventured. + +"No! no!" she answered feverishly, and she continued to crouch where she +was on the stairs, bathing herself and her burning face in the darkness +and coolness of the stairway. The air entered freely through a window at +her elbow, and the place was fresher, were that all, than the room she +had left. Javette began to whimper, but she paid no heed to her; a man +came and went along the passage below, and she heard the outer door +unbarred, and the jarring tread of three or four men who passed through +it. But all without disturbance; and afterwards the house was quiet +again. And as on this Monday evening the prime virulence of the massacre +had begun to abate--though it held after a fashion to the end of the +week--Paris without was quiet also. The sounds which had chilled her +heart at intervals during two days were no longer heard. A feeling +almost of peace, almost of comfort--a drowsy feeling, that was three +parts a reaction from excitement--took possession of her. In the +darkness her head sank lower and lower on her knees. And half an hour +passed, while Javette whimpered, and Madame Carlat slumbered, her broad +back propped against the wall. + +Suddenly Mademoiselle opened her eyes, and saw, three steps below her, a +strange man whose upward way she barred. Behind him came Carlat, and +behind him Bigot, lighting both; and in the confusion of her thoughts as +she rose to her feet the three, all staring at her in a common amazement, +seemed a company. The air entering through the open window beside her +blew the flame of the candle this way and that, and added to the +nightmare character of the scene; for by the shifting light the men +seemed to laugh one moment and scowl the next, and their shadows were now +high and now low on the wall. In truth, they were as much amazed at +coming on her in that place as she at their appearance; but they were +awake, and she newly roused from sleep; and the advantage was with them. + +"What is it?" she cried in a panic. "What is it?" + +"If Mademoiselle will return to her room?" one of the men said +courteously. + +"But--what is it?" She was frightened. + +"If Mademoiselle--" + +Then she turned without more and went back into the room, and the three +followed, and her woman and Madame Carlat. She stood resting one hand on +the table while Javette with shaking fingers lighted the candles. Then-- + +"Now, Monsieur," she said in a hard voice, "if you will tell me your +business?" + +"You do not know me?" The stranger's eyes dwelt kindly and pitifully on +her. + +She looked at him steadily, crushing down the fears which knocked at her +heart. + +"No," she said. "And yet I think I have seen you." + +"You saw me a week last Sunday," the stranger answered sorrowfully. "My +name is La Tribe. I preached that day, Mademoiselle, before the King of +Navarre. I believe that you were there." + +For a moment she stared at him in silence, her lips parted. Then she +laughed, a laugh which set the teeth on edge. + +"Oh, he is clever!" she cried. "He has the wit of the priests! Or the +devil! But you come too late, Monsieur! You come too late! The bird +has flown." + +"Mademoiselle--" + +"I tell you the bird has flown!" she repeated vehemently. And her laugh +of joyless triumph rang through the room. "He is clever, but I have +outwitted him! I have--" + +She paused and stared about her wildly, struck by the silence; struck too +by something solemn, something pitiful in the faces that were turned on +her. And her lip began to quiver. + +"What?" she muttered. "Why do you look at me so? He has not"--she +turned from one to another--"he has not been taken?" + +"M. Tignonville?" + +She nodded. + +"He is below." + +"Ah!" she said. + +They expected to see her break down, perhaps to see her fall. But she +only groped blindly for a chair and sat. And for a moment there was +silence in the room. It was the Huguenot minister who broke it in a tone +formal and solemn. + +"Listen, all present!" he said slowly. "The ways of God are past finding +out. For two days in the midst of great perils I have been preserved by +His hand and fed by His bounty, and I am told that I shall live if, in +this matter, I do the will of those who hold me in their power. But be +assured--and hearken all," he continued, lowering his voice to a sterner +note. "Rather than marry this woman to this man against her will--if +indeed in His sight such marriage can be--rather than save my life by +such base compliance, I will die not once but ten times! See. I am +ready! I will make no defence!" And he opened his arms as if to welcome +the stroke. "If there be trickery here, if there has been practising +below, where they told me this and that, it shall not avail! Until I +hear from Mademoiselle's own lips that she is willing, I will not say +over her so much as Yea, yea, or Nay, nay!" + +"She is willing!" + +La Tribe turned sharply, and beheld the speaker. It was Count Hannibal, +who had entered a few seconds earlier, and had taken his stand within the +door. + +"She is willing!" Tavannes repeated quietly. And if, in this moment of +the fruition of his schemes, he felt his triumph, he masked it under a +face of sombre purpose. "Do you doubt me, man?" + +"From her own lips!" the other replied, undaunted--and few could say as +much--by that harsh presence. "From no other's!" + +"Sirrah, you--" + +"I can die. And you can no more, my lord!" the minister answered +bravely. "You have no threat can move me." + +"I am not sure of that," Tavannes answered, more blandly. "But had you +listened to me and been less anxious to be brave, M. La Tribe, where no +danger is, you had learned that here is no call for heroics! Mademoiselle +is willing, and will tell you so." + +"With her own lips?" + +Count Hannibal raised his eyebrows. "With her own lips, if you will," he +said. And then, advancing a step and addressing her, with unusual +gravity, "Mademoiselle de Vrillac," he said, "you hear what this +gentleman requires. Will you be pleased to confirm what I have said?" + +She did not answer, and in the intense silence which held the room in its +freezing grasp a woman choked, another broke into weeping. The colour +ebbed from the cheeks of more than one; the men fidgeted on their feet. + +Count Hannibal looked round, his head high. "There is no call for +tears," he said; and whether he spoke in irony or in a strange obtuseness +was known only to himself. "Mademoiselle is in no hurry--and rightly--to +answer a question so momentous. Under the pressure of utmost peril, she +passed her word; the more reason that, now the time has come to redeem +it, she should do so at leisure and after thought. Since she gave her +promise, Monsieur, she has had more than one opportunity of evading its +fulfilment. But she is a Vrillac, and I know that nothing is farther +from her thoughts." + +He was silent a moment; and then, "Mademoiselle," he said, "I would not +hurry you." + +Her eyes were closed, but at that her lips moved. "I am--willing," she +whispered. And a fluttering sigh, of relief, of pity, of God knows what, +filled the room. + +"You are satisfied, M. La Tribe?" + +"I do not--" + +"Man!" With a growl as of a tiger, Count Hannibal dropped the mask. In +two strides he was at the minister's side, his hand gripped his shoulder; +his face, flushed with passion, glared into his. "Will you play with +lives?" he hissed. "If you do not value your own, have you no thought of +others? Of these? Look and count! Have you no bowels? If she will +save them, will not you?" + +"My own I do not value." + +"Curse your own!" Tavannes cried in furious scorn. And he shook the +other to and fro. "Who thought of your life? Will you doom these? Will +you give them to the butcher?" + +"My lord," La Tribe answered, shaken in spite of himself, "if she be +willing--" + +"She is willing." + +"I have nought to say. But I caught her words indistinctly. And without +her consent--" + +"She shall speak more plainly. Mademoiselle--" + +She anticipated him. She had risen, and stood looking straight before +her, seeing nothing. + +"I am willing," she muttered with a strange gesture, "if it must be." + +He did not answer. + +"If it must be," she repeated slowly, and with a heavy sigh. And her +chin dropped on her breast. Then, abruptly, suddenly--it was a strange +thing to see--she looked up. A change as complete as the change which +had come over Count Hannibal a minute before came over her. She sprang +to his side; she clutched his arm and devoured his face with her eyes. +"You are not deceiving me?" she cried. "You have Tignonville below? +You--oh, no, no!" And she fell back from him, her eyes distended, her +voice grown suddenly shrill and defiant, "You have not! You are +deceiving me! He has escaped, and you have lied to me!" + +"I?" + +"Yes, you have lied to me!" It was the last fierce flicker of hope when +hope seemed dead: the last clutch of the drowning at the straw that +floated before the eyes. + +He laughed harshly. "You will be my wife in five minutes," he said, "and +you give me the lie? A week, and you will know me better! A month, +and--but we will talk of that another time. For the present," he +continued, turning to La Tribe, "do you, sir, tell her that the gentleman +is below. Perhaps she will believe you. For you know him." + +La Tribe looked at her sorrowfully; his heart bled for her. "I have seen +M. de Tignonville," he said. "And M. le Comte says truly. He is in the +same case with ourselves, a prisoner." + +"You have seen him?" she wailed. + +"I left him in the room below, when I mounted the stairs." + +Count Hannibal laughed, the grim mocking laugh which seemed to revel in +the pain it inflicted. + +"Will you have him for a witness?" he cried. "There could not be a +better, for he will not forget. Shall I fetch him?" + +She bowed her head, shivering. "Spare me that," she said. And she +pressed her hands to her eyes while an uncontrollable shudder passed over +her frame. Then she stepped forward: "I am ready," she whispered. "Do +with me as you will!" + +* * * * * + +When they had all gone out and closed the door behind them, and the two +whom the minister had joined were left together, Count Hannibal continued +for a time to pace the room, his hands clasped at his back, and his head +sunk somewhat on his chest. His thoughts appeared to run in a new +channel, and one, strange to say, widely diverted from his bride and from +that which he had just done. For he did not look her way, or, for a +time, speak to her. He stood once to snuff a candle, doing it with an +absent face: and once to look, but still absently, and as if he read no +word of it, at the marriage writing which lay, the ink still wet, upon +the table. After each of these interruptions he resumed his steady +pacing to and fro, to and fro, nor did his eye wander once in the +direction of her chair. + +And she waited. The conflict of emotions, the strife between hope and +fear, the final defeat had stunned her; had left her exhausted, almost +apathetic. Yet not quite, nor wholly. For when in his walk he came a +little nearer to her, a chill perspiration broke out on her brow, and +shudderings crept over her; and when he passed farther from her--and then +only, it seemed--she breathed again. But the change lay beneath the +surface, and cheated the eye. Into her attitude, as she sat, her hands +clasped on her lap, her eyes fixed, came no apparent change or shadow of +movement. + +Suddenly, with a dull shock, she became aware that he was speaking. + +"There was need of haste," he said, his tone strangely low and free from +emotion, "for I am under bond to leave Paris to-morrow for Angers, +whither I bear letters from the King. And as matters stood, there was no +one with whom I could leave you. I trust Bigot; he is faithful, and you +may trust him, Madame, fair or foul! But he is not quick-witted. +Badelon, also, you may trust. Bear it in mind. Your woman Javette is +not faithful; but as her life is guaranteed she must stay with us until +she can be securely placed. Indeed, I must take all with me--with one +exception--for the priests and monks rule Paris, and they do not love me, +nor would spare aught at my word." + +He was silent a few moments. Then he resumed in the same tone, "You +ought to know how we, Tavannes, stand. It is by Monsieur and the Queen- +Mother; and _contra_ the Guises. We have all been in this matter; but +the latter push and we are pushed, and the old crack will reopen. As it +is, I cannot answer for much beyond the reach of my arm. Therefore, we +take all with us except M. de Tignonville, who desires to be conducted to +the Arsenal." + +She had begun to listen with averted eyes. But as he continued to speak +surprise awoke in her, and something stronger than surprise--amazement, +stupefaction. Slowly her eyes came to him, and when he ceased to speak-- + +"Why do you tell me these things?" she muttered, her dry lips framing the +words with difficulty. + +"Because it behoves you to know them," he answered, thoughtfully tapping +the table. "I have no one, save my brother, whom I can trust." + +She would not ask him why he trusted her, nor why he thought he could +trust her. For a moment or two she watched him, while he, with his eyes +lowered, stood in deep thought. At last he looked up and his eyes met +hers. + +"Come!" he said abruptly, and in a different tone, "we must end this! Is +it to be a kiss or a blow between us?" + +She rose, though her knees shook under her; and they stood face to face, +her face white as paper. + +"What--do you mean?" she whispered. + +"Is it to be a kiss or a blow?" he repeated. "A husband must be a lover, +Madame, or a master, or both! I am content to be the one or the other, +or both, as it shall please you. But the one I will be." + +"Then, a thousand times, a blow," she cried, her eyes flaming, "from +you!" + +He wondered at her courage, but he hid his wonder. "So be it!" he +answered. And before she knew what he would be at, he struck her sharply +across the cheek with the glove which he held in his hand. She recoiled +with a low cry, and her cheek blazed scarlet where he had struck it. + +"So be it!" he continued sombrely. "The choice shall be yours, but you +will come to me daily for the one or the other. If I cannot be lover, +Madame, I will be master. And by this sign I will have you know it, +daily, and daily remember it." + +She stared at him, her bosom rising and falling, in an astonishment too +deep for words. But he did not heed her. He did not look at her again. +He had already turned to the door, and while she looked he passed through +it, he closed it behind him. And she was alone. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. IN THE ORLEANNAIS. + + +"But you fear him?" + +"Fear him?" Madame St. Lo answered; and, to the surprise of the Countess, +she made a little face of contempt. "No; why should I fear him? I fear +him no more than the puppy leaping at old Sancho's bridle fears his tall +playfellow! Or than the cloud you see above us fears the wind before +which it flies!" She pointed to a white patch, the size of a man's hand, +which hung above the hill on their left hand and formed the only speck in +the blue summer sky. "Fear him? Not I!" And, laughing gaily, she put +her horse at a narrow rivulet which crossed the grassy track on which +they rode. + +"But he is hard?" the Countess murmured in a low voice, as she regained +her companion's side. + +"Hard?" Madame St. Lo rejoined with a gesture of pride. "Ay, hard as the +stones in my jewelled ring! Hard as flint, or the nether millstone--to +his enemies! But to women? Bah! Who ever heard that he hurt a woman?" + +"Why, then, is he so feared?" the Countess asked, her eyes on the subject +of their discussion--a solitary figure riding some fifty paces in front +of them. + +"Because he counts no cost!" her companion answered. "Because he killed +Savillon in the court of the Louvre, though he knew his life the forfeit. +He would have paid the forfeit too, or lost his right hand, if Monsieur, +for his brother the Marshal's sake, had not intervened. But Savillon had +whipped his dog, you see. Then he killed the Chevalier de Millaud, but +'twas in fair fight, in the snow, in their shirts. For that, Millaud's +son lay in wait for him with two, in the passage under the Chatelet; but +Hannibal wounded one, and the others saved themselves. Undoubtedly he is +feared!" she added with the same note of pride in her voice. + +The two who talked, rode at the rear of the little company which had left +Paris at daybreak two days before, by the Porte St. Jacques. Moving +steadily south-westward by the lesser roads and bridle-tracks--for Count +Hannibal seemed averse from the great road--they had lain the second +night in a village three leagues from Bonneval. A journey of two days on +fresh horses is apt to change scenery and eye alike; but seldom has an +alteration--in themselves and all about them--as great as that which +blessed this little company, been wrought in so short a time. From the +stifling wynds and evil-smelling lanes of Paris, they had passed to the +green uplands, the breezy woods and babbling streams of the upper +Orleannais; from sights and sounds the most appalling, to the solitude of +the sandy heath, haunt of the great bustard, or the sunshine of the +hillside, vibrating with the songs of larks; from an atmosphere of terror +and gloom to the freedom of God's earth and sky. Numerous enough--they +numbered a score of armed men--to defy the lawless bands which had their +lairs in the huge forest of Orleans, they halted where they pleased: at +mid-day under a grove of chestnut-trees, or among the willows beside a +brook; at night, if they willed it, under God's heaven. Far, not only +from Paris, but from the great road, with its gibbets and pillories--the +great road which at that date ran through a waste, no peasant living +willingly within sight of it--they rode in the morning and in the +evening, resting in the heat of the day. And though they had left Paris +with much talk of haste, they rode more at leisure with every league. + +For whatever Tavannes' motive, it was plain that he was in no hurry to +reach his destination. Nor for that matter were any of his company. +Madame St. Lo, who had seized the opportunity of escaping from the +capital under her cousin's escort, was in an ill-humour with cities, and +declaimed much on the joys of a cell in the woods. For the time the +coarsest nature and the dullest rider had had enough of alarums and +conflicts. + +The whole company, indeed, though it moved in some fashion of array with +an avant and a rear-guard, the ladies riding together, and Count Hannibal +proceeding solitary in the midst, formed as peaceful a band, and one as +innocently diverted, as if no man of them had ever grasped pike or blown +a match. There was an old rider among them who had seen the sack of +Rome, and the dead face of the great Constable the idol of the Free +Companies. But he had a taste for simples and much skill in them; and +when Madame had once seen Badelon on his knees in the grass searching for +plants, she lost her fear of him. Bigot, with his low brow and matted +hair, was the abject slave of Suzanne, Madame St. Lo's woman, who twitted +him mercilessly on his Norman _patois_, and poured the vials of her scorn +on him a dozen times a day. In all, with La Tribe and the Carlats, +Madame St. Lo's servants, and the Countess's following, they numbered not +far short of two score; and when they halted at noon, and under the +shadow of some leafy tree, ate their mid-day meal, or drowsed to the +tinkle of Madame St. Lo's lute, it was difficult to believe that Paris +existed, or that these same people had so lately left its blood-stained +pavements. + +They halted this morning a little earlier than usual. Madame St. Lo had +barely answered her companion's question before the subject of their +discussion swung himself from old Sancho's back, and stood waiting to +assist them to dismount. Behind him, where the green valley through +which the road passed narrowed to a rocky gate, an old mill stood among +willows at the foot of a mound. On the mound behind it a ruined castle +which had stood siege in the Hundred Years' War raised its grey walls; +and beyond this the stream which turned the mill poured over rocks with a +cool rushing sound that proved irresistible. The men, their horses +watered and hobbled, went off, shouting like boys, to bathe below the +falls; and after a moment's hesitation Count Hannibal rose from the grass +on which he had flung himself. + +"Guard that for me, Madame," he said. And he dropped a packet, bravely +sealed and tied with a silk thread, into the Countess's lap. "'Twill be +safer than leaving it in my clothes. Ohe!" And he turned to Madame St. +Lo. "Would you fancy a life that was all gipsying, cousin?" And if +there was irony in his voice, there was desire in his eyes. + +"There is only one happy man in the world," she answered, with +conviction. + +"By name?" + +"The hermit of Compiegne." + +"And in a week you would be wild for a masque!" he said cynically. And +turning on his heel he followed the men. + +Madame St. Lo sighed complacently. "Heigho!" she said. "He's right! We +are never content, _ma mie_! When I am trifling in the Gallery my heart +is in the greenwood. And when I have eaten black bread and drank spring +water for a fortnight I do nothing but dream of Zamet's, and white +mulberry tarts! And you are in the same case. You have saved your round +white neck, or it has been saved for you, by not so much as the thickness +of Zamet's pie-crust--I declare my mouth is beginning to water for +it!--and instead of being thankful and making the best of things, you are +thinking of poor Madame d'Yverne, or dreaming of your calf-love!" + +The girl's face--for a girl she was, though they called her Madame--began +to work. She struggled a moment with her emotion, and then broke down, +and fell to weeping silently. For two days she had sat in public and not +given way. But the reference to her lover was too much for her strength. + +Madame St. Lo looked at her with eyes which were not unkindly. + +"Sits the wind in that quarter?" she murmured. "I thought so! But +there, my dear, if you don't put that packet in your gown you'll wash out +the address! Moreover, if you ask me, I don't think the young man is +worth it. It is only that what we have not got--we want!" + +But the young Countess had borne to the limit of her powers. With an +incoherent word she rose to her feet, and walked hurriedly away. The +thought of what was and of what might have been, the thought of the lover +who still--though he no longer seemed, even to her, the perfect hero--held +a place in her heart, filled her breast to overflowing. She longed for +some spot where she could weep unseen; where the sunshine and the blue +sky would not mock her grief; and seeing in front of her a little clump +of alders, which grew beside the stream, in a bend that in winter was +marshy, she hastened towards it. + +Madame St. Lo saw her figure blend with the shadow of the trees. + +"Quite _a la_ Ronsard, I give my word!" she murmured. "And now she is +out of sight! _La, la_! I could play at the game myself, and carve +sweet sorrow on the barks of trees, if it were not so lonesome! And if I +had a man!" + +And gazing pensively at the stream and the willows, my lady tried to work +herself into a proper frame of mind; now murmuring the name of one +gallant, and now, finding it unsuited, the name of another. But the soft +inflection would break into a giggle, and finally into a yawn; and, tired +of the attempt, she began to pluck grass and throw it from her. By-and-by +she discovered that Madame Carlat and the women, who had their place a +little apart, had disappeared; and affrighted by the solitude and +silence--for neither of which she was made--she sprang up and stared +about her, hoping to discern them. Right and left, however, the sweep of +hillside curved upward to the skyline, lonely and untenanted; behind her +the castled rock frowned down on the rugged gorge and filled it with +dispiriting shadow. Madame St. Lo stamped her foot on the turf. + +"The little fool!" she murmured pettishly. "Does she think that I am to +be murdered that she may fatten on sighs? Oh, come up, Madame, you must +be dragged out of this!" And she started briskly towards the alders, +intent on gaining company as quickly as possible. + +She had gone about fifty yards, and had as many more to traverse when she +halted. A man, bent double, was moving stealthily along the farther side +of the brook, a little in front of her. Now she saw him, now she lost +him; now she caught a glimpse of him again, through a screen of willow +branches. He moved with the utmost caution, as a man moves who is +pursued or in danger; and for a moment she deemed him a peasant whom the +bathers had disturbed and who was bent on escaping. But when he came +opposite to the alder-bed she saw that that was his point, for he +crouched down, sheltered by a willow, and gazed eagerly among the trees, +always with his back to her; and then he waved his hand to some one in +the wood. + +Madame St. Lo drew in her breath. As if he had heard the sound--which +was impossible--the man dropped down where he stood, crawled a yard or +two on his face, and disappeared. + +Madame stared a moment, expecting to see him or hear him. Then, as +nothing happened, she screamed. She was a woman of quick impulses, +essentially feminine; and she screamed three or four times, standing +where she was, her eyes on the edge of the wood. "If that does not bring +her out, nothing will!" she thought. + +It brought her. An instant, and the Countess appeared, and hurried in +dismay to her side. + +"What is it?" the younger woman asked, glancing over her shoulder; for +all the valley, all the hills were peaceful, and behind Madame St. Lo--but +the lady had not discovered it--the servants who had returned were laying +the meal. "What is it?" she repeated anxiously. + +"Who was it?" Madame St. Lo asked curtly. She was quite calm now. + +"Who was--who?" + +"The man in the wood?" + +The Countess stared a moment, then laughed. "Only the old soldier they +call Badelon, gathering simples. Did you think that he would harm me?" + +"It was not old Badelon whom I saw!" Madame St. Lo retorted. "It was a +younger man, who crept along the other side of the brook, keeping under +cover. When I first saw him he was there," she continued, pointing to +the place. "And he crept on and on until he came opposite to you. Then +he waved his hand." + +"To me?" + +Madame nodded. + +"But if you saw him, who was he?" the Countess asked. + +"I did not see his face," Madame St. Lo answered. "But he waved to you. +That I saw." + +The Countess had a thought which slowly flooded her face with crimson. +Madame St. Lo saw the change, saw the tender light which on a sudden +softened the other's eyes; and the same thought occurred to her. And +having a mind to punish her companion for her reticence--for she did not +doubt that the girl knew more than she acknowledged--she proposed that +they should return and find Badelon, and learn if he had seen the man. + +"Why?" Madame Tavannes asked. And she stood stubbornly, her head high. +"Why should we?" + +"To clear it up," the elder woman answered mischievously. "But perhaps, +it were better to tell your husband and let his men search the coppice." + +The colour left the Countess's face as quickly as it had come. For a +moment she was tongue-tied. Then-- + +"Have we not had enough of seeking and being sought?" she cried, more +bitterly than befitted the occasion. "Why should we hunt him? I am not +timid, and he did me no harm. I beg, Madame, that you will do me the +favour of being silent on the matter." + +"Oh, if you insist? But what a pother--" + +"I did not see him, and he did not see me," Madame de Tavannes answered +vehemently. "I fail, therefore, to understand why we should harass him, +whoever he be. Besides, M. de Tavannes is waiting for us." + +"And M. de Tignonville--is following us!" Madame St. Lo muttered under +her breath. And she made a face at the other's back. + +She was silent, however. They returned to the others and nothing of +import, it would seem, had happened. The soft summer air played on the +meal laid under the willows as it had played on the meal of yesterday +laid under the chestnut-trees. The horses grazed within sight, moving +now and again, with a jingle of trappings or a jealous neigh: the women's +chatter vied with the unceasing sound of the mill-stream. After dinner, +Madame St. Lo touched the lute, and Badelon--Badelon who had seen the +sack of the Colonna's Palace, and been served by cardinals on the +knee--fed a water-rat, which had its home in one of the willow-stumps, +with carrot-parings. One by one the men laid themselves to sleep with +their faces on their arms; and to the eyes all was as all had been +yesterday in this camp of armed men living peacefully. + +But not to the Countess! She had accepted her life, she had resigned +herself, she had marvelled that it was no worse. After the horrors of +Paris the calm of the last two days had fallen on her as balm on a wound. +Worn out in body and mind, she had rested, and only rested; without +thought, almost without emotion, save for the feeling, half fear, half +curiosity, which stirred her in regard to the strange man, her husband. +Who on his side left her alone. + +But the last hour had wrought a change. Her eyes were grown restless, +her colour came and went. The past stirred in its shallow--ah, so +shallow--grave; and dead hopes and dead forebodings, strive as she might, +thrust out hands to plague and torment her. If the man who sought to +speak with her by stealth, who dogged her footsteps and hung on the +skirts of her party, were Tignonville--her lover, who at his own request +had been escorted to the Arsenal before their departure from Paris--then +her plight was a sorry one. For what woman, wedded as she had been +wedded, could think otherwise than indulgently of his persistence? And +yet, lover and husband! What peril, what shame the words had often +spelled! At the thought only she trembled and her colour ebbed. She +saw, as one who stands on the brink of a precipice, the depth which +yawned before her. She asked herself, shivering, if she would ever sink +to _that_. + +All the loyalty of a strong nature, all the virtue of a good woman, +revolted against the thought. True, her husband--husband she must call +him--had not deserved her love; but his bizarre magnanimity, the gloomy, +disdainful kindness with which he had crowned possession, even the unity +of their interests, which he had impressed upon her in so strange a +fashion, claimed a return in honour. + +To be paid--how? how? That was the crux which perplexed, which +frightened, which harassed her. For, if she told her suspicions, she +exposed her lover to capture by one who had no longer a reason to be +merciful. And if she sought occasion to see Tignonville and so to +dissuade him, she did it at deadly risk to herself. Yet what other +course lay open to her if she would not stand by? If she would not play +the traitor? If she-- + +"Madame,"--it was her husband, and he spoke to her suddenly,--"are you +not well?" And, looking up guiltily, she found his eyes fixed curiously +on hers. + +Her face turned red and white and red again, and she faltered something +and looked from him, but only to meet Madame St. Lo's eyes. My lady +laughed softly in sheer mischief. + +"What is it?" Count Hannibal asked sharply. + +But Madame St. Lo's answer was a line of Ronsard. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. ON THE CASTLE HILL. + + +Thrice she hummed it, bland and smiling. Then from the neighbouring +group came an interruption. The wine he had drunk had put it into +Bigot's head to snatch a kiss from Suzanne; and Suzanne's modesty, which +was very nice in company, obliged her to squeal. The uproar which +ensued, the men backing the man and the women the woman, brought Tavannes +to his feet. He did not speak, but a glance from his eyes was enough. +There was not one who failed to see that something was amiss with him, +and a sudden silence fell on the party. + +He turned to the Countess. "You wished to see the castle?" he said. "You +had better go now, but not alone." He cast his eyes over the company, +and summoned La Tribe, who was seated with the Carlats. "Go with +Madame," he said curtly. "She has a mind to climb the hill. Bear in +mind, we start at three, and do not venture out of hearing." + +"I understand, M. le Comte," the minister answered. He spoke quietly, +but there was a strange light in his face as he turned to go with her. + +None the less he was silent until Madame's lagging feet--for all her +interest in the expedition was gone--had borne her a hundred paces from +the company. Then-- + +"Who knoweth our thoughts and forerunneth all our desires," he murmured. +And when she turned to him, astonished, "Madame," he continued, "I have +prayed, ah, how I have prayed, for this opportunity of speaking to you! +And it has come. I would it had come this morning, but it has come. Do +not start or look round; many eyes are on us, and, alas! I have that to +say to you which it will move you to hear, and that to ask of you which +it must task your courage to perform." + +She began to tremble, and stood looking up the green slope to the broken +grey wall which crowned its summit. + +"What is it?" she whispered, commanding herself with an effort. "What is +it? If it have aught to do with M. Tignonville--" + +"It has not!" + +In her surprise--for although she had put the question she had felt no +doubt of the answer--she started and turned to him. + +"It has not?" she exclaimed almost incredulously. + +"No." + +"Then what is it, Monsieur?" she replied, a little haughtily. "What can +there be that should move me so?" + +"Life or death, Madame," he answered solemnly. "Nay, more; for since +Providence has given me this chance of speaking to you, a thing of which +I despaired, I know that the burden is laid on us, and that it is guilt +or it is innocence, according as we refuse the burden or bear it." + +"What is it, then?" she cried impatiently. "What is it?" + +"I tried to speak to you this morning." + +"Was it you, then, whom Madame St. Lo saw stalking me before dinner? + +"It was." + +She clasped her hands and heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank God, +Monsieur!" she replied. "You have lifted a weight from me. I fear +nothing in comparison of that. Nothing!" + +"Alas!" he answered sombrely, "there is much to fear, for others if not +for ourselves! Do you know what that is which M. de Tavannes bears +always in his belt? What it is he carries with such care? What it was +he handed to you to keep while he bathed to-day?" + +"Letters from the King." + +"Yes, but the import of those letters?" + +"No." + +"And yet, should they be written in letters of blood!" the minister +exclaimed, his face kindling. "They should scorch the hands that hold +them and blister the eyes that read them. They are the fire and the +sword! They are the King's order to do at Angers as they have done in +Paris. To slay all of the religion who are found there--and they are +many! To spare none, to have mercy neither on the old man nor the unborn +child! See yonder hawk!" he continued, pointing with a shaking hand to a +falcon which hung light and graceful above the valley, the movement of +its wings invisible. "How it disports itself in the face of the sun! How +easy its way, how smooth its flight! But see, it drops upon its prey in +the rushes beside the brook, and the end of its beauty is slaughter! So +is it with yonder company!" His finger sank until it indicated the +little camp seated toy-like in the green meadow four hundred feet below +them, with every man and horse, and the very camp-kettle, clear-cut and +visible, though diminished by distance to fairy-like proportions. "So it +is with yonder company!" he repeated sternly. "They play and are merry, +and one fishes and another sleeps! But at the end of the journey is +death. Death for their victims, and for them the judgment!" + +She stood, as he spoke, in the ruined gateway, a walled grass-plot behind +her, and at her feet the stream, the smiling valley, the alders, and the +little camp. The sky was cloudless, the scene drowsy with the stillness +of an August afternoon. But his words went home so truly that the sunlit +landscape before the eyes added one more horror to the picture he called +up before the mind. + +The Countess turned white and sick. "Are you sure?" she whispered at +last. + +"Quite sure." + +"Ah, God!" she cried, "are we never to have peace?" And turning from the +valley, she walked some distance into the grass court, and stood. After +a time, she turned to him; he had followed her doggedly, pace for pace. +"What do you want me to do?" she cried, despair in her voice. "What can +I do?" + +"Were the letters he bears destroyed--" + +"The letters?" + +"Yes, were the letters destroyed," La Tribe answered relentlessly, "he +could do nothing! Nothing! Without that authority the magistrates of +Angers would not move. He could do nothing. And men and women and +children--men and women and children whose blood will otherwise cry for +vengeance, perhaps for vengeance on us who might have saved them--will +live! Will live!" he repeated, with a softening eye. And with an all- +embracing gesture he seemed to call to witness the open heavens, the +sunshine and the summer breeze which wrapped them round. "Will live!" + +She drew a deep breath. "And you have brought me here," she said, "to +ask me to do this?" + +"I was sent here to ask you to do this." + +"Why me? Why me?" she wailed, and she held out her open hands to him, +her face wan and colourless. "You come to me, a woman! Why to me?" + +"You are his wife!" + +"And he is my husband!" + +"Therefore he trusts you," was the unyielding, the pitiless answer. "You, +and you alone, have the opportunity of doing this." + +She gazed at him in astonishment. "And it is you who say that?" she +faltered, after a pause. "You who made us one, who now bid me betray +him, whom I have sworn to love? To ruin him whom I have sworn to +honour?" + +"I do!" he answered solemnly. "On my head be the guilt, and on yours the +merit." + +"Nay, but--" she cried quickly, and her eyes glittered with passion--"do +you take both guilt and merit! You are a man," she continued, her words +coming quickly in her excitement, "he is but a man! Why do you not call +him aside, trick him apart on some pretence or other, and when there are +but you two, man to man, wrench the warrant from him? Staking your life +against his, with all those lives for prize? And save them or perish? +Why I, even I, a woman, could find it in my heart to do that, were he not +my husband! Surely you, you who are a man, and young--" + +"Am no match for him in strength or arms," the minister answered sadly. +"Else would I do it! Else would I stake my life, Heaven knows, as gladly +to save their lives as I sit down to meat! But I should fail, and if I +failed all were lost. Moreover," he continued solemnly, "I am certified +that this task has been set for you. It was not for nothing, Madame, nor +to save one poor household that you were joined to this man; but to +ransom all these lives and this great city. To be the Judith of our +faith, the saviour of Angers, the--" + +"Fool! Fool!" she cried. "Will you be silent?" And she stamped the +turf passionately, while her eyes blazed in her white face. "I am no +Judith, and no madwoman as you are fain to make me. Mad?" she continued, +overwhelmed with agitation, "My God, I would I were, and I should be free +from this!" And, turning, she walked a little way from him with the +gesture of one under a crushing burden. + +He waited a minute, two minutes, three minutes, and still she did not +return. At length she came back, her bearing more composed; she looked +at him, and her eyes seized his and seemed as if they would read his +soul. + +"Are you sure," she said, "of what you have told me? Will you swear that +the contents of these letters are as you say?" + +"As I live," he answered gravely. "As God lives." + +"And you know--of no other way, Monsieur? Of no other way?" she repeated +slowly and piteously. + +"Of none, Madame, of none, I swear." + +She sighed deeply, and stood sunk in thought. Then, "When do we reach +Angers?" she asked heavily. + +"The day after to-morrow." + +"I have--until the day after to-morrow?" + +"Yes. To-night we lie near Vendome." + +"And to-morrow night?" + +"Near a place called La Fleche. It is possible," he went on with +hesitation--for he did not understand her--"that he may bathe to-morrow, +and may hand the packet to you, as he did to-day when I vainly sought +speech with you. If he does that--" + +"Yes?" she said, her eyes on his face. + +"The taking will be easy. But when he finds you have it not"--he +faltered anew--"it may go hard with you." + +She did not speak. + +"And there, I think, I can help you. If you will stray from the party, I +will meet you and destroy the letter. That done--and would God it were +done already--I will take to flight as best I can, and you will raise the +alarm and say that I robbed you of it! And if you tear your dress--" + +"No," she said. + +He looked a question. + +"No!" she repeated in a low voice. "If I betray him I will not lie to +him! And no other shall pay the price! If I ruin him it shall be +between him and me, and no other shall have part in it!" + +He shook his head. "I do not know," he murmured, "what he may do to +you!" + +"Nor I," she said proudly. "That will be for him." + +* * * * * + +Curious eyes had watched the two as they climbed the hill. For the path +ran up the slope to the gap which served for gate, much as the path leads +up to the Castle Beautiful in old prints of the Pilgrim's journey, and +Madame St. Lo had marked the first halt and the second, and, noting every +gesture, had lost nothing of the interview save the words. But until the +two, after pausing a moment, passed out of sight she made no sign. Then +she laughed. And as Count Hannibal, at whom the laugh was aimed, did not +heed her, she laughed again. And she hummed the line of Ronsard. + +Still he would not be roused, and, piqued, she had recourse to words. + +"I wonder what you would do," she said, "if the old lover followed us, +and she went off with him!" + +"She would not go," he answered coldly, and without looking up. + +"But if he rode off with her?" + +"She would come back on her feet!" + +Madame St. Lo's prudence was not proof against that. She had the woman's +inclination to hide a woman's secret; and she had not intended, when she +laughed, to do more than play with the formidable man with whom so few +dared to play. Now, stung by his tone and his assurance, she must needs +show him that his trustfulness had no base. And, as so often happens in +the circumstances, she went a little farther than the facts bore her. + +"Any way, he has followed us so far!" she cried viciously. + +"M. de Tignonville?" + +"Yes. I saw him this morning while you were bathing. She left me and +went into the little coppice. He came down the other side of the brook, +stooping and running, and went to join her." + +"How did he cross the brook?" + +Madame St. Lo blushed. "Old Badelon was there, gathering simples," she +said. "He scared him. And he crawled away." + +"Then he did not cross?" + +"No. I did not say he did!" + +"Nor speak to her?" + +"No. But if you think it will pass so next time--you do not know much of +women!" + +"Of women generally, not much," he answered, grimly polite. "Of this +woman a great deal!" + +"You looked in her big eyes, I suppose!" Madame St. Lo cried with heat. +"And straightway fell down and worshipped her!" She liked rather than +disliked the Countess; but she was of the lightest, and the least +opposition drove her out of her course. "And you think you know her! And +she, if she could save you from death by opening an eye, would go with a +patch on it till her dying day! Take my word for it, Monsieur, between +her and her lover you will come to harm." + +Count Hannibal's swarthy face darkened a tone, and his eyes grew a very +little smaller. + +"I fancy that he runs the greater risk," he muttered. + +"You may deal with him, but, for her--" + +"I can deal with her. You deal with some women with a whip--" + +"You would whip me, I suppose?" + +"Yes," he said quietly. "It would do you good, Madame. And with other +women otherwise. There are women who, if they are well frightened, will +not deceive you. And there are others who will not deceive you though +they are frightened. Madame de Tavannes is of the latter kind." + +"Wait! Wait and see!" Madame cried in scorn. + +"I am waiting." + +"Yes! And whereas if you had come to me I could have told her that about +M. de Tignonville which would have surprised her, you will go on waiting +and waiting and waiting until one fine day you'll wake up and find Madame +gone, and--" + +"Then I'll take a wife I can whip!" he answered, with a look which +apprised her how far she had carried it. "But it will not be you, sweet +cousin. For I have no whip heavy enough for your case." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. SHE WOULD, AND WOULD NOT. + + +We noted some way back the ease with which women use one concession as a +stepping-stone to a second; and the lack of magnanimity, amounting almost +to unscrupulousness, which the best display in their dealings with a +retiring foe. But there are concessions which touch even a good woman's +conscience; and Madame de Tavannes, free by the tenure of a blow, and +with that exception treated from hour to hour with rugged courtesy, +shrank appalled before the task which confronted her. + +To ignore what La Tribe had told her, to remain passive when a movement +on her part might save men, women, and children from death, and a whole +city from massacre--this was a line of conduct so craven, so selfish, +that from the first she knew herself incapable of it. But to take the +only other course open to her, to betray her husband and rob him of that, +the loss of which might ruin him, this needed not courage only, not +devotion only, but a hardness proof against reproaches as well as against +punishment. And the Countess was no fanatic. No haze of bigotry +glorified the thing she contemplated, or dressed it in colours other than +its own. Even while she acknowledged the necessity of the act and its +ultimate righteousness, even while she owned the obligation which lay +upon her to perform it, she saw it as he would see it, and saw herself as +he would see her. + +True, he had done her a great wrong; and this in the eyes of some might +pass for punishment. But he had saved her life where many had perished; +and, the wrong done, he had behaved to her with fantastic generosity. In +return for which she was to ruin him? It was not hard to imagine what he +would say of her, and of the reward with which she had requited him. + +She pondered over it as they rode that evening, with the weltering sun in +their eyes and the lengthening shadows of the oaks falling athwart the +bracken which fringed the track. Across breezy heaths and over downs, +through green bottoms and by hamlets, from which every human creature +fled at their approach, they ambled on by twos and threes; riding in a +world of their own, so remote, so different from the real world--from +which they came and to which they must return--that she could have wept +in anguish, cursing God for the wickedness of man which lay so heavy on +creation. The gaunt troopers riding at ease with swinging legs and +swaying stirrups--and singing now a refrain from Ronsard, and now one of +those verses of Marot's psalms which all the world had sung three decades +before--wore their most lamb-like aspect. Behind them Madame St. Lo +chattered to Suzanne of a riding mask which had not been brought, or +planned expedients, if nothing sufficiently in the mode could be found at +Angers. And the other women talked and giggled, screamed when they came +to fords, and made much of steep places, where the men must help them. In +time of war death's shadow covers but a day, and sorrow out of sight is +out of mind. Of all the troop whom the sinking sun left within sight of +the lofty towers and vine-clad hills of Vendome, three only wore faces +attuned to the cruel August week just ending; three only, like dark beads +strung far apart on a gay nun's rosary, rode, brooding and silent, in +their places. The Countess was one--the others were the two men whose +thoughts she filled, and whose eyes now and again sought her, La Tribe's +with sombre fire in their depths, Count Hannibal's fraught with a gloomy +speculation, which belied his brave words to Madame St. Lo. + +He, moreover, as he rode, had other thoughts; dark ones, which did not +touch her. And she, too, had other thoughts at times, dreams of her +young lover, spasms of regret, a wild revolt of heart, a cry out of the +darkness which had suddenly whelmed her. So that of the three only La +Tribe was single-minded. + +This day they rode a long league after sunset, through a scattered oak- +wood, where the rabbits sprang up under their horses' heads and the +squirrels made angry faces at them from the lower branches. Night was +hard upon them when they reached the southern edge of the forest, and +looked across the dusky open slopes to a distant light or two which +marked where Vendome stood. + +"Another league," Count Hannibal muttered; and he bade the men light +fires where they were, and unload the packhorses. "'Tis pure and dry +here," he said. "Set a watch, Bigot, and let two men go down for water. +I hear frogs below. You do not fear to be moonstruck, Madame?" + +"I prefer this," she answered in a low voice. + +"Houses are for monks and nuns!" he rejoined heartily. "Give me God's +heaven." + +"The earth is His, but we deface it," she murmured, reverting to her +thoughts, and unconscious that it was to him she spoke. + +He looked at her sharply, but the fire was not yet kindled; and in the +gloaming her face was a pale blot undecipherable. He stood a moment, but +she did not speak again; and Madame St. Lo bustling up, he moved away to +give an order. By-and-by the fires burned up, and showed the pillared +aisle in which they sat, small groups dotted here and there on the floor +of Nature's cathedral. Through the shadowy Gothic vaulting, the groining +of many boughs which met overhead, a rare star twinkled, as through some +clerestory window; and from the dell below rose in the night, now the +monotonous chanting of the frogs, and now, as some great bull-frog took +the note, a diapason worthy of a Brescian organ. The darkness walled all +in; the night was still; a falling caterpillar sounded. Even the rude +men at the farthest fire stilled their voices at times; awed, they knew +not why, by the silence and vastness of the night. + +The Countess long remembered that vigil--for she lay late awake; the cool +gloom, the faint wood-rustlings, the distant cry of fox or wolf, the soft +glow of the expiring fires that at last left the world to darkness and +the stars; above all, the silent wheeling of the planets, which spoke +indeed of a supreme Ruler, but crushed the heart under a sense of its +insignificance, and of the insignificance of all human revolutions. + +"Yet, I believe!" she cried, wrestling upwards, wrestling with herself. +"Though I have seen what I have seen, yet I believe!" + +And though she had to bear what she had to bear, and do that from which +her soul shrank! The woman, indeed, within her continued to cry out +against this tragedy ever renewed in her path, against this necessity for +choosing evil, or good, ease for herself or life for others. But the +moving heavens, pointing onward to a time when good and evil alike should +be past, strengthened a nature essentially noble; and before she slept no +shame and no suffering seemed--for the moment at least--too great a price +to pay for the lives of little children. Love had been taken from her +life; the pride which would fain answer generosity with generosity--that +must go, too! + +She felt no otherwise when the day came, and the bustle of the start and +the common round of the journey put to flight the ideals of the night. +But things fell out in a manner she had not pictured. They halted before +noon on the north bank of the Loir, in a level meadow with lines of +poplars running this way and that, and filling all the place with the +soft shimmer of leaves. Blue succory, tiny mirrors of the summer sky, +flecked the long grass, and the women picked bunches of them, or, Italian +fashion, twined the blossoms in their hair. A road ran across the meadow +to a ferry, but the ferryman, alarmed by the aspect of the party, had +conveyed his boat to the other side and hidden himself. + +Presently Madame St. Lo espied the boat, clapped her hands and must have +it. The poplars threw no shade, the flies teased her, the life of a +hermit--in a meadow--was no longer to her taste. + +"Let us go on the water!" she cried. "Presently you will go to bathe, +Monsieur, and leave us to grill!" + +"Two livres to the man who will fetch the boat!" Count Hannibal cried. + +In less than half a minute three men had thrown off their boots, and were +swimming across, amid the laughter and shouts of their fellows. In five +minutes the boat was brought. + +It was not large and would hold no more than four. Tavannes' eye fell on +Carlat. + +"You understand a boat," he said. "Go with Madame St. Lo. And you, M. +La Tribe." + +"But you are coming?" Madame St. Lo cried, turning to the Countess. "Oh, +Madame," with a curtsey, "you are not? You--" + +"Yes, I will come," the Countess answered. + +"I shall bathe a short distance up the stream," Count Hannibal said. He +took from his belt the packet of letters, and as Carlat held the boat for +Madame St. Lo to enter, he gave it to the Countess, as he had given it to +her yesterday. "Have a care of it, Madame," he said in a low voice, "and +do not let it pass out of your hands. To lose it may be to lose my +head." + +The colour ebbed from her cheeks. In spite of herself her shaking hand +put back the packet. "Had you not better then--give it to Bigot?" she +faltered. + +"He is bathing." + +"Let him bathe afterwards." + +"No," he answered almost harshly; he found a species of pleasure in +showing her that, strange as their relations were, he trusted her. "No; +take it, Madame. Only have a care of it." + +She took it then, hid it in her dress, and he turned away; and she turned +towards the boat. La Tribe stood beside the stern, holding it for her to +enter, and as her fingers rested an instant on his arm their eyes met. +His were alight, his arm even quivered; and she shuddered. + +She avoided looking at him a second time, and this was easy, since he +took his seat in the bows beyond Carlat, who handled the oars. Silently +the boat glided out on the surface of the stream, and floated downwards, +Carlat now and again touching an oar, and Madame St. Lo chattering gaily +in a voice which carried far on the water. Now it was a flowering rush +she must have, now a green bough to shield her face from the sun's +reflection; and now they must lie in some cool, shadowy pool under fern- +clad banks, where the fish rose heavily, and the trickle of a rivulet +fell down over stones. + +It was idyllic. But not to the Countess. Her face burned, her temples +throbbed, her fingers gripped the side of the boat in the vain attempt to +steady her pulses. The packet within her dress scorched her. The great +city and its danger, Tavannes and his faith in her, the need of action, +the irrevocableness of action hurried through her brain. The knowledge +that she must act now--or never--pressed upon her with distracting force. +Her hand felt the packet, and fell again nerveless. + +"The sun has caught you, _ma mie_," Madame St. Lo said. "You should ride +in a mask as I do." + +"I have not one with me," she muttered, her eyes on the water. + +"And I but an old one. But at Angers--" + +The Countess heard no more; on that word she caught La Tribe's eye. He +was beckoning to her behind Carlat's back, pointing imperiously to the +water, making signs to her to drop the packet over the side. When she +did not obey--she felt sick and faint--she saw through a mist his brow +grow dark. He menaced her secretly. And still the packet scorched her; +and twice her hand went to it, and dropped again empty. + +On a sudden Madame St. Lo cried out. The bank on one side of the stream +was beginning to rise more boldly above the water, and at the head of the +steep thus formed she had espied a late rosebush in bloom; nothing would +now serve but she must land at once and plunder it. The boat was put in +therefore, she jumped ashore, and began to scale the bank. + +"Go with Madame!" La Tribe cried, roughly nudging Carlat in the back. "Do +you not see that she cannot climb the bank? Up, man, up!" + +The Countess opened her mouth to cry "No!" but the word died half-born on +her lips; and when the steward looked at her, uncertain what she had +said, she nodded. + +"Yes, go!" she muttered. She was pale. + +"Yes, man, go!" cried the minister, his eyes burning. And he almost +pushed the other out of the boat. + +The next second the craft floated from the bank, and began to drift +downwards. La Tribe waited until a tree interposed and hid them from the +two whom they had left; then he leaned forward. + +"Now, Madame!" he cried imperiously. "In God's name, now!" + +"Oh!" she cried. "Wait! Wait! I want to think." + +"To think?" + +"He trusted me!" she wailed. "He trusted me! How can I do it?" +Nevertheless, and even while she spoke, she drew forth the packet. + +"Heaven has given you the opportunity!" + +"If I could have stolen it!" she answered. + +"Fool!" he returned, rocking himself to and fro, and fairly beside +himself with impatience. "Why steal it? It is in your hands! You have +it! It is Heaven's own opportunity, it is God's opportunity given to +you!" + +For he could not read her mind nor comprehend the scruple which held her +hand. He was single-minded. He had but one aim, one object. He saw the +haggard faces of brave men hopeless; he heard the dying cries of women +and children. Such an opportunity of saving God's elect, of redeeming +the innocent, was in his eyes a gift from Heaven. And having these +thoughts and seeing her hesitate--hesitate when every movement caused him +agony, so imperative was haste, so precious the opportunity--he could +bear the suspense no longer. When she did not answer he stooped forward, +until his knees touched the thwart on which Carlat had sat; then, without +a word, he flung himself forward, and, with one hand far extended, +grasped the packet. + +Had he not moved, she would have done his will; almost certainly she +would have done it. But, thus attacked, she resisted instinctively; she +clung to the letters. + +"No!" she cried. "No! Let go, Monsieur!" And she tried to drag the +packet from him. + +"Give it me!" + +"Let go, Monsieur! Do you hear?" she repeated. And, with a vigorous +jerk, she forced it from him--he had caught it by the edge only--and held +it behind her. "Go back, and--" + +"Give it me!" he panted. + +"I will not!" + +"Then throw it overboard!" + +"I will not!" she cried again, though his face, dark with passion, glared +into hers, and it was clear that the man, possessed by one idea only, was +no longer master of himself. "Go back to your place!" + +"Give it me," he gasped, "or I will upset the boat!" And, seizing her by +the shoulder, he reached over her, striving to take hold of the packet +which she held behind her. The boat rocked; and, as much in rage as +fear, she screamed. + +A cry uttered wholly in rage answered hers; it came from Carlat. La +Tribe, however, whose whole mind was fixed on the packet, did not heed, +nor would have heeded, the steward. But the next moment a second cry, +fierce as that of a wild beast, clove the air from the lower and farther +bank; and the Huguenot, recognizing Count Hannibal's voice, involuntarily +desisted and stood erect. A moment the boat rocked perilously under him; +then--for unheeded it had been drifting that way--it softly touched the +bank on which Carlat stood staring and aghast. + +La Tribe's chance was gone; he saw that the steward must reach him before +he could succeed in a second attempt. On the other hand, the undergrowth +on the bank was thick, he could touch it with his hand, and if he fled at +once he might escape. + +He hung an instant irresolute; then, with a look which went to the +Countess's heart, he sprang ashore, plunged among the alders, and in a +moment was gone. + +"After him! After him!" thundered Count Hannibal. "After him, man!" and +Carlat, stumbling down the steep slope and through the rough briars, did +his best to obey. But in vain. Before he reached the water's edge, the +noise of the fugitive's retreat had grown faint. A few seconds and it +died away. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. PLAYING WITH FIRE. + + +The impulse of La Tribe's foot as he landed had driven the boat into the +stream. It drifted slowly downward, and if naught intervened, would take +the ground on Count Hannibal's side, a hundred and fifty yards below him. +He saw this, and walked along the bank, keeping pace with it, while the +Countess sat motionless, crouching in the stern of the craft, her fingers +strained about the fatal packet. The slow glide of the boat, as almost +imperceptibly it approached the low bank; the stillness of the mirror- +like surface on which it moved, leaving only the faintest ripple behind +it; the silence--for under the influence of emotion Count Hannibal too +was mute--all were in tremendous contrast with the storm which raged in +her breast. + +Should she--should she even now, with his eyes on her, drop the letters +over the side? It needed but a movement. She had only to extend her +hand, to relax the tension of her fingers, and the deed was done. It +needed only that; but the golden sands of opportunity were running +out--were running out fast. Slowly and more slowly, silently and more +silently, the boat slid in towards the bank on which he stood, and still +she hesitated. The stillness, and the waiting figure, and the watching +eyes now but a few feet distant, weighed on her and seemed to paralyze +her will. A foot, another foot! A moment and it would be too late, the +last of the sands would have run out. The bow of the boat rustled softly +through the rushes; it kissed the bank. And her hand still held the +letters. + +"You are not hurt?" he asked curtly. "The scoundrel might have drowned +you. Was he mad?" + +She was silent. He held out his hand, and she gave him the packet. + +"I owe you much," he said, a ring of gaiety, almost of triumph, in his +tone. "More than you guess, Madame. God made you for a soldier's wife, +and a mother of soldiers. What? You are not well, I am afraid?" + +"If I could sit down a minute," she faltered. She was swaying on her +feet. + +He supported her across the belt of meadow which fringed the bank, and +made her recline against a tree. Then as his men began to come up--for +the alarm had reached them--he would have sent two of them in the boat to +fetch Madame St. Lo to her. But she would not let him. + +"Your maid, then?" he said. + +"No, Monsieur, I need only to be alone a little! Only to be alone," she +repeated, her face averted; and believing this he sent the men away, and, +taking the boat himself, he crossed over, took in Madame St. Lo and +Carlat, and rowed them to the ferry. Here the wildest rumours were +current. One held that the Huguenot had gone out of his senses; another, +that he had watched for this opportunity of avenging his brethren; a +third, that his intention had been to carry off the Countess and hold her +to ransom. Only Tavannes himself, from his position on the farther bank, +had seen the packet of letters, and the hand which withheld them; and he +said nothing. Nay, when some of the men would have crossed to search for +the fugitive, he forbade them, he scarcely knew why, save that it might +please her; and when the women would have hurried to join her and hear +the tale from her lips he forbade them also. + +"She wishes to be alone," he said curtly. + +"Alone?" Madame St. Lo cried, in a fever of curiosity. "You'll find her +dead, or worse! What? Leave a woman alone after such a fright as that!" + +"She wishes it." + +Madame laughed cynically; and the laugh brought a tinge of colour to his +brow. + +"Oh, does she?" she sneered. "Then I understand! Have a care, have a +care, or one of these days, Monsieur, when you leave her alone, you'll +find them together!" + +"Be silent!" + +"With pleasure," she returned. "Only when it happens don't say that you +were not warned. You think that she does not hear from him--" + +"How can she hear?" The words were wrung from him. + +Madame St. Lo's contempt passed all limits. "How can she!" she retorted. +"You trail a woman across France, and let her sit by herself, and lie by +herself, and all but drown by herself, and you ask how she hears from her +lover? You leave her old servants about her, and you ask how she +communicates with him?" + +"You know nothing!" he snarled. + +"I know this," she retorted. "I saw her sitting this morning, and +smiling and weeping at the same time! Was she thinking of you, Monsieur? +Or of him? She was looking at the hills through tears; a blue mist hung +over them, and I'll wager she saw some one's eyes gazing and some one's +hand beckoning out of the blue!" + +"Curse you!" he cried, tormented in spite of himself. "You love to make +mischief!" + +"No!" she answered swiftly. "For 'twas not I made the match. But go +your way, go your way, Monsieur, and see what kind of a welcome you'll +get!" + +"I will," Count Hannibal growled. And he started along the bank to +rejoin his wife. + +The light in his eyes had died down. Yet would they have been more +sombre, and his face more harsh, had he known the mind of the woman to +whom he was hastening. The Countess had begged to be left alone; alone, +she found the solitude she had craved a cruel gift. She had saved the +packet. She had fulfilled her trust. But only to experience, the moment +the deed was done, the full poignancy of remorse. Before the act, while +the choice had lain with her, the betrayal of her husband had loomed +large; now she saw that to treat him as she had treated him was the true +betrayal, and that even for his own sake, and to save him from a fearful +sin, it had become her to destroy the letters. + +Now, it was no longer her duty to him which loomed large, but her duty to +the innocent, to the victims of the massacre which she might have stayed, +to the people of her faith whom she had abandoned, to the women and +children whose death-warrant she had preserved. Now, she perceived that +a part more divine had never fallen to woman, nor a responsibility so +heavy been laid upon woman. Nor guilt more dread! + +She writhed in misery, thinking of it. What had she done? She could +hear afar off the sounds of the camp; an occasional outcry, a snatch of +laughter. And the cry and the laughter rang in her ears, a bitter +mockery. This summer camp, to what was it the prelude? This forbearance +on her husband's part, in what would it end? Were not the one and the +other cruel make-believes? Two days, and the men who laughed beside the +water would slay and torture with equal zest. A little, and the husband +who now chose to be generous would show himself in his true colours. And +it was for the sake of such as these that she had played the coward. That +she had laid up for herself endless remorse. That henceforth the cries +of the innocent would haunt her dreams. + +Racked by such thoughts she did not hear his step, and it was his shadow +falling across her feet which first warned her of his presence. She +looked up, saw him, and involuntarily recoiled. Then, seeing the change +in his face-- + +"Oh! Monsieur," she stammered, affrighted, her hand pressed to her side, +"I ask your pardon! You startled me!" + +"So it seems," he answered. And he stood over her regarding her dryly. + +"I am not quite--myself yet," she murmured. His look told her that her +start had betrayed her feelings. + +Alas! the plan of taking a woman by force has drawbacks, and among others +this one: that he must be a sanguine husband who deems her heart his, and +a husband without jealousy, whose suspicions are not aroused by the +faintest flush or the lightest word. He knows that she is his +unwillingly, a victim, not a mistress; and behind every bush beside the +road and behind every mask in the crowd he espies a rival. + +Moreover, where women are in question, who is always strong? Or who can +say how long he will pursue this plan or that? A man of sternest temper, +Count Hannibal had set out on a path of conduct carefully and +deliberately chosen; knowing--and he still knew--that if he abandoned it +he had little to hope, if the less to fear. But the proof of fidelity +which the Countess had just given him had blown to a white heat the +smouldering flame in his heart, and Madame St. Lo's gibes, which should +have fallen as cold water alike on his hopes and his passion, had but fed +the desire to know the best. For all that, he might not have spoken now, +if he had not caught her look of affright; strange as it sounds, that +look, which of all things should have silenced him and warned him that +the time was not yet, stung him out of patience. Suddenly the man in him +carried him away. + +"You still fear me, then?" he said, in a voice hoarse and unnatural. "Is +it for what I do or for what I leave undone that you hate me, Madame? +Tell me, I beg, for--" + +"For neither!" she said, trembling. His eyes, hot and passionate, were +on her, and the blood had mounted to his brow. "For neither! I do not +hate you, Monsieur!" + +"You fear me then? I am right in that." + +"I fear--that which you carry with you," she stammered, speaking on +impulse and scarcely knowing what she said. + +He started, and his expression changed. "So?" he exclaimed. "So? You +know what I carry, do you? And from whom? From whom," he continued in a +tone of menace, "if you please, did you get that knowledge?" + +"From M. La Tribe," she muttered. She had not meant to tell him. Why +had she told him? + +He nodded. "I might have known it," he said. "I more than suspected it. +Therefore I should be the more beholden to you for saving the letters. +But"--he paused and laughed harshly--"it was out of no love for me you +saved them. That too I know." + +She did not answer or protest; and when he had waited a moment in vain +expectation of her protest, a cruel look crept into his eyes. + +"Madame," he said slowly, "do you never reflect that you may push the +part you play too far? That the patience, even of the worst of men, does +not endure for ever?" + +"I have your word!" she answered. + +"And you do not fear?" + +"I have your word," she repeated. And now she looked him bravely in the +face, her eyes full of the courage of her race. + +The lines of his mouth hardened as he met her look. "And what have I of +yours?" he said in a low voice. "What have I of yours?" + +Her face began to burn at that, her eyes fell and she faltered. + +"My gratitude," she murmured, with an upward look that prayed for pity. +"God knows, Monsieur, you have that!" + +"God knows I do not want it!" he answered. And he laughed derisively. +"Your gratitude!" And he mocked her tone rudely and coarsely. "Your +gratitude!" Then for a minute--for so long a time that she began to +wonder and to quake--he was silent. At last, "A fig for your gratitude," +he said. "I want your love! I suppose--cold as you are, and a +Huguenot--you can love like other women!" + +It was the first, the very first time he had used the word to her; and +though it fell from his lips like a threat, though he used it as a man +presents a pistol, she flushed anew from throat to brow. But she did not +quail. + +"It is not mine to give," she said. + +"It is his?" + +"Yes, Monsieur," she answered, wondering at her courage, at her audacity, +her madness. "It is his." + +"And it cannot be mine--at any time?" + +She shook her head, trembling. + +"Never?" And, suddenly reaching forward, he gripped her wrist in an iron +grasp. There was passion in his tone. His eyes burned her. + +Whether it was that set her on another track, or pure despair, or the cry +in her ears of little children and of helpless women, something in a +moment inspired her, flashed in her eyes and altered her voice. She +raised her head and looked him firmly in the face. + +"What," she said, "do you mean by love?" + +"You!" he answered brutally. + +"Then--it may be, Monsieur," she returned. "There is a way if you will." + +"A way!" + +"If you will!" + +As she spoke she rose slowly to her feet; for in his surprise he had +released her wrist. He rose with her, and they stood confronting one +another on the strip of grass between the river and the poplars. + +"If I will?" His form seemed to dilate, his eyes devoured her. "If I +will?" + +"Yes," she replied. "If you will give me the letters that are in your +belt, the packet which I saved to-day--that I may destroy them--I will be +yours freely and willingly." + +He drew a deep breath, still devouring her with his eyes. + +"You mean it?" he said at last. + +"I do." She looked him in the face as she spoke, and her cheeks were +white, not red. "Only--the letters! Give me the letters." + +"And for them you will give me your love?" + +Her eyes flickered, and involuntarily she shivered. A faint blush rose +and dyed her cheeks. + +"Only God can give love," she said, her tone low. + +"And yours is given?" + +"Yes." + +"To another?" + +"I have said it." + +"It is his. And yet for these letters--" + +"For these lives!" she cried proudly. + +"You will give yourself?" + +"I swear it," she answered, "if you will give them to me! If you will +give them to me," she repeated. And she held out her hands; her face, +full of passion, was bright with a strange light. A close observer might +have thought her distraught; still excited by the struggle in the boat, +and barely mistress of herself. + +But the man whom she tempted, the man who held her price at his belt, +after one searching look at her turned from her; perhaps because he could +not trust himself to gaze on her. Count Hannibal walked a dozen paces +from her and returned, and again a dozen paces and returned; and again a +third time, with something fierce and passionate in his gait. At last he +stopped before her. + +"You have nothing to offer for them," he said, in a cold, hard tone. +"Nothing that is not mine already, nothing that is not my right, nothing +that I cannot take at my will. My word?" he continued, seeing her about +to interrupt him. "True, Madame, you have it, you had it. But why need +I keep my word to you, who tempt me to break my word to the King?" + +She made a weak gesture with her hands. Her head had sunk on her +breast--she seemed dazed by the shock of his contempt, dazed by his +reception of her offer. + +"You saved the letters?" he continued, interpreting her action. "True, +but the letters are mine, and that which you offer for them is mine also. +You have nothing to offer. For the rest, Madame," he went on, eyeing her +cynically, "you surprise me! You, whose modesty and virtue are so great, +would corrupt your husband, would sell yourself, would dishonour the love +of which you boast so loudly, the love that only God gives!" He laughed +derisively as he quoted her words. "Ay, and, after showing at how low a +price you hold yourself, you still look, I doubt not, to me to respect +you, and to keep my word. Madame!" in a terrible voice, "do not play +with fire! You saved my letters, it is true! And for that, for this +time, you shall go free, if God will help me to let you go! But tempt me +not! Tempt me not!" he repeated, turning from her and turning back again +with a gesture of despair, as if he mistrusted the strength of the +restraint which he put upon himself. "I am no more than other men! +Perhaps I am less. And you--you who prate of love, and know not what +love is--could love! could love!" + +He stopped on that word as if the word choked him--stopped, struggling +with his passion. At last, with a half-stifled oath, he flung away from +her, halted and hung a moment, then, with a swing of rage, went off again +violently. His feet as he strode along the river-bank trampled the +flowers, and slew the pale water forget-me-not, which grew among the +grasses. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. A MIND, AND NOT A MIND. + + +La Tribe tore through the thicket, imagining Carlat and Count Hannibal +hot on his heels. He dared not pause even to listen. The underwood +tripped him, the lissom branches of the alders whipped his face and +blinded him; once he fell headlong over a moss-grown stone, and picked +himself up groaning. But the hare hard-pushed takes no account of the +briars, nor does the fox heed the mud through which it draws itself into +covert. And for the time he was naught but a hunted beast. With elbows +pinned to his sides, or with hands extended to ward off the boughs, with +bursting lungs and crimson face, he plunged through the tangle, now +slipping downwards, now leaping upwards, now all but prostrate, now +breasting a mass of thorns. On and on he ran, until he came to the verge +of the wood, saw before him an open meadow devoid of shelter or hiding- +place, and with a groan of despair cast himself flat. He listened. How +far were they behind him? + +He heard nothing--nothing, save the common noises of the wood, the angry +chatter of a disturbed blackbird as it flew low into hiding, or the harsh +notes of a flock of starlings as they rose from the meadow. The hum of +bees filled the air, and the August flies buzzed about his sweating brow, +for he had lost his cap. But behind him--nothing. Already the stillness +of the wood had closed upon his track. + +He was not the less panic-stricken. He supposed that Tavannes' people +were getting to horse, and calculated that, if they surrounded and beat +the wood, he must be taken. At the thought, though he had barely got his +breath, he rose, and keeping within the coppice crawled down the slope +towards the river. Gently, when he reached it, he slipped into the +water, and stooping below the level of the bank, his head and shoulders +hidden by the bushes, he waded down stream until he had put another +hundred and fifty yards between himself and pursuit. Then he paused and +listened. Still he heard nothing, and he waded on again, until the water +grew deep. At this point he marked a little below him a clump of trees +on the farther side; and reflecting that that side--if he could reach it +unseen--would be less suspect, he swam across, aiming for a thorn bush +which grew low to the water. Under its shelter he crawled out, and, +worming himself like a snake across the few yards of grass which +intervened, he stood at length within the shadow of the trees. A moment +he paused to shake himself, and then, remembering that he was still +within a mile of the camp, he set off, now walking, and now running in +the direction of the hills which his party had crossed that morning. + +For a time he hurried on, thinking only of escape. But when he had +covered a mile or two, and escape seemed probable, there began to mingle +with his thankfulness a bitter--a something which grew more bitter with +each moment. Why had he fled and left the work undone? Why had he given +way to unworthy fear, when the letters were within his grasp? True, if +he had lingered a few seconds longer, he would have failed to make good +his escape; but what of that if in those seconds he had destroyed the +letters, he had saved Angers, he had saved his brethren? Alas! he had +played the coward. The terror of Tavannes' voice had unmanned him. He +had saved himself and left the flock to perish; he, whom God had set +apart by many and great signs for this work! + +He had commonly courage enough. He could have died at the stake for his +convictions. But he had not the presence of mind which is proof against +a shock, nor the cool judgment which, in the face of death, sees to the +end of two roads. He was no coward, but now he deemed himself one, and +in an agony of remorse he flung himself on his face in the long grass. He +had known trials and temptations, but hitherto he had held himself erect; +now, like Peter, he had betrayed his Lord. + +He lay an hour groaning in the misery of his heart, and then he fell on +the text "Thou art Peter, and on this rock--" and he sat up. Peter had +betrayed his trust through cowardice--as he had. But Peter had not been +held unworthy. Might it not be so with him? He rose to his feet, a new +light in his eyes. He would return! He would return, and at all costs, +even at the cost of surrendering himself, he would obtain access to the +letters. And then--not the fear of Count Hannibal, not the fear of +instant death, should turn him from his duty. + +He had cast himself down in a woodland glade which lay near the path +along which he had ridden that morning. But the mental conflict from +which he rose had shaken him so violently that he could not recall the +side on which he had entered the clearing, and he turned himself about, +endeavouring to remember. At that moment the light jingle of a bridle +struck his ear; he caught through the green bushes the flash and sparkle +of harness. They had tracked him then, they were here! So had he clear +proof that this second chance was to be his. In a happy fervour he stood +forward where the pursuers could not fail to see him. + +Or so he thought. Yet the first horseman, riding carelessly with his +face averted and his feet dangling, would have gone by and seen nothing +if his horse, more watchful, had not shied. The man turned then; and for +a moment the two stared at one another between the pricked ears of the +horse. At last-- + +"M. de Tignonville!" the minister ejaculated. + +"La Tribe!" + +"It is truly you?" + +"Well--I think so," the young man answered. + +The minister lifted up his eyes and seemed to call the trees and the +clouds and the birds to witness. + +"Now," he cried, "I know that I am chosen! And that we were instruments +to do this thing from the day when the hen saved us in the haycart in +Paris! Now I know that all is forgiven and all is ordained, and that the +faithful of Angers shall to-morrow live and not die!" And with a face +radiant, yet solemn, he walked to the young man's stirrup. + +An instant Tignonville looked sharply before him. "How far ahead are +they?" he asked. His tone, hard and matter-of-fact, was little in +harmony with the other's enthusiasm. + +"They are resting a league before you, at the ferry. You are in pursuit +of them?" + +"Yes." + +"Not alone?" + +"No." The young man's look as he spoke was grim. "I have five behind +me--of your kidney, M. la Tribe. They are from the Arsenal. They have +lost one his wife, and one his son. The three others--" + +"Yes?" + +"Sweethearts," Tignonville answered dryly. And he cast a singular look +at the minister. + +But La Tribe's mind was so full of one matter, he could think only of +that. + +"How did you hear of the letters?" he asked. + +"The letters?" + +"Yes." + +"I do not know what you mean." + +La Tribe stared. "Then why are you following him?" he asked. + +"Why?" Tignonville echoed, a look of hate darkening his face. "Do you +ask why we follow--" But on the name he seemed to choke and was silent. + +By this time his men had come up, and one answered for him. + +"Why are we following Hannibal de Tavannes?" he said sternly. "To do to +him as he has done to us! To rob him as he has robbed us--of more than +gold! To kill him as he has killed ours, foully and by surprise! In his +bed if we can! In the arms of his wife if God wills it!" + +The speaker's face was haggard from brooding and lack of sleep, but his +eyes glowed and burned, as his fellows growled assent. + +"'Tis simple why we follow," a second put in. "Is there a man of our +faith who will not, when he hears the tale, rise up and stab the nearest +of this black brood--though it be his brother? If so, God's curse on +him!" + +"Amen! Amen!" + +"So, and so only," cried the first, "shall there be faith in our land! +And our children, our little maids, shall lie safe in their beds!" + +"Amen! Amen!" + +The speaker's chin sank on his breast, and with his last word the light +died out of his eyes. La Tribe looked at him curiously, then at the +others. Last of all at Tignonville, on whose face he fancied that he +surprised a faint smile. Yet Tignonville's tone when he spoke was grave +enough. + +"You have heard," he said. "Do you blame us?" + +"I cannot," the minister answered, shivering. "I cannot." He had been +for a while beyond the range of these feelings; and in the greenwood, +under God's heaven, with the sunshine about him, they jarred on him. Yet +he could not blame men who had suffered as these had suffered; who were +maddened, as these were maddened, by the gravest wrongs which it is +possible for one man to inflict on another. "I dare not," he continued +sorrowfully. "But in God's name I offer you a higher and a nobler +errand." + +"We need none," Tignonville muttered impatiently. + +"Yet many others need you," La Tribe answered in a tone of rebuke. "You +are not aware that the man you follow bears a packet from the King for +the hands of the magistrates of Angers?" + +"Ha! Does he?" + +"Bidding them do at Angers as his Majesty has done in Paris?" + +The men broke into cries of execration. "But he shall not see Angers!" +they swore. "The blood that he has shed shall choke him by the way! And +as he would do to others it shall be done to him." + +La Tribe shuddered as he listened, as he looked. Try as he would, the +thirst of these men for vengeance appalled him. + +"How?" he said. "He has a score and more with him and you are only six." + +"Seven now," Tignonville answered with a smile. + +"True, but--" + +"And he lies to-night at La Fleche? That is so?" + +"It was his intention this morning." + +"At the old King's Inn at the meeting of the great roads?" + +"It was mentioned," La Tribe admitted, with a reluctance he did not +comprehend. "But if the night be fair he is as like as not to lie in the +fields." + +One of the men pointed to the sky. A dark bank of cloud fresh risen from +the ocean, and big with tempest, hung low in the west. + +"See! God will deliver him into our hands!" he cried. + +Tignonville nodded. "If he lie there," he said, "He will." And then to +one of his followers, as he dismounted, "Do you ride on," he said, "and +stand guard that we be not surprised. And do you, Perrot, tell Monsieur. +Perrot here, as God wills it," he added, with the faint smile which did +not escape the minister's eye, "married his wife from the great inn at La +Fleche, and he knows the place." + +"None better," the man growled. He was a sullen, brooding knave, whose +eyes when he looked up surprised by their savage fire. + +La Tribe shook his head. "I know it, too," he said. "'Tis strong as a +fortress, with a walled court, and all the windows look inwards. The +gates are closed an hour after sunset, no matter who is without. If you +think, M. de Tignonville, to take him there--" + +"Patience, Monsieur, you have not heard me," Perrot interposed. "I know +it after another fashion. Do you remember a rill of water which runs +through the great yard and the stables?" + +La Tribe nodded. + +"Grated with iron at either end and no passage for so much as a dog? You +do? Well, Monsieur, I have hunted rats there, and where the water passes +under the wall is a culvert, a man's height in length. In it is a stone, +one of those which frame the grating at the entrance, which a strong man +can remove--and the man is in!" + +"Ay, in! But where?" La Tribe asked, his eyebrows drawn together. + +"Well said, Monsieur, where?" Perrot rejoined in a tone of triumph. +"There lies the point. In the stables, where will be sleeping men, and a +snorer on every truss? No, but in a fairway between two stables where +the water at its entrance runs clear in a stone channel; a channel +deepened in one place that they may draw for the chambers above with a +rope and a bucket. The rooms above are the best in the house, four in +one row, opening all on the gallery; which was uncovered, in the common +fashion until Queen-Mother Jezebel, passing that way to Nantes, two years +back, found the chambers draughty; and that end of the gallery was closed +in against her return. Now, Monsieur, he and his Madame will lie there; +and he will feel safe, for there is but one way to those four +rooms--through the door which shuts off the covered gallery from the open +part. But--" he glanced up an instant and La Tribe caught the +smouldering fire in his eyes--"we shall not go in by the door." + +"The bucket rises through a trap?" + +"In the gallery? To be sure, monsieur. In the corner beyond the fourth +door. There shall he fall into the pit which he dug for others, and the +evil that he planned rebound on his own head!" + +La Tribe was silent. + +"What think you of it?" Tignonville asked. + +"That it is cleverly planned," the minister answered. + +"No more than that?" + +"No more until I have eaten." + +"Get him something!" Tignonville replied in a surly tone. "And we may as +well eat, ourselves. Lead the horses into the wood. And do you, Perrot, +call Tuez-les-Moines, who is forward. Two hours' riding should bring us +to La Fleche. We need not leave here, therefore, until the sun is low. +To dinner! To dinner!" + +Probably he did not feel the indifference he affected, for his face as he +ate grew darker, and from time to time he shot a glance, barbed with +suspicion, at the minister. La Tribe on his side remained silent, +although the men ate apart. He was in doubt, indeed, as to his own +feelings. His instinct and his reason were at odds. Through all, +however, a single purpose, the rescue of Angers, held good, and gradually +other things fell into their places. When the meal was at an end, and +Tignonville challenged him, he was ready. + +"Your enthusiasm seems to have waned," the younger man said with a sneer, +"since we met, monsieur! May I ask now if you find any fault with the +plan?" + +"With the plan, none." + +"If it was Providence brought us together, was it not Providence +furnished me with Perrot who knows La Fleche? If it was Providence +brought the danger of the faithful in Angers to your knowledge, was it +not Providence set us on the road--without whom you had been powerless?" + +"I believe it!" + +"Then, in His name, what is the matter?" Tignonville rejoined with a +passion of which the other's manner seemed an inadequate cause. "What +will you! What is it?" + +"I would take your place," La Tribe answered quietly. + +"My place?" + +"Yes." + +"What, are we too many?" + +"We are enough without you, M. Tignonville," the minister answered. +"These men, who have wrongs to avenge, God will justify them." + +Tignonville's eyes sparkled with anger. "And have I no wrongs to +avenge?" he cried. "Is it nothing to lose my mistress, to be robbed of +my wife, to see the woman I love dragged off to be a slave and a toy? Are +these no wrongs?" + +"He spared your life, if he did not save it," the minister said solemnly. +"And hers. And her servants." + +"To suit himself." + +La Tribe spread out his hands. + +"To suit himself! And for that you wish him to go free?" Tignonville +cried in a voice half-choked with rage. "Do you know that this man, and +this man alone, stood forth in the great Hall of the Louvre, and when +even the King flinched, justified the murder of our people? After that +is he to go free?" + +"At your hands," La Tribe answered quietly. "You alone of our people +must not pursue him." He would have added more, but Tignonville would +not listen. + +Brooding on his wrongs behind the wall of the Arsenal, he had let hatred +eat away his more generous instincts. Vain and conceited, he fancied +that the world laughed at the poor figure he had cut; and the wound in +his vanity festered until nothing would serve but to see the downfall of +his enemy. Instant pursuit, instant vengeance--only these, he fancied, +could restore him in his fellows' eyes. + +In his heart he knew what would become him better. But vanity is a +potent motive: and his conscience, even when supported by La Tribe, +struggled but weakly. From neither would he hear more. + +"You have travelled with him, until you side with him!" he cried +violently. "Have a care, monsieur, have a care, lest we think you +papist!" And walking over to the men, he bade them saddle; adding a sour +word which turned their eyes, in no friendly gaze, on the minister. + +After that La Tribe said no more. Of what use would it have been? + +But as darkness came on and cloaked the little troop, and the storm which +the men had foreseen began to rumble in the west, his distaste for the +business waxed. The summer lightning which presently began to play +across the sky revealed not only the broad gleaming stream, between which +and a wooded hill their road ran, but the faces of his companions; and +these, in their turn, shed a grisly light on the bloody enterprise +towards which they were set. Nervous and ill at ease, the minister's +mind dwelt on the stages of that enterprise: the stealthy entrance +through the waterway, the ascent through the trap, the surprise, the +slaughter in the sleeping-chamber. And either because he had lived for +days in the victim's company, or was swayed by the arguments he had +addressed to another, the prospect shook his soul. + +In vain he told himself that this was the oppressor; he saw only the man, +fresh roused from sleep, with the horror of impending dissolution in his +eyes. And when the rider, behind whom he sat, pointed to a faint spark +of light, at no great distance before them, and whispered that it was St. +Agnes's Chapel, hard by the inn, he could have cried with the best +Catholic of them all, "Inter pontem et fontem, Domine!" Nay, some such +words did pass his lips. + +For the man before him turned halfway in his saddle. "What?" he asked. + +But the Huguenot did not explain. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. AT THE KING'S INN. + + +The Countess sat up in the darkness of the chamber. She had writhed +since noon under the stings of remorse; she could bear them no longer. +The slow declension of the day, the evening light, the signs of coming +tempest which had driven her company to the shelter of the inn at the +crossroads, all had racked her, by reminding her that the hours were +flying, and that soon the fault she had committed would be irreparable. +One impulsive attempt to redeem it she had made; but it had failed, and, +by rendering her suspect, had made reparation more difficult. Still, by +daylight it had seemed possible to rest content with the trial made; not +so now, when night had fallen, and the cries of little children and the +haggard eyes of mothers peopled the darkness of her chamber. She sat up, +and listened with throbbing temples. + +To shut out the lightning which played at intervals across the heavens, +Madame St. Lo, who shared the room, had covered the window with a cloak; +and the place was dark. To exclude the dull roll of the thunder was less +easy, for the night was oppressively hot, and behind the cloak the +casement was open. Gradually, too, another sound, the hissing fall of +heavy rain, began to make itself heard, and to mingle with the regular +breathing which proved that Madame St. Lo slept. + +Assured of this fact, the Countess presently heaved a sigh, and slipped +from the bed. She groped in the darkness for her cloak, found it, and +donned it over her night gear. Then, taking her bearings by her bed, +which stood with its head to the window and its foot to the entrance, she +felt her way across the floor to the door, and after passing her hands a +dozen times over every part of it, she found the latch, and raised it. +The door creaked, as she pulled it open, and she stood arrested; but the +sound went no farther, for the roofed gallery outside, which looked by +two windows on the courtyard, was full of outdoor noises, the rushing of +rain and the running of spouts and eaves. One of the windows stood wide, +admitting the rain and wind, and as she paused, holding the door open, +the draught blew the cloak from her. She stepped out quickly and shut +the door behind her. On her left was the blind end of the passage; she +turned to the right. She took one step into the darkness and stood +motionless. Beside her, within a few feet of her, some one had moved, +with a dull sound as of a boot on wood; a sound so near her that she held +her breath, and pressed herself against the wall. + +She listened. Perhaps some of the servants--it was a common usage--had +made their beds on the floor. Perhaps one of the women had stirred in +the room against the wall of which she crouched. Perhaps--but, even +while she reassured herself, the sound rose anew at her feet. + +Fortunately at the same instant the glare of the lightning flooded all, +and showed the passage, and showed it empty. It lit up the row of doors +on her right and the small windows on her left, and discovered facing her +the door which shut off the rest of the house. She could have +thanked--nay, she did thank God for that light. If the sound she had +heard recurred she did not hear it; for, as the thunder which followed +hard on the flash crashed overhead and rolled heavily eastwards, she felt +her way boldly along the passage, touching first one door, and then a +second, and then a third. + +She groped for the latch of the last, and found it, but, with her hand on +it, paused. In order to summon up her courage, she strove to hear again +the cries of misery and to see again the haggard eyes which had driven +her hither. And if she did not wholly succeed, other reflections came to +her aid. This storm, which covered all smaller noises, and opened, now +and again, God's lantern for her use, did it not prove that He was on her +side, and that she might count on His protection? The thought at least +was timely, and with a better heart she gathered her wits. Waiting until +the thunder burst over her head, she opened the door, slid within it, and +closed it. She would fain have left it ajar, that in case of need she +might escape the more easily. But the wind, which beat into the passage +through the open window, rendered the precaution too perilous. + +She went forward two paces into the room, and as the roll of the thunder +died away she stooped forward and listened with painful intensity for the +sound of Count Hannibal's breathing. But the window was open, and the +hiss of the rain persisted; she could hear nothing through it, and +fearfully she took another step forward. The window should be before +her; the bed in the corner to the left. But nothing of either could she +make out. She must wait for the lightning. + +It came, and for a second or more the room shone. The window, the low +truckle-bed, the sleeper, she saw all with dazzling clearness, and before +the flash had well passed she was crouching low, with the hood of her +cloak dragged about her face. For the glare had revealed Count Hannibal; +but not asleep! He lay on his side, his face towards her; lay with open +eyes, staring at her. + +Or had the light tricked her? The light must have tricked her, for in +the interval between the flash and the thunder, while she crouched +quaking, he did not move or call. The light must have deceived her. She +felt so certain of it that she found courage to remain where she was +until another flash came and showed him sleeping with closed eyes. + +She drew a breath of relief at that, and rose slowly to her feet. But +she dared not go forward until a third flash had confirmed the second. +Then, while the thunder burst overhead and rolled away, she crept on +until she stood beside the pillow, and, stooping, could hear the +sleeper's breathing. + +Alas! the worst remained to be done. The packet, she was sure of it, lay +under his pillow. How was she to find it, how remove it without rousing +him? A touch might awaken him. And yet, if she would not return empty- +handed, if she would not go back to the harrowing thoughts which had +tortured her through the long hours of the day, it must be done, and done +now. + +She knew this, yet she hung irresolute a while, blenching before the +manual act, listening to the persistent rush and downpour of the rain. +Then a second time she drew courage from the storm. How timely had it +broken. How signally had it aided her! How slight had been her chance +without it! And so at last, resolutely but with a deft touch, she slid +her fingers between the pillow and the bed, slightly pressing down the +latter with her other hand. For an instant she fancied that the +sleeper's breathing stopped, and her heart gave a great bound. But the +breathing went on the next instant--if it had stopped--and dreading the +return of the lightning, shrinking from being revealed so near him, and +in that act--for which the darkness seemed more fitting--she groped +farther, and touched something. Then, as her fingers closed upon it and +grasped it, and his breath rose hot to her burning cheek, she knew that +the real danger lay in the withdrawal. + +At the first attempt he uttered a kind of grunt and moved, throwing out +his hand. She thought that he was going to awake, and had hard work to +keep herself where she was; but he did not move, and she began again with +so infinite a precaution that the perspiration ran down her face and her +hair within the hood hung dank on her neck. Slowly, oh so slowly, she +drew back the hand, and with it the packet; so slowly, and yet so +resolutely, being put to it, that when the dreaded flash surprised her, +and she saw his harsh swarthy face, steeped in the mysterious aloofness +of sleep, within a hand's breadth of hers, not a muscle of her arm moved, +nor did her hand quiver. + +It was done--at last! With a burst of gratitude, of triumph, of +exultation, she stood erect. She realized that it was done, and that +here in her hand she held the packet. A deep gasp of relief, of joy, of +thankfulness, and she glided towards the door. + +She groped for the latch, and in the act fancied his breathing was +changed. She paused, and bent her head to listen. But the patter of the +rain, drowning all sounds save those of the nearest origin, persuaded her +that she was mistaken, and, finding the latch, she raised it, slipped +like a shadow into the passage, and closed the door behind her. + +That done she stood arrested, all the blood in her body running to her +heart. She must be dreaming! The passage in which she stood--the +passage which she had left in black darkness--was alight; was so far +lighted, at least, that to eyes fresh from the night, the figures of +three men, grouped at the farther end, stood out against the glow of the +lanthorn which they appeared to be trimming--for the two nearest were +stooping over it. These two had their backs to her, the third his face; +and it was the sight of this third man which had driven the blood to her +heart. He ended at the waist! It was only after a few seconds, it was +only when she had gazed at him awhile in speechless horror, that he rose +another foot from the floor, and she saw that he had paused in the act of +ascending through a trapdoor. What the scene meant, who these men were, +or what their entrance portended, with these questions her brain refused +at the moment to grapple. It was much that--still remembering who might +hear her, and what she held--she did not shriek aloud. + +Instead, she stood in the gloom at her end of the passage, gazing with +all her eyes until she had seen the third man step clear of the trap. She +could see him; but the light intervened and blurred his view of her. He +stooped, almost as soon as he had cleared himself, to help up a fourth +man, who rose with a naked knife between his teeth. She saw then that +all were armed, and something stealthy in their bearing, something cruel +in their eyes as the light of the lanthorn fell now on one dark face and +now on another, went to her heart and chilled it. Who were they, and why +were they here? What was their purpose? As her reason awoke, as she +asked herself these questions, the fourth man stooped in his turn, and +gave his hand to a fifth. And on that she lost her self-control, and +cried out. For the last man to ascend was La Tribe--La Tribe, from whom +she had parted that morning. + +The sound she uttered was low, but it reached the men's ears, and the two +whose backs were towards her turned as if they had been pricked. He who +held the lanthorn raised it, and the five glared at her and she at them. +Then a second cry, louder and more full of surprise, burst from her lips. +The nearest man, he who held the lanthorn high that he might view her, +was Tignonville, was her lover! + +"_Mon Dieu_!" she whispered. "What is it? What is it?" + +Then, not till then, did he know her. Until then the light of the +lanthorn had revealed only a cloaked and cowled figure, a gloomy phantom +which shook the heart of more than one with superstitious terror. But +they knew her now--two of them; and slowly, as in a dream, Tignonville +came forward. + +The mind has its moments of crisis, in which it acts upon instinct rather +than upon reason. The girl never knew why she acted as she did; why she +asked no questions, why she uttered no exclamations, no remonstrances; +why, with a finger on her lips and her eyes on his, she put the packet +into his hands. + +He took it from her, too, as mechanically as she gave it--with the hand +which held his bare blade. That done, silent as she, with his eyes set +hard, he would have gone by her. The sight of her _there_, guarding the +door of him who had stolen her from him, exasperated his worst passions. +But she moved to hinder him, and barred the way. With her hand raised +she pointed to the trapdoor. + +"Go!" she whispered, her tone stern and low, "you have what you want! +Go!" + +"No!" And he tried to pass her. + +"Go!" she repeated in the same tone. "You have what you need." And +still she held her hand extended; still without faltering she faced the +five men, while the thunder, growing more distant, rolled sullenly +eastward, and the midnight rain, pouring from every spout and dripping +eave about the house, wrapped the passage in its sibilant hush. Gradually +her eyes dominated his, gradually her nobler nature and nobler aim +subdued his weaker parts. For she understood now; and he saw that she +did, and had he been alone he would have slunk away, and said no word in +his defence. + +But one of the men, savage and out of patience, thrust himself between +them. + +"Where is he?" he muttered. "What is the use of this? Where is he?" And +his bloodshot eyes--it was Tuez-les-Moines--questioned the doors, while +his hand, trembling and shaking on the haft of his knife, bespoke his +eagerness. "Where is he? Where is he, woman? Quick, or--" + +"I shall not tell you," she answered. + +"You lie," he cried, grinning like a dog. "You will tell us! Or we will +kill you too! Where is he? Where is he?" + +"I shall not tell you," she repeated, standing before him in the +fearlessness of scorn. "Another step and I rouse the house! M. de +Tignonville, to you who know me, I swear that if this man does not +retire--" + +"He is in one of these rooms?" was Tignonville's answer. "In which? In +which?" + +"Search them!" she answered, her voice low, but biting in its contempt. +"Try them. Rouse my women, alarm the house! And when you have his +people at your throats--five as they will be to one of you--thank your +own mad folly!" + +Tuez-les-Moines' eyes glittered. "You will not tell us?" he cried. + +"No!" + +"Then--" + +But as the fanatic sprang on her, La Tribe flung his arms round him and +dragged him back. + +"It would be madness," he cried. "Are you mad, fool? Have done!" he +panted, struggling with him. "If Madame gives the alarm--and he may be +in any one of these four rooms, you cannot be sure which--we are undone." +He looked for support to Tignonville, whose movement to protect the girl +he had anticipated, and who had since listened sullenly. "We have +obtained what we need. Will you requite Madame, who has gained it for us +at her own risk--" + +"It is Monsieur I would requite," Tignonville muttered grimly. + +"By using violence to her?" the minister retorted passionately. He and +Tuez were still gripping one another. "I tell you, to go on is to risk +what we have got! And I for one--" + +"Am chicken-hearted!" the young man sneered. "Madame--" He seemed to +choke on the word. "Will you swear that he is not here?" + +"I swear that if you do not go I will raise the alarm!" she hissed--all +their words were sunk to that stealthy note. "Go! if you have not stayed +too long already. Go! Or see!" And she pointed to the trapdoor, from +which the face and arms of a sixth man had that moment risen--the face +dark with perturbation, so that her woman's wit told her at once that +something was amiss. "See what has come of your delay already!" + +"The water is rising," the man muttered earnestly. "In God's name come, +whether you have done it or not, or we cannot pass out again. It is +within a foot of the crown of the culvert now, and it is rising." + +"Curse on the water!" Tuez-les-Moines answered in a frenzied whisper. +"And on this Jezebel. Let us kill her and him! What matter afterwards?" +And he tried to shake off La Tribe's grasp. + +But the minister held him desperately. "Are you mad? Are you mad?" he +answered. "What can we do against thirty? Let us be gone while we can. +Let us be gone! Come." + +"Ay, come," Perrot cried, assenting reluctantly. He had taken no side +hitherto. "The luck is against us! 'Tis no use to-night, man!" And he +turned with an air of sullen resignation. Letting his legs drop through +the trap, he followed the bearer of the tidings out of sight. Another +made up his mind to go, and went. Then only Tignonville, holding the +lanthorn, and La Tribe, who feared to release Tuez-les-Moines, remained +with the fanatic. + +The Countess's eyes met her old lover's, and whether old memories +overcame her, or, now that the danger was nearly past, she began to give +way, she swayed a little on her feet. But he did not notice it. He was +sunk in black rage--rage against her, rage against himself. + +"Take the light," she muttered unsteadily. "And--and he must follow!" + +"And you?" + +But she could bear it no longer. "Oh, go," she wailed. "Go! Will you +never go? If you love me, if you ever loved me, I implore you to go." + +He had betrayed little of a lover's feeling. But he could not resist +that appeal, and he turned silently. Seizing Tuez-les-Moines by the +other arm, he drew him by force to the trap. + +"Quiet, fool," he muttered savagely when the man would have resisted, +"and go down! If we stay to kill him, we shall have no way of escape, +and his life will be dearly bought. Down, man, down!" And between them, +in a struggling silence, with now and then an audible rap, or a ring of +metal, the two forced the desperado to descend. + +La Tribe followed hastily. Tignonville was the last to go. In the act +of disappearing he raised his lanthorn for a last glimpse of the +Countess. To his astonishment the passage was empty; she was gone. Hard +by him a door stood an inch or two ajar, and he guessed that it was hers, +and swore under his breath, hating her at that moment. But he did not +guess how nicely she had calculated her strength; how nearly exhaustion +had overcome her; or that, even while he paused--a fatal pause had he +known it--eyeing the dark opening of the door, she lay as one dead, on +the bed within. She had fallen in a swoon, from which she did not +recover until the sun had risen, and marched across one quarter of the +heavens. + +Nor did he see another thing, or he might have hastened his steps. Before +the yellow light of his lanthorn faded from the ceiling of the passage, +the door of the room farthest from the trap slid open. A man, whose +eyes, until darkness swallowed him, shone strangely in a face +extraordinarily softened, came out on tip-toe. This man stood awhile, +listening. At length, hearing those below utter a cry of dismay, he +awoke to sudden activity. He opened with a turn of the key the door +which stood at his elbow, the door which led to the other part of the +house. He vanished through it. A second later a sharp whistle pierced +the darkness of the courtyard, and brought a dozen sleepers to their +senses and their feet. A moment, and the courtyard hummed with voices, +above which one voice rang clear and insistent. With a startled cry the +inn awoke. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. THE COMPANY OF THE BLEEDING HEART. + + +"But why," Madame St. Lo asked, sticking her arms akimbo, "why stay in +this forsaken place a day and a night, when six hours in the saddle would +set us in Angers?" + +"Because," Tavannes replied coldly--he and his cousin were walking before +the gateway of the inn--"the Countess is not well, and will be the +better, I think, for staying a day." + +"She slept soundly enough! I'll answer for that!" + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"She never raised her head this morning, though my women were shrieking +'Murder!' next door, and--Name of Heaven!" Madame resumed, after breaking +off abruptly, and shading her eyes with her hand, "what comes here? Is +it a funeral? Or a pilgrimage? If all the priests about here are as +black, no wonder M. Rabelais fell out with them!" + +The inn stood without the walls for the convenience of those who wished +to take the road early: a little also, perhaps, because food and forage +were cheaper, and the wine paid no town-dues. Four great roads met +before the house, along the most easterly of which the sombre company +which had caught Madame St. Lo's attention could be seen approaching. At +first Count Hannibal supposed with his companion that the travellers were +conveying to the grave the corpse of some person of distinction; for the +_cortege_ consisted mainly of priests and the like mounted on mules, and +clothed for the most part in black. Black also was the small banner +which waved above them, and bore in place of arms the emblem of the +Bleeding Heart. But a second glance failed to discover either litter or +bier; and a nearer approach showed that the travellers, whether they wore +the tonsure or not, bore weapons of one kind or another. + +Suddenly Madame St. Lo clapped her hands, and proclaimed in great +astonishment that she knew them. + +"Why, there is Father Boucher, the Cure of St. Benoist!" she said, "and +Father Pezelay of St. Magloire. And there is another I know, though I +cannot remember his name! They are preachers from Paris! That is who +they are! But what can they be doing here? Is it a pilgrimage, think +you?" + +"Ay, a pilgrimage of Blood!" Count Hannibal answered between his teeth. +And, turning to him to learn what moved him, she saw the look in his eyes +which portended a storm. Before she could ask a question, however, the +gloomy company, which had first appeared in the distance, moving, an inky +blot, through the hot sunshine of the summer morning, had drawn near, and +was almost abreast of them. Stepping from her side, he raised his hand +and arrested the march. + +"Who is master here?" he asked haughtily. + +"I am the leader," answered a stout pompous Churchman, whose small +malevolent eyes belied the sallow fatuity of his face. "I, M. de +Tavannes, by your leave." + +"And you, by your leave," Tavannes sneered, "are--" + +"Archdeacon and Vicar of the Bishop of Angers and Prior of the Lesser +Brethren of St. Germain, M. le Comte. Visitor also of the Diocese of +Angers," the dignitary continued, puffing out his cheeks, "and Chaplain +to the Lieutenant-Governor of Saumur, whose unworthy brother I am." + +"A handsome glove, and well embroidered!" Tavannes retorted in a tone of +disdain. "The hand I see yonder!" He pointed to the lean parchment mask +of Father Pezelay, who coloured ever so faintly, but held his peace under +the sneer. "You are bound for Angers?" Count Hannibal continued. "For +what purpose, Sir Prior?" + +"His Grace the Bishop is absent, and in his absence--" + +"You go to fill his city with strife! I know you! Not you!" he +continued, contemptuously turning from the Prior, and regarding the third +of the principal figures of the party. "But you! You were the Cure who +got the mob together last All Souls'." + +"I speak the words of Him Who sent me!" answered the third Churchman, +whose brooding face and dull curtained eyes gave no promise of the fits +of frenzied eloquence which had made his pulpit famous in Paris. + +"Then Kill and Burn are His alphabet!" Tavannes retorted, and heedless of +the start of horror which a saying so near blasphemy excited among the +Churchmen, he turned to Father Pezelay. "And you! You, too, I know!" he +continued. "And you know me! And take this from me. Turn, father! +Turn! Or worse than a broken head--you bear the scar, I see--will befall +you. These good persons, whom you have moved, unless I am in error, to +take this journey, may not know me; but you do, and can tell them. If +they will to Angers, they must to Angers. But if I find trouble in +Angers when I come, I will hang some one high. Don't scowl at me, +man!"--in truth, the look of hate in Father Pezelay's eyes was enough to +provoke the exclamation. "Some one, and it shall not be a bare patch on +the crown will save his windpipe from squeezing!" + +A murmur of indignation broke from the preachers' attendants; one or two +made a show of drawing their weapons. But Count Hannibal paid no heed to +them, and had already turned on his heel when Father Pezelay spurred his +mule a pace or two forward. Snatching a heavy brass cross from one of +the acolytes, he raised it aloft, and in the voice which had often +thrilled the heated congregation of St. Magloire, he called on Tavannes +to pause. + +"Stand, my lord!" he cried. "And take warning! Stand, reckless and +profane, whose face is set hard as a stone, and his heart as a flint, +against High Heaven and Holy Church! Stand and hear! Behold the word of +the Lord is gone out against this city, even against Angers, for the +unbelief thereof! Her place shall be left unto her desolate, and her +children shall be dashed against the stones! Woe unto you, therefore, if +you gainsay it, or fall short of that which is commanded! You shall +perish as Achan, the son of Charmi, and as Saul! The curse that has gone +out against you shall not tarry, nor your days continue! For the +Canaanitish woman that is in your house, and for the thought that is in +your heart, the place that was yours is given to another! Yea, the sword +is even now drawn that shall pierce your side!" + +"You are more like to split my ears!" Count Hannibal answered sternly. +"And now mark me! Preach as you please here. But a word in Angers, and +though you be shaven twice over, I will have you silenced after a fashion +which will not please you! If you value your tongue therefore, +father--Oh, you shake off the dust, do you? Well, pass on! 'Tis wise, +perhaps." + +And undismayed by the scowling brows, and the cross ostentatiously lifted +to heaven, he gazed after the procession as it moved on under its swaying +banner, now one and now another of the acolytes looking back and raising +his hands to invoke the bolt of Heaven on the blasphemer. As the +_cortege_ passed the huge watering-troughs, and the open gateway of the +inn, the knot of persons congregated there fell on their knees. In +answer the Churchmen raised their banner higher, and began to sing the +_Eripe me, Domine_! and to its strains, now vengeful, now despairing, now +rising on a wave of menace, they passed slowly into the distance, slowly +towards Angers and the Loire. + +Suddenly Madame St. Lo twitched his sleeve. "Enough for me!" she cried +passionately. "I go no farther with you!" + +"Ah?" + +"No farther!" she repeated. She was pale, she shivered. "Many thanks, +my cousin, but we part company here. I do not go to Angers. I have seen +horrors enough. I will take my people, and go to my aunt by Tours and +the east road. For you, I foresee what will happen. You will perish +between the hammer and the anvil." + +"Ah?" + +"You play too fine a game," she continued, her face quivering. "Give +over the girl to her lover, and send away her people with her. And wash +your hands of her and hers. Or you will see her fall, and fall beside +her! Give her to him, I say--give her to him!" + +"My wife?" + +"Wife?" she echoed, for, fickle, and at all times swept away by the +emotions of the moment, she was in earnest now. "Is there a tie," and +she pointed after the vanishing procession, "that they cannot unloose? +That they will not unloose? Is there a life which escapes if they doom +it? Did the Admiral escape? Or Rochefoucauld? Or Madame de Luns in old +days? I tell you they go to rouse Angers against you, and I see +beforehand what will happen. She will perish, and you with her. Wife? A +pretty wife, at whose door you took her lover last night." + +"And at your door!" he answered quietly, unmoved by the gibe. + +But she did not heed. "I warned you of that!" she cried. "And you would +not believe me. I told you he was following. And I warn you of this. +You are between the hammer and the anvil, M. le Comte! If Tignonville +does not murder you in your bed--" + +"I hold him in my power." + +"Then Holy Church will fall on you and crush you. For me, I have seen +enough and more than enough. I go to Tours by the east road." + +He shrugged his shoulders. "As you please," he said. + +She flung away in disgust with him. She could not understand a man who +played fast and loose at such a time. The game was too fine for her, its +danger too apparent, the gain too small. She had, too, a woman's dread +of the Church, a woman's belief in the power of the dead hand to punish. +And in half an hour her orders were given. In two hours her people were +gathered, and she departed by the eastward road, three of Tavannes' +riders reinforcing her servants for a part of the way. Count Hannibal +stood to watch them start, and noticed Bigot riding by the side of +Suzanne's mule. He smiled; and presently, as he turned away, he did a +thing rare with him--he laughed outright. + +A laugh which reflected a mood rare as itself. Few had seen Count +Hannibal's eye sparkle as it sparkled now; few had seen him laugh as he +laughed, walking to and fro in the sunshine before the inn. His men +watched him, and wondered, and liked it little, for one or two who had +overheard his altercation with the Churchmen had reported it, and there +was shaking of heads over it. The man who had singed the Pope's beard +and chucked cardinals under the chin was growing old, and the most daring +of the others had no mind to fight with foes whose weapons were not of +this world. + +Count Hannibal's gaiety, however, was well grounded, had they known it. +He was gay, not because he foresaw peril, and it was his nature to love +peril; not--in the main, though a little, perhaps--because he knew that +the woman whose heart he desired to win had that night stood between him +and death; not, though again a little, perhaps, because she had confirmed +his choice by conduct which a small man might have deprecated, but which +a great man loved; but chiefly, because the events of the night had +placed in his grasp two weapons by the aid of which he looked to recover +all the ground he had lost--lost by his impulsive departure from the pall +of conduct on which he had started. + +Those weapons were Tignonville, taken like a rat in a trap by the rising +of the water; and the knowledge that the Countess had stolen the precious +packet from his pillow. The knowledge--for he had lain and felt her +breath upon his cheek, he had lain and felt her hand beneath his pillow, +he had lain while the impulse to fling his arms about her had been almost +more than he could tame! He had lain and suffered her to go, to pass out +safely as she had passed in. And then he had received his reward in the +knowledge that, if she robbed him, she robbed him not for herself; and +that where it was a question of his life she did not fear to risk her +own. + +When he came, indeed, to that point, he trembled. How narrowly had he +been saved from misjudging her! Had he not lain and waited, had he not +possessed himself in patience, he might have thought her in collusion +with the old lover whom he found at her door, and with those who came to +slay him. Either he might have perished unwarned; or escaping that +danger, he might have detected her with Tignonville and lost for all time +the ideal of a noble woman. + +He had escaped that peril. More, he had gained the weapons we have +indicated; and the sense of power, in regard to her, almost intoxicated +him. Surely if he wielded those weapons to the best advantage, if he +strained generosity to the uttermost, the citadel of her heart must yield +at last! + +He had the defect of his courage and his nature, a tendency to do things +after a flamboyant fashion. He knew that her act would plunge him in +perils which she had not foreseen. If the preachers roused the Papists +of Angers, if he arrived to find men's swords whetted for the massacre +and the men themselves awaiting the signal, then if he did not give that +signal there would be trouble. There would be trouble of the kind in +which the soul of Hannibal de Tavannes revelled, trouble about the +ancient cathedral and under the black walls of the Angevin castle; +trouble amid which the hearts of common men would be as water. + +Then, when things seemed at their worst, he would reveal his knowledge. +Then, when forgiveness must seem impossible, he would forgive. With the +flood of peril which she had unloosed rising round them, he would say, +"Go!" to the man who had aimed at his life; he would say to her, "I know, +and I forgive!" That, that only, would fitly crown the policy on which +he had decided from the first, though he had not hoped to conduct it on +lines so splendid as those which now dazzled him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. TEMPER. + + +It was his gaiety, that strange unusual gaiety, still continuing, which +on the following day began by perplexing and ended by terrifying the +Countess. She could not doubt that he had missed the packet on which so +much hung and of which he had indicated the importance. But if he had +missed it, why, she asked herself, did he not speak? Why did he not cry +the alarm, search and question and pursue? Why did he not give her that +opening to tell the truth, without which even her courage failed, her +resolution died within her? + +Above all, what was the secret of his strange merriment? Of the snatches +of song which broke from him, only to be hushed by her look of +astonishment? Of the parades which his horse, catching the infection, +made under him, as he tossed his riding-cane high in the air and caught +it? + +Ay, what? Why, when he had suffered so great a loss, when he had been +robbed of that of which he must give account--why did he cast off his +melancholy and ride like the youngest? She wondered what the men +thought, and looking, saw them stare, saw that they watched him +stealthily, saw that they laid their heads together. What were they +thinking of it? She could not tell; and slowly a terror, more insistent +than any to which the extremity of violence would have reduced her, began +to grip her heart. + +Twenty hours of rest had lifted her from the state of collapse into which +the events of the night had cast her; still her limbs at starting had +shaken under her. But the cool freshness of the early summer morning, +and the sight of the green landscape and the winding Loir, beside which +their road ran, had not failed to revive her spirits; and if he had shown +himself merely gloomy, merely sunk in revengeful thoughts, or darting +hither and thither the glance of suspicion, she felt that she could have +faced him, and on the first opportunity could have told him the truth. + +But his new mood veiled she knew not what. It seemed, if she +comprehended it at all, the herald of some bizarre, some dreadful +vengeance, in harmony with his fierce and mocking spirit. Before it her +heart became as water. Even her colour little by little left her cheeks. +She knew that he had only to look at her now to read the truth; that it +was written in her face, in her shrinking figure, in the eyes which now +guiltily sought and now avoided his. And feeling sure that he did read +it and know it, she fancied that he licked his lips, as the cat which +plays with the mouse; she fancied that he gloated on her terror and her +perplexity. + +This, though the day and the road were warrants for all cheerful +thoughts. On one side vineyards clothed the warm red slopes, and rose in +steps from the valley to the white buildings of a convent. On the other +the stream wound through green flats where the black cattle stood knee- +deep in grass, watched by wild-eyed and half-naked youths. Again the +travellers lost sight of the Loir, and crossing a shoulder, rode through +the dim aisles of a beech-forest, through deep rustling drifts of last +year's leaves. And out again and down again they passed, and turning +aside from the gateway, trailed along beneath the brown machicolated wall +of an old town, from the crumbling battlements of which faces +half-sleepy, half-suspicious, watched them as they moved below through +the glare and heat. Down to the river-level again, where a squalid +anchorite, seated at the mouth of a cave dug in the bank, begged of them, +and the bell of a monastery on the farther bank tolled slumberously the +hour of Nones. + +And still he said nothing, and she, cowed by his mysterious gaiety, yet +spurning herself for her cowardice, was silent also. He hoped to arrive +at Angers before nightfall. What, she wondered, shivering, would happen +there? What was he planning to do to her? How would he punish her? +Brave as she was, she was a woman, with a woman's nerves; and fear and +anticipation got upon them; and his silence--his silence which must mean +a thing worse than words! + +And then on a sudden, piercing all, a new thought. Was it possible that +he had other letters? If his bearing were consistent with anything, it +was consistent with that. Had he other genuine letters, or had he +duplicate letters, so that he had lost nothing, but instead had gained +the right to rack and torture her, to taunt and despise her? + +That thought stung her into sudden self-betrayal. They were riding along +a broad dusty track which bordered a stone causey raised above the level +of winter floods. Impulsively she turned to him. + +"You have other letters!" she cried. "You have other letters!" And +freed for the moment from her terror, she fixed her eyes on his and +strove to read his face. + +He looked at her, his mouth grown hard. "What do you mean, Madame?" he +asked, + +"You have other letters?" + +"For whom?" + +"From the King, for Angers!" + +He saw that she was going to confess, that she was going to derange his +cherished plan; and unreasonable anger awoke in the man who had been more +than willing to forgive a real injury. + +"Will you explain?" he said between his teeth. And his eyes glittered +unpleasantly. "What do you mean?" + +"You have other letters," she cried, "besides those which I stole." + +"Which you stole?" He repeated the words without passion. Enraged by +this unexpected turn, he hardly knew how to take it. + +"Yes, I!" she cried. "I! I took them from under your pillow!" + +He was silent a minute. Then he laughed and shook his head. + +"It will not do, Madame," he said, his lip curling. "You are clever, but +you do not deceive me." + +"Deceive you?" + +"Yes." + +"You do not believe that I took the letters?" she cried in great +amazement. + +"No," he answered, "and for a good reason." He had hardened his heart +now. He had chosen his line, and he would not spare her. + +"Why, then?" she cried. "Why?" + +"For the best of all reasons," he answered. "Because the person who +stole the letters was seized in the act of making his escape, and is now +in my power." + +"The person--who stole the letters?" she faltered. + +"Yes, Madame." + +"Do you mean M. de Tignonville?" + +"You have said it." + +She turned white to the lips, and trembling, could with difficulty sit +her horse. With an effort she pulled it up, and he stopped also. Their +attendants were some way ahead. + +"And you have the letters?" she whispered, her eyes meeting his. "You +have the letters?" + +"No, but I have the thief!" Count Hannibal answered with sinister +meaning. "As I think you knew, Madame," he continued ironically, "a +while back before you spoke." + +"I? Oh no, no!" and she swayed in her saddle. "What--what are you--going +to do?" she muttered after a moment's stricken silence. + +"To him?" + +"Yes." + +"The magistrates will decide, at Angers." + +"But he did not do it! I swear he did not." + +Count Hannibal shook his head coldly. + +"I swear, Monsieur, I took the letters!" she repeated piteously. "Punish +me!" Her figure, bowed like an old woman's over the neck of her horse, +seemed to crave his mercy. + +Count Hannibal smiled. + +"You do not believe me?" + +"No," he said. And then, in a tone which chilled her, "If I did believe +you," he continued, "I should still punish him!" She was broken; but he +would see if he could not break her further. He would try if there were +no weak spot in her armour. He would rack her now, since in the end she +must go free. "Understand, Madame," he continued in his harshest tone, +"I have had enough of your lover. He has crossed my path too often. You +are my wife, I am your husband. In a day or two there shall be an end of +this farce and of him." + +"He did not take them!" she wailed, her face sinking lower on her breast. +"He did not take them! Have mercy!" + +"Any way, Madame, they are gone!" Tavannes answered. "You have taken +them between you; and as I do not choose that you should pay, he will pay +the price." + +If the discovery that Tignonville had fallen into her husband's hands had +not sufficed to crush her, Count Hannibal's tone must have done so. The +shoot of new life which had raised its head after those dreadful days in +Paris, and--for she was young--had supported her under the weight which +the peril of Angers had cast on her shoulders, died, withered under the +heel of his brutality. The pride which had supported her, which had won +Tavannes' admiration and exacted his respect, sank, as she sank herself, +bowed to her horse's neck, weeping bitter tears before him. She +abandoned herself to her misery, as she had once abandoned herself in the +upper room in Paris. + +And he looked at her. He had willed to crush her; he had his will, and +he was not satisfied. He had bowed her so low that his magnanimity would +now have its full effect, would shine as the sun into a dark world; and +yet he was not happy. He could look forward to the morrow, and say, "She +will understand me, she will know me!" and, lo, the thought that she wept +for her lover stabbed him, and stabbed him anew; and he thought, "Rather +would she death from him, than life from me! Though I give her creation, +it will not alter her! Though I strike the stars with my head, it is he +who fills her world." + +The thought spurred him to further cruelty, impelled him to try if, +prostrate as she was, he could not draw a prayer from her. + +"You don't ask after him?" he scoffed. "He may be before or behind? Or +wounded or well? Would you not know, Madame? And what message he sent +you? And what he fears, and what hope he has? And his last wishes? +And--for while there is life there is hope--would you not learn where the +key of his prison lies to-night? How much for the key to-night, Madame?" + +Each question fell on her like the lash of a whip; but as one who has +been flogged into insensibility, she did not wince. That drove him on: +he felt a mad desire to hear her prayers, to force her lower, to bring +her to her knees. And he sought about for a keener taunt. Their +attendants were almost out of sight before them; the sun, declining +apace, was in their eyes. + +"In two hours we shall be in Angers," he said. "Mon Dieu, Madame, it was +a pity, when you two were taking letters, you did not go a step farther. +You were surprised, or I doubt if I should be alive to-day!" + +Then she did look up. She raised her head and met his gaze with such +wonder in her eyes, such reproach in her tear-stained face, that his +voice sank on the last word. + +"You mean--that I would have murdered you?" she said. "I would have cut +off my hand first. What I did"--and now her voice was as firm as it was +low--"what I did, I did to save my people. And if it were to be done +again, I would do it again!" + +"You dare to tell me that to my face?" he cried, hiding feelings which +almost choked him. "You would do it again, would you? Mon Dieu, Madame, +you need to be taught a lesson!" + +And by chance, meaning only to make the horses move on again, he raised +his whip. She thought that he was going to strike her, and she flinched +at last. The whip fell smartly on her horse's quarters, and it sprang +forward. Count Hannibal swore between his teeth. + +He had turned pale, she red as fire. "Get on! Get on!" he cried +harshly. "We are falling behind!" And riding at her heels, flipping her +horse now and then, he forced her to trot on until they overtook the +servants. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. THE BLACK TOWN. + + +It was late evening when, riding wearily on jaded horses, they came to +the outskirts of Angers, and saw before them the term of their journey. +The glow of sunset had faded, but the sky was still warm with the last +hues of day; and against its opal light the huge mass of the Angevin +castle, which even in sunshine rises dark and forbidding above the +Mayenne, stood up black and sharply defined. Below it, on both banks of +the river, the towers and spires of the city soared up from a sombre +huddle of ridge-roofs, broken here by a round-headed gateway, crumbling +and pigeon-haunted, that dated from St. Louis, and there by the gaunt +arms of a windmill. + +The city lay dark under a light sky, keeping well its secrets. Thousands +were out of doors enjoying the evening coolness in alley and court, yet +it betrayed the life which pulsed in its arteries only by the low murmur +which rose from it. Nevertheless, the Countess at sight of its roofs +tasted the first moment of happiness which had been hers that day. She +might suffer, but she had saved. Those roofs would thank her! In that +murmur were the voices of women and children she had redeemed! At the +sight and at the thought a wave of love and tenderness swept all +bitterness from her breast. A profound humility, a boundless +thankfulness took possession of her. Her head sank lower above her +horse's mane; but this time it sank in reverence, not in shame. + +Could she have known what was passing beneath those roofs which night was +blending in a common gloom--could she have read the thoughts which at +that moment paled the cheeks of many a stout burgher, whose gabled house +looked on the great square, she had been still more thankful. For in +attics and back rooms women were on their knees at that hour, praying +with feverish eyes; and in the streets men--on whom their fellows, seeing +the winding-sheet already at the chin, gazed askance--smiled, and showed +brave looks abroad, while their hearts were sick with fear. + +For darkly, no man knew how, the news had come to Angers. It had been +known, more or less, for three days. Men had read it in other men's +eyes. The tongue of a scold, the sneer of an injured woman had spread +it, the birds of the air had carried it. From garret window to garret +window across the narrow lanes of the old town it had been whispered at +dead of night; at convent grilles, and in the timber-yards beside the +river. Ten thousand, fifty thousand, a hundred thousand, it was +rumoured, had perished in Paris. In Orleans, all. In Tours this man's +sister; at Saumur that man's son. Through France the word had gone forth +that the Huguenots must die; and in the busy town the same roof-tree +sheltered fear and hate, rage and cupidity. On one side of the party- +wall murder lurked fierce-eyed; on the other, the victim lay watching the +latch, and shaking at a step. Strong men tasted the bitterness of death, +and women clasping their babes to their breasts smiled sickly into +children's eyes. + +The signal only was lacking. It would come, said some, from Saumur, +where Montsoreau, the Duke of Anjou's Lieutenant-Governor and a Papist, +had his quarters. From Paris, said others, directly from the King. It +might come at any hour now, in the day or in the night; the magistrates, +it was whispered, were in continuous session, awaiting its coming. No +wonder that from lofty gable windows, and from dormers set high above the +tiles, haggard faces looked northward and eastward, and ears sharpened by +fear imagined above the noises of the city the ring of the iron shoes +that carried doom. + +Doubtless the majority desired--as the majority in France have always +desired--peace. But in the purlieus about the cathedral and in the lanes +where the sacristans lived, in convent parlours and college courts, among +all whose livelihood the new faith threatened, was a stir as of a hive +deranged. Here was grumbling against the magistrates--why wait? There, +stealthy plannings and arrangements; everywhere a grinding of weapons and +casting of slugs. Old grudges, new rivalries, a scholar's venom, a +priest's dislike, here was final vent for all. None need leave this +feast unsated! + +It was a man of this class, sent out for the purpose, who first espied +Count Hannibal's company approaching. He bore the news into the town, +and by the time the travellers reached the city gate, the dusky street +within, on which lights were beginning to twinkle from booths and +casements, was alive with figures running to meet them and crying the +news as they ran. The travellers, weary and road-stained, had no sooner +passed under the arch than they found themselves the core of a great +crowd which moved with them and pressed about them; now unbonneting, and +now calling out questions, and now shouting, "Vive le Roi! Vive le Roi!" +Above the press, windows burst into light; and over all, the quaint +leaning gables of the old timbered houses looked down on the hurry and +tumult. + +They passed along a narrow street in which the rabble, hurrying at Count +Hannibal's bridle, and often looking back to read his face, had much ado +to escape harm; along this street and before the yawning doors of a great +church whence a breath heavy with incense and burning wax issued to meet +them. A portion of the congregation had heard the tumult and struggled +out, and now stood close-packed on the steps under the double vault of +the portal. Among them the Countess's eyes, as she rode by, a sturdy man- +at-arms on either hand, caught and held one face. It was the face of a +tall, lean man in dusty black; and though she did not know him she seemed +to have an equal attraction for him; for as their eyes met he seized the +shoulder of the man next him and pointed her out. And something in the +energy of the gesture, or in the thin lips and malevolent eyes of the man +who pointed, chilled the Countess's blood and shook her, she knew not +why. + +Until then, she had known no fear save of her husband. But at that a +sense of the force and pressure of the crowd--as well as of the fierce +passions, straining about her, which a word might unloose--broke upon +her; and looking to the stern men on either side she fancied that she +read anxiety in their faces. + +She glanced behind. Boot to boot, the Count's men came on, pressing +round her women and shielding them from the exuberance of the throng. In +their faces too she thought that she traced uneasiness. What wonder if +the scenes through which she had passed in Paris began to recur to her +mind, and shook nerves already overwrought? + +She began to tremble. "Is there--danger?" she muttered, speaking in a +low voice to Bigot, who rode on her right hand. "Will they do anything?" + +The Norman snorted. "Not while he is in the saddle," he said, nodding +towards his master, who rode a pace in front of them, his reins loose. +"There be some here know him!" Bigot continued, in his drawling tone. +"And more will know him if they break line. Have no fear, Madame, he +will bring you safe to the inn. Down with the Huguenots?" he continued, +turning from her and addressing a rogue who, holding his stirrup, was +shouting the cry till he was crimson. "Then why not away, and--" + +"The King! The King's word and leave!" the man answered. + +"Ay, tell us!" shrieked another, looking upward, while he waved his cap; +"have we the King's leave?" + +"You'll bide _his_ leave!" the Norman retorted, indicating the Count with +his thumb. "Or 'twill be up with you--on the three-legged horse!" + +"But he comes from the King!" the man panted. + +"To be sure. To be sure!" + +"Then--" + +"You'll bide his time! That's all!" Bigot answered, rather it seemed for +his own satisfaction than the other's enlightenment. "You'll all bide +it, you dogs!" he continued in his beard, as he cast his eye over the +weltering crowd. "Ha! so we are here, are we? And not too soon, +either." + +He fell silent as they entered an open space, overlooked on one side by +the dark facade of the cathedral, on the other three sides by houses more +or less illumined. The rabble swept into this open space with them and +before them, filled much of it in an instant, and for a while eddied and +swirled this way and that, thrust onward by the worshippers who had +issued from the church and backwards by those who had been first in the +square, and had no mind to be hustled out of hearing. A stranger, +confused by the sea of excited faces, and deafened by the clamour of +"Vive le Roi!" "Vive Anjou!" mingled with cries against the Huguenots, +might have fancied that the whole city was arrayed before him. But he +would have been wide of the mark. The scum, indeed--and a dangerous +scum--frothed and foamed and spat under Tavannes' bridle-hand; and here +and there among them, but not of them, the dark-robed figure of a priest +moved to and fro; or a Benedictine, or some smooth-faced acolyte egged on +to the work he dared not do. But the decent burghers were not there. +They lay bolted in their houses; while the magistrates, with little heart +to do aught except bow to the mob--or other their masters for the time +being--shook in their council chamber. + +There is not a city of France which has not seen it; which has not known +the moment when the mass impended, and it lay with one man to start it or +stay its course. Angers within its houses heard the clamour, and from +the child, clinging to its mother's skirt, and wondering why she wept, to +the Provost, trembled, believing that the hour had come. The Countess +heard it too, and understood it. She caught the savage note in the voice +of the mob--that note which means danger--and, her heart beating wildly, +she looked to her husband. Then, fortunately for her, fortunately for +Angers, it was given to all to see that in Count Hannibal's saddle sat a +man. + +He raised his hand for silence, and in a minute or two--not at once, for +the square was dusky--it was obtained. He rose in his stirrups, and +bared his head. + +"I am from the King!" he cried, throwing his voice to all parts of the +crowd. "And this is his Majesty's pleasure and good will! That every +man hold his hand until to-morrow on pain of death, or worse! And at +noon his further pleasure will be known! Vive le Roi!" + +And he covered his head again. + +"Vive le Roi!" cried a number of the foremost. But their shouts were +feeble and half-hearted, and were quickly drowned in a rising murmur of +discontent and ill-humour, which, mingled with cries of "Is that all? Is +there no more? Down with the Huguenots!" rose from all parts. Presently +these cries became merged in a persistent call, which had its origin, as +far as could be discovered, in the darkest corner of the square. A call +for "Montsoreau! Montsoreau! Give us Montsoreau!" + +With another man, or had Tavannes turned or withdrawn, or betrayed the +least anxiety, words had become actions, disorder a riot; and that in the +twinkling of an eye. But Count Hannibal, sitting his horse, with his +handful of riders behind him, watched the crowd, as little moved by it as +the Armed Knight of Notre Dame. Only once did he say a word. Then, +raising his hand as before to gain a hearing-- + +"You ask for Montsoreau?" he thundered. "You will have Montfaucon if you +do not quickly go to your homes!" + +At which, and at the glare of his eye, the more timid took fright. +Feeling his gaze upon them, seeing that he had no intention of +withdrawing, they began to sneak away by ones and twos. Soon others +missed them and took the alarm, and followed. A moment and scores were +streaming away through lanes and alleys and along the main street. At +last the bolder and more turbulent found themselves a remnant. They +glanced uneasily at one another and at Tavannes, took fright in their +turn, and plunging into the current hastened away, raising now and then +as they passed through the streets a cry of "Vive Montsoreau! +Montsoreau!"--which was not without its menace for the morrow. + +Count Hannibal waited motionless until no more than half a dozen groups +remained in the open. Then he gave the word to dismount; for, so far, +even the Countess and her women had kept their saddles, lest the movement +which their retreat into the inn must have caused should be misread by +the mob. Last of all he dismounted himself, and with lights going before +him and behind, and preceded by Bigot, bearing his cloak and pistols, he +escorted the Countess into the house. Not many minutes had elapsed since +he had called for silence; but long before he reached the chamber looking +over the square from the first floor, in which supper was being set for +them, the news had flown through the length and breadth of Angers that +for this night the danger was past. The hawk had come to Angers, and lo! +it was a dove. + +Count Hannibal strode to one of the open windows and looked out. In the +room, which was well lighted, were people of the house, going to and fro, +setting out the table; to Madame, standing beside the hearth--which held +its summer dressing of green boughs--while her woman held water for her +to wash, the scene recalled with painful vividness the meal at which she +had been present on the morning of the St. Bartholomew--the meal which +had ushered in her troubles. Naturally her eyes went to her husband, her +mind to the horror in which she had held him then; and with a kind of +shock--perhaps because the last few minutes had shown him in a new +light--she compared her old opinion of him with that which, much as she +feared him, she now entertained. + +This afternoon, if ever, within the last few hours, if at all, he had +acted in a way to justify that horror and that opinion. He had treated +her--brutally; he had insulted and threatened her, had almost struck her. +And yet--and yet Madame felt that she had moved so far from the point +which she had once occupied that the old attitude was hard to understand. +Hardly could she believe that it was on this man, much as she still +dreaded him, that she had looked with those feelings of repulsion. + +She was still gazing at him with eyes which strove to see two men in one, +when he turned from the window. Absorbed in thought, she had forgotten +her occupation, and stood, the towel suspended in her half-dried hands. +Before she knew what he was doing he was at her side; he bade the woman +hold the bowl, and he rinsed his hands. Then he turned, and without +looking at the Countess, he dried his hands on the farther end of the +towel which she was still using. + +She blushed faintly. A something in the act, more intimate and more +familiar than had ever marked their intercourse, set her blood running +strangely. When he turned away and bade Bigot unbuckle his +spur-leathers, she stepped forward. + +"I will do it!" she murmured, acting on a sudden and unaccountable +impulse. And as she knelt, she shook her hair about her face to hide its +colour. + +"Nay, Madame, but you will soil your fingers!" he said coldly. + +"Permit me," she muttered half coherently. And though her fingers shook, +she pursued and performed her task. + +When she rose he thanked her; and then the devil in the man, or the +Nemesis he had provoked when he took her by force from another--the +Nemesis of jealousy, drove him to spoil all. + +"And for whose sake, Madame?" he added, with a jeer; "mine or M. de +Tignonville's?" And with a glance between jest and earnest, he tried to +read her thoughts. + +She winced as if he had indeed struck her, and the hot colour fled her +cheeks. + +"For his sake!" she said, with a shiver of pain. "That his life may be +spared!" And she stood back humbly, like a beaten dog. Though, indeed, +it was for the sake of Angers, in thankfulness for the past rather than +in any desperate hope of propitiating her husband, that she had done it! + +Perhaps he would have withdrawn his words. But before he could answer, +the host, bowing to the floor, came to announce that all was ready, and +that the Provost of the City, for whom M. le Comte had sent, was in +waiting below. + +"Let him come up!" Tavannes answered, grave and frowning. "And see you, +close the room, sirrah! My people will wait on us. Ah!" as the Provost, +a burly man, with a face framed for jollity, but now pale and long, +entered and approached him with many salutations. "How comes it, M. le +Prevot--you are the Prevot, are you not?" + +"Yes, M. le Comte." + +"How comes it that so great a crowd is permitted to meet in the streets? +And that at my entrance, though I come unannounced, I find half of the +city gathered together?" + +The Provost stared. "Respect, M. le Comte," he said, "for His Majesty's +letters, of which you are the bearer, no doubt induced some to come +together." + +"Who said I brought letters?" + +"Who--?" + +"Who said I brought letters?" Count Hannibal repeated in a strenuous +voice. And he ground his chair half about and faced the astonished +magistrate. "Who said I brought letters?" + +"Why, my lord," the Provost stammered, "it was everywhere yesterday--" + +"Yesterday?" + +"Last night, at latest--that letters were coming from the King." + +"By my hand?" + +"By your lordship's hand--whose name is so well known here," the +magistrate added, in the hope of clearing the great man's brow. + +Count Hannibal laughed darkly. "My hand will be better known by-and-by," +he said. "See you, sirrah, there is some practice here. What is this +cry of Montsoreau that I hear?" + +"Your lordship knows that he is His Grace's lieutenant-governor in +Saumur." + +"I know that, man. But is he here?" + +"He was at Saumur yesterday, and 'twas rumoured three days back that he +was coming here to extirpate the Huguenots. Then word came of your +lordship and of His Majesty's letters, and 'twas thought that M. de +Montsoreau would not come, his authority being superseded." + +"I see. And now your rabble think that they would prefer M. Montsoreau. +That is it, is it?" + +The magistrate shrugged his shoulders and opened his hands. + +"Pigs!" he said. And having spat on the floor, he looked apologetically +at the lady. "True pigs!" + +"What connections has he here?" Tavannes asked. + +"He is a brother of my lord the Bishop's vicar, who arrived yesterday." + +"With a rout of shaven heads who have been preaching and stirring up the +town!" Count Hannibal cried, his face growing red. "Speak, man; is it +so? But I'll be sworn it is!" + +"There has been preaching," the Provost answered reluctantly. + +"Montsoreau may count his brother, then, for one. He is a fool, but with +a knave behind him, and a knave who has no cause to love us! And the +Castle? 'Tis held by one of M. de Montsoreau's creatures, I take it?" + +"Yes, my lord." + +"With what force?" + +The magistrate shrugged his shoulders, and looked doubtfully at Badelon, +who was keeping the door. Tavannes followed the glance with his usual +impatience. "Mon Dieu, you need not look at him!" he cried. "He has +sacked St. Peter's and singed the Pope's beard with a holy candle! He +has been served on the knee by Cardinals; and is Turk or Jew, or monk or +Huguenot as I please. And Madame"--for the Provost's astonished eyes, +after resting awhile on the old soldier's iron visage, had passed to +her--"is Huguenot, so you need have no fear of her! There, speak, man," +with impatience, "and cease to think of your own skin!" + +The Provost drew a deep breath, and fixed his small eyes on Count +Hannibal. + +"If I knew, my lord, what you--why, my own sister's son"--he paused, his +face began to work, his voice shook--"is a Huguenot! Ay, my lord, a +Huguenot! And they know it!" he continued, a flush of rage augmenting +the emotion which his countenance betrayed. "Ay, they know it! And they +push me on at the Council, and grin behind my back; Lescot, who was +Provost two years back, and would match his son with my daughter; and +Thuriot, who prints for the University! They nudge one another, and egg +me on, till half the city thinks it is I who would kill the Huguenots! +I!" Again his voice broke. "And my own sister's son a Huguenot! And my +girl at home white-faced for--for his sake." + +Tavannes scanned the man shrewdly. "Perhaps she is of the same way of +thinking?" he said. + +The Provost started, and lost one half of his colour. "God forbid!" he +cried, "saving Madame's presence! Who says so, my lord, lies!" + +"Ay, lies not far from the truth." + +"My lord!" + +"Pish, man, Lescot has said it, and will act on it. And Thuriot, who +prints for the University! Would you 'scape them? You would? Then +listen to me. I want but two things. First, how many men has +Montsoreau's fellow in the Castle? Few, I know, for he is a niggard, and +if he spends, he spends the Duke's pay." + +"Twelve. But five can hold it." + +"Ay, but twelve dare not leave it! Let them stew in their own broth! And +now for the other matter. See, man, that before daybreak three gibbets, +with a ladder and two ropes apiece, are set up in the square. And let +one be before this door. You understand? Then let it be done! The +rest," he added with a ferocious smile, "you may leave to me." + +The magistrate nodded rather feebly. "Doubtless," he said, his eye +wandering here and there, "there are rogues in Angers. And for rogues +the gibbet! But saving your presence, my lord, it is a question +whether--" + +But M. de Tavannes' patience was exhausted. "Will you do it?" he roared. +"That is the question. And the only question." + +The Provost jumped, he was so startled. "Certainly, my lord, certainly!" +he muttered humbly. "Certainly, I will!" And bowing frequently, but +saying no more, he backed himself out of the room. + +Count Hannibal laughed grimly after his fashion, and doubtless thought +that he had seen the last of the magistrate for that night. Great was +his wrath, therefore, when, less than a minute later--and before Bigot +had carved for him--the door opened, and the Provost appeared again. He +slid in, and without giving the courage he had gained on the stairs time +to cool, plunged into his trouble. + +"It stands this way, M. le Comte," he bleated. "If I put up the gibbets +and a man is hanged, and you have letters from the King, 'tis a rogue the +less, and no harm done. But if you have no letters from His Majesty, +then it is on my shoulders they will put it, and 'twill be odd if they do +not find a way to hang me to right him." + +Count Hannibal smiled grimly. "And your sister's son?" he sneered. "And +your girl who is white-faced for his sake, and may burn on the same +bonfire with him? And--" + +"Mercy! Mercy!" the wretched Provost cried. And he wrung his hands. +"Lescot and Thuriot--" + +"Perhaps we may hang Lescot and Thuriot--" + +"But I see no way out," the Provost babbled. "No way! No way!" + +"I am going to show you one," Tavannes retorted. "If the gibbets are not +in place by sunrise, I shall hang you from this window. That is one way +out; and you'll be wise to take the other! For the rest and for your +comfort, if I have no letters, it is not always to paper that the King +commits his inmost heart." + +The magistrate bowed. He quaked, he doubted, but he had no choice. + +"My lord," he said, "I put myself in your hands. It shall be done, +certainly it shall be done. But, but--" and shaking his head in +foreboding, he turned to the door. At the last moment, when he was +within a pace of it, the Countess rose impulsively to her feet. She +called to him. + +"M. le Prevot, a minute, if you please," she said. "There may be trouble +to-morrow; your daughter may be in some peril. You will do well to send +her to me. My lord"--and on the word her voice, uncertain before, grew +full and steady--"will see that I am safe. And she will be safe with +me." + +The Provost saw before him only a gracious lady, moved by a +thoughtfulness unusual in persons of her rank. He was at no pains to +explain the flame in her cheek, or the soft light which glowed in her +eyes, as she looked at him across her formidable husband. He was only +profoundly grateful--moved even to tears. Humbly thanking her, he +accepted her offer for his child, and withdrew wiping his eyes. When he +was gone, and the door had closed behind him, Tavannes turned to the +Countess, who still kept her feet. + +"You are very confident this evening," he sneered. "Gibbets do not +frighten you, it seems, madame. Perhaps if you knew for whom the one +before the door is intended?" + +She met his look with a searching gaze, and spoke with a ring of defiance +in her tone. "I do not believe it!" she said. "I do not believe it! You +who save Angers will not destroy him!" And then her woman's mood +changing, with courage and colour ebbing together, "Oh no, you will not! +You will not!" she wailed. And she dropped on her knees before him, and +holding up her clasped hands, "God will put it in your heart to spare +him--and me!" + +He rose with a stifled oath, took two steps from her, and in a tone +hoarse and constrained, "Go!" he said. "Go, or sit! Do you hear, +Madame? You try my patience too far!" + +But when she had gone his face was radiant. He had brought her, he had +brought all, to the point at which he aimed. To-morrow his triumph +awaited him. To-morrow he who had cast her down would raise her up. + +He did not foresee what a day would bring forth. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. IN THE LITTLE CHAPTER-HOUSE. + + +The sun was an hour high, and in Angers the shops and booths, after the +early fashion of the day, were open or opening. Through all the gates +country folk were pressing into the gloomy streets of the Black Town with +milk and fruit; and at doors and windows housewives cheapened fish, or +chaffered over the fowl for the pot. For men must eat, though there be +gibbets in the Place Ste.-Croix: gaunt gibbets, high and black and +twofold, each, with its dangling ropes, like a double note of +interrogation. + +But gibbets must eat also; and between ground and noose was so small a +space in those days that a man dangled almost before he knew it. The +sooner, then, the paniers were empty, and the clown, who pays for all, +was beyond the gates, the better he, for one, would be pleased. In the +market, therefore, was hurrying. Men cried their wares in lowered +voices, and tarried but a little for the oldest customer. The bargain +struck, the more timid among the buyers hastened to shut themselves into +their houses again; the bolder, who ventured to the Place to confirm the +rumour with their eyes, talked in corners and in lanes, avoided the open, +and eyed the sinister preparations from afar. The shadow of the things +which stood before the cathedral affronting the sunlight with their gaunt +black shapes lay across the length and breadth of Angers. Even in the +corners where men whispered, even in the cloisters where men bit their +nails in impotent anger, the stillness of fear ruled all. Whatever Count +Hannibal had it in his mind to tell the city, it seemed unlikely--and +hour by hour it seemed less likely--that any would contradict him. + +He knew this as he walked in the sunlight before the inn, his spurs +ringing on the stones as he made each turn, his movements watched by a +hundred peering eyes. After all, it was not hard to rule, nor to have +one's way in this world. But then, he went on to remember, not every one +had his self-control, or that contempt for the weak and unsuccessful +which lightly took the form of mercy. He held Angers safe, curbed by his +gibbets. With M. de Montsoreau he might have trouble; but the trouble +would be slight, for he knew Montsoreau, and what it was the Lieutenant- +Governor valued above profitless bloodshed. + +He might have felt less confident had he known what was passing at that +moment in a room off the small cloister of the Abbey of St. Aubin, a room +known at Angers as the Little Chapter-house. It was a long chamber with +a groined roof and stone walls, panelled as high as a tall man might +reach with dark chestnut wood. Gloomily lighted by three grated windows, +which looked on a small inner green, the last resting-place of the +Benedictines, the room itself seemed at first sight no more than the last +resting-place of worn-out odds and ends. Piles of thin sheepskin folios, +dog's-eared and dirty, the rejected of the choir, stood against the +walls; here and there among them lay a large brass-bound tome on which +the chains that had fettered it to desk or lectern still rusted. A +broken altar cumbered one corner: a stand bearing a curious--and +rotting--map filled another. In the other two corners a medley of faded +scutcheons and banners, which had seen their last Toussaint procession, +mouldered slowly into dust--into much dust. The air of the room was full +of it. + +In spite of which the long oak table that filled the middle of the +chamber shone with use: so did the great metal standish which it bore. +And though the seven men who sat about the table seemed, at a first +glance and in that gloomy light, as rusty and faded as the rubbish behind +them, it needed but a second look at their lean jaws and hungry eyes to +be sure of their vitality. + +He who sat in the great chair at the end of the table was indeed rather +plump than thin. His white hands, gay with rings, were well cared for; +his peevish chin rested on a falling-collar of lace worthy of a Cardinal. +But though the Bishop's Vicar was heard with deference, it was noticeable +that when he had ceased to speak his hearers looked to the priest on his +left, to Father Pezelay, and waited to hear his opinion before they gave +their own. The Father's energy, indeed, had dominated the Angerins, +clerks and townsfolk alike, as it had dominated the Parisian _devotes_ +who knew him well. The vigour which hate inspires passes often for solid +strength; and he who had seen with his own eyes the things done in Paris +spoke with an authority to which the more timid quickly and easily +succumbed. + +Yet gibbets are ugly things; and Thuriot, the printer, whose pride had +been tickled by a summons to the conclave, began to wonder if he had done +wisely in coming. Lescot, too, who presently ventured a word. + +"But if M. de Tavannes' order be to do nothing," he began doubtfully, +"you would not, reverend Father, have us resist his Majesty's will?" + +"God forbid, my friend!" Father Pezelay answered with unction. "But his +Majesty's will is to do--to do for the glory of God and the saints and +His Holy Church! How? Is that which was lawful at Saumur unlawful here? +Is that which was lawful at Tours unlawful here? Is that which the King +did in Paris--to the utter extermination of the unbelieving and the +purging of that Sacred City--against his will here? Nay, his will is to +do--to do as they have done in Paris and in Tours and in Saumur! But his +Minister is unfaithful! The woman whom he has taken to his bosom has +bewildered him with her charms and her sorceries, and put it in his mind +to deny the mission he bears." + +"You are sure, beyond chance of error, that he bears letters to that +effect, good Father?" the printer ventured. + +"Ask my lord's Vicar! He knows the letters and the import of them!" + +"They are to that effect," the Archdeacon answered, drumming on the table +with his fingers and speaking somewhat sullenly. "I was in the +Chancellery, and I saw them. They are duplicates of those sent to +Bordeaux." + +"Then the preparations he has made must be against the Huguenots," +Lescot, the ex-Provost, said with a sigh of relief. And Thuriot's face +lightened also. "He must intend to hang one or two of the ringleaders, +before he deals with the herd." + +"Think it not!" Father Pezelay cried in his high shrill voice. "I tell +you the woman has bewitched him, and he will deny his letters!" + +For a moment there was silence. Then, "But dare he do that, reverend +Father?" Lescot asked slowly and incredulously. "What? Suppress the +King's letters?" + +"There is nothing he will not dare! There is nothing he has not dared!" +the priest answered vehemently, the recollection of the scene in the +great guard-room of the Louvre, when Tavannes had so skilfully turned the +tables on him, instilling venom into his tone. "She who lives with him +is the devil's. She has bewitched him with her spells and her Sabbaths! +She bears the mark of the Beast on her bosom, and for her the fire is +even now kindling!" + +The laymen who were present shuddered. The two canons who faced them +crossed themselves, muttering, "Avaunt, Satan!" + +"It is for you to decide," the priest continued, gazing on them +passionately, "whether you will side with him or with the Angel of God! +For I tell you it was none other executed the Divine judgments at Paris! +It was none other but the Angel of God held the sword at Tours! It is +none other holds the sword here! Are you for him or against him? Are +you for him, or for the woman with the mark of the Beast? Are you for +God or against God? For the hour draws near! The time is at hand! You +must choose! You must choose!" And, striking the table with his hand, +he leaned forward, and with glittering eyes fixed each of them in turn, +as he cried, "You must choose! You must choose!" He came to the +Archdeacon last. + +The Bishop's Vicar fidgeted in his chair, his face a shade more shallow, +his cheeks hanging a trifle more loosely, than ordinary. + +"If my brother were here!" he muttered. "If M. de Montsoreau had +arrived!" + +But Father Pezelay knew whose will would prevail if Montsoreau met +Tavannes at his leisure. To force Montsoreau's hand, therefore, to +surround him on his first entrance with a howling mob already committed +to violence, to set him at their head and pledge him before he knew with +whom he had to do--this had been, this still was, the priest's design. + +But how was he to pursue it while those gibbets stood? While their +shadows lay even on the chapter table, and darkened the faces of his most +forward associates? That for a moment staggered the priest; and had not +private hatred, ever renewed by the touch of the scar on his brow, fed +the fire of bigotry he had yielded, as the rabble of Angers were +yielding, reluctant and scowling, to the hand which held the city in its +grip. But to have come so far on the wings of hate, and to do nothing! +To have come avowedly to preach a crusade, and to sneak away cowed! To +have dragged the Bishop's Vicar hither, and fawned and cajoled and +threatened by turns--and for nothing! These things were passing +bitter--passing bitter, when the morsel of vengeance he had foreseen +smacked so sweet on the tongue. + +For it was no common vengeance, no layman's vengeance, coarse and clumsy, +which the priest had imagined in the dark hours of the night, when his +feverish brain kept him wakeful. To see Count Hannibal roll in the dust +had gone but a little way towards satisfying him. No! But to drag from +his arms the woman for whom he had sinned, to subject her to shame and +torture in the depths of some convent, and finally to burn her as a +witch--it was that which had seemed to the priest in the night hours a +vengeance sweet in the mouth. + +But the thing seemed unattainable in the circumstances. The city was +cowed; the priest knew that no dependence was to be placed on Montsoreau, +whose vice was avarice and whose object was plunder. To the Archdeacon's +feeble words, therefore, "We must look," the priest retorted sternly, +"not to M. de Montsoreau, reverend Father, but to the pious of Angers! We +must cry in the streets, 'They do violence to God! They wound God and +His Mother!' And so, and so only, shall the unholy thing be rooted out!" + +"Amen!" the Cure of St.-Benoist muttered, lifting his head; and his dull +eyes glowed awhile. "Amen! Amen!" Then his chin sank again upon his +breast. + +But the Canons of Angers looked doubtfully at one another, and timidly at +the speakers; the meat was too strong for them. And Lescot and Thuriot +shuffled in their seats. At length, "I do not know," Lescot muttered +timidly. + +"You do not know?" + +"What can be done!" + +"The people will know!" Father Pezelay retorted "Trust them!" + +"But the people will not rise without a leader." + +"Then will I lead them!" + +"Even so, reverend Father--I doubt," Lescot faltered. And Thuriot nodded +assent. Gibbets were erected in those days rather for laymen than for +the Church. + +"You doubt!" the priest cried. "You doubt!" His baleful eyes passed +from one to the other; from them to the rest of the company. He saw that +with the exception of the Cure of St.-Benoist all were of a mind. "You +doubt! Nay, but I see what it is! It is this," he continued slowly and +in a different tone, "the King's will goes for nothing in Angers! His +writ runs not here. And Holy Church cries in vain for help against the +oppressor. I tell you, the sorceress who has bewitched him has bewitched +you also. Beware! beware, therefore, lest it be with you as with him! +And the fire that shall consume her, spare not your houses!" + +The two citizens crossed themselves, grew pale and shuddered. The fear +of witchcraft was great in Angers, the peril, if accused of it, enormous. +Even the Canons looked startled. + +"If--if my brother were here," the Archdeacon repeated feebly, "something +might be done!" + +"Vain is the help of man!" the priest retorted sternly, and with a +gesture of sublime dismissal. "I turn from you to a mightier than you!" +And, leaning his head on his hands, he covered his face. + +The Archdeacon and the churchmen looked at him, and from him their scared +eyes passed to one another. Their one desire now was to be quit of the +matter, to have done with it, to escape; and one by one with the air of +whipped curs they rose to their feet, and in a hurry to be gone muttered +a word of excuse shamefacedly and got themselves out of the room. Lescot +and the printer were not slow to follow, and in less than a minute the +two strange preachers, the men from Paris, remained the only occupants of +the chamber; save, to be precise, a lean official in rusty black, who +throughout the conference had sat by the door. + +Until the last shuffling footstep had ceased to sound in the still +cloister no one spoke. Then Father Pezelay looked up, and the eyes of +the two priests met in a long gaze. + +"What think you?" Pezelay muttered at last. + +"Wet hay," the other answered dreamily, "is slow to kindle, yet burns if +the fire be big enough. At what hour does he state his will?" + +"At noon." + +"In the Council Chamber?" + +"It is so given out." + +"It is three hundred yards from the Place Ste.-Croix and he must go +guarded," the Cure of St.-Benoist continued in the same dull fashion. "He +cannot leave many in the house with the woman. If it were attacked in +his absence--" + +"He would return, and--" Father Pezelay shook his head, his cheek turned +a shade paler. Clearly, he saw with his mind's eye more than he +expressed. + +"_Hoc est corpus_," the other muttered, his dreamy gaze on the table. "If +he met us then, on his way to the house and we had bell, book, and +candle, would he stop?" + +"He would not stop!" Father Pezelay rejoined. + +"He would not?" + +"I know the man!" + +"Then--" but the rest St. Benoist whispered, his head drooping forward; +whispered so low that even the lean man behind him, listening with greedy +ears, failed to follow the meaning of his superior's words. But that he +spoke plainly enough for his hearer Father Pezelay's face was witness. +Astonishment, fear, hope, triumph, the lean pale face reflected all in +turn; and, underlying all, a subtle malignant mischief, as if a devil's +eyes peeped through the holes in an opera mask. + +When the other was at last silent, Pezelay drew a deep breath. + +"'Tis bold! Bold! Bold!" he muttered. "But have you thought? He who +bears the--" + +"Brunt?" the other whispered, with a chuckle. "He may suffer? Yes, but +it will not be you or I! No, he who was last here shall be first there! +The Archdeacon-Vicar--if we can persuade him--who knows but that even for +him the crown of martyrdom is reserved?" The dull eyes flickered with +unholy amusement. + +"And the alarm that brings him from the Council Chamber?" + +"Need not of necessity be real. The pinch will be to make use of it. +Make use of it--and the hay will burn!" + +"You think it will?" + +"What can one man do against a thousand? His own people dare not support +him." + +Father Pezelay turned to the lean man who kept the door, and, beckoning +to him, conferred a while with him in a low voice. + +"A score or so I might get," the man answered presently, after some +debate. "And well posted, something might be done. But we are not in +Paris, good father, where the Quarter of the Butchers is to be counted +on, and men know that to kill Huguenots is to do God service! Here"--he +shrugged his shoulders contemptuously--"they are sheep." + +"It is the King's will," the priest answered, frowning on him darkly. + +"Ay, but it is not Tavannes'," the man in black answered with a grimace. +"And he rules here to-day." + +"Fool!" Pezelay retorted. "He has not twenty with him. Do you do as I +say, and leave the rest to Heaven!" + +"And to you, good master?" the other answered. "For it is not all you +are going to do," he continued, with a grin, "that you have told me. +Well, so be it! I'll do my part, but I wish we were in Paris. St. +Genevieve is ever kind to her servants." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. THE ESCAPE. + + +In a small back room on the second floor of the inn at Angers, a mean, +dingy room which looked into a narrow lane, and commanded no prospect +more informing than a blind wall, two men sat, fretting; or, rather, one +man sat, his chin resting on his hand, while his companion, less patient +or more sanguine, strode ceaselessly to and fro. In the first despair of +capture--for they were prisoners--they had made up their minds to the +worst, and the slow hours of two days had passed over their heads without +kindling more than a faint spark of hope in their breasts. But when they +had been taken out and forced to mount and ride--at first with feet tied +to the horses' girths--they had let the change, the movement, and the +open air fan the flame. They had muttered a word to one another, they +had wondered, they had reasoned. And though the silence of their +guards--from whose sour vigilance the keenest question drew no +response--seemed of ill-omen, and, taken with their knowledge of the man +into whose hands they had fallen, should have quenched the spark, these +two, having special reasons, the one the buoyancy of youth, the other the +faith of an enthusiast, cherished the flame. In the breast of one indeed +it had blazed into a confidence so arrogant that he now took all for +granted, and was not content. + +"It is easy for you to say 'Patience!'" he cried, as he walked the floor +in a fever. "You stand to lose no more than your life, and if you escape +go free at all points! But he has robbed me of more than life! Of my +love, and my self-respect, curse him! He has worsted me not once, but +twice and thrice! And if he lets me go now, dismissing me with my life, +I shall--I shall kill him!" he concluded, through his teeth. + +"You are hard to please!" + +"I shall kill him!" + +"That were to fall still lower!" the minister answered, gravely regarding +him. "I would, M. de Tignonville, you remembered that you are not yet +out of jeopardy. Such a frame of mind as yours is no good preparation +for death, let me tell you!" + +"He will not kill us!" Tignonville cried. "He knows better than most men +how to avenge himself!" + +"Then he is above most!" La Tribe retorted. "For my part I wish I were +sure of the fact, and I should sit here more at ease." + +"If we could escape, now, of ourselves!" Tignonville cried. "Then we +should save not only life, but honour! Man, think of it! If we could +escape, not by his leave, but against it! Are you sure that this is +Angers?" + +"As sure as a man can be who has only seen the Black Town once or twice!" +La Tribe answered, moving to the casement--which was not glazed--and +peering through the rough wooden lattice. "But if we could escape we are +strangers here. We know not which way to go, nor where to find shelter. +And for the matter of that," he continued, turning from the window with a +shrug of resignation, "'tis no use to talk of it while yonder foot goes +up and down the passage, and its owner bears the key in his pocket." + +"If we could get out of his power as we came into it!" Tignonville cried. + +"Ay, if! But it is not every floor has a trap!" + +"We could take up a board." + +The minister raised his eyebrows. + +"We could take up a board!" the younger man repeated; and he stepped the +mean chamber from end to end, his eyes on the floor. "Or--yes, _mon +Dieu_!" with a change of attitude, "we might break through the roof?" +And, throwing back his head, he scanned the cobwebbed surface of laths +which rested on the unceiled joists. + +"Umph!" + +"Well, why not, Monsieur? Why not break through the ceiling?" +Tignonville repeated, and in a fit of energy he seized his companion's +shoulder and shook him. "Stand on the bed, and you can reach it." + +"And the floor which rests on it!" + +"_Par Dieu_, there is no floor! 'Tis a cockloft above us! See there! +And there!" And the young man sprang on the bed, and thrust the rowel of +a spur through the laths. La Tribe's expression changed. He rose slowly +to his feet. + +"Try again!" he said. + +Tignonville, his face red, drove the spur again between the laths, and +worked it to and fro until he could pass his fingers into the hole he had +made. Then he gripped and bent down a length of one of the laths, and, +passing his arm as far as the elbow through the hole, moved it this way +and that. His eyes, as he looked down at his companion through the +falling rubbish, gleamed with triumph. + +"Where is your floor now?" he asked. + +"You can touch nothing?" + +"Nothing. It's open. A little more and I might touch the tiles." And +he strove to reach higher. + +For answer La Tribe gripped him. "Down! Down, Monsieur," he muttered. +"They are bringing our dinner." + +Tignonville thrust back the lath as well as he could, and slipped to the +floor; and hastily the two swept the rubbish from the bed. When Badelon, +attended by two men, came in with the meal he found La Tribe at the +window blocking much of the light, and Tignonville laid sullenly on the +bed. Even a suspicious eye must have failed to detect what had been +done; the three who looked in suspected nothing and saw nothing. They +went out, the key was turned again on the prisoners, and the footsteps of +two of the men were heard descending the stairs. + +"We have an hour, now!" Tignonville cried; and leaping, with flaming +eyes, on the bed, he fell to hacking and jabbing and tearing at the laths +amid a rain of dust and rubbish. Fortunately the stuff, falling on the +bed, made little noise; and in five minutes, working half-choked and in a +frenzy of impatience, he had made a hole through which he could thrust +his arms, a hole which extended almost from one joist to its neighbour. +By this time the air was thick with floating lime; the two could scarcely +breathe, yet they dared not pause. Mounting on La Tribe's shoulders--who +took his stand on the bed--the young man thrust his head and arms through +the hole, and, resting his elbows on the joists, dragged himself up, and +with a final effort of strength landed nose and knees on the timbers, +which formed his supports. A moment to take breath, and press his torn +and bleeding fingers to his lips; then, reaching down, he gave a hand to +his companion and dragged him to the same place of vantage. + +They found themselves in a long narrow cockloft, not more than six feet +high at the highest, and insufferably hot. Between the tiles, which +sloped steeply on either hand, a faint light filtered in, disclosing the +giant rooftree running the length of the house, and at the farther end of +the loft the main tie-beam, from which a network of knees and struts rose +to the rooftree. + +Tignonville, who seemed possessed by unnatural energy, stayed only to put +off his boots. Then "Courage!" he panted, "all goes well!" and, carrying +his boots in his hands, he led the way, stepping gingerly from joist to +joist until he reached the tie-beam. He climbed on it, and, squeezing +himself between the struts, entered a second loft, similar to the first. +At the farther end of this a rough wall of bricks in a timber-frame +lowered his hopes; but as he approached it, joy! Low down in the corner +where the roof descended, a small door, square, and not more than two +feet high, disclosed itself. + +The two crept to it on hands and knees and listened. "It will lead to +the leads, I doubt?" La Tribe whispered. They dared not raise their +voices. + +"As well that way as another!" Tignonville answered recklessly. He was +the more eager, for there is a fear which transcends the fear of death. +His eyes shone through the mask of dust, the sweat ran down to his chin, +his breath came and went noisily. "Naught matters if we can escape him!" +he panted. And he pushed the door recklessly. It flew open; the two +drew back their faces with a cry of alarm. + +They were looking, not into the sunlight, but into a grey dingy garret +open to the roof, and occupying the upper part of a gable-end somewhat +higher than the wing in which they had been confined. Filthy truckle- +beds and ragged pallets covered the floor, and, eked out by old saddles +and threadbare horserugs, marked the sleeping quarters either of the +servants or of travellers of the meaner sort. But the dinginess was +naught to the two who knelt looking into it, afraid to move. Was the +place empty? That was the point; the question which had first stayed, +and then set their pulses at the gallop. + +Painfully their eyes searched each huddle of clothing, scanned each +dubious shape. And slowly, as the silence persisted, their heads came +forward until the whole floor lay within the field of sight. And still +no sound! At last Tignonville stirred, crept through the doorway, and +rose up, peering round him. He nodded, and, satisfied that all was safe, +the minister followed him. + +They found themselves a pace or so from the head of a narrow staircase, +leading downwards. Without moving, they could see the door which closed +it below. Tignonville signed to La Tribe to wait, and himself crept down +the stairs. He reached the door, and, stooping, set his eye to the hole +through which the string of the latch passed. A moment he looked, and +then, turning on tiptoe, he stole up again, his face fallen. + +"You may throw the handle after the hatchet!" he muttered. "The man on +guard is within four yards of the door." And in the rage of +disappointment he struck the air with his hand. + +"Is he looking this way?" + +"No. He is looking down the passage towards our room. But it is +impossible to pass him." + +La Tribe nodded, and moved softly to one of the lattices which lighted +the room. It might be possible to escape that way, by the parapet and +the tiles. But he found that the casement was set high in the roof, +which sloped steeply from its sill to the eaves. He passed to the other +window, in which a little wicket in the lattice stood open. He looked +through it. In the giddy void white pigeons were wheeling in the +dazzling sunshine, and, gazing down, he saw far below him, in the hot +square, a row of booths, and troops of people moving to and fro like +pigmies; and--and a strange thing, in the middle of all! Involuntarily, +as if the persons below could have seen his face at the tiny dormer, he +drew back. + +He beckoned to M. Tignonville to come to him; and when the young man +complied, he bade him in a whisper look down. "See!" he muttered. +"There!" + +The younger man saw and drew in his breath. Even under the coating of +dust his face turned a shade greyer. + +"You had no need to fear that he would let us go!" the minister muttered, +with half-conscious irony. + +"No." + +"Nor I! There are two ropes." And La Tribe breathed a few words of +prayer. The object which had fixed his gaze was a gibbet: the only one +of the three which could be seen from their eyrie. + +Tignonville, on the other hand, turned sharply away, and with haggard +eyes stared about the room. "We might defend the staircase," he +muttered. "Two men might hold it for a time." + +"We have no food." + +"No." Suddenly he gripped La Tribe's arm. "I have it!" he cried. "And +it may do! It must do!" he continued, his face working. "See!" And +lifting from the floor one of the ragged pallets, from which the straw +protruded in a dozen places, he set it flat on his head. + +It drooped at each corner--it had seen much wear--and, while it almost +hid his face, it revealed his grimy chin and mortar-stained shoulders. He +turned to his companion. + +La Tribe's face glowed as he looked. "It may do!" he cried. "It's a +chance! But you are right! It may do!" + +Tignonville dropped the ragged mattress, and tore off his coat; then he +rent his breeches at the knee, so that they hung loose about his calves. + +"Do you the same!" he cried. "And quick, man, quick! Leave your boots! +Once outside we must pass through the streets under these"--he took up +his burden again and set it on his head--"until we reach a quiet part, +and there we--" + +"Can hide! Or swim the river!" the minister said. He had followed his +companion's example, and now stood under a similar burden. With breeches +rent and whitened, and his upper garments in no better case, he looked a +sorry figure. + +Tignonville eyed him with satisfaction, and turned to the staircase. + +"Come," he cried, "there is not a moment to be lost. At any minute they +may enter our room and find it empty! You are ready? Then, not too +softly, or it may rouse suspicion! And mumble something at the door." + +He began himself to scold, and, muttering incoherently, stumbled down the +staircase, the pallet on his head rustling against the wall on each side. +Arrived at the door, he fumbled clumsily with the latch, and, when the +door gave way, plumped out with an oath--as if the awkward burden he bore +were the only thing on his mind. Badelon--he was on duty--stared at the +apparition; but the next moment he sniffed the pallet, which was none of +the freshest, and, turning up his nose, he retreated a pace. He had no +suspicion; the men did not come from the part of the house where the +prisoners lay, and he stood aside to let them pass. In a moment, +staggering, and going a little unsteadily, as if they scarcely saw their +way, they had passed by him, and were descending the staircase. + +So far well! Unfortunately, when they reached the foot of that flight +they came on the main passage of the first-floor. It ran right and left, +and Tignonville did not know which way he must turn to reach the lower +staircase. Yet he dared not hesitate; in the passage, waiting about the +doors, were four or five servants, and in the distance he caught sight of +three men belonging to Tavannes' company. At any moment, too, an upper +servant might meet them, ask what they were doing, and detect the fraud. +He turned at random, therefore--to the left as it chanced--and marched +along bravely, until the very thing happened which he had feared. A man +came from a room plump upon them, saw them, and held up his hands in +horror. + +"What are you doing?" he cried in a rage and with an oath. "Who set you +on this?" + +Tignonville's tongue clave to the roof of his mouth. La Tribe from +behind muttered something about the stable. + +"And time too!" the man said. "Faugh! But how come you this way? Are +you drunk? Here!" He opened the door of a musty closet beside him, +"Pitch them in here, do you hear? And take them down when it is dark. +Faugh. I wonder you did not carry the things though her ladyship's room +at once! If my lord had been in and met you! Now then, do as I tell +you! Are you drunk?" + +With a sullen air Tignonville threw in his mattress. La Tribe did the +same. Fortunately the passage was ill-lighted, and there were many +helpers and strange servants in the inn. The butler only thought them +ill-looking fellows who knew no better. + +"Now be off!" he continued irascibly. "This is no place for your sort. +Be off!" And, as they moved, "Coming! Coming!" he cried in answer to a +distant summons; and he hurried away on the errand which their appearance +had interrupted. + +Tignonville would have gone to work to recover the pallets, for the man +had left the key in the door. But as he went to do so the butler looked +back, and the two were obliged to make a pretence of following him. A +moment, however, and he was gone; and Tignonville turned anew to regain +them. A second time fortune was adverse; a door within a pace of him +opened, a woman came out. She recoiled from the strange figure; her eyes +met his. Unluckily the light from the room behind her fell on his face, +and with a shrill cry she named him. + +One second and all had been lost, for the crowd of idlers at the other +end of the passage had caught her cry, and were looking that way. With +presence of mind Tignonville clapped his hand on her mouth, and, huddling +her by force into the room, followed her, with La Tribe at his heels. + +It was a large room, in which seven or eight people, who had been at +prayers when the cry startled them, were rising from their knees. The +first thing they saw was Javette on the threshold, struggling in the +grasp of a wild man, ragged and begrimed; they deemed the city risen and +the massacre upon them. Carlat threw himself before his mistress, the +Countess in her turn sheltered a young girl, who stood beside her and +from whose face the last trace of colour had fled. Madame Carlat and a +waiting-woman ran shrieking to the window; another instant and the alarm +would have gone abroad. + +Tignonville's voice stopped it. "Don't you know me?" he cried, "Madame! +you at least! Carlat! Are you all mad?" + +The words stayed them where they stood in an astonishment scarce less +than their alarm. The Countess tried twice to speak; the third time-- + +"Have you escaped?" she muttered. + +Tignonville nodded, his eyes bright with triumph. "So far," he said. +"But they may be on our heels at any moment! Where can we hide?" + +The Countess, her hand pressed to her side, looked at Javette. + +"The door, girl!" she whispered. "Lock it!" + +"Ay, lock it! And they can go by the back-stairs," Madame Carlat +answered, awaking suddenly to the situation. "Through my closet! Once +in the yard they may pass out through the stables." + +"Which way?" Tignonville asked impatiently. "Don't stand looking at me, +but--" + +"Through this door!" Madame Carlat answered, hurrying to it. + +He was following when the Countess stepped forward and interposed between +him and the door. + +"Stay!" she cried; and there was not one who did not notice a new +decision in her voice, a new dignity in her bearing. "Stay, Monsieur, we +may be going too fast. To go out now and in that guise--may it not be to +incur greater peril than you incur here? I feel sure that you are in no +danger of your life at present. Therefore, why run the risk--" + +"In no danger, Madame!" he cried, interrupting her in astonishment. "Have +you seen the gibbet in the Square? Do you call that no danger?" + +"It is not erected for you." + +"No?" + +"No, Monsieur," she answered firmly, "I swear it is not. And I know of +reasons, urgent reasons, why you should not go. M. de Tavannes"--she +named her husband nervously, as conscious of the weak spot--"before he +rode abroad laid strict orders on all to keep within, since the smallest +matter might kindle the city. Therefore, M. de Tignonville, I request, +nay I entreat," she continued with greater urgency, as she saw his +gesture of denial, "you to stay here until he returns." + +"And you, Madame, will answer for my life?" + +She faltered. For a moment, a moment only, her colour ebbed. What if +she deceived herself? What if she surrendered her old lover to death? +What if--but the doubt was of a moment only. Her duty was plain. + +"I will answer for it," she said, with pale lips, "if you remain here. +And I beg, I implore you--by the love you once had for me, M. de +Tignonville," she added desperately, seeing that he was about to refuse, +"to remain here." + +"Once!" he retorted, lashing himself into ignoble rage. "By the love I +once had! Say, rather, the love I have, Madame--for I am no +woman-weathercock to wed the winner, and hold or not hold, stay or go, as +he commands! You, it seems," he continued with a sneer, "have learned +the wife's lesson well! You would practise on me now, as you practised +on me the other night when you stood between him and me! I yielded then, +I spared him. And what did I get by it? Bonds and a prison! And what +shall I get now? The same! No, Madame," he continued bitterly, +addressing himself as much to the Carlats and the others as to his old +mistress. "I do not change! I loved! I love! I was going and I go! If +death lay beyond that door"--and he pointed to it--"and life at his will +were certain here, I would pass the threshold rather than take my life of +him!" And, dragging La Tribe with him, with a passionate gesture he +rushed by her, opened the door, and disappeared in the next room. + +The Countess took one pace forward, as if she would have followed him, as +if she would have tried further persuasion. But as she moved a cry +rooted her to the spot. A rush of feet and the babel of many voices +filled the passage with a tide of sound, which drew rapidly nearer. The +escape was known! Would the fugitives have time to slip out below? + +Some one knocked at the door, tried it, pushed and beat on it. But the +Countess and all in the room had run to the windows and were looking out. + +If the two had not yet made their escape they must be taken. Yet no; as +the Countess leaned from the window, first one dusty figure and then a +second darted from a door below, and made for the nearest turning, out of +the Place Ste.-Croix. Before they gained it, four men, of whom, Badelon, +his grey locks flying, was first, dashed out in pursuit, and the street +rang with cries of "Stop him! Seize him! Seize him!" Some one--one of +the pursuers or another--to add to the alarm let off a musket, and in a +moment, as if the report had been a signal, the Place was in a hubbub, +people flocked into it with mysterious quickness, and from a neighbouring +roof--whence, precisely, it was impossible to say--the crackling fire of +a dozen arquebuses alarmed the city far and wide. + +Unfortunately, the fugitives had been baulked at the first turning. +Making for a second, they found it choked, and, swerving, darted across +the Place towards St.-Maurice, seeking to lose themselves in the +gathering crowd. But the pursuers clung desperately to their skirts, +overturning here a man and there a child; and then in a twinkling, +Tignonville, as he ran round a booth, tripped over a peg and fell, and La +Tribe stumbled over him and fell also. The four riders flung themselves +fiercely on their prey, secured them, and began to drag them with oaths +and curses towards the door of the inn. + +The Countess had seen all from her window; had held her breath while they +ran, had drawn it sharply when they fell. Now, "They have them!" she +muttered, a sob choking her, "they have them!" And she clasped her +hands. If he had followed her advice! If he had only followed her +advice! + +But the issue proved less certain than she deemed it. The crowd, which +grew each moment, knew nothing of pursuers or pursued. On the contrary, +a cry went up that the riders were Huguenots, and that the Huguenots were +rising and slaying the Catholics; and as no story was too improbable for +those days, and this was one constantly set about, first one stone flew, +and then another, and another. A man with a staff darted forward and +struck Badelon on the shoulder, two or three others pressed in and +jostled the riders; and if three of Tavannes' following had not run out +on the instant and faced the mob with their pikes, and for a moment +forced them to give back, the prisoners would have been rescued at the +very door of the inn. As it was they were dragged in, and the gates were +flung to and barred in the nick of time. Another moment, almost another +second, and the mob had seized them. As it was, a hail of stones poured +on the front of the inn, and amid the rising yells of the rabble there +presently floated heavy and slow over the city the tolling of the great +bell of St.-Maurice. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. SACRILEGE! + + +M. de Montsoreau, Lieutenant-Governor of Saumur almost rose from his seat +in his astonishment. + +"What! No letters?" he cried, a hand on either arm of the chair. + +The Magistrates stared, one and all. "No letters?" they muttered. + +And "No letters?" the Provost chimed in more faintly. + +Count Hannibal looked smiling round the Council table. He alone was +unmoved. + +"No," he said. "I bear none." + +M. de Montsoreau, who, travel-stained and in his corselet, had the second +place of honour at the foot of the table, frowned. + +"But, M. le Comte," he said, "my instructions from Monsieur were to +proceed to carry out his Majesty's will in co-operation with you, who, I +understood, would bring letters _de par le Roi_." + +"I had letters," Count Hannibal answered negligently. "But on the way I +mislaid them." + +"Mislaid them?" Montsoreau cried, unable to believe his ears; while the +smaller dignitaries of the city, the magistrates and churchmen who sat on +either side of the table, gaped open-mouthed. It was incredible! It was +unbelievable! Mislay the King's letters! Who had ever heard of such a +thing? + +"Yes, I mislaid them. Lost them, if you like it better." + +"But you jest!" the Lieutenant-Governor retorted, moving uneasily in his +chair. He was a man more highly named for address than courage; and, +like most men skilled in finesse, he was prone to suspect a trap. "You +jest, surely, Monsieur! Men do not lose his Majesty's letters, by the +way." + +"When they contain his Majesty's will, no," Tavannes answered, with a +peculiar smile. + +"You imply, then?" + +Count Hannibal shrugged his shoulders, but had not answered when Bigot +entered and handed him his sweetmeat box; he paused to open it and select +a prune. He was long in selecting; but no change of countenance led any +of those at the table to suspect that inside the lid of the box was a +message--a scrap of paper informing him that Montsoreau had left fifty +spears in the suburb without the Saumur gate, besides those whom he had +brought openly into the town. Tavannes read the note slowly while he +seemed to be choosing his fruit. And then-- + +"Imply?" he answered. "I imply nothing, M. de Montsoreau." + +"But--" + +"But that sometimes his Majesty finds it prudent to give orders which he +does not mean to be carried out. There are things which start up before +the eye," Tavannes continued, negligently tapping the box on the table, +"and there are things which do not; sometimes the latter are the more +important. You, better than I, M. de Montsoreau, know that the King in +the Gallery at the Louvre is one, and in his closet is another." + +"Yes." + +"And that being so--" + +"You do not mean to carry the letters into effect?" + +"Had I the letters, certainly, my friend. I should be bound by them. But +I took good care to lose them," Tavannes added naively. "I am no fool." + +"Umph!" + +"However," Count Hannibal continued, with an airy gesture, "that is my +affair. If you, M. de Montsoreau, feel inclined, in spite of the absence +of my letters, to carry yours into effect, by all means do so--after +midnight of to-day." + +M. de Montsoreau breathed hard. "And why," he asked, half sulkily and +half ponderously, "after midnight only, M. le Comte?" + +"Merely that I may be clear of all suspicion of having lot or part in the +matter," Count Hannibal answered pleasantly. "After midnight of to-night +by all means do as you please. Until midnight, by your leave, we will be +quiet." + +The Lieutenant-Governor moved doubtfully in his chair, the fear--which +Tavannes had shrewdly instilled into his mind--that he might be disowned +if he carried out his instructions, struggling with his avarice and his +self-importance. He was rather crafty than bold; and such things had +been, he knew. Little by little, and while he sat gloomily debating, the +notion of dealing with one or two and holding the body of the Huguenots +to ransom--a notion which, in spite of everything, was to bear good fruit +for Angers--began to form in his mind. The plan suited him: it left him +free to face either way, and it would fill his pockets more genteelly +than would open robbery. On the other hand, he would offend his brother +and the fanatical party, with whom he commonly acted. They were looking +to see him assert himself. They were looking to hear him declare +himself. And-- + +Harshly Count Hannibal's voice broke in on his thoughts; harshly, a +something sinister in its tone. + +"Where is your brother?" he said. And it was evident that he had not +noted his absence until then. "My lord's Vicar of all people should be +here!" he continued, leaning forward and looking round the table. His +brow was stormy. + +Lescot squirmed under his eye; Thuriot turned pale and trembled. It was +one of the canons of St.-Maurice, who at length took on himself to +answer. + +"His lordship requested, M. le Comte," he ventured, "that you would +excuse him. His duties--" + +"Is he ill?" + +"He--" + +"Is he ill, sirrah?" Tavannes roared. And while all bowed before the +lightning of his eye, no man at the table knew what had roused the sudden +tempest. But Bigot knew, who stood by the door, and whose ear, keen as +his master's, had caught the distant report of a musket shot. "If he be +not ill," Tavannes continued, rising and looking round the table in +search of signs of guilt, "and there be foul play here, and he the +player, the Bishop's own hand shall not save him! By Heaven it shall +not! Nor yours!" he continued, looking fiercely at Montsoreau. "Nor +your master's!" + +The Lieutenant-Governor sprang to his feet. "M. le Comte," he stammered, +"I do not understand this language! Nor this heat, which may be real or +not! All I say is, if there be foul play here--" + +"If!" Tavannes retorted. "At least, if there be, there be gibbets too! +And I see necks!" he added, leaning forward. "Necks!" And then, with a +look of flame, "Let no man leave this table until I return," he cried, +"or he will have to deal with me. Nay," he continued, changing his tone +abruptly, as the prudence, which never entirely left him--and perhaps the +remembrance of the other's fifty spearmen--sobered him in the midst of +his rage, "I am hasty. I mean not you, M. de Montsoreau! Ride where you +will; ride with me, if you will, and I will thank you. Only remember, +until midnight Angers is mine!" + +He was still speaking when he moved from the table, and, leaving all +staring after him, strode down the room. An instant he paused on the +threshold and looked back; then he passed out, and clattered down the +stone stairs. His horse and riders were waiting, but, his foot in the +stirrup, he stayed for a word with Bigot. + +"Is it so?" he growled. + +The Norman did not speak, but pointed towards the Place Ste.-Croix, +whence an occasional shot made answer for him. + +In those days the streets of the Black City were narrow and crooked, +overhung by timber houses, and hampered by booths; nor could Tavannes +from the old Town Hall--now abandoned--see the Place Ste.-Croix. But +that he could cure. He struck spurs to his horse, and, followed by his +ten horsemen, he clattered noisily down the paved street. A dozen groups +hurrying the same way sprang panic-stricken to the walls, or saved +themselves in doorways. He was up with them, he was beyond them! Another +hundred yards, and he would see the Place. + +And then, with a cry of rage, he drew rein a little, discovering what was +before him. In the narrow gut of the way a great black banner, borne on +two poles, was lurching towards him. It was moving in the van of a dark +procession of priests, who, with their attendants and a crowd of devout, +filled the street from wall to wall. They were chanting one of the +penitential psalms, but not so loudly as to drown the uproar in the Place +beyond them. + +They made no way, and Count Hannibal swore furiously, suspecting +treachery. But he was no madman, and at the moment the least reflection +would have sent him about to seek another road. Unfortunately, as he +hesitated a man sprang with a gesture of warning to his horse's head and +seized it; and Tavannes, mistaking the motive of the act, lost his self- +control. He struck the fellow down, and, with a reckless word, rode +headlong into the procession, shouting to the black robes to make way, +make way! A cry, nay, a shriek of horror, answered him and rent the air. +And in a minute the thing was done. Too late, as the Bishop's Vicar, +struck by his horse, fell screaming under its hoofs--too late, as the +consecrated vessels which he had been bearing rolled in the mud, Tavannes +saw that they bore the canopy and the Host! + +He knew what he had done, then. Before his horse's iron shoes struck the +ground again, his face--even his face--had lost its colour. But he knew +also that to hesitate now, to pause now, was to be torn in pieces; for +his riders, seeing that which the banner had veiled from him, had not +followed him, and he was alone, in the middle of brandished fists and +weapons. He hesitated not a moment. Drawing a pistol, he spurred +onwards, his horse plunging wildly among the shrieking priests; and +though a hundred hands, hands of acolytes, hands of shaven monks, +clutched at his bridle or gripped his boot, he got clear of them. Clear, +carrying with him the memory of one face seen an instant amid the crowd, +one face seen, to be ever remembered--the face of Father Pezelay, white, +evil, scarred, distorted by wicked triumph. + +Behind him, the thunder of "Sacrilege! Sacrilege!" rose to Heaven, and +men were gathering. In front the crowd which skirmished about the inn +was less dense, and, ignorant of the thing that had happened in the +narrow street, made ready way for him, the boldest recoiling before the +look on his face. Some who stood nearest to the inn, and had begun to +hurl stones at the window and to beat on the doors--which had only the +minute before closed on Badelon and his prisoners--supposed that he had +his riders behind him; and these fled apace. But he knew better even +than they the value of time; he pushed his horse up to the gates, and +hammered them with his boot while be kept his pistol-hand towards the +Place and the cathedral, watching for the transformation which he knew +would come! + +And come it did; on a sudden, in a twinkling! A white-faced monk, frenzy +in his eyes, appeared in the midst of the crowd. He stood and tore his +garments before the people, and, stooping, threw dust on his head. A +second and a third followed his example; then from a thousand throats the +cry of "Sacrilege! Sacrilege!" rolled up, while clerks flew wildly +hither and thither shrieking the tale, and priests denied the Sacraments +to Angers until it should purge itself of the evil thing. + +By that time Count Hannibal had saved himself behind the great gates, by +the skin of his teeth. The gates had opened to him in time. But none +knew better than he that Angers had no gates thick enough, nor walls of a +height, to save him for many hours from the storm he had let loose! + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. THE FLIGHT FROM ANGERS. + + +But that only the more roused the devil in the man; that, and the +knowledge that he had his own headstrong act to thank for the position. +He looked on the panic-stricken people who, scared by the turmoil +without, had come together in the courtyard, wringing their hands and +chattering; and his face was so dark and forbidding that fear of him took +the place of all other fear, and the nearest shrank from contact with +him. On any other entering as he had entered, they would have hailed +questions; they would have asked what was amiss, and if the city were +rising, and where were Bigot and his men. But Count Hannibal's eye +struck curiosity dumb. When he cried from his saddle, "Bring me the +landlord!" the trembling man was found, and brought, and thrust forward +almost without a word. + +"You have a back gate?" Tavannes said, while the crowd leaned forward to +catch his words. + +"Yes, my lord," the man faltered. + +"Into the street which leads to the ramparts?" + +"Ye-yes, my lord." + +"Then"--to Badelon--"saddle! You have five minutes. Saddle as you never +saddled before," he continued in a low tone, "or--" His tongue did not +finish the threat, but his hand waved the man away. "For you"--he held +Tignonville an instant with his lowering eye--"and the preaching fool +with you, get arms and mount! You have never played aught but the woman +yet; but play me false now, or look aside but a foot from the path I bid +you take, and you thwart me no more, Monsieur! And you, Madame," he +continued, turning to the Countess, who stood bewildered at one of the +doors, the Provost's daughter clinging and weeping about her, "you have +three minutes to get your women to horse! See you, if you please, that +they take no longer!" + +She found her voice with difficulty. "And this child?" she said. "She +is in my care." + +"Bring her," he muttered with a scowl of impatience. And then, raising +his voice as he turned on the terrified gang of hostlers and inn servants +who stood gaping round him, "Go help!" he thundered. "Go help! And +quickly!" he added, his face growing a shade darker as a second bell +began to toll from a neighbouring tower, and the confused babel in the +Place Ste.-Croix settled into a dull roar of "_Sacrilege_! +_sacrilege_."--"Hasten!" + +Fortunately it had been his first intention to go to the Council attended +by the whole of his troop; and eight horses stood saddled in the stalls. +Others were hastily pulled out and bridled, and the women were mounted. +La Tribe, at a look from Tavannes, took behind him the Provost's +daughter, who was helpless with terror. Between the suddenness of the +alarm, the uproar without, and the panic within, none but a man whose +people served him at a nod and dreaded his very gesture could have got +his party mounted in time. Javette would fain have swooned, but she +dared not. Tignonville would fain have questioned, but he shrank from +the venture. The Countess would fain have said something, but she forced +herself to obey and no more. Even so the confusion in the courtyard, the +mingling of horses and men and trappings and saddle-bags, would have made +another despair; but wherever Count Hannibal, seated in his saddle in the +middle, turned his face, chaos settled into a degree of order, servants, +ceasing to listen to the yells and cries outside, ran to fetch, women +dropped cloaks from the gallery, and men loaded muskets and strapped on +bandoliers. + +Until at last--but none knew what those minutes of suspense cost him--he +saw all mounted, and, pistol in hand, shepherded them to the back gates. +As he did so he stooped for a few scowling words with Badelon, whom he +sent to the van of the party: then he gave the word to open. It was +done; and even as Montsoreau's horsemen, borne on the bosom of a second +and more formidable throng, swept raging into the already crowded square, +and the cry went up for "a ram! a ram!" to batter in the gates, Tavannes, +hurling his little party before him, dashed out at the back, and putting +to flight a handful of rascals who had wandered to that side, cantered +unmolested down the lane to the ramparts. Turning eastward at the foot +of the frowning Castle, he followed the inner side of the wall in the +direction of the gate by which he had entered the preceding evening. + +To gain this his party had to pass the end of the Rue Toussaint, which +issues from the Place Ste.-Croix and runs so straight that the mob +seething in front of the inn had only to turn their heads to see them. +The danger incurred at this point was great; for a party as small as +Tavannes' and encumbered with women would have had no chance if attacked +within the walls. + +Count Hannibal knew it. But he knew also that the act which he had +committed rendered the north bank of the Loire impossible for him. +Neither King nor Marshal, neither Charles of Valois nor Gaspard of +Tavannes, would dare to shield him from an infuriated Church, a Church +too wise to forgive certain offences. His one chance lay in reaching the +southern bank of the Loire--roughly speaking, the Huguenot bank--and +taking refuge in some town, Rochelle or St. Jean d'Angely, where the +Huguenots were strong, and whence he might take steps to set himself +right with his own side. + +But to cross the great river which divides France into two lands widely +differing he must leave the city by the east gate; for the only bridge +over the Loire within forty miles of Angers lay eastward from the town, +at Ponts de Ce, four miles away. To this gate, therefore, past the Rue +Toussaint, he whirled his party daringly; and though the women grew pale +as the sounds of riot broke louder on the ear, and they discovered that +they were approaching instead of leaving the danger--and though +Tignonville for an instant thought him mad, and snatched at the +Countess's rein--his men-at-arms, who knew him, galloped stolidly on, +passed like clockwork the end of the street, and, reckless of the stream +of persons hurrying in the direction of the alarm, heedless of the fright +and anger their passage excited, pressed steadily on. A moment and the +gate through which they had entered the previous evening appeared before +them. And--a sight welcome to one of them--it was open. + +They were fortunate indeed, for a few seconds later they had been too +late. The alarm had preceded them. As they dashed up, a man ran to the +chains of the portcullis and tried to lower it. He failed to do so at +the first touch, and, quailing, fled from Badelon's levelled pistol. A +watchman on one of the bastions of the wall shouted to them to halt or he +would fire: but the riders yelled in derision, and thundering through the +echoing archway, emerged into the open, and saw, extended before them, in +place of the gloomy vistas of the Black Town, the glory of the open +country and the vine-clad hills, and the fields about the Loire yellow +with late harvest. + +The women gasped their relief, and one or two who were most out of breath +would have pulled up their horses and let them trot, thinking the danger +at an end. But a curt savage word from the rear set them flying again, +and down and up and on again they galloped, driven forward by the iron +hand which never relaxed its grip of them. Silent and pitiless he +whirled them before him until they were within a mile of the long Ponts +de Ce--a series of bridges rather than one bridge--and the broad shallow +Loire lay plain before them, its sandbanks grilling in the sun, and grey +lines of willows marking its eyots. By this time some of the women, +white with fatigue, could only cling to their saddles with their hands; +while others were red-hot, their hair unrolled, and the perspiration +mingled with the dust on their faces. But he who drove them had no pity +for weakness in an emergency. He looked back and saw, a half-mile behind +them, the glitter of steel following hard on their heels: and "Faster! +faster!" he cried, regardless of their prayers: and he beat the rearmost +of the horses with his scabbard. A waiting-woman shrieked that she +should fall, but he answered ruthlessly, "Fall then, fool!" and the +instinct of self-preservation coming to her aid, she clung and bumped and +toiled on with the rest until they reached the first houses of the town +about the bridges, and Badelon raised his hand as a signal that they +might slacken speed. + +The bewilderment of the start had been so great that it was then only, +when they found their feet on the first link of the bridge, that two of +the party, the Countess and Tignonville, awoke to the fact that their +faces were set southwards. To cross the Loire in those days meant much +to all: to a Huguenot, very much. It chanced that these two rode on to +the bridge side by side, and the memory of their last crossing--the +remembrance that, on their journey north a month before, they had crossed +it hand-in-hand with the prospect of passing their lives together, and +with no faintest thought of the events which were to ensue, flashed into +the mind of each of them. It deepened the flush which exertion had +brought to the woman's cheek, then left it paler than before. A minute +earlier she had been wroth with her old lover; she had held him +accountable for the outbreak in the town and this hasty retreat; now her +anger died as she looked and she remembered. In the man, shallower of +feeling and more alive to present contingencies, the uppermost emotion as +he trod the bridge was one of surprise and congratulation. + +He could not at first believe in their good fortune. "_Mon Dieu_!" he +cried, "we are crossing!" And then again in a lower tone, "We are +crossing! We are crossing!" And he looked at her. + +It was impossible that she should not look back; that she who had ceased +to be angry should not feel and remember; impossible that her answering +glance should not speak to his heart. Below them, as on that day a month +earlier, when they had crossed the bridges going northward, the broad +shallow river ran its course in the sunshine, its turbid currents +gleaming and flashing about the sandbanks and osier-beds. To the eye, +the landscape, save that the vintage was farther advanced and the harvest +in part gathered in, was the same. But how changed were their relations, +their prospects, their hopes, who had then crossed the river +hand-in-hand, planning a life to be passed together. + +The young man's rage boiled up at the thought. Too vividly, too sharply +it showed him the wrongs which he had suffered at the hands of the man +who rode behind him, the man who even now drove him on and ordered him +and insulted him. He forgot that he might have perished in the general +massacre if Count Hannibal had not intervened. He forgot that Count +Hannibal had spared him once and twice. He laid on his enemy's shoulders +the guilt of all, the blood of all: and, as quick on the thought of his +wrongs and his fellows' wrongs followed the reflection that with every +league they rode southwards the chance of requital grew, he cried again, +and this time joyously-- + +"We are crossing! A little, and we shall be in our own land!" + +The tears filled the Countess's eyes as she looked westwards and +southwards. + +"Vrillac is there!" she cried; and she pointed. "I smell the sea!" + +"Ay!" he answered, almost under his breath. "It lies there! And no more +than thirty leagues from us! With fresh horses we might see it in two +days!" + +Badelon's voice broke in on them. "Forward!" he cried, as the party +reached the southern bank. "_En avant_!" And, obedient to the word, the +little company, refreshed by the short respite, took the road out of +Ponts de Ce at a steady trot. Nor was the Countess the only one whose +face glowed, being set southwards, or whose heart pulsed to the rhythm of +the horses' hoofs that beat out "Home!" Carlat's and Madame Carlat's +also. Javette even, hearing from her neighbour that they were over the +Loire, plucked up courage; while La Tribe, gazing before him with +moistened eyes, cried "Comfort" to the scared and weeping girl who clung +to his belt. It was singular to see how all sniffed the air as if +already it smacked of the sea and of the south; and how they of Poitou +sat their horses as if they asked nothing better than to ride on and on +and on until the scenes of home arose about them. For them the sky had +already a deeper blue, the air a softer fragrance, the sunshine a purity +long unknown. + +Was it wonderful, when they had suffered so much on that northern bank? +When their experience during the month had been comparable only with the +direst nightmare? Yet one among them, after the first impulse of relief +and satisfaction, felt differently. Tignonville's gorge rose against the +sense of compulsion, of inferiority. To be driven forward after this +fashion, whether he would or no, to be placed at the back of every base- +born man-at-arms, to have no clearer knowledge of what had happened or of +what was passing, or of the peril from which they fled, than the women +among whom he rode--these things kindled anew the sullen fire of hate. +North of the Loire there had been some excuse for his inaction under +insult; he had been in the man's country and power. But south of the +Loire, within forty leagues of Huguenot Niort, must he still suffer, +still be supine? + +His rage was inflamed by a disappointment he presently underwent. Looking +back as they rode clear of the wooden houses of Ponts de Ce, he missed +Tavannes and several of his men; and he wondered if Count Hannibal had +remained on his own side of the river. It seemed possible; and in that +event La Tribe and he and Carlat might deal with Badelon and the four who +still escorted them. But when he looked back a minute later, Tavannes +was within sight, following the party with a stern face; and not Tavannes +only. Bigot, with two of the ten men who hitherto had been missing, was +with him. + +It was clear, however, that they brought no good news, for they had +scarcely ridden up before Count Hannibal cried, "Faster! faster!" in his +harshest voice, and Bigot urged the horses to a quicker trot. Their +course lay almost parallel with the Loire in the direction of Beaupreau; +and Tignonville began to fear that Count Hannibal intended to recross the +river at Nantes, where the only bridge below Angers spanned the stream. +With this in view it was easy to comprehend his wish to distance his +pursuers before he recrossed. + +The Countess had no such thought. "They must be close upon us!" she +murmured, as she urged her horse in obedience to the order. + +"Whoever they are!" Tignonville muttered bitterly. "If we knew what had +happened, or who followed, we should know more about it, Madame. For +that matter, I know what I wish he would do. And our heads are set for +it." + +"What?" + +"Make for Vrillac!" he answered, a savage gleam in his eyes. + +"For Vrillac?" + +"Yes." + +"Ah, if he would!" she cried, her face turning pale. "If he would. He +would be safe there!" + +"Ay, quite safe!" he answered with a peculiar intonation. And he looked +at her askance. + +He fancied that his thought, the thought which had just flashed into his +brain, was her thought; that she had the same notion in reserve, and that +they were in sympathy. And Tavannes, seeing them talking together, and +noting her look and the fervour of her gesture, formed the same opinion, +and retired more darkly into himself. The downfall of his plan for +dazzling her by a magnanimity unparalleled and beyond compare, a plan +dependent on the submission of Angers--his disappointment in this might +have roused the worst passions of a better man. But there was in this +man a pride on a level at least with his other passions: and to bear +himself in this hour of defeat and flight so that if she could not love +him she must admire him, checked in a strange degree the current of his +rage. + +When Tignonville presently looked back he found that Count Hannibal and +six of his riders had pulled up and were walking their horses far in the +rear. On which he would have done the same himself; but Badelon called +over his shoulder the eternal "Forward, Monsieur, _en avant_!" and +sullenly, hating the man and his master more deeply every hour, +Tignonville was forced to push on, with thoughts of vengeance in his +heart. + +Trot, trot! Trot, trot! Through a country which had lost its smiling +wooded character and grew more sombre and less fertile the farther they +left the Loire behind them. Trot, trot! Trot, trot!--for ever, it +seemed to some. Javette wept with fatigue, and the other women were +little better. The Countess herself spoke seldom except to cheer the +Provost's daughter; who, poor girl, flung suddenly out of the round of +her life and cast among strangers, showed a better spirit than might have +been expected. At length, on the slopes of some low hills, which they +had long seen before them, a cluster of houses and a church appeared; and +Badelon, drawing rein, cried-- + +"Beaupreau, Madame! We stay an hour!" + +It was six o'clock. They had ridden some hours without a break. With +sighs and cries of pain the women dropped from their clumsy saddles, +while the men laid out such food--it was little--as had been brought, and +hobbled the horses that they might feed. The hour passed rapidly, and +when it had passed Badelon was inexorable. There was wailing when he +gave the word to mount again; and Tignonville, fiercely resenting this +dumb, reasonless flight, was at heart one of the mutineers. But Badelon +said grimly that they might go on and live, or stay and die, as it +pleased them; and once more they climbed painfully to their saddles, and +jogged steadily on through the sunset, through the gloaming, through the +darkness, across a weird, mysterious country of low hills and narrow +plains which grew more wild and less cultivated as they advanced. +Fortunately the horses had been well saved during the long leisurely +journey to Angers, and now went well and strongly. When they at last +unsaddled for the night in a little dismal wood within a mile of Clisson, +they had placed some forty miles between themselves and Angers. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. THE ORDEAL BY STEEL. + + +The women for the most part fell like sacks and slept where they +alighted, dead weary. The men, when they had cared for the horses, +followed the example; for Badelon would suffer no fire. In less than +half an hour, a sentry who stood on guard at the edge of the wood, and +Tignonville and La Tribe, who talked in low voices with their backs +against a tree, were the only persons who remained awake, with the +exception of the Countess. Carlat had made a couch for her, and screened +it with cloaks from the wind and the eye; for the moon had risen and +where the trees stood sparsest its light flooded the soil with pools of +white. But Madame had not yet retired to her bed. The two men, whose +voices reached her, saw her from time to time moving restlessly to and +fro between the road and the little encampment. Presently she came and +stood over them. + +"He led His people out of the wilderness," La Tribe was saying; "out of +the trouble of Paris, out of the trouble of Angers, and always, always +southward. If you do not in this, Monsieur, see His finger--" + +"And Angers?" Tignonville struck in, with a faint sneer. "Has He led +that out of trouble? A day or two ago you would risk all to save it, my +friend. Now, with your back safely turned on it, you think all for the +best." + +"We did our best," the minister answered humbly. "From the day we met in +Paris we have been but instruments." + +"To save Angers?" + +"To save a remnant." + +On a sudden the Countess raised her hand. "Do you not hear horses, +Monsieur?" she cried. She had been listening to the noises of the night, +and had paid little heed to what the two were saying. + +"One of ours moved," Tignonville answered listlessly. "Why do you not +lie down, Madame?" + +Instead of answering, "Whither is he going?" she asked. "Do you know?" + +"I wish I did know," the young man answered peevishly. "To Niort, it may +be. Or presently he will double back and recross the Loire." + +"He would have gone by Cholet to Niort," La Tribe said. "The direction +is rather that of Rochelle. God grant we be bound thither!" + +"Or to Vrillac," the Countess cried, clasping her hands in the darkness. +"Can it be to Vrillac he is going?" + +The minister shook his head. + +"Ah, let it be to Vrillac!" she cried, a thrill in her voice. "We should +be safe there. And he would be safe." + +"Safe?" echoed a fourth and deeper voice. And out of the darkness beside +them loomed a tall figure. + +The minister looked and leapt to his feet. Tignonville rose more slowly. + +The voice was Tavannes'. "And where am I to be safe?" he repeated +slowly, a faint ring of saturnine amusement in his tone. + +"At Vrillac!" she cried. "In my house, Monsieur!" + +He was silent a moment. Then, "Your house, Madame? In which direction +is it, from here?" + +"Westwards," she answered impulsively, her voice quivering with eagerness +and emotion and hope. "Westwards, Monsieur--on the sea. The causeway +from the land is long, and ten can hold it against ten hundred." + +"Westwards? And how far westwards?" + +Tignonville answered for her; in his tone throbbed the same eagerness, +the same anxiety, which spoke in hers. Nor was Count Hannibal's ear deaf +to it. + +"Through Challans," he said, "thirteen leagues." + +"From Clisson?" + +"Yes, Monsieur le Comte." + +"And by Commequiers less," the Countess cried. + +"No, it is a worse road," Tignonville answered quickly; "and longer in +time." + +"But we came--" + +"At our leisure, Madame. The road is by Challans, if we wish to be there +quickly." + +"Ah!" Count Hannibal said. In the darkness it was impossible to see his +face or mark how he took it. "But being there, I have few men." + +"I have forty will come at call," she cried with pride. "A word to them, +and in four hours or a little more--" + +"They would outnumber mine by four to one," Count Hannibal answered +coldly, dryly, in a voice like ice-water flung in their faces. "Thank +you, Madame; I understand. To Vrillac is no long ride; but we will not +ride it at present." And he turned sharply on his heel and strode from +them. + +He had not covered thirty paces before she overtook him in the middle of +a broad patch of moonlight, and touched his arm. He wheeled swiftly, his +hand halfway to his hilt. Then he saw who it was. + +"Ah," he said, "I had forgotten, Madame. You have come--" + +"No!" she cried passionately; and standing before him she shook back the +hood of her cloak that he might look into her eyes. "You owe me no blow +to-day. You have paid me, Monsieur. You have struck me already, and +foully, like a coward. Do you remember," she continued rapidly, "the +hour after our marriage, and what you said to me? Do you remember what +you told me? And whom to trust and whom to suspect, where lay our +interest and where our foes'? You trusted me then! What have I done +that you now dare--ay, dare, Monsieur," she repeated fearlessly, her face +pale and her eyes glittering with excitement, "to insult me? That you +treat me as--Javette? That you deem me capable of _that_? Of luring you +into a trap, and in my own house, or the house that was mine, of--" + +"Treating me as I have treated others." + +"You have said it!" she cried. She could not herself understand why his +distrust had wounded her so sharply, so home, that all fear of him was +gone. "You have said it, and put that between us which will not be +removed. I could have forgiven blows," she continued, breathless in her +excitement, "so you had thought me what I am. But now you will do well +to watch me! You will do well to leave Vrillac on one side. For were +you there, and raised your hand against me--not that that touches me, but +it will do--and there are those, I tell you, would fling you from the +tower at my word." + +"Indeed?" + +"Ay, indeed! And indeed, Monsieur!" + +Her face was in moonlight, his was in shadow. + +"And this is your new tone, Madame, is it?" he said, slowly and after a +pregnant pause. "The crossing of a river has wrought so great a change +in you?" + +"No!" she cried. + +"Yes," he said. And, despite herself, she flinched before the grimness +of his tone. "You have yet to learn one thing, however: that I do not +change. That, north or south, I am the same to those who are the same to +me. That what I have won on the one bank I will hold on the other, in +the teeth of all, and though God's Church be thundering on my heels! I +go to Vrillac--" + +"You--go?" she cried. "You go?" + +"I go," he repeated, "to-morrow. And among your own people I will see +what language you will hold. While you were in my power I spared you. +Now that you are in your own land, now that you lift your hand against +me, I will show you of what make I am. If blows will not tame you, I +will try that will suit you less. Ay, you wince, Madame! You had done +well had you thought twice before you threatened, and thrice before you +took in hand to scare Tavannes with a parcel of clowns and fisherfolk. To- +morrow, to Vrillac and your duty! And one word more, Madame," he +continued, turning back to her truculently when he had gone some paces +from her. "If I find you plotting with your lover by the way I will hang +not you, but him. I have spared him a score of times; but I know him, +and I do not trust him." + +"Nor me," she said, and with a white, set face she looked at him in the +moonlight. "Had you not better hang me now?" + +"Why?" + +"Lest I do you an injury!" she cried with passion; and she raised her +hand and pointed northward. "Lest I kill you some night, Monsieur! I +tell you, a thousand men on your heels are less dangerous than the woman +at your side--if she hate you." + +"Is it so?" he cried. His hand flew to his hilt; his dagger flashed out. +But she did not move, did not flinch, only she set her teeth; and her +eyes, fascinated by the steel, grew wider. + +His hand sank slowly. He held the weapon to her, hilt foremost; she took +it mechanically. + +"You think yourself brave enough to kill me, do you?" he sneered. "Then +take this, and strike, if you dare. Take it--strike, Madame! It is +sharp, and my arms are open." And he flung them wide, standing within a +pace of her. "Here, above the collar-bone, is the surest for a weak +hand. What, afraid?" he continued, as, stiffly clutching the weapon +which he had put into her hand, she glared at him, trembling and +astonished. "Afraid, and a Vrillac! Afraid, and 'tis but one blow! See, +my arms are open. One blow home, and you will never lie in them. Think +of that. One blow home, and you may lie in his. Think of that! Strike, +then, Madame," he went on, piling taunt on taunt, "if you dare, and if +you hate me. What, still afraid! How shall I give you heart? Shall I +strike you? It will not be the first time by ten. I keep count, you +see," he continued mockingly. "Or shall I kiss you? Ay, that may do. +And it will not be against your will, either, for you have that in your +hand will save you in an instant. Even"--he drew a foot nearer--"now! +Even--" And he stooped until his lips almost touched hers. + +She sprang back. "Oh, do not!" she cried. "Oh, do not!" And, dropping +the dagger, she covered her face with her hands, and burst into weeping. + +He stooped coolly, and, after groping some time for the poniard, drew it +from the leaves among which it had fallen. He put it into the sheath, +and not until he had done that did he speak. Then it was with a sneer. + +"I have no need to fear overmuch," he said. "You are a poor hater, +Madame. And poor haters make poor lovers. 'Tis his loss! If you will +not strike a blow for him, there is but one thing left. Go, dream of +him!" + +And, shrugging his shoulders contemptuously, he turned on his heel. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. THE AMBUSH. + + +The start they made at daybreak was gloomy and ill-omened, through one of +those white mists which are blown from the Atlantic over the flat lands +of Western Poitou. The horses, looming gigantic through the fog, winced +as the cold harness was girded on them. The men hurried to and fro with +saddles on their heads, and stumbled over other saddles, and swore +savagely. The women turned mutinous and would not rise; or, being +dragged up by force, shrieked wild, unfitting words, as they were driven +to the horses. The Countess looked on and listened, and shuddered, +waiting for Carlat to set her on her horse. She had gone during the last +three weeks through much that was dreary, much that was hopeless; but the +chill discomfort of this forced start, with tired horses and wailing +women, would have darkened the prospect of home had there been no fear or +threat to cloud it. + +He whose will compelled all stood a little apart and watched all, silent +and gloomy. When Badelon, after taking his orders and distributing some +slices of black bread to be eaten in the saddle, moved off at the head of +his troop, Count Hannibal remained behind, attended by Bigot and the +eight riders who had formed the rearguard so far. He had not approached +the Countess since rising, and she had been thankful for it. But now, as +she moved away, she looked back and saw him still standing; she marked +that he wore his corselet, and in one of those revulsions of +feeling--which outrun man's reason--she who had tossed on her couch +through half the night, in passionate revolt against the fate before her, +took fire at his neglect and his silence; she resented on a sudden the +distance he kept, and his scorn of her. Her breast heaved, her colour +came, involuntarily she checked her horse, as if she would return to him, +and speak to him. Then the Carlats and the others closed up behind her, +Badelon's monotonous "Forward, Madame, _en avant_!" proclaimed the day's +journey begun, and she saw him no more. + +Nevertheless, the motionless figure, looming Homeric through the fog, +with gleams of wet light reflected from the steel about it, dwelt long in +her mind. The road which Badelon followed, slowly at first, and with +greater speed as the horses warmed to their work, and the women, sore and +battered resigned themselves to suffering, wound across a flat expanse +broken by a few hills. These were little more than mounds, and for the +most part were veiled from sight by the low-lying sea-mist, through which +gnarled and stunted oaks rose mysterious, to fade as strangely. Weird +trees they were, with branches unlike those of this world's trees, rising +in a grey land without horizon or limit, through which our travellers +moved, weary phantoms in a clinging nightmare. At a walk, at a trot, +more often at a jaded amble, they pushed on behind Badelon's humped +shoulders. Sometimes the fog hung so thick about them that they saw only +those who rose and fell in the saddles immediately before them; sometimes +the air cleared a little, the curtain rolled up a space, and for a minute +or two they discerned stretches of unfertile fields, half-tilled and +stony, or long tracts of gorse and broom, with here and there a thicket +of dwarf shrubs or a wood of wind-swept pines. Some looked and saw these +things; more rode on sulky and unseeing, supporting impatiently the toils +of a flight from they knew not what. + +To do Tignonville justice, he was not of these. On the contrary, he +seemed to be in a better temper on this day and, where so many took +things unheroically, he showed to advantage. Avoiding the Countess and +riding with Carlat, he talked and laughed with marked cheerfulness; nor +did he ever fail, when the mist rose, to note this or that landmark, and +confirm Badelon in the way he was going. + +"We shall be at Lege by noon!" he cried more than once, "and if M. le +Comte persists in his plan, may reach Vrillac by late sunset. By way of +Challans!" + +And always Carlat answered, "Ay, by Challans, Monsieur, so be it!" + +He proved, too, so far right in his prediction that noon saw them drag, a +weary train, into the hamlet of Lege, where the road from Nantes to +Olonne runs southward over the level of Poitou. An hour later Count +Hannibal rode in with six of his eight men, and, after a few minutes' +parley with Badelon, who was scanning the horses, he called Carlat to +him. The old man came. + +"Can we reach Vrillac to-night?" Count Hannibal asked curtly. + +"By Challans, my lord," the steward answered, "I think we can. We call +it seven hours' riding from here." + +"And that route is the shortest?" + +"In time, M. le Comte, the road being better." + +Count Hannibal bent his brows. "And the other way?" he said. + +"Is by Commequiers, my lord. It is shorter in distance." + +"By how much?" + +"Two leagues. But there are fordings and a salt marsh; and with Madame +and the women--" + +"It would be longer?" + +The steward hesitated. "I think so," he said slowly, his eyes wandering +to the grey misty landscape, against which the poor hovels of the village +stood out naked and comfortless. A low thicket of oaks sheltered the +place from south-westerly gales. On the other three sides it lay open. + +"Very good," Tavannes said curtly. "Be ready to start in ten minutes. +You will guide us." + +But when the ten minutes had elapsed and the party were ready to start, +to the astonishment of all the steward was not to be found. To +peremptory calls for him no answer came; and a hurried search through the +hamlet proved equally fruitless. The only person who had seen him since +his interview with Tavannes turned out to be M. de Tignonville; and he +had seen him mount his horse five minutes before, and move off--as he +believed--by the Challans road. + +"Ahead of us?" + +"Yes, M. le Comte," Tignonville answered, shading his eyes and gazing in +the direction of the fringe of trees. "I did not see him take the road, +but he was beside the north end of the wood when I saw him last. +Thereabouts!" and he pointed to a place where the Challans road wound +round the flank of the wood. "When we are beyond that point, I think we +shall see him." + +Count Hannibal growled a word in his beard, and, turning in his saddle, +looked back the way he had come. Half a mile away, two or three dots +could be seen approaching across the plain. He turned again. + +"You know the road?" he said, curtly addressing the young man. + +"Perfectly. As well as Carlat." + +"Then lead the way, Monsieur, with Badelon. And spare neither whip nor +spur. There will be need of both, if we would lie warm to-night." + +Tignonville nodded assent and, wheeling his horse, rode to the head of +the party, a faint smile playing about his mouth. A moment, and the main +body moved off behind him, leaving Count Hannibal and six men to cover +the rear. The mist, which at noon had risen for an hour or two, was +closing down again, and they had no sooner passed clear of the wood than +the trees faded out of sight behind them. It was not wonderful that they +could not see Carlat. Objects a hundred paces from them were completely +hidden. + +Trot, trot! Trot, trot! through a grey world so featureless, so unreal +that the riders, now dozing in the saddle, and now awaking, seemed to +themselves to stand still, as in a nightmare. A trot and then a walk, +and then a trot again; and all a dozen times repeated, while the women +bumped along in their wretched saddles, and the horses stumbled, and the +men swore at them. + +Ha! La Garnache at last, and a sharp turn southward to Challans. The +Countess raised her head, and began to look about her. There, should be +a church, she knew; and there, the old ruined tower built by wizards, or +the Carthaginians, so old tradition ran; and there, to the westward, the +great salt marshes towards Noirmoutier. The mist hid all, but the +knowledge that they were there set her heart beating, brought tears to +her eyes, and lightened the long road to Challans. + +At Challans they halted half an hour, and washed out the horses' mouths +with water and a little _guignolet_--the spirit of the country. A dose +of the cordial was administered to the women; and a little after seven +they began the last stage of the journey, through a landscape which even +the mist could not veil from the eyes of love. There rose the windmill +of Soullans! There the old dolmen, beneath which the grey wolf that ate +the two children of Tornic had its lair. For a mile back they had been +treading my lady's land; they had only two more leagues to ride, and one +of those was crumbling under each dogged footfall. The salt flavour, +which is new life to the shore-born, was in the fleecy reek which floated +by them, now thinner, now more opaque; and almost they could hear the +dull thunder of the Biscay waves falling on the rocks. + +Tignonville looked back at her and smiled. She caught the look; she +fancied that she understood it and his thoughts. But her own eyes were +moist at the moment with tears, and what his said, and what there was of +strangeness in his glance, half-warning, half-exultant, escaped her. For +there, not a mile before them, where the low hills about the fishing +village began to rise from the dull inland level--hills green on the land +side, bare and scarped towards the sea and the island--she espied the +wayside chapel at which the nurse of her early childhood had told her +beads. Where it stood, the road from Commequiers and the road she +travelled became one: a short mile thence, after winding among the +hillocks, it ran down to the beach and the causeway--and to her home. + +At the sight she bethought herself of Carlat, and calling to M. de +Tignonville, she asked him what he thought of the steward's continued +absence. + +"He must have outpaced us!" he answered, with an odd laugh. + +"But he must have ridden hard to do that." + +He reined back to her. "Say nothing!" he muttered under his breath. "But +look ahead, Madame, and see if we are expected!" + +"Expected? How can we be expected?" she cried. The colour rushed into +her face. + +He put his finger to his lip, and looked warningly at Badelon's humped +shoulders, jogging up and down in front of them. Then, stooping towards +her, in a lower tone, "If Carlat has arrived before us, he will have told +them," he said. + +"Have told them?" + +"He came by the other road, and it is quicker." + +She gazed at him in astonishment, her lips parted; and slowly she +understood, and her eyes grew hard. + +"Then why," she said, "did you say it was longer. Had we been overtaken, +Monsieur, we had had you to thank for it, it seems!" + +He bit his lip. "But we have not been overtaken," he rejoined. "On the +contrary, you have me to thank for something quite different." + +"As unwelcome, perhaps!" she retorted. "For what?" + +"Softly, Madame." + +"For what?" she repeated, refusing to lower her voice. "Speak, Monsieur, +if you please." He had never seen her look at him in that way. + +"For the fact," he answered, stung by her look and tone, "that when you +arrive you will find yourself mistress in your own house! Is that +nothing?" + +"You have called in my people?" + +"Carlat has done so, or should have," he answered. "Henceforth," he +continued, a ring of exultation in his voice, "it will go hard with M. le +Comte, if he does not treat you better than he has treated you hitherto. +That is all!" + +"You mean that it will go hard with him in any case?" she cried, her +bosom rising and falling. + +"I mean, Madame--But there they are! Good Carlat! Brave Carlat! He has +done well!" + +"Carlat?" + +"Ay, there they are! And you are mistress in your own land! At last you +are mistress, and you have me to thank for it! See!" And heedless in +his exultation whether Badelon understood or not, he pointed to a place +before them where the road wound between two low hills. Over the green +shoulder of one of these, a dozen bright points caught and reflected the +last evening light; while as he spoke a man rose to his feet on the +hillside above, and began to make signs to persons below. A pennon, too, +showed an instant over the shoulder, fluttered, and was gone. + +Badelon looked as they looked. The next instant he uttered a low oath, +and dragged his horse across the front of the party. + +"Pierre!" he cried to the man on his left, "ride for your life! To my +lord, and tell him we are ambushed!" And as the trained soldier wheeled +about and spurred away, the sacker of Rome turned a dark scowling face on +Tignonville. "If this be your work," he hissed, "we shall thank you for +it in hell! For it is where most of us will lie to-night! They are +Montsoreau's spears, and they have those with them are worse to deal with +than themselves!" Then in a different tone, and throwing off all +disguise, "Men to the front!" he shouted. "And you, Madame, to the rear +quickly, and the women with you! Now, men, forward, and draw! Steady! +Steady! They are coming!" + +There was an instant of confusion, disorder, panic; horses jostling one +another, women screaming and clutching at men, men shaking them off and +forcing their way to the van. Fortunately the enemy did not fall on at +once, as Badelon expected, but after showing themselves in the mouth of +the valley, at a distance of three hundred paces, hung for some reason +irresolute. This gave Badelon time to array his seven swords in front; +but real resistance was out of the question, as he knew. And to none +seemed less in question than to Tignonville. + +When the truth, and what he had done, broke on the young man, he sat a +moment motionless with horror. It was only when Badelon had twice +summoned him with opprobrious words that he awoke to the relief of +action. Even after that he hung an instant trying to meet the Countess's +eyes, despair in his own; but it was not to be. She had turned her head, +and was looking back, as if thence only and not from him could help come. +It was not to him she turned; and he saw it, and the justice of it. And +silent, grim, more formidable even than old Badelon, the veteran fighter, +who knew all the tricks and shifts of the _melee_, he spurred to the +flank of the line. + +"Now, steady!" Badelon cried again, seeing that the enemy were beginning +to move. "Steady! Ha! Thank God, my lord! My lord is coming! Stand! +Stand!" The distant sound of galloping hoofs had reached his ear in the +nick of time. He stood in his stirrups and looked back. Yes, Count +Hannibal was coming, riding a dozen paces in front of his men. The odds +were still desperate--for he brought but six--the enemy were still three +to one. But the thunder of his hoofs as he came up checked for a moment +the enemy's onset; and before Montsoreau's people got started again Count +Hannibal had ridden up abreast of the women, and the Countess, looking at +him, knew that, desperate as was their strait, she had not looked behind +in vain. The glow of battle, the stress of the moment, had displaced the +cloud from his face; the joy of the born fighter lightened in his eye. +His voice rang clear and loud above the press. + +"Badelon! wait you and two with Madame!" he cried. "Follow at fifty +paces' distance, and, when we have broken them, ride through! The others +with me! Now forward, men, and show your teeth! A Tavannes! A +Tavannes! A Tavannes! We carry it yet!" + +And he dashed forward, leading them on, leaving the women behind; and +down the sward to meet him, thundering in double line, came Montsoreau's +men-at-arms, and with the men-at-arms, a dozen pale, fierce-eyed men in +the Church's black, yelling the Church's curses. Madame's heart grew +sick as she heard, as she waited, as she judged him by the fast-failing +light a horse's length before his men--with only Tignonville beside him. + +She held her breath--would the shock never come? If Badelon had not +seized her rein and forced her forward, she would not have moved. And +then, even as she moved, they met! With yells and wild cries and a +mare's savage scream, the two bands crashed together in a huddle of +fallen or rearing horses, of flickering weapons, of thrusting men, of +grapples hand-to-hand. What happened, what was happening to any one, who +it was fell, stabbed through and through by four, or who were those who +still fought single combats, twisting round one another's horses, those +on her right and on her left, she could not tell. For Badelon dragged +her on with whip and spur, and two horsemen--who obscured her +view--galloped in front of her, and rode down bodily the only man who +undertook to bar her passage. She had a glimpse of that man's face, as +his horse, struck in the act of turning, fell sideways on him; and she +knew it, in its agony of terror, though she had seen it but once. It was +the face of the man whose eyes had sought hers from the steps of the +church in Angers; the lean man in black, who had turned soldier of the +Church--to his misfortune. + +Through? Yes, through, the way was clear before them! The fight with +its screams and curses died away behind them. The horses swayed and all +but sank under them. But Badelon knew it no time for mercy; iron-shod +hoofs rang on the road behind, and at any moment the pursuers might be on +their heels. He flogged on until the cots of the hamlet appeared on +either side of the way; on, until the road forked and the Countess with +strange readiness cried "The left!"--on, until the beach appeared below +them at the foot of a sharp pitch, and beyond the beach the slow heaving +grey of the ocean. + +The tide was high. The causeway ran through it, a mere thread lipped by +the darkling waves, and at the sight a grunt of relief broke from +Badelon. For at the end of the causeway, black against the western sky, +rose the gateway and towers of Vrillac; and he saw that, as the Countess +had said, it was a place ten men could hold against ten hundred! + +They stumbled down the beach, reached the causeway and trotted along it; +more slowly now, and looking back. The other women had followed by hook +or by crook, some crying hysterically, yet clinging to their horses and +even urging them; and in a medley, the causeway clear behind them and no +one following, they reached the drawbridge, and passed under the arch of +the gate beyond. + +There friendly hands, Carlat's foremost, welcomed them and aided them to +alight, and the Countess saw, as in a dream, the familiar scene, all +unfamiliar: the gate, where she had played, a child, aglow with lantern- +light and arms. Men, whose rugged faces she had known in infancy, stood +at the drawbridge chains and at the winches. Others blew matches and +handled primers, while old servants crowded round her, and women looked +at her, scared and weeping. She saw it all at a glance--the lights, the +black shadows, the sudden glow of a match on the groining of the arch +above. She saw it, and turning swiftly, looked back the way she had +come; along the dusky causeway to the low, dark shore, which night was +stealing quickly from their eyes. She clasped her hands. + +"Where is Badelon?" she cried. "Where is he? Where is he?" + +One of the men who had ridden before her answered that he had turned +back. + +"Turned back!" she repeated. And then, shading her eyes, "Who is +coming?" she asked, her voice insistent. "There is some one coming. Who +is it? Who is it?" + +Two were coming out of the gloom, travelling slowly and painfully along +the causeway. One was La Tribe, limping; the other a rider, slashed +across the forehead, and sobbing curses. + +"No more!" she muttered. "Are there no more?" + +The minister shook his head. The rider wiped the blood from his eyes, +and turned up his face that he might see the better. But he seemed to be +dazed, and only babbled strange words in a strange _patois_. + +She stamped her foot in passion. "More lights!" she cried. "Lights! How +can they find their way? And let six men go down the _digue_, and meet +them. Will you let them be butchered between the shore and this?" + +But Carlat, who had not been able to collect more than a dozen men, shook +his head; and before she could repeat the order, sounds of battle, +shrill, faint, like cries of hungry seagulls, pierced the darkness which +shrouded the farther end of the causeway. The women shrank inward over +the threshold, while Carlat cried to the men at the chains to be ready, +and to some who stood at loopholes above, to blow up their matches and +let fly at his word. And then they all waited, the Countess foremost, +peering eagerly into the growing darkness. They could see nothing. + +A distant scuffle, an oath, a cry, silence! The same, a little nearer, a +little louder, followed this time, not by silence, but by the slow tread +of a limping horse. Again a rush of feet, the clash of steel, a scream, +a laugh, all weird and unreal, issuing from the night; then out of the +darkness into the light, stepping slowly with hanging head, moved a +horse, bearing on its back a man--or was it a man?--bending low in the +saddle, his feet swinging loose. For an instant the horse and the man +seemed to be alone, a ghostly pair; then at their heels came into view +two figures, skirmishing this way and that; and now coming nearer, and +now darting back into the gloom. One, a squat figure, stooping low, +wielded a sword with two hands; the other covered him with a half-pike. +And then beyond these--abruptly as it seemed--the night gave up to sight +a swarm of dark figures pressing on them and after them, driving them +before them. + +Carlat had an inspiration. "Fire!" he cried; and four arquebuses poured +a score of slugs into the knot of pursuers. A man fell, another shrieked +and stumbled, the rest gave back. Only the horse came on spectrally, +with hanging head and shining eyeballs, until a man ran out and seized +its head, and dragged it, more by his strength than its own, over the +drawbridge. After it Badelon, with a gaping wound in his knee, and +Bigot, bleeding from a dozen hurts, walked over the bridge, and stood on +either side of the saddle, smiling foolishly at the man on the horse. + +"Leave me!" he muttered. "Leave me!" He made a feeble movement with his +hand, as if it held a weapon; then his head sank lower. It was Count +Hannibal. His thigh was broken, and there was a lance-head in his arm. +The Countess looked at him, then beyond him, past him into the darkness. + +"Are there no more?" she whispered tremulously. "No more? +Tignonville--my--" + +Badelon shook his head. The Countess covered her face and wept. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. WHICH WILL YOU, MADAME? + + +It was in the grey dawning of the next day, at the hour before the sun +rose, that word of M. de Tignonville's fate came to them in the castle. +The fog which had masked the van and coming of night hung thick on its +retreating skirts, and only reluctantly and little by little gave up to +sight and daylight a certain thing which night had left at the end of the +causeway. The first man to see it was Carlat, from the roof of the +gateway; and he rubbed eyes weary with watching, and peered anew at it +through the mist, fancying himself back in the Place Ste.-Croix at +Angers, supposing for a wild moment the journey a dream, and the return a +nightmare. But rub as he might, and stare as he might, the ugly outlines +of the thing he had seen persisted--nay, grew sharper as the haze began +to lift from the grey, slow-heaving floor of sea. He called another man +and bade him look. + +"What is it?" he said. "D'you see, there? Below the village?" + +"'Tis a gibbet," the man answered, with a foolish laugh; they had watched +all night. "God keep us from it." + +"A gibbet?" + +"Ay!" + +"But what is it for? What is it doing there?" + +"It is there to hang those they have taken, very like," the man answered, +stupidly practical. And then other men came up, and stared at it and +growled in their beards. Presently there were eight or ten on the roof +of the gateway looking towards the land and discussing the thing; and by- +and-by a man was descried approaching along the causeway with a white +flag in his hand. + +At that Carlat bade one fetch the minister. "He understands things," he +muttered, "and I misdoubt this. And see," he cried after the messenger, +"that no word of it come to Mademoiselle!" Instinctively in the maiden +home he reverted to the maiden title. + +The messenger went, and came again bringing La Tribe, whose head rose +above the staircase at the moment the envoy below came to a halt before +the gate. Carlat signed to the minister to come forward; and La Tribe, +after sniffing the salt air, and glancing at the long, low, misty shore +and the stiff ugly shape which stood at the end of the causeway, looked +down and met the envoy's eyes. For a moment no one spoke. Only the men +who had remained on the gateway, and had watched the stranger's coming, +breathed hard. + +At last, "I bear a message," the man announced loudly and clearly, "for +the lady of Vrillac. Is she present?" + +"Give your message!" La Tribe replied. + +"It is for her ears only." + +"Do you want to enter?" + +"No!" The man answered so hurriedly that more than one smiled. He had +the bearing of a lay clerk of some precinct, a verger or sacristan; and +after a fashion the dress of one also, for he was in dusty black and wore +no sword, though he was girded with a belt. "No!" he repeated, "but if +Madame will come to the gate, and speak to me--" + +"Madame has other fish to fry," Carlat blurted out. "Do you think that +she has naught to do but listen to messages from a gang of bandits?" + +"If she does not listen she will repent it all her life!" the fellow +answered hardily. "That is part of my message." + +There was a pause while La Tribe considered the matter. In the end, +"From whom do you come?" he asked. + +"From His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor of Saumur," the envoy +answered glibly, "and from my Lord Bishop of Angers, him assisting by his +Vicar; and from others gathered lawfully, who will as lawfully depart if +their terms are accepted. Also from M. de Tignonville, a gentleman, I am +told, of these parts, now in their hands and adjudged to die at sunset +this day if the terms I bring be not accepted." + +There was a long silence on the gate. The men looked down fixedly; not a +feature of one of them moved, for no one was surprised. "Wherefore is he +to die?" La Tribe asked at last. + +"For good cause shown." + +"Wherefore?" + +"He is a Huguenot." + +The minister nodded. "And the terms?" Carlat muttered. + +"Ay, the terms!" La Tribe repeated, nodding afresh. "What are they?" + +"They are for Madame's ear only," the messenger made answer. + +"Then they will not reach it!" Carlat broke forth in wrath. "So much for +that! And for yourself, see you go quickly before we make a target of +you!" + +"Very well, I go," the envoy answered sullenly. "But--" + +"But what?" La Tribe cried, gripping Carlat's shoulder to quiet him. "But +what? Say what you have to say, man! Speak out, and have done with it!' + +"I will say it to her and to no other." + +"Then you will not say it!" Carlat cried again. "For you will not see +her. So you may go. And the black fever in your vitals." + +"Ay, go!" La Tribe added more quietly. + +The man turned away with a shrug of the shoulders, and moved off a dozen +paces, watched by all on the gate with the same fixed attention. But +presently he paused; he returned. + +"Very well," he said, looking up with an ill grace. "I will do my office +here, if I cannot come to her. But I hold also a letter from M. de +Tignonville, and that I can deliver to no other hands than hers!" He +held it up as he spoke, a thin scrap of greyish paper, the fly-leaf of a +missal perhaps. "See!" he continued, "and take notice! If she does not +get this, and learns when it is too late that it was offered--" + +"The terms," Carlat growled impatiently. "The terms! Come to them!" + +"You will have them?" the man answered, nervously passing his tongue over +his lips. "You will not let me see her, or speak to her privately?" + +"No." + +"Then hear them. His Excellency is informed that one Hannibal de +Tavannes, guilty of the detestable crime of sacrilege and of other gross +crimes, has taken refuge here. He requires that the said Hannibal de +Tavannes be handed to him for punishment, and, this being done before +sunset this evening, he will yield to you free and uninjured the said M. +de Tignonville, and will retire from the lands of Vrillac. But if you +refuse"--the man passed his eye along the line of attentive faces which +fringed the battlement--"he will at sunset hang the said Tignonville on +the gallows raised for Tavannes, and will harry the demesne of Vrillac to +its farthest border!" + +There was a long silence on the gate. Some, their gaze still fixed on +him, moved their lips as if they chewed. Others looked aside, met their +fellows' eyes in a pregnant glance, and slowly returned to him. But no +one spoke. At his back the flush of dawn was flooding the east, and +spreading and waxing brighter. The air was growing warm; the shore +below, from grey, was turning green. + +In a minute or two the sun, whose glowing marge already peeped above the +low hills of France, would top the horizon. + +The man, getting no answer, shifted his feet uneasily. "Well," he cried, +"what answer am I to take?" + +Still no one moved. + +"I've done my part. Will no one give her the letter?" he cried. And he +held it up. "Give me my answer, for I am going." + +"Take the letter!" The words came from the rear of the group in a voice +that startled all. They turned, as though some one had struck them, and +saw the Countess standing beside the hood which covered the stairs. They +guessed that she had heard all or nearly all; but the glory of the +sunrise, shining full on her at that moment, lent a false warmth to her +face, and life to eyes woefully and tragically set. It was not easy to +say whether she had heard or not. "Take the letter," she repeated. + +Carlat looked helplessly over the parapet. + +"Go down!" + +He cast a glance at La Tribe, but he got none in return, and he was +preparing to do her bidding when a cry of dismay broke from those who +still had their eyes bent downwards. The messenger, waving the letter in +a last appeal, had held it too loosely; a light air, as treacherous, as +unexpected, had snatched it from his hand, and bore it--even as the +Countess, drawn by the cry, sprang to the parapet--fifty paces from him. +A moment it floated in the air, eddying, rising, falling; then, light as +thistledown, it touched the water and began to sink. + +The messenger uttered frantic lamentations, and stamped the causeway in +his rage. The Countess only looked, and looked, until the rippling crest +of a baby wave broke over the tiny venture, and with its freight of +tidings it sank from sight. + +The man, silent now, stared a moment, then shrugged his shoulders. + +"Well, 'tis fortunate it was his," he cried brutally, "and not His +Excellency's, or my back had suffered! And now," he added impatiently, +"by your leave, what answer?" + +What answer? Ah, God, what answer? The men who leant on the parapet, +rude and coarse as they were, felt the tragedy of the question and the +dilemma, guessed what they meant to her, and looked everywhere save at +her. + +What answer? Which of the two was to live? Which die--shamefully? +Which? Which? + +"Tell him--to come back--an hour before sunset," she muttered. + +They told him and he went; and one by one the men began to go too, and +stole from the roof, leaving her standing alone, her face to the shore, +her hands resting on the parapet. The light breeze which blew off the +land stirred loose ringlets of her hair, and flattened the thin robe +against her sunlit figure. So had she stood a thousand times in old +days, in her youth, in her maidenhood. So in her father's time had she +stood to see her lover come riding along the sands to woo her! So had +she stood to welcome him on the eve of that fatal journey to Paris! +Thence had others watched her go with him. The men remembered--remembered +all; and one by one they stole shamefacedly away, fearing lest she should +speak or turn tragic eyes on them. + +True, in their pity for her was no doubt of the end, or thought of the +victim who must suffer--of Tavannes. They, of Poitou, who had not been +with him, knew nothing of him; they cared as little. He was a northern +man, a stranger, a man of the sword, who had seized her--so they heard--by +the sword. But they saw that the burden of choice was laid on her; +there, in her sight and in theirs, rose the gibbet; and, clowns as they +were, they discerned the tragedy of her _role_, play it as she might, and +though her act gave life to her lover. + +When all had retired save three or four, she turned and saw these +gathered at the head of the stairs in a ring about Carlat, who was +addressing them in a low eager voice. She could not catch a syllable, +but a look hard and almost cruel flashed into her eyes as she gazed; and +raising her voice she called the steward to her. + +"The bridge is up," she said, her tone hard, "but the gates? Are they +locked?" + +"Yes, Madame." + +"The wicket?" + +"No, not the wicket." And Carlat looked another way. + +"Then go, lock it, and bring the keys to me!" she replied. "Or stay!" +Her voice grew harder, her eyes spiteful as a cat's. "Stay, and be +warned that you play me no tricks! Do you hear? Do you understand? Or +old as you are, and long as you have served us, I will have you thrown +from this tower, with as little pity as Isabeau flung her gallants to the +fishes. I am still mistress here, never more mistress than this day. Woe +to you if you forget it." + +He blenched and cringed before her, muttering incoherently. + +"I know," she said, "I read you! And now the keys. Go, bring them to +me! And if by chance I find the wicket unlocked when I come down, pray, +Carlat, pray! For you will have need of prayers." + +He slunk away, the men with him; and she fell to pacing the roof +feverishly. Now and then she extended her arms, and low cries broke from +her, as from a dumb creature in pain. Wherever she looked, old memories +rose up to torment her and redouble her misery. A thing she could have +borne in the outer world, a thing which might have seemed tolerable in +the reeking air of Paris or in the gloomy streets of Angers wore here its +most appalling aspect. Henceforth, whatever choice she made, this home, +where even in those troublous times she had known naught but peace, must +bear a damning stain! Henceforth this day and this hour must come +between her and happiness, must brand her brow, and fix her with a deed +of which men and women would tell while she lived! Oh, God--pray? Who +said, pray? + +"I!" And La Tribe with tears in his eyes held out the keys to her. "I, +Madame," he continued solemnly, his voice broken with emotion. "For in +man is no help. The strongest man, he who rode yesterday a master of +men, a very man of war in his pride and his valour--see him, now, and--" + +"Don't!" she cried, sharp pain in her voice. "Don't!" And she stopped +him with her hand, her face averted. After an interval, "You come from +him?" she muttered faintly. + +"Yes." + +"Is he--hurt to death, think you?" She spoke low, and kept her face +hidden from him. + +"Alas, no!" he answered, speaking the thought in his heart. "The men who +are with him seem confident of his recovery." + +"Do they know?" + +"Badelon has had experience." + +"No, no. Do they know of this?" she cried. "Of this!" And she pointed +with a gesture of loathing to the black gibbet on the farther strand. + +He shook his head. "I think not," he muttered. And after a moment, "God +help you!" he added fervently. "God help and guide you, Madame!" + +She turned on him suddenly, fiercely. "Is that all you can do?" she +cried. "Is that all the help you can give? You are a man. Go down, +lead them out; drive off these cowards who drain our life's blood, who +trade on a woman's heart! On them! Do something, anything, rather than +lie in safety here--here!" + +The minister shook his head sadly. "Alas, Madame!" he said, "to sally +were to waste life. They outnumber us three to one. If Count Hannibal +could do no more than break through last night, with scarce a man +unwounded--" + +"He had the women!" + +"And we have not him!" + +"He would not have left us!" she cried hysterically. + +"I believe it." + +"Had they taken me, do you think he would have lain behind walls? Or +skulked in safety here, while--while--" Her voice failed her. + +He shook his head despondently. + +"And that is all you can do?" she cried, and turned from him, and to him +again, extending her arms, in bitter scorn. "All you will do? Do you +forget that twice he spared your life? That in Paris once, and once in +Angers, he held his hand? That always, whether he stood or whether he +fled, he held himself between us and harm? Ay, always? And who will now +raise a hand for him? Who?" + +"Madame!" + +"Who? Who? Had he died in the field," she continued, her voice shaking +with grief, her hands beating the parapet--for she had turned from +him--"had he fallen where he rode last night, in the front, with his face +to the foe, I had viewed him tearless, I had deemed him happy! I had +prayed dry-eyed for him who--who spared me all these days and weeks! Whom +I robbed and he forgave me! Whom I tempted, and he forbore me! Ay, and +who spared not once or twice him for whom he must now--he must now--" And +unable to finish the sentence she beat her hands again and passionately +on the stones. + +"Heaven knows, Madame," the minister cried vehemently, "Heaven knows, I +would advise you if I could." + +"Why did he wear his corselet?" she wailed, as if she had not heard him. +"Was there no spear could reach his breast, that he must come to this? No +foe so gentle he would spare him this? Or why did _he_ not die with me +in Paris when we waited? In another minute death might have come and +saved us this." + +With the tears running down his face he tried to comfort her. + +"Man that is a shadow," he said, "passeth away--what matter how? A +little while, a very little while, and we shall pass!" + +"With his curse upon us!" she cried. And, shuddering, she pressed her +hands to her eyes to shut out the sight her fancy pictured. + +He left her for a while, hoping that in solitude she might regain control +of herself. When he returned he found her seated, and outwardly more +composed; her arms resting on the parapet-wall, her eyes bent steadily on +the long stretch of hard sand which ran northward from the village. By +that route her lover had many a time come to her; there she had ridden +with him in the early days; and that way they had started for Paris on +such a morning and at such an hour as this, with sunshine about them, and +larks singing hope above the sand-dunes, and with wavelets creaming to +the horses' hoofs! + +Of all which La Tribe, a stranger, knew nothing. The rapt gaze, the +unchanging attitude only confirmed his opinion of the course she would +adopt. He was thankful to find her more composed; and in fear of such a +scene as had already passed between them, he stole away again. He +returned by-and-by, but with the greatest reluctance, and only because +Carlat's urgency would take no refusal. + +He came this time to crave the key of the wicket, explaining that--rather +to satisfy his own conscience and the men than with any hope of +success--he proposed to go halfway along the causeway, and thence by +signs invite a conference. + +"It is just possible," he added, hesitating--he feared nothing so much as +to raise hopes in her--"that by the offer of a money ransom, Madame--" + +"Go," she said, without turning her head. "Offer what you please. +But"--bitterly--"have a care of them! Montsoreau is very like Montereau! +Beware of the bridge!" + +He went and came again in half an hour. Then, indeed, though she had +spoken as if hope was dead in her, she was on her feet at the first sound +of his tread on the stairs; her parted lips and her white face questioned +him. He shook his head. + +"There is a priest," he said in broken tones, "with them, whom God will +judge. It is his plan, and he is without mercy or pity." + +"You bring nothing from--him?" + +"They will not suffer him to write again." + +"You did not see him?" + +"No." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. AGAINST THE WALL. + + +In a room beside the gateway, into which, as the nearest and most +convenient place, Count Hannibal had been carried from his saddle, a man +sat sideways in the narrow embrasure of a loophole, to which his eyes +seemed glued. The room, which formed part of the oldest block of the +chateau, and was ordinarily the quarters of the Carlats, possessed two +other windows, deep-set indeed, yet superior to that through which +Bigot--for he it was--peered so persistently. But the larger windows +looked southwards, across the bay--at this moment the noon-high sun was +pouring his radiance through them; while the object which held Bigot's +gaze and fixed him to his irksome seat, lay elsewhere. The loophole +commanded the causeway leading shorewards; through it the Norman could +see who came and went, and even the cross-beam of the ugly object which +rose where the causeway touched the land. + +On a flat truckle-bed behind the door lay Count Hannibal, his injured leg +protected from the coverlid by a kind of cage. His eyes were bright with +fever, and his untended beard and straggling hair heightened the wildness +of his aspect. But he was in possession of his senses; and as his gaze +passed from Bigot at the window to the old Free Companion, who sat on a +stool beside him, engaged in shaping a piece of wood into a splint, an +expression almost soft crept into his harsh face. + +"Old fool!" he said. And his voice, though changed, had not lost all its +strength and harshness. "Did the Constable need a splint when you laid +him under the tower at Gaeta?" + +The old man lifted his eyes from his task, and glanced through the +nearest window. + +"It is long from noon to night," he said quietly, "and far from cup to +lip, my lord!" + +"It would be if I had two legs," Tavannes answered, with a grimace, half- +snarl, half-smile. "As it is--where is that dagger? It leaves me every +minute." + +It had slipped from the coverlid to the ground. Badelon took it up, and +set it on the bed within reach of his master's hand. + +Bigot swore fiercely. "It would be farther still," he growled, "if you +would be guided by me, my lord. Give me leave to bar the door, and +'twill be long before these fisher clowns force it. Badelon and I--" + +"Being in your full strength," Count Hannibal murmured cynically. + +"Could hold it. We have strength enough for that," the Norman boasted, +though his livid face and his bandages gave the lie to his words. He +could not move without pain; and for Badelon, his knee was as big as two +with plaisters of his own placing. + +Count Hannibal stared at the ceiling. "You could not strike two blows!" +he said. "Don't lie to me! And Badelon cannot walk two yards! Fine +fighters!" he continued with bitterness, not all bitter. "Fine bars +'twixt a man and death! No, it is time to turn the face to the wall. +And, since go I must, it shall not be said Count Hannibal dared not go +alone! Besides--" + +Bigot stopped him with an oath that was in part a cry of pain. + +"D---n her!" he exclaimed in fury, "'tis she is that _besides_! I know +it. 'Tis she has been our ruin from the day we saw her first, ay, to +this day! 'Tis she has bewitched you until your blood, my lord, has +turned to water. Or you would never, to save the hand that betrayed us, +never to save a man--" + +"Silence!" Count Hannibal cried, in a terrible voice. And rising on his +elbow, he poised the dagger as if he would hurl it. "Silence, or I will +spit you like the vermin you are! Silence, and listen! And you, old ban- +dog, listen too, for I know you obstinate! It is not to save him. It is +because I will die as I have lived, fearing nothing and asking nothing! +It were easy to bar the door as you would have me, and die in the corner +here like a wolf at bay, biting to the last. That were easy, old wolf- +hound! Pleasant and good sport!" + +"Ay! That were a death!" the veteran cried, his eyes brightening. "So I +would fain die!" + +"And I!" Count Hannibal returned, showing his teeth in a grim smile. "I +too! Yet I will not! I will not! Because so to die were to die +unwillingly, and give them triumph. Be dragged to death? No, old dog, +if die we must, we will go to death! We will die grandly, highly, as +becomes Tavannes! That when we are gone they may say, 'There died a +man!'" + +"_She_ may say!" Bigot muttered, scowling. + +Count Hannibal heard and glared at him, but presently thought better of +it, and after a pause-- + +"Ay, she too!" he said. "Why not? As we have played the game--for +her--so, though we lose, we will play it to the end; nor because we lose +throw down the cards! Besides, man, die in the corner, die biting, and +he dies too!" + +"And why not?" Bigot asked, rising in a fury. "Why not? Whose work is +it we lie here, snared by these clowns of fisherfolk? Who led us wrong +and betrayed us? He die? Would the devil had taken him a year ago! +Would he were within my reach now! I would kill him with my bare +fingers! He die? And why not?" + +"Why, because, fool, his death would not save me!" Count Hannibal +answered coolly. "If it would, he would die! But it will not; and we +must even do again as we have done. I have spared him--he's a +white-livered hound!--both once and twice, and we must go to the end with +it since no better can be! I have thought it out, and it must be. Only +see you, old dog, that I have the dagger hid in the splint where I can +reach it. And then, when the exchange has been made, and my lady has her +silk glove again--to put in her bosom!"--with a grimace and a sudden +reddening of his harsh features--"if master priest come within reach of +my arm, I'll send him before me, where I go." + +"Ay, ay!" said Badelon. "And if you fail of your stroke I will not fail +of mine! I shall be there, and I will see to it he goes! I shall be +there!" + +"You?" + +"Ay, why not?" the old man answered quietly. "I may halt on this leg for +aught I know, and come to starve on crutches like old Claude Boiteux who +was at the taking of Milan and now begs in the passage under the +Chatelet." + +"Bah, man, you will get a new lord!" + +Badelon nodded. "Ay, a new lord with new ways!" he answered slowly and +thoughtfully. "And I am tired. They are of another sort, lords now, +than they were when I was young. It was a word and a blow then. Now I +am old, with most it is--'Old hog, your distance! You scent my lady!' +Then they rode, and hunted, and tilted year in and year out, and summer +or winter heard the lark sing. Now they are curled, and paint +themselves, and lie in silk and toy with ladies--who shamed to be seen at +Court or board when I was a boy--and love better to hear the mouse squeak +than the lark sing." + +"Still, if I give you my gold chain," Count Hannibal answered quietly, +"'twill keep you from that." + +"Give it to Bigot," the old man answered. The splint he was fashioning +had fallen on his knees, and his eyes were fixed on the distance of his +youth. "For me, my lord, I am tired, and I go with you. I go with you. +It is a good death to die biting before the strength be quite gone. Have +the dagger too, if you please, and I'll fit it within the splint right +neatly. But I shall be there--" + +"And you'll strike home?" Tavannes cried eagerly. He raised himself on +his elbow, a gleam of joy in his gloomy eyes. + +"Have no fear, my lord. See, does it tremble?" He held out his hand. +"And when you are sped, I will try the Spanish stroke--upwards with a +turn ere you withdraw, that I learned from Ruiz--on the shaven pate. I +see them about me now!" the old man continued, his face flushing, his +form dilating. "It will be odd if I cannot snatch a sword and hew down +three to go with Tavannes! And Bigot, he will see my lord the Marshal by- +and-by; and as I do to the priest, the Marshal will do to Montsoreau. Ho! +ho! He will teach him the _coup de Jarnac_, never fear!" And the old +man's moustaches curled up ferociously. + +Count Hannibal's eyes sparkled with joy. "Old dog!" he cried--and he +held his hand to the veteran, who brushed it reverently with his lips--"we +will go together then! Who touches my brother, touches Tavannes!" + +"Touches Tavannes!" Badelon cried, the glow of battle lighting his +bloodshot eyes. He rose to his feet. "Touches Tavannes! You mind at +Jarnac--" + +"Ah! At Jarnac!" + +"When we charged their horse, was my boot a foot from yours, my lord?" + +"Not a foot!" + +"And at Dreux," the old man continued with a proud, elated gesture, "when +we rode down the German pikemen--they were grass before us, leaves on the +wind, thistledown--was it not I who covered your bridle hand, and swerved +not in the _melee_?" + +"It was! It was!" + +"And at St. Quentin, when we fled before the Spaniard--it was his day, +you remember, and cost us dear--" + +"Ay, I was young then," Tavannes cried in turn, his eyes glistening. "St. +Quentin! It was the tenth of August. And you were new with me, and +seized my rein--" + +"And we rode off together, my lord--of the last, of the last, as God sees +me! And striking as we went, so that they left us for easier game." + +"It was so, good sword! I remember it as if it had been yesterday!" + +"And at Cerisoles, the Battle of the Plain, in the old Spanish wars, that +was most like a joust of all the pitched fields I ever saw--at Cerisoles, +where I caught your horse? You mind me? It was in the shock when we +broke Guasto's line--" + +"At Cerisoles?" Count Hannibal muttered slowly. "Why, man, I--" + +"I caught your horse, and mounted you afresh? You remember, my lord? And +at Landriano, where Leyva turned the tables on us again." + +Count Hannibal stared. "Landriano?" he muttered bluntly. "'Twas in '29, +forty years ago and more! My father, indeed--" + +"And at Rome--at Rome, my lord? _Mon Dieu_! in the old days at Rome! +When the Spanish company scaled the wall--Ruiz was first, I next--was it +not my foot you held? And was it not I who dragged you up, while the +devils of Swiss pressed us hard? Ah, those were days, my lord! I was +young then, and you, my lord, young too, and handsome as the morning--" + +"You rave!" Tavannes cried, finding his tongue at last. "Rome? You +rave, old man! Why, I was not born in those days. My father even was a +boy! It was in '27 you sacked it--five-and-forty years ago!" + +The old man passed his hands over his heated face, and, as a man roused +suddenly from sleep looks, he looked round the room. The light died out +of his eyes--as a light blown out in a room; his form seemed to shrink, +even while the others gazed at him, and he sat down. + +"No, I remember," he muttered slowly. "It was Prince Philibert of +Chalons, my lord of Orange." + +"Dead these forty years!" + +"Ay, dead these forty years! All dead!" the old man whispered, gazing at +his gnarled hand, and opening and shutting it by turns. "And I grow +childish! 'Tis time, high time, I followed them! It trembles now; but +have no fear, my lord, this hand will not tremble then. All dead! Ay, +all dead!" + +He sank into a mournful silence; and Tavannes, after gazing at him awhile +in rough pity, fell to his own meditations, which were gloomy enough. The +day was beginning to wane, and with the downward turn, though the sun +still shone brightly through the southern windows, a shadow seemed to +fall across his thoughts. They no longer rioted in a turmoil of defiance +as in the forenoon. In its turn, sober reflection marshalled the past +before his eyes. The hopes of a life, the ambitions of a life, moved in +sombre procession, and things done and things left undone, the +sovereignty which Nostradamus had promised, the faces of men he had +spared and of men he had not spared--and the face of one woman. + +She would not now be his. He had played highly, and he would lose +highly, playing the game to the end, that to-morrow she might think of +him highly. Had she begun to think of him at all? In the chamber of the +inn at Angers he had fancied a change in her, an awakening to life and +warmth, a shadow of turning to him. It had pleased him to think so, at +any rate. It pleased him still to imagine--of this he was more +confident--that in the time to come, when she was Tignonville's, she +would think of him secretly and kindly. She would remember him, and in +her thoughts and in her memory he would grow to the heroic, even as the +man she had chosen would shrink as she learned to know him. + +It pleased him, that. It was almost all that was left to please +him--that, and to die proudly as he had lived. But as the day wore on, +and the room grew hot and close, and the pain in his thigh became more +grievous, the frame of his mind altered. A sombre rage was born and grew +in him, and a passion fierce and ill-suppressed. To end thus, with +nothing done, nothing accomplished of all his hopes and ambitions! To +die thus, crushed in a corner by a mean priest and a rabble of spearmen, +he who had seen Dreux and Jarnac, had defied the King, and dared to turn +the St. Bartholomew to his ends! To die thus, and leave her to that +puppet! Strong man as he was, of a strength of will surpassed by few, it +taxed him to the utmost to lie and make no sign. Once, indeed, he raised +himself on his elbow with something between an oath and a snarl, and he +seemed about to speak. So that Bigot came hurriedly to him. + +"My lord?" + +"Water!" he said. "Water, fool!" And, having drunk, he turned his face +to the wall, lest he should name her or ask for her. + +For the desire to see her before he died, to look into her eyes, to touch +her hand once, only once, assailed his mind and all but whelmed his will. +She had been with him, he knew it, in the night; she had left him only at +daybreak. But then, in his state of collapse, he had been hardly +conscious of her presence. Now to ask for her or to see her would stamp +him coward, say what he might to her. The proverb, that the King's face +gives grace, applied to her; and an overture on his side could mean but +one thing, that he sought her grace. And that he would not do though the +cold waters of death covered him more and more, and the coming of the +end--in that quiet chamber, while the September sun sank to the appointed +place--awoke wild longings and a wild rebellion in his breast. His +thoughts were very bitter, as he lay, his loneliness of the uttermost. He +turned his face to the wall. + +In that posture he slept after a time, watched over by Bigot with looks +of rage and pity. And on the room fell a long silence. The sun had +lacked three hours of setting when he fell asleep. When he re-opened his +eyes, and, after lying for a few minutes between sleep and waking, became +conscious of his position, of the day, of the things which had happened, +and his helplessness--an awakening which wrung from him an involuntary +groan--the light in the room was still strong, and even bright. He +fancied for a moment that he had merely dozed off and awaked again; and +he continued to lie with his face to the wall, courting a return of +slumber. + +But sleep did not come, and little by little, as he lay listening and +thinking and growing more restless, he got the fancy that he was alone. +The light fell brightly on the wall to which his face was turned; how +could that be if Bigot's broad shoulders still blocked the loophole? +Presently, to assure himself, he called the man by name. + +He got no answer. + +"Badelon!" he muttered. "Badelon!" + +Had he gone, too, the old and faithful? It seemed so, for again no +answer came. + +He had been accustomed all his life to instant service; to see the act +follow the word ere the word ceased to sound. And nothing which had gone +before, nothing which he had suffered since his defeat at Angers, had +brought him to feel his impotence and his position--and that the end of +his power was indeed come--as sharply as this. The blood rushed to his +head; almost the tears to eyes which had not shed them since boyhood, and +would not shed them now, weak as he was! He rose on his elbow and looked +with a full heart; it was as he had fancied. Badelon's stool was empty; +the embrasure--that was empty too. Through its narrow outlet he had a +tiny view of the shore and the low rocky hill, of which the summit shone +warm in the last rays of the setting sun. + +The setting sun! Ay, for the lower part of the hill was growing cold; +the shore at its foot was grey. Then he had slept long, and the time was +come. He drew a deep breath and listened. But on all within and without +lay silence, a silence marked, rather than broken, by the dull fall of a +wave on the causeway. The day had been calm, but with the sunset a light +breeze was rising. + +He set his teeth hard, and continued to listen. An hour before sunset +was the time they had named for the exchange. What did it mean? In five +minutes the sun would be below the horizon; already the zone of warmth on +the hillside was moving and retreating upwards. And Bigot and old +Badelon? Why had they left him while he slept? An hour before sunset! +Why, the room was growing grey, grey and dark in the corners, and--what +was that? + +He started, so violently that he jarred his leg, and the pain wrung a +groan from him. At the foot of the bed, overlooked until then, a woman +lay prone on the floor, her face resting on her outstretched arms. She +lay without motion, her head and her clasped hands towards the loophole, +her thick, clubbed hair hiding her neck. A woman! Count Hannibal +stared, and, fancying he dreamed, closed his eyes, then looked again. It +was no phantasm. It was the Countess; it was his wife! + +He drew a deep breath, but he did not speak, though the colour rose +slowly to his cheek. And slowly his eyes devoured her from head to foot, +from the hands lying white in the light below the window to the shod +feet; unchecked he took his fill of that which he had so much desired--the +seeing her! A woman prone, with all of her hidden but her hands: a +hundred acquainted with her would not have known her. But he knew her, +and would have known her from a hundred, nay from a thousand, by her +hands alone. + +What was she doing here, and in this guise? He pondered; then he looked +from her for an instant, and saw that while he had gazed at her the sun +had set, the light had passed from the top of the hill; the world without +and the room within were growing cold. Was that the cause she no longer +lay quiet? He saw a shudder run through her, and a second; then it +seemed to him--or was he going mad?--that she moaned, and prayed in half- +heard words, and, wrestling with herself, beat her forehead on her arms, +and then was still again, as still as death. By the time the paroxysm +had passed, the last flush of sunset had faded from the sky, and the +hills were growing dark. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. HIS KINGDOM. + + +Count Hannibal could not have said why he did not speak to her at once. +Warned by an instinct vague and ill-understood, he remained silent, his +eyes riveted on her, until she rose from the floor. A moment later she +met his gaze, and he looked to see her start. Instead, she stood quiet +and thoughtful, regarding him with a kind of sad solemnity, as if she saw +not him only, but the dead; while first one tremor and then a second +shook her frame. + +At length "It is over!" she whispered. "Patience, Monsieur; have no +fear, I will be brave. But I must give a little to him." + +"To him!" Count Hannibal muttered, his face extraordinarily, pale. + +She smiled with an odd passionateness. "Who was my lover!" she cried, +her voice a-thrill. "Who will ever be my lover, though I have denied +him, though I have left him to die! It was just. He who has so tried me +knows it was just! He whom I have sacrificed--he knows it too, now! But +it is hard to be--just," with a quavering smile. "You who take all may +give him a little, may pardon me a little, may have--patience!" + +Count Hannibal uttered a strangled cry, between a moan and a roar. A +moment he beat the coverlid with his hands in impotence. Then he sank +back on the bed. + +"Water!" he muttered. "Water!" + +She fetched it hurriedly, and, raising his head on her arm, held it to +his lips. He drank, and lay back again with closed eyes. He lay so +still and so long that she thought that he had fainted; but after a pause +he spoke. + +"You have done that?" he whispered; "you have done that?" + +"Yes," she answered, shuddering. "God forgive me! I have done that! I +had to do that, or--" + +"And is it too late--to undo it?" + +"It is too late." A sob choked her voice. + +Tears--tears incredible, unnatural--welled from under Count Hannibal's +closed eyelids, and rolled sluggishly down his harsh cheek to the edge of +his beard. + +"I would have gone," he muttered. "If you had spoken, I would have +spared you this." + +"I know," she answered unsteadily; "the men told me." + +"And yet--" + +"It was just. And you are my husband," she replied. "More, I am the +captive of your sword, and as you spared me in your strength, my lord, I +spared you in your weakness." + +"Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu, Madame!" he cried, "at what a cost!" + +And that arrested, that touched her in the depths of her grief and her +horror; even while the gibbet on the causeway, which had burned itself +into her eyeballs, hung before her. For she knew that it was the cost to +_her_ he was counting. She knew that for himself he had ever held life +cheap, that he could have seen Tignonville suffer without a qualm. And +the thoughtfulness for her, the value he placed on a thing--even on a +rival's life--because its was dear to her, touched her home, moved her as +few things could have moved her at that moment. She saw it of a piece +with all that had gone before, with all that had passed between them, +since that fatal Sunday in Paris. But she made no sign. More than she +had said she would not say; words of love, even of reconciliation, had no +place on her lips while he whom she had sacrificed awaited his burial. + +And meantime the man beside her lay and found it incredible. "It was +just," she had said. And he knew it; Tignonville's folly--that and that +only had led them into the snare and caused his own capture. But what +had justice to do with the things of this world? In his experience, the +strong hand--that was justice, in France; and possession--that was law. +By the strong hand he had taken her, and by the strong hand she might +have freed herself. + +And she had not. There was the incredible thing. She had chosen instead +to do justice! It passed belief. Opening his eyes on a silence which +had lasted some minutes, a silence rendered more solemn by the lapping +water without, Tavannes saw her kneeling in the dusk of the chamber, her +head bowed over his couch, her face hidden in her hands. He knew that +she prayed, and feebly he deemed the whole a dream. No scene akin to it +had had place in his life; and, weakened and in pain, he prayed that the +vision might last for ever, that he might never awake. + +But by-and-by, wrestling with the dread thought of what she had done, and +the horror which would return upon her by fits and spasms, she flung out +a hand, and it fell on him. He started, and the movement, jarring the +broken limb, wrung from him a cry of pain. She looked up and was going +to speak, when a scuffling of feet under the gateway arch, and a confused +sound of several voices raised at once, arrested the words on her lips. +She rose to her feet and listened. Dimly he could see her face through +the dusk. Her eyes were on the door, and she breathed quickly. + +A moment or two passed in this way, and then from the hurly-burly in the +gateway the footsteps of two men--one limped--detached themselves and +came nearer and nearer. They stopped without. A gleam of light shone +under the door, and some one knocked. + +She went to the door, and, withdrawing the bar, stepped quickly back to +the bedside, where for an instant the light borne by those who entered +blinded her. Then, above the lanthorn, the faces of La Tribe and Bigot +broke upon her, and their shining eyes told her that they bore good news. +It was well, for the men seemed tongue-tied. The minister's fluency was +gone; he was very pale, and it was Bigot who in the end spoke for both. +He stepped forward, and, kneeling, kissed her cold hand. + +"My lady," he said, "you have gained all, and lost nothing. Blessed be +God!" + +"Blessed be God!" the minister wept. And from the passage without came +the sound of laughter and weeping and many voices, with a flutter of +lights and flying skirts, and women's feet. + +She stared at him wildly, doubtfully, her hand at her throat. + +"What?" she said, "he is not dead--M. de Tignonville?" + +"No, he is alive," La Tribe answered, "he is alive." And he lifted up +his hands as if he gave thanks. + +"Alive?" she cried. "Alive! Oh, Heaven is merciful. You are sure? You +are sure?" + +"Sure, Madame, sure. He was not in their hands. He was dismounted in +the first shock, it seems, and, coming to himself after a time, crept +away and reached St. Gilles, and came hither in a boat. But the enemy +learned that he had not entered with us, and of this the priest wove his +snare. Blessed be God, who put it into your heart to escape it!" + +The Countess stood motionless, and with closed eyes pressed her hands to +her temples. Once she swayed as if she would fall her length, and Bigot +sprang forward to support and save her. But she opened her eyes at that, +sighed very deeply, and seemed to recover herself. + +"You are sure?" she said faintly. "It is no trick?" + +"No, Madame, it is no trick," La Tribe answered. "M. de Tignonville is +alive, and here." + +"Here!" She started at the word. The colour fluttered in her cheek. +"But the keys," she murmured. And she passed her hand across her brow. +"I thought--that I had them." + +"He has not entered," the minister answered, "for that reason. He is +waiting at the postern, where he landed. He came, hoping to be of use to +you." + +She paused a moment, and when she spoke again her aspect had undergone a +subtle change. Her head was high, a flush had risen to her cheeks, her +eyes were bright. + +"Then," she said, addressing La Tribe, "do you, Monsieur, go to him, and +pray him in my name to retire to St. Gilles, if he can do so without +peril. He has no place here--now; and if he can go safely to his home it +will be well that he do so. Add, if you please, that Madame de Tavannes +thanks him for his offer of aid, but in her husband's house she needs no +other protection." + +Bigot's eyes sparkled with joy. + +The minister hesitated. "No more, Madame?" he faltered. He was tender- +hearted, and Tignonville was of his people. + +"No more," she said gravely, bowing her head. "It is not M. de +Tignonville I have to thank, but Heaven's mercy, that I do not stand here +at this moment unhappy as I entered--a woman accursed, to be pointed at +while I live. And the dead"--she pointed solemnly through the dark +casement to the shore--"the dead lie there." + +La Tribe went. + +She stood a moment in thought, and then took the keys from the rough +stone window-ledge on which she had laid them when she entered. As the +cold iron touched her fingers she shuddered. The contact awoke again the +horror and misery in which she had groped, a lost thing, when she last +felt that chill. + +"Take them," she said; and she gave them to Bigot. "Until my lord can +leave his couch they will remain in your charge, and you will answer for +all to him. Go, now, take the light; and in half an hour send Madame +Carlat to me." + +A wave broke heavily on the causeway and ran down seething to the sea; +and another and another, filling the room with rhythmical thunders. But +the voice of the sea was no longer the same in the darkness, where the +Countess knelt in silence beside the bed--knelt, her head bowed on her +clasped hands, as she had knelt before, but with a mind how different, +with what different thoughts! Count Hannibal could see her head but +dimly, for the light shed upwards by the spume of the sea fell only on +the rafters. But he knew she was there, and he would fain, for his heart +was full, have laid his hand on her hair. + +And yet he would not. He would not, out of pride. Instead he bit on his +harsh beard, and lay looking upward to the rafters, waiting what would +come. He who had held her at his will now lay at hers, and waited. He +who had spared her life at a price now took his own a gift at her hands, +and bore it. + +"_Afterwards, Madame de Tavannes_--" + +His mind went back by some chance to those words--the words he had +neither meant nor fulfilled. It passed from them to the marriage and the +blow; to the scene in the meadow beside the river; to the last ride +between La Fleche and Angers--the ride during which he had played with +her fears and hugged himself on the figure he would make on the morrow. +The figure? Alas! of all his plans for dazzling her had come--_this_! +Angers had defeated him, a priest had worsted him. In place of releasing +Tignonville after the fashion of Bayard and the Paladins, and in the +teeth of snarling thousands, he had come near to releasing him after +another fashion and at his own expense. Instead of dazzling her by his +mastery and winning her by his magnanimity, he lay here, owing her his +life, and so weak, so broken, that the tears of childhood welled up in +his eyes. + +Out of the darkness a hand, cool and firm, slid into his, clasped it +tightly, drew it to warm lips, carried it to a woman's bosom. + +"My lord," she murmured, "I was the captive of your sword, and you spared +me. Him I loved you took and spared him too--not once or twice. Angers, +also, and my people you would have saved for my sake. And you thought I +could do this! Oh! shame, shame!" But her hand held his always. + +"You loved him," he muttered. + +"Yes, I loved him," she answered slowly and thoughtfully. "I loved him." +And she fell silent a minute. Then, "And I feared you," she added, her +voice low. "Oh, how I feared you--and hated you!" + +"And now?" + +"I do not fear him," she answered, smiling in the darkness. "Nor hate +him. And for you, my lord, I am your wife and must do your bidding, +whether I will or no. I have no choice." + +He was silent. + +"Is that not so?" she asked. + +He tried weakly to withdraw his hand. + +But she clung to it. "I must bear your blows or your kisses. I must be +as you will and do as you will, and go happy or sad, lonely or with you, +as you will! As you will, my lord! For I am your chattel, your +property, your own. Have you not told me so?" + +"But your heart," he cried fiercely, "is his! Your heart, which you told +me in the meadow could never be mine!" + +"I lied," she murmured, laughing tearfully, and her hands hovered over +him. "It has come back! And it is on my lips." + +And she leant over and kissed him. And Count Hannibal knew that he had +entered into his kingdom, the sovereignty of a woman's heart. + +* * * * * + +An hour later there was a stir in the village on the mainland. Lanthorns +began to flit to and fro. Sulkily men were saddling and preparing for +the road. It was far to Challans, farther to Lege--more than one day, +and many a weary league to Ponts de Ce and the Loire. The men who had +ridden gaily southwards on the scent of spoil and revenge turned their +backs on the castle with many a sullen oath and word. They burned a +hovel or two, and stripped such as they spared, after the fashion of the +day; and it had gone ill with the peasant woman who fell into their +hands. Fortunately, under cover of the previous night every soul had +escaped from the village, some to sea, and the rest to take shelter among +the sand-dunes; and as the troopers rode up the path from the beach, and +through the green valley, where their horses shied from the bodies of the +men they had slain, there was not an eye to see them go. + +Or to mark the man who rode last, the man of the white face--scarred on +the temple--and the burning eyes, who paused on the brow of the hill, +and, before he passed beyond, cursed with quivering lips the foe who had +escaped him. The words were lost, as soon as spoken, in the murmur of +the sea on the causeway; the sea, fit emblem of the Eternal, which rolled +its tide regardless of blessing or cursing, good or ill will, nor spared +one jot of ebb or flow because a puny creature had spoken to the night. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COUNT HANNIBAL*** + + +******* This file should be named 15763.txt or 15763.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/7/6/15763 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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