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diff --git a/old/barde11.txt b/old/barde11.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..455f4a7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/barde11.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9305 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Etext of Bardelys the Magnificent by Rafael Sabatini + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association/Carnegie-Mellon + University" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Carnegie-Mellon University". + +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + + + +BARDELYS THE MAGNIFICENT + + +Being an Account of the Strange Wooing pursued by +the Sieur Marcel de Saint-Pol; Marquis of Bardelys, +and of the things that in the course of it befell him +in Languedoc, in the year of the Rebellion + +BY RAFAEL SABATINI + + + + +CONTENTS + I. THE WAGER + II. THE KING'S WISHES + III. RENT: DE LESPERON + IV. A MAID IN THE MOONLIGHT + V. THE VICOMTE DE LAVEDAN + VI. IN CONVALESCENCE + VII. THE HOSTILITY OF SAINT-EUSTACHE + VIII. THE PORTRAIT + IX. A NIGHT ALARM + X. THE RISEN DEAD + XI. THE KING'S COMMISSIONER + XII. THE TRIBUNAL OF TOULOUSE + XIII. THE ELEVENTH HOUR + XIV. EAVESDROPPING + XV. MONSIEUR DE CHATELLERAULT IS ANGRY + XVI. SWORDS + XVII. THE BABBLING OF GANYMEDE +XVIII. SAINT-EUSTACHE IS OBSTINATE + XIX. THE FLINT AND THE STEEL + XX. THE "BRAVI" AT BLAGNAC + XXI. LOUIS THE JUST + XXII. WE UNSADDLE + + + + +BARDELYS THE MAGNIFICENT + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE WAGER + +"Speak of the Devil," whispered La Fosse in my ear, and, moved by the +words and by the significance of his glance, I turned in my chair. + +The door had opened, and under the lintel stood the thick-set figure +of the Comte de Chatellerault. Before him a lacquey in my +escutcheoned livery of red-and-gold was receiving, with back +obsequiously bent, his hat and cloak. + +A sudden hush fell upon the assembly where a moment ago this very +man had been the subject of our talk, and silenced were the wits +that but an instant since had been making free with his name and +turning the Languedoc courtship - from which he was newly returned +with the shame of defeat - into a subject for heartless mockery and +jest. Surprise was in the air for we had heard that Chatellerault +was crushed by his ill-fortune in the lists of Cupid, and we had not +looked to see him joining so soon a board at which - or so at least +I boasted - mirth presided. + +And so for a little space the Count stood pausing on my threshold, +whilst we craned our necks to contemplate him as though he had been +an object for inquisitive inspection. Then a smothered laugh from +the brainless La Fosse seemed to break the spell. I frowned. It +was a climax of discourtesy whose impression I must at all costs +efface. + +I leapt to my feet, with a suddenness that sent my chair gliding a +full half-yard along the glimmering parquet of the floor, and in two +strides I had reached the Count and put forth my hand to bid him +welcome. He took it with a leisureliness that argued sorrow. He +advanced into the full blaze of the candlelight, and fetched a dismal +sigh from the depths of his portly bulk. + +"You are surprised to see me, Monsieur le Marquis," said he, and +his tone seemed to convey an apology for his coming - for his very +existence almost. + +Now Nature had made my Lord of Chatellerault as proud and arrogant +as Lucifer - some resemblance to which illustrious personage his +downtrodden retainers were said to detect in the lineaments of his +swarthy face. Environment had added to that store of insolence +wherewith Nature had equipped him, and the King's favour - in which +he was my rival - had gone yet further to mould the peacock +attributes of his vain soul. So that this wondrous humble tone of +his gave me pause; for to me it seemed that not even a courtship +gone awry could account for it in such a man. + +"I had not thought to find so many here," said he. And his next +words contained the cause of his dejected air. "The King, Monsieur +de Bardelys, has refused to see me; and when the sun is gone, we +lesser bodies of the courtly firmament must needs turn for light +and comfort to the moon." And he made me a sweeping bow. + +"Meaning that I rule the night?" quoth I, and laughed. "The figure +is more playful than exact, for whilst the moon is cold and +cheerless, me you shall find ever warm and cordial. I could have +wished, Monsieur de Chatellerault, that your gracing my board were +due to a circumstance less untoward than His Majesty's displeasure." + +"It is not for nothing that they call you the Magnificent," he +answered, with a fresh bow, insensible to the sting in the tail +of my honeyed words. + +I laughed, and, setting compliments to rest with that, I led him +to the table. + +"Ganymede, a place here for Monsieur le Comte. Gilles, Antoine, +see to Monsieur de Chatellerault. Basile, wine for Monsieur le +Comte. Bestir there!" + +In a moment he was become the centre of a very turmoil of attention. +My lacqueys flitted about him buzzing and insistent as bees about +a rose. Would Monsieur taste of this capon a la casserole, or of +this truffled peacock? Would a slice of this juicy ham a l'anglaise +tempt Monsieur le Comte, or would he give himself the pain of +trying this turkey aux olives? Here was a salad whose secret +Monsieur le Marquis's cook had learnt in Italy, and here a +vol-au-vent that was invented by Quelon himself. + +Basile urged his wines upon him, accompanied by a page who bore a +silver tray laden with beakers and Wagons. Would Monsieur le Comte +take white Armagnac or red Anjou? This was a Burgundy of which +Monsieur le Marquis thought highly, and this a delicate Lombardy +wine that His Majesty had oft commended. Or perhaps Monsieur de +Chatellerault would prefer to taste the last vintage of Bardelys? + +And so they plagued him and bewildered him until his choice was +made; and even then a couple of them held themselves in readiness +behind his chair to forestall his slightest want. Indeed, had he +been the very King himself, no greater honour could we have shown +him at the Hotel de Bardelys. + +But the restraint that his coming had brought with it hung still +upon the company, for Chatellerault was little loved, and his +presence there was much as that of the skull at an Egyptian banquet. + +For of all these fair-weather friends that sat about my table - +amongst whom there were few that had not felt his power - I feared +there might be scarcely one would have the grace to dissemble his +contempt of the fallen favourite. That he was fallen, as much his +words as what already we had known, had told us. + +Yet in my house I would strive that he should have no foretaste of +that coldness that to-morrow all Paris would be showing him, and +to this end I played the host with all the graciousness that role +may bear, and overwhelmed him with my cordiality, whilst to thaw +all iciness from the bearing of my other guests, I set the wines to +flow more freely still. My dignity would permit no less of me, +else would it have seemed that I rejoiced in a rival's downfall and +took satisfaction from the circumstance that his disfavour with the +King was like to result in my own further exaltation. + +My efforts were not wasted. Slowly the mellowing influence of the +grape pronounced itself. To this influence I added that of such +wit as Heaven has graced me with, and by a word here and another +there I set myself to lash their mood back into the joviality out +of which his coming had for the moment driven it. + +And so, presently, Good-Humour spread her mantle over us anew, and +quip and jest and laughter decked our speech, until the noise of +our merry-making drifting out through the open windows must have +been borne upon the breeze of that August night down the rue +Saint-Dominique, across the rue de l'Enfer, to the very ears perhaps +of those within the Luxembourg, telling them that Bardelys and his +friends kept another of those revels which were become a byword in +Paris, and had contributed not a little to the sobriquet of +"Magnificent" which men gave me. + +But, later, as the toasts grew wild and were pledged less for the +sake of the toasted than for that of the wine itself, wits grew +more barbed and less restrained by caution; recklessness hung a +moment, like a bird of prey, above us, then swooped abruptly down +in the words of that fool La Fosse. + +"Messieurs," he lisped, with that fatuousness he affected, and with +his eye fixed coldly upon Chatellerault, "I have a toast for you." +He rose carefully to his feet - he had arrived at that condition in +which to move with care is of the first importance. He shifted his +eye from the Count to his glass, which stood half empty. He signed +to a lacquey to fill it. "To the brim, gentlemen," he commanded. +Then, in the silence that ensued, he attempted to stand with one +foot on the ground and one on his chair; but encountering +difficulties of balance, he remained upright - safer if less +picturesque. + +"Messieurs, I give you the most peerless, the most beautiful, the +most difficult and cold lady in all France. I drink to those her +thousand graces, of which Fame has told us, and to that greatest +and most vexing charm of all - her cold indifference to man. I +pledge you, too, the swain whose good fortune it maybe to play +Endymion to this Diana. + +"It will need," pursued La Fosse, who dealt much in mythology and +classic lore - "it will need an Adonis in beauty, a Mars in valour, +an Apollo in song, and a very Eros in love to accomplish it. And I +fear me," he hiccoughed, "that it will go unaccomplished, since the +one man in all France on whom we have based our hopes has failed. +Gentlemen, to your feet! I give you the matchless Roxalanne de +Lavedan!" + +Such amusement as I felt was tempered by apprehension. I shot a +swift glance at Chatellerault to mark how he took this pleasantry +and this pledging of the lady whom the King had sent him to woo, but +whom he had failed to win. He had risen with the others at La +Fosse's bidding, either unsuspicious or else deeming suspicion too +flimsy a thing by which to steer conduct. Yet at the mention of her +name a scowl darkened his ponderous countenance. He set down his +glass with such sudden force that its slender stem was snapped and +a red stream of wine streaked the white tablecloth and spread around +a silver flowerbowl. The sight of that stain recalled him to himself +and to the manners he had allowed himself for a moment to forget. + +"Bardelys, a thousand apologies for my clumsiness," he muttered. + +"Spilt wine," I laughed, "is a good omen." + +And for once I accepted that belief, since but for the shedding of +that wine and its sudden effect upon him, it is likely we had +witnessed a shedding of blood. Thus, was the ill-timed pleasantry +of my feather-brained La Fosse tided over in comparative safety. +But the topic being raised was not so easily abandoned. Mademoiselle +de Lavedan grew to be openly discussed, and even the Count's +courtship of her came to be hinted at, at first vaguely, then +pointedly, with a lack of delicacy for which I can but blame the +wine with which these gentlemen had made a salad of their senses. +In growing alarm I watched the Count. But he showed no further sign +of irritation. He sat and listened as though no jot concerned. +There were moments when he even smiled at some lively sally, and at +last he went so far as to join in that merry combat of wits, and +defend himself from their attacks, which were made with a good-humour +that but thinly veiled the dislike he was held in and the +satisfaction that was culled from his late discomfiture. + +For a while I hung back and took no share in the banter that was +toward. But in the end - lured perhaps by the spirit in which I +have shown that Chatellerault accepted it, and lulled by the wine +which in common with my guests I may have abused - I came to utter +words but for which this story never had been written. + +"Chatellerault," I laughed, "abandon these defensive subterfuges; +confess that you are but uttering excuses, and acknowledge that you +have conducted this affair with a clumsiness unpardonable in one +equipped with your advantages of courtly rearing." + +A flush overspread his face, the first sign of anger since he had +spilled his wine. + +"Your successes, Bardelys, render you vain, and of vanity is +presumption born," he replied contemptuously. + +"See!" I cried, appealing to the company. "Observe how he seeks to +evade replying! Nay, but you shall confess your clumsiness." + +"A clumsiness," murmured La Fosse drowsily, "as signal as that +which attended Pan's wooing of the Queen of Lydia." + +"I have no clumsiness to confess," he answered hotly, raising his +voice. "It is a fine thing to sit here in Paris, among the languid, +dull, and nerveless beauties of the Court, whose favours are easily +won because they look on dalliance as the best pastime offered +them, and are eager for such opportunities of it as you fleering +coxcombs will afford them. But this Mademoiselle de Lavedan is +of a vastly different mettle. She is a woman; not a doll. She is +flesh and blood; not sawdust, powder, and vermilion. She has a +heart and a will; not a spirit corrupted by vanity and licence." + +La Fosse burst into a laugh. + +"Hark! O, hark!" he cried, "to the apostle of the chaste!" + +"Saint Gris!" exclaimed another. "This good Chatellerault has +lost both heart and head to her." + +Chatellerault glanced at the speaker with an eye in which anger +smouldered. + +"You have said it," I agreed. "He has fallen her victim, and so +his vanity translates her into a compound of perfections. Does +such a woman as you have described exist, Comte? Bah! In a +lover's mind, perhaps, or in the pages of some crack-brained +poet's fancies; but nowhere else in this dull world of ours." + +He made a gesture of impatience. + +"You have been clumsy, Chatellerault," I insisted. + +"You have lacked address. The woman does not live that is not to +be won by any man who sets his mind to do it, if only he be of her +station and have the means to maintain her in it or raise her to +a better. A woman's love, sir, is a tree whose root is vanity. +Your attentions flatter her, and predispose her to capitulate. +Then, if you but wisely choose your time to deliver the attack, and +do so with the necessary adroitness - nor is overmuch demanded - +the battle is won with ease, and she surrenders. Believe me, +Chatellerault, I am a younger man than you by full five years, yet +in experience I am a generation older, and I talk of what I know." + +He sneered heavily. "If to have begun your career of dalliance at +the age of eighteen with an amour that resulted in a scandal be +your title to experience, I agree," said he. "But for the rest, +Bardelys, for all your fine talk of conquering women, believe me +when I tell you that in all your life you have never met a woman, +for I deny the claim of these Court creatures to that title. If +you would know a woman, go to Lavedan, Monsieur le Marquis. If you +would have your army of amorous wiles suffer a defeat at last, go +employ it against the citadel of Roxalanne de Lavedan's heart. If +you would be humbled in your pride, betake yourself to Lavedan." + +"A challenge!" roared a dozen voices. "A challenge, Bardelys!" + +"Mais voyons," I deprecated, with a laugh, "would you have me +journey into Languedoc and play at wooing this embodiment of all +the marvels of womanhood for the sake of making good my argument? +Of your charity, gentlemen, insist no further." + +"The never-failing excuse of the boaster," sneered Chatellerault, +"when desired to make good his boast." + +"Monsieur conceives that I have made a boast?" quoth I, keeping +my temper. + +"Your words suggested one - else I do not know the meaning of words. +They suggested that where I have failed you could succeed, if you +had a mind to try. I have challenged you, Bardelys. I challenge +you again. Go about this wooing as you will; dazzle the lady with +your wealth and your magnificence, with your servants, your horses, +your equipages; and all the splendours you can command; yet I make +bold to say that not a year of your scented attentions and most +insidious wiles will bear you fruit. Are you sufficiently +challenged?" + +"But this is rank frenzy!" I protested. "Why should I undertake +this thing?" + +"To prove me wrong," he taunted me. "To prove me clumsy. Come, +Bardelys, what of your spirit?" + +"I confess I would do much to afford you the proof you ask. But to +take a wife! Pardi! That is much indeed!" + +"Bah!" he sneered. "You do well to draw back You are wise to +avoid discomfiture. This lady is not for you. When she is won, +it will be by some bold and gallant gentleman, and by no mincing +squire of dames, no courtly coxcomb, no fop of the Luxembourg, be +his experiences of dalliance never so vast." + +"Po' Cap de Dieu!" growled Cazalet, who was a Gascon captain in +the Guards, and who swore strange, southern oaths. "Up, Bardelys! +Afoot! Prove your boldness and your gallantry, or be forever +shamed; a squire of dames, a courtly coxcomb, a fop of the +Luxembourg! Mordemondieu! I have given a man a bellyful of steel +for the half of those titles!" + +I heeded him little, and as little the other noisy babblers, who +now on their feet - those that could stand - were spurring me +excitedly to accept the challenge, until from being one of the +baiters it seemed that of a sudden the tables were turned and I +was become the baited. I sat in thought, revolving the business +in my mind, and frankly liking it but little. Doubts of the issue, +were I to undertake it, I had none. + +My views of the other sex were neither more nor less than my words +to the Count had been calculated to convey. It may be - I know now +that it was that the women I had known fitted Chatellerault's +description, and were not over-difficult to win. Hence, such +successes as I had had with them in such comedies of love as I had +been engaged upon had given me a false impression. But such at +least was not my opinion that night. I was satisfied that +Chatellerault talked wildly, and that no such woman lived as he +depicted. Cynical and soured you may account me. Such I know I +was accounted in Paris; a man satiated with all that wealth and +youth and the King's favour could give him; stripped of illusions, +of faith and of zest, the very magnificence - so envied - of my +existence affording me more disgust than satisfaction. Since +already I had gauged its shallows. + +Is it strange, therefore, that in this challenge flung at me with +such insistence, a business that at first I disliked grew presently +to beckon me with its novelty and its promise of new sensations? + +"Is your spirit dead, Monsieur de Bardelys?" Chatellerault was +gibing, when my silence had endured some moments. "Is the cock that +lately crowed so lustily now dumb? Look you, Monsieur le Marquis, +you are accounted here a reckless gamester. Will a wager induce +you to this undertaking?" + +I leapt to my feet at that. His derision cut me like a whip. If +what I did was the act of a braggart, yet it almost seems I could +do no less to bolster up my former boasting - or what into boasting +they had translated. + +"You'll lay a wager, will you, Chatellerault?" I cried, giving him +back defiance for defiance. A breathless silence fell. "Then have +it so. Listen, gentlemen, that you may be witnesses. I do here +pledge my castle of Bardelys, and my estates in Picardy, with every +stick and stone and blade of grass that stands upon them, that I +shall woo and win Roxalanne de Lavedan to be the Marquise of +Bardelys. Does the stake satisfy you, Monsieur le Comte? You may +set all you have against it," I added coarsely, "and yet, I swear, +the odds will be heavily in your favour." + +I remember it was Mironsac who first found his tongue, and sought +even at that late hour to set restraint upon us and to bring +judgment to our aid. + +"Messieurs, messieurs!" he besought us. "In Heaven's name, bethink +you what you do. Bardelys, your wager is a madness. Monsieur de +Chatellerault, you'll not accept it. You'll--" + +"Be silent," I rebuked him, with some asperity. "What has Monsieur +de Chatellerault to say?" + +He was staring at the tablecloth and the stain of the wine that he +had spilled when first Mademoiselle de Lavedan's name was mentioned. +His head had been bent so that his long black hair had tumbled +forward and partly veiled his face. At my question he suddenly +looked up. The ghost of a smile hung on his sensuous lips, for all +that excitement had paled his countenance beyond its habit. + +"Monsieur le Marquis." said he rising, "I take your wager, and I +pledge my lands in Normandy against yours of Bardelys. Should you +lose, they will no longer call you the Magnificent; should I lose +--I shall be a beggar. It is a momentous wager, Bardelys, and +spells ruin for one of us." + +"A madness!" groaned Mironsac. + +"Mordieux!" swore Cazalet. Whilst La Fosse, who had been the +original cause of all this trouble, vented his excitement in a +gibber of imbecile laughter. + +"How long do you give me, Chatellerault?" I asked, as quietly as +I might. + +"What time shall you require?" + +"I should prefer that you name the limit," I answered. + +He pondered a moment. Then "Will three months suffice you?" he +asked. + +"If it is not done in three months, I will pay," said I. + +And then Chatellerault did what after all was, I suppose, the only +thing that a gentleman might do under the circumstances. He rose +to his feet, and, bidding the company charge their glasses, he gave +them a parting toast. + +"Messieurs, drink with me to Monsieur le Marquis de Bardelys's safe +journey into Languedoc, and to the prospering of his undertaking." + +In answer, a great shout went up from throats that suspense had +lately held in leash. Men leapt on to their chairs, and, holding +their glasses on high, they acclaimed me as thunderously as though +I had been the hero of some noble exploit, instead of the main +figure in a somewhat questionable wager. + +"Bardelys!" was the shout with which the house reechoed. "Bardelys! +Bardelys the Magnificent! Vive Bardelys!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE KING'S WISHES + + +It was daybreak ere the last of them had left me, for a dozen or so +had lingered to play lansquenet after the others had departed. With +those that remained my wager had soon faded into insignificance, as +their minds became engrossed in the fluctuations of their own +fortunes. + +I did not play myself; I was not in the mood, and for one night, at +least, of sufficient weight already I thought the game upon which I +was launched. + +I was out on the balcony as the first lines of dawn were scoring the +east, and in a moody, thoughtful condition I had riveted my eyes +upon the palace of the Luxembourg, which loomed a black pile against +the lightening sky, when Mironsac came out to join me. A gentle, +lovable lad was Mironsac, not twenty years of age, and with the face +and manners of a woman. That he was attached to me I knew. + +"Monsieur le Marquis," said he softly, "I am desolated at this wager +into which they have forced you." + +"Forced me?" I echoed. "No, no; they did not force me. And yet," +I reflected, with a sigh, "perhaps they did." + +"I have been thinking, monsieur, that if the King were to hear of +it the evil might be mended." + +"But the King must not hear of it, Armand," I answered quickly. +"Even if he did, matters would be no better - much worse, possibly." + +"But, monsieur, this thing done in the heat of wine--" + +"Is none the less done, Armand," I concluded. "And I for one do +not wish it undone." + +"But have you no thought for the lady?" he cried. + +I laughed at him. "Were I still eighteen, boy, the thought might +trouble me. Had I my illusions, I might imagine that my wife must +be some woman of whom I should be enamoured. As it is, I have grown +to the age of twenty-eight unwed. Marriage becomes desirable. I +must think of an heir to all the wealth of Bardelys. And so I go +to Languedoc. If the lady be but half the saint that fool +Chatellerault has painted her, so much the better for my children; +if not, so much the worse. There is the dawn, Mironsac, and it is +time we were abed. Let us drive these plaguy gamesters home." + +When the last of them had staggered down my steps, and I had bidden +a drowsy lacquey extinguish the candles, I called Ganymede to light +me to bed and aid me to undress. His true name was Rodenard; but +my friend La Fosse, of mythological fancy, had named him Ganymede, +after the cup-bearer of the gods, and the name had clung to him. +He was a man of some forty years of age, born into my father's +service, and since become my intendant, factotum, majordomo, and +generalissimo of my regiment of servants and my establishments both +in Paris and at Bardelys. + +We had been to the wars together ere I had cut my wisdom teeth, and +thus had he come to love me. There was nothing this invaluable +servant could not do. At baiting or shoeing a horse, at healing a +wound, at roasting a capon, or at mending a doublet, he was alike +a master, besides possessing a score of other accomplishments that +do not now occur to me, which in his campaigning he had acquired. +Of late the easy life in Paris had made him incline to corpulency, +and his face was of a pale, unhealthy fullness. + +To-night, as he assisted me to undress, it wore an expression of +supreme woe. + +"Monseigneur is going into Languedoc?" he inquired sorrowfully. +He always called me his "seigneur," as did the other of my servants +born at Bardelys. + +"Knave, you have been listening," said I. + +"But, monseigneur," he explained, "when Monsieur le Comte de +Chatellerault laid his wager--" + +"And have I not told you, Ganymede, that when you chance to be among +my friends you should hear nothing but the words addressed to you, +see nothing but the glasses that need replenishing? But, there! We +are going into Languedoc. What of it?" + +"They say that war may break out at any moment," he groaned; "that +Monsieur le Duc de Montmorency is receiving reenforcements from +Spain, and that he intends to uphold the standard of Monsieur and +the rights of the province against the encroachments of His +Eminence the Cardinal." + +"So! We are becoming politicians, eh, Ganymede? And how shall +all this concern us? Had you listened more attentively, you had +learnt that we go to Languedoc to seek a wife, and not to concern +ourselves with Cardinals and Dukes. Now let me sleep ere the sun +rises." + +On the morrow I attended the levee, and I applied to His Majesty +for leave to absent myself. But upon hearing that it was into +Languedoc I went, he frowned inquiry. Trouble enough was his +brother already making in that province. I explained that I went +to seek a wife, and deeming all subterfuge dangerous, since it might +only serve to provoke him when later he came to learn the lady's +name, I told him - withholding yet all mention of the wager - that +I fostered the hope of making Mademoiselle de Lavedan my marquise. + +Deeper came the line between his brows at that, and blacker grew +the scowl. He was not wont to bestow on me such looks as I now +met in his weary eyes, for Louis XIII had much affection for me. + +"You know this lady?" he demanded sharply. + +"Only by name, Your Majesty." + +At that his brows went up in astonishment. + +"Only by name? And you would wed her? But, Marcel, my friend, you +are a rich man one of the richest in France. You cannot be a +fortune hunter." + +"Sire," I answered, "Fame sings loudly the praises of this lady, +her beauty and her virtue - praises that lead me to opine she would +make me an excellent chatelaine. I am come to an age when it is +well to wed; indeed, Your Majesty has often told me so. And it +seems to me that all France does not hold a lady more desirable. +Heaven send she will agree to my suit!" + +In that tired way of his that was so pathetic: "Do you love me a +little, Marcel?" he asked. + +"Sire," I exclaimed, wondering whither all this was leading us, +"need I protest it?" + +"No," he answered dryly; "you can prove it. Prove it by +abandoning this Languedoc quest. I have motives - sound motives, +motives of political import. I desire another wedding for +Mademoiselle de Lavedan. I wish it so, Bardelys, and I look to +be obeyed." + +For a moment temptation had me by the throat. Here was an +unlooked-for chance to shake from me a business which reflection +was already rendering odious. I had but to call together my +friends of yesternight, and with them the Comte de Chatellerault, +and inform them that by the King was I forbidden to go awooing +Roxalanne de Lavedan. So should my wager be dissolved. And then +in a flash I saw how they would sneer one and all, and how they +would think that I had caught avidly at this opportunity of +freeing myself from an undertaking into which a boastful mood had +lured me. The fear of that swept aside my momentary hesitation. + +"Sire," I answered, bending my head contritely, "I am desolated +that my inclinations should run counter to your wishes, but to your +wonted kindness and clemency I must look for forgiveness if these +same inclinations drive me so relentlessly that I may not now +turn back." + +He caught me viciously by the arm and looked sharply into my +face. + +"You defy me, Bardelys?" he asked, in a voice of anger. + +"God forbid, Sire!" I answered quickly. "I do but pursue my +destiny." + +He took a turn in silence, like a man who is mastering himself +before he will speak. Many an eye, I knew, was upon us, and not +a few may have been marvelling whether already Bardelys were about +to share the fate that yesterday had overtaken his rival +Chatellerault. At last he halted at my side again. + +"Marcel," said he, but though he used that name his voice was harsh, +"go home and ponder what I have said. If you value my favour, if +you desire my love, you will abandon this journey and the suit you +contemplate. If, on the other hand, you persist in going - you +need not return. The Court of France has no room for gentlemen who +are but lip-servers, no place for courtiers who disobey their King." + +That was his last word. He waited for no reply, but swung round +on his heel, and an instant later I beheld him deep in conversation +with the Duke of Saint-Simon. Of such a quality is the love of +princes - vain, capricious, and wilful. Indulge it ever and at any +cost, else you forfeit it. + +I turned away with a sigh, for in spite of all his weaknesses and +meannesses I loved this cardinal-ridden king, and would have died +for him had the need occurred, as well he knew. But in this matter +--well, I accounted my honour involved, and there was now no +turning back save by the payment of my wager and the acknowledgment +of defeat. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +RENE DE LESPERON + + +That very day I set out. For since the King was opposed to the +affair, and knowing the drastic measures by which he was wont to +enforce what he desired, I realized that did I linger he might +find a way definitely to prevent my going. + +I travelled in a coach, attended by two lacqueys and a score of +men-at-arms in my own livery, all commanded by Ganymede. My +intendant himself came in another coach with my wardrobe and +travelling necessaries. We were a fine and almost regal cortege +as we passed down the rue de l'Enfer and quitted Paris by the +Orleans gate, taking the road south. So fine a cortege, indeed, +that it entered my mind. His Majesty would come to hear of it, +and, knowing my destination, send after me to bring me back. To +evade such a possibility, I ordered a divergence to be made, and +we struck east and into Touraine. At Pont-le-Duc, near Tours, +I had a cousin in the Vicomte d'Amaral, and at his chateau I +arrived on the third day after quitting Paris. + +Since that was the last place where they would seek me, if to seek +me they were inclined, I elected to remain my cousin's guest for +fifteen days. And whilst I was there we had news of trouble in +the South and of a rising in Languedoc under the Duc de Montmorency. +Thus was it that when I came to take my leave of Amaral, he, +knowing that Languedoc was my destination, sought ardently to keep +me with him until we should learn that peace and order were +restored in the province. But I held the trouble lightly, and +insisted upon going. + +Resolutely, then, if by slow stages, we pursued our journey, and +came at last to Montauban. There we lay a night at the Auberge de +Navarre, intending to push on to Lavedan upon the morrow. My +father had been on more than friendly terms with the Vicomte de +Lavedan, and upon this I built my hopes of a cordial welcome and +an invitation to delay for a few days the journey to Toulouse, +upon which I should represent myself as bound. + +Thus, then, stood my plans. And they remained unaltered for all +that upon the morrow there were wild rumours in the air of Montauban. +There were tellings of a battle fought the day before at +Castelnaudary, of the defeat of Monsieur's partisans, of the utter +rout of Gonzalo de Cordova's Spanish tatterdemalions, and of the +capture of Montmorency, who was sorely wounded - some said with +twenty and some with thirty wounds - and little like to live. +Sorrow and discontent stalked abroad in Languedoc that day, for +they believed that it was against the Cardinal, who sought to strip +them of so many privileges, that Gaston d'Orleans had set up his +standard. + +That those rumours of battle and defeat were true we had ample +proof some few hours later, when a company of dragoons in buff and +steel rode into the courtyard of the Auberge de Navarre, headed by +a young spark of an officer, who confirmed the rumour and set the +number of Montmorency's wounds at seventeen. He was lying, the +officer told us, at Castelnaudary, and his duchess was hastening +to him from Beziers. Poor woman! She was destined to nurse him +back to life and vigour only that he might take his trial at +Toulouse and pay with his head the price of his rebellion. + +Ganymede who, through the luxurious habits of his more recent years +had - for all his fine swagger - developed a marked distaste for +warfare and excitement, besought me to take thought for my safety +and to lie quietly at Montauban until the province should be more +settled. + +"The place is a hotbed of rebellion," he urged. "If these Chouans +but learn that we are from Paris and of the King's party, we shall +have our throats slit, as I live. There is not a peasant in all +this countryside indeed, scarce a man of any sort but is a red-hot +Orleanist, anti-Cardinalist, and friend of the Devil. Bethink you, +monseigneur, to push on at the present is to court murder." + +"Why, then, we will court murder," said I coldly. "Give the word +to saddle." + +I asked him at the moment of setting out did he know the road to +Lavedan, to which the lying poltroon made answer that he did. In +his youth he may have known it, and the countryside may have +undergone since then such changes as bewildered him. Or it may be +that fear dulled his wits, and lured him into taking what may have +seemed the safer rather than the likelier road. But this I know, +that as night was falling my carriage halted with a lurch, and as +I put forth my head I was confronted by my trembling intendant, his +great fat face gleaming whitely in the gloom above the lawn collar +on his doublet. + +"Why do we halt, Ganymede?" quoth I. + +"Monseigneur," he faltered, his trembling increasing as he spoke, +and his eyes meeting mine in a look of pitiful contrition, "I fear +we are lost." + +"Lost?" I echoed. "Of what do you talk? Am I to sleep in the coach?" + +"Alas, monseigneur, I have done my best--" + +"Why, then, God keep us from your worst," I snapped. "Open me this +door." + +I stepped down and looked about me, and, by my faith, a more desolate +spot to lose us in my henchman could not have contrived had he been +at pains to do so. A bleak, barren landscape - such as I could +hardly have credited was to be found in all that fair province - +unfolded itself, looking now more bleak, perhaps, by virtue of the +dim evening mist that hovered over it. Yonder, to the right, a dull +russet patch of sky marked the west, and then in front of us I made +out the hazy outline of the Pyrenees. At sight of them, I swung +round and gripped my henchman by the shoulder. + +"A fine trusty servant thou!" I cried. "Boaster! Had you told us +that age and fat living had so stunted your wits as to have +extinguished memory, I had taken a guide at Montauban to show us +the way. Yet, here, with the sun and the Pyrenees to guide you, +even had you no other knowledge, you lose yourself!" + +"Monseigneur," he whimpered, "I was choosing my way by the sun and +the mountains, and it was thus that I came to this impasse. For +you may see, yourself, that the road ends here abruptly." + +"Ganymede," said I slowly, "when we return to Paris - if you do +not die of fright 'twixt this and then - I'll find a place for you +in the kitchens. God send you may make a better scullion than a +follower!" Then, vaulting over the wall, "Attend me, some +half-dozen of you," I commanded, and stepped out briskly towards +the barn. + +As the weather-beaten old door creaked upon its rusty hinges, we +were greeted by a groan from within, and with it the soft rustle +of straw that is being moved. Surprised, I halted, and waited +whilst one of my men kindled a light in the lanthorn that he +carried. + +By its rays we beheld a pitiable sight in a corner of that building. +A man, quite young and of a tall and vigorous frame, lay stretched +upon the straw. He was fully dressed even to his great riding-boots, +and from the loose manner in which his back-and-breast hung now upon +him, it would seem as if he had been making shift to divest himself +of his armour, but had lacked the strength to complete the task. +Beside him lay a feathered headpiece and a sword attached to a +richly broidered baldrick. All about him the straw was clotted with +brown, viscous patches of blood. The doublet which had been of +sky-blue velvet was all sodden and stained, and inspection showed +us that he had been wounded in the right side, between the straps +of his breastplate. + +As we stood about him now, a silent, pitying group, appearing +fantastic, perhaps, by the dim light of that single lanthorn, he +attempted to raise his head, and then with a groan he dropped it +back upon the straw that pillowed it. From out of a face white, as +in death, and drawn with haggard lines of pain, a pair of great +lustrous blue eyes were turned upon us, abject and pitiful as the +gaze of a dumb beast that is stricken mortally. + +It needed no acuteness to apprehend that we had before us one of +yesterday's defeated warriors; one who had spent his last strength +in creeping hither to get his dying done in peace. Lest our +presence should add fear to the agony already upon him, I knelt +beside him in the blood-smeared straw, and, raising his head, I +pillowed it upon my arm. + +"Have no fear," said I reassuringly. "We are friends. Do you +understand?" + +The faint smile that played for a second on his lips and lighted +his countenance would have told me that he understood, even had I +not caught his words, faint as a sigh "Merci, monsieur." He +nestled his head into the crook of my arm. "Water - for the love of +God!" he gasped, to add in a groan, "Je me meurs, monsieur." + +Assisted by a couple of knaves, Ganymede went about attending to +the rebel at once. Handling him as carefully as might be, to avoid +giving him unnecessary pain they removed his back-and-breast, which +was flung with a clatter into one of the corners of the barn. Then, +whilst one of them gently drew off his boots, Rodenard, with the +lanthorn close beside him, cut away the fellow's doublet, and laid +bare the oozing sword-wound that gaped in his mangled side. He +whispered an order to Gilles, who went swiftly off to the coach in +quest of something that he had asked for; then he sat on his heels +and waited, his hand upon the man's pulse, his eyes on his face. + +I stooped until my lips were on a level with my intendant's ear. + +"How is it with him?" I inquired. + +"Dying," whispered Rodenard in answer. "He has lost too much blood, +and he is probably bleeding inwardly as well. There is no hope of +his life, but he may linger thus some little while, sinking gradually, +and we can at least mitigate the suffering of his last moments." + +When presently the men returned with the things that Ganymede had +asked for, he mixed some pungent liquid with water, and, whilst a +servant held the bowl, he carefully sponged the rebel's wound. This +and a cordial that he had given him to drink seemed to revive him +and to afford him ease. His breathing was no longer marked by any +rasping sound, and his eyes seemed to burn more intelligently. + +"I am dying - is it not so?" he asked, and Ganymede bowed his head +in silence. The poor fellow sighed. "Raise me," he begged, and +when this service had been done him, his eyes wandered round until +they found me. Then "Monsieur," he said, "will you do me a last +favour?" + +"Assuredly, my poor friend," I answered, going down on my knees +beside him. + +"You - you were not for the Duke?" he inquired, eyeing me more +keenly. + +"No, monsieur. But do not let that disturb you; I have no interest +in this rising and I have taken no side. I am from Paris, on a +journey of - of pleasure. My name is Bardelys - Marcel de Bardelys." + +"Bardelys the Magnificent?" he questioned, and I could not repress +a smile. + +"I am that overrated man." + +"But then you are for the King!" And a note of disappointment crept +into his voice. Before I could make him any answer, he had resumed. +"No matter; Marcel de Bardelys is a gentleman, and party signifies +little when a man is dying. I am Rene de Lesperon, of Lesperon in +Gascony," he pursued. "Will you send word to my sister afterwards?" + +I bowed my head without speaking. + +"She is the only relative I have, monsieur. But" - and his tone grew +wistful - "there is one other to whom I would have you bear a +message." He raised his hand by a painful effort to the level of +his breast. Strength failed him, and he sank back. "I cannot, +monsieur," he said in a tone of pathetic apology. "See; there is +a chain about my neck with a locket. Take it from me. Take it now, +monsieur. There are some papers also, monsieur. Take all. I want +to see them safely in your keeping." + +I did his bidding, and from the breast of his doublet I drew some +loose letters and a locket which held the miniature of a woman's +face. + +"I want you to deliver all to her, monsieur." + +"It shall be done," I answered, deeply moved. + +"Hold it - hold it up," he begged, his voice weakening. "Let me +behold the face." + +Long his eyes rested on the likeness I held before him. At last, +as one in a dream-- + +"Well-beloved," he sighed. "Bien aimee!" And down his grey, +haggard cheeks the tears came slowly. "Forgive this weakness, +monsieur," he whispered brokenly. "We were to have been wed in +a month, had I lived." He ended with a sob, and when next he +spoke it was more labouredly, as though that sob had robbed him of +the half of what vitality remained. "Tell her, monsieur, that my +dying thoughts were of her. Tell - tell her - I--" + +"Her name?" I cried, fearing he would sink before I learned it. +"Tell me her name." + +He looked at me with eyes that were growing glassy and vacant. Then +he seemed to brace himself and to rally for a second. + +"Her name?" he mused, in a far-off manner. "She is - Ma-de-moiselle +de -" + +His head rolled on the suddenly relaxed neck. He collapsed into +Rodenard's arms. + +"Is he dead?" I asked. + +Rodenard nodded in silence. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A MAID IN THE MOONLIGHT + + +I do not know whether it was the influence of that thing lying in +a corner of the barn under the cloak that Rodenard had flung over +it, or whether other influences of destiny were at work to impel me +to rise at the end of a half-hour and announce my determination to +set out on horseback and find myself quarters more congenial. + +"To-morrow," I instructed Ganymede, as I stood ready to mount, "you +will retrace your steps with the others, and, finding the road to +Lavedan, you will follow me to the chateau." + +"But you cannot hope to reach it to-night, monseigneur, through a +country that is unknown to you," he protested. + +"I do not hope to reach it to-night. I will ride south until I come +upon some hamlet that will afford me shelter and, in the morning, +direction." + +I left him with that, and set out at a brisk trot. Night had now +fallen, but the sky was clear, and a crescent moon came opportunely +if feebly to dispel the gloom. + +I quitted the field, and went back until I gained a crossroad, where, +turning to the right, I set my face to the Pyrenees, and rode briskly +amain. That I had chosen wisely was proved when some twenty minutes +later. I clattered into the hamlet of Mirepoix, and drew up before +an inn flaunting the sign of a peacock - as if in irony of its +humbleness, for it was no better than a wayside tavern. Neither +stable-boy nor ostler was here, and the unclean, overgrown urchin +to whom I entrusted my horse could not say whether indeed Pere Abdon +the landlord would be able to find me a room to sleep in. I +thirsted, however; and so I determined to alight, if it were only to +drink a can of wine and obtain information of my whereabouts. + +As I was entering the hostelry there was a clatter of hoofs in the +street, and four dragoons headed by a sergeant rode up and halted at +the door of the Paon. They seemed to have ridden hard and some +distance, for their horses were jaded almost to the last point of +endurance. + +Within, I called the host, and having obtained a flagon of the best +vintage - Heaven fortify those that must be content with his worst! +--I passed on to make inquiries touching my whereabouts and the way +to Lavedan. This I learnt was but some three or four miles distant. +About the other table - there were but two within the room - stood +the dragoons in a whispered consultation, of which it had been well +had I taken heed, for it concerned me more closely than I could have +dreamt. + +"He answers the description," said the sergeant, and though I heard +the words I took no thought that it was of me they spoke. + +"Padrieu," swore one of his companions, "I'll wager it is our man." + +And then, just as I was noticing that Master Abdon, who had also +overheard the conversation, was eyeing me curiously, the sergeant +stepped up to me, and-- + +"What is your name, monsieur?" quoth he. + +I vouchsafed him a stare of surprise before asking in my turn "How +may that concern you?" + +"Your pardon, my master, but we are on the King's business." + +I remembered then that he had said I answered some description. +With that it flashed through my mind that they had been sent after +me by His Majesty to enforce my obedience to his wishes and to +hinder me from reaching Lavedan. At once came the dominant desire +to conceal my identity that I might go unhindered. The first +name that occurred to me was that of the poor wretch I had left +in the barn half an hour ago, and so-- + +"I am," said I, "Monsieur de Lesperon, at your service." + +Too late I saw the mistake that I had made. I own it was a blunder +that no man of ordinary intelligence should have permitted himself +to have committed. Remembering the unrest of the province, I +should rather have concluded that their business was more like to +be in that connection. + +"He is bold, at least," cried one of the troopers, with a burst of +laughter. Then came the sergeant's voice, cold and formal, "In the +King's name, Monsieur de Lesperon, I arrest you." + +He had whipped out his sword, and the point was within an inch of +my breast. But his arm, I observed, was stretched to its fullest +extent, which forbade his making a sudden thrust. To hamper him in +the lunge there was the table between us. + +So, my mind working quickly in this desperate situation, and +realizing how dire and urgent the need to attempt an escape, I +leapt suddenly back to find myself in the arms of his followers. +But in moving I had caught up by one of its legs the stool on which +I had been sitting. As I raised it, I eluded the pinioning grip +of the troopers. I twisted in their grasp, and brought the stool +down upon the head of one of them with a force that drove him to +his knees. Up went that three-legged stool again, to descend like +a thunderbolt upon the head of another. That freed me. The +sergeant was coming up behind, but another flourish of my improvised +battle-axe sent the two remaining soldiers apart to look to their +swords. Ere they could draw, I had darted like a hare between them +and out into the street. The sergeant, cursing them with horrid +volubility, followed closely upon my heels. + +Leaping as far into the roadway as I could, I turned to meet the +fellow's onslaught. Using the stool as a buckler, I caught his +thrust upon it. So violently was it delivered that the point +buried itself in the wood and the blade snapped, leaving him a +hilt and a stump of steel. I wasted no time in thought. Charging +him wildly, I knocked him over just as the two unhurt dragoons +came stumbling out of the tavern. + +I gained my horse and vaulted into the saddle. Tearing the reins +from the urchin that held them, and driving my spurs into the beast's +flanks, I went careering down the street at a gallop, gripping +tightly with my knees, whilst the stirrups, which I had had no time +to step into, flew wildly about my legs. + +A pistol cracked behind me; then another, and a sharp, stinging pain +in the shoulder warned me that I was hit. But I took no heed of it +then. The wound could not be serious, else I had already been out +of the saddle, and it would be time enough to look to it when I had +outdistanced my pursuers. I say my pursuers, for already there +were hoofbeats behind me, and I knew that those gentlemen had taken +to their horses. But, as you may recall, I had on their arrival +noted the jaded condition of their cattle, whilst I bestrode a +horse that was comparatively fresh, so that pursuit had but small +terrors for me. Nevertheless, they held out longer, and gave me +more to do than I had imagined would be the case. For nigh upon a +half-hour I rode, before I could be said to have got clear of them, +and then for aught I knew they were still following, resolved to +hound me down by the aid of such information as they might cull +upon their way. + +I was come by then to the Garonne. I drew rein beside the swiftly +flowing stream, winding itself like a flood of glittering silver +between the black shadows of its banks. A little while I sat there +listening, and surveying the stately, turreted chateau that loomed, +a grey, noble pile, beyond the water. I speculated what demesne +this might be, and I realized that it was probably Lavedan. + +I pondered what I had best do, and in the end I took the resolve to +swim the river and knock at the gates. If it were indeed Lavedan, +I had but to announce myself, and to one of my name surely its +hospitalities would be spread. If it were some other household, +even then the name of Marcel de Bardelys should suffice to ensure +me a welcome. + +By spurring and coaxing, I lured my steed into the river. There is +a proverb having it that though you may lead a horse to the water +you cannot make him drink. It would have now applied to my case, +for although I had brought mine to the water I could not make him +swim; or, at least, I could not make him breast the rush of the +stream. Vainly did I urge him and try to hold him; he plunged +frantically, snorted, coughed, and struggled gamely, but the current +was bearing us swiftly away, and his efforts brought us no nearer +to the opposite shore. At last I slipped from his back, and set +myself to swim beside him, leading him by the bridle. But even +thus he proved unequal to the task of resisting the current, so that +in the end I let him go, and swam ashore alone, hoping that he would +land farther down, and that I might then recapture him. When, +however, I had reached the opposite bank, and stood under the shadow +of the chateau, I discovered that the cowardly beast had turned back, +and, having scrambled out, was now trotting away along the path by +which we had come. Having no mind to go after him, I resigned myself +to the loss, and turned my attention to the mansion now before me. + +Some two hundred yards from the river it raised its great square +bulk against the background of black, star-flecked sky. From the +facade before me down to the spot where I stood by the water, came +a flight of half a dozen terraces, each balustraded in white marble, +ending in square, flat-topped pillars of Florentine design. What +moon there was revealed the quaint architecture of that stately +edifice and glittered upon the mullioned windows. But within nothing +stirred; no yellow glimmer came to clash with the white purity of +the moonlight; no sound of man or beast broke the stillness of the +night, for all that the hour was early. The air of the place was +as that of some gigantic sepulchre. A little daunted by this +all-enveloping stillness, I skirted the terraces and approached +the house on the eastern side. Here I found an old-world drawbridge +--now naturally in disuse - spanning a ditch fed from the main +river for the erstwhile purposes of a moat. I crossed the bridge, +and entered an imposing courtyard. Within this quadrangle the same +silence dwelt, and there was the same obscurity in the windows that +overlooked it. I paused, at a loss how to proceed, and I leaned +against a buttress of the portcullis, what time I considered. + +I was weak from fasting, worn with hard riding, and faint from the +wound in my shoulder, which had been the cause at least of my +losing some blood. In addition to all this, I was shivering with +the cold of my wet garments, and generally I must have looked as +little like that Bardelys they called the Magnificent as you might +well conceive. How, then, if I were to knock, should I prevail in +persuading these people - whoever they might be - of my identity? +Infinitely more had I the air of some fugitive rebel, and it was +more than probable that I should be kept in durance to be handed +over to my friends the dragoons, if later they came to ride that +way. I was separated from those who knew me, and as things now +stood - unless this were, indeed, Lavedan - it might be days before +they found me again. + +I was beginning to deplore my folly at having cut myself adrift +from my followers in the first place, and having embroiled myself +with the soldiers in the second; I was beginning to contemplate the +wisdom of seeking some outhouse of this mansion wherein to lie +until morning, when of a sudden a broad shaft of light, coming from +one of the windows on the first floor, fell athwart the courtyard. +Instinctively I crouched back into the shadow of my friendly +buttress, and looked up. + +That sudden shaft of light resulted from the withdrawal of the +curtains that masked a window. At this window, which opened outward +on to a balcony; I now beheld - and to me it was as the vision of +Beatrice may have been to Dante - the white figure of a woman. The +moonlight bathed her, as in her white robe she leaned upon the +parapet gazing upward into the empyrean. A sweet, delicate face +I saw, not endowed, perhaps, with that exquisite balance and +proportion of feature wherein they tell us beauty lies, but blessed +with a wondrously dainty beauty all its own; a beauty, perhaps, as +much of expression as of form; for in that gentle countenance was +mirrored every tender grace of girlhood, all that is fresh and pure +and virginal. + +I held my breath, I think, as I stood in ravished contemplation of +that white vision. If this were Lavedan, and that the cold Roxalanne +who had sent my bold Chatellerault back to Paris empty-handed then +were my task a very welcome one. + +How little it had weighed with me that I was come to Languedoc to +woo a woman bearing the name of Roxalanne de Lavedan I have already +shown. But here in this same Languedoc I beheld to-night a woman +whom it seemed I might have loved, for not in ten years - not, +indeed, in all my life - had any face so wrought upon me and called +to my nature with so strong a voice. + +I gazed at that child, and I thought of the women that I had known +--the bold, bedizened beauties of a Court said to be the first in +Europe. And then it came to me that this was no demoiselle of +Lavedan, no demoiselle at all in fact, for the noblesse of France +owned no such faces. Candour and purity were not to be looked for +in the high-bred countenances of our great families; they were +sometimes found in the faces of the children of their retainers. +Yes; I had it now. This child was the daughter of some custodian +of the demesne before me. + +Suddenly, as she stood there in the moonlight, a song, sung at +half-voice, floated down on the calm air. It was a ditty of old +Provence, a melody I knew and loved, and if aught had been wanting +to heighten the enchantment that already ravished me, that soft +melodious voice had done it. Singing still, she turned and reentered +the room, leaving wide the windows, so that faintly, as from a +distance, her voice still reached me after she was gone from sight. + +It was in that hour that it came to me to cast myself upon this fair +creature's mercy. Surely one so sweet and saintly to behold would +take compassion on an unfortunate! Haply my wound and all the rest +that I had that night endured made me dull-witted and warped my +reason. + +With what strength I still possessed I went to work to scale her +balcony. The task was easy even for one in my spent condition. The +wall was thick with ivy, and, moreover, a window beneath afforded +some support, for by standing on the heavy coping I could with my +fingers touch the sill of the balcony above. Thus I hoisted myself, +and presently I threw an arm over the parapet. Already I was astride +of that same Parapet before she became aware of my presence. + +The song died suddenly on her lips, and her eyes, blue as +forget-me-nots, were wide now with the fear that the sight of me +occasioned. Another second and there had been an outcry that would +have brought the house about our ears, when, stepping to the +threshold of the room, "Mademoiselle," I entreated, "for the love of +God, be silent! I mean you no harm. I am a fugitive. I am pursued." + +This was no considered speech. There had been no preparing of words; +I had uttered them mechanically almost - perhaps by inspiration, for +they were surely the best calculated to enlist this lady's sympathy. +And so far as went the words themselves, they were rigorously true. + +With eyes wide open still, she confronted me, and I now observed that +she was not so tall as from below I had imagined. She was, in fact, +of a short stature rather, but of proportions so exquisite that she +conveyed an impression of some height. In her hand she held a taper +by whose light she had been surveying herself in her mirror at the +moment of my advent. Her unbound hair of brown fell like a mantle +about her shoulders, and this fact it was drew me to notice that she +was in her night-rail, and that this room to which I had penetrated +was her chamber. + +"Who are you?" she asked breathlessly, as though in such a pass my +identity were a thing that signified. + +I had almost answered her, as I had answered the troopers at Mirepoix, +that I was Lesperon. Then, bethinking me that there was no need for +such equivocation here, I was on the point of giving her my name. +But noting my hesitation, and misconstruing it, she forestalled me. + +"I understand, monsieur," said she more composedly. "And you need +have no fear. You are among friends." + +Her eyes had travelled over my sodden clothes, the haggard pallor of +my face, and the blood that stained my doublet from the shoulder +downward. From all this she had drawn her conclusions that I was a +hunted rebel. She drew me into the room, and, closing the window, +she dragged the heavy curtain across it, thereby giving me a proof +of confidence that smote me hard - impostor that I was. + +"I crave your pardon, mademoiselle, for having startled you by the +rude manner of my coming," said I, and never in my life had I felt +less at ease than then. "But I was exhausted and desperate. I am +wounded, I have ridden hard, and I swam the river." + +The latter piece of information was vastly unnecessary, seeing that +the water from my clothes was forming a pool about my feet. "I saw +you from below; mademoiselle, and surely, I thought, so sweet a lady +would have pity on an unfortunate." She observed that my eyes were +upon her, and in an act of instinctive maidenliness she bore her hand +to her throat to draw the draperies together and screen the beauties +of her neck from my unwarranted glance, as though her daily gown did +not reveal as much and more of them. + +That act, however, served to arouse me to a sense of my position. +What did I there? It was a profanity - a defiling, I swore; from +which you'll see, that Bardelys was grown of a sudden very nice. + +"Monsieur," she was saying, "you are exhausted." + +"But that I rode hard," I laughed, "it is likely they had taken me +to Toulouse, were I might have lost my head before my friends could +have found and claimed me. I hope you'll see it is too comely a +head to be so lightly parted with." + +"For that," said she, half seriously, half whimsically, "the ugliest +head would be too comely." + +I laughed softly, amusedly; then of a sudden, without warning, a +faintness took me, and I was forced to brace myself against the +wall, breathing heavily the while. At that she gave a little cry +of alarm. + +"Monsieur, I beseech you to be seated. I will summon my father, +and we will find a bed for you. You must not retain those clothes." + +"Angel of goodness!" I muttered gratefully, and being still half +dazed, I brought some of my Court tricks into that chamber by +taking her hand and carrying it towards my lips. But ere I had +imprinted the intended kiss upon her fingers - and by some miracle +they were not withdrawn - my eyes encountered hers again. I paused +as one may pause who contemplates a sacrilege. For a moment she +held my glance with hers; then I fell abashed, and released her hand. + +The innocence peeping out of that child's eyes it was that had in +that moment daunted me, and made me tremble to think of being found +there, and of the vile thing it would be to have her name coupled +with mine. That thought lent me strength. I cast my weariness from +me as though it were a garment, and, straightening myself, I stepped +of a sudden to the window. Without a word, I made shift to draw back +the curtain when her hand, falling on my sodden sleeve, arrested me. + +"What will you do, monsieur?" she cried in alarm. "You may be seen." + +My mind was now possessed by the thing I should have thought of +before. I climbed to her balcony, and my one resolve was to get me +thence as quickly as might be. + +"I had not the right to enter here," I muttered. "I--" I stopped +short; to explain would only be to sully, and so, "Good-night! +Adieu!" I ended brusquely. + +"But, monsieur--" she began. + +"Let me go," I commanded almost roughly, as I shook my arm free of +her grasp. + +"Bethink you that you are exhausted. If you go forth now, monsieur, +you will assuredly be taken. You must not go." + +I laughed softly, and with some bitterness, too, for I was angry +with myself. + +"Hush, child," I said. "Better so, if it is to be." + +And with that I drew aside the curtains and pushed the leaves of the +window apart. She remained standing in the room, watching me, her +face pale, and hex eyes pained and puzzled. + +One last glance I gave her as I bestrode the rail of her balcony. +Then I lowered myself as I had ascended. I was hanging by my hands, +seeking with my foot for the coping of the window beneath me, when, +suddenly, there came a buzzing in my ears. I had a fleeting vision +of a white figure leaning on the balcony above me; then a veil seemed +drawn over my eyes; there came a sense of falling; a rush as of a +tempestuous wind; then - nothing. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE VICOMTE DE LAVEDAN + + +When next I awakened, it was to find myself abed in an elegant +apartment, spacious and sunlit, that was utterly strange to me. +For some seconds I was content to lie and take no count of my +whereabouts. My eyes travelled idly over the handsome furnishings +of that choicely appointed chamber, and rested at last upon the +lean, crooked figure of a man whose back was towards me and who +was busy with some phials at a table not far distant. Then +recollection awakened also in me, and I set my wits to work to +grapple with my surroundings. I looked through the open window, +but from my position on the bed no more was visible than the blue +sky and a faint haze of distant hills. + +I taxed my memory, and the events of yesternight recurred to me. +I remembered the girl, the balcony, and my flight ending in my +giddiness and my fall. Had they brought me into that same chateau, +or - Or what? No other possibility came to suggest itself, and, +seeing scant need to tax my brains with speculation, since there +was one there of whom I might ask the question-- + +"Hola, my master!" I called to him, and as I did so I essayed to +move. The act wrung a sharp cry of pain from me. My left shoulder +was numb and sore, but in my right foot that sudden movement had +roused a sharper pang. + +At my cry that little wizened old man swung suddenly round. He had +the face of a bird of prey, yellow as a louis d'or with a great +hooked nose, and a pair of beady black eyes that observed me solemnly. +The mouth alone was the redeeming feature in a countenance that had +otherwise been evil; it was instinct with good-humour. But I had +small leisure to observe him then, for simultaneously with his +turning there had been another movement at my bedside, which drew +my eyes elsewhere. A gentleman, richly dressed, and of an imposing +height, approached me. + +"You are awake, monsieur?" he said in a half interrogative tone. + +"Will you do me the favour to tell me where I am, monsieur?" quoth I. + +"You do not know? You are at Lavedan. I am the Vicomte de Lavedan +--at your service." + +Although it was no more than I might have expected, yet a dull wonder +filled me, to which presently I gave expression by asking stupidly-- + +"At Lavedan? But how came I hither?" + +"How you came is more than I can tell," he laughed. "But I'll swear +the King's dragoons were not far behind you. We found you in the +courtyard last night; in a swoon of exhaustion, wounded in the +shoulder, and with a sprained foot. It was my daughter who gave the +alarm and called us to your assistance. You were lying under her +widow." Then, seeing the growing wonder in my eyes and misconstruing +it into alarm: "Nay, have no fear, monsieur," he cried. "You were +very well advised in coming to us. You have fallen among friends. +We are Orleanists too, - at Lavedan, for all that I was not in the +fight at Castelnaudary. That was no fault of mine. His Grace's +messenger reached me overlate, and for all that I set out with a +company of my men, I put back when I had reached Lautrec upon hearing +that already a decisive battle had been fought and that our side had +suffered a crushing defeat." He uttered a weary sigh. + +"God help us, monsieur! Monseigneur de Richelieu is likely to have +his way with us. But let that be for the present. You are here, +and you are safe. As yet no suspicion rests on Lavedan. I was, as +I have said, too late for the fight, and so I came quietly back to +save my skin, that I might serve the Cause in whatever other way +might offer still. In sheltering you I am serving Gaston d'Orleans, +and, that I may continue so to do, I pray that suspicion may continue +to ignore me. If they were to learn of it at Toulouse or of how +with money and in other ways I have helped this rebellion - I make +no doubt that my head would be the forfeit I should be asked to pay." + +I was aghast at the freedom of treasonable speech with which this +very debonnaire gentleman ventured to address an utter stranger. + +"But tell me, Monsieur de Lesperon," resumed my host, "how is it +with you?" + +I started in fresh astonishment. + +"How - how do you know that I am Lesperon?" I asked. + +"Ma foi!" he laughed, "do you imagine I had spoken so unreservedly +to a man of whom I knew nothing? Think better of me, monsieur, I +beseech you. I found these letters in your pocket last night, and +their superscription gave me your identity. Your name is well known +to me," he added. "My friend Monsieur de Marsac has often spoken +of you and of your devotion to the Cause, and it affords me no +little satisfaction to be of some service to one whom by repute +I have already learned to esteem." + +I lay back on my pillows, and I groaned. Here was a predicament! +Mistaking me for that miserable rebel I had succoured at Mirepoix, +and whose letters I bore upon me that I might restore them to some +one whose name he had failed to give me at the last moment, the +Vicomte de Lavedan had poured the damning story of his treason into +my ears. + +What if I were now to enlighten him? What if I were to tell him +that I was not Lesperon - no rebel at all, in fact - but Marcel de +Bardelys, the King's favourite? That he would account me a spy I +hardly thought; but assuredly he would see that my life must be a +danger to his own; he must fear betrayal from me; and to protect +himself he would be justified in taking extreme measures. Rebels +were not addicted to an excess of niceness in their methods, and it +was more likely that I should rise no more from the luxurious bed +on which his hospitality had laid me. But even if I had exaggerated +matters, and the Vicomte were not quite so bloodthirsty as was usual +with his order, even if he chose to accept my promise that I would +forget what he had said, he must nevertheless - in view of his +indiscretion - demand my instant withdrawal from Lavedan. And what, +then, of my wager with Chatellerault? + +Then, in thinking of my wager, I came to think of Roxalanne herself +--that dainty, sweet-faced child into whose chamber I had penetrated +on the previous night. And would you believe it that I - the +satiated, cynical, unbelieving Bardelys - experienced dismay at the +very thought of leaving Lavedan for no other reason than because it +involved seeing no more of that provincial damsel? + +My unwillingness to be driven from her presence determined me to +stay. I had come to Lavedan as Lesperon, a fugitive rebel. In that +character I had all but announced myself last night to Mademoiselle. +In that character I had been welcomed by her father. In that +character, then, I must remain, that I might be near her, that I +might woo and win her, and thus - though this, I swear, had now +become a minor consideration with me - make good my boast and win +the wager that must otherwise involve my ruin. + +As I lay back with closed eyes and gave myself over to pondering +the situation, I took a pleasure oddly sweet in the prospect of +urging my suit under such circumstances. Chatellerault had given +me a free hand. I was to go about the wooing of Mademoiselle de +Lavedan as I chose. But he had cast it at me in defiance that not +with all my magnificence, not with all my retinue and all my state +to dazzle her, should I succeed in melting the coldest heart in +France. + +And now, behold! I had cast from me all these outward +embellishments; I came without pomp, denuded of every emblem of +wealth, of every sign of power; as a poor fugitive gentleman, I +came, hunted, proscribed, and penniless - for Lesperon's estate +would assuredly suffer sequestration. To win her thus would, by +my faith, be an exploit I might take pride in, a worthy achievement +to encompass. + +And so I left things as they were, and since I offered no denial +to the identity that was thrust upon me, as Lesperon I continued to +be known to the Vicomte and to his family. + +Presently he called the old man to my bedside and I heard them +talking of my condition. + +"You think, then, Anatole," he said in the end, "that in three or +four days Monsieur de Lesperon may be able to rise?" + +"I am assured of it," replied the old servant. + +Whereupon, turning to me, "Be therefore of good courage, monsieur," +said Lavedan, "for your hurt is none so grievous after all." + +I was muttering my thanks and my assurances that I was in excellent +spirits, when we were suddenly disturbed by a rumbling noise as of +distant thunder. + +"Mort Dieu!" swore the Vicomte, a look of alarm coming into his +face. With a bent head, he stood in a listening attitude. + +"What is it?" I inquired. + +"Horsemen - on the drawbridge," he answered shortly. "A troop, by +the sound." + +And then, in confirmation of these words, followed a stamping and +rattle of hoofs on the flags of the courtyard below. The old servant +stood wringing his hands in helpless terror, and wailing, "Monsieur, +monsieur!" + +But the Vicomte crossed rapidly to the window and looked out. Then +he laughed with intense relief; and in a wondering voice "They are +not troopers," he announced. "They have more the air of a company +of servants in private livery; and there is a carriage - pardieu, +two carriages!" + +At once the memory of Rodenard and my followers occurred to me, and +I thanked Heaven that I was abed where he might not see me, and that +thus he would probably be sent forth empty-handed with the news that +his master was neither arrived nor expected. + +But in that surmise I went too fast. Ganymede was of a tenacious +mettle, and of this he now afforded proof. Upon learning that +naught was known of the Marquis de Bardelys at Lavedan, my faithful +henchman announced his intention to remain there and await me, since +that was, he assured the Vicomte, my destination. + +"My first impulse," said Lavedan, when later he came to tell me of +it, "was incontinently to order his departure. But upon considering +the matter and remembering how high in power and in the King's +favour stands that monstrous libertine Bardelys, I deemed it wiser +to afford shelter to this outrageous retinue. His steward - a +flabby, insolent creature - says that Bardelys left them last night +near Mirepoix, to ride hither, bidding them follow to-day. Curious +that we should have no news of him! That he should have fallen +into the Garonne and drowned himself were too great a good fortune +to be hoped for." + +The bitterness with which he spoke of me afforded me ample cause +for congratulation that I had resolved to accept the role of Lesperon. +Yet, remembering that my father and he had been good friends, his +manner left me nonplussed. What cause could he have for this +animosity to the son? Could it be merely my position at Court that +made me seem in his rebel eyes a natural enemy? + +"You are acquainted with this Bardelys?" I inquired, by way of +drawing him. + +"I knew his father," he answered gruffly. "An honest, upright +gentleman." + +"And the son," I inquired timidly, "has he none of these virtues?" + +"I know not what virtues he may have; his vices are known to all +the world. He is a libertine, a gambler, a rake, a spendthrift. +They say he is one of the King's favourites, and that his monstrous +extravagances have earned for him the title of 'Magnificent'." +He uttered a short laugh. "A fit servant for such a master as +Louis the Just!" + +"Monsieur le Vicomte," said I, warming in my own defence, "I swear +you do him injustice. He is extravagant, but then he is rich; he +is a libertine, but then he is young, and he has been reared among +libertines; he is a gamester, but punctiliously honourable at play. +Believe me, monsieur, I have some acquaintance with Marcel de +Bardelys, and his vices are hardly so black as is generally believed; +whilst in his favour I think the same may be said that you have just +said of his father - he is an honest, upright gentleman." + +"And that disgraceful affair with the Duchesse de Bourgogne?" +inquired Lavedan, with the air of a man setting an unanswerable +question. + +"Mon Dieu!" I cried, "will the world never forget that indiscretion? +An indiscretion of youth, no doubt much exaggerated outside Court +circles." + +The Vicomte eyed me in some astonishment for a moment. + +"Monsieur de Lesperon," he said at length, "you appear to hold this +Bardelys in high esteem. He has a staunch supporter in you and a +stout advocate. Yet me you cannot convince." And he shook his head +solemnly. "Even if I did not hold him to be such a man as I have +pronounced him, but were to account him a paragon of all the virtues, +his coming hither remains an act that I must resent." + +"But why, Monsieur le Vicomte?" + +"Because I know the errand that brings him to Lavedan. He comes +to woo my daughter." + +Had he flung a bomb into my bed he could not more effectively +have startled me. + +"It astonishes you, eh?" he laughed bitterly. "But I can assure +you that it is so. A month ago I was visited by the Comte de +Chatellerault - another of His Majesty's fine favourites. He came +unbidden; offered no reason for his coming, save that he was making +a tour of the province for his amusement. His acquaintance with +me was of the slightest, and I had no desire that it should +increase; yet here he installed himself with a couple of servants, +and bade fair to take a long stay. + +"I was surprised, but on the morrow I had an explanation. A courier, +arriving from an old friend of mine at Court, bore me a letter with +the information that Monsieur de Chatellerault was come to Lavedan +at the King's instigation to sue for my daughter's hand in marriage. +The reasons were not far to seek. The King, who loves him, would +enrich him; the easiest way is by a wealthy alliance, and Roxalanne +is accounted an heiress. In addition to that, my own power in the +province is known, whilst my defection from the Cardinalist party +is feared. What better link wherewith to attach me again to the +fortunes of the Crown - for Crown and Mitre have grown to be +synonymous in this topsy-turvy France - than to wed my daughter to +one of the King's favourites? + +"But for that timely warning, God knows what mischief had been +wrought. As it was, Monsieur de Chatellerault had but seen my +daughter upon two occasions. On the very day that I received the +tidings I speak of, I sent her to Auch to the care of some relatives +of her mother's. Chatellerault remained a week. Then, growing +restive, he asked when my daughter would return. 'When you depart, +monsieur,' I answered him, and, being pressed for reasons, I dealt +so frankly with him that within twenty-four hours he was on his way +back to Paris." + +The Vicomte paused and took a turn in the apartment, whilst I +pondered his words, which were bringing me a curious revelation. +Presently he resumed. + +"And now, Chatellerault having failed in his purpose, the King +chooses a more dangerous person for the gratifying of his desires. +He sends the Marquis, Marcel de Bardelys to Lavedan on the same +business. No doubt he attributes Chatellerault's failure to +clumsiness, and he has decided this time to choose a man famed for +courtly address and gifted with such arts of dalliance that he +cannot fail but enmesh my daughter in them. It is a great compliment +that he pays us in sending hither the handsomest and most +accomplished gentleman of all his Court - so fame has it - yet it is +a compliment of whose flattery I am not sensible. Bardelys goes +hence as empty-handed as went Chatellerault. Let him but show his +face, and my daughter journeys to Auch again. Am I not well advised, +Monsieur de Lesperon?" + +"Why, yes," I answered slowly, after the manner of one who +deliberates, "if you are persuaded that your conclusions touching +Bardelys are correct." + +"I am more than persuaded. What other business could bring him to +Lavedan?" + +It was a question that I did not attempt to answer. Haply he did +not expect me to answer it. He left me free to ponder another +issue of this same business of which my mind was become very full. +Chatellerault had not dealt fairly with me. Often, since I had +left Paris, had I marvelled that he came to be so rash as to risk +his fortune upon a matter that turned upon a woman's whim. That I +possessed undeniable advantages of person, of birth, and of wealth, +Chatellerault could not have disregarded. Yet these, and the +possibility that they might suffice to engage this lady's affections, +he appeared to have set at naught when he plunged into that rash +wager. + +He must have realized that because he had failed was no reason to +presume that I must also fail. There was no consequence in such an +argument, and often, as I have said, had I marvelled during the past +days at the readiness with which Chatellerault had flung down the +gage. Now I held the explanation of it. He counted upon the Vicomte +de Lavedan to reason precisely as he was reasoning, and he was +confident that no opportunities would be afforded me of so much as +seeing this beautiful and cold Roxalanne. + +It was a wily trap he had set me, worthy only of a trickster. + +Fate, however, had taken a hand in the game, and the cards were +redealt since I had left Paris. The terms of the wager permitted +me to choose any line of action that I considered desirable; but +Destiny, it seemed, had chosen for me, and set me in a line that +should at least suffice to overcome the parental resistance - that +breastwork upon which Chatellerault had so confidently depended. + +As the rebel Rene de Lesperon I was sheltered at Lavedan and made +welcome by my fellow-rebel the Vicomte, who already seemed much +taken with me, and who had esteemed me before seeing me from the +much that Monsieur de Marsac - whoever he might be - had told him of +me. As Rene de Lesperon I must remain, and turn to best account my +sojourn, praying God meanwhile that this same Monsieur de Marsac +might be pleased to refrain from visiting Lavedan whilst I was there. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +IN CONVALESCENCE + + +Of the week that followed my coming to Lavedan I find some difficulty +in writing. It was for me a time very crowded with events - events +that appeared to be moulding my character anew and making of me a +person different, indeed, from that Marcel de Bardelys whom in Paris +they called the Magnificent. Yet these events, although significant +in their total, were of so vague and slight a nature in their detail, +that when I come to write of them I find really little that I may +set down. + +Rodenard and his companions remained for two days at the chateau, +and to me his sojourn there was a source of perpetual anxiety, for +I knew not how far the fool might see fit to prolong it. It was +well for me that this anxiety of mine was shared by Monsieur de +Lavedan, who disliked at such a time the presence of men attached +to one who was so notoriously of the King's party. He came at last +to consult me as to what measures might be taken to remove them, +and I - nothing loath to conspire with him to so desirable end - +bade him suggest to Rodenard that perhaps evil had befallen Monsieur +de Bardelys, and that, instead of wasting his time at Lavedan, he +were better advised to be searching the province for his master. + +This counsel the Vicomte adopted, and with such excellent results +that that very day - within the hour, in fact - Ganymede, aroused +to a sense of his proper duty, set out in quest of me, not a little +disturbed in mind - for with all his shortcomings the rascal loved +me very faithfully. + +That was on the third day of my sojourn at Lavedan. On the morrow +I rose, my foot being sufficiently recovered to permit it. I felt +a little weak from loss of blood, but Anatole - who, for all his +evil countenance, was a kindly and gentle - servant was confident +that a few days - a week at most - would see me completely restored. + +Of leaving Lavedan I said nothing. But the Vicomte, who was one +of the most generous and noble hearted men that it has ever been my +good fortune to meet, forestalled any mention of my departure by +urging that I should remain at the chateau until my recovery were +completed, and, for that matter, as long thereafter as should suit +my inclinations. + +"At Lavedan you will be safe, my friend," he assured me; "for, as I +have told you, we are under no suspicion. Let me urge you to remain +until the King shall have desisted from further persecuting us." + +And when I protested and spoke of trespassing, he waived the point +with a brusqueness that amounted almost to anger. + +"Believe, monsieur, that I am pleased and honoured at serving one +who has so stoutly served the Cause and sacrificed so much to it." + +At that, being not altogether dead to shame, I winced, and told +myself that my behaviour was unworthy, and that I was practising a +detestable deception. Yet some indulgence I may justly claim in +consideration of how far I was victim of circumstance. Did I tell +him that I was Bardelys, I was convinced that I should never leave +the chateau alive. Very noble-hearted was the Vicomte, and no man +have I known more averse to bloodthirstiness, but he had told me +much during the days that I had lain abed, and many lives would be +jeopardized did I proclaim what I had learned from him. Hence I +argued that any disclosure of my identity must perforce drive him +to extreme measures for the sake of the friends he had unwittingly +betrayed. + +On the day after Rodenard's departure I dined with the family, and +met again Mademoiselle de Lavedan, whom I had not seen since the +balcony adventure of some nights ago. The Vicomtesse was also +present, a lady of very austere and noble appearance - lean as a +pike and with a most formidable nose - but, as I was soon to +discover, with a mind inclining overmuch to scandal and the +high-seasoned talk of the Courts in which her girlhood had been +spent. + +From her lips I heard that day the old, scandalous story of +Monseigneur de Richelieu's early passion for Anne of Austria. With +much unction did she tell us how the Queen had lured His Eminence +to dress himself in the motley of a jester that she might make a +mock of him in the eyes of the courtiers she had concealed behind +the arras of her chamber. + +This anecdote she gave us with much wealth of discreditable detail +and scant regard for either her daughter's presence or for the +blushes that suffused the poor child's cheeks. In every way she was +a pattern of the class of women amongst whom my youth had been spent, +a class which had done so much towards shattering my faith and +lowering my estimate of her sex. Lavedan had married her and brought +her into Languedoc, and here she spent her years lamenting the scenes +of her youth, and prone, it would seem, to make them matter for +conversation whenever a newcomer chanced to present himself at the +chateau. + +Looking from her to her daughter, I thanked Heaven that Roxalanne +was no reproduction of the mother. She had inherited as little of +her character as of her appearance. Both in feature and in soul +Mademoiselle de Lavedan was a copy of that noble, gallant gentleman, +her father. + +One other was present at that meal, of whom I shall have more to +say hereafter. This was a young man of good presence, save, perhaps, +a too obtrusive foppishness, whom Monsieur de Lavedan presented to +me as a distant kinsman of theirs, one Chevalier de Saint-Eustache. +He was very tall - of fully my own height - and of an excellent +shape, although extremely young. But his head if anything was too +small for his body, and his good-natured mouth was of a weakness +that was confirmed by the significance of his chin, whilst his eyes +were too closely set to augur frankness. + +He was a pleasant fellow, seemingly of that negative pleasantness +that lies in inoffensiveness, but otherwise dull and of an untutored +mind - rustic, as might be expected in one the greater part of whose +life had been spent in his native province, and of a rusticity +rendered all the more flagrant by the very efforts he exerted to +dissemble it. + +It was after madame had related that unsavoury anecdote touching +the Cardinal that he turned to ask me whether I was well acquainted +with the Court. I was near to committing the egregious blunder of +laughing in his face, but, recollecting myself betimes, I answered +vaguely that I had some knowledge of it, whereupon he all but caused +me to bound from my chair by asking me had I ever met the Magnificent +Bardelys. + +"I - I am acquainted with him," I answered warily. "Why do you ask?" + +"I was reminded of him by the fact that his servants have been here +for two days. You were expecting the Marquis himself, were you not, +Monsieur le Vicomte?" + +Lavedan raised his head suddenly, after the manner of a man who has +received an affront. + +"I was not, Chevalier," he answered, with emphasis. "His intendant, +an insolent knave of the name of Rodenard, informed me that this +Bardelys projected visiting me. He has not come, and I devoutly +hope that he may not come. Trouble enough had I to rid myself of +his servants, and but for Monsieur de Lesperon's well-conceived +suggestion they might still be here." + +"You have never met him, monsieur?" inquired the Chevalier. + +"Never," replied our host in such a way that any but a fool must +have understood that he desired nothing less than such a meeting. + +"A delightful fellow," murmured Saint-Eustache - "a brilliant, +dazzling personality." + +"You - you are acquainted with him?" I asked. + +"Acquainted?" echoed that boastful liar. "We were as brothers." + +"How you interest me! And why have you never told us?" quoth madame, +her eyes turned enviously upon the young man - as enviously as were +Lavedan's turned in disgust. "It is a thousand pities that Monsieur +de Bardelys has altered his plans and is no longer coming to us. +To meet such a man is to breathe again the air of the grand monde. +You remember, Monsieur de Lesperon, that affair with the Duchess de +Bourgogne?" And she smiled wickedly in my direction. + +"I have some recollection of it," I answered coldly. "But I think +that rumour exaggerates. When tongues wag, a little rivulet is +often described as a mountain torrent." + +"You would not say so did you but know what I know," she informed +me roguishly. "Often, I confess, rumour may swell the importance +of such an affaire, but in this case I do not think that rumour +does it justice." + +I made a deprecatory gesture, and I would have had the subject +changed, but ere I could make an effort to that end, the fool +Saint-Eustache was babbling again. + +"You remember the duel that was fought in consequence, Monsieur de +Lesperon?" + +"Yes," I assented wearily. + +"And in which a poor young fellow lost his life," growled the +Vicomte. "It was practically a murder." + +"Nay, monsieur," I cried, with a sudden heat that set them staring +at me; "there you do him wrong. Monsieur de Bardelys was opposed +to the best blade in France. The man's reputation as a swordsman +was of such a quality that for a twelvemonth he had been living upon +it, doing all manner of unseemly things immune from punishment by +the fear in which he was universally held. His behaviour in the +unfortunate affair we are discussing was of a particularly shameful +character. Oh, I know the details, messieurs, I can sure you. He +thought to impose his reputation upon Bardelys as he had imposed it +upon a hundred others, but Bardelys was over-tough for his teeth. +He sent that notorious young gentleman a challenge, and on the +following morning he left him dead in the horsemarket behind the +Hotel Vendome. But far from a murder, monsieur, it was an act of +justice, and the most richly earned punishment with which ever man +was visited." + +"Even if so," cried the Vicomte in some surprise, "why all this heat +to defend a brawler?" + +"A brawler?" I repeated after him. "Oh, no. That is a charge his +worst enemies cannot make against Bardelys. He is no brawler. The +duel in question was his first affair of the kind, and it has been +his last, for unto him has clung the reputation that had belonged +until then to La Vertoile, and there is none in France bold enough +to send a challenge to him." And, seeing what surprise I was +provoking, I thought it well to involve another with me in his +defence. So, turning to the Chevalier, "I am sure," said I, "that +Monsieur de Saint-Eustache will confirm my words." + +Thereupon, his vanity being all aroused, the Chevalier set himself +to paraphrase all that I had said with a heat that cast mine into +a miserable insignificance. + +"At least," laughed the Vicomte at length, "he lacks not for +champions. For my own part, I am content to pray Heaven that he +come not to Lavedan, as he intended." + +"Mais voyons, Gaston," the Vicomtesse protested, "why harbour +prejudice? Wait at least until you have seen him, that you may +judge him for yourself." + +"Already have I judged him; I pray that I may never see him." + +"They tell me he is a very handsome man," said she, appealing to me +for confirmation. Lavedan shot her a sudden glance of alarm, at +which I could have laughed. Hitherto his sole concern had been his +daughter, but it suddenly occurred to him that perhaps not even her +years might set the Vicomtesse in safety from imprudences with this +devourer of hearts, should he still chance to come that way. + +"Madame," I answered, "he is accounted not ill-favored." And with +a deprecatory smile I added, "I am said somewhat to resemble him." + +"Say you so?" she exclaimed, raising her eyebrows, and looking at +me more closely than hitherto. And then it seemed to me that into +her face crept a shade of disappointment. If this Bardelys were not +more beautiful than I, then he was not nearly so beautiful a man as +she had imagined. She turned to Saint-Eustache. + +"It is indeed so, Chevalier?" she inquired. "Do you note the +resemblance?" + +"Vanitas, vanitate," murmured the youth, who had some scraps of +Latin and a taste for airing them. "I can see no likeness - no +trace of one. Monsieur de Lesperon is well enough, I should say. +But Bardelys!" He cast his eyes to the ceiling. "There is but one +Bardelys in France." + +"Enfin," I laughed, "you are no doubt well qualified to judge, +Chevalier. I had flattered myself that some likeness did exist, but +probably you have seen the Marquis more frequently than have I, and +probably you know him better. Nevertheless, should he come his way, +I will ask you to look at us side by side and be the judge of the +resemblance." + +"Should I happen to be here," he said, with a sudden constraint not +difficult to understand, "I shall be happy to act as arbiter." + +"Should you happen to be here?" I echoed questioningly. "But surely, +should you hear that Monsieur de Bardelys is about to arrive, you +will postpone any departure you may be on the point of making, so +that you may renew this great friendship that you tell us you do the +Marquis the honour of entertaining for him?" + +The Chevalier eyed me with the air of a man looking down from a +great height upon another. The Vicomte smiled quietly to himself as +he combed his fair beard with his forefinger in a meditative fashion, +whilst even Roxalanne - who had sat silently listening to a +conversation that she was at times mercifully spared from following +too minutely - flashed me a humorous glance. To the Vicomtesse alone +who in common with women of her type was of a singular obtuseness - +was the situation without significance. + +Saint-Eustache, to defend himself against my delicate imputation, +and to show how well acquainted he was with Bardelys, plunged at +once into a thousand details of that gentleman's magnificence. He +described his suppers, his retinue, his equipages, his houses, his +chateaux, his favour with the King, his successes with the fair sex, +and I know not what besides - in all of which I confess that even +to me there was a certain degree of novelty. Roxalanne listened +with an air of amusement that showed how well she read him. Later, +when I found myself alone with her by the river, whither we had +gone after the repast and the Chevalier's reminiscences were at +an end, she reverted to that conversation. + +"Is not my cousin a great fanfarron, monsieur," she asked. + +"Surely you know your cousin better than I," I answered cautiously. +"Why question me upon his character?" + +"I was hardly questioning; I was commenting. He spent a fortnight +in Paris once, and he accounts himself, or would have us account +him, intimate with every courtier at the Luxembourg. Oh, he is very +amusing, this good cousin, but tiresome too." She laughed, and +there was the faintest note of scorn in her amusement. "Now, +touching this Marquis de Bardelys, it is very plain that the +Chevalier boasted when he said that they were as brothers - he and +the Marquis - is it not? He grew ill at ease when you reminded +him of the possibility of the Marquis's visit to Lavedan." And she +laughed quaintly to herself. "Do you think that he so much as +knows Bardelys?" she asked me suddenly. + +"Not so much as by sight," I answered. "He is full of information +concerning that unworthy gentleman, but it is only information +that the meanest scullion in Paris might afford you, and just as +inaccurate." + +"Why do you speak of him as unworthy? Are you of the same opinion +as my father?" + +"Aye, and with better cause." + +"You know him well?" + +"Know him? Pardieu, he is my worst enemy. A worn-out libertine; +a sneering, cynical misogynist; a nauseated reveller; a hateful +egotist. There is no more unworthy person, I'll swear, in all +France. Peste! The very memory of the fellow makes me sick. +Let us talk of other things." + +But although I urged it with the best will and the best intentions +in the world, I was not to have my way. The air became suddenly +heavy with the scent of musk, and the Chevalier de Saint-Eustache +stood before us, and forced the conversation once more upon the +odious topic of Monsieur de Bardelys. + +The poor fool came with a plan of campaign carefully considered, +bent now upon overthrowing me with the knowledge he would exhibit, +and whereby he looked to encompass my humiliation before his cousin. + +"Speaking of Bardelys, Monsieur de Lesperon--" + +"My dear Chevalier, we were no longer speaking of him." + +He smiled darkly. "Let us speak of him, then." + +"But are there not a thousand more interesting things that we might +speak of?" + +This he took for a fresh sign of fear, and so he pressed what he +accounted his advantage. + +"Yet have patience; there is a point on which perhaps you can give +me some information." + +"Impossible," said I. + +"Are you acquainted with the Duchesse de Bourgogne?" + +"I was," I answered casually, and as casually I added, "Are you?" + +"Excellently well," he replied unhesitatingly. "I was in Paris at +the time of the scandal with Bardelys." + +I looked up quickly. + +"Was it then that you met her?" I inquired in an idle sort of way. + +"Yes. I was in the confidence of Bardelys, and one night after we +had supped at his hotel - one of those suppers graced by every wit +in Paris - he asked me if I were minded to accompany him to the +Louvre. We went. A masque was in progress." + +"Ah," said I, after the manner of one who suddenly takes in the +entire situation; "and it was at this masque that you met the +Duchesse?" + +"You have guessed it. Ah, monsieur, if I were to tell you of the +things that I witnessed that night, they would amaze you," said he, +with a great air and a casual glance at Mademoiselle to see into +what depth of wonder these glimpses into his wicked past were +plunging her. + +"I doubt it not," said I, thinking that if his imagination were as +fertile in that connection as it had been in mine he was likely, +indeed, to have some amazing things to tell. "But do I understand +you to say that that was the time of the scandal you have touched +upon?" + +"The scandal burst three days after that masque. It came as a +surprise to most people. As for me - from what Bardelys had told +me - I expected nothing less." + +"Pardon, Chevalier, but how old do you happen to be?" + +"A curious question that," said he, knitting his brows. + +"Perhaps. But will you not answer it?" + +"I am twenty-one," said he. "What of it?" + +"You are twenty, mon cousin," Roxalanne corrected him. + +He looked at her a second with an injured air. + +"Why, true - twenty! That is so," he acquiesced; and again, "what +of it?" he demanded. + +"What of it, monsieur?" I echoed. "Will you forgive me if I +express amazement at your precocity, and congratulate you upon it?" + +His brows went if possible closer together and his face grew very +red. He knew that somewhere a pitfall awaited him, yet hardly where. + +"I do not understand you." + +"Bethink you, Chevalier. Ten years have flown since this scandal +you refer to. So that at the time of your supping with Bardelys and +the wits of Paris, at the time of his making a confidant of you and +carrying you off to a masque at the Louvre, at the time of his +presenting you to the Duchesse de Bourgogne, you were just ten years +of age. I never had cause to think over-well of Bardelys, but had +you not told me yourself, I should have hesitated to believe him so +vile a despoiler of innocence, such a perverter of youth." + +He crimsoned to the very roots of his hair. + +Roxalanne broke into a laugh. "My cousin, my cousin," she cried, +"they that would become masters should begin early, is it not so?" + +"Monsieur de Lesperon," said he, in a very formal voice, "do you +wish me to apprehend that you have put me through this catechism +for the purpose of casting a doubt upon what I have said?" + +"But have I done that? Have I cast a doubt?" I asked, with the +utmost meekness. + +"So I apprehend." + +"Then you apprehend amiss. Your words, I assure you, admit of no +doubt whatever. And now, monsieur, if you will have mercy upon me, +we will talk of other things. I am so weary of this unfortunate +Bardelys and his affairs. He may be the fashion of Paris and at +Court, but down here his very name befouls the air. Mademoiselle," +I said, turning to Roxalanne, "you promised me a lesson in the lore +of flowers." + +"Come, then," said she, and, being an exceedingly wise child, she +plunged straightway into the history of the shrubs about us. + +Thus did we avert a storm that for a moment was very imminent. Yet +some mischief was done, and some good, too, perhaps. For if I made +an enemy of the Chevalier de Saint-Eustache by humbling him in the +eyes of the one woman before whom he sought to shine, I established +a bond 'twixt Roxalanne and myself by that same humiliation of a +foolish coxcomb, whose boastfulness had long wearied her. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE HOSTILITY OF SAINT-EUSTACHE + + +In the days that followed I saw much of the Chevalier de +Saint-Eustache. He was a very constant visitor at Lavedan, and the +reason of it was not far to seek. For my own part, I disliked +him - I had done so from the moment when first I had set eyes on +him - and since hatred, like affection, is often a matter of +reciprocity, the Chevalier was not slow to return my dislike. Our +manner gradually, by almost imperceptible stages, grew more distant, +until by the end of a week it had become so hostile that Lavedan +found occasion to comment upon it. + +"Beware of Saint-Eustache," he warned me. "You are becoming very +manifestly distasteful to each other, and I would urge you to have +a care. I don't trust him. His attachment to our Cause is of a +lukewarm character, and he gives me uneasiness, for he may do much +harm if he is so inclined. It is on this account that I tolerate +his presence at Lavedan. Frankly, I fear him, and I would counsel +you to do no less. The man is a liar, even if but a boastful liar +and liars are never long out of mischief." + +The wisdom of the words was unquestionable, but the advice in them +was not easily followed, particularly by one whose position was so +peculiar as my own. In a way I had little cause to fear the harm +the Chevalier might do me, but I was impelled to consider the harm +that at the same time he might do the Vicomte. + +Despite our growing enmity, the Chevalier and I were very frequently +thrown together. The reason for this was, of course, that wherever +Roxalanne was to be found there, generally, were we both to be found +also. Yet had I advantages that must have gone to swell a rancour +based as much upon jealousy as any other sentiment, for whilst he +was but a daily visitor at Lavedan, I was established there +indefinitely. + +Of the use that I made of that time I find it difficult to speak. +From the first moment that I had beheld Roxalanne I had realized +the truth of Chatellerault's assertion that I had never known a +woman. He was right. Those that I had met and by whom I had +judged the sex had, by contrast with this child, little claim to +the title. Virtue I had accounted a shadow without substance; +innocence, a synonym for ignorance; love, a fable, a fairy tale +for the delectation of overgrown children. + +In the company of Roxalanne de Lavedan all those old, cynical +beliefs, built up upon a youth of undesirable experiences, were +shattered and the error of them exposed. Swiftly was I becoming a +convert to the faith which so long I had sneered at, and as lovesick +as any unfledged youth in his first amour. + +Damn! It was something for a man who had lived as I had lived to +have his pulses quicken and his colour change at a maid's approach; +to find himself colouring under her smile and paling under her +disdain; to have his mind running on rhymes, and his soul so enslaved +that, if she is not to be won, chagrin will dislodge it from his body. + +Here was a fine mood for a man who had entered upon his business by +pledging himself to win and wed this girl in cold and supreme +indifference to her personality. And that pledge, how I cursed it +during those days at Lavedan! How I cursed Chatellerault, cunning, +subtle trickster that he was! How I cursed myself for my lack of +chivalry and honour in having been lured so easily into so damnable +a business! For when the memory of that wager rose before me it +brought despair in its train. Had I found Roxalanne the sort of +woman that I had looked to find - the only sort that I had ever +known - then matters had been easy. I had set myself in cold blood, +and by such wiles as I knew, to win such affection as might be hers +to bestow; and I would have married her in much the same spirit as +a man performs any other of the necessary acts of his lifetime and +station. I would have told her that I was Bardelys, and to the woman +that I had expected to find there had been no difficulty in making +the confession. But to Roxalanne! Had there been no wager, I might +have confessed my identity. As it was, I found it impossible to +avow the one without the other. For the sweet innocence that +invested her gentle, trusting soul must have given pause to any but +the most abandoned of men before committing a vileness in connection +with her. + +We were much together during that week, and just as day by day, hour +by hour, my passion grew and grew until it absorbed me utterly, so, +too, did it seem to me that it awakened in her a responsive note. +There was an odd light at times in her soft eyes; I came upon her +more than once with snatches of love-songs on her lips, and when she +smiled upon me there was a sweet tenderness in her smile, which, had +things been different, would have gladdened my soul beyond all else; +but which, things being as they were, was rather wont to heighten +my despair. I was no coxcomb; I had had experiences, and I knew +these signs. But something, too, I guessed of the heart of such a +one as Roxalanne. To the full I realized the pain and shame I should +inflict upon her when my confession came; I realized, too, how the +love of this dear child, so honourable and high of mind, must turn +to contempt and scorn when I plucked away my mask, and let her see +how poor a countenance I wore beneath. + +And yet I drifted with the tide of things. It was my habit so to +drift, and the habit of a lifetime is not to be set at naught in a +day by a resolve, however firm. A score of times was I reminded +that an evil is but increased by being ignored. A score of times +confession trembled on my lips, and I burned to tell her everything +from its inception - the environment that had erstwhile warped me, +the honesty by which I was now inspired - and so cast myself upon +the mercy of her belief. + +She might accept my story, and, attaching credit to it, forgive me +the deception I had practised, and recognize the great truth that +must ring out in the avowal of my love. But, on the other hand, +she might not accept it; she might deem my confession a shrewd part +of my scheme, and the dread of that kept me silent day by day. + +Fully did I see how with every hour that sped confession became +more and more difficult. The sooner the thing were done, the +greater the likelihood of my being believed; the later I left it, +the more probable was it that I should be discredited. Alas! +Bardelys, it seemed, had added cowardice to his other short-comings. + +As for the coldness of Roxalanne, that was a pretty fable of +Chatellerault's; or else no more than an assumption, an invention +of the imaginative La Fosse. Far, indeed, from it, I found no +arrogance or coldness in her. All unversed in the artifices of her +sex, all unacquainted with the wiles of coquetry, she was the very +incarnation of naturalness and maidenly simplicity. To the tales +that - with many expurgations - I told her of Court life, to the +pictures that I drew of Paris, the Luxembourg, the Louvre, the +Palais Cardinal, and the courtiers that thronged those historic +palaces, she listened avidly and enthralled; and much as Othello won +the heart of Desdemona by a recital of the perils he had endured, so +it seemed to me was I winning the heart of Roxalanne by telling her +of the things that I had seen. + +Once or twice she expressed wonder at the depth and intimacy of the +knowledge of such matters exhibited by a simple Gascon gentleman, +whereupon I would urge, in explanation, the appointment in the Guards +that Lesperon had held some few years ago, a position that will reveal +much to an observant man. + +The Vicomte noted our growing intimacy, yet set no restraint upon it. +Down in his heart I believe that noble gentleman would have been well +pleased had matters gone to extremes between us, for however +impoverished he might deem me; Lesperon's estates in Gascony being, +as I have said, likely to suffer sequestration in view of his treason +--he remembered the causes of this and the deep devotion of the man +I impersonated to the affairs of Gaston d'Orleans. + +Again, he feared the very obvious courtship of the Chevalier de +Saint-Eustache, and he would have welcomed a turn of events that +would effectually have frustrated it. That he did not himself +interfere so far as the Chevalier's wooing was concerned, I could +but set down to the mistrust of Saint-Eustache - amounting almost +to fear - of which he had spoken. + +As for the Vicomtesse, the same causes that had won me some of the +daughter's regard gained me also no little of the mother's. + +She had been attached to the Chevalier until my coming. But what +did the Chevalier know of the great world compared with what I +could tell? Her love of scandal drew her to me with inquiries upon +this person and that person, many of them but names to her. + +My knowledge and wealth of detail - for all that I curbed it lest +I should seem to know too much - delighted her prurient soul. Had +she been more motherly, this same knowledge that I exhibited should +have made her ponder what manner of life I had led, and should have +inspired her to account me no fit companion for her daughter. But +a selfish woman, little inclined to be plagued by the concerns of +another - even when that other was her daughter - she left things +to the destructive course that they were shaping. + +And so everything - if we except perhaps the Chevalier de +Saint-Eustache - conspired to the advancement of my suit, in a +manner that must have made Chatellerault grind his teeth in rage +if he could have witnessed it, but which made me grind mine in +despair when I pondered the situation in detail. + +One evening - I had been ten days at the chateau - we went a +half-league or so up the Garonne in a boat, she and I. As we were +returning, drifting with the stream, the oars idle in my hand, I +spoke of leaving Lavedan. + +She looked up quickly; her expression was almost of alarm, and her +eyes dilated as they met mine - for, as I have said, she was all +unversed in the ways of her sex, and by nature too guileless to +attempt to disguise her feelings or dissemble them. + +"But why must you go so soon?" she asked. "You are safe at Lavedan, +and abroad you may be in danger. It was but two days ago that they +took a poor young gentleman of these parts at Pau; so that you see +the persecution is not yet ended. Are you" - and her voice trembled +ever so slightly - "are you weary of us, monsieur?" + +I shook my head at that, and smiled wistfully. + +"Weary?" I echoed. "Surely, mademoiselle, you do not think it? +Surely your heart must tell you something very different?" + +She dropped her eyes before the passion of my gaze. And when +presently she answered me, there was no guile in her words; there +were the dictates of the intuitions of her sex, and nothing more. + +"But it is possible, monsieur. You are accustomed to the great +world--" + +"The great world of Lesperon, in Gascony?" I interrupted. + +"No, no; the great world you have inhabited at Paris and elsewhere. +I can understand that at Lavedan you should find little of interest, +and - and that your inactivity should render you impatient to be +gone." + +"If there were so little to interest me then it might be as you say. +But, oh, mademoiselle--" I ceased abruptly. Fool! I had almost +fallen a prey to the seductions that the time afforded me. The +balmy, languorous eventide, the broad, smooth river down which we +glided, the foliage, the shadows on the water, her presence, and our +isolation amid such surroundings, had almost blotted out the matter +of the wager and of my duplicity. + +She laughed a little nervous laugh, and - maybe to ease the tension +that my sudden silence had begotten - "You see," she said, "how your +imagination deserts you when you seek to draw upon it for proof of +what you protest. You were about to tell me of - of the interests +that hold you at Lavedan, and when you come to ponder them, you find +that you can think of nothing. Is it - is it not so?" She put the +question very timidly, as if half afraid of the answer she might +provoke. + +"No; it is not so," I said. + +I paused a moment, and in that moment I wrestled with myself. +Confession and avowal - confession of what I had undertaken, and +avowal of the love that had so unexpectedly come to me - trembled +upon my lips, to be driven shuddering away in fear. + +Have I not said that this Bardelys was become a coward? Then my +cowardice suggested a course to me - flight. I would leave Lavedan. +I would return to Paris and to Chatellerault, owning defeat and +paying my wager. It was the only course open to me. My honour, so +tardily aroused, demanded no less. Yet, not so much because of that +as because it was suddenly revealed to me as the easier course, did +I determine to pursue it. What thereafter might become of me I did +not know, nor in that hour of my heart's agony did it seem to matter +overmuch. + +"There is much, mademoiselle, much, indeed, to hold me firmly at +Lavedan," I pursued at last. "But my - my obligations demand of me +that I depart." + +"You mean the Cause," she cried. "But, believe me, you can do +nothing. To sacrifice yourself cannot profit it. Infinitely better +you can serve the Duke by waiting until the time is ripe for another +blow. And how can you better preserve your life than by remaining +at Lavedan until the persecutions are at an end?" + +"I was not thinking of the Cause, mademoiselle, but of myself alone +--of my own personal honour. I would that I could explain; but I am +afraid," I ended lamely. + +"Afraid?" she echoed, now raising her eyes in wonder. + +"Aye, afraid. Afraid of your contempt, of your scorn." + +The wonder in her glance increased and asked a question that I could +not answer. I stretched forward, and caught one of the hands lying +idle in her lap. + +"Roxalanne," I murmured very gently, and my tone, my touch, and the +use of her name drove her eyes for refuge behind their lids again. +A flush spread upon the ivory pallor of her face, to fade as swiftly, +leaving it very white. Her bosom rose and fell in agitation, and +the little hand I held trembled in my grasp. There was a moment's +silence. Not that I had need to think or choose my words. But +there was a lump in my throat - aye, I take no shame in confessing +it, for this was the first time that a good and true emotion had +been vouchsafed me since the Duchesse de Bourgogne had shattered +my illusions ten years ago. + +"Roxalanne," I resumed presently, when I was more master of myself, +"we have been good friends, you and I, since that night when I +climbed for shelter to your chamber, have we not?" + +"But yes, monsieur," she faltered. + +"Ten days ago it is. Think of it - no more than ten days. And it +seems as if I had been months at Lavedan, so well have we become +acquainted. In these ten days we have formed opinions of each other. +But with this difference, that whilst mine are right, yours are +wrong. I have come to know you for the sweetest, gentlest saint in +all this world. Would to God I had known you earlier! It might +have been very different; I might have been - I would have been - +different, and I would not have done what I have done. You have +come to know me for an unfortunate but honest gentleman. Such am +I not. I am under false colours here, mademoiselle. Unfortunate +I may be - at least, of late I seem to have become so. Honest I +am not - I have not been. There, child, I can tell you no more. I +am too great a coward. But when later you shall come to hear the +truth - when, after I am gone, they may tell you a strange story +touching this fellow Lesperon who sought the hospitality of your +father's house - bethink you of my restraint in this hour; bethink +you of my departure. You will understand these things perhaps +afterwards. But bethink you of them, and you will unriddle them for +yourself, perhaps. Be merciful upon me then; judge me not +over-harshly." + +I paused, and for a moment we were silent. Then suddenly she looked +up; her fingers tightened upon mine. + +"Monsieur de Lesperon," she pleaded, "of what do speak? You are +torturing me, monsieur." + +"Look in my face, Roxalanne. Can you see nothing there of how I am +torturing myself?" + +"Then tell me, monsieur," she begged, her voice a very caress of +suppliant softness, - "tell me what vexes you and sets a curb upon +your tongue. You exaggerate, I am assured. You could do nothing +dishonourable, nothing vile." + +"Child," I cried, "I thank God that you are right! I cannot do +what is dishonourable, and I will not, for all that a month ago +I pledged myself to do it!" + +A sudden horror, a doubt, a suspicion flashed into her glance. + +"You - you do not mean that you are a spy?" she asked; and from my +heart a prayer of thanks went up to Heaven that this at least it +was mine frankly to deny. + +"No, no - not that. I am no spy." + +Her face cleared again, and she sighed. + +"It is, I think, the only thing I could not forgive. Since it is +not that, will you not tell me what it is?" + +For a moment the temptation to confess, to tell her everything, was +again upon me. But the futility of it appalled me. + +"Don't ask me," I besought her; "you will learn it soon enough." +For I was confident that once my wager was paid, the news of it and +of the ruin of Bardelys would spread across the face of France like +a ripple over water. Presently-- + +"Forgive me for having come into your life, Roxalanne!" I implored +her, and then I sighed again. "Helas! Had I but known you earlier! +I did not dream such women lived in this worn-out France." + +"I will not pry, monsieur, since your resolve appears to be so firm. +But if - if after I have heard this thing you speak of," she said +presently, speaking with averted eyes, "and if, having heard it, I +judge you more mercifully than you judge yourself, and I send for +you, will you - will you come back to Lavedan?" + +My heart gave a great bound - a great, a sudden throb of hope. But +as sudden and as great was the rebound into despair. + +"You will not send for me, be assured of that," I said with finality; +and we spoke no more. + +I took the oars and plied them vigorously. I was in haste to end +the situation. Tomorrow I must think of my departure, and, as I +rowed, I pondered the words that had passed between us. Not one +word of love had there been, and yet, in the very omission of it, +avowal had lain on either side. A strange wooing had been mine - a +wooing that precluded the possibility of winning, and yet a wooing +that had won. Aye, it had won; but it might not take. I made fine +distinctions and quaint paradoxes as I tugged at my oars, for the +human mind is a curiously complex thing, and with some of us there +is no such spur to humour as the sting of pain. + +Roxalanne sat white and very thoughtful, but with veiled eyes, so +that I might guess nothing of what passed within her mind. + +At last we reached the chateau, and as I brought the boat to the +terrace steps, it was Saint-Eustache who came forward to offer his +wrist to Mademoiselle. + +He noted the pallor of her face, and darted me a quick, +suspicion-laden glance. As we were walking towards the chateau-- + +"Monsieur de Lesperon," said he in a curious tone, "do you know that +a rumour of your death is current in the province?" + +"I had hoped that such a rumour might get abroad when I disappeared," +I answered calmly. + +"And you have taken no single step to contradict it?" + +"Why should I, since in that rumour may be said to lie my safety?" + +"Nevertheless, monsieur, voyons. Surely you might at least relieve +the anxieties the affliction, I might almost say - of those who are +mourning you." + +"Ah!" said I. "And who may these be?" + +He shrugged his shoulders and pursed his lips in a curiously +deprecatory smile. With a sidelong glance at Mademoiselle-- + +"Do you need that I name Mademoiselle de Marsac?" he sneered. + +I stood still, my wits busily working, my face impassive under his +scrutinizing glance. In a flash it came to me that this must be +the writer of some of the letters Lesperon had given me, the original +of the miniature I carried. + +As I was silent, I grew suddenly conscious of another pair of eyes +observing me, Mademoiselle's. She remembered what I had said, she +may have remembered how I had cried out the wish that I had met her +earlier, and she may not have been slow to find an interpretation +for my words. I could have groaned in my rage at such a +misinterpretation. I could have taken the Chevalier round to the +other side of the chateau and killed him with the greatest relish +in the world. But I restrained myself, I resigned myself to be +misunderstood. What choice had I? + +"Monsieur de Saint-Eustache," said I very coldly, and looking him +straight between his close-set eyes, "I have permitted you many +liberties, but there is one that I cannot permit any one - and, much +as I honour you, I can make no exception in your favour. That is +to interfere in my concerns and presume to dictate to me the manner +in which I shall conduct them. Be good enough to bear that in your +memory." + +In a moment he was all servility. The sneer passed out of his face, +the arrogance out of his demeanour. He became as full of smiles +and capers as the meanest sycophant. + +"You will forgive me, monsieur!" he cried, spreading his hands, and +with the humblest smile in the world. "I perceive that I have taken +a great liberty; yet you have misunderstood its purport. I sought +to sound you touching the wisdom of a step upon which I have +ventured." + +"That is, monsieur?" I asked, throwing back my head, with the scent +of danger breast high. + +"I took it upon myself to-day to mention the fact that you are alive +and well to one who had a right, I thought, to know of it, and who +is coming hither tomorrow." + +"That was a presumption you may regret," said I between my teeth. +"To whom do you impart this information?" + +"To your friend, Monsieur de Marsac," he answered, and through his +mask of humility the sneer was again growing apparent. "He will +be here tomorrow," he repeated. + +Marsac was that friend of Lesperon's to whose warm commendation of +the Gascon rebel I owed the courtesy and kindness that the Vicomte +de Lavedan had meted out to me since my coming. + +Is it wonderful that I stood as if frozen, my wits refusing to work +and my countenance wearing, I doubt not, a very stricken look? Here +was one coming to Lavedan who knew Lesperon - one who would unmask me +and say that I was an impostor. What would happen then? A spy they +would of a certainty account me, and that they would make short work +of me I never doubted. But that was something that troubled me less +than the opinion Mademoiselle must form. How would she interpret +what I had said that day? In what light would she view me hereafter? + +Such questions sped like swift arrows through my mind, and in their +train came a dull anger with myself that I had not told her +everything that afternoon. It was too late now. The confession +would come no longer of my own free will, as it might have done an +hour ago, but would be forced from me by the circumstances that +impended. Thus it would no longer have any virtue to recommend it +to her mercy. + +"The news seems hardly welcome, Monsieur de Lesperon," said +Roxalanne in a voice that was inscrutable. Her tone stirred me, for +it betokened suspicion already. Something might yet chance to aid +me, and in the mean while I might spoil all did I yield to this +dread of the morrow. By an effort I mastered myself, and in tones +calm and level, that betrayed nothing of the tempest in my soul-- + +"It is not welcome, mademoiselle," I answered. "I have excellent +reasons for not desiring to meet Monsieur de Marsac." + +"Excellent, indeed, are they!" lisped Saint-Eustache, with an ugly +droop at the corners of his mouth. "I doubt not you'll find it +hard to offer a plausible reason for having left him and his sister +without news that you were alive." + +"Monsieur," said I at random, "why will you drag in his sister's +name?" + +"Why?" he echoed, and he eyed me with undisguised amusement. He +was standing erect, his head thrown back, his right arm outstretched +from the shoulder, and his hand resting lightly upon the gold mount +of his beribboned cane. He let his eyes wander from me to Roxalanne, +then back again to me. At last: "Is it wonderful that I should +drag in the name of your betrothed?" said he. "But perhaps you will +deny that Mademoiselle de Marsac is that to you?" he suggested. + +And I, forgetting for the moment the part I played and the man whose +identity I had put on, made answer hotly: "I do deny it." + +"Why, then, you lie," said he, and shrugged hits shoulders with +insolent contempt. + +In all my life I do not think it could be said of me that I had ever +given way to rage. Rude, untutored minds may fall a prey to passion, +but a gentleman, I hold, is never angry. Nor was I then, so far as +the outward signs of anger count. I doffed my hat with a sweep to +Roxalanne, who stood by with fear and wonder blending in her glance. + +"Mademoiselle, you will forgive that I find it necessary to birch +this babbling schoolboy in your presence." + +Then, with the pleasantest manner in the world, I stepped aside, and +plucked the cane from the Chevalier's hand before he had so much as +guessed what I was about. I bowed before him with the utmost +politeness, as if craving his leave and tolerance for what I was +about to do, and then, before he had recovered from his astonishment, +I had laid that cane three times in quick succession across his +shoulders. With a cry at once of pain and of mortification, he +sprang back, and his hand dropped to his hilt. + +"Monsieur," Roxalanne cried to him, "do you not see that he is +unarmed?" + +But he saw nothing, or, if he saw, thanked Heaven that things were +in such case, and got his sword out. Thereupon Roxalanne would have +stepped between us, but with arm outstretched I restrained her. + +"Have no fear, mademoiselle," said I very quietly; for if the wrist +that had overcome La Vertoile were not with a stick a match for a +couple of such swords as this coxcomb's, then was I forever shamed. + +He bore down upon me furiously, his point coming straight for my +throat. I took the blade on the cane; then, as he disengaged and +came at me lower, I made counter-parry, and pursuing the circle after +I had caught his steel, I carried it out of his hand. It whirled an +instant, a shimmering wheel of light, then it clattered against the +marble balustrade half a dozen yards away. With his sword it seemed +that his courage, too, departed, and he stood at my mercy, a curious +picture of foolishness, surprise, and fear. + +Now the Chevalier de Saint-Eustache was a young man, and in the young +we can forgive much. But to forgive such an act as he had been +guilty of - that of drawing his sword upon a man who carried no +weapons - would have been not only a ridiculous toleration, but an +utter neglect of duty. As an older man it behoved me to read the +Chevalier a lesson in manners and gentlemanly feeling. So, quite +dispassionately, and purely for his own future good, I went about +the task, and administered him a thrashing that for thoroughness it +would be hard to better. I was not discriminating. I brought my +cane down with a rhythmical precision, and whether it took him on +the head, the back, or the shoulders, I held to be more his affair +than mine. I had a moral to inculcate, and the injuries he might +receive in the course of it were inconsiderable details so that the +lesson was borne in upon his soul. Two or three times he sought to +close with me, but I eluded him; I had no mind to descend to a vulgar +exchange of blows. My object was not to brawl, but to administer +chastisement, and this object I may claim to have accomplished with +a fair degree of success. + +At last Roxalanne interfered; but only when one blow a little more +violent, perhaps, than its precursors resulted in the sudden snapping +of the cane and Monsieur de Eustache's utter collapse into a moaning +heap. + +"I deplore, mademoiselle, to have offended your sight with such a +spectacle, but unless these lessons are administered upon the instant +their effect is not half so salutary." + +"He deserved it, monsieur," said she, with a note almost of +fierceness in her voice. And of such poor mettle are we that her +resentment against that groaning mass of fopperies and wheals sent a +thrill of pleasure through me. I walked over to the spot where his +sword had fallen, and picked it up. + +"Monsieur de Saint-Eustache," said I, "you have so dishonoured this +blade that I do not think you would care to wear it again." Saying +which, I snapped it across my knee, and flung it far out into the +river, for all that the hilt was a costly one, richly wrought in +bronze and gold. + +He raised his livid countenance, and his eyes blazed impotent fury. + +"Par la mort Dieu!" he cried hoarsely, "you shall give me +satisfaction for this!" + +"If you account yourself still unsatisfied, I am at your service when +you will," said I courteously. + +Then, before more could be said, I saw Monsieur de Lavedan and the +Vicomtesse approaching hurriedly across the parterre. The Vicomte's +brow was black with what might have appeared anger, but which I +rightly construed into apprehension. + +"What has taken place? What have you done?" he asked of me. + +"He has brutally assaulted the Chevalier," cried Madame shrilly, her +eyes malevolently set upon me. "He is only a child, this poor +Saint-Eustache," she reproached me. "I saw it all from my window, +Monsieur de Lesperon. It was brutal; it was cowardly. So to beat +a boy! Shame! If you had a quarrel with him, are there not +prescribed methods for their adjustment between gentlemen? Pardieu, +could you not have given him proper satisfaction?" + +"If madame will give herself the trouble of attentively examining +this poor Saint-Eustache," said I, with a sarcasm which her virulence +prompted, "you will agree, I think, that I have given him very +proper and very thorough satisfaction. I would have met him sword +in hand, but the Chevalier has the fault of the very young - he is +precipitate; he was in too great a haste, and he could not wait +until I got a sword. So I was forced to do what I could with a cane." + +"But you provoked him," she flashed back. + +"Whoever told you so has misinformed you, madame. On the contrary, +he provoked me. He gave me the lie. I struck him - could I do +less? - and he drew. I defended myself, and I supplemented my +defence by a caning, so that this poor Saint-Eustache might realize +the unworthiness of what he had done. That is all, madame." + +But she was not so easily to be appeased, not even when Mademoiselle +and the Vicomte joined their voices to mine in extenuation of my +conduct. It was like Lavedan. For all that he was full of dread +of the result and of the vengeance Saint-Eustache might wreak - boy +though he was - he expressed himself freely touching the Chevalier's +behaviour and the fittingness of the punishment that had overtaken +him. + +The Vicomtesse stood in small awe of her husband, but his judgment +upon a point of honour was a matter that she would not dare contest. +She was ministering to the still prostrate Chevalier who, I think, +remained prostrate now that he might continue to make appeal to her +sympathy - when suddenly she cut in upon Roxalanne's defence of me. + +"Where have you been?" she demanded suddenly. + +"When, my mother?" + +"This afternoon," answered the Vicomtesse impatiently. "The +Chevalier was waiting two hours for you." + +Roxalanne coloured to the roots of her hair. The Vicomte frowned. + +"Waiting for me, my mother? But why for me?" + +"Answer my question - where have you been?" + +"I was with Monsieur de Lesperon," she answered simply. + +"Alone?" the Vicomtesse almost shrieked. + +"But yes." The poor child's tones were laden with wonder at this +catechism. + +"God's death!" she snapped. "It seems that my daughter is no better +than--" + +Heaven knows what may have been coming, for she had the most +virulent, scandalous tongue that I have ever known in a woman's +head - which is much for one who has lived at Court to say. But +the Vicomte, sharing my fears, perhaps, and wishing to spare the +child's ears, interposed quickly "Come, madame, what airs are these? +What sudden assumption of graces that we do not affect? We are not +in Paris. This is not the Luxembourg. En province comme en +province, and here we are simple folk--" + +"Simple folk?" she interrupted, gasping. "By God, am I married to +a ploughman? Am I Vicomtesse of Lavedan, or the wife of a boor of +the countryside? And is the honour of your daughter a matter--" + +"The honour of my daughter is not in question, madame," he +interrupted in his turn, and with a sudden sternness that spent +the fire of her indignation as a spark that is trampled underfoot. +Then, in a calm, level voice: "Ah, here are the servants," said he. + +"Permit them, madame, to take charge of Monsieur de Saint-Eustache. +Anatole, you had better order the carriage for Monsieur le Chevalier. +I do not think that he will be able to ride home." + +Anatole peered at the pale young gentleman on the ground, then he +turned his little wizened face upon me, and grinned in a singularly +solemn fashion. Monsieur de Saint-Eustache was little loved, it +seemed. + +Leaning heavily upon the arm of one of the lacqueys, the Chevalier +moved painfully towards the courtyard, where the carriage was being +prepared for him. At the last moment he turned and beckoned the +Vicomte to his side. + +"As God lives, Monsieur de Lavedan," he swore, breathing heavily +in the fury that beset him, "you shall bitterly regret having taken +sides to-day with that Gascon bully. Remember me, both of you, when +you are journeying to Toulouse." + +The Vicomte stood beside him, impassive and unmoved by that grim +threat, for all that to him it must have sounded like a +death-sentence. + +"Adieu, monsieur - a speedy recovery," was all he answered. + +But I stepped up to them. "Do you not think, Vicomte, that it were +better to detain him?" I asked. + +"Pshaw!" he ejaculated. "Let him go." + +The Chevalier's eyes met mine in a look of terror. Perhaps already +that young man repented him of his menace, and he realized the folly +of threatening one in whose power he still chanced to be. + +"Bethink you, monsieur," I cried. "Yours is a noble and useful life. +Mine is not without value, either. Shall we suffer these lives - aye, +and the happiness of your wife and daughter - to be destroyed by this +vermin?" + +"Let him go, monsieur; let him go. I am not afraid." + +I bowed and stepped back, motioning to the lacquey to take the fellow +away, much as I should have motioned him to remove some uncleanness +from before me. + +The Vicomtesse withdrew in high dudgeon to her chamber, and I did not +see her again that evening. Mademoiselle I saw once, for a moment, +and she employed that moment to question me touching the origin of +my quarrel with Saint-Eustache. + +"Did he really lie, Monsieur de Lesperon?" she asked. + +"Upon my honour, mademoiselle," I answered solemnly, "I have +plighted my troth to no living woman." Then my chin sank to my +breast as I bethought me of how tomorrow she must opine me the +vilest liar living - for I was resolved to be gone before Marsac +arrived - since the real Lesperon I did not doubt was, indeed, +betrothed to Mademoiselle de Marsac. + +"I shall leave Lavedan betimes to-morrow, mademoiselle," I pursued +presently. "What has happened to-day makes my departure all the +more urgent. Delay may have its dangers. You will hear strange +things of me, as already I have warned you. But be merciful. Much +will be true, much false; yet the truth itself is very vile, and--" +I stopped short, in despair of explaining or even tempering what +had to come. I shrugged my shoulders in my abandonment of hope, and +I turned towards the window. She crossed the room and came to stand +beside me. + +"Will you not tell me? Have you no faith in me? Ah, Monsieur de +Lesperon--" + +"'Sh! child, I cannot. It is too late to tell you now." + +"Oh, not too late! From what you say they will tell me, I should +think, perhaps, worse of you than you deserve. What is this thing +you hide? What is this mystery? Tell me, monsieur. Tell me." + +Did ever woman more plainly tell a man she loved him, and that +loving him she would find all excuses for him? Was ever woman in +better case to hear a confession from the man that loved her, and +of whose love she was assured by every instinct that her sex +possesses in such matters? Those two questions leapt into my mind, +and in resolving them I all but determined to speak even now in +the eleventh hour. + +And then - I know not how - a fresh barrier seemed to arise. It +was not merely a matter of telling her of the wager I was embarked +upon; not merely a matter of telling her of the duplicity that I +had practised, of the impostures by which I had gained admittance +to her father's confidence and trust; not merely a matter of +confessing that I was not Lesperon. There would still be the +necessity of saying who I was. Even if she forgave all else, could +she forgive me for being Bardelys the notorious Bardelys, the +libertine, the rake, some of whose exploits she had heard of from +her mother, painted a hundred times blacker than they really were? +Might she not shrink from me when I told her I was that man? In +her pure innocence she deemed, no doubt, that the life of every +man who accounted himself a gentleman was moderately clean. She +would not see in me - as did her mother - no more than a type of +the best class in France, and having no more than the vices of my +order. As a monster of profligacy might she behold me, and that +--ah, Dieu! - I could not endure that she should do whilst I +was by. + +It may be - indeed, now, as I look back, I know that I exaggerated +my case. I imagined she would see it as I saw it then. For would +you credit it? With this great love that was now come to me, it +seemed the ideals of my boyhood were returned, and I abhorred the +man that I had been. The life I had led now filled me with disgust +and loathing; the notions I had formed seemed to me now all vicious +and distorted, my cynicism shallow and unjust. + +"Monsieur de Lesperon," she called softly to me, noting my silence. + +I turned to her. I set my hand lightly upon her arm; I let my gaze +encounter the upward glance of her eyes - blue as forget-me-nots. + +"You suffer!" she murmured, with sweet compassion. + +"Worse, Roxalanne! I have sown in your heart too the seed of +suffering. Oh, I am too unworthy!" I cried out; "and when you come +to discover how unworthy it will hurt you; it will sting your pride +to think how kind you were to me." She smiled incredulously, in +denial of my words. "No, child; I cannot tell you." + +She sighed, and then before more could be said there was a sound +at the door, and we started away from each other. The Vicomte +entered, and my last chance of confessing, of perhaps averting +much of what followed, was lost to me. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE PORTRAIT + + +Into the mind of every thoughtful man must come at times with +bitterness the reflection of how utterly we are at the mercy of +Fate, the victims of her every whim and caprice. We may set out +with the loftiest, the sternest resolutions to steer our lives +along a well-considered course, yet the slightest of fortuitous +circumstances will suffice to force us into a direction that we had +no thought of taking. + +Now, had it pleased Monsieur de Marsac to have come to Lavedan at +any reasonable hour of the day, I should have been already upon +the road to Paris, intent to own defeat and pay my wager. A night +of thought, besides strengthening my determination to follow such a +course, had brought the reflection that I might thereafter return +to Roxalanne, a poor man, it is true, but one at least whose +intentions might not be misconstrued. + +And so, when at last I sank into sleep, my mind was happier than +it had been for many days. Of Roxalanne's love I was assured, and +it seemed that I might win her, after all, once I removed the +barrier of shame that now deterred me. It may be that those +thoughts kept me awake until a late hour, and that to this I owe +it that when on the morrow I awakened the morning was well advanced. +The sun was flooding my chamber, and at my bedside stood Anatole. + +"What's o'clock?" I inquired, sitting bolt upright. + +"Past ten," said he, with stern disapproval. + +"And you have let me sleep?" I cried. + +"We do little else at Lavedan even when we are awake," he grumbled. +"There was no reason why monsieur should rise." Then, holding out +a paper, "Monsieur Stanislas de Marsac was here betimes this morning +with Mademoiselle his sister. He left this letter for you, monsieur." + +Amaze and apprehension were quickly followed by relief, since +Anatole's words suggested that Marsac had not remained. I took the +letter, nevertheless, with some misgivings, and whilst I turned it +over in my hands I questioned the old servant. + +"He stayed an hour at the chateau, monsieur," Anatole informed me. +"Monsieur le Vicomte would have had you roused, but he would not +hear of it. 'If what Monsieur de Saint-Eustache has told me touching +your guest should prove to be true,' said he, 'I would prefer not +to meet him under your roof, monsieur.' 'Monsieur de Saint-Eustache,' +my master replied, 'is not a person whose word should have weight +with any man of honour.' But in spite of that, Monsieur de Marsac +held to his resolve, and although he would offer no explanation in +answer to my master's many questions, you were not aroused. + +"At the end of a half-hour his sister entered with Mademoiselle. +They had been walking together on the terrace, and Mademoiselle de +Marsac appeared very angry. 'Affairs are exactly as Monsieur de +Saint-Eustache has represented them,' said she to her brother. At +that he swore a most villainous oath, and called for writing +materials. At the moment of his departure he desired me to deliver +this letter to you, and then rode away in a fury, and, seemingly, +not on the best of terms with Monsieur le Vicomte." + +"And his sister?" I asked quickly. + +"She went with him. A fine pair, as I live!" he added, casting +his eyes to the ceiling. + +At least I could breathe freely. They were gone, and whatever +damage they may have done to the character of poor Rene de Lesperon +ere they departed, they were not there, at all events, to denounce +me for an impostor. With a mental apology to the shade of the +departed Lesperon for all the discredit I was bringing down upon +his name, I broke the seal of that momentous epistle, which enclosed +a length of some thirty-two inches of string. + +Monsieur [I read], wherever I may chance to meet you it shall be my +duty to kill you. + +A rich beginning, in all faith! If he could but maintain that +uncompromising dramatic flavour to the end, his epistle should be +worth the trouble of deciphering, for he penned a vile scrawl of +pothooks. + +It is because of this [the letter proceeded] that I have refrained +from coming face to face with you this morning. The times are too +troublous and the province is in too dangerous a condition to admit +of an act that might draw the eyes of the Keeper of the Seals upon +Lavedan. To my respect, then, to Monsieur le Vicomte and to my own +devotion to the Cause we mutually serve do you owe it that you still +live. I am on my way to Spain to seek shelter there from the King's +vengeance. + +To save myself is a duty that I owe as much to myself as to the +Cause. But there is another duty, one that I owe my sister, whom +you have so outrageously slighted, and this duty, by God's grace, I +will perform before I leave. Of your honour, monsieur, we will not +speak, for reasons into which I need not enter, and I make no appeal +to it. But if you have a spark of manhood left, if you are not an +utter craven as well as a knave, I shall expect you on the day after +tomorrow, at any hour before noon, at the Auberge de la Couronne at +Grenade. There, monsieur, if you please, we will adjust our +differences. That you may come prepared, and so that no time need +be wasted when we meet, I send you the length of my sword. + +Thus ended that angry, fire-breathing epistle. I refolded it +thoughtfully, then, having taken my resolve, I leapt from the bed +and desired Anatole to assist me to dress. + +I found the Vicomte much exercised in mind as to the meaning of +Marsac's extraordinary behaviour, and I was relieved to see that he, +at least, could conjecture no cause for it. In reply to the +questions with which he very naturally assailed me, I assured him +that it was no more than a matter of a misunderstanding; that +Monsieur de Marsac had asked me to meet him at Grenade in two days' +time, and that I should then, no doubt, be able to make all clear. + +Meanwhile, I regretted the incident, since it necessitated my +remaining and encroaching for two days longer upon the Vicomte's +hospitality. To all this, however, he made the reply that I +expected, concluding with the remark that for the present at least +it would seem as if the Chevalier de Saint-Eustache had been +satisfied with creating this trouble betwixt myself and Marsac. + +From what Anatole had said, I had already concluded that Marsac had +exercised the greatest reticence. But the interview between his +sister and Roxalanne filled me with the gravest anxiety. Women are +not wont to practise the restraint of men under such circumstances, +and for all that Mademoiselle de Marsac may not have expressed it +in so many words that I was her faithless lover, yet women are +quick to detect and interpret the signs of disorders springing from +such causes, and I had every fear that Roxalanne was come to the +conclusion that I had lied to her yesternight. With an uneasy +spirit, then, I went in quest of her, and I found her walking in +the old rose garden behind the chateau. + +She did not at first remark my approach, and I had leisure for some +moments to observe her and to note the sadness that dwelt in her +profile and the listlessness of her movements. This, then, was my +work - mine, and that of Monsieur de Chatellerault, and those other +merry gentlemen who had sat at my table in Paris nigh upon a month +ago. + +I moved, and the gravel crunched under my foot, whereupon she turned, +and, at sight of me advancing towards her, she started. The blood +mounted to her face, to ebb again upon the instant, leaving it paler +than it had been. She made as if to depart; then she appeared to +check herself, and stood immovable and outwardly calm, awaiting my +approach. + +But her eyes were averted, and her bosom rose and fell too swiftly +to lend colour to that mask of indifference she hurriedly put on. +Yet, as I drew nigh, she was the first to speak, and the triviality +of her words came as a shock to me, and for all my knowledge of +woman's way caused me to doubt for a moment whether perhaps her +calm were not real, after all. + +"You are a laggard this morning, Monsieur de Lesperon." And, with +a half laugh, she turned aside to break a rose from its stem. + +"True," I answered stupidly; "I slept over-late." + +"A thousand pities, since thus you missed seeing Mademoiselle de +Marsac. Have they told you that she was here?" + +"Yes, mademoiselle. Stanislas de Marsac left a letter for me." + +"You will regret not having seen them, no doubt?" quoth she. + +I evaded the interrogative note in her voice. "That is their fault. +They appear to have preferred to avoid me." + +"Is it matter for wonder?" she flashed, with a sudden gleam of fury +which she as suddenly controlled. With the old indifference, she +added, "You do not seem perturbed, monsieur?" + +"On the contrary, mademoiselle; I am very deeply perturbed." + +"At not having seen your betrothed?" she asked, and now for the +first time her eyes were raised, and they met mine with a look that +was a stab. + +"Mademoiselle, I had the honour of telling you yesterday that I had +plighted my troth to no living woman." + +At that reminder of yesterday she winced, and I was sorry that I +had uttered it, for it must have set the wound in her pride +a-bleeding again. Yesterday I had as much as told her that I loved +her, and yesterday she had as much as answered me that she loved me, +for yesterday I had sworn that Saint-Eustache's story of my betrothal +was a lie. To-day she had had assurance of the truth from the very +woman to whom Lesperon's faith was plighted, and I could imagine +something of her shame. + +"Yesterday, monsieur," she answered contemptuously, "you lied in +many things." + +"Nay, I spoke the truth in all. Oh, God in heaven, mademoiselle," +I exclaimed in sudden passion, "will you not believe me? Will you +not accept my word for what I say, and have a little patience until +I shall have discharged such obligations as will permit me to +explain?" + +"Explain?" quoth she, with withering disdain. + +"There is a hideous misunderstanding in all this. I am the victim +of a miserable chain of circumstances. Oh, I can say no more! +These Marsacs I shall easily pacify. I am to meet Monsieur de +Marsac at Grenade on the day after to-morrow. In my pocket I have +a letter from this living sword-blade, in which he tells me that he +will give himself the pleasure of killing me then. Yet--" + +"I hope he does, monsieur!" she cut in, with a fierceness before +which I fell dumb and left my sentence unfinished. "I shall pray +God that he may!" she added. "You deserve it as no man deserved it +yet!" + +For a moment I stood stricken, indeed, by her words. Then, my +reason grasping the motive of that fierceness, a sudden joy pervaded +me. It was a fierceness breathing that hatred that is a part of +love, than which, it is true, no hatred can be more deadly. And yet +so eloquently did it tell me of those very feelings which she sought +jealously to conceal, that, moved by a sudden impulse, I stepped +close up to her. + +"Roxalanne," I said fervently, "you do not hope for it. What would +your life be if I were dead? Child, child, you love me even as I +love you." I caught her suddenly to me with infinite tenderness, +with reverence almost. "Can you lend no ear to the voice of this +love? Can you not have faith in me a little? Can you not think +that if I were quite as unworthy as you make-believe to your very +self, this love could have no place?" + +"It has no place!" she cried. "You lie - as in all things else. +I do not love you. I hate you. Dieu! How I hate you!" + +She had lain in my arms until then, with upturned face and piteous, +frightened eyes - like a bird that feels itself within the toils of +a snake, yet whose horror is blent with a certain fascination. Now, +as she spoke, her will seemed to reassert itself, and she struggled +to break from me. But as her fierceness of hatred grew, so did my +fierceness of resolve gain strength, and I held her tightly. + +"Why do you hate me?" I asked steadily. "Ask yourself, Roxalanne, +and tell me what answer your heart makes. Does it not answer that +indeed you do not hate me - that you love me?" + +"Oh, God, to be so insulted!" she cried out. "Will you not release +me, miserable? Must I call for help? Oh, you shall suffer for +this! As there is a Heaven, you shall be punished!" + +But in my passion I held her, despite entreaties, threats, and +struggles. I was brutal, if you will. Yet think of what was in +my soul at being so misjudged, at finding myself in this position, +and deal not over harshly with me. The courage to confess which I +had lacked for days, came to me then. I must tell her. Let the +result be what it might, it could not be worse than this, and this +I could endure no longer. + +"Listen, Roxalanne!" + +"I will not listen! Enough of insults have I heard already. Let +me go!" + +"Nay, but you shall hear me. I am not Rene de Lesperon. Had these +Marsacs been less impetuous and foolish, had they waited to have +seen me this morning, they would have told you so." + +She paused for a second in her struggles to regard me. Then, with +a sudden contemptuous laugh, she renewed her efforts more vigorously +than before. + +"What fresh lies do you offer me? Release me, I will hear no more!" + +"As Heaven is my witness, I have told you the truth. I know how +wild a sound it has, and that is partly why I did not tell you +earlier. But your disdain I cannot suffer. That you should deem +me a liar in professing to love you--" + +Her struggles were grown so frantic that I was forced to relax +my grip. But this I did with a suddenness that threw her out of +balance, and she was in danger of falling backwards. To save +herself, she caught at my doublet, which was torn open under the +strain. + +We stood some few feet apart, and, white and palpitating in her +anger, she confronted me. Her eyes lashed me with their scorn, but +under my steady, unflinching gaze they fell at last. When next she +raised them there was a smile of quiet but unutterable contempt +upon her lips. + +"Will you swear," said she, "that you are not Rene de Lesperon? +That Mademoiselle de Marsac is not your betrothed?" + +"Yes - by my every hope of Heaven!" I cried passionately. + +She continued to survey me with that quiet smile of mocking scorn. + +"I have heard it said," quoth she, "that the greatest liars are ever +those that are readiest to take oath." Then, with a sudden gasp of +loathing, "I think you have dropped something, monsieur," said she, +pointing to the ground. And without waiting for more, she swung +round and left me. + +Face upwards at my feet lay the miniature that poor Lesperon had +entrusted to me in his dying moments. It had dropped from my doublet +in the struggle, and I never doubted now but that the picture it +contained was that of Mademoiselle de Marsac. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A NIGHT ALARM + + +I was returning that same afternoon from a long walk that I had +taken - for my mood was of that unenviable sort that impels a man +to be moving - when I found a travelling-chaise drawn up in the +quadrangle as if ready for a journey. As I mounted the steps of +the chateau I came face to face with mademoiselle, descending. I +drew aside that she might pass; and this she did with her chin in +the air, and her petticoat drawn to her that it might not touch me. + +I would have spoken to her, but her eyes looked straight before her +with a glance that was too forbidding; besides which there was the +gaze of a half-dozen grooms upon us. So, bowing before her - the +plume of my doffed hat sweeping the ground - I let her go. Yet I +remained standing where she had passed me, and watched her enter +the coach. I looked after the vehicle as it wheeled round and +rattled out over the drawbridge, to raise a cloud of dust on the +white, dry road beyond. + +In that hour I experienced a sense of desolation and a pain to which +I find it difficult to give expression. It seemed to me as if she +had gone out of my life for all time - as if no reparation that I +could ever make would suffice to win her back after what had passed +between us that morning. Already wounded in her pride by what +Mademoiselle de Marsac had told her of our relations, my behaviour +in the rose garden had completed the work of turning into hatred +the tender feelings that but yesterday she had all but confessed +for me. That she hated me now, I was well assured. My reflections +as I walked had borne it in upon me how rash, how mad had been my +desperate action, and with bitterness I realized that I had destroyed +the last chance of ever mending matters. + +Not even the payment of my wager and my return in my true character +could avail me now. The payment of my wager, forsooth! Even that +lost what virtue it might have contained. Where was the heroism of +such an act? Had I not failed, indeed? And was not, therefore, the +payment of my wager become inevitable? + +Fool! fool! Why had I not profited that gentle mood of hers when +we had drifted down the stream together? Why had I not told her +then of the whole business from its ugly inception down to the pass +to which things were come, adding that to repair the evil I was +going back to Paris to pay my wager, and that when that was done, +I would return to ask her to become my wife? That was the course +a man of sense would have adopted. He would have seen the dangers +that beset him in my false position, and would have been quick to +have forestalled them in the only manner possible. + +Heigh-ho! It was done. The game was at an end, and I had bungled +my part of it like any fool. One task remained me - that of meeting +Marsac at Grenade and doing justice to the memory of poor Lesperon. +What might betide thereafter mattered little. I should be ruined +when I had settled with Chatellerault, and Marcel de Saint-Pol, de +Bardelys, that brilliant star in the firmament of the Court of +France, would suffer an abrupt eclipse, would be quenched for all +time. But this weighed little with me then. I had lost everything +that I might have valued - everything that might have brought fresh +zest to a jaded, satiated life. + +Later that day I was told by the Vicomte that there was a rumour +current to the effect that the Marquis de Bardelys was dead. Idly +I inquired how the rumour had been spread, and he told me that a +riderless horse, which had been captured a few days ago by some +peasants, had been recognized by Monsieur de Bardelys's servants as +belonging to their master, and that as nothing had been seen or +heard of him for a fortnight, it was believed that he must have met +with some mischance. Not even that piece of information served to +arouse my interest. Let them believe me dead if they would. To +him that is suffering worse than death to be accounted dead is a +small matter. + +The next day passed without incident. Mademoiselle's absence +continued and I would have questioned the Vicomte concerning it, +but a not unnatural hesitancy beset me, and I refrained. + +On the morrow I was to leave Lavedan, but there were no preparations +to be made, no packing to be done, for during my sojourn there I +had been indebted to the generous hospitality of the Vicomte for my +very apparel. We supped quietly together that night the Vicomte +and I - for the Vicomtesse was keeping her room. + +I withdrew early to my chamber, and long I lay awake, revolving a +gloomy future in my mind. I had given no thought to what I should +do after having offered my explanation to Monsieur de Marsac on the +morrow, nor could I now bring myself to consider it with any degree +of interest. I would communicate with Chatellerault to inform him +that I accounted my wager lost. I would send him my note of hand, +making over to him my Picardy estates, and I would request him to +pay off and disband my servants both in Paris and at Bardelys. + +As for myself, I did not know, and, as I have hinted, I cared but +little, in what places my future life might lie. I had still a +little property by Beaugency, but scant inclination to withdraw to +it. To Paris I would not return; that much I was determined upon; +but upon no more. I had thoughts of going to Spain. Yet that +course seemed no less futile than any other of which I could bethink +me. I fell asleep at last, vowing that it would be a mercy and a +fine solution to the puzzle of how to dispose of the future if I +were to awaken no more. + +I was, however, destined to be roused again just as the veil of +night was being lifted and the chill breath of dawn was upon the +world. There was a loud knocking at the gates of Lavedan, confused +noises of voices, of pattering feet, of doors opening and closing +within the chateau. + +There was a rapping at my chamber door, and when I went to open, I +found the Vicomte on the threshold, nightcapped, in his shirt, and +bearing a lighted taper. + +"There are troopers at the gate!" he exclaimed as he entered the +room. "That dog Saint-Eustache has already been at work!" + +For all the agitation that must have been besetting him, his manner +was serene as ever. "What are we to do?" he asked. + +"You are admitting them - naturally?" said I, inquiry in my voice. + +"Why, yes"; and he shrugged his shoulders. "What could it avail us +to resist them? Even had I been prepared for it, it would be futile +to attempt to suffer a siege." + +I wrapped a dressing-gown about me, for the morning air was chill. + +"Monsieur le Vicomte," said I gravely, "I heartily deplore that +Monsieur de Marsac's affairs should have detained me here. But for +him, I had left Lavedan two days ago. As it is, I tremble for you, +but we may at least hope that my being taken in your house will draw +down no ill results upon you. I shall never forgive myself if +through my having taken refuge here I should have encompassed your +destruction." + +"There is no question of that," he replied, with the quick generosity +characteristic of the man. "This is the work of Saint-Eustache. +Sooner or later I always feared that it would happen, for sooner or +later he and I must have come to enmity over my daughter. That +knave had me in his power. He knew - being himself outwardly one of +us - to what extent I was involved in the late rebellion, and I knew +enough of him to be assured that if some day he should wish to do me +ill, he would never scruple to turn traitor. I am afraid, Monsieur +de Lesperon, that it is not for you alone - perhaps not for you at +all - that the soldiers have come, but for me." + +Then, before I could answer him, the door was flung wide, and into +the room, in nightcap and hastily donned robe - looking a very +megere in that disfiguring deshabille - swept the Vicomtesse. + +"See," she cried to her husband, her strident voice raised in +reproach - "see to what a pass you have brought us!" + +"Anne, Anne!" he exclaimed, approaching her and seeking to soothe +her; "be calm, my poor child, and be brave." + +But, evading him, she towered, lean and malevolent as a fury. + +"Calm?" she echoed contemptuously. "Brave?" Then a short laugh +broke from her - a despairing, mocking, mirthless expression of +anger. "By God, do you add effrontery to your other failings? +Dare you bid me be calm and brave in such an hour? Have I been +warning you fruitlessly these twelve months past, that, after +disregarding me and deriding my warnings, you should bid me be +calm now that my fears are realized?" + +There was a sound of creaking gates below. The Vicomte heard it. + +"Madame," he said, putting aside his erstwhile tender manner, and +speaking with a lofty dignity, "the troopers have been admitted. +Let me entreat you to retire. It is not befitting our station--" + +"What is our station?" she interrupted harshly. "Rebels - proscribed, +houseless beggars. That is our station, thanks to you and your +insane meddling with treason. What is to become of us, fool? What +is to become of Roxalanne and me when they shall have hanged you and +have driven us from Lavedan? By God's death, a fine season this to +talk of the dignity of our station! Did I not warn you, malheureux, +to leave party faction alone? You laughed at me." + +"Madame, your memory does me an injustice," he answered in a +strangled voice. "I never laughed at you in all my life." + +"You did as much, at least. Did you not bid me busy myself with +women's affairs? Did you not bid me leave you to follow your own +judgment? You have followed it - to a pretty purpose, as God lives! +These gentlemen of the King's will cause you to follow it a little +farther," she pursued, with heartless, loathsome sarcasm. "You will +follow it as far as the scaffold at Toulouse. That, you will tell +me, is your own affair. But what provision have you made for your +wife and daughter? Did you marry me and get her to leave us to +perish of starvation? Or are we to turn kitchen wenches or +sempstresses for our livelihood?" + +With a groan, the Vicomte sank down upon the bed, and covered his +face with his hands. + +"God pity me!" he cried, in a voice of agony - an agony such as the +fear of death could never have infused into his brave soul; an agony +born of the heartlessness of this woman who for twenty years had +shared his bed and board, and who now in the hour of his adversity +failed him so cruelly - so tragically. + +"Aye," she mocked in her bitterness, "call upon God to pity you, +for I shall not." + +She paced the room now, like a caged lioness, her face livid with +the fury that possessed her. She no longer asked questions; she +no longer addressed him; oath followed oath from her thin lips, and +the hideousness of this woman's blasphemy made me shudder. At last +there were heavy steps upon the stairs, and, moved by a sudden +impulse "Madame," I cried, "let me prevail upon you to restrain +yourself." + +She swung round to face me, her dose-set eyes ablaze with anger. + +"Sangdieu! By what right do you--" she began but this was no time +to let a woman's tongue go babbling on; no time for ceremony; no +season for making a leg and addressing her with a simper. I caught +her viciously by the wrist, and with my face close up to hers "Folle!" +I cried, and I'll swear no man had ever used the word to her before. +She gasped and choked in her surprise and rage. Then lowering my +voice lest it should reach the approaching soldiers: "Would you ruin +the Vicomte and yourself?" I muttered. Her eyes asked me a question, +and I answered it. "How do you know that the soldiers have come for +your husband? It may be that they are seeking me - and only me. +They may know nothing of the Vicomte's defection. Shall you, then, +be the one to inform them of it by your unbridled rantings and your +accusations?" + +Her jaw fell open in astonishment. This was a side of the question +she had not considered. + +"Let me prevail upon you, madame, to withdraw and to be of good +courage. It is more than likely that you alarm yourself without +cause." + +She continued to stare at me in her amazement and the confusion that +was congenital with it, and if there was not time for her to withdraw, +at least the possibility I had suggested acted as a timely warning. + +In that moment the door opened again, and on the threshold appeared +a young man in a plumed hat and corselet, carrying a naked sword in +one hand and a lanthorn in the other. Behind him I caught the gleam +of steel from the troopers at his heels. + +"Which of you is Monsieur Rene de Lesperon?" he inquired politely, +his utterance flavoured by a strong Gascon accent. + +I stood forward. "I am known by that name, Monsieur le Capitaine," +said I. + +He looked at me wistfully, apologetically almost, then "In the King's +name, Monsieur de Lesperon, I call upon you to yield!" said he. + +"I have been expecting you. My sword is yonder, monsieur," I +replied suavely. "If you will allow me to dress, I shall be ready +to accompany you in a few minutes." + +He bowed, and it at once became clear that his business at Lavedan +was - as I had suggested to the Vicomtesse might be possible - with +me alone. + +"I am grateful for the readiness of your submission," said this very +polite gentleman. He was a comely lad, with blue eyes and a +good-humoured mouth, to which a pair of bristling moustaches sought +vainly to impart an expression of ferocity. + +"Before you proceed to dress, monsieur, I have another duty to +discharge." + +"Discharge your duty, monsieur," I answered. Whereupon he made a +sign to his men, and in a moment they were ransacking my garments +and effects. While this was taking place, he turned to the Vicomte +and Vicomtesse, and offered them a thousand apologies for having +interrupted their slumbers, and for so rudely depriving them of +their guest. He advanced in his excuse the troublous nature of the +times, and threw in a bunch of malisons at the circumstances which +forced upon soldiers the odious duties of the tipstaff, hoping that +we would think him none the less a gentleman for the unsavoury +business upon which he was engaged. + +From my clothes they took the letters addressed to Lesperon which +that poor gentleman had entrusted to me on the night of his death; +and among these there was one from the Duc d'Orleans himself, which +would alone have sufficed to have hanged a regiment. Besides these, +they took Monsieur de Marsac's letter of two days ago, and the +locket containing the picture of Mademoiselle de Marsac. + +The papers and the portrait they delivered to the Captain, who took +them with the same air of deprecation tainted with disgust that +coloured all his actions in connection with my arrest. + +To this same repugnance for his catchpoll work do I owe it that at +the moment of setting out he offered to let me ride without the +annoyance of an escort if I would pass him my parole not to attempt +an escape. + +We were standing, then, in the hall of the chateau. His men were +already in the courtyard, and there were only present Monsieur le +Vicomte and Anatole - the latter reflecting the look of sorrow that +haunted his master's face. The Captain's generosity was certainly +leading him beyond the bounds of his authority, and it touched me. + +"Monsieur is very generous," said I. + +He shrugged his shoulders impatiently. + +"Cap de Dieu!" he cried - he had a way of swearing that reminded me +of my friend Cazalet. "It is no generosity, monsieur. It is a +desire to make this obscene work more congenial to the spirit of a +gentleman, which, devil take me, I cannot stifle, not for the King +himself. And then, Monsieur de Lesperon, are we not +fellow-countrymen? Are we not Gascons both? Pardieu, there is no +more respected a name in the whole of Gascony than that of Lesperon, +and that you belong to so honourable a family is alone more than +sufficient to warrant such slight favours as it may be in my power +to show you." + +"You have my parole that I will attempt no escape, Monsieur le +Capitaine," I answered, bowing may acknowledgment of his compliments. + +"I am Mironsac de Castelroux, of Chateau Rouge in Gascony," he +informed me, returning my bow. My faith, had he not made a pretty +soldier he would have made an admirable master of deportment. + +My leave-taking of Monsieur de Lavedan was brief but cordial; +apologetic on my part, intensely sympathetic on his. And so I went +out alone with Castelroux upon the road to Toulouse, his men being +ordered to follow in half an hour's time and to travel at their +leisure. + +As we cantered along - Castelroux and I - we talked of many things, +and I found him an amusing and agreeable companion. Had my mood +been other than despairing, the news he gave me might have +occasioned me some concern; for it seemed that prisoners arraigned +for treason and participation in the late rising were being very +summarily treated. Many were never so much as heard in their own +defence, the evidence collected of their defection being submitted +to the Tribunal, and judgment being forthwith passed upon them by +judges who had no ears for anything they might advance in their +own favour. + +The evidence of my identity was complete: there was my own admission +to Castelroux; the evidence of the treason of Lesperon was none the +less complete; in fact, it was notorious; and there was the Duke's +letter found amongst my effects. If the judges refused to lend an +ear to my assurances that I was not Lesperon at all, but the missing +Bardelys, my troubles were likely to receive a very summary solution. +The fear of it, however, weighed not over-heavily upon me. I was +supremely indifferent. Life was at an end so far as I was concerned. +I had ruined the one chance of real happiness that had ever been +held out to me, and if the gentlemen of the courts of Toulouse were +pleased to send me unheeded to the scaffold, what should it signify? + +But there was another matter that did interest me, and that was my +interview with Marsac. Touching this, I spoke to my captor. + +"There is a gentleman I wish to see at Grenade this morning. You +have amongst the papers taken from me a letter making this +assignation, Monsieur le Capitaine, and I should be indeed grateful +if you would determine that we shall break our fast there, so that +I may have an opportunity of seeing him. The matter is to me of +the highest importance." + +"It concerns--?" he asked. + +"A lady," I answered. + +"Ah, yes! But the letter is of the nature of a challenge, is it +not? Naturally, I cannot permit you to endanger your life." + +"Lest we disappoint the headsman at Toulouse?" I laughed. "Have no +fear. There shall be no duel!" + +"Then I am content, monsieur, and you shall see your friend." + +I thanked him, and we talked of other things thereafter as we rode +in the early morning along the Toulouse road. Our conversation +found its way, I scarce know how, to the topic of Paris and the +Court, and when I casually mentioned, in passing, that I was well +acquainted with the Luxembourg, he inquired whether I had ever +chanced to meet a young spark of the name of Mironsac. + +"Mironsac?" I echoed. "Why, yes." And I was on the point of adding +that I knew the youth intimately, and what a kindness I had for him, +when, deeming it imprudent, I contented myself with asking, "You +know him?" + +"Pardieu!" he swore. "The fellow is my cousin. We are both +Mironsacs; he is Mironsac of Castelvert, whilst I, as you may +remember I told you, am Mironsac of Castelroux. To distinguish us, +he is always known as Mironsac, and I as Castelroux. Peste! It is +not the only distinction, for while he basks in the sunshine of the +great world of Paris - they are wealthy, the Mironsacs of Castelvert +--I, a poor devil of a Gascony cadet, am playing the catchpoll in +Languedoc!" + +I looked at him with fresh interest, for the mention of that dear +lad Mironsac brought back to my mind the night in Paris on which my +ill-starred wager had been laid, and I was reminded of how that +high-minded youth had sought - when it was too late to reason me out +of the undertaking by alluding to the dishonour with which in his +honest eyes it must be fraught. + +We spoke of his cousin - Castelroux and I - and I went so far now +as to confess that I had some love for the youth, whom I praised in +unmistakable terms. This inclined to increase the friendliness +which my young Captain had manifested since my arrest, and I was +presently emboldened by it to beg of him to add to the many favours +that I already owed him by returning to me the portrait which his +men had subtracted from my pocket. It was my wish to return this +to Marsac, whilst at the same time it would afford corroboration of +my story. + +To this Castelroux made no difficulty. + +"Why, yes," said he, and he produced it. "I crave your pardon for +not having done the thing of my own accord. What can the Keeper of +the Seals want with that picture?" + +I thanked him, and pocketed the locket. + +"Poor lady!" he sighed, a note of compassion in his voice. "By my +soul, Monsieur de Lesperon, fine work this for soldiers, is it not? +Diable! It is enough to turn a gentleman's stomach sour for life, +and make him go hide himself from the eyes of honest men. Had I +known that soldiering meant such business, I had thought twice +before I adopted it as a career for a man of honour. I had remained +in Gascony and tilled the earth sooner than have lent myself to this!" + +"My good young friend," I laughed, "what you do, you do in the King's +name." + +"So does every tipstaff," he answered impatiently, his moustaches +bristling as the result of the scornful twist he gave his lips. "To +think that I should have a hand in bringing tears to the eyes of that +sweet lady! Quelle besogne! Bon Dieu, quelle besogne!" + +I laughed at the distress vented in that whimsical Gascon tongue of +his, whereupon he eyed me in a wonder that was tempered with +admiration. For to his brave soul a gentleman so stoical as to +laugh under such parlous circumstances was very properly a gentleman +to be admired. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE RISEN DEAD + + +It was close upon ten o'clock as we rode into the yard of the +imposing Hotel de la Couronne at Grenade. + +Castelroux engaged a private room on the first floor - a handsome +chamber overlooking the courtyard - and in answer to the inquiries +that I made I was informed by the landlord that Monsieur de Marsac +was not yet arrived. + +"My assignation was 'before noon,' Monsieur de Castelroux," said I. +"With your permission, I would wait until noon." + +He made no difficulty. Two hours were of no account. We had all +risen very early, and he was, himself, he said, entitled to some +rest. + +Whilst I stood by the window it came to pass than a very tall, +indifferently apparelled gentleman issued from the hostelry and +halted for some moments in conversation with the ostler below. He +walked with an enfeebled step, and leaned heavily for support upon +a stout cane. As he turned to reenter the inn I had a glimpse of +a face woefully pale, about which, as about the man's whole figure, +there was a something that was familiar - a something that puzzled +me, and on which my mind was still dwelling when presently I sat +down to breakfast with Castelroux. + +It may have been a half-hour later, and, our meal being at an end, +we were sitting talking - I growing impatient the while that this +Monsieur de Marsac should keep me waiting so - when of a sudden the +rattle of hoofs drew me once more to the window. A gentleman, +riding very recklessly, had just dashed through the porte-cochere, +and was in the act of pulling up his horse. He was a lean, active +man, very richly dressed, and with a face that by its swarthiness +of skin and the sable hue of beard and hair looked almost black. + +"Ah, you are there!" he cried, with something between a snarl and +a laugh, and addressing somebody within the shelter of the porch. +"Par la mort Dieu, I had hardly looked to find you!" + +From the recess of the doorway I heard a gasp of amazement and a +cry of "Marsac! You here?" + +So this was the gentleman I was to see! A stable boy had taken his +reins, and he leapt nimbly to the ground. Into my range of vision +hobbled now the enfeebled gentleman whom earlier I had noticed. + +"My dear Stanislas!" he cried, "I cannot tell you how rejoiced I am +to see you!" and he approached Marsac with arms that were opened as +if to embrace him. + +The newcomer surveyed him a moment in wonder, with eyes grown dull. +Then abruptly raising his hand, he struck the fellow on the breast, +and thrust him back so violently that but for the stable-boy's +intervention he had of a certainty fallen. With a look of startled +amazement on his haggard face, the invalid regarded his assailant. + +As for Marsac, he stepped close up to him. + +"What is this?" he cried harshly. "What is this make-believe +feebleness? That you are pale, poltroon, I do not wonder! But why +these tottering limbs? Why this assumption of weakness? Do you +look to trick me by these signs?" + +"Have you taken leave of your senses?" exclaimed the other, a note +of responsive anger sounding in his voice. "Have you gone mad, +Stanislas?" + +"Abandon this pretence," was the contemptuous answer. "Two days +ago at Lavedan, my friend, they informed me how complete was your +recovery; from what they told us, it was easy to guess why you +tarried there and left us without news of you. That was my +reason, as you may have surmised, for writing to you. My sister +has mourned you for dead - was mourning you for dead whilst you +sat at the feet of your Roxalanne and made love to her among the +roses of Lavedan." + +"Lavedan?" echoed the other slowly. Then, raising his voice, "what +the devil are you saying?" he blazed. "What do I know of Lavedan?" + +In a flash it had come to me who that enfeebled gentleman was. +Rodenard, the blunderer, had been at fault when he had said that +Lesperon had expired. Clearly he could have no more than swooned; +for here, in the flesh, was Lesperon himself, the man I had left +for dead in that barn by Mirepoix. + +How or where he had recovered were things that at the moment did +not exercise my mind - nor have I since been at any pains to +unravel the mystery of it; but there he was, and for the moment +that fact was all-sufficing. What complications would come of his +presence Heaven alone could foretell. + +"Put an end to this play-acting!" roared the savage Marsac. "It +will avail you nothing. My sister's tears may have weighed lightly +with you, but you shall pay the price of them, and of the slight +you have put upon her." + +"My God, Marsac!" cried the other, roused to an equal fierceness. +"Will you explain?" + +"Aye," snarled Marsac, and his sword flashed from his scabbard, +"I'll explain. As God lives, I'll explain - with this!" And he +whirled his blade under the eyes of the invalid. "Come, my master, +the comedy's played out. Cast aside that crutch and draw; draw, +man, or, sangdieu, I'll run you through as you stand!" + +There was a commotion below. The landlord and a posse of his +satellites - waiters, ostlers, and stableboys - rushed between +them, and sought to restrain the bloodthirsty Marsac. But he +shook them off as a bull shakes off a pack of dogs, and like an +angry bull, too, did he stand his ground and bellow. In a moment +his sweeping sword had cleared a circle about him. In its +lightning dartings hither and thither at random, it had stung a +waiter in the calf, and when the fellow saw the blood staining his +hose, he added to the general din his shrieks that he was murdered. +Marsac swore and threatened in a breath, and a kitchen wench, from +a point of vantage on the steps, called shame upon him and abused +him roundly for a cowardly assassin to assail a poor sufferer who +could hardly stand upright. + +"Po' Cap de Dieu!" swore Castelroux at my elbow. "Saw you ever such +an ado? What has chanced?" + +But I never stayed to answer him. Unless I acted quickly blood +would assuredly be shed. I was the one man who could explain +matters, and it was a mercy for Lesperon that I should have been at +hand in the hour of his meeting that fire-eater Marsac. I forgot +the circumstances in which I stood to Castelroux; I forgot +everything but the imminent necessity that I should intervene. +Some seven feet below our window was the roof of the porch; from +that to the ground it might be some eight feet more. Before my +Gascon captain knew what I was about, I had swung myself down from +the window on to the projecting porch. A second later, I created +a diversion by landing in the midst of the courtyard fray, with the +alarmed Castelroux - who imagined that I was escaping - following +by the same unusual road, and shouting as he came "Monsieur de +Lesperon! Hi! Monsieur de Lesperon! Mordieu! Remember your +parole, Monsieur de Lesperon!" + +Nothing could have been better calculated to stem Marsac's fury; +nothing could have so predisposed him to lend an ear to what I had +to say, for it was very evident that Castelroux's words were +addressed to me, and that it was I whom he called by the name of +Lesperon. In an instant I was at Marsac's side. But before I +could utter a word, "What the devil does this mean?" he asked, +eyeing me with fierce suspicion. + +"It means, monsieur, that there are more Lesperons than one in +France. I am the Lesperon who was at Lavedan. If you doubt me, +ask this gentleman, who arrested me there last night. Ask him, +too, why we have halted here. Ask him, if you will, to show you +the letter that you left at Lavedan making an assignation here +before noon to-day, which letter I received." + +The suspicion faded from Marsac's eyes, and they grew round with +wonder as he listened to this prodigious array of evidence. +Lesperon looked on in no less amazement, yet I am sure from the +manner of his glance that he did not recognize in me the man that +had succoured him at Mirepoix. That, after all, was natural +enough; for the minds of men in such reduced conditions as had been +his upon that night are not prone to receive very clear impressions, +and still less prone to retain such impressions as they do receive. + +Before Marsac could answer me, Castelroux was at my side. + +"A thousand apologies!" he laughed. "A fool might have guessed the +errand that took you so quickly through that window, and none but +a fool would have suspected you of seeking to escape. It was +unworthy in me, Monsieur de Lesperon." + +I turned to him while those others still stood gaping, and led him +aside. + +"Monsieur le Capitaine," said I, "you find it troublesome enough +to reconcile your conscience with such arrests as you are charged +to make, is it not so. + +"Mordieu!" he cried, by way of emphatically assenting. + +"Now, if you should chance to overhear words betraying to you +certain people whom otherwise you would never suspect of being +rebels, your soldier's duty would, nevertheless, compel you to +apprehend them, would it not?" + +"Why, true. I am afraid it would," he answered, with a grimace. + +"But, if forewarned that by being present in a certain place you +should overhear such words, what course would you pursue?" + +"Avoid it like a pestilence, monsieur," he answered promptly. + +"Then, Monsieur le Capitaine, may I trespass upon your generosity +to beseech you to let me take these litigants to our room upstairs, +and to leave us alone there for a half-hour?" + +Frankness was my best friend in dealing with Castelroux - frankness +and his distaste for the business they had charged him with. As +for Marsac and Lesperon, they were both eager enough to have the +mystery explained, and when Castelroux having consented - I invited +them to my chamber, they came readily enough. + +Since Monsieur de Lesperon did not recognize me, there was no reason +why I should enlighten him touching my identity, and every reason +why I should not. As soon as they were seated, I went to the heart +of the matter at once and without preamble. + +"A fortnight ago, gentlemen," said I, "I was driven by a pack of +dragoons across the Garonne. I was wounded in the shoulder and very +exhausted, and I knocked at the gates of Lavedan to crave shelter. +That shelter, gentlemen, was afforded me, and when I had announced +myself as Monsieur de Lesperon, it was all the more cordially +because one Monsieur de Marsac, who was a friend of the Vicomte de +Lavedan, and a partisan in the lost cause of Orleans, happened often +to have spoken of a certain Monsieur de Lesperon as his very dear +friend. I have no doubt, gentlemen, that you will think harshly of +me because I did not enlighten the Vicomte. But there were reasons +for which I trust you will not press me, since I shall find it +difficult to answer you with truth." + +"But is your name Lesperon?" cried Lesperon. + +"That, monsieur, is a small matter. Whether my name is Lesperon or +not, I confess to having practised a duplicity upon the Vicomte and +his family, since I am certainly not the Lesperon whose identity I +accepted. But if I accepted that identity, monsieur, I also +accepted your liabilities, and so I think that you should find it +in your heart to extend me some measure of forgiveness. As Rene de +Lesperon, of Lesperon in Gascony, I was arrested last night at +Lavedan, and, as you may observe, I am being taken to Toulouse to +stand the charge of high treason. I have not demurred; I have not +denied in the hour of trouble the identity that served me in my +hour of need. I am taking the bitter with the sweet, and I assure +you, gentlemen, that the bitter predominates in a very marked degree." + +"But this must not be," cried Lesperon, rising. "I know not what use +you may have made of my name, but I have no reason to think that you +can have brought discredit upon it, and so--" + +"I thank you, monsieur, but--" + +"And so I cannot submit that you shall go to Toulouse in my stead. +Where is this officer whose prisoner you are? Pray summon him, +monsieur, and let us set the matter right." + +"This is very generous," I answered calmly. "But I have crimes +enough upon my head, and so, if the worst should befall me, I am +simply atoning in one person for the errors of two." + +"But that is no concern of mine!" he cried. + +"It is so much your concern that if you commit so egregious a blunder +as to denounce yourself, you will have ruined yourself, without +materially benefitting me." + +He still objected, but in this strain I argued for some time, and +to such good purpose that in the end I made him realize that by +betraying himself he would not save me, but only join me on the +journey to the scaffold. + +"Besides, gentlemen," I pursued, "my case is far from hopeless. I +have every confidence that, as matters stand, by putting forth my +hand at the right moment, by announcing my identity at the proper +season, I can, if I am so inclined, save my neck from the headsman." + +"If you are so inclined?" they both cried, their looks charged with +inquiry. + +"Let that be," I answered; "it does not at present concern us. What +I desire you to understand, Monsieur de Lesperon, is that if I go +to Toulouse alone, when the time comes to proclaim myself, and it is +found that I am not Rene de Lesperon, of Lesperon in Gascony, they +will assume that you are dead, and there will be no count against me. + +"But if you come with me, and thereby afford proof that you are +alive, my impersonation of you may cause me trouble. They may opine +that I have been an abettor of treason, that I have attempted to +circumvent the ends of justice, and that I may have impersonated you +in order to render possible your escape. For that, you may rest +assured, they will punish me. + +"You will see, therefore, that my own safety rests on your passing +quietly out of France and leaving the belief behind you that you are +dead - a belief that will quickly spread once I shall have cast off +your identity. You apprehend me?" + +"Vaguely, monsieur; and perhaps you are right. What do you say, +Stanislas?" + +"Say?" cried the fiery Marsac. "I am weighed down with shame, my +poor Rene, for having so misjudged you." + +More he would have said in the same strain, but Lesperon cut him +short and bade him attend to the issue now before him. They +discussed it at some length, but always under the cloud in which +my mysteriousness enveloped it, and, in the end, encouraged by my +renewed assurances that I could best save myself if Lesperon were +not taken with me, the Gascon consented to my proposals. + +Marsac was on his way to Spain. His sister, he told us, awaited +him at Carcassonne. Lesperon should set out with him at once, and +in forty-eight hours they would be beyond the reach of the King's +anger. + +"I have a favour to ask of you, Monsieur de Marsac," said I, rising; +for our business was at an end. "It is that if you should have an +opportunity of communicating with Mademoiselle de Lavedan, you will +let her know that I am not - not the Lesperon that is betrothed to +your sister." + +"I will inform her of it, monsieur," he answered readily; and then, +of a sudden, a look of understanding and of infinite pity came into +his eyes. "My God!" he cried. + +"What is it, monsieur?" I asked, staggered by that sudden outcry. + +"Do not ask me, monsieur, do not ask me. I had forgotten for the +moment, in the excitement of all these revelations. But--" He +stopped short. + +"Well, monsieur?" + +He seemed to ponder a moment, then looking at me again with that +same compassionate glance, "You had better know," said he. "And +yet - it is a difficult thing to tell you. I understand now much +that I had not dreamt of. You - you have no suspicion of how you +came to be arrested?" + +"For my alleged participation in the late rebellion?" + +"Yes, yes. But who gave the information of your whereabouts? Who +told the Keeper of the Seals where you were to be found?" + +"Oh, that?" I answered easily. "Why, I never doubted it. It was +the coxcomb Saint-Eustache. I whipped him--" + +I stopped short. There was something in Marsac's black face, +something in his glance, that forced the unspoken truth upon my mind. + +"Mother in heaven!" I cried. "Do you mean that it was Mademoiselle +de Lavedan?" + +He bowed his head in silence. Did she hate me, then, so much as +that? Would nothing less than my death appease her, and had I +utterly crushed the love that for a little while she had borne me, +that she could bring herself to hand me over to the headsman? + +God! What a stab was that! It turned me sick with grief - aye, and +with some rage not against her, oh, not against her; against the +fates that had brought such things to pass. + +I controlled myself while their eyes were yet upon me. I went to +the door and held it open for them, and they, perceiving something +of my disorder, were courteous enough to omit the protracted +leave-takings that under other auspices there might have been. +Marsac paused a moment on the threshold as if he would have offered +me some word of comfort. Then, perceiving, perhaps, how banal must +be all comfort that was of words alone, and how it might but increase +the anger of the wound it was meant to balm, he sighed a simple +"Adieu, monsieur!" and went his way. + +When they were gone, I returned to the table, and, sitting down, +I buried my head in my arms, and there I lay, a prey to the most +poignant grief that in all my easy, fortunate life I had ever known. +That she should have done this thing! That the woman I loved, the +pure, sweet, innocent girl that I had wooed so ardently in my +unworthiness at Lavedan, should have stooped to such an act of +betrayal! To what had I not reduced her, since such things +could be! + +Then, out of my despair grew comfort, slowly at first, and more +vigorously anon. The sudden shock of the news had robbed me of some +of my wit, and had warped my reasoning. Later, as the pain of the +blow grew duller, I came to reflect that what she had done was but +a proof - an overwhelming proof - of how deeply she had cared. Such +hatred as this can be but born of a great love; reaction is ever to +be measured by the action that occasions it, and a great revulsion +can only come of a great affection. Had she been indifferent to me, +or had she but entertained for me a passing liking, she would not +have suffered so. + +And so I came to realize how cruel must have been the pang that had +driven her to this. But she had loved me; aye, and she loved me +still, for all that she thought she hated, and for all that she had +acted as if she hated. But even if I were wrong - even if she did +hate me - what a fresh revulsion would not be hers when anon she +learnt that - whatever my sins - I had not played lightly with her +love; that I was not, as she had imagined, the betrothed of another +woman! + +The thought fired me like wine. I was no longer listless - no longer +indifferent as to whether I lived or died. I must live. I must +enlighten the Keeper of the Seals and the judges at Toulouse +concerning my identity. Why, indeed, had I ever wavered? Bardelys +the Magnificent must come to life again, and then-- What then? + +As suddenly as I had been exalted was I cast down. There was a +rumour abroad that Bardelys was dead. In the wake of that rumour +I shrewdly guessed that the report of the wager that had brought him +into Languedoc would not be slow to follow. What then? Would she +love me any the better? Would she hate me any the less? If now she +was wounded by the belief that I had made sport of her love, would +not that same belief be with her again when she came to know the +truth? + +Aye, the tangle was a grievous one. Yet I took heart. My old +resolve returned to me, and I saw the need for urgency - in that +alone could lie now my redemption in her eyes. My wager must be +paid before I again repaired to her, for all that it should leave +me poor indeed. In the mean while, I prayed God that she might not +hear of it ere I returned to tell her. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE KING'S COMMISSIONER + + +For that most amiable of Gascon cadets, Monsieur de Castelroux, I +have naught but the highest praise. In his every dealing with me +he revealed himself so very gallant, generous, and high-minded a +gentleman that it was little short of a pleasure to be his prisoner. +He made no inquiries touching the nature of my interview with those +two gentlemen at the Hotel de la Couronne, and when at the moment +of leaving I requested him to deliver a packet to the taller of +those same two he did so without comment or question. That packet +contained the portrait of Mademoiselle de Marsac, but on the inner +wrapper was a note requesting Lesperon not to open it until he +should be in Spain. + +Neither Marsac nor Lesperon did I see again before we resumed our +journey to Toulouse. + +At the moment of setting out a curious incident occurred. +Castelroux's company of dragoons had ridden into the courtyard as +we were mounting. They lined up under their lieutenant's command, +to allow us to pass; but as we reached the porte-cochere we were +delayed for a moment by a travelling-carriage, entering for relays, +and coming, apparently, from Toulouse. Castelroux and I backed our +horses until we were in the midst of the dragoons, and so we stood +while the vehicle passed in. As it went by, one of the leather +curtains was drawn back, and my heart was quickened by the sight of +a pale girl face, with eyes of blue, and brown curls lying upon the +slender neck. Her glance lighted on me, swordless and in the midst +of that company of troopers, and I bowed low upon the withers of +my horse, doffing my hat in distant salutation. + +The curtain dropped again, and eclipsed the face of the woman that +had betrayed me. With my mind full of wild surmisings as to what +emotions might have awakened in her upon beholding me, I rode away +in silence at Monsieur de Castelroux's side. Had she experienced +any remorse? Any shame? Whether or not such feelings had been +aroused at sight of me, it certainly would not be long ere she +experienced them, for at the Hotel de la Couronne were those who +would enlighten her. + +The contemplation of the remorseful grief that might anon beset her +when she came to ponder the truth of matters, and, with that truth, +those things that at Lavedan I had uttered, filled me presently +with regret and pity. I grew impatient to reach Toulouse and tell +the judges of the mistake that there had been. My name could not +be unknown to them, and the very mention of it, I thought, should +suffice to give them pause and lead them to make inquiries before +sending me to the scaffold. Yet I was not without uneasiness, for +the summariness with which Castelroux had informed me they were in +the habit of dealing with those accused of high treason occasioned +me some apprehensive pangs. + +This apprehension led me to converse with my captor touching those +trials, seeking to gather from him who were the judges. I learnt +then that besides the ordinary Tribunal, a Commissioner had been +dispatched by His Majesty, and was hourly expected to arrive at +Toulouse. It would be his mission to supervise and direct the +inquiries that were taking place. It was said, he added, that the +King himself was on his way thither, to be present at the trial of +Monsieur le Duc de Montmorency. But he was travelling by easy +stages, and was not yet expected for some days. My heart, which +had leapt at the news, as suddenly sank again with the consideration +that I should probably be disposed of before the King's arrival. +It would behoove me, therefore, to look elsewhere for help and for +some one to swear to my identity. + +"Do you know the name of this King's Commissioner?" I asked. + +"It is a certain Comte de Chatellerault, a gentleman man said to +stand very high in His Majesty's favour." + +"Chatellerault!" I cried in wondering joy. + +"You know him?" + +"Most excellently!" I laughed. "We are very intimately acquainted." + +"Why, then, monsieur, I augur you this gentleman's friendship, and +that it may pilot you through your trouble. Although--" Being +mercifully minded, he stopped short. + +But I laughed easily. "Indeed, my dear Captain, I think it will," +said I; "although friendship in this world is a thing of which the +unfortunate know little." + +But I rejoiced too soon, as you shall hear. + +We rode diligently on, our way lying along the fertile banks of the +Garonne, now yellow with the rustling corn. Towards evening we made +our last halt at Fenouillet, whence a couple of hours' riding should +bring us to Toulouse. + +At the post-house we overtook a carriage that seemingly had halted +for relays, but upon which I scarce bestowed a glance as I alighted. + +Whilst Castelroux went to arrange for fresh horses, I strode into +the common room, and there for some moments I stood discussing the +viands with our host. When at last I had resolved that a cold pasty +and a bottle of Armagnac would satisfy our wants, I looked about me +to take survey of those in the room. One group in a remote corner +suddenly riveted my attention to such a degree that I remained deaf +to the voice of Castelroux, who had just entered, and who stood now +beside me. In the centre of this group was the Comte de Chatellerault +himself, a thick-set, sombre figure, dressed with that funereal +magnificence he affected. + +But it was not the sight of him that filled me with amazement. For +that, Castelroux's information had prepared me, and I well understood +in what capacity he was there. My surprise sprang rather from the +fact that amongst the half-dozen gentlemen about him - and evidently +in attendance - I beheld the Chevalier de Saint-Eustache. Now, +knowing as I did, the Chevalier's treasonable leanings, there was +ample cause for my astonishment at finding him in such company. +Apparently, too, he was on very intimate terms with the Count, for +in raising my glance I had caught him in the act of leaning over to +whisper familiarly in Chatellerault's ear. + +Their eyes - indeed, for that matter the eyes of the entire company +--were turned in my direction. + +Perhaps it was not a surprising thing that Chatellerault should gaze +upon me in that curious fashion, for was it not probable that he +had heard that I was dead? Besides, the fact that I was without a +sword, and that at my side stood a King's officer, afforded evidence +enough of my condition, and well might Chatellerault stare at +beholding me so manifestly a prisoner. + +Even as I watched him, he appeared to start at something that +Saint-Eustache was saying, and a curious change spread over his face. +Its whilom expression had been rather one of dismay; for, having +believed me dead, he no doubt accounted his wager won, whereas seeing +me alive had destroyed that pleasant conviction. But now it took on +a look of relief and of something that suggested malicious cunning. + +"That," said Castelroux in my ear, "is the King's commissioner." + +Did I not know it? I never waited to answer him, but, striding across +the room, I held out my hand over the table - to Chatellerault. + +"My dear Comte," I cried, "you are most choicely met." + +I would have added more, but there was something in his attitude +that silenced me. He had turned half from me, and stood now, hand +on hip, his great head thrown back and tilted towards his shoulder, +his expression one of freezing and disdainful wonder. + +Now, if his attitude filled me with astonishment and apprehension, +consider how these feelings were heightened by his words. + +"Monsieur de Lesperon, I can but express amazement at your effrontery. +If we have been acquainted in the past, do you think that is a +sufficient reason for me to take your hand now that you have placed +yourself in a position which renders it impossible for His Majesty's +loyal servants to know you?" + +I fell back a pace, my mind scarce grasping yet the depths of this +inexplicable attitude. + +"This to me, Chatellerault?" I gasped. + +"To you?" he blazed, stirred to a sudden passion. "What else did +you expect, Monsieur de Lesperon?" + +I had it in me to give him the lie, to denounce him then for a low, +swindling trickster. I understood all at once the meaning of this +wondrous make-believe. From Saint-Eustache he had gathered the +mistake there was, and for his wager's sake he would let the error +prevail, and hurry me to the scaffold. What else might I have +expected from the man that had lured me into such a wager - a wager +which the knowledge he possessed had made him certain of winning? +Would he who had cheated at the dealing of the cards neglect an +opportunity to cheat again during the progress of the game? + +As I have said, I had it in my mind to cry out that he lied - that +I was not Lesperon; that he knew I was Bardelys. But the futility +of such an outcry came to me simultaneously with the thought of it. +And, I fear me, I stood before him and his satellites - the mocking +Saint-Eustache amongst them - a very foolish figure. + +"There is no more to be said," I murmured at last. + +"But there is!" he retorted. "There is much more to be said. You +shall render yet an account of your treason, and I am afraid, my +poor rebel, that your comely head will part company with your shapely +body. You and I will meet at Toulouse. What more is to be said +will be said in the Tribunal there." + +A chill encompassed me. I was doomed, it seemed. This man, ruling +the province pending the King's arrival, would see to it that none +came forward to recognize me. He would expedite the comedy of my +trial, and close it with the tragedy of my execution. My professions +of a mistake of identity - if I wasted breath upon them would be +treated with disdain and disregarded utterly. God! What a position +had I got myself into, and what a vein of comedy ran through it - +grim, tragic comedy, if you will, yet comedy to all faith. The very +woman whom I had wagered to wed had betrayed me into the hands of +the very man with whom I laid my wager. + +But there was more in it than that. As I had told Mironsac that +night in Paris, when the thing had been initiated, it was a duel +that was being fought betwixt Chatellerault and me - a duel for +supremacy in the King's good graces. We were rivals, and he desired +my removal from the Court. To this end had he lured me into a +bargain that should result in my financial ruin, thereby compelling +me to withdraw from the costly life of the Luxembourg, and leaving +him supreme, the sole and uncontested recipient of our master's +favour. Now into his hand Fate had thrust a stouter weapon and a +deadlier: a weapon which not only should make him master of the +wealth that I had pledged, but one whereby he might remove me for +all time, a thousandfold more effectively than the mere encompassing +of my ruin would have done. + +I was doomed. I realized it fully and very bitterly. + +I was to go out of the ways of men unnoticed and unmourned; as a +rebel, under the obscure name of another and bearing another's sins +upon my shoulders, I was to pass almost unheeded to the gallows. +Bardelys the Magnificent - the Marquis Marcel Saint-Pol de Bardelys, +whose splendour had been a byword in France - was to go out like a +guttering candle. + +The thought filled me with the awful frenzy that so often goes with +impotency, such a frenzy as the damned in hell may know. I forgot +in that hour my precept that under no conditions should a gentleman +give way to anger. In a blind access of fury I flung myself across +the table and caught that villainous cheat by the throat, before +any there could put out a hand to stop me. + +He was a heavy man, if a short one, and the strength of his thick-set +frame was a thing abnormal. Yet at that moment such nervous power +did I gather from my rage, that I swung him from his feet as though +he had been the puniest weakling. I dragged him down on to the +table, and there I ground his face with a most excellent good-will +and relish. + +"You liar, you cheat, you thief!" I snarled like any cross-grained +mongrel. "The King shall hear of this, you knave! By God, he shall!" + +They dragged me from him at last - those lapdogs that attended him +--and with much rough handling they sent me sprawling among the +sawdust on the floor. It is more than likely that but for +Castelroux's intervention they had made short work of me there and +then. + +But with a bunch of Mordieus, Sangdieus, and Po' Cap de Dieus, the +little Gascon flung himself before my prostrate figure, and bade +them in the King's name, and at their peril, to stand back. + +Chatellerault, sorely shaken, his face purple, and with blood +streaming from his nostrils, had sunk into a chair. He rose now, +and his first words were incoherent, raging gasps. + +"What is your name, sir?" he bellowed at last, addressing the +Captain. + +"Amedee de Mironsac de Castelroux, of Chateau Rouge in Gascony," +answered my captor, with a grand manner and a flourish, and added, +"Your servant." + +"What authority have you to allow your prisoners this degree of +freedom?" + +"I do not need authority, monsieur," replied the Gascon. + +"Do you not?" blazed the Count. "We shall see. Wait until I am in +Toulouse, my malapert friend." + +Castelroux drew himself up, straight as a rapier, his face slightly +flushed and his glance angry, yet he had the presence of mind to +restrain himself, partly at least. + +"I have my orders from the Keeper of the Seals, to effect the +apprehension of Monsieur de Lesperon; and to deliver him up, alive +or dead, at Toulouse. So that I do this, the manner of it is my +own affair, and who presumes to criticize my methods censoriously +impugns my honour and affronts me. And who affronts me, monsieur, +be he whosoever he may be, renders me satisfaction. I beg that you +will bear that circumstance in mind." + +His moustaches bristled as he spoke, and altogether his air was very +fierce and truculent. For a moment I trembled for him. But the +Count evidently thought better of it than to provoke a quarrel, +particularly one in which he would be manifestly in the wrong, +King's Commissioner though he might be. There was an exchange of +questionable compliments betwixt the officer and the Count, +whereafter, to avoid further unpleasantness, Castelroux conducted +me to a private room, where we took our meal in gloomy silence. + +It was not until an hour later, when we were again in the saddle +and upon the last stage of our journey, that I offered Castelroux +an explanation of my seemingly mad attack upon Chatellerault. + +"You have done a very rash and unwise thing, monsieur," he had +commented regretfully, and it was in answer to this that I poured +out the whole story. I had determined upon this course while we +were supping, for Castelroux was now my only hope, and as we rode +beneath the stars of that September night I made known to him my +true identity. + +I told him that Chatellerault knew me, and I informed him that a +wager lay between us - withholding the particulars of its nature +--which had brought me into Languedoc and into the position wherein +he had found and arrested me. At first he hesitated to believe me, +but when at last I had convinced him by the vehemence of my +assurances as much as by the assurances themselves, he expressed +such opinions of the Comte de Chatellerault as made my heart go out +to him. + +"You see, my dear Castelroux, that you are now my last hope," I said. + +"A forlorn one, my poor gentleman!" he groaned. + +"Nay, that need not be. My intendant Rodenard and some twenty of +my servants should be somewhere betwixt this and Paris. Let them +be sought for monsieur, and let us pray God that they be still in +Languedoc and may be found in time." + +"It shall be done, monsieur, I promise you," he answered me solemnly. +"But I implore you not to hope too much from it. Chatellerault has +it in his power to act promptly, and you may depend that he will +waste no time after what has passed." + +"Still, we may have two or three days, and in those days you must +do what you can, my friend." + +"You may depend upon me," he promised. + +"And meanwhile, Castelroux," said I, "you will say no word of this +to any one." + +That assurance also he gave me, and presently the lights of our +destination gleamed out to greet us. + +That night I lay in a dank and gloomy cell of the prison of Toulouse, +with never a hope to bear company during those dark, wakeful hours. + +A dull rage was in my soul as I thought of my position, for it had +not needed Castelroux's recommendation to restrain me from building +false hopes upon his chances of finding Rodenard and my followers in +time to save me. Some little ray of consolation I culled, perhaps, +from my thoughts of Roxalanne. Out of the gloom of my cell my fancy +fashioned her sweet girl face and stamped it with a look of gentle +pity, of infinite sorrow for me and for the hand she had had in +bringing me to this. + +That she loved me I was assured, and I swore that if I lived I would +win her yet, in spite of every obstacle that I myself had raised for +my undoing. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE TRIBUNAL OF TOULOUSE + + +I had hoped to lie some days in prison before being brought to +trial, and that during those days Castelroux might have succeeded +in discovering those who could witness to my identity. Conceive, +therefore, something of my dismay when on the morrow I was summoned +an hour before noon to go present myself to my judges. + +From the prison to the Palace I was taken in chains like any thief +--for the law demanded this indignity to be borne by one charged +with the crimes they imputed to me. The distance was but short, yet +I found it over-long, which is not wonderful considering that the +people stopped to line up as I went by and to cast upon me a shower +of opprobrious derision - for Toulouse was a very faithful and loyal +city. It was within some two hundred yards of the Palace steps that +I suddenly beheld a face in the crowd, at the sight of which I stood +still in my amazement. This earned me a stab in the back from the +butt-end of the pike of one of my guards. + +"What ails you now?" quoth the man irritably. "Forward, Monsieur +le traite!" + +I moved on, scarce remarking the fellow's roughness; my eyes were +still upon that face - the white, piteous face of Roxalanne. I +smiled reassurance and encouragement, but even as I smiled the +horror in her countenance seemed to increase. Then, as I passed on, +she vanished from my sight, and I was left to conjecture the motives +that had occasioned her return to Toulouse. Had the message that +Marsac would yesterday have conveyed to her caused her to retrace +her steps that she might be near me in my extremity; or had some +weightier reason influenced her return? Did she hope to undo some +of the evil she had done? Alas, poor child! If such were her hopes, +I sorely feared me they would prove very idle. + +Of my trial I should say but little did not the exigencies of my +story render it necessary to say much. Even now, across the gap +of years, my gorge rises at the mockery which, in the King's name, +those gentlemen made of justice. I can allow for the troubled +conditions of the times, and I can realize how in cases of civil +disturbances and rebellion it may be expedient to deal summarily +with traitors, yet not all the allowances that I can think of +would suffice to condone the methods of that tribunal. + +The trial was conducted in private by the Keeper of the Seals - a +lean, wizened individual, with an air as musty and dry as that of +the parchments among which he had spent his days. He was supported +by six judges, and on his right sat the King's Commissioner, +Monsieur de Chatellerault - the bruised condition of whose +countenance still advertised the fact that we had met but yesterday. + +Upon being asked my name and place of abode, I created some +commotion by answering boldly "I am the Sieur Marcel de Saint-Pol, +Marquis of Bardelys, of Bardelys in Picardy." + +The President - that is to say, the Keeper of the Seals - turned +inquiringly to Chatellerault. The Count, however, did no more than +smile and point to something written on a paper that lay spread +upon the table. The President nodded. + +"Monsieur Rene de Lesperon," said he, "the Court may perhaps not +be able to discriminate whether this statement of yours is a +deliberate attempt to misguide or frustrate the ends of justice, or +whether, either in consequence of your wounds or as a visitation of +God for your treason, you are the victim of a deplorable +hallucination. But the Court wishes you to understand that it is +satisfied of your identity. The papers found upon your person at +the time of your arrest, besides other evidence in our power, +remove all possibility of doubt in that connection. Therefore, in +your own interests, we implore you to abandon these false statements, +if so be that you are master of your wits. Your only hope of saving +your head must lie in your truthfully answering our questions, and +even then, Monsieur de Lesperon, the hope that we hold out to you +is so slight as to be no hope at all." + +There was a pause, during which the other judges nodded their heads +in sage approval of their President's words. For myself, I kept +silent, perceiving how little it could avail me to continue to +protest, and awaited his next question. + +"You were arrested, monsieur, at the Chateau de Lavedan two nights +ago by a company of dragoons under the command of Captain de +Castelroux. Is that so?" + +"It is so, monsieur." + +"And at the time of your arrest, upon being apprehended as Rene de +Lesperon, you offered no repudiation of the identity; on the +contrary, when Monsieur de Castelroux called for Monsieur de +Lesperon, you stepped forward and acknowledged that you were he." + +"Pardon, monsieur. What I acknowledged was that I was known by +that name." + +The President chuckled evilly, and his satellites smiled in polite +reflection of his mood. + +"This acute differentiating is peculiar, Monsieur de Lesperon, to +persons of unsound mental condition," said he. "I am afraid that +it will serve little purpose. A man is generally known by his +name, is he not?" I did not answer him. "Shall we call Monsieur +de Castelroux to confirm what I have said?" + +"It is not necessary. Since you allow that I may have said I was +known by the name, but refuse to recognize the distinction between +that and a statement that 'Lesperon' is my name, it would serve +no purpose to summon the Captain." + +The President nodded, and with that the point was dismissed, and +he proceeded as calmly as though there never had been any question +of my identity. + +"You are charged, Monsieur de Lesperon, with high treason in its +most virulent and malignant form. You are accused of having borne +arms against His Majesty. Have you anything to say?" + +"I have to say that it is false, monsieur; that His Majesty has no +more faithful or loving subject than am I." + +The President shrugged his shoulders, and a shade of annoyance +crossed his face. + +"If you are come here for no other purpose than to deny the +statements that I make, I am afraid that we are but wasting time," +he cried testily. "If you desire it, I can summon Monsieur de +Castelroux to swear that at the time of your arrest and upon being +charged with the crime you made no repudiation of that charge." + +"Naturally not, monsieur," I cried, somewhat heated by this +seemingly studied ignoring of important facts, "because I realized +that it was Monsieur de Castelroux's mission to arrest and not to +judge me. Monsieur de Castelroux was an officer, not a Tribunal, +and to have denied this or that to him would have been so much +waste of breath." + +"Ah! Very nimble; very nimble, in truth, Monsieur de Lesperon, +but scarcely convincing. We will proceed. You are charged with +having taken part in several of the skirmishes against the armies +of Marshals de Schomberg and La Force, and finally, with having +been in close attendance upon Monsieur de Montmorency at the battle +of Castelnaudary. What have you to say?" + +"That it is utterly untrue." + +"Yet your name, monsieur, is on a list found among the papers in +the captured baggage of Monsieur le Duc de Montmorency." + +"No, monsieur," I denied stoutly, "it is not." + +The President smote the table a blow that scattered a flight of +papers. + +"Par la mort Dieu!" he roared, with a most indecent exhibition of +temper in one so placed. "I have had enough of your contradictions. +You forget, monsieur, your position--" + +"At least," I broke in harshly, "no less than you forget yours." + +The Keeper of the Seals gasped for breath at that, and his fellow +judges murmured angrily amongst themselves. Chatellerault maintained +his sardonic smile, but permitted himself to utter no word. + +"I would, gentlemen," I cried, addressing them all, "that His +Majesty were here to see how you conduct your trials and defile his +Courts. As for you, Monsieur le President, you violate the sanctity +of your office in giving way to anger; it is a thing unpardonable +in a judge. I have told you in plain terms, gentlemen, that I am +not this Rene de Lesperon with whose crimes you charge me. Yet, in +spite of my denials, ignoring them, or setting them down either to +a futile attempt at defence or to an hallucination of which you +suppose me the victim, you proceed to lay those crimes to my charge, +and when I deny your charges you speak of proofs that can only +apply to another. + +"How shall the name of Lesperon having been found among the Duke +of Montmorency's papers convict me of treason, since I tell you that +I am not Lesperon? Had you the slightest, the remotest sense of +your high duty, messieurs, you would ask me rather to explain how, +if what I state be true, I come to be confounded with Lesperon and +arrested in his place. Then, messieurs, you might seek to test +the accuracy of what statements I may make; but to proceed as you +are proceeding is not to judge but to murder. Justice is represented +as a virtuous woman with bandaged eyes, holding impartial scales; +in your hands, gentlemen, by my soul, she is become a very harlot +clutching a veil." + +Chatellerault's cynical smile grew broader as my speech proceeded +and stirred up the rancour in the hearts of those august gentlemen. +The Keeper of the Seals went white and red by turns, and when I +paused there was an impressive silence that lasted for some moments. +At last the President leant over to confer in a whisper with +Chatellerault. Then, in a voice forcedly calm - like the calm of +Nature when thunder is brewing - he asked me, "Who do you insist +that you are, monsieur?" + +"Once already have I told you, and I venture to think that mine is +a name not easily forgotten. I am the Sieur Marcel de Saint-Pol, +Marquis of Bardelys, of Bardelys in Picardy." + +A cunning grin parted his thin lips. + +"Have you any witnesses to identify you?" + +"Hundreds, monsieur!" I answered eagerly, seeing salvation already +within my grasp. + +"Name some of them." + +"I will name one - one whose word you will not dare to doubt." + +"That is?" + +"His Majesty the King. I am told that he is on his way to Toulouse, +and I but ask, messieurs, that you await his arrival before going +further with my trial." + +"Is there no other witness of whom you can think, monsieur? Some +witness that might be produced more readily. For if you can, +indeed, establish the identity you claim, why should you languish +in prison for some weeks?" + +His voice was soft and oily. The anger had all departed out of it, +which I - like a fool - imagined to be due to my mention of the King. + +"My friends, Monsieur le Garde des Sceaux, are all either in Paris +or in His Majesty's train, and so not likely to be here before him. +There is my intendant, Rodenard, and there are my servants - some +twenty of them - who may perhaps be still in Languedoc, and for +whom I would entreat you to seek. Them you might succeed in +finding within a few days if they have not yet determined to return +to Paris in the belief that I am dead." + +He stroked his chin meditatively, his eyes raised to the sunlit +dome of glass overhead. + +"Ah-h!" he gasped. It was a long-drawn sigh of regret, of conclusion, +or of weary impatience. "There is no one in Toulouse who will swear +to your identity monsieur?" he asked. + +"I am afraid there is not," I replied. "I know of no one." + +As I uttered those words the President's countenance changed as +abruptly as if he had flung off a mask. From soft and cat-like +that he had been during the past few moments, he grew of a sudden +savage as a tiger. He leapt to his feet, his face crimson, his +eyes seeming to blaze, and the words he spoke came now in a hot, +confused, and almost incoherent torrent. + +"Miserable!" he roared, "out of your own mouth have you convicted +yourself. And to think that you should have stood there and wasted +the time of this Court - His Majesty's time - with your damnable +falsehoods! What purpose did you think to serve by delaying your +doom? Did you imagine that haply, whilst we sent to Paris for your +witnesses, the King might grow weary of justice, and in some fit +of clemency announce a general pardon? Such things have been known, +and it may be that in your cunning you played for such a gain based +upon such a hope. But justice, fool, is not to be cozened. Had +you, indeed, been Bardelys, you had seen that here in this court +sits a gentleman who is very intimate with him. He is there, +monsieur; that is Monsieur le Comte de Chatellerault, of whom +perhaps you may have heard. Yet, when I ask you whether in Toulouse +there is any one who can bear witness to your identity, you answer +me that you know of no one. I will waste no more time with you, I +promise you." + +He flung himself back into his chair like a man exhausted, and +mopped his brow with a great kerchief which he had drawn from his +robes. His fellow judges laid their heads together, and with smiles +and nods, winks and leers, they discussed and admired the miraculous +subtlety and acumen of this Solomon. Chatellerault sat, calmly +smiling, in solemn mockery. + +For a spell I was too thunderstruck to speak, aghast at this +catastrophe. Like a fool, indeed, I had tumbled into the pit that +had been dug for me by Chatellerault for I never doubted that it +was of his contriving. At last, "My masters," said I, "these +conclusions may appear to you most plausible, but, believe me, they +are fallacious. I am perfectly acquainted with Monsieur de +Chatellerault, and he with me, and if he were to speak the truth +and play the man and the gentleman for once, he would tell you that +I am, indeed, Bardelys. But Monsieur le Comte has ends of his own +to serve in sending me to my doom. It is in a sense through his +agency that I am at present in this position, and that I have been +confounded with Lesperon. What, then, could it have availed me to +have made appeal to him? And yet, Monsieur le President, he was +born a gentleman, and he may still retain some notion of honour. +Ask him, sir - ask him point-blank, whether I am or not Marcel de +Bardelys." + +The firmness of my tones created some impression upon those feeble +minds. Indeed, the President went so far as to turn an interrogative +glance upon the Count. But Chatellerault, supremely master of the +situation, shrugged his shoulders, and smiled a pitying, +long-suffering smile. + +"Must I really answer such a question, Monsieur le President?" he +inquired in a voice and with a manner that clearly implied how low +would be his estimate of the President's intelligence if he were, +indeed, constrained to do so. + +"But no, Monsieur le Comte," replied the President with sudden haste, +and in scornful rejection of the idea. "There is no necessity that +you should answer." + +"But the question, Monsieur le President!" I thundered, my hand +outstretched towards Chatellerault. "Ask him - if you have any +sense of your duty - ask him am I not Marcel de Bardelys." + +"Silence!" blazed the President back at me. "You shall not fool us +any longer, you nimble-witted liar!" + +My head drooped. This coward had, indeed, shattered my last hope. + +"Some day, monsieur," I said very quietly, "I promise you that your +behaviour and these gratuitous insults shall cost you your position. +Pray God they do not cost you also your head!" + +My words they treated as one might treat the threats of a child. +That I should have had the temerity to utter them did but serve +finally to decide my doom, if, indeed, anything had been wanting. + +With many epithets of opprobrium, such as are applied to malefactors +of the lowest degree, they passed sentence of death upon me, and +with drooping spirits, giving myself up for lost and assured that +I should be led to the block before many hours were sped, I +permitted them to reconduct me through the streets of Toulouse to +my prison. + +I could entertain you at length upon my sensations as I walked +between my guards, a man on the threshold of eternity, with hundreds +of men and women gaping at me - men and women who would live for +years to gape upon many another wretch in my position. The sun +shone with a brilliance that to such eyes as mine was a very mockery. +Thus would it shine on through centuries, and light many another +unfortunate to the scaffold. The very sky seemed pitiless in the +intensity of its cobalt. Unfeeling I deemed the note that everywhere +was struck by man and Nature, so discordant was it with my gloomy +outlook. If you would have food for reflection upon the evanescent +quality of life, upon the nothingness of man, upon the empty, +heartless egoism implicit in human nature, get yourselves sentenced +to death, and then look around you. With such a force was all this +borne in upon me, and with such sufficiency, that after the first +pang was spent I went near to rejoicing that things were as they +were, and that I was to die, haply before sunset. It was become +such a world as did not seem worth a man's while to live in: a world +of vainness, of hollowness, of meanness, of nothing but illusions. +The knowledge that I was about to die, that I was about to quit all +this, seemed to have torn some veil from my eyes, and to have +permitted me to recognize the worthless quality of what I left. +Well may it be that such are but the thoughts of a man's dying +moments, whispered into his soul by a merciful God to predispose him +for the wrench and agony of his passing. + +I had been a half-hour in my cell when the door was opened to admit +Castelroux, whom I had not seen since the night before. He came +to condole with me in my extremity, and yet to bid me not utterly +lose hope. + +"It is too late to-day to carry out the sentence," said he, "and as +to-morrow will be Sunday, you will have until the day after. By +then much may betide, monsieur. My agents are everywhere scouring +the province for your servants, and let us pray Heaven that they +may succeed in their search." + +"It is a forlorn hope, Monsieur de Castelroux," I sighed, "and I +will pin no faith to it lest I suffer a disappointment that will +embitter my last moments, and perhaps rob me of some of the +fortitude I shall have need of." + +He answered me, nevertheless, with words of encouragement. No +effort was being spared, and if Rodenard and my men were still in +Languedoc then was every likelihood that they would be brought to +Toulouse in time. Then he added that that, however, was not the +sole object of his visit. A lady had obtained permission of the +Keeper of the Seals to visit me, and she was waiting to be admitted. + +"A lady?" I exclaimed, and the thought of Roxalanne flitted through +my mind. "Mademoiselle de Lavedan?" I inquired. + +He nodded. "Yes," said he; then added, "She seems in sore +affliction, monsieur." + +I besought him to admit her forthwith, and presently she came. +Castelroux closed the door as he withdrew, and we were left alone +together. As she put aside her cloak, and disclosed to me the pallor +of her face and the disfiguring red about her gentle eyes, telling +of tears and sleeplessness, all my own trouble seemed to vanish in +the contemplation of her affliction. + +We stood a moment confronting each other with no word spoken. Then, +dropping her glance, and advancing a step, in a faltering, +hesitating manner "Monsieur, monsieur," she murmured in a suffocating +voice. + +In a bound I was beside her, and I had gathered her in my arms, her +little brown head against my shoulder. + +"Roxalanne!" I whispered as soothingly as I might - "Roxalanne!" + +But she struggled to be free of my embrace. + +"Let me go, monsieur," she pleaded, a curious shrinking in her very +voice. "Do not touch me, monsieur. You do not know - you do not +know." + +For answer, I enfolded her more tightly still. + +"But I do know, little one," I whispered; "and I even understand." + +At that, her struggles ceased upon the instant, and she seemed to +lie limp and helpless in my arms. + +"You know, monsieur," she questioned me - "you know that I betrayed +you?" + +"Yes," I answered simply. + +"And you can forgive me? I am sending you to your death and you +have no reproaches for me! Oh, monsieur, it will kill me!" + +"Hush, child!" I whispered. "What reproaches can I have for you? +I know the motives that impelled you." + +"Not altogether, monsieur; you cannot know them. I loved you, +monsieur. I do love you, monsieur. Oh! this is not a time to +consider words. If I am bold and unmaidenly, I - I--" + +"Neither bold nor unmaidenly, but - oh, the sweetest damsel in all +France, my Roxalanne!" I broke in, coming to her aid. "Mine was a +leprous, sinful soul, child, when I came into Languedoc. I had no +faith in any human good, and I looked as little for an honest man +or a virtuous woman as one looks for honey in a nettle. I was +soured, and my life had hardly been such a life as it was meet to +bring into contact with your own. Then, among the roses at Lavedan, +in your dear company, Roxalanne, it seemed that some of the good, +some of the sweetness, some of the purity about you were infused +anew into my heart. I became young again, and I seemed oddly +cleansed. In that hour of my rejuvenation I loved you, Roxalanne." + +Her face had been raised to mine as I spoke. There came now a +flutter of the eyelids, a curious smile about the lips. Then her +head drooped again and was laid against my breast; a sigh escaped +her, and she began to weep softly. + +"Nay, Roxalanne, do not fret. Come, child, it is not your way to +be weak." + +"I have betrayed you!" she moaned. "I am sending you to your +death!" + +"I understand, I understand," I answered, smoothing her brown +hair. + +"Not quite, monsieur. I loved you so, monsieur, that you can have +no thought of how I suffered that morning when Mademoiselle de +Marsac came to Lavedan. + +"At first it was but the pain of thinking that - that I was about to +lose you; that you were to go out of my life, and that I should see +you no more - you whom I had enshrined so in my heart. + +"I called myself a little fool that morning for having dreamed that +you had come to care for me; my vanity I thought had deluded me +into imagining that your manner towards me had a tenderness that +spoke of affection. I was bitter with myself, and I suffered oh, +so much! Then later, when I was in the rose garden, you came to me. + +"You remember how you seized me, and how by your manner you showed +me that it was not vanity alone had misled me. You had fooled me, +I thought; even in that hour I imagined you were fooling me; you +made light of me; and my sufferings were naught to you so that I +might give you some amusement to pass the leisure and monotony of +your sojourn with us." + +"Roxalanne - my poor Roxalanne!" I whispered. + +"Then my bitterness and sorrow all turned to anger against you. +You had broken my heart, and I thought that you had done it +wantonly. For that I burned to punish you. Ah! and not only that, +perhaps. I think, too, that some jealousy drove me on. You had +wooed and slighted me, yet you had made me love you, and if you +were not for me I swore you should be for no other. And so, while +my madness endured, I quitted Lavedan, and telling my father that +I was going to Auch, to his sister's house, I came to Toulouse and +betrayed you to the Keeper of the Seals. + +"Scarce was the thing done than I beheld the horror of it, and I +hated myself. In my despair, I abandoned all idea of pursuing the +journey to Auch, but turned and made my way back in haste, hoping +that I might still come to warn you. But at Grenade I met you +already in charge of the soldiers. At Grenade, too I learnt the +truth - that you were not Lesperon. Can you not guess something of +my anguish then? Already loathing my act, and beside myself for +having betrayed you, think into what despair I was plunged by +Monsieur de Marsac's intimation. + +"Then I understood that for reasons of your own you had concealed +your identity. You were not perhaps, betrothed; indeed, I remembered +then how, solemnly you had sworn that you were not; and so I +bethought me that your vows to me may have been sincere and such as +a maid might honourably listen to." + +"They were, Roxalanne! they were!" I cried. + +But she continued "That you had Mademoiselle de Marsac's portrait +was something that I could not explain; but then I hear that you +had also Lesperon's papers upon you; so that you may have become +possessed of the one with the others. And now, monsieur--" + +She ceased, and there against my breast she lay weeping and weeping +in her bitter passion of regret, until it seemed to me she would +never regain her self-control. + +"It has been all my fault, Roxalanne," said I, "and if I am to pay +the price they are exacting, it will be none too high. I embarked +upon a dastardly business; which brought me to Languedoc under +false colours. I wish, indeed, that I had told you when first the +impulse to tell you came upon me. Afterwards it grew impossible." + +"Tell me now," she begged. "Tell me who you are." + +Sorely was I tempted to respond. Almost was I on the point of +doing so, when suddenly the thought of how she might shrink from me, +of how, even then, she might come to think that I had but simulated +love for her for infamous purposes of gain, restrained and silenced +me. During the few hours of life that might be left me I would at +least be lord and master of her heart. When I was dead - for I had +little hope of Castelroux's efforts - it would matter less, and +perhaps because I was dead she would be merciful. + +"I cannot, Roxalanne. Not even now. It is too vile! If - if they +carry out the sentence on Monday, I shall leave a letter for you, +telling you everything." + +She shuddered, and a sob escaped her. From my identity her mind +fled back to the more important matter of my fate. + +"They will not carry it out, monsieur! Oh, they till not! Say that +you can defend yourself, that you are not the man they believe you +to be!" + +"We are in God's hands, child. It may be that I shall save myself +yet. If I do, I shall come straight to you, and you shall know all +that there is to know. But, remember, child" - and raising her +face in my hands, I looked down into the blue of her tearful eyes - +"remember, little one, that in one thing I have been true and +honourable, and influenced by nothing but my heart - in my wooing +of you. I love you, Roxalanne, with all my soul, and if I should +die you are the only thing in all this world that I experience a +regret at leaving." + +"I do believe it; I do, indeed. Nothing can ever alter my belief +again. Will you not, then, tell me who you are, and what is this +thing, which you call dishonourable, that brought you into Languedoc?" + +A moment again I pondered. Then I shook my head. + +"Wait, child," said I; and she, obedient to my wishes, asked no more. + +It was the second time that I neglected a favourable opportunity of +making that confession, and as I had regretted having allowed the +first occasion to pass unprofited, so was I, and still more +poignantly, to regret this second silence. + +A little while she stayed with me yet, and I sought to instil some +measure of comfort into her soul. I spoke of the hopes that I +based upon Castelroux's finding friends to recognize me - hopes +that were passing slender. And she, poor child, sought also to +cheer me and give me courage. + +"If only the King were here!" she sighed. "I would go to him, and +on my knees I would plead for your enlargement. But they say he is +no nearer than Lyons; and I could not hope to get there and back by +Monday. I will go to the Keeper of the Seals again, monsieur, and +I will beg him to be merciful, and at least to delay the sentence." + +I did not discourage her; I did not speak of the futility of such +a step. But I begged her to remain in Toulouse until Monday, that +she might visit me again before the end, if the end were to become +inevitable. + +Then Castelroux came to reconduct her, and we parted. But she left +me a great consolation, a great strengthening comfort. If I were +destined, indeed, to walk to the scaffold, it seemed that I could +do it with a better grace and a gladder courage now. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE ELEVENTH HOUR + + +Castelroux visited me upon the following morning, but he brought no +news that might be accounted encouraging. None of his messengers +were yet returned, nor had any sent word that they were upon the +trail of my followers. My heart sank a little, and such hope as I +still fostered was fast perishing. Indeed, so imminent did my doom +appear and so unavoidable, that later in the day I asked for pen +and paper that I might make an attempt at setting my earthly affairs +to rights. Yet when the writing materials were brought me, I wrote +not. I sat instead with the feathered end of my quill between my +teeth, and thus pondered the matter of the disposal of my Picardy +estates. + +Coldly I weighed the wording of the wager and the events that had +transpired, and I came at length to the conclusion that Chatellerault +could not be held to have the least claim upon my lands. That he +had cheated at the very outset, as I have earlier shown, was of less +account than that he had been instrumental in violently hindering me. + +I took at last the resolve to indite a full memoir of the transaction, +and to request Castelroux to see that it was delivered to the King +himself. Thus not only would justice be done, but I should - though +tardily - be even with the Count. No doubt he relied upon his power +to make a thorough search for such papers as I might leave, and to +destroy everything that might afford indication of my true identity. +But he had not counted upon the good feeling that had sprung up +betwixt the little Gascon captain and me, nor yet upon my having +contrived to convince the latter that I was, indeed, Bardelys, and +he little dreamt of such a step as I was about to take to ensure his +punishment hereafter. + +Resolved at last, I was commencing to write when my attention was +arrested by an unusual sound. It was at first no more than a +murmuring noise, as of at sea breaking upon its shore. Gradually +it grew its volume and assumed the shape of human voices raised in +lusty clamour. Then, above the din of the populace, a gun boomed +out, then another, and another. + +I sprang up at that, and, wondering what might be toward, I crossed +to my barred window and stood there listening. I overlooked the +courtyard of the jail, and I could see some commotion below, in +sympathy, as it were, with the greater commotion without. + +Presently, as the populace drew nearer, it seemed to me that the +shouting was of acclamation. Next I caught a blare of trumpets, +and, lastly, I was able to distinguish above the noise, which had +now grown to monstrous proportions, the clattering hoofs of some +cavalcade that was riding past the prison doors. + +It was borne in upon me that some great personage was arriving in +Toulouse, and my first thought was of the King. At the idea of such +a possibility my brain whirled and I grew dizzy with hope. The +next moment I recalled that but last night Roxalanne had told me +that he was no nearer than Lyons, and so I put the thought from me, +and the hope with it, for, travelling in that leisurely, indolent +fashion that was characteristic of his every action, it would be a +miracle if His Majesty should reach Toulouse before the week was +out, and this but Sunday. + +The populace passed on, then seemed to halt, and at last the shouts +died down on the noontide air. I went back to my writing, and to +wait until from my jailer, when next he should chance to appear, I +might learn the meaning of that uproar. + +An hour perhaps went by, and I had made some progress with my memoir, +when my door was opened and the cheery voice of Castelroux greeted +me from the threshold. + +"Monsieur, I have brought a friend to see you." + +I turned in my chair, and one glance at the gentle, comely face and +the fair hair of the young man standing beside Castelroux was enough +to bring me of a sudden to my feet. + +"Mironsac!" I shouted, and sprang towards him with hands outstretched. + +But though my joy was great and my surprise profound, greater still +was the bewilderment that in Mironsac's face I saw depicted. + +"Monsieur de Bardelys!" he exclaimed, and a hundred questions were +contained in his astonished eyes. + +"Po' Cap de Dieu!" growled his cousin, "I was well advised, it seems, +to have brought you." + +"But," Mironsac asked his cousin, as he took my hands in his own, +"why did you not tell me, Amedee, that it was to Monsieur le Marquis +de Bardelys that you were conducting me?" + +"Would you have had me spoil so pleasant a surprise?" his cousin +demanded. + +"Armand," said I, "never was a man more welcome than are you. You +are but come in time to save my life." + +And then, in answer to his questions, I told him briefly of all that +had befallen me since that night in Paris when the wager had been +laid, and of how, through the cunning silence of Chatellerault, I +was now upon the very threshold of the scaffold. His wrath burst +forth at that, and what he said of the Count did me good to hear. +At last I stemmed his invective. + +"Let that be for the present, Mironsac," I laughed. "You are here, +and you can thwart all Chatellerault's designs by witnessing to my +identity before the Keeper of the Seals." + +And then of a sudden a doubt closed like a cold hand upon my brain. +I turned to Castelroux. + +"Mon Dieu!" I cried. "What if they were to deny me a fresh trial?" + +"Deny it you!" he laughed. "They will not be asked to grant you +one." + +"There will be no need," added Mironsac. "I have but to tell the +King--" + +"But, my friend," I exclaimed impatiently, "I am to die in the +morning!" + +"And the King shall be told to-day - now, at once. I will go to +him." + +I stared askance a moment; then the thought of the uproar that I +had heard recurring to me, "Has the King arrived already?" I +exclaimed. + +"Naturally, monsieur. How else do I come to be here? I am in His +Majesty's train." + +At that I grew again impatient. I thought of Roxalanne and of how +she must be suffering, and I bethought me that every moment Mironsac +now remained in my cell was another moment of torture for that poor +child. So I urged him to be gone at once and carry news of my +confinement to His Majesty. He obeyed me, and I was left alone once +more, to pace up and down in my narrow cell, a prey to an excitement +such as I should have thought I had outlived. + +At the end of a half-hour Castelroux returned alone. + +"Well?" I cried the moment the door opened, and without giving him +so much as time to enter. "What news?" + +"Mironsac tells me that His Majesty is more overwrought than he has +ever seen him. You are to come to the Palace at once. I have an +order here from the King." + +We went in a coach, and with all privacy, for he informed me that +His Majesty desired the affair to be kept secret, having ends of his +own to serve thereby. + +I was left to wait some moments in an ante-chamber, whilst +Castelroux announced me to the King; then I was ushered into a small +apartment, furnished very sumptuously in crimson and gold, and +evidently set apart for His Majesty's studies or devotions. As I +entered, Louis's back was towards me. He was standing - a tall, +spare figure in black - leaning against the frame of a window, his +head supported on his raised left arm and his eyes intent upon the +gardens below. + +He remained so until Castelroux had withdrawn and the door had closed +again; then, turning suddenly, he confronted me, his back to the +light, so that his face was in a shadow that heightened its gloom and +wonted weariness. + +"Voila, Monsieur de Bardelys!" was his greeting, and unfriendly. +"See the pass to which your disobedience of my commands has brought +you." + +"I would submit, Sire," I answered, "that I have been brought to it +by the incompetence of Your Majesty's judges and the ill-will of +others whom Your Majesty honours with too great a confidence, rather +than by this same disobedience of mine." + +"The one and the other, perhaps," he said more softly. "Though, +after all, they appear to have had a very keen nose for a traitor. +Come, Bardelys, confess yourself that." + +"I? A traitor?" + +He shrugged his shoulders, and laughed without any conspicuous mirth. + +"Is not a traitor one who runs counter to the wishes; of his King? +And are you not, therefore, a traitor, whether they call you Lesperon +or Bardelys? But there," he ended more softly still, and flinging +himself into a chair as he spoke, "I have been so wearied since you +left me, Marcel. They have the best intentions in the world, these +dullards, and some of them love me even; but they are tiresome all. +Even Chatellerault, when he has a fancy for a jest - as in your case +perpetrates it with the grace of a bear, the sprightliness of an +elephant." + +"Jest?" said I. + +"You find it no jest, Marcel? Pardieu, who shall blame you? He +would be a man of unhealthy humour that could relish such a +pleasantry as that of being sentenced to death. But tell me of it. +The whole story, Marcel. I have not heard a story worth the +listening to since - since you left us." + +"Would it please you, Sire, to send for the Comte de Chatellerault +ere I begin?" I asked. + +"Chatellerault? No, no." He shook his head whimsically. +"Chatellerault has had his laugh already, and, like the ill-mannered +dog he is, he has kept it to himself. I think, Marcel, that it is +our turn now. I have purposely sent Chatellerault away that he may +gain no notion of the catastrophic jest we are preparing him in +return." + +The words set me in the very best of humours, and to that it may be +due that presently, as I warmed to my narrative, I lent it a vigour +that drew His Majesty out of his wonted apathy and listlessness. He +leaned forward when I told him of my encounter with the dragoons at +Mirepoix, and how first I had committed the false step of representing +myself to be Lesperon. + +Encouraged by his interest, I proceeded, and I told my story with as +much piquancy as I was master of, repressing only those slight matters +which might reflect upon Monsieur de Lavedan's loyalty, but otherwise +dealing frankly with His Majesty, even down to the genuineness of +the feelings I entertained for Roxalanne. Often he laughed, more +often still he nodded approvingly, in understanding and sympathy, +whilst now and then he purred his applause. But towards the end, +when I came to the matter of the Tribunal of Toulouse, of how my +trial was conducted, and of the part played in it by Chatellerault, +his face grew set and hard. + +"It is true - all this that you tell me?" he cried harshly. + +"As true as the Gospels. If you deem an oath necessary, Sire, I +swear by my honour that I have uttered nothing that is false, and +that, in connection with Monsieur de Chatellerault, even as I have +suppressed nothing, so also have I exaggerated nothing." + +"The dastard!" he snapped. "But we will avenge you, Marcel. Never +fear it." + +Then the trend of his thoughts being changed, he smiled wearily. + +"By my faith, you may thank God every night of your worthless life +that I came so opportunely to Toulouse, and so may that fair child +whose beauty you have limned with such a lover's ardour. Nay, never +redden, Marcel. What? At your age, and with such a heavy score +of affaires to your credit, has it been left for a simple Languedoc +maiden to call a blush to your callous cheek? Ma foi, they say +truly that love is a great regenerator, a great rejuvenator!" + +I made him no answer other than a sigh, for his words set me thinking, +and with thought came a tempering of the gay humour that had pervaded +me. Remarking this, and misreading it, he laughed outright. + +"There, Marcel, never fear. We will not be rigorous. You have won +both the maid and the wager, and, by the Mass, you shall enjoy both." + +"Helas, Sire," I sighed again, "when the lady comes to know of the +wager--" + +"Waste no time in telling her, Marcel, and cast yourself upon her +mercy. Nay, go not with so gloomy a face, my friend. When woman +loves, she can be very merciful; leastways, they tell me so." + +Then, his thoughts shifting ground once more, he grew stern again. + +"But first we have Chatellerault to deal with. What shall we do with +him?" + +"It is for Your Majesty to decide." + +"For me?" he cried, his voice resuming the harshness that was never +far from it. "I have a fancy for having gentlemen about me. Think +you I will set eyes again upon that dastard? I am already resolved +concerning him, but it entered my mind that it might please you to +be the instrument of the law for me." + +"Me, Sire?" + +"Aye, and why not? They say you can play a very deadly sword upon +necessity. This is an occasion that demands an exception from our +edict. You have my sanction to send the Comte de Chatellerault a +challenge. And see that you kill him, Bardelys!" he continued +viciously. "For, by the Mass, if you don't, I will! If he escapes +your sword, or if he survives such hurt as you may do him, the +headsman shall have him. Mordieu! is it for nothing that I am +called Louis the Just?" + +I stood in thought for a moment. Then-- + +"If I do this thing, Sire," I ventured, "the world will say of me +that I did so to escape the payment I had incurred." + +"Fool, you have not incurred it. When a man cheats, does he not +forfeit all his rights?" + +"That is very true. But the world--" + +"Peste!" he snapped impatiently, "you are beginning to weary me, +Marcel - and all the world does that so excellently that it needs not +your collaboration. Go your ways, man, and do as you elect. But +take my sanction to slay this fellow Chatellerault, and I shall be +the better pleased if you avail yourself of it. He is lodged at the +Auberge Royale, where probably you will find him at present. Now, +go. I have more justice to dispense in this rebellious province." + +I paused a moment. + +"Shall I not resume my duties near Your Majesty?" + +He pondered a moment, then he smiled in his weary way. + +"It would please me to have you, for these creatures are so dismally +dull, all of them. Je m'ennuie tellement, Marcel!" he sighed. +"Ough! But, no, my friend, I do not doubt you would be as dull as +any of them at present. A man in love is the weariest and most +futile thing in all this weary, futile world. What shall I do with +your body what time your soul is at Lavedan? I doubt me you are in +haste to get you there. So go, Marcel. Get you wed, and live out +your amorous intoxication; marriage is the best antidote. When that +is done, return to me." + +"That will be never, Sire," I answered slyly. + +"Say you so, Master Cupid Bardelys?" And he combed his beard +reflectively. "Be not too sure. There have been other passions - +aye, as great as yours - yet have they staled. But you waste my +time. Go, Marcel; you are excused your duties by me for as long as +your own affairs shall hold you elsewhere - for as long as you +please. We are here upon a gloomy business - as you know. There +are my cousin Montmorency and the others to be dealt with, and we +are holding no levees, countenancing no revels. But come to me +when you will, and I will see you. Adieu!" + +I murmured my thanks, and very deep and sincere were they. Then, +having kissed his hand, I left him. + +Louis XIII is a man who lacks not maligners. Of how history may +come to speak of him it is not mine to hazard. But this I can say, +that I, at least, did never find him other than a just and kindly +master, an upright gentleman, capricious at times and wilful, as +must inevitably be the case with such spoilt children of fortune as +are princes, but of lofty ideals and high principles. It was his +worst fault that he was always tired, and through that everlasting +weariness he came to entrust the determining of most affairs to +His Eminence. Hence has it resulted that the censure for many +questionable acts of his reign, which were the work of my Lord +Cardinal, has recoiled upon my august master's head. + +But to me, with all the faults that may be assigned him, he was ever +Louis the Just, and wherever his name be mentioned in my hearing, I +bare my head. + + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +EAVESDROPPING + + +I turned it over in my mind, after I had left the King's presence, +whether or not I should visit with my own hands upon Chatellerault +the punishment he had so fully earned. That I would have gone about +the task rejoicing you may readily imagine; but there was that +accursed wager, and - to restrain me - the thought of how such an +action might be construed into an evasion of its consequences. +Better a thousand times that His Majesty should order his arrest and +deal with him for his attempted perversion of justice to the service +of his own vile ends. The charge of having abused his trust as +King's commissioner to the extent of seeking to do murder through +the channels of the Tribunal was one that could not fail to have +fatal results for him - as, indeed, the King had sworn. + +That was the position of affairs as it concerned Chatellerault, the +world, and me. But the position must also be considered as it +concerned Roxalanne, and deeply, indeed, did I so consider it. Much +pondering brought me again to the conclusion that until I had made +the only atonement in my power, the only atonement that would leave +me with clean hands, I must not again approach her. + +Whether Chatellerault had cheated or not could not affect the +question as it concerned Mademoiselle and me. If I paid the wager +--whether in honour bound to do so or not - I might then go to her, +impoverished, it is true, but at least with no suspicion attaching +to my suit of any ulterior object other than that of winning +Roxalanne herself. + +I could then make confession, and surely the fact that I had paid +where clearly there was no longer any need to pay must earn me +forgiveness and afford proof of the sincerity of my passion. + +Upon such a course, then, did I decide, and, with this end in view, +I took my way towards the Auberge Royale, where His Majesty had told +me that the Count was lodged. It was my purpose to show myself +fully aware of the treacherous and unworthy part he had played at +the very inception of the affair, and that if I chose to consider +the wager lost it was that I might the more honestly win the lady. + +Upon inquiring at the hostelry for Monsieur de Chatellerault I was +informed by the servant I addressed that he was within, but that +at the moment he had a visitor. I replied that I would wait, and +demanded a private room, since I desired to avoid meeting any Court +acquaintances who might chance into the auberge before I had seen +the Count. + +My apparel at the moment may not have been all that could have been +desired, but when a gentleman's rearing has taken place amid an +army of servitors to minister to his every wish, he is likely to +have acquired an air that is wont to win him obedience. With all +celerity was I ushered into a small chamber, opening on the one side +upon the common room, and being divided on the other by the thinnest +of wooden partitions from the adjoining apartment. + +Here, the landlord having left me, I disposed myself to wait, and +here I did a thing I would not have believed myself capable of doing, +a thing I cannot think of without blushing to this very day. In +short, I played the eavesdropper - I, Marcel Saint-Pol de Bardelys. +Yet, if you who read and are nice-minded, shudder at this confession, +or, worse still, shrug your shoulders in contempt, with the +reflection that such former conduct of mine as I have avowed had +already partly disposed you against surprise at this I do but ask +that you measure my sin by my temptation, and think honestly whether +in my position you might not yourselves have fallen. Aye - be you +never so noble and high-principled - I make bold to say that you had +done no less, for the voice that penetrated to my ears was that of +Roxalanne de Lavedan. + +"I sought an audience with the King," she was saying, "but I could +not gain his presence. They told me that he was holding no levees, +and that he refused to see any one not introduced by one of those +having the private entree." + +"And so," answered the voice of Chatellerault, in tones that were +perfectly colourless, "you come to me that I may present you +to his Majesty?" + +"You have guessed it, Monsieur le Comte. You are the only gentleman +of His Majesty's suite, with whom I can claim acquaintance - however +slight - and, moreover, it is well known how high you stand in his +royal favour. I was told that they that have a boon to crave can +find no better sponsor." + +"Had you gone to the King, mademoiselle," said he, "had you gained +audience, he would have directed you to make your appeal to me. I am +his Commissioner in Languedoc, and the prisoners attainted with high +treason are my property." + +"Why then, monsieur," she cried in an eager voice, that set my pulses +throbbing, "you'll not deny me the boon I crave? You'll not deny me +his life?" + +There was a short laugh from Chatellerault, and I could hear the +deliberate fall of his feet as he paced the chamber. + +"Mademoiselle, mademoiselle, you must not overrate my powers. You +must not forget that I am the slave of Justice. You may be asking +more than is in my power to grant. What can you advance to show +that I should be justified in proceeding as you wish?" + +"Helas, monsieur, I can advance nothing but my prayers and the +assurance that a hideous mistake is being made." + +"What is your interest in this Monsieur de Lesperon?" + +"He is not Monsieur de Lesperon," she cried. + +"But, since you cannot tell me who he is, you must be content that +we speak of him at least as Lesperon," said he, and I could imagine +the evil grin with which he would accompany the words. + +The better that you may appreciate that which followed, let me here +impart to you the suspicions which were already sinking into my mind, +to be changed later into absolute convictions touching the course +the Count intended to pursue concerning me. The sudden arrival of +the King had thrown him into some measure of panic, and no longer +daring to carry out his plans concerning me, it was his object, I +made no doubt, to set me at liberty that very evening. Ere he did +so, however, and presuming upon my ignorance of His Majesty's +presence in Toulouse, Chatellerault would of a certainty have bound +me down by solemn promise - making that promise the price of my +liberty and my life - to breathe no word of my captivity and trial. +No doubt, his cunning brain would have advanced me plausible and +convincing reasons so to engage myself. + +He had not calculated upon Castelroux, nor that the King should +already have heard of my detention. Now that Roxalanne came to +entreat him to do that which already he saw himself forced to do, +he turned his attention to the profit that he might derive from her +interestedness on my behalf. I could guess also something of the +jealous rage that must fill him at this signal proof of my success +with her, and already I anticipated, I think, the bargain that he +would drive. + +"Tell me, then," he was repeating, "what is your interest in this +gentleman?" + +There was a silence. I could imagine her gentle face clouded with +the trouble that sprang from devising an' answer to that question; +I could picture her innocent eyes cast down, her delicate cheeks +pinked by some measure of shame, as at last, in a low, stifled +voice, the four words broke from her "I love him, monsieur." + +Ah, Dieu! To hear her confess it so! If yesternight it had stirred +me to the very depths of my poor, sinful soul to have her say so +much to me, how infinitely more did it not affect me to overhear +this frank avowal of it to another! And to think that she was +undergoing all this to the end that she might save me! + +From Chatellerault there came an impatient snort in answer, and his +feet again smote the floor as he resumed the pacing that for +a moment he had suspended. Then followed a pause, a long silence, +broken only by the Count's restless walking to and fro. At last +"Why are you silent, monsieur?" she asked in a trembling voice. + +"Helas, mademoiselle, I can do nothing. I had feared that it might +be thus with you; and, if I put the question, it was in the hope +that I was wrong." + +"But he, monsieur?" she exclaimed in anguish. "What of him?" + +"Believe me, mademoiselle, if it lay in my power I would save him +were he never so guilty, if only that I might spare you sorrow." + +He spoke with tender regret, foul hypocrite that he was! + +"Oh, no, no!" she cried, and her voice was of horror and despair. +"You do not mean that - " She stopped short; and then, after a +pause, it was the Count who finished the sentence for her. + +"I mean, mademoiselle, that this Lesperon must die!" + +You will marvel that I let her suffer so, that I did not break down +the partition with my hands and strike that supple gentleman dead at +her feet in atonement for the anguish he was causing her. But I had +a mind to see how far he would drive this game he was engaged upon. + +Again there was a spell of silence, and at last, when Mademoiselle +spoke, I was amazed at the calm voice in which she addressed him, +marvelling at the strength and courage of one so frail and childlike +to behold. + +"Is your determination, indeed, irrevocable, monsieur? If you have +any pity, will you not at least let me bear my prayers and my tears +to the King?" + +"It would avail you nothing. As I have said, the Languedoc rebels +are in my hands." He paused as if to let those words sink well into +her understanding; then, "If I were to set him at liberty, +mademoiselle, if I were to spirit him out of prison in the night, +bribing his jailers to keep silent and binding him by oath to quit +France at once and never to betray me, I should be, myself, guilty +of high treason. Thus alone could the thing be done, and you will +see, mademoiselle, that by doing it I should be endangering my neck." + +There was an ineffable undercurrent of meaning in his words - an +intangible suggestion that he might be bribed to do all this to +which he so vaguely alluded. + +"I understand, monsieur," she answered, choking - "I understand that +it would be too much to ask of you." + +"It would be much, mademoiselle," he returned quickly, and his voice +was now subdued and invested with an odd quiver. "But nothing that +your lips might ask of me and that it might lie in the power of +mortal man to do, would be too much!" + +"You mean?" she cried, a catch in her breath. Had she guessed - as +I, without sight of her face, had guessed - what was to follow? My +gorge was rising fast. I clenched my hands, and by an effort I +restrained myself to learn that I had guessed aright. + +"Some two months ago," he said, "I journeyed to Lavedan, as you may +remember. I saw you, mademoiselle - for a brief while only, it is +true - and ever since I have seen nothing else but you." His voice +went a shade lower, and passion throbbed in his words. + +She, too, perceived it, for the grating of a chair informed me that +she had risen. + +"Not now, monsieur - not now!" she exclaimed. "This is not the +season. I beg of you think of my desolation." + +"I do, mademoiselle, and I respect your grief, and, with all my +heart, believe me, I share it. Yet this is the season, and if you +have this man's interests at heart, you will hear me to the end." + +Through all the imperiousness of his tone an odd note of respect - +real or assumed - was sounding. + +"If you suffer, mademoiselle, believe me that I suffer also, and if +I make you suffer more by what I say, I beg that you will think how +what you have said, how the very motive of your presence here, has +made me suffer. Do you know, mademoiselle, what it is to be torn +by jealousy? Can you imagine it? If you can, you can imagine also +something of the torture I endured when you confessed to me that you +loved this Lesperon, when you interceded for his life. Mademoiselle, +I love you - with all my heart and soul I love you. I have loved +you, I think, since the first moment of our meeting at Lavedan, and +to win you there is no risk that I would not take, no danger that I +would not brave." + +"Monsieur, I implore you - " + +"Hear me out, mademoiselle!" he cried. Then in quieter voice he +proceeded: "At present you love this Monsieur de Lesperon--" + +"I shall always love him! Always, monsieur!" + +"Wait, wait, wait!" he exclaimed, annoyed by her interruption. "If +he were to live, and you were to wed him and be daily in his company, +I make no doubt your love might endure. But if he were to die, or +if he were to pass into banishment and you were to see him no more, +you would mourn him for a little while, and then - Helas! it is the +way of men and women - time would heal first your sorrow, then your +heart." + +"Never, monsieur - oh, never!" + +"I am older, child, than you are. I know. At present you are +anxious to save his life anxious because you love him, and also +because you betrayed him, and you would not have his death upon +your conscience." He paused a moment; then raising his voice, +"Mademoiselle," said he, "I offer you your lover's life." + +"Monsieur, monsieur!" cried the poor child, "I knew you were good! +I knew--" + +"A moment! Do not misapprehend me. I do not say that I give it + --I offer it." + +"But the difference?" + +"That if you would have it, mademoiselle, you must buy it. I have +said that for you I would brave all dangers. To save your lover, I +brave the scaffold. If I am betrayed, or if the story transpire, my +head will assuredly fall in the place of Lesperon's. This I will +risk, mademoiselle -I will do it gladly - if you will promise to +become my wife when it is done." + +There was a moan from Roxalanne, then silence; then - "Oh, monsieur, +you are pitiless! What bargain is this that you offer me?" + +"A fair one, surely," said that son of hell - "a very fair one. The +risk of my life against your hand in marriage." + +"If you - if you truly loved me as you say, monsieur," she reasoned, +"you would serve me without asking guerdon." + +"In any other thing I would. But is it fair to ask a man who is +racked by love of you to place another in your arms, and that at the +risk of his own life? Ah, mademoiselle, I am but a man, and I am +subject to human weaknesses. If you will consent, this Lesperon +shall go free, but you must see him no more; and I will carry my +consideration so far as to give you six months in which to overcome +your sorrow, ere I present myself to you again to urge my suit." + +"And if I refuse, monsieur?" + +He sighed. + +"To the value which I set upon my life you must add my very human +jealousy. From such a combination what can you hope for?" + +"You mean, in short, that he must die?" + +"To-morrow," was that infernal cheat's laconic answer. + +They were silent a little while, then she fell a-sobbing. + +"Be pitiful, monsieur! Have mercy if you, indeed, love me. Oh, he +must not die! I cannot, I dare not, let him die! Save him, monsieur, +and I will pray for you every night of my life; I will pray for you +to our Holy Mother as I am now praying to you for him." + +Lived there the man to resist that innocent, devout appeal? Lived +there one who in answer to such gentle words of love and grief could +obtrude his own coarse passions? It seems there did, for all he +answered was "You know the price, child." + +"And God pity me! I must pay it. I must, for if he dies I shall +have his blood upon my conscience!" Then she checked her grief, and +her voice grew almost stern in the restraint she set upon herself. +"If I give you my promise to wed you hereafter - say in six months' +time - what proof will you afford me that he who is detained under +the name of Lesperon shall go free?" + +I caught the sound of something very like a gasp from the Count. + +"Remain in Toulouse until to-morrow, and to-night ere he departs he +shall come to take his leave of you. Are you content?" + +"Be it so, monsieur," she answered. + +Then at last I leapt to my feet. I could endure no more. You may +marvel that I had had the heart to endure so much, and to have so +let her suffer that I might satisfy myself how far this scoundrel +Chatellerault would drive his trickster's bargain. + +A more impetuous man would have beaten down the partition, or shouted +to her through it the consolation that Chatellerault's bargain was no +bargain at all, since I was already at large. And that is where a +more impetuous man would have acted upon instinct more wisely than did +I upon reason. Instead, I opened the door, and, crossing the common +room, I flung myself down a passage that I thought must lead to the +chamber in which they were closeted. But in this I was at fault, and +ere I had come upon a waiter and been redirected some precious moments +were lost. He led me back through the common room to a door opening +upon another corridor. He pushed it wide, and I came suddenly face +to face with Chatellerault, still flushed from his recent contest. + +"You here!" he gasped, his jaw falling, and his cheeks turning pale, +as well they might; for all that he could not dream I had overheard +his bargaining. + +"We will go back, if you please, Monsieur le Comte." said I. + +"Back where?" he asked stupidly. + +"Back to Mademoiselle. Back to the room you have just quitted." +And none too gently I pushed him into the corridor again, and so, +in the gloom, I missed the expression of his face. + +"She is not there," said he. + +I laughed shortly. + +"Nevertheless, we will go back," I insisted. + +And so I had my way, and we gained the room where his infamous +traffic had been held. Yet for once he spoke the truth. She was +no longer there. + +"Where is she?" I demanded angrily. + +"Gone," he answered; and when I protested that I had not met her, +"You would not have a lady go by way of the public room, would you?" +he demanded insolently. "She left by the side door into the +courtyard." + +"That being so, Monsieur le Comte," said I quietly, "I will have a +little talk with you before going after her." And I carefully closed +the door. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +MONSIEUR DE CHATELLERAULT IS ANGRY + + +Within the room Chatellerault and I faced each other in silence. +And how vastly changed were the circumstances since our last meeting! + +The disorder that had stamped itself upon his countenance when first +he had beheld me still prevailed. There was a lowering, sullen look +in his eyes and a certain displacement of their symmetry which was +peculiar to them when troubled. + +Although a cunning plotter and a scheming intriguer in his own +interests, Chatellerault, as I have said before, was not by nature +a quick man. His wits worked slowly, and he needed leisure to +consider a situation and his actions therein ere he was in a +position to engage with it. + +"Monsieur le Comte," quoth I ironically, "I make you my compliments +upon your astuteness and the depth of your schemes, and my +condolences upon the little accident owing to which I am here, and +in consequence of which your pretty plans are likely to miscarry." + +He threw back his great head like a horse that feels the curb, and +his smouldering eyes looked up at me balefully. Then his sensuous +lips parted in scorn. + +"How much do you know?" he demanded with sullen contempt. + +"I have been in that room for the half of an hour," I answered, +rapping the partition with my knuckles. + +"The dividing wall, as you will observe, is thin, and I heard +everything that passed between you and Mademoiselle de Lavedan." + +"So that Bardelys, known as the Magnificent; Bardelys the mirror +of chivalry; Bardelys the arbiter elegantiarum of the Court of +France, is no better, it seems, than a vulgar spy." + +If he sought by that word to anger me, he failed. + +"Lord Count," I answered him very quietly, "you are of an age to +know that the truth alone has power to wound. I was in that room +by accident, and when the first words of your conversation reached +me I had not been human had I not remained and strained my ears to +catch every syllable you uttered. For the rest, let me ask you, +my dear Chatellerault, since when have you become so nice that you +dare cast it at a man that he has been eavesdropping?" + +"You are obscure, monsieur. What is it that you suggest?" + +"I am signifying that when a man stands unmasked for a cheat, a +liar, and a thief, his own character should give him concern enough +to restrain him from strictures upon that of another." + +A red flush showed through the tan of his skin, then faded and left +him livid - a very evil sight, as God lives. He flung his +heavily-feathered hat upon the table, and carried his hand to his +hilt. + +"God's blood!" he cried. "You shall answer me for this." + +I shook my head and smiled; but I made no sign of drawing. + +"Monsieur, we must talk a while. I think that you had better." + +He raised his sullen eyes to mine. Perhaps the earnest +impressiveness of my tones prevailed. Be that as it may, his +half-drawn sword was thrust back with a click, and "What have you +to say?" he asked. + +"Be seated." I motioned him to a chair by the table and when he had +taken it I sat down opposite to him. Taking up a quill, I dipped it +in the ink-horn that stood by, and drew towards me a sheet of paper. + +"When you lured me into the wager touching Mademoiselle de Lavedan," +said I calmly, "you did so, counting upon certain circumstances, of +which you alone had knowledge, that should render impossible the +urging of my suit. That, Monsieur le Comte, was undeniably the +action of a cheat. Was it not?" + +"Damnation!" he roared, and would have risen, but, my hand upon his +arm, I restrained him and pressed him back into his chair. + +"By a sequence of fortuitous circumstances," I pursued, "it became +possible for me to circumvent the obstacle upon which you had based +your calculations. Those same circumstances led later to my being +arrested in error and in place of another man. You discovered how +I had contravened the influence upon which you counted; you trembled +to see how the unexpected had befriended me, and you began to fear +for your wager. + +"What did you do? Seeing me arraigned before you in your quality +as King's Commissioner, you pretended to no knowledge of me; you +became blind to my being any but Lesperon the rebel, and you +sentenced me to death in his place, so that being thus definitely +removed I should be unable to carry out my undertaking, and my +lands should consequently pass into your possession. That, monsieur, +was at once the act of a thief and a murderer. Wait, monsieur; +restrain yourself until I shall have done. To-day again fortune +comes to my rescue. Again you see me slipping from your grasp, and +you are in despair. Then, in the eleventh hour, Mademoiselle de +Lavedan comes to you to plead for my life. By that act she gives +you the most ample proof that your wager is lost. What would a +gentleman, a man of honour, have done under these circumstances? +What did you do? You seized that last chance; you turned it to the +best account; you made this poor girl buy something from you; you +made her sell herself to you for nothing - pretending that your +nothing was a something of great value. What term shall we apply +to that? To say that you cheated again seems hardly adequate." + +"By God, Bardelys!" + +"Wait!" I thundered, looking him straight between the eyes, so that +again he sank back cowed. Then resuming the calm with which hitherto +I had addressed him, "Your cupidity," said I, "your greed for the +estates of Bardelys, and your jealousy and thirst to see me +impoverished and so ousted from my position at Court, to leave you +supreme in His Majesty's favour, have put you to strange shifts for +a gentleman, Chatellerault. Yet, wait." + +And, dipping my pen in the ink-horn, I began to write. I was +conscious of his eyes upon me, and I could imagine his surmisings +and bewildered speculations as my pen scratched rapidly across the +paper. In a few moments it was done, and I tossed the pen aside. +I took up the sandbox. + +"When a man cheats, Monsieur le Comte, and is detected, he is +invariably adjudged the loser of his stakes. On that count alone +everything that you have is now mine by rights." Again I had to +quell an interruption. "But if we wave that point, and proceed +upon the supposition that you have dealt fairly and honourably with +me, why, then, monsieur, you have still sufficient evidence - the +word of Mademoiselle, herself, in fact - that I have won my wager. +And so, if we take this, the most lenient view of the case" - I +paused to sprinkle the sand over my writing - "your estates are +still lost to you, and pass to be my property." + +"Do they, by God?" he roared, unable longer to restrain himself, +and leaping to his feet. "You have done, have you not? You have +said all that you can call to mind? You have flung insults and +epithets at me enough to earn the cutting of a dozen throats. You +have dubbed me cheat and thief" - he choked in his passion - "until +you have had your fill - is it not so? Now, listen to me, Master +Bardelys, master spy, master buffoon, master masquerader! What +manner of proceeding was yours to go to Lavedan under a false name? +How call you that? Was that, perhaps, not cheating?" + +"No, monsieur, it was not," I answered quietly. "It was in the +terms of your challenge that I was free to go to Lavedan in what +guise I listed, employing what wiles I pleased. But let that be," +I ended, and, creasing the paper, I poured the sand back into the +box, and dusted the document. "The point is hardly worth discussing +at this time of day. If not one way, why, then, in another, your +wager is lost." + +"Is it?" He set his arms akimbo and eyed me derisively, his +thick-set frame planted squarely before me. "You are satisfied +that it is so? Quite satisfied, eh?" He leered in my face. "Why, +then, Monsieur le Marquis, we will see whether a few inches of steel +will win it back for me." And once more his hand flew to his hilt. + +Rising, I flung the document I had accomplished upon the table. +"Glance first at that," said I. + +He stopped to look at me in inquiry, my manner sowing so great a +curiosity in him that his passion was all scattered before it. Then +he stepped up to the table and lifted the paper. As he read, his +hand shook, amazement dilated his eyes and furrowed his brow. + +"What - what does it signify?" he gasped. + +"It signifies that, although fully conscious of having won, I prefer +to acknowledge that I have lost. I make over to you thus my estates +of Bardelys, because, monsieur, I have come to realize that that +wager was an infamous one - one in which a gentleman should have had +no part - and the only atonement I can make to myself, my honour, +and the lady whom we insulted - is that." + +"I do not understand," he complained. + +"I apprehend your difficulty, Comte. The point is a nice one. But +understand at least that my Picardy estates are yours. Only, +monsieur, you will be well advised to make your will forthwith, for +you are not destined, yourself, to enjoy them." + +He looked at me, his glance charged with inquiry. + +"His Majesty," I continued, in answer to his glance, "is ordering +your arrest for betraying the trust he had reposed in you and for +perverting the ends of justice to do your own private murdering." + +"Mon Dieu!" he cried, falling of a sudden unto a most pitiful +affright. "The King knows?" + +"Knows?" I laughed. "In the excitement of these other matters you +have forgotten to ask how I come to be at liberty. I have been to +the King, monsieur, and I have told him what has taken place here +at Toulouse, and how I was to have gone to the block tomorrow!" + +"Scelerat!" he cried. "You have ruined me!" Rage and grief were +blent in his accents. He stood before me, livid of face and with +hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. + +"Did you expect me to keep such a matter silent? Even had I been +so inclined it had not been easy, for His Majesty had questions to +ask me. From what the King said, monsieur, you may count upon +mounting the scaffold in my stead. So be advised, and make your +will without delay, if you would have your heirs enjoy my Picardy +chateau." + +I have seen terror and anger distort men's countenances, but never +have I seen aught to compare with the disorder of Chatellerault at +that moment. He stamped and raved and fumed. He poured forth a +thousand ordures of speech in his frenzy; he heaped insults upon me +and imprecations upon the King, whose lapdog he pronounced me. His +short, stout frame was quivering with passion and fear, his broad +face distorted by his hideous grimaces of rage. And then, while +yet his ravings were in full flow, the door opened, and in stepped +the airy Chevalier de Saint-Eustache. + +He stood still, amazed, beneath the lintel - marvelling to see all +this anger, and abashed at beholding me. His sudden appearance +reminded me that I had last seen him at Grenade in the Count's +company, on the day of my arrest. The surprise it had occasioned +me now returned upon seeing him so obviously and intimately seeking +Chatellerault. + +The Count turned on him in his anger. + +"Well, popinjay?" he roared. "What do you want with me?" + +"Monsieur le Comte!" cried the other, in blent indignation and +reproach. + +"You will perceive that you are come inopportunely," I put in. +"Monsieur de Chatellerault is not quite himself." + +But my speech again drew his attention to my presence; and the wonder +grew in his eyes at finding me there, for to him I was still Lesperon +the rebel, and he marvelled naturally that I should be at large. + +Then in the corridor there was a sound of steps and voices, and as I +turned I beheld in the doorway, behind Saint-Eustache, the faces of +Castelroux, Mironsac, and my old acquaintance, the babbling, +irresponsible buffoon, La Fosse. From Mironsac he had heard of my +presence in Toulouse, and, piloted by Castelroux, they were both +come to seek me out. I'll swear it was not thus they had looked to +find me. + +They pushed their way into the room, impelling Saint-Eustache +forward, and there were greetings exchanged and felicitations, whilst +Chatellerault, curbing his disorder, drew the Chevalier into a corner +of the room, and stood there listening to him. + +At length I heard the Count exclaim-- + +"Do as you please, Chevalier. If you have interests of your own to +serve, serve them. As for myself - I am past being interested." + +"But why, monsieur?" the chevalier inquired. + +"Why?" echoed Chatellerault, his ferocity welling up again. Then, +swinging round, he came straight at me, as a bull makes a charge. + +"Monsieur de Bardelys!" he blazed. + +"Bardelys!" gasped Saint-Eustache in the background. + +"What now?" I inquired coldly, turning from my friends. + +"All that you said may be true, and I may be doomed, but I swear +before God that you shall not go unpunished." + +"I think, monsieur, that you run a grave risk of perjuring yourself!" +I laughed. + +"You shall render me satisfaction ere we part!" he cried. + +"If you do not deem that paper satisfaction enough, then, monsieur, +forgive me, but your greed transcends all possibility of being ever +satisfied." + +"The devil take your paper and your estates! What shall they +profit me when I am dead?" + +"They may profit your heirs," I suggested. + +"How shall that profit me?" + +"That is a riddle that I cannot pretend to elucidate." + +"You laugh, you knave!" he snorted. Then, with an abrupt change of +manner, "You do not lack for friends," said he. "Beg one of these +gentlemen to act for you, and if you are a man of honour let us step +out into the yard and settle the matter." + +I shook my head. + +"I am so much a man of honour as to be careful with whom I cross +steel. I prefer to leave you to His Majesty's vengeance; his +headsman may be less particular than am I. No, monsieur, on the +whole, I do not think that I can fight you." + +His face grew a shade paler. It became grey; the jaw was set, and +the eyes were more out of symmetry than I had ever seen them. Their +glance approached what is known in Italy as the mal'occhio, and to +protect themselves against the baneful influences of which men carry +charms. A moment he stood so, eyeing me. Then, coming a step +nearer-- + + "You do not think that you can fight me, eh? You do not think it? +Pardieu! How shall I make you change your mind? To the insult of +words you appear impervious. You imagine your courage above dispute +because by a lucky accident you killed La Vertoile some years ago +and the fame of it has attached to you." In the intensity of his +anger he was breathing heavily, like a man overburdened. "You have +been living ever since by the reputation which that accident gave +you. Let us see if you can die by it, Monsieur de Bardelys." And, +leaning forward, he struck me on the breast, so suddenly and so +powerfully - for he was a man of abnormal strength - that I must +have fallen but that La Fosse caught me in his arms. + +"Kill him!" lisped the classic-minded fool. "Play Theseus to this +bull of Marathon." + +Chatellerault stood back, his hands on his hips, his head inclined +towards his right shoulder, and an insolent leer of expectancy upon +his face. + +"Will that resolve you?" he sneered. + +"I will meet you," I answered, when I had recovered breath. "But I +swear that I shall not help you to escape the headsman." + +He laughed harshly. + +"Do I not know it?" he mocked. "How shall killing you help me to +escape? Come, messieurs, sortons. At once!" + +"Sor," I answered shortly; and thereupon we crowded from the room, +and went pele-mele down the passage to the courtyard at the back. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +SWORDS! + + +La Fosse led the way with me, his arm through mine, swearing that +he would be my second. He had such a stomach for a fight, had this +irresponsible, irrepressible rhymester, that it mounted to the +heights of passion with him, and when I mentioned, in answer to a +hint dropped in connection with the edict, that I had the King's +sanction for this combat, he was nearly mad with joy. + +"Blood of La Fosse!" was his oath. "The honour to stand by you +shall be mine, my Bardelys! You owe it me, for am I not in part to +blame for all this ado? Nay, you'll not deny me. That gentleman +yonder, with the wild-cat moustaches and a name like a Gascon oath +--that cousin of Mironsac's, I mean - has the flair of a fight in +his nostrils, and a craving to be in it. But you'll grant me the +honour, will you not? Pardieu! It will earn me a place in history." + +"Or the graveyard," quoth I, by way of cooling his ardour. + +"Peste! What an augury!" Then, with a laugh: "But," he added, +indicating Saint-Eustache, "that long, lean saint - I forget of what +he is patron - hardly wears a murderous air." + +To win peace from him, I promised that he should stand by me. But +the favour lost much of its value in his eyes when presently I added +that I did not wish the seconds to engage, since the matter was of +so very personal a character. + +Mironsac and Castelroux, assisted by Saint-Eustache, closed the +heavy portecochere, and so shut us in from the observation of +passers-by. The clanging of those gates brought the landlord and a +couple of his knaves, and we were subjected to the prayers and +intercessions, to the stormings and ravings that are ever the prelude +of a stable-yard fight, but which invariably end, as these ended, in +the landlord's withdrawal to run for help to the nearest +corps-de-garde. + +"Now, my myrmillones," cried La Fosse in bloodthirsty jubilation, "to +work before the host returns." + +"Po' Cap de Dieu!" growled Castelroux, "is this a time for jests, +master joker?" + +"Jests?" I heard him retorting, as he assisted me to doff my doublet. +"Do I jest? Diable! you Gascons are a slow-witted folk! I have a +taste for allegory, my friend, but that never yet was accounted so +low a thing as jesting." + +At last we were ready, and I shifted the whole of my attention to +the short, powerful figure of Chatellerault as he advanced upon me, +stripped to the waist, his face set and his eyes full of stern +resolve. Despite his low stature, and the breadth of frame which +argue sluggish motion, there was something very formidable about the +Count. His bared arms were great masses of muscular flesh, and if +his wrist were but half as supple as it looked powerful, that alone +should render him a dangerous antagonist. + +Yet I had no qualm of fear, no doubt, even, touching the issue. Not +that I was an habitual ferrailleur. As I have indicated, I had +fought but one man in all my life. Nor yet am I of those who are +said to know no fear under any circumstances. Such men are not +truly brave; they are stupid and unimaginative, in proof of which I +will advance the fact that you may incite a timid man to deeds of +reckless valour by drugging him with wine. But this is by the way. +It may be that the very regular fencing practice that in Paris I was +wont to take may so have ordered my mind that the fact of meeting +unbaited steel had little power to move me. + +Be that as it may, I engaged the Count without a tremor either of +the flesh or of the spirit. I was resolved to wait and let him open +the play, that I might have an opportunity of measuring his power +and seeing how best I might dispose of him. I was determined to do +him no hurt, and to leave him, as I had sworn, to the headsman; and +so, either by pressure or by seizure, it was my aim to disarm him. + +But on his side also he entered upon the duel with all caution and +wariness. From his rage I had hoped for a wild, angry rush that +should afford me an easy opportunity of gaining my ends with him. +Not so, however. Now that he came with steel to defend his life and +to seek mine, he appeared to have realized the importance of having +keen wits to guide his hand; and so he put his anger from him, and +emerged calm and determined from his whilom disorder. + +Some preliminary passes we made from the first engagement in the +lines of tierce, each playing warily for an opening, yet neither of +us giving ground or betraying haste or excitement. Now his blade +slithered on mine with a ceaseless tremor; his eyes watched mine +from under lowering brows, and with knees bent he crouched like a +cat making ready for a spring. Then it came. Sudden as lightning +was his disengage; he darted under my guard, then over it, then +back and under it again, and stretching out in the lunge - his +double-feint completed - he straightened his arm to drive home the +botte. + +But with a flying point I cleared his blade out of the line of my +body. There had been two sharp tinkles of our meeting swords, and +now Chatellerault stood at his fullest stretch, the half of his +steel past and behind me, for just a fraction of time completely +at my mercy. Yet I was content to stand, and never move my blade +from his until he had recovered and we were back in our first +position once again. + +I heard the deep bass of Castelroux's "Mordieux!" the sharp gasp of +fear from Saint-Eustache, who already in imagination beheld his +friend stretched lifeless on the ground, and the cry of mortification +from La Fosse as the Count recovered. But I heeded these things +little. As I have said, to kill the Count was not my object. It +had been wise, perhaps, in Chatellerault to have appreciated that +fact; but he did not. From the manner in which he now proceeded to +press me, I was assured that he set his having recovered guard to +slowness on my part, never thinking of the speed that had been +necessary to win myself such an opening as I had obtained. + +My failure to run him through in that moment of jeopardy inspired +him with a contempt of my swordplay. This he now made plain by the +recklessness with which he fenced, in his haste to have done ere we +might chance to be interrupted. Of this recklessness I suddenly +availed myself to make an attempt at disarming him. I turned aside +a vicious thrust by a close - a dangerously close - parry, and +whilst in the act of encircling his blade I sought by pressure to +carry it out of his hand. I was within an ace of succeeding, yet +he avoided me, and doubled back. + +He realized then, perhaps, that I was not quite so contemptible an +antagonist as he had been imagining, and he went back to his earlier +and more cautious tactics. Then I changed my plans. I simulated +an attack, and drove him hard for some moments. Strong he was, but +there were advantages of reach and suppleness with me, and even +these advantages apart, had I aimed at his life, I could have made +short work of him. But the game I played was fraught with perils +to myself, and once I was in deadly danger, and as near death from +the sword as a man may go and live. My attack had lured him, as I +desired that it should, into making a riposte. He did so, and as +his blade twisted round mine and came slithering at me, I again +carried it off by encircling it, and again I exerted pressure to +deprive him of it. But this time I was farther from success than +before. He laughed at the attempt, as with a suddenness that I had +been far from expecting he disengaged again, and his point darted +like a snake upwards at my throat. + +I parried that thrust, but I only parried it when it was within +some three inches of my neck, and even as I turned it aside it +missed me as narrowly as it might without tearing my skin. The +imminence of the peril had been such that, as we mutually recovered, +I found a cold sweat bathing me. + +After that, I resolved to abandon the attempt to disarm him by +pressure, and I turned my attention to drawing him into a position +that might lend itself to seizure. But even as I was making up my +mind to this - we were engaged in sixte at the time - I saw a sudden +chance. His point was held low while he watched me; so low that his +arm was uncovered and my point was in line with it. To see the +opening, to estimate it, and to take my resolve was all the work of +a fraction of a second. The next instant I had straightened my elbow, +my blade shot out in a lightning stroke and transfixed his sword-arm. + +There was a yell of pain, followed by a deep growl of fury, as, +wounded but not vanquished, the enraged Count caught his falling +sword in his left hand, and whilst my own blade was held tight in +the bone of his right arm, he sought to run me through. I leapt +quickly aside, and then, before he could renew the attempt, my +friends had fallen upon him and wrenched his sword from his hand +and mine from his arm. + +It would ill have become me to taunt a man in his sorry condition, +else might I now have explained to him what I had meant when I had +promised to leave him for the headsman even though I did consent to +fight him. + +Mironsac, Castelroux, and La Fosse stood babbling around me, but I +paid no heed either to Castelroux's patois or to La Fosse's +misquotations of classic authors. The combat had been protracted, +and the methods I had pursued had been of a very exhausting nature. +I leaned now against the porte-cochere, and mopped myself vigorously. +Then Saint-Eustache, who was engaged in binding up his principal's +arm, called to La Fosse. + +I followed my second with my eyes as he went across to Chatellerault. +The Count stood white, his lips compressed, no doubt from the pain +his arm was causing him. Then his voice floated across to me as he +addressed La Fosse. + +"You will do me the favour, monsieur, to inform your friend that +this was no first blood combat, but one a outrance. I fence as well +with my left arm as with my right, and if Monsieur de Bardelys will +do me the honour to engage again, I shall esteem it." + +La Fosse bowed and came over with the message that already we had +heard. + +"I fought," said I in answer, "in a spirit very different from that +by which Monsieur de Chatellerault appears to have been actuated. +He made it incumbent upon me to afford proof of my courage. That +proof I have afforded; I decline to do more. Moreover, as Monsieur +de Chatellerault himself must perceive, the light is failing us, and +in a few minutes it will be too dark for sword-play." + +"In a few minutes there will be need for none, monsieur," shouted +Chatellerault, to save time. He was boastful to the end. + +"Here, monsieur, in any case, come those who will resolve the +question," I answered, pointing to the door of the inn. + +As I spoke, the landlord stepped into the yard, followed by an +officer and a half-dozen soldiers. These were no ordinary keepers of +the peace, but musketeers of the guard, and at sight of them I knew +that their business was not to interrupt a duel, but to arrest my +erstwhile opponent upon a much graver charge. + +The officer advanced straight to Chatellerault. + +"In the King's name, Monsieur le Comte," said he. "I demand your +sword." + +It may be that at bottom I was still a man of soft heart, unfeeling +cynic though they accounted me; for upon remarking the misery and +gloom that spread upon Chatellerault's face I was sorry for him, +notwithstanding the much that he had schemed against me. Of what +his fate would be he could have no shadow of doubt. He knew - none +better - how truly the King loved me, and how he would punish such +an attempt as had been made upon my life, to say nothing of the +prostitution of justice of which he had been guilty, and for which +alone he had earned the penalty of death. + +He stood a moment with bent head, the pain of his arm possibly +forgotten in the agony of his spirit. Then, straightening himself +suddenly, with a proud, half scornful air, he looked the officer +straight between the eyes. + +"You desire my sword, monsieur?" he inquired. + +The musketeer bowed respectfully. + +"Saint-Eustache, will you do me the favour to give it to me?" + +And while the Chevalier picked up the rapier from the ground where +it had been flung, that man waited with an outward calm for which +at the moment I admired him, as we must ever admire a tranquil +bearing in one smitten by a great adversity. And than this I can +conceive few greater. He had played for much, and he had lost +everything. Ignominy, degradation, and the block were all that +impended for him in this world, and they were very imminent. + +He took the sword from the Chevalier. He held it for a second by +the hilt, like one in thought, like one who is resolving upon +something, whilst the musketeer awaited his good pleasure with that +deference which all gentle minds must accord to the unfortunate. + +Still holding his rapier, he raised his eyes for a second and let +them rest on me with a grim malevolence. Then he uttered a short +laugh, and, shrugging his shoulders, he transferred his grip to the +blade, as if about to offer the hilt to the officer. Holding it so, +halfway betwixt point and quillons, he stepped suddenly back, and +before any there could put forth a hand to stay him, he had set the +pummel on the ground and the point at his breast, and so dropped +upon it and impaled himself. + +A cry went up from every throat, and we sprang towards him. He +rolled over on his side, and with a grin of exquisite pain, yet in +words of unconquerable derision "You may have my sword now, Monsieur +l'Officier," he said, and sank back, swooning. + +With an oath, the musketeer stepped forward. He obeyed Chatellerault +to the letter, by kneeling beside him and carefully withdrawing the +sword. Then he ordered a couple of his men to take up the body. + +"Is he dead?" asked some one; and some one else replied, "Not yet, +but he soon will be." + +Two of the musketeers bore him into the inn and laid him on the floor +of the very room in which, an hour or so ago, he had driven a bargain +with Roxalanne. A cloak rolled into a pillow was thrust under his +head, and there we left him in charge of his captors, the landlord, +Saint-Eustache, and La Fosse the latter inspired, I doubt not, by +that morbidity which is so often a feature of the poetic mind, and +which impelled him now to witness the death-agony of my Lord of +Chatellerault. + +Myself, having resumed my garments, I disposed myself to repair at +once to the Hotel de l'Epee, there to seek Roxalanne, that I might +set her fears and sorrows at rest, and that I might at last make my +confession. + +As we stepped out into the street, where the dusk was now thickening, +I turned to Castelroux to inquire how Saint-Eustache came into +Chatellerault's company. + +"He is of the family of the Iscariot, I should opine," answered the +Gascon. "As soon as he had news that Chatellerault was come to +Languedoc as the King's Commissioner, he repaired to him to offer +his services in the work of bringing rebels to justice. He urged +that his thorough acquaintance with the province should render him +of value to the King, as also that he had had particular opportunities +of becoming acquainted with many treasonable dealings on the part +of men whom the State was far from suspecting." + +"Mort Dieu!" I cried, "I had suspected something of such a nature. +You do well to call him of the family of the Iscariot. He is more +so than you imagine: I have knowledge of this - ample knowledge. He +was until lately a rebel himself, and himself a follower of Gaston +d'Orleans - though of a lukewarm quality. What reasons have driven +him to such work, do you know?" + +"The same reason that impelled his forefather, Judas of old. The +desire to enrich himself. For every hitherto unsuspected rebel that +shall be brought to justice and whose treason shall be proven by his +agency, he claims the half of that rebel's confiscated estates." + +"Diable!" I exclaimed. "And does the Keeper of the Seals sanction +this?" + +"Sanction it? Saint-Eustache holds a commission, has a free hand +and a company of horse to follow him in his rebel-hunting." + +"Has he done much so far?" was my next question. + +"He has reduced half a dozen noblemen and their families. The wealth +he must thereby have amassed should be very considerable, indeed." + +"To-morrow, Castelroux, I will see the King in connection with this +pretty gentleman, and not only shall we find him a dungeon deep and +dank, but we shall see that he disgorges his blood-money." + +"If you can prove his treason you will be doing blessed work," +returned Castelroux. "Until tomorrow, then, for here is the Hotel +de l'Epee." + +From the broad doorway of an imposing building a warm glow of light +issued out and spread itself fanwise across the ill-paved street. +In this - like bats about a lamp - flitted the black figures of +gaping urchins and other stragglers, and into this I now passed, +having taken leave of my companions. + +I mounted the steps and I was about to cross the threshold, when +suddenly above a burst of laughter that greeted my ears I caught the +sound of a singularly familiar voice. This seemed raised at present +to address such company as might be within. One moment of doubt had +I - for it was a month since last I had heard those soft, unctuous +accents. Then I was assured that the voice I heard was, indeed, the +voice of my steward Ganymede. Castelroux's messenger had found him +at last, it seemed, and had brought him to Toulouse. + +I was moved to spring into the room and greet that old retainer for +whom, despite the gross and sensuous ways that with advancing years +were claiming him more and more, I had a deep attachment. But even +as I was on the point of entering, not only his voice, but the very +words that he was uttering floated out to my ears, and they were of +a quality that held me there to play the hidden listener for the +second time in my life in one and the same day. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE BABBLING OF GANYMEDE + + +Never until that hour, as I stood in the porch of the Hotel de +l'Epee, hearkening to my henchman's narrative and to the bursts of +laughter which ever and anon it provoked from his numerous +listeners, had I dreamed of the raconteur talents which Rodenard +might boast. Yet was I very far from being appreciative now that +I discovered them, for the story that he told was of how one Marcel +Saint-Pol, Marquis de Bardelys, had laid a wager with the Comte de +Chatellerault that he would woo and win Mademoiselle de Lavedan to +wife within three months. Nor did he stop there. Rodenard, it +would seem, was well informed; he had drawn all knowledge of the +state of things from Castelroux's messenger, and later - I know not +from whom - at Toulouse, since his arrival. + +He regaled the company, therefore, with a recital of our finding +the dying Lesperon, and of how I had gone off alone, and evidently +assumed the name and role of that proscribed rebel, and thus +conducted my wooing under sympathy inspiring circumstances at +Lavedan. Then came, he announced, the very cream of the jest, when +I was arrested as Lesperon and brought to Toulouse and to trial in +Lesperon's stead; he told them how I had been sentenced to death +in the other man's place, and he assured them that I would certainly +have been beheaded upon the morrow but that news had been borne to +him - Rodenard - of my plight, and he was come to deliver me. + +My first impulse upon hearing him tell of the wager had been to +stride into the room and silence him by my coming. That I did not +obey that impulse was something that presently I was very bitterly +to regret. How it came that I did not I scarcely know. I was +tempted, perhaps, to see how far this henchman whom for years I had +trusted was unworthy of that trust. And so, there in the porch, I +stayed until he had ended by telling the company that he was on his +way to inform the King - who by great good chance was that day +arrived in Toulouse - of the mistake that had been made, and thus +obtain my immediate enlargement and earn my undying gratitude. + +Again I was on the point of entering to administer a very stern +reproof to that talkative rogue, when of a sudden there was a +commotion within. I caught a scraping of chairs, a dropping of +voices, and then suddenly I found myself confronted by Roxalanne de +Lavedan herself, issuing with a page and a woman in attendance. + +For just a second her eyes rested on me, and the light coming through +the doorway at her back boldly revealed my countenance. And a very +startled countenance it must have been, for in that fraction of time +I knew that she had heard all that Rodenard had been relating. Under +that instant's glance of her eyes I felt myself turn pale; a shiver +ran through me, and the sweat started cold upon my brow. Then her +gaze passed from me, and looked beyond into the street, as though +she had not known me; whether in her turn she paled or reddened I +cannot say, for the light was too uncertain. Next followed what +seemed to me an interminable pause, although, indeed, it can have +been no more than a matter of seconds - aye, and of but few. Then, +her gown drawn well aside, she passed me in that same irrecognizing +way, whilst I, abashed, shrank back into the shadows of the porch, +burning with shame and rage and humiliation. + +From under her brows her woman glanced at me inquisitively; her +liveried page, his nose in the air, eyed me so pertly that I was +hard put to it not to hasten with my foot his descent of the steps. + +At last they were gone, and from the outside the shrill voice of +her page was wafted to me. He was calling to the ostler for her +carriage. Standing, in my deep mortification, where she had passed +me, I conjectured from that demand that she was journeying to Lavedan. + +She knew now how she had been cheated on every hand, first by me +and later, that very afternoon, by Chatellerault, and her resolve to +quit Toulouse could but signify that she was done with me for good. +That it had surprised her to find me at large already, I fancied I +had seen in her momentary glance, but her pride had been quick to +conquer and stifle all signs of that surprise. + +I remained where she had passed me until her coach had rumbled away +into the night, and during the moments that elapsed I had stood +arguing with myself and resolving upon my course of action. But +despair was fastening upon me. + +I had come to the Hotel de l'Epee, exulting, joyous, and confident +of victory. I had come to confess everything to her, and by virtue +of what I had done that confession was rendered easy. I could have +said to her: "The woman whom I wagered to win was not you, Roxalanne, +but a certain Mademoiselle de Lavedan. Your love I have won, but +that you may foster no doubts of my intentions, I have paid my wager +and acknowledge defeat. I have made over to Chatellerault and to +his heirs for all time my estates of Bardelys." + +Oh, I had rehearsed it in my mind, and I was confident - I knew - +that I should win her. And now - the disclosure of that shameful +traffic coming from other lips than mine had ruined everything by +forestalling my avowal. + +Rodenard should pay for it - by God, he should! Once again did I +become a prey to the passion of anger which I have ever held to +be unworthy in a gentleman, but to which it would seem that I was +growing accustomed to give way. The ostler was mounting the steps +at the moment. He carried in his hand a stout horsewhip with a +long knotted thong. Hastily muttering a "By your leave," I snatched +it from him and sprang into the room. + +My intendant was still talking of me. The room was crowded, for +Rodenard alone had brought with him my twenty followers. One of +these looked up as I brushed past him, and uttered a cry of surprise +upon recognizing me. But Rodenard talked on, engrossed in his theme +to the exclusion of all else. + +"Monsieur le Marquis," he was saying, "is a gentleman whom it is, +indeed, an honour to serve--" + +A scream burst from him with the last word, for the lash of my whip +had burnt a wheal upon his well-fed sides. + +"It is an honour that shall be yours no more, you dog!" I cried. + +He leapt high into the air as my whip cut him again. He swung round, +his face twisted with pain, his flabby cheeks white with fear, and +his eyes wild with anger, for as yet the full force of the situation +had not been borne in upon him. Then, seeing me there, and catching +something of the awful passion that must have been stamped upon my +face, he dropped on his knees and cried out something that I did +not understand for I was past understanding much just then. + +The lash whistled through the air again and caught him about the +shoulders. He writhed and roared in his anguish of both flesh and +spirit. But I was pitiless. He had ruined my life for me with his +talking, and, as God lived, he should pay the only price that it +lay in his power to pay - the price of physical suffering. Again +and again my whip hissed about his head and cut into his soft white +flesh, whilst roaring for mercy he moved and rocked on his knees +before me. Instinctively he approached me to hamper my movements, +whilst I moved back to give my lash the better play. He held out +his arms and joined his fat hands in supplication, but the lash +caught them in its sinuous tormenting embrace, and started a red +wheal across their whiteness. He tucked them into his armpits with +a scream, and fell prone upon the ground. + +Then I remember that some of my men essayed to restrain me, which +to my passion was as the wind to a blaze. I cracked my whip about +their heads, commanding them to keep their distance lest they were +minded to share his castigation. And so fearful an air must I +have worn, that, daunted, they hung back and watched their leader's +punishment in silence. + +When I think of it now, I take no little shame at the memory of how +I beat him. It is, indeed, with deep reluctance and yet deeper +shame that I have brought myself to write of it. If I offend you +with this account of that horsewhipping, let necessity be my apology; +for the horsewhipping itself I have, unfortunately, no apology, save +the blind fury that obsessed me - which is no apology at all. + +Upon the morrow I repented me already with much bitterness. But in +that hour I knew no reason. I was mad, and of my madness was born +this harsh brutality. + +"You would talk of me and my affairs in a tavern, you hound!" I +cried, out of breath both by virtue of my passion and my exertions. +"Let the memory of this act as a curb upon your poisonous tongue in +future." + +"Monseigneur!" he screamed. "Misericorde, monseigneur!" + +"Aye, you shall have mercy - just so much mercy as you deserve. +Have I trusted you all these years, and did my father trust you +before me, for this? Have you grown sleek and fat and smug in my +service that you should requite me thus? Sangdieu, Rodenard! My +father had hanged you for the half of the talking that you have +done this night. You dog! You miserable knave!" + +"Monseigneur," he shrieked again, "forgive! For your sainted +mother's sake, forgive! Monseigneur, I did not know--" + +"But you are learning, cur; you are learning by the pain of your +fat carcase; is it not so, carrion?" + +He sank down, his strength exhausted, a limp, moaning, bleeding +mass of flesh, into which my whip still cut relentlessly. + +I have a picture in my mind of that ill-lighted room, of the startled +faces on which the flickering glimmer of the candles shed odd +shadows; of the humming and cracking of my whip; of my own voice +raised in oaths and epithets of contempt; of Rodenard's screams; of +the cries raised here and there in remonstrance or in entreaty, and +of some more bold that called shame upon me. Then others took up +that cry of "Shame!" so that at last I paused and stood there drawn +up to my full height, as if in challenge. Towering above the heads +of any in that room, I held my whip menacingly. I was unused to +criticism, and their expressions of condemnation roused me. + +"Who questions my right?" I demanded arrogantly, whereupon they one +and all fell silent. "If any here be bold enough to step out, he +shall have my answer." Then, as none responded, I signified my +contempt for them by a laugh. + +"Monseigneur!" wailed Rodenard at my feet, his voice growing feeble. + +By way of answer, I gave him a final cut, then I flung the whip - +which had grown ragged in the fray - back to the ostler from whom I +had borrowed it. + +"Let that suffice you, Rodenard," I said, touching him with my foot. +"See that I never set eyes upon you again, if you cherish your +miserable life!" + +"Not that, monseigneur." groaned the wretch. "Oh, not that! You +have punished me; you have whipped me until I cannot stand; forgive +me, monseigneur, forgive me now!" + +"I have forgiven you, but I never wish to see you again, lest I +should forget that I have forgiven you. Take him away, some of you," +I bade my men, and in swift, silent obedience two of them stepped +forward and bore the groaning, sobbing fellow from the room. When +that was done "Host," I commanded, "prepare me a room. Attend me, +a couple of you." + +I gave orders thereafter for the disposal of my baggage, some of +which my lacqueys brought up to the chamber that the landlord had +in haste made ready for me. In that chamber I sat until very late; +a prey to the utmost misery and despair. My rage being spent, I +might have taken some thought for poor Ganymede and his condition, +but my own affairs crowded over-heavily upon my mind, and sat the +undisputed rulers of my thoughts that night. + +At one moment I considered journeying to Lavedan, only to dismiss +the idea the next. What could it avail me now? Would Roxalanne +believe the tale I had to tell? Would she not think, naturally +enough, that I was but making the best of the situation, and that +my avowal of the truth of a story which it was not in my power to +deny was not spontaneous, but forced from me by circumstances? No, +there was nothing more to be done. A score of amours had claimed +my attention in the past and received it; yet there was not one of +those affairs whose miscarriage would have afforded me the slightest +concern or mortification. It seemed like an irony, like a Dies ire, +that it should have been left to this first true passion of my life +to have gone awry. + +I slept ill when at last I sought my bed, and through the night I +nursed my bitter grief, huddling to me the corpse of the love she +had borne me as a mother may the corpse of her first-born. + +On the morrow I resolved to leave Toulouse - to quit this province +wherein so much had befallen me and repair to Beaugency, there to +grow old in misanthropical seclusion. I had done with Courts, I +had done with love and with women; I had done, it seemed to me, with +life itself. Prodigal had it been in gifts that I had not sought of +it. It had spread my table with the richest offerings, but they had +been little to my palate, and I had nauseated quickly. And now, +when here in this remote corner of France it had shown me the one +prize I coveted, it had been swift to place it beyond my reach, +thereby sowing everlasting discontent and misery in my hitherto +pampered heart. + +I saw Castelroux that day, but I said no word to him of my +affliction. He brought me news of Chatellerault. The Count was +lying in a dangerous condition at the Auberge Royale, and might not +be moved. The physician attending him all but despaired of his life. + +"He is asking to see you," said Castelroux. + +But I was not minded to respond. For all that he had deeply wronged +me, for all that I despised him very cordially, the sight of him +in his present condition might arouse my pity, and I was in no mood +to waste upon such a one as Chatellerault even on his deathbed - a +quality of which I had so dire a need just then for my own case. + +"I will not go," said I, after deliberation. "Tell him from me that +I forgive him freely if it be that he seeks my forgiveness; tell +him that I bear him no rancour, and - that he had better make his +will, to save me trouble hereafter, if he should chance to die." + +I said this because I had no mind, if he should perish intestate, to +go in quest of his next heirs and advise them that my late Picardy +estates were now their property. + +Castelroux sought yet to persuade me to visit the Count, but I held +firmly to my resolve. + +"I am leaving Toulouse to-day," I announced. + +"Whither do you go?" + +"To hell, or to Beaugency - I scarce know which, nor does it matter." + +He looked at me in surprise, but, being a man of breeding, asked no +questions upon matters that he accounted secret. + +"But the King?" he ventured presently. + +"His Majesty has already dispensed me from my duties by him." + +Nevertheless, I did not go that day. I maintained the intention +until sunset; then, seeing that it was too late, I postponed my +departure until the morrow. I can assign no reason for my dallying +mood. Perhaps it sprang from the inertness that pervaded me, +perhaps some mysterious hand detained me. Be that as it may, that +I remained another night at the Hotel de l'Epee was one of those +contingencies which, though slight and seemingly inconsequential +in themselves, lead to great issues. Had I departed that day for +Beaugency, it is likely that you had never heard of me - leastways, +not from my own pen - for in what so far I have told you, without +that which is to follow, there is haply little that was worth the +labour of setting down. + +In the morning, then, I set out; but having started late, we got +no farther than Grenade, where we lay the night once more at the +Hotel de la Couronne. And so, through having delayed my departure +by a single day, did it come to pass that a message reached me +before it might have been too late. + +It was high noon of the morrow. Our horses stood saddled; indeed, +some of my men were already mounted - for I was not minded to +disband them until Beaugency was reached - and my two coaches were +both ready for the journey. The habits of a lifetime are not so +easy to abandon even when Necessity raises her compelling voice. + +I was in the act of settling my score with the landlord when of a +sudden there were quick steps in the passage, the clank of a rapier +against the wall, and a voice - the voice of Castelroux - calling +excitedly "Bardelys! Monsieur de Bardelys!" + +"What brings you here?" I cried in greeting, as he stepped into +the room. + +"Are you still for Beaugency?" he asked sharply, throwing back his +head. + +"Why, yes," I answered, wondering at this excitement. + +"Then you have seen nothing of Saint-Eustache and his men?" + +"Nothing." + +"Yet they must have passed this way not many hours ago." Then +tossing his hat on the table and speaking with sudden vehemence: +"If you have any interest in the family of Lavedan, you will return +upon the instant to Toulouse." + +The mention of Lavedan was enough to quicken my pulses. Yet in the +past two days I had mastered resignation, and in doing that we +school ourselves to much restraint. I turned slowly, and surveyed +the little Captain attentively. His black eyes sparkled, and his +moustaches bristled with excitement. Clearly he had news of import. +I turned to the landlord. + +"Leave us, Monsieur l'Hote," said I shortly; and when he had +departed, "What of the Lavedan family, Castelroux?" I inquired as +calmly as I might. + +"The Chevalier de Saint-Eustache left Toulouse at six o'clock this +morning for Lavedan." + +Swift the suspicion of his errand broke upon my mind. + +"He has betrayed the Vicomte?" I half inquired, half asserted. + +Castelroux nodded. "He has obtained a warrant for his apprehension +from the Keeper of the Seals, and is gone to execute it. In the +course of a few days Lavedan will be in danger of being no more +than a name. This Saint-Eustache is driving a brisk trade, by God, +and some fine prizes have already fallen to his lot. But if you +add them all together, they are not likely to yield as much as this +his latest expedition. Unless you intervene, Bardelys, the Vicomte +de Lavedan is doomed and his family houseless." + +"I will intervene," I cried. "By God, I will! And as for +Saint-Eustache - he was born under a propitious star, indeed, if +he escapes the gallows. He little dreams that I am still to be +reckoned with. There, Castelroux, I will start for Lavedan at once." + +Already I was striding to the door, when the Gascon called me back. + +"What good will that do?" he asked. "Were it not better first to +return to Toulouse and obtain a counter-warrant from the King?" + +There was wisdom in his words - much wisdom. But my blood was afire, +and I was in too hot a haste to reason. + +"Return to Toulouse?" I echoed scornfully. "A waste of time, Captain. +No, I will go straight to Lavedan. I need no counter-warrant. I +know too much of this Chevalier's affairs, and my very presence should +be enough to stay his hand. He is as foul a traitor as you'll find in +France; but for the moment God bless him for a very opportune knave. +Gilles!" I called, throwing wide the door. "Gilles!" + +"Monseigneur," he answered, hastening to me. + +"Put back the carriages and saddle me a horse," I commanded. "And +bid your fellows mount at once and await me in the courtyard. We +are not going to Beaugency, Gilles. We ride north - to Lavedan." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +SAINT-EUSTACHE IS OBSTINATE + + +On the occasion of my first visit to Lavedan I had disregarded - or, +rather, Fate had contrived that I should disregard - Chatellerault's +suggestion that I should go with all the panoply of power - with my +followers, my liveries, and my equipages to compose the magnificence +all France had come to associate with my name, and thus dazzle by +my brilliant lustre the lady I was come to win. As you may remember, +I had crept into the chateau like a thief in the night, - wounded, +bedraggled, and of miserable aspect, seeking to provoke compassion +rather than admiration. + +Not so now that I made my second visit. I availed myself of all +the splendour to which I owed my title of "Magnificent," and rode +into the courtyard of the Chateau de Lavedan preceded by twenty +well-mounted knaves wearing the gorgeous Saint-Pol liveries of +scarlet and gold, with the Bardelys escutcheon broidered on the +breasts of their doublets - on a field or a bar azure surcharged by +three lilies of the field. They were armed with swords and +musketoons, and had more the air of a royal bodyguard than of a +company of attendant servants. + +Our coming was in a way well timed. I doubt if we could have +stayed the execution of Saint-Eustache's warrant even had we arrived +earlier. But for effect - to produce a striking coup de theatre - +we could not have come more opportunely. + +A coach stood in the quadrangle, at the foot of the chateau steps: +down these the Vicomte was descending, with the Vicomtesse - grim +and blasphemant as ever, on one side, and his daughter, white of +face and with tightly compressed lips, on the other. Between these +two women - his wife and his child - as different in body as they +were different in soul, came Lavedan with a firm step, a good colour, +and a look of well-bred, lofty indifference to his fate. + +He disposed himself to enter the carriage which was to bear him to +prison with much the same air he would have assumed had his +destination been a royal levee. + +Around the coach were grouped a score of men of Saint-Eustache's +company - half soldiers, half ploughboys - ill-garbed and +indifferently accoutred in dull breastplates and steel caps, many +of which were rusted. By the carriage door stood the long, lank +figure of the Chevalier himself, dressed with his wonted care, and +perfumed, curled, and beribboned beyond belief. His weak, boyish +face sought by scowls and by the adoption of a grim smile to assume +an air of martial ferocity. + +Such was the grouping in the quadrangle when my men, with Gilles at +their head, thundered across the drawbridge, giving pause to those +within, and drawing upon themselves the eyes of all, as they rode, +two by two, under the old-world arch of the keep into the courtyard. +And Gilles, who knew our errand, and who was as ready-witted a rogue +as ever rode with me, took in the situation at a glance. Knowing +how much I desired to make a goodly show, he whispered an order. +This resulted in the couples dividing at the gateway, one going to +the left and one to the right, so that as they came they spread +themselves in a crescent, and drawing rein, they faced forward, +confronting and half surrounding the Chevalier's company. + +As each couple appeared, the curiosity - the uneasiness, probably +--of Saint-Eustache and his men, had increased, and their expectancy +was on tiptoe to see what lord it was went abroad with such regal +pomp, when I appeared in the gateway and advanced at the trot into +the middle of the quadrangle. There I drew rein and doffed my hat +to them as they stood, open-mouthed and gaping one and all. If it +was a theatrical display, a parade worthy of a tilt-ground, it was +yet a noble and imposing advent, and their gaping told me that it +was not without effect. The men looked uneasily at the Chevalier; +the Chevalier looked uneasily at his men; mademoiselle, very pale, +lowered her eyes and pressed her lips yet more tightly; the +Vicomtesse uttered an oath of astonishment; whilst Lavedan, too +dignified to manifest surprise, greeted me with a sober bow. + +Behind them on the steps I caught sight of a group of domestics, +old Anatole standing slightly in advance of his fellows, and +wondering, no doubt, whether this were, indeed, the bedraggled +Lesperon of a little while ago - for if I had thought of pomp in +the display of my lacqueys, no less had I considered it in the +decking of my own person. Without any of the ribbons and fopperies +that mark the coxcomb, yet was I clad, plumed, and armed with a +magnificence such as I'll swear had not been seen within the grey +walls of that old castle in the lifetime of any of those that were +now present. + +Gilles leapt from his horse as I drew rein, and hastened to hold my +stirrup, with a murmured "Monsieur," which title drew a fresh +astonishment into the eyes of the beholders. + +I advanced leisurely towards Saint-Eustache, and addressed him with +such condescension as I might a groom, to impress and quell a man +of this type your best weapon is the arrogance that a nobler spirit +would resent. + +"A world of odd meetings this, Saint-Eustache," I smiled disdainfully. +"A world of strange comings and goings, and of strange transformations. +The last time we were here we stood mutually as guests of Monsieur le +Vicomte; at present you appear to be officiating as a - a tipstaff." + +"Monsieur!" He coloured, and he uttered the word in accents of +awakening resentment. I looked into his eyes, coldly, impassively, +as if waiting to hear what he might have to add, and so I stayed +until his glance fell and his spirit was frozen in him. He knew me, +and he knew how much I was to be feared. A word from me to the King +might send him to the wheel. It was upon this I played. Presently, +as his eye fell, "Is your business with me, Monsieur de Bardelys?" he +asked, and at that utterance of my name there was a commotion on the +steps, whilst the Vicomte started, and his eyes frowned upon me, and +the Vicomtesse looked up suddenly to scan me with a fresh interest. +She beheld at last in the flesh the gentleman who had played so +notorious a part, ten years ago, in that scandal connected with the +Duchesse de Bourgogne, of which she never tired of reciting the +details. And think that she had sat at table with him day by day +and been unconscious of that momentous fact! Such, I make no doubt, +was what passed through her mind at the moment, and, to judge from +her expression, I should say that the excitement of beholding the +Magnificent Bardelys had for the nonce eclipsed beholding even her +husband's condition and the imminent sequestration of Lavedan. + +"My business is with you, Chevalier," said I. "It relates to your +mission here." + +His jaw fell. "You wish--?" + +"To desire you to withdraw your men and quit Lavedan at once, +abandoning the execution of your warrant." + +He flashed me a look of impotent hate. "You know of the existence +of my warrant, Monsieur de Bardelys, and you must therefore realize +that a royal mandate alone can exempt me from delivering Monsieur +de Lavedan to the Keeper of the Seals." + +"My only warrant," I answered, somewhat baffled, but far from +abandoning hope, "is my word. You shall say to the Garde des Sceaux +that you have done this upon the authority of the Marquis de +Bardelys, and you have my promise that His Majesty shall confirm my +action." + +In saying that I said too much, as I was quickly to realize. + +"His Majesty will confirm it, monsieur?" he said interrogatively, +and he shook his head. "That is a risk I dare not run. My warrant +sets me under imperative obligations which I must discharge - you +will see the justice of what I state." + +His tone was all humility, all subservience, nevertheless it was +firm to the point of being hard. But my last card, the card upon +which I was depending, was yet to be played. + +"Will you do me the honour to step aside with me, Chevalier?" I +commanded rather than besought. + +"At your service, sir," said he; and I drew him out of earshot of +those others. + +"Now, Saint-Eustache, we can talk," said I, with an abrupt change +of manner from the coldly arrogant to the coldly menacing. "I +marvel greatly at your temerity in pursuing this Iscariot business +after learning who I am, at Toulouse two nights ago." + +He clenched his hands, and his weak face hardened. + +"I would beg you to consider your expressions, monsieur, and to +control them," said he in a thick voice. + +I vouchsafed him a stare of freezing amazement. "You will no doubt +remember in what capacity I find you employed. Nay, keep your hands +still, Saint-Eustache. I don't fight catchpolls, and if you give me +trouble my men are yonder." And I jerked my thumb over my shoulder. +"And now to business. I am not minded to talk all day. I was saying +that I marvel at your temerity, and more particularly at your having +laid information against Monsieur de Lavedan, and having come here +to arrest him, knowing, as you must know, that I am interested in +the Vicomte." + +"I have heard of that interest, monsieur," said he, with a sneer +for which I could have struck him. + +"This act of yours," I pursued, ignoring his interpolation, "savours +very much of flying in the face of Destiny. It almost seems to me +as if you were defying me." + +His lip trembled, and his eyes shunned my glance. + +"Indeed - indeed, monsieur--" he was protesting, when I cut him +short. + +"You cannot be so great a fool but that you must realize that if I +tell the King what I know of you, you will be stripped of your +ill-gotten gains, and broken on the wheel for a double traitor - a +betrayer of your fellow-rebels." + +"But you will not do that, monsieur?" he cried. "It would be +unworthy in you." + +At that I laughed in his face. "Heart of God! Are you to be what +you please, and do you still expect that men shall be nice in +dealing with you? I would do this thing, and, by my faith, Monsieur +de Eustache, I will do it, if you compel me!" + +He reddened and moved his foot uneasily. Perhaps I did not take +the best way with him, after all. I might have confined myself to +sowing fear in his heart; that alone might have had the effect I +desired; by visiting upon him at the same time the insults I could +not repress, I may have aroused his resistance, and excited his +desire above all else to thwart me. + +"What do you want of me?" he demanded, with a sudden arrogance which +almost cast mine into the shade. + +"I want you," said I, deeming the time ripe to make a plain tale of +it, "to withdraw your men, and to ride back to Toulouse without +Monsieur de Lavedan, there to confess to the Keeper of the Seals +that your suspicions were unfounded, and that you have culled +evidence that the Vicomte has had no relations with Monsieur the +King's brother." + +He looked at me in amazement - amusedly, almost. + +"A likely story that to bear to the astute gentlemen in Toulouse," +said he. + +"Aye, ma foi, a most likely story," said I. "When they come to +consider the profit that you are losing by not apprehending the +Vicomte, and can think of none that you are making, they will have +little difficulty in believing you." + +"But what of this evidence you refer to?" + +"You have, I take it, discovered no incriminating evidence - no +documents that will tell against the Vicomte?" + +"No, monsieur, it is true that I have not--" + +He stopped and bit his lip, my smile making him aware of his +indiscretion. + +"Very well, then, you must invent some evidence to prove that he +was in no way, associated with the rebellion." + +"Monsieur de Bardelys," said he very insolently, "we waste time in +idle words. If you think that I will imperil my neck for the sake +of serving you or the Vicomte, you are most prodigiously at fault." + +"I have never thought so. But I have thought that you might be +induced to imperil your neck - as you have it - for its own sake, +and to the end that you might save it." + +He moved away. "Monsieur, you talk in vain. You have no royal +warrant to supersede mine. Do what you will when you come to +Toulouse," and he smiled darkly. "Meanwhile, the Vicomte goes with +me." + +"You have no evidence against him!" I cried, scarce believing that +he would dare to defy me and that I had failed. + +"I have the evidence of my word. I am ready to swear to what I know +--that, whilst I was here at Lavedan, some weeks ago, I discovered +his connection with the rebels." + +"And what think you, miserable fool, shall your word weigh against +mine?" I cried. "Never fear, Monsieur le Chevalier, I shall be in +Toulouse to give you the lie by showing that your word is a word to +which no man may attach faith, and by exposing to the King your past +conduct. If you think that, after I have spoken, King Louis whom +they name the just will suffer the trial of the Vicomte to go further +on your instigation, or if you think that you will be able to slip +your own neck from the noose I shall have set about it, you are an +infinitely greater fool than I deem you." + +He stood and looked at me over his shoulder, his face crimson, and +his brows black as a thundercloud. + +"All this may betide when you come to Toulouse, Monsieur de +Bardelys," said he darkly, "but from here to Toulouse it is a matter +of some twenty leagues." + +With that, he turned on his heel and left me, baffled and angry, to +puzzle out the inner meaning of his parting words. + +He gave his men the order to mount, and bade Monsieur de Lavedan +enter the coach, whereupon Gilles shot me a glance of inquiry. For +a second, as I stepped slowly after the Chevalier, I was minded to +try armed resistance, and to convert that grey courtyard into a +shambles. Then I saw betimes the futility of such a step, and I +shrugged my shoulders in answer to my servant's glance. + +I would have spoken to the Vicomte ere he departed, but I was too +deeply chagrined and humiliated by my defeat. So much so that I +had no room in my thoughts even for the very natural conjecture of +what Lavedan must be thinking of me. I repented me then of my +rashness in coming to Lavedan without having seen the King - as +Castelroux had counselled me. I had come indulging vain dreams of +a splendid overthrow of Saint-Eustache. I had thought to shine +heroically in Mademoiselle's eyes, and thus I had hoped that both +gratitude for having saved her father and admiration at the manner +in which I had achieved it would predispose her to grant me a hearing +in which I might plead my rehabilitation. Once that were accorded +me, I did not doubt I should prevail. + +Now my dream was all dispelled, and my pride had suffered just such +a humiliating fall as the moralists tell us pride must ever suffer. +There seemed little left me but to go hence with lambent tail, like +a dog that has been whipped - my dazzling escort become a mockery +but that it served the more loudly to advertise my true impotency. + +As I approached the carriage, the Vicomtesse swept suddenly down +the steps and came towards me with a friendly smile. "Monsieur de +Bardelys," said she, "we are grateful for your intervention in the +cause of that rebel my husband." + +"Madame," I besought her, under my breath, "if you would not totally +destroy him, I beseech you to be cautious. By your leave, I will +have my men refreshed, and thereafter I shall take the road to +Toulouse again. I can only hope that my intervention with the King +may bear better fruit." + +Although I spoke in a subdued key, Saint-Eustache, who stood near +us, overheard me, as his face very clearly testified. + +"Remain here, sir," she replied, with some effusion, "and follow us +when you are rested." + +"Follow you?" I inquired. "Do you then go with Monsieur de Lavedan?" + +"No, Anne," said the Vicomte politely from the carriage. "It will +be tiring you unnecessarily. You were better advised to remain +here until my return." + +I doubt not that the poor Vicomte was more concerned with how she +would tire him than with how the journey might tire her. But the +Vicomtesse was not to be gainsaid. The Chevalier had sneered when +the Vicomte spoke of returning. Madame had caught that sneer, and +she swung round upon him now with the vehement fury of a virago. + +"He'll not return, you think, you Judas!" she snarled at him, her +lean, swarthy face growing very evil to see. "But he shall - by God, +he shall! And look to your skin when he does, monsieur the catchpoll, +for, on my honour, you shall have a foretaste of hell for your +trouble in this matter." + +The Chevalier smiled with much restraint. "A woman's tongue," said +he, "does no injury." + +"Will a woman's arm, think you?" demanded that warlike matron. "You +musk-stinking tipstaff, I'll--" + +"Anne, my love," implored the Vicomte soothingly, "I beg that you +will control yourself." + +"Shall I submit to the insolence of this misbegotten vassal? Shall +I--" + +"Remember rather that it does not become the dignity of your station +to address the fellow. We avoid venomous reptiles, but we do not +pause to reproach them with their venom. God made them so." + +Saint-Eustache coloured to the roots of his hair, then, turning +hastily to the driver, he bade him start. He would have closed the +door with that, but that madame thrust herself forward. + +That was the Chevalier's chance to be avenged. "You cannot go," +said he. + +"Cannot?" Her cheeks reddened. "Why not, monsieur Lesperon? + +"I have no reasons to afford you," he answered brutally. "You +cannot go." + +"Your pardon, Chevalier," I interposed. "You go beyond your rights +in seeking to prevent her. Monsieur le Vicomte is not yet convicted. +Do not, I beseech you, transcend the already odious character of your +work." + +And without more ado I shouldered him aside, and held the door that +she might enter. She rewarded me with a smile--half vicious, half +whimsical, and mounted the step. Saint-Eustache would have +interfered. He came at me as if resenting that shoulder-thrust of +mine, and for a second I almost thought he would have committed the +madness of striking me. + +"Take care, Saint-Eustache," I said very quietly, my eyes fixed on +his. And much as dead Caesar's ghost may have threatened Brutus +with Philippi "We meet at Toulouse, Chevalier," said I, and closing +the carriage door I stepped back. + +There was a flutter of skirts behind me. It was mademoiselle. So +brave and outwardly so calm until now, the moment of actual +separation - and added thereunto perhaps her mother's going and the +loneliness that for herself she foresaw - proved more than she could +endure. I stepped aside, and she swept past me and caught at the +leather curtain of the coach. + +"Father!" she sobbed. + +There are some things that a man of breeding may not witness - some +things to look upon which is near akin to eavesdropping or reading +the letters of another. Such a scene did I now account the present +one, and, turning, I moved away. But Saint-Eustache cut it short, +for scarce had I taken three paces when his voice rang out the +command to move. The driver hesitated, for the girl was still +hanging at the window. But a second command, accompanied by a +vigorous oath, overcame his hesitation. He gathered up his reins, +cracked his whip, and the lumbering wheels began to move. + +"Have a care, child!" I heard the Vicomte cry, "have a care! Adieu, +mon enfant!" + +She sprang back, sobbing, and assuredly she would have fallen, thrown +out of balance by the movement of the coach, but that I put forth my +hands and caught her. + +I do not think she knew whose were the arms that held her for that +brief space, so desolated was she by the grief so long repressed. +At last she realized that it was this worthless Bardelys against +whom she rested; this man who had wagered that he would win and wed +her; this impostor who had come to her under an assumed name; this +knave who had lied to her as no gentleman could have lied, swearing +to love her, whilst, in reality, he did no more than seek to win a +wager. When all this she realized, she shuddered a second, then +moved abruptly from my grasp, and, without so much as a glance at +me, she left me, and, ascending the steps of the chateau, she passed +from my sight. + +I gave the order to dismount as the last of Saint-Eustache's +followers vanished under the portcullis. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE FLINT AND THE STEEL + + +"Mademoiselle will see you, monsieur," said Anatole at last. + +Twice already had he carried unavailingly my request that Roxalanne +should accord me an interview ere I departed. On this the third +occasion I had bidden him say that I would not stir from Lavedan +until she had done me the honour of hearing me. Seemingly that +threat had prevailed where entreaties had been scorned. + +I followed Anatole from the half-light of the hall in which I had +been pacing into the salon overlooking the terraces and the river, +where Roxalanne awaited me. She was standing at the farther end of +the room by one of the long windows, which was open, for, although +we were already in the first week of October, the air of Languedoc +was as warm and balmy as that of Paris or Picardy is in summer. + +I advanced to the centre of the chamber, and there I paused and +waited until it should please her to acknowledge my presence and +turn to face me. I was no fledgling. I had seen much, I had learnt +much and been in many places, and my bearing was wont to convey it. +Never in my life had I been gauche, for which I thank my parents, +and if years ago - long years ago - a certain timidity had marked my +first introductions to the Louvre and the Luxembourg, that timidity +was something from which I had long since parted company. And yet +it seemed to me, as I stood in that pretty, sunlit room awaiting the +pleasure of that child, scarce out of her teens, that some of the +awkwardness I had escaped in earlier years, some of the timidity of +long ago, came to me then. I shifted the weight of my body from one +leg to the other; I fingered the table by which I stood; I pulled at +the hat I held; my colour came and went; I looked at her furtively +from under bent brows, and I thanked God that her back being towards +me she might not see the clown I must have seemed. + +At length, unable longer to brook that discomposing silence-- + +"Mademoiselle!" I called softly. The sound of my own voice seemed to +invigorate me, to strip me of my awkwardness and self-consciousness. +It broke the spell that for a moment had been over me, and brought me +back to myself - to the vain, self-confident, flamboyant Bardelys that +perhaps you have pictured from my writings. + +"I hope, monsieur," she answered, without turning, "that what you +may have to say may justify in some measure your very importunate +insistence." + +On my life, this was not encouraging. But now that I was master of +myself, I was not again so easily to be disconcerted. My eyes +rested upon her as she stood almost framed in the opening of that +long window. How straight and supple she was, yet how dainty and +slight withal! She was far from being a tall woman, but her clean +length of limb, her very slightness, and the high-bred poise of her +shapely head, conveyed an illusion of height unless you stood beside +her. The illusion did not sway me then. I saw only a child; but a +child with a great spirit, with a great soul that seemed to +accentuate her physical helplessness. That helplessness, which I +felt rather than saw, wove into the warp of my love. She was in +grief just then - in grief at the arrest of her father, and at the +dark fate that threatened him; in grief at the unworthiness of a +lover. Of the two which might be the more bitter it was not mine +to judge, but I burned to gather her to me, to comfort and cherish +her, to make her one with me, and thus, whilst giving her something +of my man's height and strength, cull from her something of that +pure, noble spirit, and thus sanctify my own. + +I had a moment's weakness when she spoke. I was within an ace of +advancing and casting myself upon my knees like any Lenten penitent, +to sue forgiveness. But I set the inclination down betimes. Such +expedients would not avail me here. + +"What I have to say, mademoiselle," I answered after a pause, "would +justify a saint descending into, hell; or, rather, to make my +metaphor more apt, would warrant a sinner's intrusion into heaven." + +I spoke solemnly, yet not too solemnly; the least slur of a sardonic +humour was in my tones. + +She moved her head upon the white column of her neck, and with the +gesture one of her brown curls became disordered. I could fancy +the upward tilt of her delicate nose, the scornful curve of her lip +as she answered shortly "Then say it quickly, monsieur." + +And, being thus bidden, I said quickly "I love you, Roxalanne." + +Her heel beat the shimmering parquet of the floor; she half turned +towards me, her cheek flushed, her lip tremulous with anger. + +"Will you say what you have to say, monsieur?" she demanded in a +concentrated voice, "and having said it, will you go?" + +"Mademoiselle, I have already said it," I answered, with a wistful +smile. + +"Oh!" she gasped. Then suddenly facing round upon me, a world of +anger in her blue eyes - eyes that I had known dreamy, but which +were now very wide awake. "Was it to offer me this last insult you +forced your presence upon me? Was it to mock me with those words, +me - a woman, with no man about me to punish you? Shame, sir! Yet +it is no more than I might look for in you." + +"Mademoiselle, you do me grievous wrong--" I began. + +"I do you no wrong," she answered hotly, then stopped, unwilling +haply to be drawn into contention with me. "Enfin, since you have +said what you came to say will you go?" And she pointed to the door. + +"Mademoiselle, mademoiselle--" I began in a voice of earnest +intercession. + +"Go!" she interrupted angrily, and for a second the violence of her +voice and gesture almost reminded me of the Vicomtesse. "I will +hear no more from you." + +"Mademoiselle, you shall," I answered no whit less firmly. + +"I will not listen to you. Talk if you will. You shall have the +walls for audience." And she moved towards the door, but I barred +her passage. I was courteous to the last degree; I bowed low +before her as I put myself in her way. + +"It is all that was wanting - that you should offer me violence!" +she exclaimed. + +"God forbid!" said I. + +"Then let me pass." + +"Aye, when you have heard me." + +"I do not wish to hear you. Nothing that you may say can matter to +me. Oh, monsieur, if you have any instincts of gentility, if you +have any pretension to be accounted anything but a mauvais sujet, I +beg of you to respect my grief. You witnessed, yourself, the arrest +of my father. This is no season for such as scene as you are +creating." + +"Pardon! It is in such a season as this that you need the comfort +and support that the man you love alone can give you." + +"The man I love?" she echoed, and from flushed that they had been, +her cheeks went very pale. Her eyes fell for an instant, then - +they were raised again, and their blue depths were offered me. "I +think, sir," she said, through her teeth, "that your insolence +transcends all belief." + +"Can you deny it?" I cried. "Can you deny that you love me? If +you can - why, then, you lied to me three nights ago at Toulouse!" + +That smote her hard - so hard that she forgot her assurance that she +would not listen to me - her promise to herself that she would stoop +to no contention with me. + +"If, in a momentary weakness, in my nescience of you as you truly +are, I did make some such admission, I did entertain such feelings +for you, things have come to my knowledge since then, monsieur, that +have revealed you to me as another man; I have learnt something that +has utterly withered such love as I then confessed. Now, monsieur, +are you satisfied, and will you let me pass?" She said the last +words with a return of her imperiousness, already angry at having +been drawn so far. + +"I am satisfied, mademoiselle," I answered brutally, "that you did +not speak the truth three nights ago. You never loved me. It was +pity that deluded you, shame that urged you - shame at the Delilah +part you had played and at your betrayal of me. Now, mademoiselle, +you may pass," said I. + +And I stood aside, assured that as she was a woman she would not +pass me now. Nor did she. She recoiled a step instead. Her lip +quivered. Then she recovered quickly. Her mother might have told +her that she was a fool for engaging herself in such a duel with me + - me, the veteran of a hundred amorous combats. Yet though I doubt +not it was her first assault-at-arms of this description, she was +more than a match for me, as her next words proved. + +"Monsieur, I thank you for enlightening me. I cannot, indeed, have +spoken the truth three nights ago. You are right, I do not doubt it +now, and you lift from me a load of shame." + +Dieu! It was like a thrust in the high lines, and its hurtful +violence staggered me. I was finished, it seemed. The victory was +hers, and she but a child with no practice of Cupid's art of fence! + +"Now, monsieur," she added, "now that you are satisfied that you +did wrong to say I loved you, now that we have disposed of that +question - adieu!" + +"A moment yet!" I cried. "We have disposed of that, but there was +another point, an earlier one, which for the moment we have +disregarded. We have - you have disproved the love I was so +presumptuous as to believe you fostered for me. We have yet to +reckon with the love I bear you, mademoiselle, and of that we shall +not be able to dispose so readily." + +With a gesture of weariness or of impatience, she turned aside. +"What is it you want? What do you seek to gain by thus provoking +me? To win your wager?" Her voice was cold. Who to have looked +upon that childlike face, upon those meek, pondering eyes, could +have believed her capable of so much cruelty? + +"There can no longer be any question of my wager; I have lost and +paid it," said I. + +She looked up suddenly. Her brows met in a frown of bewilderment. +Clearly this interested her. Again was she drawn. + +"How?" she asked. "You have lost and paid it?" + +"Even so. That odious, cursed, infamous wager, was the something +which I hinted at so often as standing between you and me. The +confession that so often I was on the point of making - that so +often you urged me to make - concerned that wager. Would to God, +Roxalanne, that I had told you!" I cried, and it seemed to me that +the sincerity ringing in my voice drove some of the harshness from +her countenance, some of the coldness from her glance. + +"Unfortunately," I pursued, "it always seemed to me either not yet +time, or already too late. Yet so soon as I regained my liberty, +my first thought was of that. While the wager existed I might not +ask you to become my wife, lest I should seem to be carrying out +the original intention which embarked me upon the business of +wooing you, and brought me here to Languedoc. And so my first step +was to seek out Chatellerault and deliver him my note of hand for +my Picardy possessions, the bulk - by far the greater bulk - of all +my fortune. My second step was to repair to you at the Hotel de +l'Epee. + +"At last I could approach you with clean hands; I could confess what +I had done; and since it seemed to me that I had made the utmost +atonement, I was confident of success. Alas! I came too late. In +the porch of the auberge I met you as you came forth. From my +talkative intendant you had learnt already the story of that bargain +into which Bardelys had entered. You had learnt who I was, and you +thought that you had learnt why I wooed you. Accordingly you could +but despise me." + +She had sunk into a chair. Her hands were folded in a listless +manner in her lap, and her eyes were lowered, her cheeks pale. But +the swift heave of her bosom told me that my words were not without +effect. "Do you know nothing of the bargain that I made with +Chatellerault?" she asked in a voice that held, I thought, some +trace of misery. + +"Chatellerault was a cheat!" I cried. "No man of honour in France +would have accounted himself under obligation to pay that wager. I +paid it, not because I thought the payment due, but that by its +payment I might offer you a culminating proof of my sincerity." + +"Be that as it may," said she, "I passed him my word to - to marry +him, if he set you at liberty." + +"The promise does not hold, for when you made it I was at liberty +already. Besides, Chatellerault is dead by now - or very near it." + +"Dead?" she echoed, looking up. + +"Yes, dead. We fought--" The ghost of a smile, of sudden, of +scornful understanding, passed like a ray of light across her face. +"Pardieu!" I cried, "you do me a wrong there. It was not by my +hands that he fell. It was not by me that the duel was instigated." + +And with that I gave her the whole details of the affair, including +the information that Chatellerault had been no party to my release, +and that for his attempted judicial murder of me the King would have +dealt very hardly with him had he not saved the King the trouble by +throwing himself upon his sword: + +There was a silence when I had done. Roxalanne sat on, and seemed +to ponder. To let all that I had said sink in and advocate my cause, +as to me was very clear it must, I turned aside and moved to one of +the windows. + +"Why did you not tell me before?" she asked suddenly. "Why - oh, +why - did you not confess to me the whole infamous affair as soon as +you came to love me, as you say you did?" + +"As I say I did?" I repeated after her. "Do you doubt it? Can you +doubt it in the face of what I have done?" + +"Oh, I don't know what to believe!" she cried, a sob in her voice. +"You have deceived me so far, so often. Why did you not tell me +that night on the river? Or later, when I pressed you in this very +house? Or again, the other night in the prison of Toulouse?" + +"You ask me why. Can you not answer the question for yourself? +Can you not conceive the fear that was in me that you should shrink +away from me in loathing? The fear that if you cared a little, I +might for all time stifle such affection as you bore me? The fear +that I must ruin your trust in me? Oh, mademoiselle, can you not +see how my only hope lay in first owning defeat to Chatellerault, +in first paying the wager?" + +"How could you have lent yourself to such a bargain?" was her next +question. + +"How, indeed?" I asked in my turn. "From your mother you have +heard something of the reputation that attaches to Bardelys. I was +a man of careless ways, satiated with all the splendours life could +give me, nauseated by all its luxuries. Was it wonderful that I +allowed myself to be lured into this affair? It promised some +excitement, a certain novelty, difficulties in a path that I had - +alas! - ever found all too smooth - for Chatellerault had made your +reputed coldness the chief bolster of his opinion that I should not +win. + +"Again, I was not given to over-nice scruples. I make no secret of +my infirmities, but do not blame me too much. If you could see the +fine demoiselles we have in Paris, if you could listen to their +tenets and take a deep look into their lives, you would not marvel +at me. I had never known any but these. On the night of my coming +to Lavedan, your sweetness, your pure innocence, your almost childish +virtue, dazed me by their novelty. From that first moment I became +your slave. Then I was in your garden day by day. And here, in +this old Languedoc garden with you and your roses, during the +languorous days of my convalescence, is it wonderful that some of +the purity, some of the sweetness that was of you and of your roses, +should have crept into my heart and cleansed it a little? Ah, +mademoiselle!" I cried - and, coming close to her, I would have +bent my knee in intercession but that she restrained me. + +"Monsieur," she interrupted, "we harass ourselves in vain. This can +have but one ending." + +Her tones were cold, but the coldness I knew was forced - else had +she not said "we harass ourselves." Instead of quelling my ardour, +it gave it fuel. + +"True, mademoiselle," I cried, almost exultantly. "It can end but +one way!" + +She caught my meaning, and her frown deepened. I went too fast, it +seemed. + +"It had better end now, monsieur. There is too much between us. +You wagered to win me to wife." She shuddered. "I could never +forget it." + +"Mademoiselle," I denied stoutly, "I did not." + +"How?" She caught her breath. "You did not?" + +"No," I pursued boldly. "I did not wager to win you. I wagered +to win a certain Mademoiselle de Lavedan, who was unknown to me - +but not you, not you." + +She smiled, with never so slight a touch of scorn. + +"Your distinctions are very fine - too fine for me, monsieur." + +"I implore you to be reasonable. Think reasonably." + +"Am I not reasonable? Do I not think? But there is so much to +think of!" she sighed. "You carried your deception so far. You +came here, for instance, as Monsieur de Lesperon. Why that +duplicity?" + +"Again, mademoiselle, I did not," said I. + +She glanced at me with pathetic disdain. + +"Indeed, indeed, monsieur, you deny things very bravely." + +"Did I tell you that my name was Lesperon? Did I present myself +to monsieur your father as Lesperon?" + +"Surely - yes." + +"Surely no; a thousand times no. I was the victim of circumstances +in that, and if I turned them to my own account after they had been +forced upon me, shall I be blamed and accounted a cheat? Whilst I +was unconscious, your father, seeking for a clue to my identity, +made an inspection of my clothes. + +"In the pocket of my doublet they found some papers addressed to +Rene de Lesperon - some love letters, a communication from the Duc +d'Orleans, and a woman's portrait. From all of this it was assumed +that I was that Lesperon. Upon my return to consciousness your +father greeted me effusively, whereat I wondered; he passed on to +discuss - nay, to tell me of - the state of the province and of his +own connection with the rebels, until I lay gasping at his egregious +temerity. Then, when he greeted me as Monsieur de Lesperon, I had +the explanation of it, but too late. Could I deny the identity then? +Could I tell him that I was Bardelys, the favourite of the King +himself? What would have occurred? I ask you, mademoiselle. Would +I not have been accounted a spy, and would they not have made short +work of me here at your chateau?" + +"No, no; they would have done no murder." + +"Perhaps not, but I could not be sure just then. Most men situated +as your father was would have despatched me. Ah, mademoiselle, have +you not proofs enough? Do you not believe me now?" + +"Yes, monsieur," she answered simply, "I believe you." + +"Will you not believe, then, in the sincerity of my love?" + +She made no rely. Her face was averted, but from her silence I took +heart. I drew close to her. I set my hand upon the tall back of +her chair, and, leaning towards her, I spoke with passionate heat +as must have melted, I thought, any woman who had not a loathing +for me. + +"Mademoiselle; I am a poor man now," I ended. "I am no longer that +magnificent gentleman whose wealth and splendour were a byword. Yet +am I no needy adventurer. I have a little property at Beaugency - +a very spot for happiness, mademoiselle. Paris shall know me no +more. At Beaugency I shall live at peace, in seclusion, and, so +that you come with me, in such joy as in all my life I have done +nothing to deserve. I have no longer an army of retainers. A couple +of men and a maid or two shall constitute our household. Yet I shall +account my wealth well lost if for love's sake you'll share with me +the peace of my obscurity. I am poor, mademoiselle yet no poorer +even now than that Gascon gentleman, Rene de Lesperon, for whom you +held me, and on whom you bestowed the priceless treasure of your +heart." + +"Oh, might it have pleased God that you had remained that poor +Gascon gentleman!" she cried. + +"In what am I different, Roxalanne?" + +"In that he had laid no wager," she answered, rising suddenly. + +My hopes were withering. She was not angry. She was pale, and her +gentle face was troubled - dear God! how sorely troubled! To me +it almost seemed that I had lost. + +She flashed me a glance of her blue eyes, and I thought that tears +impended. + +"Roxalanne!" I supplicated. + +But she recovered the control that for a moment she had appeared +upon the verge of losing. She put forth her hand. + +"Adieu, monsieur!" said she. + +I glanced from her hand to her face. Her attitude began to anger me, +for I saw that she was not only resisting me, but resisting herself. +In her heart the insidious canker of doubt persisted. She knew - or +should have known - that it no longer should have any place there, +yet obstinately she refrained from plucking it out. There was that +wager. But for that same obstinacy she must have realized the reason +of my arguments, the irrefutable logic of my payment. She denied me, +and in denying me she denied herself, for that she had loved me she +had herself told me, and that she could love me again I was assured, +if she would but see the thing in the light of reason and of justice. + +"Roxalanne, I did not come to Lavedan to say 'Good-bye' to you. I +seek from you a welcome, not a dismissal." + +"Yet my dismissal is all that I can give. Will you not take my hand? +May we not part in friendly spirit?" + +"No, we may not; for we do not part at all." + +It was as the steel of my determination striking upon the flint of +hers. She looked up to my face for an instant; she raised her +eyebrows in deprecation; she sighed, shrugged one shoulder, and, +turning on her heel, moved towards the door. + +"Anatole shall bring you refreshment ere you go," she said in a very +polite and formal voice. + +Then I played my last card. Was it for nothing that I had flung +away my wealth? If she would not give herself, by God, I would +compel her to sell herself. And I took no shame in doing it, for by +doing it I was saving her and saving myself from a life of +unhappiness. + +"Roxalanne!" I cried. The imperiousness of my voice arrested and +compelled her perhaps against her very will. + +"Monsieur?" said she, as demurely as you please. + +"Do you know what you are doing?". + +"But yes - perfectly." + +"Pardieu, you do not. I will tell you. You are sending your father +to the scaffold." + +She turned livid, her step faltered, and she leant against the frame +of the doorway for support. Then she stared at me, wide-eyed in +horror. + +"That is not true," she pleaded, yet without conviction. "He is not +in danger of his life. They can prove nothing against him. Monsieur +de Saint-Eustache could find no evidence here - nothing." + +"Yet there is Monsieur de Saint-Eustache's word; there is the fact +--the significant fact - that your father did not take up arms for +the King, to afford the Chevalier's accusation some measure of +corroboration. At Toulouse in these times they are not particular. +Remember how it had fared with me but for the King's timely arrival." + +That smote home. The last shred of her strength fell from her. A +great sob shook her, then covering her face with her hands "Mother +in heaven, have pity on me!" she cried. "Oh, it cannot be, it cannot +be!" + +Her distress touched me sorely. I would have consoled her, I would +have bidden her have no fear, assuring her that I would save her +father. But for my own ends, I curbed the mood. I would use this +as a cudgel to shatter her obstinacy, and I prayed that God might +forgive me if I did aught that a gentleman should account unworthy. +My need was urgent, my love all-engrossing; winning her meant +winning life and happiness, and already I had sacrificed so much. +Her cry rang still in my ears, "It cannot be, it cannot be!" + +I trampled my nascent tenderness underfoot, and in its room I set a +harshness that I did not feel - a harshness of defiance and menace. + +"It can be, it will be, and, as God lives, it shall be, if you +persist in your unreasonable attitude." + +"Monsieur, have mercy!" + +"Yes, when you shall be pleased to show me the way to it by having +mercy upon me. If I have sinned, I have atoned. But that is a +closed question now; to reopen it were futile. Take heed of this, +Roxalanne: there is one thing - one only in all France can save +your father." + +"That is, monsieur?" she inquired breathlessly. + +"My word against that of Saint-Eustache. My indication to His +Majesty that your father's treason is not to be accepted on the +accusation of Saint-Eustache. My information to the King of what +I know touching this gentleman." + +"You will go, monsieur?" she implored me. "Oh, you will save him! +Mon Dieu, to think of the time that we have wasted here, you and I, +whilst he is being carried to the scaffold! Oh, I did not dream it +was so perilous with him! I was desolated by his arrest; I thought +of some months' imprisonment, perhaps. But that he should die - ! +Monsieur de Bardelys, you will save him! Say that you will do this +for me!" + +She was on her knees to me now, her arms clasping my boots, her +eyes raised in entreaty - God, what entreaty! - to my own. + +"Rise, mademoiselle, I beseech you," I said, with a quiet I was far +from feeling. "There is no need for this. Let us be calm. The +danger to your father is not so imminent. We may have some days yet +--three or four, perhaps." + +I lifted her gently and led her to a chair. I was hard put to it +not to hold her supported in my arms. But I might not cull that +advantage from her distress. A singular niceness, you will say, +perhaps, as in your scorn you laugh at me. Perhaps you are right +to laugh - yet are you not altogether right. + +"You will go to Toulouse, monsieur?" she begged. + +I took a turn in the room, then halting before her "Yes," I answered, +"I will go." + +The gratitude that leapt to her eyes smote me hard, for my sentence +was unfinished. + +"I will go," I continued quickly, "when you shall have promised to +become my wife." + +The joy passed from her face. She glanced at me a moment as if +without understanding. + +"I came to Lavedan to win you, Roxalanne, and from Lavedan I shall +not stir until I have accomplished my design," I said very quietly. +"You will therefore see that it rests with you how soon I may set +out." + +She fell to weeping softly, but answered nothing. At last I turned +from her and moved towards the door. + +"Where are you going?" she cried. + +"To take the air, mademoiselle. If upon deliberation you can bring +yourself to marry me, send me word by Anatole or one of the others, +and I shall set out at once for Toulouse." + +"Stop!" she cried. Obediently I stopped, my hand already upon the +doorknob. "You are cruel, monsieur!" she complained. + +"I love you," said I, by way of explaining it. "To be cruel seems +to be the way of love. You have been cruel to me." + +"Would you - would you take what is not freely given?" + +"I have the hope that when you see that you must give, you will +give freely." + +"If - if I make you this promise--" + +"Yes?" I was growing white with eagerness. + +"You will fulfil your part of the bargain?" + +"It is a habit of mine, mademoiselle - as witnesses the case of +Chatellerault." She shivered at the mention of his name. It +reminded her of precisely such another bargain that three nights +ago she had made. Precisely, did I say? Well, not quite precisely. + +"I - I promise to marry you, then," said she in a choking voice, +"whenever you choose, after my father shall have been set at liberty." + +I bowed. "I shall start at once," said I. + +And perhaps out of shame, perhaps out of - who shall say what +sentiments? - I turned without another word and left her. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE "BRAVI" AT BLAGNAC + + +I was glad to be in the open once more - glad of the movement, as I +rode at the head of my brave company along the bank of the Garonne +and in the shade of the golden, autumn-tinted trees. + +I was in a measure angry with myself that I had driven such a bargain +with Roxalanne, in a measure angry with her that she had forced me +to it by her obstinacy. A fine gentleman I, on my soul, to have +dubbed Chatellerault a cheat for having done no worse than I had now +brought myself to do! Yet, was it so? No, I assured myself, it was +not. A thousand times no! What I had done I had done as much to +win Roxalanne to me as to win her from her own unreasonableness. In +the days to come she should thank me for my harshness, for that which +now she perhaps accounted my unfairness. + +Then, again, would I ask myself, was I very sure of this? And so the +two questions were flung the one against the other; my conscience +divided itself into two parties, and they waged a war that filled me +with a depressing uncertainty. + +In the end shame was overthrown, and I flung back my head with a +snort of assurance. I was doing no wrong. On the contrary, I was +doing right - both by myself and by Roxalanne. What matter that I +was really cheating her? What matter that I had said I would not +leave Lavedan until I had her promise, whilst in reality I had +hurled my threat at Saint-Eustache that I would meet him at Toulouse, +and passed my word to the Vicomtesse that I would succour her +husband? + +I gave no thought to the hidden threat with which Saint-Eustache +had retorted that from Lavedan to Toulouse was a distance of some +twenty leagues. Had he been a man of sterner purposes I might have +been uneasy and on my guard. But Saint-Eustache pshaw! + +It is ill to underestimate an enemy, be he never so contemptible, +and for my disdain of the Chevalier I might have paid dearly had +not Fortune - which of late had been practising singular jests upon +me after seemingly abandoning me, returned to my aid at the last +moment. + +It was Saint-Eustache's purpose that I should never reach Toulouse +alive, for in all the world I was the one man he feared, the one +man who would encompass his undoing and destruction by a word. And +so he had resolved and disposed that I should be removed, and to +accomplish this he had left a line of bravi along the road I was to +pass. + +He had counted upon my lying the night in one of the intervening +towns, for the journey was over-long to be accomplished at a +stretch, and wherever I might chance to lie, there I should have to +reckon with his assassins. The nearer Toulouse - although I knew +not this - the thicker grew my danger. Into the very thick of it +I rode; in the very thick of it I lay, and all that came of it was +that I obtained possession of one more and overwhelming piece of +evidence against my murderous Chevalier. But I outrun my story. + +It had been my purpose to change horses at Grenade, and so push on +and reach Toulouse that very night or in the early hours of the +following morning. At Grenade, however, there were no horses to be +obtained, at least not more than three, and so, leaving the greater +portion of my company behind, I set out, escorted only by Gilles +and Antoine. Night had fallen long before we reached Lespinasse, +and with it came foul weather. The wind rose from the west, grew +to the violence of a hurricane, and brought with it such a deluge +of cold, cutting rain as never had it been my ill-chance to ride +through. From Lespinasse to Fenouillet the road dips frequently, +and wherever this occurred it seemed to us that we were riding in +a torrent, our horses fetlock-deep in mud. + +Antoine complained in groans; Gilles growled openly, and went the +length of begging me, as we rode through the ill-paved, flooded +streets of Fenouillet, to go no farther. But I was adamant in my +resolve. Soaked to the skin, my clothes hanging sodden about me, +and chilled to the marrow though I was, I set my chattering teeth, +and swore that we should not sleep until we reached Toulouse. + +"My God," he groaned, "and we but halfway!" + +"Forward!" was all I answered; and so as midnight chimed we left +Fenouillet behind us, and dashed on into the open country and the +full fury of the tempest. + +My servants came after me upon their stumbling horses, whining and +cursing by turns, and forgetting in their misery the respect that +they were accustomed to pay me. I think now that it was a providence +that guided me. Had I halted at Fenouillet, as they would have had +me do, it is odds that this chronicle would never have been penned, +for likely enough I had had my throat cut as I slept. A providence +was it also that brought my horse down within a half-mile of Blagnac, +and so badly did it founder that it might not be ridden farther. + +The beasts my men bestrode were in little better condition, and so, +with infinite chagrin, I was forced to acknowledge defeat and to +determine that at Blagnac we should lie for the remainder of the +night. After all, it mattered little. A couple of hours' riding +in the morning would bring us to Toulouse, and we would start +betimes. + +I bade Gilles dismount - he had been the louder in his complainings +--and follow us afoot, bringing my horse to the Auberge de l'Etoile +at Blagnac, where he would await him. Then I mounted his jaded +beast, and, accompanied by Antoine - the last of my retainers - I +rode into Blagnac, and pulled up at the sign of the "Star." + +With my whip I smote the door, and I had need to smite hard if I +would be heard above the wind that shrieked and howled under the +eaves of that narrow street. Yet it almost seemed as if some one +were expected, for scarce had my knocking ceased when the door +was opened, and the landlord stood there, shading a taper with +his hand. For a moment I saw the glow of its light on his rosy, +white-bearded face, then a gust of wind extinguished it. + +"Diable!" he swore, "an ugly night for travelling"; adding as an +afterthought, "You ride late, monsieur." + +"You are a man of supreme discernment, Monsieur l'Hote," said I +testily, as I pushed him aside and stepped into the passage. "Will +you keep me in the rain till daylight whilst you perpend how late +I ride? Is your ostler abed? See to those beasts yourself, then. +Afterwards get me food - for me and for my man and beds for both +of us." + +"I have but one room, monsieur," he answered respectfully. "You +shall have that, and your servant shall sleep in the hayloft." + +"My servant sleeps in my room, if you have but one. Set a mattress +on the floor for him. Is this a night to leave a dog to sleep in +a hayloft? I have another servant following. He will be here in a +few minutes. You must find room for him also - in the passage +outside my door, if no other accommodation be possible." + +"But, monsieur -" he began in a tone of protest, which I set down +to the way a landlord has of making difficulties that he shall be +the better paid for such lodging as he finds us. + +"See to it," I ordered peremptorily. "You shall be well paid. Now +go tend those horses." + +On the wall of the passage fell a warm, reddish glow from the common +room, which argued a fire, and this was too alluring to admit of my +remaining longer in discussion with him. I strode forward, therefore. +The Auberge de l'Etoile was not an imposing hostelry, nor one at +which from choice I had made a halt. This common room stank most +vilely of oil, of burning tallow - from the smoky tapers - and of I +know not what other noisome unsavourinesses. + +As I entered, I was greeted by a resonant snore from a man seated +in a corner by the fire. His head had fallen back, displaying the +brown, sinewy neck, and he slept - or seemed to sleep - with mouth +wide open. Full length on the hearth and in the red glare of the +burning logs lay what at first glance I took to be a heap of rags, +but which closer scrutiny showed me to be another man, seemingly +asleep also. + +I flung my sodden castor on the table; I dropped my drenched cloak +on the ground, and stepped with heavy tread and a noisy rattle of +spurs across the floor. Yet my ragged gentleman slept on. I +touched him lightly with my whip. + +"Hold, mon bonhomme!" I cried to him. Still he did not move, whereat +I lost patience and caught him a kick full in the side, so choicely +aimed that first it doubled him up, then brought him into a sitting +posture, with the snarl of a cross-grained dog that has been rudely +aroused. + +From out of an evil, dirty countenance a pair of gloomy, bloodshot +eyes scowled threateningly upon me. The man on the chair awoke at +the same instant, and sat forward. + +"Eh bien?" said I to my friend on the hearth: "Will you stir +yourself?" + +"For whom?" he growled. "Is not the Etoile as much for me as for +you, whoever you may be?" + +"We have paid our lodging, pardieu!" swore he of the chair. + +"My masters," said I grimly, "if you have not eyes to see my sodden +condition, and if you therefore have not the grace to move that I +may approach the fire; I'll see to it that you spend the night not +only a l'Etoile, but a la belle etoile." With which pleasantry, +and a touch of the foot, I moved my friend aside. My tone was not +nice, nor do I generally have the air of promising more than I can +fulfil. + +They were growling together in a corner when Antoine came to draw +off my doublet and my boots. They were still growling when Gilles +joined us presently, although at his coming they paused to take his +measure with their eyes. For Gilles was something of a giant, and +men were wont to turn their heads - aye, and women too - to admire +his fine proportions. We supped - so vilely that I have not the +heart to tell you what we ate - and, having supped, I bade my host +light me to my chamber. As for my men, I had determined that they +should spend the night in the common room, where there was a fire, +and where - notwithstanding the company of those two ruffians, into +whose presence I had not troubled to inquire - they would doubtless +be better than elsewhere in that poor hostelry. + +In gathering up my cloak and doublet and other effects to bear them +off to the kitchen, the host would have possessed himself also of +my sword. But with a laugh I took it from him, remarking that it +required no drying. + +As we mounted the stairs, I heard something above me that sounded +like the creaking of a door. The host heard it also, for he stood +suddenly still, his glance very questioning. + +"What was that?" said he. + +"The wind, I should say," I answered idly; and my answer seemed to +reassure him, for with a "Ah, yes - the wind," he went on. + +Now, for all that I am far from being a man of tremors or unwarranted +fears, to tell the truth the hostelry of the "Star" was beginning to +fret my nerves. I could scarce have told you why had you asked me, +as I sat upon the bed after mine host had left me, and turned my +thoughts to it. It was none of the trivial incidents that had marked +my coming; but it was, I think, the combination of them all. First +there was the host's desire to separate me from my men by suggesting +that they should sleep in the hayloft. Clearly unnecessary, when he +was not averse to turning his common room into a dormitory. There +was his very evident relief when, after announcing that I would have +them sleep one in my room and one in the passage by my door, I +consented to their spending the night below; there was the presence +of those two very ill-looking cut-throats; there was the attempt to +carry off my sword; and, lastly, there was that creaking door and +the host's note of alarm. + +What was that? + +I stood up suddenly. Had my fancy, dwelling upon that very incident, +tricked me into believing that a door had creaked again? I listened, +but a silence followed, broken only by a drone of voices ascending +from the common room. As I had assured the host upon the stairs, +so I now assured myself that it was the wind, the signboard of the +inn, perhaps, swaying in the storm. + +And then, when I had almost dismissed my doubts, and was about to +divest myself of my remaining clothes, I saw something at which I +thanked Heaven that I had not allowed the landlord to carry off my +rapier. My eyes were on the door, and, as I gazed, I beheld the +slow raising of the latch. It was no delusion; my wits were keen +and my eyes sharp; there was no fear to make me see things that +were not. Softly I stepped to the bed-rail where I had hung my +sword by the baldrick, and as softly I unsheathed it. The door +was pushed open, and I caught the advance of a stealthy step. A +naked foot shot past the edge of the door into my room, and for a +second I thought of pinning it to the ground with my rapier; then +came a leg, then a half-dressed body surmounted by a face - the +face of Rodenard! + +At sight of it, amazement and a hundred suspicions crossed my mind. +How, in God's name, came he here, and for what purpose did he steal +so into my chamber? + +But my suspicions perished even as they were begotten. There was +so momentous, so alarmingly warning a look on his face as he +whispered the one word "Monseigneur!" that clearly if danger there +was to me it was not from him. + +"What the devil--" I began. + +But at the sound of my voice the alarm grew in his eyes. + +"Sh!" he whispered, his finger on his lips. "Be silent, monseigneur, +for Heaven's sake!" + +Very softly he closed the door; softly, yet painfully, he hobbled +forward to my side. + +"There is a plot to murder you, monseigneur," he whispered. + +"What! Here at Blagnac?" + +He nodded fearfully. + +"Bah!" I laughed. "You rave, man. Who was to know that I was to +come this way? And who is there to plot against my life?" + +"Monsieur de Saint-Eustache." he answered. + +"And for the rest, as to expecting you here, they did not, but they +were prepared against the remote chance of your coming. From what +I have gathered, there is not a hostelry betwixt this and Lavedan +at which the Chevalier has not left his cutthroats with the promise +of enormous reward to the men who shall kill you." + +I caught my breath at that. My doubts vanished. + +"Tell me what you know," said I. "Be brief." + +Thereupon this faithful dog, whom I had so sorely beaten but four +nights ago, told me how, upon finding himself able to walk once +more, he had gone to seek me out, that he might implore me to +forgive him and not cast him off altogether, after a lifetime +spent in the service of my father and of myself. + +He had discovered from Monsieur de Castelroux that I was gone to +Lavedan, and he determined to follow me thither. He had no horse +and little money, and so he had set out afoot that very day, and +dragged himself as far as Blagnac, where, however, his strength had +given out, and he was forced to halt. A providence it seemed that +this had so befallen. For here at the Etoile he had that evening +overheard Saint-Eustache in conversation with those two bravi below +stairs. It would seem from what he had said that at every hostelry +from Grenade to Toulouse - at which it was conceivable that I might +spend the night - the Chevalier had made a similar provision. + +At Blagnac, if I got so far without halting, I must arrive very +late, and therefore the Chevalier had bidden his men await me until +daylight. He did not believe, however, that I should travel so far, +for he had seen to it that I should find no horses at the posthouses. +But it was just possible that I might, nevertheless, push on, and +Saint-Eustache would let no possibility be overlooked. Here at +Blagnac the landlord, Rodenard informed me, was also in +Saint-Eustache's pay. Their intention was to stab me as I slept. + +"Monseigneur," he ended, "knowing what danger awaited you along the +road, I have sat up all night, praying God and His saints that you +might come this far, and that thus I might warn you. Had I been +less bruised and sore, I had got myself a horse and ridden out to +meet you; as it was, I could but hope and pray that you would reach +Blagnac, and that--" + +I gathered him into my arms at that, but my embrace drew a groan +from him, for the poor, faithful knave was very sore. + +"My poor Ganymede!" I murmured, and I was more truly moved to +sympathy, I think, than ever I had been in all my selfish life. +Hearing his sobriquet, a look of hope gleamed suddenly in his eye. + +"You will take me back, monseigneur?" he pleaded. "You will take +me back, will you not? I swear that I will never let my tongue--" + +"Sh, my good Ganymede. Not only will I take you back, but I shall +strive to make amends for my brutality. Come, my friend, you shall +have twenty golden Louis to buy unguents for your poor shoulders." + +"Monseigneur is very good," he murmured, whereupon I would have +embraced him again but that he shivered and drew back. + +"No, no, monseigneur," he whispered fearfully. "It is a great +honour, but it - it pains me to be touched." + +"Then take the will for the deed. And now for these gentlemen below +stairs." I rose and moved to the door. + +"Order Gilles to beat their brains out," was Ganymede's merciful +suggestion. + +I shook my head. "We might be detained for doing murder. We have +no proof yet of their intentions - I think - " An idea flashed +suddenly across my mind. "Go back to your room, Ganymede," I bade +him. "Lock yourself in, and do not stir until I call you. I do +not wish their suspicions aroused." + +I opened the door, and as Ganymede obediently slipped past me and +vanished down the passage "Monsieur l'Hote," I called. "Ho, there, +Gilles!" + +"Monsieur," answered the landlord. + +"Monseigneur," replied Gilles; and there came a stir below. + +"Is aught amiss?" the landlord questioned, a note of concern in his +voice. + +"Amiss?" I echoed peevishly, mincing my words as I uttered them. +"Pardi! Must I be put to it to undress myself, whilst those two +lazy dogs of mine are snoring beneath me? Come up this instant, +Gilles. And," I added as an afterthought, "you had best sleep here +in my room." + +"At once, monseigneur," answered he, but I caught the faintest +tinge of surprise in his accents, for never yet had it fallen to +the lot of sturdy, clumsy Gilles to assist me at my toilet. + +The landlord muttered something, and I heard Gilles whispering his +reply. Then the stairs creaked under his heavy tread. + +In my room I told him in half a dozen words what was afoot. For +answer, he swore a great oath that the landlord had mulled a stoup +of wine for him, which he never doubted now was drugged. I bade +him go below and fetch the wine, telling the landlord that I, too +had a fancy for it. + +"But what of Antoine?" he asked. "They will drug him." + +"Let them. We can manage this affair, you and I, without his help. +If they did not drug him, they might haply stab him. So that in +being drugged lies his safety." + +As I bade him so he did, and presently he returned with a great +steaming measure. This I emptied into a ewer, then returned it to +him that he might take it back to the host with my thanks and our +appreciation. Thus should we give them confidence that the way +was clear and smooth for them. + +Thereafter there befell precisely that which already you will be +expecting, and nothing that you cannot guess. It was perhaps at +the end of an hour's silent waiting that one of them came. We had +left the door unbarred so that his entrance was unhampered. But +scarce was he within when out of the dark, on either side of him, +rose Gilles and I. Before he had realized it, he was lifted off +his feet and deposited upon the bed without a cry; the only sound +being the tinkle of the knife that dropped from his suddenly +unnerved hand. + +On the bed, with Gilles's great knee in his stomach, and Gilles's +hands at his throat, he was assured in unequivocal terms that at +his slightest outcry we would make an end of him. I kindled a +light. We trussed him hand and foot with the bedclothes, and then, +whilst he lay impotent and silent in his terror, I proceeded to +discuss the situation with him. + +I pointed out that we knew that what he had done he had done at +Saint-Eustache's instigation, therefore the true guilt was +Saint-Eustache's and upon him alone the punishment should fall. +But ere this could come to pass, he himself must add his testimony +to ours - mine and Rodenard's. If he would come to Toulouse and +do that make a full confession of how he had been set to do this +murdering - the Chevalier de Saint-Eustache, who was the real +culprit, should be the only one to suffer the penalty of the law. +If he would not do that, why, then, he must stand the consequences +himself - and the consequences would be the hangman. But in either +case he was coming to Toulouse in the morning. + +It goes without saying that he was reasonable. I never for a moment +held his judgment in doubt; there is no loyalty about a cut-throat, +and it is not the way of his calling to take unnecessary risk. + +We had just settled the matter in a mutually agreeable manner when +the door opened again, and his confederate - rendered uneasy, no +doubt, by his long absence - came to see what could be occasioning +this unconscionable delay in the slitting of the throats of a pair +of sleeping men. + +Beholding us there in friendly conclave, and no doubt considering +that under the circumstances his intrusion was nothing short of an +impertinence, that polite gentleman uttered a cry - which I should +like to think was an apology for having disturbed us and turned to +go with most indecorous precipitancy. + +But Gilles took him by the nape of his dirty neck and haled him back +into the room. In less time than it takes me to tell of it, he lay +beside his colleague, and was being asked whether he did not think +that he might also come to take the same view of the situation. +Overjoyed that we intended no worse by him, he swore by every saint +in the calendar that he would do our will, that he had reluctantly +undertaken the Chevalier's business, that he was no cut-throat, but +a poor man with a wife and children to provide for. + +And that, in short, was how it came to pass that the Chevalier de +Saint-Eustache himself, by disposing for my destruction, disposed +only for his own. With these two witnesses, and Rodenard to swear +how Saint-Eustache had bribed them to cut my throat, with myself +and Gilles to swear how the attempt had been made and frustrated, +I could now go to His Majesty with a very full confidence, not only +of having the Chevalier's accusations, against whomsoever they +might be, discredited, but also of sending the Chevalier himself +to the gallows he had so richly earned. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +LOUIS THE JUST + + +"For me," said the King, "these depositions were not necessary. +Your word, my dear Marcel, would have sufficed. For the courts, +however, perhaps it is well that you have had them taken; +moreover, they form a valuable corroboration of the treason which +you lay to the charge of Monsieur de Saint-Eustache." + +We were standing - at least, La Fosse and I were standing, Louis +XIII sat - in a room, of the Palace of Toulouse, where I had had +the honour of being brought before His Majesty. La Fosse was +there, because it would seem that the King had grown fond of him, +and could not be without him since his coming to Toulouse. + +His Majesty was, as usual, so dull and weary - not even roused by +the approaching trial of Montmorency, which was the main business +that had brought him South that even the company of this vapid, +shallow, but irrepressibly good-humoured La Fosse, with his +everlasting mythology, proved a thing desirable. + +"I will see," said Louis, "that your friend the Chevalier is placed +under arrest at once, and as much for his attempt upon your life +as for the unstable quality of his political opinions, the law shall +deal with him - conclusively." He sighed. "It always pains me to +proceed to extremes against a man of his stamp. To deprive a fool +of his head seems a work of supererogation." + +I inclined my head, and smiled at his pleasantry. Louis the just +rarely permitted himself to jest, and when he did his humour was +as like unto humour as water is like unto wine. Still, when a +monarch jests, if you are wise, if you have a favour to sue, or a +position at Court to seek or to maintain, you smile, for all that +the ineptitude of his witless wit be rather provocative of sorrow. + +"Nature needs meddling with at times," hazarded La Fosse, from +behind His Majesty's chair. "This Saint-Eustache is a sort of +Pandora's box, which it is well to close ere--" + +"Go to the devil," said the King shortly. "We are not jesting. +We have to do justice." + +"Ah! Justice," murmured La Fosse; "I have seen pictures of the +lady. She covers her eyes with a bandage, but is less discreet +where the other beauties of her figure are in question." + +His Majesty blushed. He was above all things a chaste-minded man, +modest as a nun. To the immodesty rampant about him he was in the +habit of closing his eyes and his ears, until the flagrancy or the +noise of it grew to proportions to which he might remain neither +blind nor deaf. + +"Monsieur de la Fosse," said he in an austere voice, "you weary me, +and when people weary me I send them away - which is one of the +reasons why I am usually so much alone. I beg that you will glance +at that hunting-book, so that when I have done with Monsieur de +Bardelys you may give me your impressions of it." + +La Fosse fell back, obedient but unabashed, and, moving to a table +by the window, he opened the book Louis had pointed out. + +"Now, Marcel, while that buffoon prepares to inform me that the +book has been inspired by Diana herself, tell me what else you have +to tell." + +"Naught else, Sire." + +"How naught? What of this Vicomte de Lavedan." + +"Surely Your Majesty is satisfied that there is no charge - no +heedful charge against him?" + +"Aye, but there is a charge - a very heedful one. And so far you +have afforded me no proofs of his innocence to warrant my sanctioning +his enlargement." + +"I had thought, Sire, that it would be unnecessary to advance proofs +of his innocence until there were proofs of his guilt to be refuted. +It is unusual, Your Majesty, to apprehend a gentleman so that he may +show cause why he did not deserve such apprehension. The more usual +course is to arrest him because there are proofs of his guilt to be +preferred against him." + +Louis combed his beard pensively, and his melancholy eyes grew +thoughtful. + +"A nice point, Marcel," said he, and he yawned. "A nice point. You +should have been a lawyer." Then, with an abrupt change of manner, +"Do you give me your word of honour that he is innocent?" he asked +sharply. + +"If Your Majesty's judges offer proof of his guilt, I give you my +word that I will tear that proof to pieces." + +"That is not an answer. Do you swear his innocence?" + +"Do I know what he carries in his conscience?" quoth I still fencing +with the question. "How can I give my word in such a matter? Ah, +Sire, it is not for nothing that they call you Louis the Just," I +pursued, adopting cajolery and presenting him with his own favourite +phrase. "You will never allow a man against whom there is no shred +of evidence to be confined in prison." + +"Is there not?" he questioned. Yet his tone grew gentler. History, +he had promised himself, should know him as Louis the Just, and he +would do naught that might jeopardize his claim to that proud title. +"There is the evidence of this Saint-Eustache!" + +"Would Your Majesty hang a dog upon the word of that double traitor?" + +"Hum! You are a great advocate, Marcel. You avoid answering +questions; you turn questions aside by counter-questions." He +seemed to be talking more to himself than tome. "You are a much +better advocate than the Vicomte's wife, for instance. She +answers questions and has a temper - Ciel! what a temper!" + +"You have seen the Vicomtesse?" I exclaimed, and I grew cold with +apprehension, knowing as I did the licence of that woman's tongue. + +"Seen her?" he echoed whimsically. "I have seen her, heard her, +well-nigh felt her. The air of this room is still disturbed as a +consequence of her presence. She was here an hour ago." + +"And it seemed," lisped La Fosse, turning from his hunting-book, +"as if the three daughters of Acheron had quitted the domain of +Pluto to take embodiment in a single woman." + +"I would not have seen her," the King resumed as though La Fosse +had not spoken, "but she would not be denied. I heard her voice +blaspheming in the antechamber when I refused to receive her; there +was a commotion at my door; it was dashed open, and the Swiss who +held it was hurled into my room here as though he had been a +mannikin. Dieu! Since I have reigned in France I have not been +the centre of so much commotion. She is a strong woman, Marcel +the saints defend you hereafter, when she shall come to be your +mother-in-law. In all France, I'll swear, her tongue is the only +stouter thing than her arm. But she's a fool." + +"What did she say, Sire?" I asked in my anxiety. + +"Say? She swore - Ciel! how she did swear! Not a saint in the +calendar would she let rest in peace; she dragged them all by turns +from their chapter-rolls to bear witness to the truth of what she +said." + +"That was--" + +"That her husband was the foulest traitor out of hell. But that +he was a fool with no wit of his own to make him accountable for +what he did, and that out of folly he had gone astray. Upon those +grounds she besought me to forgive him and let him go. When I +told her that he must stand his trial, and that I could offer her +but little hope of his acquittal, she told me things about myself, +which in my conceit, and thanks to you flatterers who have +surrounded me, I had never dreamed. + +"She told me I was ugly, sour-faced, and malformed; that I was +priest-ridden and a fool; unlike my brother, who, she assured me, +is a mirror of chivalry and manly perfections. She promised me +that Heaven should never receive my soul, though I told my beads +from now till Doomsday, and she prophesied for me a welcome among +the damned when my time comes. What more she might have foretold +I cannot say. She wearied me at last, for all her novelty, and I +dismissed her - that is to say," he amended, "I ordered four +musketeers to carry her out. God pity you, Marcel, when you become +her daughter's husband!" + +But I had no heart to enter into his jocularity. This woman +with her ungovernable passion and her rash tongue had destroyed +everything. + +"I see no likelihood of being her daughter's husband," I answered +mournfully. + +The King looked up, and laughed. "Down on your knees, then," said +he, "and render thanks to Heaven." + +But I shook my head very soberly. "To Your Majesty it is a +pleasing comedy," said I, "but to me, helas! it is nearer far to +tragedy." + +"Come, Marcel," said he, "may I not laugh a little? One grows so +sad with being King of France! Tell me what vexes you." + +"Mademoiselle de Lavedan has promised that she will marry me only +when I have saved her father from the scaffold. I came to do it, +very full of hope, Sire. But his wife has forestalled me and, +seemingly, doomed him irrevocably." + +His glance fell; his countenance resumed its habitual gloom. Then +he looked up again, and in the melancholy depths of his eyes I saw +a gleam of something that was very like affection. + +"You know that I love you, Marcel," he said gently. "Were you my +own son I could not love you more. You are a profligate, dissolute +knave, and your scandals have rung in my ears more than once; yet +you are different from these other fools, and at least you have +never wearied me. To have done that is to have done something. +I would not lose you, Marcel; as lose you I shall if you marry this +rose of Languedoc, for I take it that she is too sweet a flower to +let wither in the stale atmosphere of Courts. This man, this +Vicomte de Lavedan, has earned his death. Why should I not let him +die, since if he dies you will not wed?" + +"Do you ask me why, Sire?" said I. "Because they call you Louis the +Just, and because no king was ever more deserving of the title." + +He winced; he pursed his lips, and shot a glance at La Fosse, who +was deep in the mysteries of his volume. Then he drew towards him +a sheet of paper, and, taking a quill, he sat toying with it. + +"Because they call me the Just, I must let justice take its course," +he answered presently. + +"But," I objected, with a sudden hope, "the course of justice cannot +lead to the headsman in the case of the Vicomte de Lavedan." + +"Why not?" And his solemn eyes met mine across the table. + +"Because he took no active part in the revolt. If he was a traitor, +he was no more than a traitor at heart, and until a man commits a +crime in deed he is not amenable to the law's rigour. His wife has +made his defection clear; but it were unfair to punish him in the +same measure as you punish those who bore arms against you, Sire." + +"Ah!" he pondered. "Well? What more?" + +"Is that not enough, Sire?" I cried. My heart beat quickly, and my +pulses throbbed with the suspense of that portentous moment. + +He bent his head, dipped his pen and began to write. + +"What punishment would you have me mete out to him?" he asked as he +wrote. "Come, Marcel, deal fairly with me, and deal fairly with him +--for as you deal with him, so shall I deal with you through him." + +I felt myself paling in my excitement. "There is banishment, Sire +--it is usual in cases of treason that are not sufficiently flagrant +to be punished by death." + +"Yes!" He wrote busily. "Banishment for how long, Marcel? For his +lifetime?" + +"Nay, Sire. That were too long." + +"For my lifetime, then?" + +"Again that were too long." + +He raised his eyes and smiled. "Ah! You turn prophet? Well, for +how long, then? Come, man." + +"I should think five years--" + +"Five years be it. Say no more." + +He wrote on for a few moments; then he raised the sandbox and +sprinkled the document. + +"Tiens!" he cried, as he dusted it and held it out to me. "There +is my warrant for the disposal of Monsieur le Vicomte Leon de +Lavedan. He is to go into banishment for five years, but his +estates shall suffer no sequestration, and at the end of that +period he may return and enjoy them - we hope with better loyalty +than in the past. Get them to execute that warrant at once, and +see that the Vicomte starts to-day under escort for Spain. It will +also be your warrant to Mademoiselle de Lavedan, and will afford +proof to her that your mission has been successful." + +"Sire!" I cried. And in my gratitude I could say no more, but I +sank on my knee before him and raised his hand to my lips. + +"There," said he in a fatherly voice. "Go now, and be happy." + +As I rose, he suddenly put up his hand. + +"Ma foi, I had all but forgotten, so much has Monsieur de Lavedan's +fate preoccupied us." He picked up another paper from his table, +and tossed it to me. It was my note of hand to Chatellerault for +my Picardy estates. + +"Chatellerault died this morning," the King pursued. "He had been +asking to see you, but when he was told that you had left Toulouse, +he dictated a long confession of his misdeeds, which he sent to me +together with this note of yours. He could not, he wrote, permit +his heirs to enjoy your estates; he had not won them; he had really +forfeited his own stakes, since he had broken the rules of play. +He has left me to deliver judgment in the matter of his own lands +passing into your possession. What do you say to it, Marcel?" + +It was almost with reluctance that I took up that scrap of paper. +It had been so fine and heroic a thing to have cast my wealth to +the winds of heaven for love's sake, that on my soul I was loath +to see myself master of more than Beaugency. Then a compromise +suggested itself. + +"The wager, Sire," said I, "is one that I take shame in having +entered upon; that shame made me eager to pay it, although fully +conscious that I had not lost. But even now, I cannot, in any case, +accept the forfeit Chatellerault was willing to suffer. Shall we +--shall we forget that the wager was ever laid?" + +"The decision does you honour. It was what I had hoped from you. +Go now, Marcel. I doubt me you are eager. When your love-sickness +wanes a little we shall hope to see you at Court again." + +I sighed. "Helas, Sire, that would be never." + +"So you said once before, monsieur. It is a foolish spirit upon +which to enter into matrimony; yet - like many follies - a fine +one. Adieu, Marcel!" + +"Adieu, Sire!" + +I had kissed his hands; I had poured forth my thanks; I had reached +the door already, and he was in the act of turning to La Fosse, +when it came into my head to glance at the warrant he had given me. +He noticed this and my sudden halt. + +"Is aught amiss?" he asked. + +"You-you have omitted something, Sire," I ventured, and I returned +to the table. "I am already so grateful that I hesitate to ask an +additional favour. Yet it is but troubling you to add a few strokes +of the pen, and it will not materially affect the sentence itself." + +He glanced at me, and his brows drew together as he sought to guess +my meaning. + +"Well, man, what is it?" he demanded impatiently. + +"It has occurred to me that this poor Vicomte, in a strange land, +alone, among strange faces, missing the loved ones that for so many +years he has seen daily by his side, will be pitiably lonely." + +The King's glance was lifted suddenly to my face. "Must I then +banish his family as well?" + +"All of it will not be necessary, Your Majesty." + +For once his eyes lost their melancholy, and as hearty a burst of +laughter as ever I heard from that poor, weary gentleman he vented +then. + +"Ciel! what a jester you are! Ah, but I shall miss you!" he cried, +as, seizing the pen, he added the word I craved of him. + +"Are you content at last?" he asked, returning the paper to me. + +I glanced at it. The warrant now stipulated that Madame la +Vicomtesse de Lavedan should bear her husband company in his exile. + +"Sire, you are too good!" I murmured. + +"Tell the officer to whom you entrust the execution of this warrant +that he will find the lady in the guardroom below, where she is +being detained, pending my pleasure. Did she but know that it was +your pleasure she has been waiting upon, I should tremble for your +future when the five years expire." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +WE UNSADDLE + + +Mademoiselle held the royal warrant of her father's banishment in +her hand. She was pale, and her greeting of me had been timid. I +stood before her, and by the door stood Rodenard, whom I had bidden +attend me. + +As I had approached Lavedan that day, I had been taken with a great, +an overwhelming shame at the bargain I had driven. I had pondered, +and it had come to me that she had been right to suggest that in +matters of love what is not freely given it is not worth while to +take. And out of my shame and that conclusion had sprung a new +resolve. So that nothing might weaken it, and lest, after all, the +sight of Roxalanne should bring me so to desire her that I might be +tempted to override my purpose, I had deemed it well to have the +restraint of a witness at our last interview. To this end had I +bidden Ganymede follow me into the very salon. + +She read the document to the very end, then her glance was raised +timidly again to mine, and from me it shifted to Ganymede, stiff +at his post by the door. + +"This was the best that you could do, monsieur?" she asked at last. + +"The very best, mademoiselle," I answered calmly. "I do not wish +to magnify my service, but it was that or the scaffold. Madame your +mother had, unfortunately, seen the King before me, and she had +prejudiced your father's case by admitting him to be a traitor. +There was a moment when in view of that I was almost led to despair. +I am glad, however, mademoiselle, that I was so fortunate as to +persuade the King to just so much clemency." + +"And for five years, then, I shall not see my parents." She sighed, +and her distress was very touching. + +"That need not be. Though they may not come to France, it still +remains possible for you to visit them in Spain." + +"True," she mused; "that will be something - will it not?" + +"Assuredly something; under the circumstances, much." + +She sighed again, and for a moment there was silence. + +"Will you not sit, monsieur?" said she at last. She was very quiet +to-day, this little maid - very quiet and very wondrously subdued. + +"There is scarce the need," I answered softly; whereupon her eyes +were raised to ask a hundred questions. "You are satisfied with +my efforts, mademoiselle?" I inquired. + +"Yes, I am satisfied, monsieur." + +That was the end, I told myself, and involuntarily I also sighed. +Still, I made no shift to go. + +"You are satisfied that I - that I have fulfilled what I promised?" + +Her eyes were again cast down, and she took a step in the direction +of the window. + +"But yes. Your promise was to save my father from the scaffold. +You have done so, and I make no doubt you have done as much to +reduce the term of his banishment as lay within your power. Yes, +monsieur, I am satisfied that your promise has been well fulfilled." + +Heigho! The resolve that I had formed in coming whispered it in +my ear that nothing remained but to withdraw and go my way. Yet +not for all that resolve - not for a hundred such resolves - could +I have gone thus. One kindly word, one kindly glance at least +would I take to comfort me. I would tell her in plain words of my +purpose, and she should see that there was still some good, some +sense of honour in me, and thus should esteem me after I was gone. + +"Ganymede." said I. + +"Monseigneur?" + +"Bid the men mount." + +At that she turned, wonder opening her eyes very wide, and her +glance travelled from me to Rodenard with its unspoken question. +But even as she looked at him he bowed and, turning to do my bidding, +left the room. We heard his steps pass with a jingle of spurs +across the hall and out into the courtyard. We heard his raucous +voice utter a word of command, and there was a stamping of hoofs, +a cramping of harness, and all the bustle of preparation. + +"Why have you ordered your men to mount?" she asked at last. + +"Because my business here is ended, and we are going." + +"Going?" said she. Her eyes were lowered now, but a frown +suggested their expression to me. "Going whither?" + +"Hence," I answered. "That for the moment is all that signifies." +I paused to swallow something that hindered a clear utterance. +Then, "Adieu!" said I, and I abruptly put forth my hand. + +Her glance met mine fearlessly, if puzzled. + +"Do you mean, monsieur, that you are leaving Lavedan - thus?" + +"So that I leave, what signifies the manner of my going?" + +"But" - the trouble grew in her eyes; her cheeks seemed to wax paler +than they had been - "but I thought that - that we made a bargain." + +"'Sh! mademoiselle, I implore you," I cried. "I take shame at the +memory of it. Almost as much shame as I take at the memory of that +other bargain which first brought me to Lavedan. The shame of the +former one I have wiped out - although, perchance, you think it not. +I am wiping out the shame of the latter one. It was unworthy in me, +mademoiselle, but I loved you so dearly that it seemed to me that +no matter how I came by you, I should rest content if I but won you. +I have since seen the error if it, the injustice of it. I will not +take what is not freely given. And so, farewell." + +"I see, I see," she murmured, and ignored the hand that I held out. +"I am very glad of it, monsieur." + +I withdrew my hand sharply. I took up my hat from the chair on +which I had cast it. She might have spared me that, I thought. +She need not have professed joy. At least she might have taken my +hand and parted in kindness. + +"Adieu, mademoiselle!" I said again, as stiffly as might be, and I +turned towards the door. + +"Monsieur!" she called after me. I halted. + +"Mademoiselle?" + +She stood demurely, with eyes downcast and hands folded. "I shall +be so lonely here." + +I stood still. I seemed to stiffen. My heart gave a mad throb of +hope, then seemed to stop. What did she mean? I faced her fully +once more, and, I doubt not, I was very pale. Yet lest vanity +should befool me, I dared not act upon suspicions. And so "True, +mademoiselle," said I. "You will be lonely. I regret it." + +As silence followed, I turned again to the door, and my hopes sank +with each step in that direction. + +"Monsieur!" + +Her voice arrested me upon the very threshold. + +"What shall a poor girl do with this great estate upon her hands? +It will go to ruin without a man to govern it." + +"You must not attempt the task. You must employ an intendant." + +I caught something that sounded oddly like a sob. Could it be? +Dieu! could it be, after all? Yet I would not presume. I half +turned again, but her voice detained me. It came petulantly now. + +"Monsieur de Bardelys, you have kept your promise nobly. Will you +ask no payment?" + +"No, mademoiselle," I answered very softly; "I can take no payment." + +Her eyes were lifted for a second. Their blue depths seemed dim. +Then they fell again. + +"Oh, why will you not help me?" she burst out, to add more softly: +"I shall never be happy without you!" + +"You mean?" I gasped, retracing a step, and flinging my hat in a +corner. + +"That I love you, Marcel - that I want you!" + +"And you can forgive - you can forgive?" I cried, as I caught her. + +Her answer was a laugh that bespoke her scorn of everything - of +everything save us two, of everything save our love. That and the +pout of her red lips was her answer. And if the temptation of +those lips - But there! I grow indiscreet. + +Still holding her, I raised my voice. + +"Ganymede!" I called. + +"Monseigneur?" came his answer through the open window. + +"Bid those knaves dismount and unsaddle." + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Etext of Bardelys the Magnificent by Rafael Sabatini |