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diff --git a/old/2760.txt b/old/2760.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0fae452 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/2760.txt @@ -0,0 +1,63030 @@ + CELEBRATED CRIMES, COMPLETE + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost +no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it +under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this +eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license. + + +Title: Celebrated Crimes, Complete + +Author: Alexandre Dumas, Pere + +Release Date: September 22, 2004 [EBook #2760] + +Last Updated: 2011-02-20 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CELEBRATED CRIMES, COMPLETE, +BY ALEXANDRE DUMAS, PERE *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger. + + *CELEBRATED CRIMES, COMPLETE* + + _By_ + + *Alexandre Dumas, Pere* + + _In Eight Volumes_ + + + 1910 + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CONTENTS + NOTE: + INTRODUCTION + *THE BORGIAS* + PROLOGUE + CHAPTER I + CHAPTER II + CHAPTER III + CHAPTER IV + CHAPTER V + CHAPTER VI + CHAPTER VII + CHAPTER VIII + CHAPTER IX + CHAPTER X + CHAPTER XI + CHAPTER XII + CHAPTER XIII + CHAPTER XIV + CHAPTER XV + CHAPTER XVI + EPILOGUE + *THE CENCI--1598* + *MASSACRES OF THE SOUTH--1551-1815* + CHAPTER I + CHAPTER II + CHAPTER III + CHAPTER IV + CHAPTER V + CHAPTER VI + CHAPTER VII + CHAPTER VIII + CHAPTER IX + *MARY STUART--1587* + CHAPTER I + CHAPTER II + CHAPTER III + CHAPTER IV + CHAPTER V + CHAPTER VI + CHAPTER VII + CHAPTER VIII + CHAPTER IX + CHAPTER X + *KARL-LUDWIG SAND--1819* + *URBAIN GRANDIER--1634* + CHAPTER I + CHAPTER II + CHAPTER III + CHAPTER IV + CHAPTER V + CHAPTER VI + CHAPTER VII + CHAPTER VIII + CHAPTER IX + CHAPTER X + CHAPTER XI + CHAPTER XII + *NISIDA--1825* + *DERUES* + *LA CONSTANTIN--1660* + CHAPTER I + CHAPTER II + CHAPTER III + CHAPTER IV + CHAPTER V + CHAPTER VI + CHAPTER VII + CHAPTER VIII + CHAPTER IX + *JOAN OF NAPLES--1343-1382* + CHAPTER I + CHAPTER II + CHAPTER III + CHAPTER IV + CHAPTER V + CHAPTER VI + CHAPTER VII + CHAPTER VIII + *THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK [An Essay]* + *MARTIN GUERRE* + *ALI PACHA* + CHAPTER I + CHAPTER II + CHAPTER III + CHAPTER IV + CHAPTER V + CHAPTER VI + CHAPTER VII + CHAPTER VIII + CHAPTER IX + CHAPTER X + CHAPTER XI + *THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN--1639* + *MURAT--1815* + I--TOULON + II--CORSICA + III--PIZZO + *THE MARQUISE DE BRINVILLIERS* + *VANINKA* + *THE MARQUISE DE GANGES--1657* + + + + +NOTE: + + +Dumas's 'Celebrated Crimes' was not written for children. The novelist +has spared no language--has minced no words--to describe the violent +scenes of a violent time. + +"In some instances facts appear distorted out of their true perspective, +and in others the author makes unwarranted charges. It is not within our +province to edit the historical side of Dumas, any more than it would be +to correct the obvious errors in Dickens's Child's History of England. +The careful, mature reader, for whom the books are intended, will +recognize, and allow for, this fact. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +The contents of these volumes of 'Celebrated Crimes', as well as the +motives which led to their inception, are unique. They are a series of +stories based upon historical records, from the pen of Alexandre Dumas, +pere, when he was not "the elder," nor yet the author of D'Artagnan or +Monte Cristo, but was a rising young dramatist and a lion in the +literary set and world of fashion. + +Dumas, in fact, wrote his 'Crimes Celebres' just prior to launching upon +his wonderful series of historical novels, and they may therefore be +considered as source books, whence he was to draw so much of that +far-reaching and intimate knowledge of inner history which has +perennially astonished his readers. The Crimes were published in Paris, +in 1839-40, in eight volumes, comprising eighteen titles--all of which +now appear in the present carefully translated text. The success of the +original work was instantaneous. Dumas laughingly said that he thought +he had exhausted the subject of famous crimes, until the work was off +the press, when he immediately became deluged with letters from every +province in France, supplying him with material upon other deeds of +violence! The subjects which he has chosen, however, are of both +historic and dramatic importance, and they have the added value of +giving the modern reader a clear picture of the state of +semi-lawlessness which existed in Europe, during the middle ages. "The +Borgias, the Cenci, Urbain Grandier, the Marchioness of Brinvilliers, +the Marchioness of Ganges, and the rest--what subjects for the pen of +Dumas!" exclaims Garnett. + +Space does not permit us to consider in detail the material here +collected, although each title will be found to present points of +special interest. The first volume comprises the annals of the Borgias +and the Cenci. The name of the noted and notorious Florentine family has +become a synonym for intrigue and violence, and yet the Borgias have not +been without stanch defenders in history. + +Another famous Italian story is that of the Cenci. The beautiful +Beatrice Cenci--celebrated in the painting of Guido, the sixteenth +century romance of Guerrazi, and the poetic tragedy of Shelley, not to +mention numerous succeeding works inspired by her hapless fate--will +always remain a shadowy figure and one of infinite pathos. + +The second volume chronicles the sanguinary deeds in the south of +France, carried on in the name of religion, but drenching in blood the +fair country round about Avignon, for a long period of years. + +The third volume is devoted to the story of Mary Queen of Scots, another +woman who suffered a violent death, and around whose name an endless +controversy has waged. Dumas goes carefully into the dubious episodes of +her stormy career, but does not allow these to blind his sympathy for +her fate. Mary, it should be remembered, was closely allied to France by +education and marriage, and the French never forgave Elizabeth the part +she played in the tragedy. + +The fourth volume comprises three widely dissimilar tales. One of the +strangest stories is that of Urbain Grandier, the innocent victim of a +cunning and relentless religious plot. His story was dramatised by +Dumas, in 1850. A famous German crime is that of Karl-Ludwig Sand, whose +murder of Kotzebue, Councillor of the Russian Legation, caused an +international upheaval which was not to subside for many years. + +An especially interesting volume is number six, containing, among other +material, the famous "Man in the Iron Mask." This unsolved puzzle of +history was later incorporated by Dumas in one of the D'Artagnan +Romances a section of the Vicomte de Bragelonne, to which it gave its +name. But in this later form, the true story of this singular man doomed +to wear an iron vizor over his features during his entire lifetime could +only be treated episodically. While as a special subject in the Crimes, +Dumas indulges his curiosity, and that of his reader, to the full. +Hugo's unfinished tragedy,'Les Jumeaux', is on the same subject; as also +are others by Fournier, in French, and Zschokke, in German. + +Other stories can be given only passing mention. The beautiful poisoner, +Marquise de Brinvilliers, must have suggested to Dumas his later +portrait of Miladi, in the Three Musketeers, the mast celebrated of his +woman characters. The incredible cruelties of Ali Pacha, the Turkish +despot, should not be charged entirely to Dumas, as he is said to have +been largely aided in this by one of his "ghosts," Mallefille. + +"Not a mere artist"--writes M. de Villemessant, founder of the +Figaro,--"he has nevertheless been able to seize on those dramatic +effects which have so much distinguished his theatrical career, and to +give those sharp and distinct reproductions of character which alone can +present to the reader the mind and spirit of an age. Not a mere +historian, he has nevertheless carefully consulted the original sources +of information, has weighed testimonies, elicited theories, and . . . +has interpolated the poetry of history with its most thorough prose." + + + + +*THE BORGIAS* + + + + +PROLOGUE + + +On the 8th of April, 1492, in a bedroom of the Carneggi Palace, about +three miles from Florence, were three men grouped about a bed whereon a +fourth lay dying. + +The first of these three men, sitting at the foot of the bed, and half +hidden, that he might conceal his tears, in the gold-brocaded curtains, +was Ermolao Barbaro, author of the treatise 'On Celibacy', and of +'Studies in Pliny': the year before, when he was at Rome in the capacity +of ambassador of the Florentine Republic, he had been appointed +Patriarch of Aquileia by Innocent VIII. + +The second, who was kneeling and holding one hand of the dying man +between his own, was Angelo Poliziano, the Catullus of the fifteenth +century, a classic of the lighter sort, who in his Latin verses might +have been mistaken for a poet of the Augustan age. + +The third, who was standing up and leaning against one of the twisted +columns of the bed-head, following with profound sadness the progress of +the malady which he read in the face of his departing friend, was the +famous Pico della Mirandola, who at the age of twenty could speak +twenty-two languages, and who had offered to reply in each of these +languages to any seven hundred questions that might be put to him by the +twenty most learned men in the whole world, if they could be assembled +at Florence. + +The man on the bed was Lorenzo the Magnificent, who at the beginning of +the year had been attacked by a severe and deep-seated fever, to which +was added the gout, a hereditary ailment in his family. He had found at +last that the draughts containing dissolved pearls which the quack +doctor, Leoni di Spoleto, prescribed for him (as if he desired to adapt +his remedies rather to the riches of his patient than to his +necessities) were useless and unavailing, and so he had come to +understand that he must part from those gentle-tongued women of his, +those sweet-voiced poets, his palaces and their rich hangings; therefore +he had summoned to give him absolution for his sins--in a man of less +high place they might perhaps have been called crimes--the Dominican, +Giralamo Francesco Savonarola. + +It was not, however, without an inward fear, against which the praises +of his friends availed nothing, that the pleasure-seeker and usurper +awaited that severe and gloomy preacher by whose word's all Florence was +stirred, and on whose pardon henceforth depended all his hope far +another world. + +Indeed, Savonarola was one of those men of stone, coming, like the +statue of the Commandante, to knock at the door of a Don Giovanni, and +in the midst of feast and orgy to announce that it is even now the +moment to begin to think of Heaven. He had been born at Ferrara, whither +his family, one of the most illustrious of Padua, had been called by +Niccolo, Marchese d'Este, and at the age of twenty-three, summoned by an +irresistible vocation, had fled from his father's house, and had taken +the vows in the cloister of Dominican monks at Florence. There, where he +was appointed by his superiors to give lessons in philosophy, the young +novice had from the first to battle against the defects of a voice that +was both harsh and weak, a defective pronunciation, and above all, the +depression of his physical powers, exhausted as they were by too severe +abstinence. + +Savonarala from that time condemned himself to the most absolute +seclusion, and disappeared in the depths of his convent, as if the slab +of his tomb had already fallen over him. There, kneeling on the flags, +praying unceasingly before a wooden crucifix, fevered by vigils and +penances, he soon passed out of contemplation into ecstasy, and began to +feel in himself that inward prophetic impulse which summoned him to +preach the reformation of the Church. + +Nevertheless, the reformation of Savonarola, more reverential than +Luther's, which followed about five-and-twenty years later, respected +the thing while attacking the man, and had as its aim the altering of +teaching that was human, not faith that was of God. He did not work, +like the German monk, by reasoning, but by enthusiasm. With him logic +always gave way before inspiration: he was not a theologian, but a +prophet. Yet, although hitherto he had bowed his head before the +authority of the Church, he had already raised it against the temporal +power. To him religion and liberty appeared as two virgins equally +sacred; so that, in his view, Lorenzo in subjugating the one was as +culpable as Pope Innocent VIII in dishonouring the other. The result of +this was that, so long as Lorenzo lived in riches, happiness, and +magnificence, Savonarola had never been willing, whatever entreaties +were made, to sanction by his presence a power which he considered +illegitimate. But Lorenzo on his deathbed sent for him, and that was +another matter. The austere preacher set forth at once, bareheaded and +barefoot, hoping to save not only the soul of the dying man but also the +liberty of the republic. + +Lorenzo, as we have said, was awaiting the arrival of Savonarola with an +impatience mixed with uneasiness; so that, when he heard the sound of +his steps, his pale face took a yet more deathlike tinge, while at the +same time he raised himself on his elbow and ordered his three friends +to go away. They obeyed at once, and scarcely had they left by one door +than the curtain of the other was raised, and the monk, pale, immovable, +solemn, appeared on the threshold. When he perceived him, Lorenzo dei +Medici, reading in his marble brow the inflexibility of a statue, fell +back on his bed, breathing a sigh so profound that one might have +supposed it was his last. + +The monk glanced round the room as though to assure himself that he was +really alone with the dying man; then he advanced with a slow and solemn +step towards the bed. Lorenzo watched his approach with terror; then, +when he was close beside him, he cried: + +"O my father, I have been a very great sinner!" + +"The mercy of God is infinite," replied the monk; "and I come into your +presence laden with the divine mercy." + +"You believe, then, that God will forgive my sins?" cried the dying man, +renewing his hope as he heard from the lips of the monk such unexpected +words. + +"Your sins and also your crimes, God will forgive them all," replied +Savonarola. "God will forgive your vanities, your adulterous pleasures, +your obscene festivals; so much for your sins. God will forgive you for +promising two thousand florins reward to the man who should bring you +the head of Dietisalvi, Nerone Nigi, Angelo Antinori, Niccalo Soderini, +and twice the money if they were handed over alive; God will forgive you +for dooming to the scaffold or the gibbet the son of Papi Orlandi, +Francesco di Brisighella, Bernardo Nardi, Jacopo Frescobaldi, Amoretto +Baldovinetti, Pietro Balducci, Bernardo di Banding, Francesco +Frescobaldi, and more than three hundred others whose names were none +the less dear to Florence because they were less renowned; so much for +your crimes." And at each of these names which Savonarala pronounced +slowly, his eyes fixed on the dying man, he replied with a groan which +proved the monk's memory to be only too true. Then at last, when he had +finished, Lorenzo asked in a doubtful tone: + +"Then do you believe, my father, that God will forgive me everything, +both my sins and my crimes?" + +"Everything," said Savonarola, "but on three conditions." + +"What are they?" asked the dying man. + +"The first," said Savonarola, "is that you feel a complete faith in the +power and the mercy of God." + +"My father," replied Lorenzo eagerly, "I feel this faith in the very +depths of my heart." + +"The second," said Savonarola, "is that you give back the property of +others which you have unjustly confiscated and kept." + +"My father, shall I have time?" asked the dying man. + +"God will give it to you," replied the monk. + +Lorenzo shut his eyes, as though to reflect more at his ease; then, +after a moment's silence, he replied: + +"Yes, my father, I will do it." + +"The third," resumed Savonarola, "is that you restore to the republic +her ancient independence and her farmer liberty." + +Lorenzo sat up on his bed, shaken by a convulsive movement, and +questioned with his eyes the eyes of the Dominican, as though he would +find out if he had deceived himself and not heard aright. Savonarola +repeated the same words. + +"Never! never!" exclaimed Lorenzo, falling back on his bed and shaking +his head,--"never!" + +The monk, without replying a single word, made a step to withdraw. + +"My father, my father," said the dying man, "do not leave me thus: have +pity on me!" + +"Have pity on Florence," said the monk. + +"But, my father," cried Lorenzo, "Florence is free, Florence is happy." + +"Florence is a slave, Florence is poor," cried Savonarola, "poor in +genius, poor in money, and poor in courage; poor in genius, because +after you, Lorenzo, will come your son Piero; poor in money, because +from the funds of the republic you have kept up the magnificence of your +family and the credit of your business houses; poor in courage, because +you have robbed the rightful magistrates of the authority which was +constitutionally theirs, and diverted the citizens from the double path +of military and civil life, wherein, before they were enervated by your +luxuries, they had displayed the virtues of the ancients; and therefore, +when the day shall dawn which is not far distant," continued the mark, +his eyes fixed and glowing as if he were reading in the future, "whereon +the barbarians shall descend from the mountains, the walls of our towns, +like those of Jericho, shall fall at the blast of their trumpets." + +"And do you desire that I should yield up on my deathbed the power that +has made the glory of my whole life?" cried Lorenzo dei Medici. + +"It is not I who desire it; it is the Lord," replied Savonarola coldly. + +"Impossible, impossible!" murmured Lorenzo. + +"Very well; then die as you have lived!" cried the monk, "in the midst +of your courtiers and flatterers; let them ruin your soul as they have +ruined your body!" And at these words, the austere Dominican, without +listening to the cries of the dying man, left the room as he had entered +it, with face and step unaltered; far above human things he seemed to +soar, a spirit already detached from the earth. + +At the cry which broke from Lorenzo dei Medici when he saw him +disappear, Ermolao, Poliziano, and Pico delta Mirandola, who had heard +all, returned into the room, and found their friend convulsively +clutching in his arms a magnificent crucifix which he had just taken +dawn from the bed-head. In vain did they try to reassure him with +friendly words. Lorenzo the Magnificent only replied with sobs; and one +hour after the scene which we have just related, his lips clinging to +the feet of the Christ, he breathed his last in the arms of these three +men, of whom the most fortunate--though all three were young--was not +destined to survive him more than two years. "Since his death was to +bring about many calamities," says Niccolo Macchiavelli, "it was the +will of Heaven to show this by omens only too certain: the dome of the +church of Santa Regarata was struck by lightning, and Roderigo Borgia +was elected pope." + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +Towards the end of the fifteenth century--that is to say, at the epoch +when our history opens the Piazza of St. Peter's at Rome was far from +presenting so noble an aspect as that which is offered in our own day to +anyone who approaches it by the Piazza dei Rusticucci. + +In fact, the Basilica of Constantine existed no longer, while that of +Michael Angelo, the masterpiece of thirty popes, which cost the labour +of three centuries and the expense of two hundred and sixty millions, +existed not yet. The ancient edifice, which had lasted for eleven +hundred and forty-five years, had been threatening to fall in about +1440, and Nicholas V, artistic forerunner of Julius II and Leo X, had +had it pulled down, together with the temple of Probus Anicius which +adjoined it. In their place he had had the foundations of a new temple +laid by the architects Rossellini and Battista Alberti; but some years +later, after the death of Nicholas V, Paul II, the Venetian, had not +been able to give more than five thousand crowns to continue the project +of his predecessor, and thus the building was arrested when it had +scarcely risen above the ground, and presented the appearance of a +still-born edifice, even sadder than that of a ruin. + +As to the piazza itself, it had not yet, as the reader will understand +from the foregoing explanation, either the fine colonnade of Bernini, or +the dancing fountains, or that Egyptian obelisk which, according to +Pliny, was set up by the Pharaoh at Heliopolis, and transferred to Rome +by Caligula, who set it up in Nero's Circus, where it remained till +1586. Now, as Nero's Circus was situate on the very ground where St. +Peter's now stands, and the base of this obelisk covered the actual site +where the vestry now is, it looked like a gigantic needle shooting up +from the middle of truncated columns, walls of unequal height, and +half-carved stones. + +On the right of this building, a ruin from its cradle, arose the +Vatican, a splendid Tower of Babel, to which all the celebrated +architects of the Roman school contributed their work for a thousand +years: at this epoch the two magnificent chapels did not exist, nor the +twelve great halls, the two-and-twenty courts, the thirty staircases, +and the two thousand bedchambers; for Pope Sixtus V, the sublime +swineherd, who did so many things in a five years' reign, had not yet +been able to add the immense building which on the eastern side towers +above the court of St. Damasius; still, it was truly the old sacred +edifice, with its venerable associations, in which Charlemagne received +hospitality when he was crowned emperor by Pope Leo III. + +All the same, on the 9th of August, 1492, the whole of Rome, from the +People's Gate to the Coliseum and from the Baths of Diocletian to the +castle of Sant' Angelo, seemed to have made an appointment on this +piazza: the multitude thronging it was so great as to overflow into all +the neighbouring streets, which started from this centre like the rays +of a star. The crowds of people, looking like a motley moving carpet, +were climbing up into the basilica, grouping themselves upon the stones, +hanging on the columns, standing up against the walls; they entered by +the doors of houses and reappeared at the windows, so numerous and so +densely packed that one might have said each window was walled up with +heads. Now all this multitude had its eyes fixed on one single point in +the Vatican; for in the Vatican was the Conclave, and as Innocent VIII +had been dead for sixteen days, the Conclave was in the act of electing +a pope. + +Rome is the town of elections: since her foundation down to our own +day--that is to say, in the course of nearly twenty-six centuries--she +has constantly elected her kings, consuls, tribunes, emperors, and +popes: thus Rome during the days of Conclave appears to be attacked by a +strange fever which drives everyone to the Vatican or to Monte Cavallo, +according as the scarlet-robed assembly is held in one or the other of +these two palaces: it is, in fact, because the raising up of a new +pontiff is a great event far everybody; for, according to the average +established in the period between St. Peter and Gregory XVI, every pope +lasts about eight years, and these eight years, according to the +character of the man who is elected, are a period either of tranquillity +or of disorder, of justice or of venality, of peace or of war. + +Never perhaps since the day when the first successor of St. Peter took +his seat on the, pontifical throne until the interregnum which now +occurred, had so great an agitation been shown as there was at this +moment, when, as we have shown, all these people were thronging on the +Piazza of St. Peter and in the streets which led to it. It is true that +this was not without reason; for Innocent VIII--who was called the +father of his people because he had added to his subjects eight sons and +the same number of daughters--had, as we have said, after living a life +of self-indulgence, just died, after a death-struggle during which, if +the journal of Stefano Infessura may be believed, two hundred and twenty +murders were committed in the streets of Rome. The authority had then +devolved in the customary way upon the Cardinal Camerlengo, who during +the interregnum had sovereign powers; but as he had been obliged to +fulfil all the duties of his office--that is, to get money coined in his +name and bearing his arms, to take the fisherman's ring from the finger +of the dead pope, to dress, shave and paint him, to have the corpse +embalmed, to lower the coffin after nine days' obsequies into the +provisional niche where the last deceased pope has to remain until his +successor comes to take his place and consign him to his final tomb; +lastly, as he had been obliged to wall up the door of the Conclave and +the window of the balcony from which the pontifical election is +proclaimed, he had not had a single moment for busying himself with the +police; so that the assassinations had continued in goodly fashion, and +there were loud cries for an energetic hand which should make all these +swords and all these daggers retire into their sheaths. + +Now the eyes of this multitude were fixed, as we have said, upon the +Vatican, and particularly upon one chimney, from which would come the +first signal, when suddenly, at the moment of the 'Ave Maria'--that is +to say, at the hour when the day begins to decline--great cries went up +from all the crowd mixed with bursts of laughter, a discordant murmur of +threats and raillery, the cause being that they had just perceived at +the top of the chimney a thin smoke, which seemed like a light cloud to +go up perpendicularly into the sky. This smoke announced that Rome was +still without a master, and that the world still had no pope; for this +was the smoke of the voting tickets which were being burned, a proof +that the cardinals had not yet come to an agreement. + +Scarcely had this smoke appeared, to vanish almost immediately, when all +the innumerable crowd, knowing well that there was nothing else to wait +for, and that all was said and done until ten o'clock the next morning, +the time when the cardinals had their first voting, went off in a tumult +of noisy joking, just as they would after the last rocket of a firework +display; so that at the end of one minute nobody was there where a +quarter of an hour before there had been an excited crowd, except a few +curious laggards, who, living in the neighbourhood or on the very piazza +itself; were less in a hurry than the rest to get back to their homes; +again, little by little, these last groups insensibly diminished; for +half-past nine had just struck, and at this hour the streets of Rome +began already to be far from safe; then after these groups followed some +solitary passer-by, hurrying his steps; one after another the doors were +closed, one after another the windows were darkened; at last, when ten +o'clock struck, with the single exception of one window in the Vatican +where a lamp might be seen keeping obstinate vigil, all the houses, +piazzas, and streets were plunged in the deepest obscurity. + +At this moment a man wrapped in a cloak stood up like a ghost against +one of the columns of the uncompleted basilica, and gliding slowly and +carefully among the stones which were lying about round the foundations +of the new church, advanced as far as the fountain which, formed the +centre of the piazza, erected in the very place where the obelisk is now +set up of which we have spoken already; when he reached this spot he +stopped, doubly concealed by the darkness of the night and by the shade +of the monument, and after looking around him to see if he were really +alone, drew his sword, and with its point rapping three times on the +pavement of the piazza, each time made the sparks fly. This signal, for +signal it was, was not lost: the last lamp which still kept vigil in the +Vatican went out, and at the same instant an object thrown out of the +window fell a few paces off from the young man in the cloak: he, guided +by the silvery sound it had made in touching the flags, lost no time in +laying his hands upon it in spite of the darkness, and when he had it in +his possession hurried quickly away. + +Thus the unknown walked without turning round half-way along the Borgo +Vecchio; but there he turned to the right and took a street at the other +end of which was set up a Madonna with a lamp: he approached the light, +and drew from his pocket the object he had picked up, which was nothing +else than a Roman crown piece; but this crown unscrewed, and in a cavity +hollowed in its thickness enclosed a letter, which the man to whom it +was addressed began to read at the risk of being recognised, so great +was his haste to know what it contained. + +We say at the risk of being recognised, for in his eagerness the +recipient of this nocturnal missive had thrown back the hood of his +cloak; and as his head was wholly within the luminous circle cast by the +lamp, it was easy to distinguish in the light the head of a handsome +young man of about five or six and twenty, dressed in a purple doublet +slashed at the shoulder and elbow to let the shirt come through, and +wearing on his head a cap of the same colour with a long black feather +falling to his shoulder. It is true that he did not stand there long; +for scarcely had he finished the letter, or rather the note, which he +had just received in so strange and mysterious a manner, when he +replaced it in its silver receptacle, and readjusting his cloak so as to +hide all the lower part of his face, resumed his walk with a rapid step, +crossed Borgo San Spirito, and took the street of the Longara, which he +followed as far as the church of Regina Coeli. When he arrived at this +place, he gave three rapid knocks on the door of a house of good +appearance, which immediately opened; then slowly mounting the stairs he +entered a room where two women were awaiting him with an impatience so +unconcealed that both as they saw him exclaimed together: + +"Well, Francesco, what news?" + +"Good news, my mother; good, my sister," replied the young man, kissing +the one and giving his hand to the other. "Our father has gained three +votes to-day, but he still needs six to have the majority." + +"Then is there no means of buying them?" cried the elder of the two +women, while the younger, instead of speaking, asked him with a look. + +"Certainly, my mother, certainly," replied the young man; "and it is +just about that that my father has been thinking. He is giving Cardinal +Orsini his palace at Rome and his two castles of Monticello and Soriano; +to Cardinal Colanna his abbey of Subiaca; he gives Cardinal Sant' Angelo +the bishopric of Porto, with the furniture and cellar; to the Cardinal +of Parma the town of Nepi; to the Cardinal of Genoa the church of Santa +Maria-in-Via-Lata; and lastly, to Cardinal Savelli the church of Santa +Maria Maggiore and the town of Civita Castellana; as to Cardinal +Ascanio-Sforza, he knows already that the day before yesterday we sent +to his house four mules laden with silver and plate, and out of this +treasure he has engaged to give five thousand ducats to the Cardinal +Patriarch of Venice." + +"But how shall we get the others to know the intentions of Roderigo?" +asked the elder of the two women. + +"My father has provided for everything, and proposes an easy method; you +know, my mother, with what sort of ceremonial the cardinals' dinner is +carried in." + +"Yes, on a litter, in a large basket with the arms of the cardinal far +whom the meal is prepared." + +"My father has bribed the bishop who examines it: to-morrow is a +feast-day; to the Cardinals Orsini, Colonna, Savelli, Sant' Angelo, and +the Cardinals of Parma and of Genoa, chickens will be sent for hot meat, +and each chicken will contain a deed of gift duly drawn up, made by me +in my father's name, of the houses, palaces, or churches which are +destined for each." + +"Capital!" said the elder of the two women; "now, I am certain, all will +go well." + +"And by the grace of God," added the younger, with a strangely mocking +smile, "our father will be pope." + +"Oh, it will be a fine day for us!" cried Francesco. + +"And for Christendom," replied his sister, with a still more ironical +expression. + +"Lucrezia, Lucrezia," said the mother, "you do not deserve the happiness +which is coming to us." + +"What does that matter, if it comes all the same? Besides, you know the +proverb; mother: 'Large families are blessed of the Lord'; and still +more so our family, which is so patriarchal." + +At the same time she cast on her brother a look so wanton that the young +man blushed under it: but as at the moment he had to think of other +things than his illicit loves, he ordered that four servants should be +awakened; and while they were getting armed to accompany him, he drew up +and signed the six deeds of gift which were to be carried the next day +to the cardinals; for, not wishing to be seen at their houses, he +thought he would profit by the night-time to carry them himself to +certain persons in his confidence who would have them passed in, as had +been arranged, at the dinner-hour. Then, when the deeds were quite ready +and the servants also, Francesco went out with them, leaving the two +women to dream golden dreams of their future greatness. + +From the first dawn of day the people hurried anew, as ardent and +interested as on the evening before, to the Piazza of the Vatican, +where; at the ordinary time, that is, at ten o'clock in the +morning,--the smoke rose again as usual, evoking laughter and murmuring, +as it announced that none of the cardinals had secured the majority. A +report, however, began to be spread about that the chances were divided +between three candidates, who were Roderigo Borgia, Giuliano delta +Rovera, and Ascanio Sforza; for the people as yet knew nothing of the +four mules laden with plate and silver which had been led to Sforza's +house, by reason of which he had given up his own votes to his rival. In +the midst of the agitation excited in the crowd by this new report a +solemn chanting was heard; it proceeded from a procession, led by the +Cardinal Camerlengo, with the object of obtaining from Heaven the speedy +election of a pope: this procession, starting from the church of Ara +Coeli at the Capitol, was to make stations before the principal Madannas +and the most frequented churches. As soon as the silver crucifix was +perceived which went in front, the most profound silence prevailed, and +everyone fell on his knees; thus a supreme calm followed the tumult and +uproar which had been heard a few minutes before, and which at each +appearance of the smoke had assumed a more threatening character: there +was a shrewd suspicion that the procession, as well as having a +religious end in view, had a political object also, and that its +influence was intended to be as great on earth as in heaven. In any +case, if such had been the design of the Cardinal Camerlengo, he had not +deceived himself, and the effect was what he desired: when the +procession had gone past, the laughing and joking continued, but the +cries and threats had completely ceased. + +The whole day passed thus; for in Rome nobody works. You are either a +cardinal or a lacquey, and you live, nobody knows how. The crowd was +still extremely numerous, when, towards two o'clock in the afternoon, +another procession, which had quite as much power of provoking noise as +the first of imposing silence, traversed in its turn the Piazza of St. +Peter's: this was the dinner procession. The people received it with the +usual bursts of laughter, without suspecting, for all their irreverence, +that this procession, more efficacious than the former, had just settled +the election of the new pope. + +The hour of the Ave Maria came as on the evening before; but, as on the +evening before, the waiting of the whole day was lost; for, as half-past +eight struck, the daily smoke reappeared at the top of the chimney. But +when at the same moment rumours which came from the inside of the +Vatican were spread abroad, announcing that, in all probability, the +election would take place the next day, the good people preserved their +patience. Besides, it had been very hot that day, and they were so +broken with fatigue and roasted by the sun, these dwellers in shade and +idleness, that they had no strength left to complain. + +The morning of the next day, which was the 11th of August, 1492, arose +stormy and dark; this did not hinder the multitude from thronging the +piazzas, streets, doors, houses, churches. Moreover, this disposition of +the weather was a real blessing from Heaven; for if there were heat, at +least there would be no sun. Towards nine o'clock threatening +storm-clouds were heaped up over all the Trastevere; but to this crowd +what mattered rain, lightning, or thunder? They were preoccupied with a +concern of a very different nature; they were waiting for their pope: a +promise had been made them for to-day, and it could be seen by the +manner of all, that if the day should pass without any election taking +place, the end of it might very well be a riot; therefore, in proportion +as the time advanced, the agitation grew greater. Nine o'clock, +half-past nine, a quarter to ten struck, without anything happening to +confirm or destroy their hopes. At last the first stroke of ten was +heard; all eyes turned towards the chimney: ten o'clock struck slowly, +each stroke vibrating in the heart of the multitude. At last the tenth +stroke trembled, then vanished shuddering into space, and, a great cry +breaking simultaneously frog a hundred thousand breasts followed the +silence "Non v'e fumo! There is no smoke!" In other words, "We have a +pope." + +At this moment the rain began to fall; but no one paid any attention to +it, so great were the transports of joy and impatience among all the +people. At last a little stone was detached from the walled window which +gave on the balcony and upon which all eyes were fixed: a general shout +saluted its fall; little by little the aperture grew larger, and in a +few minutes it was large enough to allow a man to come out on the +balcony. + +The Cardinal Ascanio Sforza appeared; but at the moment when he was on +the point of coming out, frightened by the rain and the lightning, he +hesitated an instant, and finally drew back: immediately the multitude +in their turn broke out like a tempest into cries, curses, howls, +threatening to tear down the Vatican and to go and seek their pope +themselves. At this noise Cardinal Sforza, more terrified by the popular +storm than by the storm in the heavens, advanced on the balcony, and +between two thunderclaps, in a moment of silence astonishing to anyone +who had just heard the clamour that went before, made the following +proclamation: + +"I announce to you a great joy: the most Eminent and most Reverend +Signor Roderigo Lenzuolo Borgia, Archbishop of Valencia, Cardinal-Deacon +of San Nicolao-in-Carcere, Vice-Chancellor of the Church, has now been +elected Page, and has assumed the name of Alexander VI." + +The news of this nomination was received with strange joy. Roderigo +Borgia had the reputation of a dissolute man, it is true, but +libertinism had mounted the throne with Sixtus IV and Innocent VIII, so +that for the Romans there was nothing new in the singular situation of a +pope with a mistress and five children. The great thing for the moment +was that the power fell into strong hands; and it was more important for +the tranquillity of Rome that the new pope inherited the sword of St. +Paul than that he inherited the keys of St. Peter. + +And so, in the feasts that were given on this occasion, the dominant +character was much more warlike than religious, and would have appeared +rather to suit with the election of some young conqueror than the +exaltation of an old pontiff: there was no limit to the pleasantries and +prophetic epigrams on the name of Alexander, which for the second time +seemed to promise the Romans the empire of the world; and the same +evening, in the midst of brilliant illuminations and bonfires, which +seemed to turn the town into a lake of flame, the following epigram was +read, amid the acclamation of the people: + + "Rome under Caesar's rule in ancient story + At home and o'er the world victorious trod; + But Alexander still extends his glory: + Caesar was man, but Alexander God." + +As to the new pope, scarcely had he completed the formalities of +etiquette which his exaltation imposed upon him, and paid to each man +the price of his simony, when from the height of the Vatican he cast his +eyes upon Europe, a vast political game of chess, which he cherished the +hope of directing at the will of his own genius. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +The world had now arrived at one of those supreme moments of history +when every thing is transformed between the end of one period and the +beginning of another: in the East Turkey, in the South Spain, in the +West France, and in the North German, all were going to assume, together +with the title of great Powers, that influence which they were destined +to exert in the future over the secondary States. Accordingly we too, +with Alexander VI, will cast a rapid glance over them, and see what were +their respective situations in regard to Italy, which they all coveted +as a prize. + +Constantine, Palaeologos Dragozes, besieged by three hundred thousand +Turks, after having appealed in vain for aid to the whole of +Christendom, had not been willing to survive the loss of his empire, and +had been found in the midst of the dead, close to the Tophana Gate; and +on the 30th of May, 1453, Mahomet II had made his entry into +Constantinople, where, after a reign which had earned for him the +surname of 'Fatile', or the Conqueror, he had died leaving two sons, the +elder of whom had ascended the throne under the name of Bajazet II. + +The accession of the new sultan, however, had not taken place with the +tranquillity which his right as elder brother and his father's choice of +him should have promised. His younger brother, D'jem, better known under +the name of Zizimeh, had argued that whereas he was born in the +purple--that is, born during the reign of Mahomet--Bajazet was born +prior to his epoch, and was therefore the son of a private individual. +This was rather a poor trick; but where force is all and right is +naught, it was good enough to stir up a war. The two brothers, each at +the head of an army, met accordingly in Asia in 1482. D'jem was defeated +after a seven hours' fight, and pursued by his brother, who gave him no +time to rally his army: he was obliged to embark from Cilicia, and took +refuge in Rhodes, where he implored the protection of the Knights of St. +John. They, not daring to give him an asylum in their island so near to +Asia, sent him to France, where they had him carefully guarded in one of +their commanderies, in spite of the urgency of Cait Bey, Sultan of +Egypt, who, having revolted against Bajazet, desired to have the young +prince in his army to give his rebellion the appearance of legitimate +warfare. The same demand, moreover, with the same political object, had +been made successively by Mathias Corvinus, King of Hungary, by +Ferdinand, King of Aragon and Sicily, and by Ferdinand, King of Naples. + +On his side Bajazet, who knew all the importance of such a rival, if he +once allied himself with any one of the princes with whom he was at war, +had sent ambassadors to Charles VIII, offering, if he would consent to +keep D'jem with him, to give him a considerable pension, and to give to +France the sovereignty of the Holy Land, so soon as Jerusalem should be +conquered by the Sultan of Egypt. The King of France had accepted these +terms. + +But then Innocent VIII had intervened, and in his turn had claimed +D'jem, ostensibly to give support by the claims of the refugee to a +crusade which he was preaching against the Turks, but in reality to +appropriate the pension of 40,000 ducats to be given by Bajazet to any +one of the Christian princes who would undertake to be his brother's +gaoler. Charles VIII had not dared to refuse to the spiritual head of +Christendom a request supported by such holy reasons; and therefore +D'jem had quitted France, accompanied by the Grand Master d'Aubusson, +under whose direct charge he was; but his guardian had consented, for +the sake of a cardinal's hat, to yield up his prisoner. Thus, on the +13th of March, 1489, the unhappy young man, cynosure of so many +interested eyes, made his solemn entry into Rome, mounted on a superb +horse, clothed in a magnificent oriental costume, between the Prior of +Auvergne, nephew of the Grand Master d'Aubusson, and Francesco Cibo, the +son of the pope. + +After this he had remained there, and Bajazet, faithful to promises +which it was so much his interest to fulfil, had punctually paid to the +sovereign pontiff a pension of 40,000 ducats. + +So much for Turkey. + +Ferdinand and Isabella were reigning in Spain, and were laying the +foundations of that vast power which was destined, five-and-twenty years +later, to make Charles V declare that the sun never set on his +dominions. In fact, these two sovereigns, on whom history has bestowed +the name of Catholic, had reconquered in succession nearly all Spain, +and driven the Moors out of Granada, their last entrenchment; while two +men of genius, Bartolome Diaz and Christopher Columbus, had succeeded, +much to the profit of Spain, the one in recovering a lost world, the +other in conquering a world yet unknown. They had accordingly, thanks to +their victories in the ancient world and their discoveries in the new, +acquired an influence at the court of Rome which had never been enjoyed +by any of their predecessors. + +So much for Spain. + +In France, Charles VIII had succeeded his father, Louis XI, on the 30th +of August, 1483. Louis by dint of executions, had tranquillised his +kingdom and smoothed the way for a child who ascended the throne under +the regency of a woman. And the regency had been a glorious one, and had +put down the pretensions of princes of the blood, put an end to civil +wars, and united to the crown all that yet remained of the great +independent fiefs. The result was that at the epoch where we now are, +here was Charles VIII, about twenty-two years of age, a prince (if we +are to believe La Tremouille) little of body but great of heart; a child +(if we are to believe Commines) only now making his first flight from +the nest, destitute of both sense and money, feeble in person, full of +self-will, and consorting rather with fools than with the wise; lastly, +if we are to believe Guicciardini, who was an Italian, might well have +brought a somewhat partial judgment to bear upon the subject, a young +man of little wit concerning the actions of men, but carried away by an +ardent desire for rule and the acquisition of glory, a desire based far +more on his shallow character and impetuosity than on any consciousness +of genius: he was an enemy to all fatigue and all business, and when he +tried to give his attention to it he showed himself always totally +wanting in prudence and judgment. If anything in him appeared at first +sight to be worthy of praise, on a closer inspection it was found to be +something nearer akin to vice than to virtue. He was liberal, it is +true, but without thought, with no measure and no discrimination. He was +sometimes inflexible in will; but this was through obstinacy rather than +a constant mind; and what his flatterers called goodness deserved far +more the name of insensibility to injuries or poverty of spirit. + +As to his physical appearance, if we are to believe the same author, it +was still less admirable, and answered marvellously to his weakness of +mind and character. He was small, with a large head, a short thick neck, +broad chest, and high shoulders; his thighs and legs were long and thin; +and as his face also was ugly--and was only redeemed by the dignity and +force of his glance--and all his limbs were disproportionate with one +another, he had rather the appearance of a monster than a man. Such was +he whom Fortune was destined to make a conqueror, for whom Heaven was +reserving more glory than he had power to carry. + +So much for France. + +The Imperial throne was occupied by Frederic III, who had been rightly +named the Peaceful, not for the reason that he had always maintained +peace, but because, having constantly been beaten, he had always been +forced to make it. The first proof he had given of this very +philosophical forbearance was during his journey to Rome, whither he +betook himself to be consecrated. In crossing the Apennines he was +attacked by brigands. They robbed him, but he made no pursuit. And so, +encouraged by example and by the impunity of lesser thieves, the greater +ones soon took part in the robberies. Amurath seized part of Hungary. +Mathias Corvinus took Lower Austria, and Frederic consoled himself for +these usurpations by repeating the maxim, Forgetfulness is the best cure +for the losses we suffer. At the time we have now reached, he had just, +after a reign of fifty-three years, affianced his son Maximilian to +Marie of Burgundy and had put under the ban of the Empire his +son-in-law, Albert of Bavaria, who laid claim to the ownership of the +Tyrol. He was therefore too full of his family affairs to be troubled +about Italy. Besides, he was busy looking for a motto for the house of +Austria, an occupation of the highest importance for a man of the +character of Frederic III. This motto, which Charles V was destined +almost to render true, was at last discovered, to the great joy of the +old emperor, who, judging that he had nothing more to do on earth after +he had given this last proof of sagacity, died on the 19th of August, +1493; leaving the empire to his son Maximilian. + +This motto was simply founded on the five vowels, a, e, i, o, u, the +initial letters of these five words + + "AUSTRIAE EST IMPERARE ORBI UNIVERSO." + +This means + +"It is the destiny of Austria to rule over the whole world." + +So much for Germany. + +Now that we have cast a glance over the four nations which were on the +way, as we said before, to become European Powers, let us turn our +attention to those secondary States which formed a circle more +contiguous to Rome, and whose business it was to serve as armour, so to +speak, to the spiritual queen of the world, should it please any of +these political giants whom we have described to make encroachments with +a view to an attack, on the seas or the mountains, the Adriatic Gulf or +the Alps, the Mediterranean or the Apennines. + +These were the kingdom of Naples, the duchy of Milan, the magnificent +republic of Florence, and the most serene republic of Venice. + +The kingdom of Naples was in the hands of the old Ferdinand, whose birth +was not only illegitimate, but probably also well within the prohibited +degrees. His father, Alfonso of Aragon, received his crown from Giovanna +of Naples, who had adopted him as her successor. But since, in the fear +of having no heir, the queen on her deathbed had named two instead of +one, Alfonso had to sustain his rights against Rene. The two aspirants +for some time disputed the crown. At last the house of Aragon carried +the day over the house of Anjou, and in the course of the year 1442, +Alfonso definitely secured his seat on the throne. Of this sort were the +claims of the defeated rival which we shall see Charles VIII maintaining +later on. Ferdinand had neither the courage nor the genius of his +father, and yet he triumphed over his enemies, one after another he had +two rivals, both far superior in merit to him self. The one was his +nephew, the Count of Viana, who, basing his claim on his uncle's +shameful birth, commanded the whole Aragonese party; the other was Duke +John of Calabria, who commanded the whole Angevin party. Still he +managed to hold the two apart, and to keep himself on the throne by dint +of his prudence, which often verged upon duplicity. He had a cultivated +mind, and had studied the sciences--above all, law. He was of middle +height, with a large handsome head, his brow open and admirably framed +in beautiful white hair, which fell nearly down to his shoulders. +Moreover, though he had rarely exercised his physical strength in arms, +this strength was so great that one day, when he happened to be on the +square of the Mercato Nuovo at Naples, he seized by the horns a bull +that had escaped and stopped him short, in spite of all the efforts the +animal made to escape from his hands. Now the election of Alexander had +caused him great uneasiness, and in spite of his usual prudence he had +not been able to restrain himself from saying before the bearer of the +news that not only did he fail to rejoice in this election, but also +that he did not think that any Christian could rejoice in it, seeing +that Borgia, having always been a bad man, would certainly make a bad +pope. To this he added that, even were the choice an excellent one and +such as would please everybody else, it would be none the less fatal to +the house of Aragon, although Roderigo was born her subject and owed to +her the origin and progress of his fortunes; for wherever reasons of +state come in, the ties of blood and parentage are soon forgotten, and, +'a fortiori', relations arising from the obligations of nationality. + +Thus, one may see that Ferdinand judged Alexander VI with his usual +perspicacity; this, however, did not hinder him, as we shall soon +perceive, from being the first to contract an alliance with him. + +The duchy of Milan belonged nominally to John Galeazzo, grandson of +Francesco Sforza, who had seized it by violence on the 26th of February, +1450, and bequeathed it to his son, Galeazzo Maria, father of the young +prince now reigning; we say nominally, because the real master of the +Milanese was at this period not the legitimate heir who was supposed to +possess it, but his uncle Ludovico, surnamed 'il Moro', because of the +mulberry tree which he bore in his arms. After being exiled with his two +brothers, Philip who died of poison in 1479, and Ascanio who became the +cardinal, he returned to Milan some days after the assassination of +Galeazzo Maria, which took place on the 26th of December 1476, in St. +Stephen's Church, and assumed the regency for the young duke, who at +that time was only eight years old. From now onward, even after his +nephew had reached the age of two-and-twenty, Ludovico continued to +rule, and according to all probabilities was destined to rule a long +time yet; for, some days after the poor young man had shown a desire to +take the reins himself, he had fallen sick, and it was said, and not in +a whisper, that he had taken one of those slow but mortal poisons of +which princes made so frequent a use at this period, that, even when a +malady was natural, a cause was always sought connected with some great +man's interests. However it may have been, Ludovico had relegated his +nephew, now too weak to busy himself henceforward with the affairs of +his duchy, to the castle of Pavia, where he lay and languished under the +eyes of his wife Isabella, daughter of King Ferdinand of Naples. + +As to Ludovico, he was an ambitious man, full of courage and astuteness, +familiar with the sword and with poison, which he used alternately, +according to the occasion, without feeling any repugnance or any +predilection for either of them; but quite decided to be his nephew's +heir whether he died or lived. + +Florence, although she had preserved the name of a republic, had little +by little lost all her liberties, and belonged in fact, if not by right, +to Piero dei Medici, to whom she had been bequeathed as a paternal +legacy by Lorenzo, as we have seen, at the risk of his soul's salvation. + +The son, unfortunately, was far from having the genius of his father: he +was handsome, it is true, whereas Lorenzo, on the contrary, was +remarkably ugly; he had an agreeable, musical voice, whereas Lorenzo had +always spoken through his nose; he was instructed in Latin and Greek, +his conversation was pleasant and easy, and he improvised verses almost +as well as the so-called Magnificent; but he was both ignorant of +political affairs and haughtily insolent in his behaviour to those who +had made them their study. Added to this, he was an ardent lover of +pleasure, passionately addicted to women, incessantly occupied with +bodily exercises that should make him shine in their eyes, above all +with tennis, a game at which he very highly excelled: he promised +himself that, when the period of mourning was fast, he would occupy the +attention not only of Florence but of the whole of Italy, by the +splendour of his courts and the renown of his fetes. Piero dei Medici +had at any rate formed this plan; but Heaven decreed otherwise. + +As to the most serene republic of Venice, whose doge was Agostino +Barbarigo, she had attained, at the time we have reached, to her highest +degree of power and splendour. From Cadiz to the Palus Maeotis, there +was no port that was not open to her thousand ships; she possessed in +Italy, beyond the coastline of the canals and the ancient duchy of +Venice, the provinces of Bergamo, Brescia, Crema, Verona, Vicenza, and +Padua; she owned the marches of Treviso, which comprehend the districts +of Feltre, Belluno, Cadore, Polesella of Rovigo, and the principality of +Ravenna; she also owned the Friuli, except Aquileia; Istria, except +Trieste; she owned, on the east side of the Gulf, Zara, Spalatra, and +the shore of Albania; in the Ionian Sea, the islands of Zante and Corfu; +in Greece, Lepanto and Patras; in the Morea, Morone, Corone, Neapolis, +and Argos; lastly, in the Archipelago, besides several little towns and +stations on the coast, she owned Candia and the kingdom of Cyprus. + +Thus from the mouth of the Po to the eastern extremity of the +Mediterranean, the most serene republic was mistress of the whole +coastline, and Italy and Greece seemed to be mere suburbs of Venice. + +In the intervals of space left free between Naples, Milan, Florence, and +Venice, petty tyrants had arisen who exercised an absolute sovereignty +over their territories: thus the Colonnas were at Ostia and at Nettuna, +the Montefeltri at Urbino, the Manfredi at Faenza, the Bentivogli at +Bologna, the Malatesta family at Rimini, the Vitelli at Citta di +Castello, the Baglioni at Perugia, the Orsini at Vicovaro, and the +princes of Este at Ferrara. + +Finally, in the centre of this immense circle, composed of great Powers, +of secondary States, and of little tyrannies, Rome was set on high, the +most exalted, yet the weakest of all, without influence, without lands, +without an army, without gold. It was the concern of the new pope to +secure all this: let us see, therefore, what manner of man was this +Alexander VI, for undertaking and accomplishing such a project. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +RODERIGO LENZUOLO was barn at Valencia, in Spain, in 1430 or 1431, and +on his mother's side was descended, as some writers declare, of a family +of royal blood, which had cast its eyes on the tiara only after +cherishing hopes of the crowns of Aragon and Valencia. Roderigo from his +infancy had shown signs of a marvellous quickness of mind, and as he +grew older he exhibited an intelligence extremely apt far the study of +sciences, especially law and jurisprudence: the result was that his +first distinctions were gained in the law, a profession wherein he soon +made a great reputation by his ability in the discussion of the most +thorny cases. All the same, he was not slow to leave this career, and +abandoned it quite suddenly far the military profession, which his +father had followed; but after various actions which served to display +his presence of mind and courage, he was as much disgusted with this +profession as with the other; and since it happened that at the very +time he began to feel this disgust his father died, leaving a +considerable fortune, he resolved to do no more work, but to live +according to his own fancies and caprices. About this time he became the +lover of a widow who had two daughters. The widow dying, Roderigo took +the girls under his protection, put one into a convent, and as the other +was one of the loveliest women imaginable, made her his mistress. This +was the notorious Rosa Vanozza, by whom he had five children--Francesco, +Caesar, Lucrezia, and Goffredo; the name of the fifth is unknown. + +Roderigo, retired from public affairs, was given up entirely to the +affections of a lover and a father, when he heard that his uncle, who +loved him like a son, had been elected pope under the name of Calixtus +III. But the young man was at this time so much a lover that love +imposed silence on ambition; and indeed he was almost terrified at the +exaltation of his uncle, which was no doubt destined to force him once +more into public life. Consequently, instead of hurrying to Rome, as +anyone else in his place would have done, he was content to indite to +His Holiness a letter in which he begged for the continuation of his +favours, and wished him a long and happy reign. + +This reserve on the part of one of his relatives, contrasted with the +ambitious schemes which beset the new pope at every step, struck +Calixtus III in a singular way: he knew the stuff that was in young +Roderigo, and at a time when he was besieged on all sides by +mediocrities, this powerful nature holding modestly aside gained new +grandeur in his eyes so he replied instantly to Roderigo that on the +receipt of his letter he must quit Spain for Italy, Valencia for Rome. + +This letter uprooted Roderigo from the centre of happiness he had +created for himself, and where he might perhaps have slumbered on like +an ordinary man, if fortune had not thus interposed to drag him forcibly +away. Roderigo was happy, Roderigo was rich; the evil passions which +were natural to him had been, if not extinguished,--at least lulled; he +was frightened himself at the idea of changing the quiet life he was +leading for the ambitious, agitated career that was promised him; and +instead of obeying his uncle, he delayed the preparations for departure, +hoping that Calixtus would forget him. It was not so: two months after +he received the letter from the pope, there arrived at Valencia a +prelate from Rome, the bearer of Roderigo's nomination to a benefice +worth 20,000 ducats a year, and also a positive order to the holder of +the post to come and take possession of his charge as soon as possible. + +Holding back was no longer feasible: so Roderigo obeyed; but as he did +not wish to be separated from the source whence had sprung eight years +of happiness, Rosa Vanozza also left Spain, and while he was going to +Rome, she betook herself to Venice, accompanied by two confidential +servants, and under the protection of a Spanish gentleman named Manuel +Melchior. + +Fortune kept the promises she had made to Roderigo: the pope received +him as a son, and made him successively Archbishop of Valencia, +Cardinal-Deacon, and Vice-Chancellor. To all these favours Calixtus +added a revenue of 20,000 ducats, so that at the age of scarcely +thirty-five Roderigo found himself the equal of a prince in riches and +power. + +Roderigo had had some reluctance about accepting the cardinalship, which +kept him fast at Rome, and would have preferred to be General of the +Church, a position which would have allowed him more liberty for seeing +his mistress and his family; but his uncle Calixtus made him reckon with +the possibility of being his successor some day, and from that moment +the idea of being the supreme head of kings and nations took such hold +of Roderigo, that he no longer had any end in view but that which his +uncle had made him entertain. + +From that day forward, there began to grow up in the young cardinal that +talent for hypocrisy which made of him the most perfect incarnation of +the devil that has perhaps ever existed; and Roderigo was no longer the +same man: with words of repentance and humility on his lips, his head +bowed as though he were bearing the weight of his past sins, disparaging +the riches which he had acquired and which, according to him, were the +wealth of the poor and ought to return to the poor, he passed his life +in churches, monasteries, and hospitals, acquiring, his historian tells +us, even in the eyes of his enemies, the reputation of a Solomon for +wisdom, of a Job for patience, and of a very Moses for his promulgation +of the word of God: Rosa Vanozza was the only person in the world who +could appreciate the value of this pious cardinal's conversion. + +It proved a lucky thing for Roderiga that he had assumed this pious +attitude, for his protector died after a reign of three years three +months and nineteen days, and he was now sustained by his own merit +alone against the numerous enemies he had made by his rapid rise to +fortune: so during the whole of the reign of Pius II he lived always +apart from public affairs, and only reappeared in the days of Sixtus IV, +who made him the gift of the abbacy of Subiaco, and sent him in the +capacity of ambassador to the kings of Aragon and Portugal. On his +return, which took place during the pontificate of Innocent VIII, he +decided to fetch his family at last to Rome: thither they came, escorted +by Don Manuel Melchior, who from that moment passed as the husband of +Rosa Vanozza, and took the name of Count Ferdinand of Castile. The +Cardinal Roderigo received the noble Spaniard as a countryman and a +friend; and he, who expected to lead a most retired life, engaged a +house in the street of the Lungara, near the church of Regina Coeli, on +the banks of the Tiber. There it was that, after passing the day in +prayers and pious works, Cardinal Roderigo used to repair each evening +and lay aside his mask. And it was said, though nobody could prove it, +that in this house infamous scenes passed: Report said the dissipations +were of so dissolute a character that their equals had never been seen +in Rome. With a view to checking the rumours that began to spread +abroad, Roderigo sent Caesar to study at Pisa, and married Lucrezia to a +young gentleman of Aragon; thus there only remained at home Rosa Vanozza +and her two sons: such was the state of things when Innocent VIII died +and Roderigo Borgia was proclaimed pope. + +We have seen by what means the nomination was effected; and so the five +cardinals who had taken no part in this simony--namely, the Cardinals of +Naples, Sierra, Portugal, Santa Maria-in-Porticu, and St. +Peter-in-Vinculis--protested loudly against this election, which they +treated as a piece of jobbery; but Roderigo had none the less, however +it was done, secured his majority; Roderigo was none the less the two +hundred and sixtieth successor of St. Peter. + +Alexander VI, however, though he had arrived at his object, did not dare +throw off at first the mask which the Cardinal Bargia had worn so long, +although when he was apprised of his election he could not dissimulate +his joy; indeed, on hearing the favourable result of the scrutiny, he +lifted his hands to heaven and cried, in the accents of satisfied +ambition, "Am I then pope? Am I then Christ's vicar? Am I then the +keystone of the Christian world?" + +"Yes, holy father," replied Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, the same who had +sold to Roderigo the nine votes that were at his disposal at the +Conclave for four mules laden with silver; "and we hope by your election +to give glory to God, repose to the Church, and joy to Christendom, +seeing that you have been chosen by the Almighty Himself as the most +worthy among all your brethren." + +But in the short interval occupied by this reply, the new pope had +already assumed the papal authority, and in a humble voice and with +hands crossed upon his breast, he spoke: + +"We hope that God will grant us His powerful aid, in spite of our +weakness, and that He will do for us that which He did for the apostle +when aforetime He put into his hands the keys of heaven and entrusted to +him the government of the Church, a government which without the aid of +God would prove too heavy a burden for mortal man; but God promised that +His Spirit should direct him; God will do the same, I trust, for us; and +for your part we fear not lest any of you fail in that holy obedience +which is due unto the head of the Church, even as the flock of Christ +was bidden to follow the prince of the apostles." + +Having spoken these words, Alexander donned the pontifical robes, and +through the windows of the Vatican had strips of paper thrown out on +which his name was written in Latin. These, blown by the wind, seemed to +convey to the whole world the news of the great event which was about to +change the face of Italy. The same day couriers started far all the +courts of Europe. + +Caesar Borgia learned the news of his father's election at the +University of Pisa, where he was a student. His ambition had sometimes +dreamed of such good fortune, yet his joy was little short of madness. +He was then a young man, about twenty-two or twenty-four years of age, +skilful in all bodily exercises, and especially in fencing; he could +ride barebacked the most fiery steeds, could cut off the head of a bull +at a single sword-stroke; moreover, he was arrogant, jealous, and +insincere. According to Tammasi, he was great among the godless, as his +brother Francesco was good among the great. As to his face, even +contemporary authors have left utterly different descriptions; for same +have painted him as a monster of ugliness, while others, on the +contrary, extol his beauty. This contradiction is due to the fact that +at certain times of the year, and especially in the spring, his face was +covered with an eruption which, so long as it lasted, made him an object +of horror and disgust, while all the rest of the year he was the sombre, +black-haired cavalier with pale skin and tawny beard whom Raphael shows +us in the fine portrait he made of him. And historians, both chroniclers +and painters, agree as to his fixed and powerful gaze, behind which +burned a ceaseless flame, giving to his face something infernal and +superhuman. Such was the man whose fortune was to fulfil all his +desires. He had taken for his motto, 'Aut Caesar, aut nihil': Caesar or +nothing. + +Caesar posted to Rome with certain of his friends, and scarcely was he +recognised at the gates of the city when the deference shown to him gave +instant proof of the change in his fortunes: at the Vatican the respect +was twice as great; mighty men bowed down before him as before one +mightier than themselves. And so, in his impatience, he stayed not to +visit his mother or any other member of his family, but went straight to +the pope to kiss his feet; and as the pope had been forewarned of his +coming, he awaited him in the midst of a brilliant and numerous +assemblage of cardinals, with the three other brothers standing behind +him. His Holiness received Caesar with a gracious countenance; still, he +did not allow himself any demonstration of his paternal love, but, +bending towards him, kissed him an the forehead, and inquired how he was +and how he had fared on his journey. Caesar replied that he was +wonderfully well, and altogether at the service of His Holiness: that, +as to the journey, the trifling inconveniences and short fatigue had +been compensated, and far mare than compensated, by the joy which he +felt in being able to adore upon the papal throne a pope who was so +worthy. At these words, leaving Caesar still on his knees, and reseating +himself--for he had risen from his seat to embrace him--the pope assumed +a grave and composed expression of face, and spoke as follows, loud +enough to be heard by all, and slowly enough far everyone present to be +able to ponder and retain in his memory even the least of his words: + +"We are convinced, Caesar, that you are peculiarly rejoiced in beholding +us on this sublime height, so far above our deserts, whereto it has +pleased the Divine goodness to exalt us. This joy of yours is first of +all our due because of the love we have always borne you and which we +bear you still, and in the second place is prompted by your own personal +interest, since henceforth you may feel sure of receiving from our +pontifical hand those benefits which your own good works shall deserve. +But if your joy--and this we say to you as we have even now said to your +brothers--if your joy is founded on ought else than this, you are very +greatly mistaken, Caesar, and you will find yourself sadly deceived. +Perhaps we have been ambitious--we confess this humbly before the face +of all men--passionately and immoderately ambitious to attain to the +dignity of sovereign pontiff, and to reach this end we have followed +every path that is open to human industry; but we have acted thus, +vowing an inward vow that when once we had reached our goal, we would +follow no other path but that which conduces best to the service of God +and to the advancement of the Holy See, so that the glorious memory of +the deeds that we shall do may efface the shameful recollection of the +deeds we have already done. Thus shall we, let us hope, leave to those +who follow us a track where upon if they find not the footsteps of a +saint, they may at least tread in the path of a true pontiff. God, who +has furthered the means, claims at our hands the fruits, and we desire +to discharge to the full this mighty debt that we have incurred to Him; +and accordingly we refuse to arouse by any deceit the stern rigour of +His judgments. One sole hindrance could have power to shake our good +intentions, and that might happen should we feel too keen an interest in +your fortunes. Therefore are we armed beforehand against our love, and +therefore have we prayed to God beforehand that we stumble not because +of you; for in the path of favouritism a pope cannot slip without a +fall, and cannot fall without injury and dishonour to the Holy See. Even +to the end of our life we shall deplore the faults which have brought +this experience home to us; and may it please Gad that our uncle +Calixtus of blessed memory bear not this day in purgatory the burden of +our sins, more heavy, alas, than his own! Ah, he was rich in every +virtue, he was full of good intentions; but he loved too much his own +people, and among them he loved me chief. And so he suffered this love +to lead him blindly astray, all this love that he bore to his kindred, +who to him were too truly flesh of his flesh, so that he heaped upon the +heads of a few persons only, and those perhaps the least worthy, +benefits which would more fittingly have rewarded the deserts of many. +In truth, he bestowed upon our house treasures that should never have +been amassed at the expense of the poor, or else should have been turned +to a better purpose. He severed from the ecclesiastical State, already +weak and poor, the duchy of Spoleto and other wealthy properties, that +he might make them fiefs to us; he confided to our weak hands the +vice-chancellorship, the vice-prefecture of Rome, the generalship of the +Church, and all the other most important offices, which, instead of +being monopolised by us, should have been conferred on those who were +most meritorious. Moreover, there were persons who were raised on our +recommendation to posts of great dignity, although they had no claims +but such as our undue partiality accorded them; others were left out +with no reason for their failure except the jealousy excited in us by +their virtues. To rob Ferdinand of Aragon of the kingdom of Naples, +Calixtus kindled a terrible war, which by a happy issue only served to +increase our fortune, and by an unfortunate issue must have brought +shame and disaster upon the Holy See. Lastly, by allowing himself to be +governed by men who sacrificed public good to their private interests, +he inflicted an injury, not only upon the pontifical throne and his own +reputation, but what is far worse, far more deadly, upon his own +conscience. And yet, O wise judgments of God! hard and incessantly +though he toiled to establish our fortunes, scarcely had he left empty +that supreme seat which we occupy to-day, when we were cast down from +the pinnacle whereon we had climbed, abandoned to the fury of the rabble +and the vindictive hatred of the Roman barons, who chose to feel +offended by our goodness to their enemies. Thus, not only, we tell you, +Caesar, not only did we plunge headlong from the summit of our grandeur, +losing the worldly goods and dignities which our uncle had heaped at our +feet, but for very peril of our life we were condemned to a voluntary +exile, we and our friends, and in this way only did we contrive to +escape the storm which our too good fortune had stirred up against us. +Now this is a plain proof that God mocks at men's designs when they are +bad ones. How great an error is it for any pope to devote more care to +the welfare of a house, which cannot last more than a few years, than to +the glory of the Church, which will last for ever! What utter folly for +any public man whose position is not inherited and cannot be bequeathed +to his posterity, to support the edifice of his grandeur on any other +basis than the noblest virtue practised for the general good, and to +suppose that he can ensure the continuance of his own fortune otherwise +than by taking all precautions against sudden whirlwinds which are want +to arise in the midst of a calm, and to blow up the storm-clouds I mean +the host of enemies. Now any one of these enemies who does his worst can +cause injuries far more powerful than any help that is at all likely to +come from a hundred friends and their lying promises. If you and your +brothers walk in the path of virtue which we shall now open for you, +every wish of your heart shall be instantly accomplished; but if you +take the other path, if you have ever hoped that our affection will wink +at disorderly life, then you will very soon find out that we are truly +pope, Father of the Church, not father of the family; that, vicar of +Christ as we are, we shall act as we deem best for Christendom, and not +as you deem best for your own private good. And now that we have come to +a thorough understanding, Caesar, receive our pontifical blessing." And +with these words, Alexander VI rose up, laid his hands upon his son's +head, for Caesar was still kneeling, and then retired into his +apartments, without inviting him to follow. + +The young man remained awhile stupefied at this discourse, so utterly +unexpected, so utterly destructive at one fell blow to his most +cherished hopes. He rose giddy and staggering like a drunken man, and at +once leaving the Vatican, hurried to his mother, whom he had forgotten +before, but sought now in his despair. Rosa Vanozza possessed all the +vices and all the virtues of a Spanish courtesan; her devotion to the +Virgin amounted to superstition, her fondness for her children to +weakness, and her love for Roderigo to sensuality. In the depth of her +heart she relied on the influence she had been able to exercise over him +for nearly thirty years; and like a snake, she knew haw to envelop him +in her coils when the fascination of her glance had lost its power. Rosa +knew of old the profound hypocrisy of her lover, and thus she was in no +difficulty about reassuring Caesar. + +Lucrezia was with her mother when Caesar arrived; the two young people +exchanged a lover-like kiss beneath her very eyes: and before he left +Caesar had made an appointment for the same evening with Lucrezia, who +was now living apart from her husband, to whom Roderigo paid a pension +in her palace of the Via del Pelegrino, opposite the Campo dei Fiori, +and there enjoying perfect liberty. + +In the evening, at the hour fixed, Caesar appeared at Lucrezia's; but he +found there his brother Francesco. The two young men had never been +friends. Still, as their tastes were very different, hatred with +Francesco was only the fear of the deer for the hunter; but with Caesar +it was the desire for vengeance and that lust for blood which lurks +perpetually in the heart of a tiger. The two brothers none the less +embraced, one from general kindly feeling, the other from hypocrisy; but +at first sight of one another the sentiment of a double rivalry, first +in their father's and then in their sister's good graces, had sent the +blood mantling to the cheek of Francesco, and called a deadly pallor +into Caesar's. So the two young men sat on, each resolved not to be the +first to leave, when all at once there was a knock at the door, and a +rival was announced before whom both of them were bound to give way: it +was their father. + +Rosa Vanazza was quite right in comforting Caesar. Indeed, although +Alexander VI had repudiated the abuses of nepotism, he understood very +well the part that was to be played for his benefit by his sons and his +daughter; for he knew he could always count on Lucrezia and Caesar, if +not on Francesco and Goffredo. In these matters the sister was quite +worthy of her brother. Lucrezia was wanton in imagination, godless by +nature, ambitious and designing: she had a craving for pleasure, +admiration, honours, money, jewels, gorgeous stuffs, and magnificent +mansions. A true Spaniard beneath her golden tresses, a courtesan +beneath her frank looks, she carried the head of a Raphael Madonna, and +concealed the heart of a Messalina. She was dear to Roderigo both as +daughter and as mistress, and he saw himself reflected in her as in a +magic mirror, every passion and every vice. Lucrezia and Caesar were +accordingly the best beloved of his heart, and the three composed that +diabolical trio which for eleven years occupied the pontifical throne, +like a mocking parody of the heavenly Trinity. + +Nothing occurred at first to give the lie to Alexander's professions of +principle in the discourse he addressed to Caesar, and the first year of +his pontificate exceeded all the hopes of Rome at the time of his +election. He arranged for the provision of stores in the public +granaries with such liberality, that within the memory of man there had +never been such astonishing abundance; and with a view to extending the +general prosperity to the lowest class, he organised numerous doles to +be paid out of his private fortune, which made it possible for the very +poor to participate in the general banquet from which they had been +excluded for long enough. The safety of the city was secured, from the +very first days of his accession, by the establishment of a strong and +vigilant police force, and a tribunal consisting of four magistrates of +irreproachable character, empowered to prosecute all nocturnal crimes, +which during the last pontificate had been so common that their very +numbers made impunity certain: these judges from the first showed a +severity which neither the rank nor the purse of the culprit could +modify. This presented such a great contrast to the corruption of the +last reign,--in the course of which the vice-chamberlain one day +remarked in public, when certain people were complaining of the venality +of justice, "God wills not that a sinner die, but that he live and +pay,"--that the capital of the Christian world felt for one brief moment +restored to the happy days of the papacy. So, at the end of a year, +Alexander VI had reconquered that spiritual credit, so to speak, which +his predecessors lost. His political credit was still to be established, +if he was to carry out the first part of his gigantic scheme. To arrive +at this, he must employ two agencies--alliances and conquests. His plan +was to begin with alliances. The gentleman of Aragon who had married +Lucrezia when she was only the daughter of Cardinal Roderigo Borgia was +not a man powerful enough, either by birth and fortune or by intellect, +to enter with any sort of effect into the plots and plans of Alexander +VI; the separation was therefore changed into a divorce, and Lucrezia +Borgia was now free to remarry. Alexander opened up two negotiations at +the same time: he needed an ally to keep a watch on the policy of the +neighbouring States. John Sforza, grandson of Alexander Sforza, brother +of the great Francis I, Duke of Milan, was lord of Pesaro; the +geographical situation of this place, an the coast, on the way between +Florence and Venice, was wonderfully convenient for his purpose; so +Alexander first cast an eye upon him, and as the interest of both +parties was evidently the same, it came about that John Sforza was very +soon Lucrezia's second husband. + +At the same time overtures had been made to Alfonso of Aragon, heir +presumptive to the crown of Naples, to arrange a marriage between Dana +Sancia, his illegitimate daughter, and Goffreda, the pope's third son; +but as the old Ferdinand wanted to make the best bargain he could out of +it; he dragged on the negotiations as long as possible, urging that the +two children were not of marriageable age, and so, highly honoured as he +felt in such a prospective alliance, there was no hurry about the +engagement. Matters stopped at this point, to the great annoyance of +Alexander VI, who saw through this excuse, and understood that the +postponement was nothing more or less than a refusal. Accordingly +Alexander and Ferdinand remained in statu quo, equals in the political +game, both on the watch till events should declare for one or other. The +turn of fortune was for Alexander. + +Italy, though tranquil, was instinctively conscious that her calm was +nothing but the lull which goes before a storm. She was too rich and too +happy to escape the envy of other nations. As yet the plains of Pisa had +not been reduced to marsh-lands by the combined negligence and jealousy +of the Florentine Republic, neither had the rich country that lay around +Rome been converted into a barren desert by the wars of the Colonna and +Orsini families; not yet had the Marquis of Marignan razed to the ground +a hundred and twenty villages in the republic of Siena alone; and though +the Maremma was unhealthy, it was not yet a poisonous marsh: it is a +fact that Flavio Blando, writing in 1450, describes Ostia as being +merely less flourishing than in the days of the Romans, when she had +numbered 50,000 inhabitants, whereas now in our own day there are barely +30 in all. + +The Italian peasants were perhaps the most blest on the face of the +earth: instead of living scattered about the country in solitary +fashion, they lived in villages that were enclosed by walls as a +protection for their harvests, animals, and farm implements; their +houses--at any rate those that yet stand--prove that they lived in much +more comfortable and beautiful surroundings than the ordinary townsman +of our day. Further, there was a community of interests, and many people +collected together in the fortified villages, with the result that +little by little they attained to an importance never acquired by the +boorish French peasants or the German serfs; they bore arms, they had a +common treasury, they elected their own magistrates, and whenever they +went out to fight, it was to save their common country. + +Also commerce was no less flourishing than agriculture; Italy at this +period was rich in industries--silk, wool, hemp, fur, alum, sulphur, +bitumen; those products which the Italian soil could not bring forth +were imported, from the Black Sea, from Egypt, from Spain, from France, +and often returned whence they came, their worth doubled by labour and +fine workmanship. The rich man brought his merchandise, the poor his +industry: the one was sure of finding workmen, the other was sure of +finding work. + +Art also was by no means behindhand: Dante, Giotto, Brunelleschi, and +Donatello were dead, but Ariosto, Raphael, Bramante, and Michael Angelo +were now living. Rome, Florence, and Naples had inherited the +masterpieces of antiquity; and the manuscripts of AEschylus, Sophocles, +and Euripides had come (thanks to the conquest of Mahomet II) to rejoin +the statue of Xanthippus and the works of Phidias and Praxiteles. The +principal sovereigns of Italy had come to understand, when they let +their eyes dwell upon the fat harvests, the wealthy villages, the +flourishing manufactories, and the marvellous churches, and then +compared with them the poor and rude nations of fighting men who +surrounded them on all sides, that some day or other they were destined +to become for other countries what America was for Spain, a vast +gold-mine for them to work. In consequence of this, a league offensive +and defensive had been signed, about 1480, by Naples, Milan, Florence, +and Ferrara, prepared to take a stand against enemies within or without, +in Italy or outside. Ludovico Sforza, who was more than anyone else +interested in maintaining this league, because he was nearest to France, +whence the storm seemed to threaten, saw in the new pope's election +means not only of strengthening the league, but of making its power and +unity conspicuous in the sight of Europe. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +On the occasion of each new election to the papacy, it is the custom for +all the Christian States to send a solemn embassy to Rome, to renew +their oath of allegiance to the Holy Father. Ludovico Sforza conceived +the idea that the ambassadors of the four Powers should unite and make +their entry into Rome on the same day, appointing one of their envoy, +viz. the representative of the King of Naples, to be spokesman for all +four. Unluckily, this plan did not agree with the magnificent projects +of Piero dei Medici. That proud youth, who had been appointed ambassador +of the Florentine Republic, had seen in the mission entrusted to him by +his fellow-citizens the means of making a brilliant display of his own +wealth. From the day of his nomination onwards, his palace was +constantly filled with tailors, jewellers, and merchants of priceless +stuffs; magnificent clothes had been made for him, embroidered with +precious stones which he had selected from the family treasures. All his +jewels, perhaps the richest in Italy, were distributed about the +liveries of his pages, and one of them, his favourite, was to wear a +collar of pearls valued by itself at 100,000 ducats, or almost, a +million of our francs. In his party the Bishop of Arezzo, Gentile, who +had once been Lorenzo dei Medici's tutor, was elected as second +ambassador, and it was his duty to speak. Now Gentile, who had prepared +his speech, counted on his eloquence to charm the ear quite as much as +Piero counted on his riches to dazzle the eye. But the eloquence of +Gentile would be lost completely if nobody was to speak but the +ambassador of the King of Naples; and the magnificence of Piero dei +Medici would never be noticed at all if he went to Rome mixed up with +all the other ambassadors. These two important interests, compromised by +the Duke of Milan's proposition, changed the whole face of Italy. + +Ludovico Sforza had already made sure of Ferdinand's promise to conform +to the plan he had invented, when the old king, at the solicitation of +Piero, suddenly drew back. Sforza found out how this change had come +about, and learned that it was Piero's influence that had overmastered +his own. He could not disentangle the real motives that had promised the +change, and imagined there was some secret league against himself: he +attributed the changed political programme to the death of Lorenzo dei +Medici. But whatever its cause might be, it was evidently prejudicial to +his own interests: Florence, Milan's old ally, was abandoning her for +Naples. He resolved to throw a counter weight into the scales; so, +betraying to Alexander the policy of Piero and Ferdinand, he proposed to +form a defensive and offensive alliance with him and admit the republic +of Venice; Duke Hercules III of Ferrara was also to be summoned to +pronounce for one or other of the two leagues. Alexander VI, wounded by +Ferdinand's treatment of himself, accepted Ludovico Sforza's +proposition, and an Act of Confederation was signed on the 22nd of +April, 1493, by which the new allies pledged themselves to set on foot +for the maintenance of the public peace an army of 20,000 horse and +6,000 infantry. + +Ferdinand was frightened when he beheld the formation of this league; +but he thought he could neutralise its effects by depriving Ludovico +Sforza of his regency, which he had already kept beyond the proper time, +though as yet he was not strictly an usurper. Although the young +Galeazzo, his nephew, had reached the age of two-and-twenty, Ludovico +Sforza none the less continued regent. Now Ferdinand definitely proposed +to the Duke of Milan that he should resign the sovereign power into the +hands of his nephew, on pain of being declared an usurper. + +This was a bold stroke; but there was a risk of inciting Ludovico Sforza +to start one of those political plots that he was so familiar with, +never recoiling from any situation, however dangerous it might be. This +was exactly what happened: Sforza, uneasy about his duchy, resolved to +threaten Ferdinand's kingdom. + +Nothing could be easier: he knew the warlike nations of Charles VIII, +and the pretensions of the house of France to the kingdom of Naples. He +sent two ambassadors to invite the young king to claim the rights of +Anjou usurped by Aragon; and with a view to reconciling Charles to so +distant and hazardous an expedition, offered him a free and friendly +passage through his own States. + +Such a proposition was welcome to Charles VIII, as we might suppose from +our knowledge of his character; a magnificent prospect was opened to him +as by an enchanter: what Ludovica Sforza was offering him was virtually +the command of the Mediterranean, the protectorship of the whole of +Italy; it was an open road, through Naples and Venice, that well might +lead to the conquest of Turkey or the Holy Land, if he ever had the +fancy to avenge the disasters of Nicapolis and Mansourah. So the +proposition was accepted, and a secret alliance was signed, with Count +Charles di Belgiojasa and the Count of Cajazza acting for Ludovica +Sforza, and the Bishop of St. Malo and Seneschal de Beaucaire far +Charles VIII. By this treaty it was agreed:-- + +That the King of France should attempt the conquest of the kingdom of +Naples; + +That the Duke of Milan should grant a passage to the King of France +through his territories, and accompany him with five hundred lances; + +That the Duke of Milan should permit the King of France to send out as +many ships of war as he pleased from Genoa; + +Lastly, that the Duke of Milan should lend the King of France 200,000 +ducats, payable when he started. + +On his side, Charles VIII agreed:-- + +To defend the personal authority of Ludowico Sforza over the duchy of +Milan against anyone who might attempt to turn him out; + +To keep two hundred French lances always in readiness to help the house +of Sforza, at Asti, a town belonging to the Duke of Orleans by the +inheritance of his mother, Valentina Visconti; + +Lastly, to hand over to his ally the principality of Tarentum +immediately after the conquest of Naples was effected. + +This treaty was scarcely concluded when Charles VIII, who exaggerated +its advantages, began to dream of freeing himself from every let or +hindrance to the expedition. Precautions were necessary; for his +relations with the great Powers were far from being what he could have +wished. + +Indeed, Henry VII had disembarked at Calais with a formidable army, and +was threatening France with another invasion. + +Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, if they had not assisted at the fall of +the house of Anjou, had at any rate helped the Aragon party with men and +money. + +Lastly, the war with the emperor acquired a fresh impetus when Charles +VIII sent back Margaret of Burgundy to her father Maximilian, and +contracted a marriage with Anne of Brittany. + +By the treaty of Etaples, on the 3rd of November, 1492, Henry VII +cancelled the alliance with the King of the Romans, and pledged himself +not to follow his conquests. + +This cost Charles VIII 745,000 gold crowns and the expenses of the war +with England. + +By the treaty of Barcelona, dated the 19th of January, 1493, Ferdinand +the Catholic and Isabella agreed never to grant aid to their cousin, +Ferdinand of Naples, and never to put obstacles in the way of the French +king in Italy. + +This cost Charles VIII Perpignan, Roussillon, and the Cerdagne, which +had all been given to Louis XI as a hostage for the sum of 300,000 +ducats by John of Aragon; but at the time agreed upon, Louis XI would +not give them up for the money, for the old fox knew very well how +important were these doors to the Pyrenees, and proposed in case of war +to keep them shut. + +Lastly, by the treaty of Senlis, dated the 23rd of May, 1493, Maximilian +granted a gracious pardon to France for the insult her king had offered +him. + +It cost Charles VIII the counties of Burgundy, Artois, Charalais, and +the seigniory of Noyers, which had come to him as Margaret's dowry, and +also the towns of Aire, Hesdin, and Bethune, which he promised to +deliver up to Philip of Austria on the day he came of age. + +By dint of all these sacrifices the young king made peace with his +neighbours, and could set on foot the enterprise that Ludavico Sforza +had proposed. We have already explained that the project came into +Sforza's mind when his plan about the deputation was refused, and that +the refusal was due to Piero dei Medici's desire to make an exhibition +of his magnificent jewels, and Gentile's desire to make his speech. + +Thus the vanity of a tutor and the pride of his scholar together +combined to agitate the civilized world from the Gulf of Tarentum to the +Pyrenees. + +Alexander VI was in the very centre of the impending earthquake, and +before Italy had any idea that the earliest shocks were at hand he had +profited by the perturbed preoccupation of other people to give the lie +to that famous speech we have reported. He created cardinal John Borgia, +a nephew, who during the last pontificate had been elected Archbishop of +Montreal and Governor of Rome. This promotion caused no discontent, +because of John's antecedents; and Alexander, encouraged by the success +of this, promised to Caesar Borgia the archbishopric of Valencia, a +benefice he had himself enjoyed before his elevation to the papacy. But +here the difficulty arose an the side of the recipient. The young man, +full-blooded, with all the vices and natural instincts of a captain of +condottieri, had very great trouble in assuming even the appearance of a +Churchman's virtue; but as he knew from his own father's mouth that the +highest secular dignities were reserved far his elder brother, he +decided to take what he could get, for fear of getting nothing; but his +hatred for Francesco grew stronger, for from henceforth he was doubly +his rival, both in love and ambition. + +Suddenly Alexander beheld the old King Ferdinand returning to his side, +and at the very moment when he least expected it. The pope was too +clever a politician to accept a reconciliation without finding out the +cause of it; he soon learned what plots were hatching at the French +court against the kingdom of Naples, and the whole situation was +explained. + +Now it was his turn to impose conditions. + +He demanded the completion of a marriage between Goffreda, his third +son, and Dada Sancia, Alfonso's illegitimate daughter. + +He demanded that she should bring her husband as dowry the principality +of Squillace and the county of Cariati, with an income of 10,000 ducats +and the office of protonotary, one of the seven great crown offices +which are independent of royal control. + +He demanded for his eldest son, whom Ferdinand the Catholic had just +made Duke of Gandia, the principality of Tricarico, the counties of +Chiaramonte, Lauria, and Carinola, an income of 12,000 ducats, and the +first of the seven great offices which should fall vacant. + +He demanded that Virginio Orsini, his ambassador at the Neapolitan +court, should be given a third great office, viz. that of Constable, the +most important of them all. + +Lastly, he demanded that Giuliano delta Rovere, one of the five +cardinals who had opposed his election and was now taking refuge at +Ostia, where the oak whence he took his name and bearings is still to be +seen carved on all the walls, should be driven out of that town, and the +town itself given over to him. + +In exchange, he merely pledged himself never to withdraw from the house +of Aragon the investiture of the kingdom of Naples accorded by his +predecessors. Ferdinand was paying somewhat dearly for a simple promise; +but on the keeping of this promise the legitimacy of his power wholly +depended. For the kingdom of Naples was a fief of the Holy See; and to +the pope alone belonged the right of pronouncing on the justice of each +competitor's pretensions; the continuance of this investiture was +therefore of the highest conceivable importance to Aragon just at the +time when Anjou was rising up with an army at her back to dispossess +her. + +For a year after he mounted the papal throne, Alexander VI had made +great strides, as we see, in the extension of his temporal power. In his +own hands he held, to be sure, only the least in size of the Italian +territories; but by the marriage of his daughter Lucrezia with the lord +of Pesaro he was stretching out one hand as far as Venice, while by the +marriage of the Prince of Squillace with Dona Sancia, and the +territories conceded to the Duke of Sandia, he was touching with the +other hand the boundary of Calabria. + +When this treaty, so advantageous for himself, was duly signed, he made +Caesar Cardinal of Santa Maria Novella, for Caesar was always +complaining of being left out in the distribution of his father's +favours. + +Only, as there was as yet no precedent in Church history for a bastard's +donning the scarlet, the pope hunted up four false witnesses who +declared that Caesar was the son of Count Ferdinand of Castile; who was, +as we know, that valuable person Don Manuel Melchior, and who played the +father's part with just as much solemnity as he had played the +husband's. + +The wedding of the two bastards was most splendid, rich with the double +pomp of Church and King. As the pope had settled that the young bridal +pair should live near him, Caesar Borgia, the new cardinal, undertook to +manage the ceremony of their entry into Rome and the reception, and +Lucrezia, who enjoyed at her father's side an amount of favour hitherto +unheard of at the papal court, desired on her part to contribute all the +splendour she had it in her power to add. He therefore went to receive +the young people with a stately and magnificent escort of lords and +cardinals, while she awaited them attended by the loveliest and noblest +ladies of Rome, in one of the halls of the Vatican. A throne was there +prepared for the pope, and at his feet were cushions far Lucrezia and +Dona Sancia. "Thus," writes Tommaso Tommasi, "by the look of the +assembly and the sort of conversation that went on for hours, you would +suppose you were present at some magnificent and voluptuous royal +audience of ancient Assyria, rather than at the severe consistory of a +Roman pontiff, whose solemn duty it is to exhibit in every act the +sanctity of the name he bears. But," continues the same historian, "if +the Eve of Pentecost was spent in such worthy functions, the +celebrations of the coming of the Holy Ghost on the following day were +no less decorous and becoming to the spirit of the Church; for thus +writes the master of the ceremonies in his journal: + +"'The pope made his entry into the Church of the Holy Apostles, and +beside him on the marble steps of the pulpit where the canons of St. +Peter are wont to chant the Epistle and Gospel, sat Lucrezia his +daughter and Sancia his son's wife: round about them, a disgrace to the +Church and a public scandal, were grouped a number of other Roman ladies +far more fit to dwell in Messalina's city than in St. Peter's.'" + +So at Rome and Naples did men slumber while ruin was at hand; so did +they waste their time and squander their money in a vain display of +pride; and this was going on while the French, thoroughly alive, were +busy laying hands upon the torches with which they would presently set +Italy on fire. + +Indeed, the designs of Charles VIII for conquest were no longer for +anybody a matter of doubt. The young king had sent an embassy to the +various Italian States, composed of Perrone dei Baschi, Brigonnet, +d'Aubigny, and the president of the Provencal Parliament. The mission of +this embassy was to demand from the Italian princes their co-operation +in recovering the rights of the crown of Naples for the house of Anjou. + +The embassy first approached the Venetians, demanding aid and counsel +for the king their master. But the Venetians, faithful to their +political tradition, which had gained for them the sobriquet of "the +Jews of Christendom," replied that they were not in a position to give +any aid to the young king, so long as they had to keep ceaselessly on +guard against the Turks; that, as to advice, it would be too great a +presumption in them to give advice to a prince who was surrounded by +such experienced generals and such able ministers. + +Perrone dei Baschi, when he found he could get no other answer, next +made for Florence. Piero dei Medici received him at a grand council, for +he summoned on this occasion not only the seventy, but also the +gonfalonieri who had sat for the last thirty-four years in the Signoria. +The French ambassador put forward his proposal, that the republic should +permit their army to pass through her States, and pledge herself in that +case to supply for ready money all the necessary victual and fodder. The +magnificent republic replied that if Charles VIII had been marching +against the Turks instead of against Ferdinand, she would be only too +ready to grant everything he wished; but being bound to the house of +Aragon by a treaty, she could not betray her ally by yielding to the +demands of the King of France. + +The ambassadors next turned their steps to Siena. The poor little +republic, terrified by the honour of being considered at all, replied +that it was her desire to preserve a strict neutrality, that she was too +weak to declare beforehand either for or against such mighty rivals, for +she would naturally be obliged to join the stronger party. Furnished +with this reply, which had at least the merit of frankness, the French +envoys proceeded to Rome, and were conducted into the pope's presence, +where they demanded the investiture of the kingdom of Naples for their +king. + +Alexander VI replied that, as his predecessors had granted this +investiture to the house of Aragon, he could not take it away, unless it +were first established that the house of Anjou had a better claim than +the house that was to be dispossessed. Then he represented to Perrone +dei Baschi that, as Naples was a fief of the Holy See, to the pope alone +the choice of her sovereign properly belonged, and that in consequence +to attack the reigning sovereign was to attack the Church itself. + +The result of the embassy, we see, was not very promising for Charles +VIII; so he resolved to rely on his ally Ludovico Sforza alone, and to +relegate all other questions to the fortunes of war. + +A piece of news that reached him about this time strengthened him in +this resolution: this was the death of Ferdinand. The old king had +caught a severe cold and cough on his return from the hunting field, and +in two days he was at his last gasp. On the 25th of January, 1494, he +passed away, at the age of seventy, after a thirty-six years' reign, +leaving the throne to his elder son, Alfonso, who was immediately chosen +as his successor. + +Ferdinand never belied his title of "the happy ruler." His death +occurred at the very moment when the fortune of his family was changing. + +The new king, Alfonso, was not a novice in arms: he had already fought +successfully against Florence and Venice, and had driven the Turks out +of Otranto; besides, he had the name of being as cunning as his father +in the tortuous game of politics so much in vogue at the Italian courts. +He did not despair of counting among his allies the very enemy he was at +war with when Charles VIII first put forward his pretensions, we mean +Bajazet II. So he despatched to Bajazet one of his confidential +ministers, Camillo Pandone, to give the Turkish emperor to understand +that the expedition to Italy was to the King of France nothing but a +blind for approaching the scene of Mahomedan conquests, and that if +Charles VIII were once at the Adriatic it would only take him a day or +two to get across and attack Macedonia; from there he could easily go by +land to Constantinople. Consequently he suggested that Bajazet for the +maintenance of their common interests should supply six thousand horse +and six thousand infantry; he himself would furnish their pay so long as +they were in Italy. It was settled that Pandone should be joined at +Tarentum by Giorgia Bucciarda, Alexander VI's envoy, who was +commissioned by the pope to engage the Turks to help him against the +Christians. But while he was waiting for Bajazet's reply, which might +involve a delay of several months, Alfonso requested that a meeting +might take place between Piero dei Medici, the pope, and himself, to +take counsel together about important affairs. This meeting was arranged +at Vicovaro, near Tivoli, and the three interested parties duly met on +the appointed day. + +The intention of Alfonso, who before leaving Naples had settled the +disposition of his naval forces, and given his brother Frederic the +command of a fleet that consisted of thirty-six galleys, eighteen large +and twelve small vessels, with injunctions to wait at Livorno and keep a +watch on the fleet Charles VIII was getting ready at the port of Genoa, +was above all things to check with the aid of his allies the progress of +operations on land. Without counting the contingent he expected his +allies to furnish, he had at his immediate disposal a hundred squadrons +of heavy cavalry, twenty men in each, and three thousand bowmen and +light horse. He proposed, therefore, to advance at once into Lombardy, +to get up a revolution in favour of his nephew Galeazzo, and to drive +Ludovico Sforza out of Milan before he could get help from France; so +that Charles VIII, at the very time of crossing the Alps, would find an +enemy to fight instead of a friend who had promised him a safe passage, +men, and money. + +This was the scheme of a great politician and a bold commander; but as +everybody had came in pursuit of his own interests, regardless of the +common this plan was very coldly received by Piero dei Medici, who was +afraid lest in the war he should play only the same poor part he had +been threatened with in the affair of the embassy; by Alexander VI it +was rejected, because he reckoned on employing the troops of Alfonso an +his own account. He reminded the King of Naples of one of the conditions +of the investiture he had promised him, viz. that he should drive out +the Cardinal Giuliano delta Rovere from the town of Ostia, and give up +the town to him, according to the stipulation already agreed upon. +Besides, the advantages that had accrued to Virginio Orsini, Alexander's +favourite, from his embassy to Naples had brought upon him the ill-will +of Prospero and Fabrizio Colonna, who owned nearly all the villages +round about Rome. Now the pope could not endure to live in the midst of +such powerful enemies, and the most important matter was to deliver him +from all of them, seeing that it was really of moment that he should be +at peace who was the head and soul of the league whereof the others were +only the body and limbs. + +Although Alfonso had clearly seen through the motives of Piero's +coldness, and Alexander had not even given him the trouble of seeking +his, he was none the less obliged to bow to the will of his allies, +leaving the one to defend the Apennines against the French, and helping +the other to shake himself free of his neighbours in the Romagna. +Consequently he, pressed on the siege of Ostia, and added to Virginio's +forces, which already amounted to two hundred men of the papal army, a +body of his own light horse; this little army was to be stationed round +about Rome, and was to enforce obedience from the Colonnas. The rest of +his troops Alfonso divided into two parties: one he left in the hands of +his son Ferdinand, with orders to scour the Romagna and worry, the petty +princes into levying and supporting the contingent they had promised, +while with the other he himself defended the defiles of the Abruzzi. + +On the 23rd of April, at three o'clock in the morning, Alexander VI was +freed from the first and fiercest of his foes; Giuliano delta Rovere, +seeing the impossibility of holding out any longer against Alfonso's +troops, embarked on a brigantine which was to carry him to Savona. + +From that day forward Virginio Orsini began that famous partisan warfare +which reduced the country about Rome to the most pathetic desolation the +world has ever seen. During all this time Charles VIII was at Lyons, not +only uncertain as to the route he ought to take for getting into Italy, +but even beginning to reflect a little on the chances and risks of such +an expedition. He had found no sympathy anywhere except with Ludovico +Sforza; so it appeared not unlikely that he would have to fight not the +kingdom of Naples alone, but the whole of Italy to boot. In his +preparations for war he had spent almost all the money at his disposal; +the Lady of Beaujeu and the Duke of Bourbon both condemned his +enterprise; Briconnet, who had advised it, did not venture to support it +now; at last Charles, more irresolute than ever, had recalled several +regiments that had actually started, when Cardinal Giuliano delta +Rovere, driven out of Italy by the pope, arrived at Lyons, and presented +himself before the king. + +The cardinal, full of hatred, full of hope, hastened to Charles, and +found him on the point of abandoning that enterprise on which, as +Alexander's enemy, delta Rovere rested his whole expectation of +vengeance. He informed Charles of the quarrelling among his enemies; he +showed him that each of them was seeking his own ends--Piero dei Medici +the gratification of his pride, the pope the aggrandisement of his +house. He pointed out that armed fleets were in the ports of +Villefranche, Marseilles, and Genoa, and that these armaments would be +lost; he reminded him that he had sent Pierre d'Urfe, his grand equerry, +on in advance, to have splendid accommodation prepared in the Spinola +and Doria palaces. Lastly, he urged that ridicule and disgrace would +fall on him from every side if he renounced an enterprise so loudly +vaunted beforehand, for whose successful execution, moreover, he had +been obliged to sign three treaties of peace that were all vexatious +enough, viz. with Henry VII, with Maximilian, and with Ferdinand the +Catholic. Giuliano della Rovere had exercised true insight in probing +the vanity of the young king, and Charles did not hesitate for a single +moment. He ordered his cousin, the Duke of Orleans (who later on became +Louis XII) to take command of the French fleet and bring it to Genoa; he +despatched a courier to Antoine de Bessay, Baron de Tricastel, bidding +him take to Asti the 2000 Swiss foot-soldiers he had levied in the +cantons; lastly, he started himself from Vienne, in Dauphine, on the +23rd of August, 1494, crossed the Alps by Mont Genevre, without +encountering a single body of troops to dispute his passage, descended +into Piedmont and Monferrato, both just then governed by women regents, +the sovereigns of both principalities being children, Charles John Aime +and William John, aged respectively six and eight. + +The two regents appeared before Charles VIII, one at Turin, one at +Casale, each at the head of a numerous and brilliant court, and both +glittering with jewels and precious stones. Charles, although he quite +well knew that for all these friendly demonstrations they were both +bound by treaty to his enemy, Alfonso of Naples, treated them all the +same with the greatest politeness, and when they made protestations of +friendship, asked them to let him have a proof of it, suggesting that +they should lend him the diamonds they were covered with. The two +regents could do no less than obey the invitation which was really a +command. They took off necklaces, rings, and earrings. Charles VIII gave +them a receipt accurately drawn up, and pledged the jewels for 20,000 +ducats. Then, enriched by this money, he resumed his journey and made +his way towards Asti. The Duke of Orleans held the sovereignty of Asti, +as we said before, and hither came to meet Charles both Ludovico Sforza +and his father-in-law, Hercules d'Este, Duke of Ferrara. They brought +with them not only the promised troops and money, but also a court +composed of the loveliest women in Italy. + +The balls, fetes, and tourneys began with a magnificence surpassing +anything that Italy had ever seen before. But suddenly they were +interrupted by the king's illness. This was the first example in Italy +of the disease brought by Christopher Columbus from the New World, and +was called by Italians the French, by Frenchmen the Italian disease. The +probability is that some of Columbus's crew who were at Genoa or +thereabouts had already brought over this strange and cruel complaint +that counter balanced the gains of the American gold-mines. + +The king's indisposition, however, did not prove so grave as was at +first supposed. He was cured by the end of a few weeks, and proceeded on +his way towards Pavia, where the young Duke John Galeazzo lay dying. He +and the King of France were first cousins, sons of two sisters of the +house of Savoy. So Charles VIII was obliged to see him, and went to +visit him in the castle where he lived more like prisoner than lord. He +found him half reclining on a couch, pale and emaciated, some said in +consequence of luxurious living, others from the effects of a slow but +deadly poison. But whether or not the poor young man was desirous of +pouring out a complaint to Charles, he did not dare say a word; for his +uncle, Ludovico Sforza, never left the King of France for an instant. +But at the very moment when Charles VIII was getting up to go, the door +opened, and a young woman appeared and threw herself at the king's feet; +she was the wife of the unlucky John Galeazzo, and came to entreat his +cousin to do nothing against her father Alfonso, nor against her brother +Ferdinand. At sight of her; Sforza scowled with an anxious and +threatening aspect, far he knew not what impression might be produced on +his ally by this scene. But he was soon reassured; far Charles replied +that he had advanced too far to draw back now, and that the glory of his +name was at stake as well as the interests of his kingdom, and that +these two motives were far too important to be sacrificed to any +sentiment of pity he might feel, however real and deep it might be and +was. The poor young woman, who had based her last hope an this appeal, +then rose from her knees and threw herself sobbing into her husband's +arms. Charles VIII and Ludavico Sforza, took their leave: John Galeazzo +was doomed. + +Two days after, Charles VIII left for Florence, accompanied by his ally; +but scarcely had they reached Parma when a messenger caught them up, and +announced to Ludovico that his nephew was just dead: Ludovico at once +begged Charles to excuse his leaving him to finish the journey alone; +the interests which called him back to Milan were so important, he said, +that he could not under the circumstances stay away a single day longer. +As a fact he had to make sure of succeeding the man he had assassinated. + +But Charles VIII continued his road not without some uneasiness. The +sight of the young prince on his deathbed had moved him deeply, for at +the bottom of his heart he was convinced that Ludovico Sforza was his +murderer; and a murderer might very well be a traitor. He was going +forward into an unfamiliar country, with a declared enemy in front of +him and a doubtful friend behind: he was now at the entrance to the +mountains, and as his army had no store of provisions and only lived +from hand to mouth, a forced delay, however short, would mean famine. In +front of him was Fivizzano, nothing, it is true, but a village +surrounded by walls, but beyond Fivizzano lay Sarzano and Pietra Santa, +both of them considered impregnable fortresses; worse than this, they +were coming into a part of the country that was especially unhealthy in +October, had no natural product except oil, and even procured its own +corn from neighbouring provinces; it was plain that a whole army might +perish there in a few days either from scarcity of food or from the +unwholesome air, both of which were more disastrous than the impediments +offered at every step by the nature of the ground. The situation was +grave; but the pride of Piero dei Medici came once more to the rescue of +the fortunes of Charles VIII. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +PIERO DEI MEDICI had, as we may remember, undertaken to hold the +entrance to Tuscany against the French; when, however, he saw his enemy +coming dawn from the Alps, he felt less confident about his own +strength, and demanded help from the pope; but scarcely had the rumour +of foreign invasion began to spread in the Romagna, than the Colonna +family declared themselves the French king's men, and collecting all +their forces seized Ostia, and there awaited the coming of the French +fleet to offer a passage through Rome. The pope, therefore, instead of +sending troops to Florence, was obliged to recall all his soldiers to be +near the capital; the only promise he made to Piero was that if Bajazet +should send him the troops that he had been asking for, he would +despatch that army for him to make use of. Piero dei Medici had not yet +taken any resolution or formed any plan, when he suddenly heard two +startling pieces of news. A jealous neighbour of his, the Marquis of +Torderiovo, had betrayed to the French the weak side of Fivizzano, so +that they had taken it by storm, and had put its soldiers and +inhabitants to the edge of the sword; on another side, Gilbert of +Montpensier, who had been lighting up the sea-coast so as to keep open +the communications between the French army and their fleet, had met with +a detachment sent by Paolo Orsini to Sarzano, to reinforce the garrison +there, and after an hour's fighting had cut it to pieces. No quarter had +been granted to any of the prisoners; every man the French could get +hold of they had massacred. + +This was the first occasion on which the Italians, accustomed as they +were to the chivalrous contests of the fifteenth century, found +themselves in contact with savage foreigners who, less advanced in +civilisation, had not yet come to consider war as a clever game, but +looked upon it as simply a mortal conflict. So the news of these two +butcheries produced a tremendous sensation at Florence, the richest city +in Italy, and the most prosperous in commerce and in art. Every +Florentine imagined the French to be like an army of those ancient +barbarians who were wont to extinguish fire with blood. The prophecies +of Savonarola, who had predicted the foreign invasion and the +destruction that should follow it, were recalled to the minds of all; +and so much perturbation was evinced that Piero dei Medici, bent on +getting peace at any price, forced a decree upon the republic whereby +she was to send an embassy to the conqueror; and obtained leave, +resolved as he was to deliver himself in person into the hands of the +French monarch, to act as one of the ambassadors. He accordingly quitted +Florence, accompanied by four other messengers, and an his arrival at +Pietra Santa, sent to ask from Charles VIII a safe-conduct for himself +alone. The day after he made this request, Brigonnet and de Piennes came +to fetch him, and led him into the presence of Charles VIII. + +Piero dei Medici, in spite of his name and influence, was in the eyes of +the French nobility, who considered it a dishonourable thing to concern +oneself with art or industry, nothing more than a rich merchant, with +whom it would be absurd to stand upon any very strict ceremony. So +Charles VIII received him on horseback, and addressing him with a +haughty air, as a master might address a servant, demanded whence came +this pride of his that made him dispute his entrance into Tuscany. Piero +dei Medici replied, that, with the actual consent of Louis XI, his +father Lorenzo had concluded a treaty of alliance with Ferdinand of +Naples; that accordingly he had acted in obedience to prior obligations, +but as he did, not wish to push too far his devotion to the house of +Aragon or his opposition to France, he was ready to do whatever Charles +VIII might demand of him. The king, who had never looked for such +humility in his enemy, demanded that Sarzano should be given up to him: +to this Piero dei Medici at once consented. Then the conqueror, wishing +to see how far the ambassador of the magnificent republic would extend +his politeness, replied that this concession was far from satisfying +him, and that he still must have the keys of Pietra Santa, Pisa, +Librafatta, and Livorno. Piero saw no more difficulty about these than +about Sarzano, and consented on Charles's mere promise by word of mouth +to restore the town when he had achieved the conquest of Naples. At last +Charles VIII, seeing that this man who had been sent out to negotiate +with him was very easy to manage, exacted as a final condition, a 'sine +qua non', however, of his royal protection, that the magnificent +republic should lend him the sum of 200,000 florins. Piero found it no +harder to dispose of money than of fortresses, and replied that his +fellow-citizens would be happy to render this service to their new ally. +Then Charles VIII set him on horseback, and ordered him to go on in +front, so as to begin to carry out his promises by yielding up the four +fortresses he had insisted on having. Piero obeyed, and the French army, +led by the grandson of Cosimo the Great and the son of Lorenzo the +Magnificent, continued its triumphal march through Tuscany. + +On his arrival at Lucca, Piero dei Medici learnt that his concessions to +the King of France were making a terrible commotion at Florence. The +magnificent republic had supposed that what Charles VIII wanted was +simply a passage through her territory, so when the news came there was +a general feeling of discontent, which was augmented by the return of +the other ambassadors, whom Piero had not even consulted when he took +action as he did. Piero considered it necessary that he should return, +so he asked Charles's permission to precede him to the capital. As he +had fulfilled all his promises, except the matter of the loan, which +could not be settled anywhere but at Florence, the king saw no +objection, and the very evening after he quitted the French army Piero +returned incognito to his palace in the Via Largo. + +The next day he proposed to present himself before the Signoria, but +when he arrived at the Piazza del Palazzo Vecchio, he perceived the +gonfaloniere Jacopo de Nerli coming towards him, signalling to him that +it was useless to attempt to go farther, and pointing out to him the +figure of Luca Corsini standing at the gate, sword in hand: behind him +stood guards, ordered, if need-were, to dispute his passage. Piero dei +Medici, amazed by an opposition that he was experiencing for the first +time in his life, did not attempt resistance. He went home, and wrote to +his brother-in-law, Paolo Orsini, to come and help him with his +gendarmes. Unluckily for him, his letter was intercepted. The Signoria +considered that it was an attempt at rebellion. They summoned the +citizens to their aid; they armed hastily, sallied forth in crowds, and +thronged about the piazza of the palace. Meanwhile Cardinal Gian dei +Medici had mounted on horseback, and under the impression that the +Orsini were coming to the rescue, was riding about the streets of +Florence, accompanied by his servants and uttering his battle cry, +"Palle, Palle." But times had changed: there was no echo to the cry, and +when the cardinal reached the Via dei Calizaioli, a threatening murmur +was the only response, and he understood that instead of trying to +arouse Florence he had much better get away before the excitement ran +too high. He promptly retired to his own palace, expecting to find there +his two brothers, Piero and Giuliano. But they, under the protection of +Orsini and his gendarmes, had made their escape by the Porto San Gallo. +The peril was imminent, and Gian dei Medici wished to follow their +example; but wherever he went he was met by a clamour that grew more and +more threatening. At last, as he saw that the danger was constantly +increasing, he dismounted from his horse and ran into a house that he +found standing open. This house by a lucky chance communicated with a +convent of Franciscans; one of the friars lent the fugitive his dress, +and the cardinal, under the protection of this humble incognito, +contrived at last to get outside Florence, and joined his two brothers +in the Apennines. + +The same day the Medici were declared traitors and rebels, and +ambassadors were sent to the King of France. They found him at Pisa, +where he was granting independence to the town which eighty-seven years +ago had fallen under the rule of the Florentines. Charles VIII made no +reply to the envoys, but merely announced that he was going to march on +Florence. + +Such a reply, one may easily understand, terrified the republic. +Florence, had no time to prepare a defence, and no strength in her +present state to make one. But all the powerful houses assembled and +armed their own servants and retainers, and awaited the issue, intending +not to begin hostilities, but to defend themselves should the French +make an attack. It was agreed that if any necessity should arise for +taking up arms, the bells of the various churches in the town should +ring a peal and so serve as a general signal. Such a resolution was +perhaps of more significant moment in Florence than it could have been +in any other town. For the palaces that still remain from that period +are virtually fortresses and the eternal fights between Guelphs and +Ghibellines had familiarised the Tuscan people with street warfare. + +The king appeared, an the 17th of November, in the evening, at the gate +of San Friano. He found there the nobles of Florence clad in their most +magnificent apparel, accompanied by priests chanting hymns, and by a mob +who were full of joy at any prospect of change, and hoped for a return +of liberty after the fall of the Medici. Charles VIII stopped for a +moment under a sort of gilded canopy that had been prepared for him, and +replied in a few evasive words to the welcoming speeches which were +addressed to him by the Signoria; then he asked for his lance, he set it +in rest, and gave the order to enter the town, the whole of which he +paraded with his army following him with arms erect, and then went down +to the palace of the Medici, which had been prepared for him. + +The next day negotiations commenced; but everyone was out of his +reckoning. The Florentines had received Charles VIII as a guest, but he +had entered the city as a conqueror. So when the deputies of the +Signoria spoke of ratifying the treaty of Piero dei Medici, the king +replied that such a treaty no longer existed, as they had banished the +man who made it; that he had conquered Florence, as he proved the night +before, when he entered lance in hand; that he should retain the +sovereignty, and would make any further decision whenever it pleased him +to do so; further, he would let them know later on whether he would +reinstate the Medici or whether he would delegate his authority to the +Signoria: all they had to do was to come back the next day, and he would +give them his ultimatum in writing. + +This reply threw Florence into a great state of consternation; but the +Florentines were confirmed in their resolution of making a stand. +Charles, for his part, had been astonished by the great number of the +inhabitants; not only was every street he had passed through thickly +lined with people, but every house from garret to basement seemed +overflowing with human beings. Florence indeed, thanks to her rapid +increase in population, could muster nearly 150,000 souls. + +The next day, at the appointed hour, the deputies made their appearance +to meet the king. They were again introduced into his presence, and the +discussion was reopened. At last, as they were coming to no sort of +understanding, the royal secretary, standing at the foot of the throne +upon which Charles viii sat with covered head, unfolded a paper and +began to read, article by article, the conditions imposed by the King of +France. But scarcely had he read a third of the document when the +discussion began more hotly than ever before. Then Charles VIII said +that thus it should be, or he would order his trumpets to be sounded. +Hereupon Piero Capponi, secretary to the republic, commonly called the +Scipio of Florence, snatched from the royal secretary's hand the +shameful proposal of capitulation, and tearing it to pieces, +exclaimed:-- + +"Very good, sire; blow your trumpets, and we will ring our bells." + +He threw the pieces in the face of the amazed reader, and dashed out of +the room to give the terrible order that would convert the street of +Florence into a battlefield. + +Still, against all probabilities, this bold answer saved the town. The +French supposed, from such audacious words, addressed as they were to +men who so far had encountered no single obstacle, that the Florentines +were possessed of sure resources, to them unknown: the few prudent men +who retained any influence over the king advised him accordingly to +abate his pretensions; the result was that Charles VIII offered new and +more reasonable conditions, which were accepted, signed by both parties, +and proclaimed on the 26th of November during mass in the cathedral of +Santa Maria Del Fiore. + +These were the conditions: + +The Signoria were to pay to Charles VIII, as subsidy, the sum of 120,000 +florins, in three instalments; + +The Signoria were to remove the sequestration imposed upon the property +of the Medici, and to recall the decree that set a price on their heads; + +The Signoria were to engage to pardon the Pisans, on condition of their +again submitting to the rule of Florence; + +Lastly, the Signoria were to recognise the claims of the Duke of Milan +over Sarzano and Pietra Santa, and these claims thus recognised, were to +be settled by arbitration. + +In exchange for this, the King of France pledged himself to restore the +fortresses that had been given up to him, either after he had made +himself master of the town of Naples, or when this war should be ended +by a peace or a two years' truce, or else when, for any reason +whatsoever, he should have quitted Italy. + +Two days after this proclamation, Charles VIII, much to the joy of the +Signoria, left Florence, and advanced towards Rome by the route of +Poggibondi and Siena. + +The pope began to be affected by the general terror: he had heard of the +massacres of Fivizzano, of Lunigiane, and of Imola; he knew that Piero +dei Medici had handed over the Tuscan fortresses, that Florence had +succumbed, and that Catherine Sforza had made terms with the conqueror; +he saw the broken remnants of the Neapolitan troops pass disheartened +through Rome, to rally their strength in the Abruzzi, and thus he found +himself exposed to an enemy who was advancing upon him with the whole of +the Romagna under his control from one sea to the other, in a line of +march extending from Piombina to Ancona. + +It was at this juncture that Alexander VI received his answer from +Bajazet II: the reason of so long a delay was that the pope's envoy and +the Neapolitan ambassador had been stopped by Gian della Rovere, the +Cardinal Giuliano's brother, just as they were disembarking at +Sinigaglia. They were charged with a verbal answer, which was that the +sultan at this moment was busied with a triple war, first with the +Sultan of Egypt, secondly with the King of Hungary, and thirdly with the +Greeks of Macedonia and Epirus; and therefore he could not, with all the +will in the world, help His Holiness with armed men. But the envoys were +accompanied by a favourite of the sultan's bearing a private letter to +Alexander VI, in which Bajazet offered on certain conditions to help him +with money. Although, as we see, the messengers had been stopped on the +way, the Turkish envoy had all the same found a means of getting his +despatch sent to the pope: we give it here in all its naivete. + +"Bajazet the Sultan, son of the Sultan Mahomet II, by the grace of God +Emperor of Asia and Europe, to the Father and Lord of all the +Christians, Alexander VI, Roman pontiff and pope by the will of heavenly +Providence, first, greetings that we owe him and bestow with all our +heart. We make known to your Highness, by the envoy of your Mightiness, +Giorgio Bucciarda, that we have been apprised of your convalescence, and +received the news thereof with great joy and comfort. Among other +matters, the said Bucciarda has brought us word that the King of France, +now marching against your Highness, has shown a desire to take under his +protection our brother D'jem, who is now under yours--a thing which is +not only against our will, but which would also be the cause of great +injury to your Highness and to all Christendom. In turning the matter +over with your envoy Giorgio we have devised a scheme most conducive to +peace and most advantageous and honourable for your Highness; at the +same time satisfactory to ourselves personally; it would be well if our +aforesaid brother D'jem, who being a man is liable to death, and who is +now in the hands of your Highness, should quit this world as soon as +possible, seeing that his departure, a real good to him in his position, +would be of great use to your Highness, and very conducive to your +peace, while at the same time it would be very agreeable to us, your +friend. If this proposition is favourably received, as we hope, by your +Highness, in your desire to be friendly towards us, it would be +advisable both in the interests of your Highness and for our own +satisfaction that it should occur rather sooner than later, and by the +surest means you might be pleased to employ; so that our said brother +D'jem might pass from the pains of this world into a better and more +peaceful life, where at last he may find repose. If your Highness should +adapt this plan and send us the body of our brother, We, the above-named +Sultan Bajazet, pledge ourselves to send to your Highness, wheresoever +and by whatsoever hands you please, the sum of 300,000 ducats, With +which sum you could purchase some fair domain for your children. In +order to facilitate this purchase, we would be willing, while awaiting +the issue, to place the 300,000 ducats in the hands of a third party, so +that your Highness might be quite certain of receiving the money on an +appointed day, in return for the despatch of our brother's body. +Moreover, we promise your Highness herewith, for your greater +satisfaction, that never, so long as you shall remain on the pontifical +throne, shall there be any hurt done to the Christians, neither by us, +nor by our servants, nor by any of our compatriots, of whatsoever kind +or condition they may be, neither on sea nor on land. And for the still +further satisfaction of your Highness, and in order that no doubt +whatever may remain concerning the fulfilment of our promises, we have +sworn and affirmed in the presence of Bucciarda, your envoy, by the true +God whom we adore and by our holy Gospels, that they shall be faithfully +kept from the first point unto the last. And now for the final and +complete assurance of your Highness, in order that no doubt may still +remain in your heart, and that you may be once again and profoundly +convinced of our good faith, we the aforesaid Sultan Bajazet do swear by +the true God, who has created the heavens and the earth and all that +therein is, that we will religiously observe all that has been above +said and declared, and in the future will do nothing and undertake +nothing that may be contrary to the interests of your Highness. + +"Given at Constantinople, in our palace, on the 12th of September A.D. +1494." + +This letter was the cause of great joy to the Holy Father: the aid of +four or five thousand Turks would be insufficient under the present +circumstances, and would only serve to compromise the head of +Christendom, while the sum of 300,000 ducats--that is, nearly a million +francs--was good to get in any sort of circumstances. It is true that, +so long as D'jem lived, Alexander was drawing an income of 180,000 +livres, which as a life annuity represented a capital of nearly two +millions; but when one needs ready mangy, one ought to be able to make a +sacrifice in the way of discount. All the same, Alexander formed no +definite plan, resolved on acting as circumstances should indicate. + +But it was a more pressing business to decide how he should behave to +the King of France: he had never anticipated the success of the French +in Italy, and we have seen that he laid all the foundations of his +family's future grandeur upon his alliance with the house of Aragon. But +here was this house tattering, and a volcano more terrible than her own +Vesuvius was threatening to swallow up Naples. He must therefore change +his policy, and attach himself to the victor,--no easy matter, for +Charles VIII was bitterly annoyed with the pope for having refused him +the investiture and given it to Aragon. + +In consequence, he sent Cardinal Francesco Piccolomini as an envoy to +the king. This choice looked like a mistake at first, seeing that the +ambassador was a nephew of Pius II, who had vigorously opposed the house +of Anjou; but Alexander in acting thus had a second design, which could +not be discerned by those around him. In fact, he had divined that +Charles would not be quick to receive his envoy, and that, in the +parleyings to which his unwillingness must give rise, Piccolomini would +necessarily be brought into contact with the young king's advisers. Now, +besides his ostensible mission to the king, Piccalamini had also secret +instructions for the more influential among his counsellors. These were +Briconnet and Philippe de Luxembourg; and Piccolomini was authorised to +promise a cardinal's hat to each of them. The result was just what +Alexander had foreseen: his envoy could not gain admission to Charles, +and was obliged to confer with the people about him. This was what the +pope wished. Piccolomini returned to Rome with the king's refusal, but +with a promise from Briconnet and Philippe de Luxembourg that they would +use all their influence with Charles in favour of the Holy Father, and +prepare him to receive a fresh embassy. + +But the French all this time were advancing, and never stopped more than +forty-eight hours in any town, so that it became more and more urgent to +get something settled with Charles. The king had entered Siena and +Viterbo without striking a blow; Yves d' Alegre and Louis de Ligny had +taken over Ostia from the hands of the Colonnas; Civita Vecchia and +Corneto had opened their gates; the Orsini had submitted; even Gian +Sforza, the pope's son-in-law, had retired from the alliance with +Aragon. Alexander accordingly judged that the moment had came to abandon +his ally, and sent to Charles the Bishops of Concordia and Terni, and +his confessor, Mansignore Graziano. They were charged to renew to +Briconnet and Philippe de Luxembourg the promise of the cardinalship, +and had full powers of negotiation in the name of their master, both in +case Charles should wish to include Alfonso II in the treaty, and in +case he should refuse to sign an agreement with any other but the pope +alone. They found the mind of Charles influenced now by the insinuation +of Giuliano della Ravere, who, himself a witness of the pope's simony, +pressed the king to summon a council and depose the head of the Church, +and now by the secret support given him by the Bishops of Mans and St. +Malo. The end of it was that the king decided to form his own opinion +about the matter and settle nothing beforehand, and continued this +route, sending the ambassadors back to the pope, with the addition of +the Marechal de Gie, the Seneschal de Beaucaire, and Jean de Gannay, +first president of the Paris Parliament. They were ordered to say to the +pope-- + + (1) That the king wished above all things to be admitted into Rome + without resistance; that, an condition of a voluntary, frank, and + loyal admission, he would respect the authority of the Holy Father + and the privileges of the Church; + (2) That the king desired that D'jem should be given up to him, in + order that he might make use of him against the sultan when he + should carry the war into Macedonia or Turkey or the Holy Land; + (3) That the remaining conditions were so unimportant that they could + be brought forward at the first conference. + +The ambassadors added that the French army was now only two days distant +from Rome, and that in the evening of the day after next Charles would +probably arrive in person to demand an answer from His Holiness. + +It was useless to think of parleying with a prince who acted in such +expeditious fashion as this. Alexander accordingly warned Ferdinand to +quit Rome as soon as possible, in the interests of his own personal +safety. But Ferdinand refused to listen to a word, and declared that he +would not go out at one gate while Charles VIII came in at another. His +sojourn was not long. Two days later, about eleven o'clock in the +morning, a sentinel placed on a watch-tower at the top of the Castle S. +Angelo, whither the pope had retired, cried out that the vanguard of the +enemy was visible on the horizon. At once Alexander and the Duke of +Calabria went up an the terrace which tops the fortress, and assured +themselves with their own eyes that what the soldier said was true. +Then, and not till then, did the duke of Calabria mount an horseback, +and, to use his own words, went out at the gate of San Sebastiana, at +the same moment that the French vanguard halted five hundred feet from +the Gate of the People. This was on the 31st of December 1494. + +At three in the afternoon the whole army had arrived, and the vanguard +began their march, drums beating, ensigns unfurled. It was composed, +says Paolo Giove, an eye-witness (book ii, p. 41 of his History), of +Swiss and German soldiers, with short tight coats of various colours: +they were armed with short swords, with steel edges like those of the +ancient Romans, and carried ashen lances ten feet long, with straight +and sharp iron spikes: only one-fourth of their number bore halberts +instead of lances, the spikes cut into the form of an axe and surmounted +by a four-cornered spike, to be used both for cutting like an axe and +piercing like a bayonet: the first row of each battalion wore helmets +and cuirasses which protected the head and chest, and when the men were +drawn up for battle they presented to the enemy a triple array of iron +spikes, which they could raise or lower like the spines of a porcupine. +To each thousand of the soldiery were attached a hundred fusiliers: +their officers, to distinguish them from the men, wore lofty plumes on +their helmets. + +After the Swiss infantry came the archers of Gascony: there were five +thousand of them, wearing a very simple dress, that contrasted with the +rich costume of the Swiss soldiers, the shortest of whom would have been +a head higher than the tallest of the Gascons. But they were excellent +soldiers, full of courage, very light, and with a special reputation for +quickness in stringing and drawing their iron bows. + +Behind them rode the cavalry, the flower of the French nobility, with +their gilded helmets and neck bands, their velvet and silk surcoats, +their swords each of which had its own name, their shields each telling +of territorial estates, and their colours each telling of a lady-love. +Besides defensive arms, each man bore a lance in his hand, like an +Italian gendarme, with a solid grooved end, and on his saddle bow a +quantity of weapons, some for cutting and same for thrusting. Their +horses were large and strong, but they had their tails and ears cropped +according to the French custom. These horses, unlike those of the +Italian gendarmes, wore no caparisons of dressed leather, which made +them more exposed to attack. Every knight was followed by three +horses--the first ridden by a page in armour like his own, the two +others by equerries who were called lateral auxiliaries, because in a +fray they fought to right and left of their chief. This troop was not +only the most magnificent, but the most considerable in the whole army; +for as there were 2500 knights, they formed each with their three +followers a total of 10,000 men. Five thousand light horse rode next, +who carried huge wooden bows, and shot long arrows from a distance like +English archers. They were a great help in battle, for moving rapidly +wherever aid was required, they could fly in a moment from one wing to +another, from the rear to the van, then when their quivers were empty +could go off at so swift a gallop that neither infantry or heavy cavalry +could pursue them. Their defensive armour consisted of a helmet and +half-cuirass; some of them carried a short lance as well, with which to +pin their stricken foe to the ground; they all wore long cloaks adorned +with shoulder-knots, and plates of silver whereon the arms of their +chief were emblazoned. + +At last came the young king's escort; there were four hundred archers, +among whom a hundred Scots formed a line on each side, while two hundred +of the most illustrious knights marched on foot beside the prince, +carrying heavy arms on their shoulders. In the midst of this magnificent +escort advanced Charles VIII, both he and his horse covered with +splendid armour; an his right and left marched Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, +the Duke of Milan's brother, and Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, of whom +we have spoken so often, who was afterwards Pope Julius II. The +Cardinals Colonna and Savelli followed immediately after, and behind +them came Prospero and Fabrizia Colonna, and all the Italian princes and +generals who had thrown in their lot with the conqueror, and were +marching intermingled with the great French lords. + +For a long time the crowd that had collected to see all these foreign +soldiers go by, a sight so new and strange, listened uneasily to a dull +sound which got nearer and nearer. The earth visibly trembled, the glass +shook in the windows, and behind the king's escort thirty-six bronze +cannons were seen to advance, bumping along as they lay on their +gun-carriages. These cannons were eight feet in length; and as their +mouths were large enough to hold a man's head, it was supposed that each +of these terrible machines, scarcely known as yet to the Italians, +weighed nearly six thousand pounds. After the cannons came culverins +sixteen feet long, and then falconets, the smallest of which shot balls +the size of a grenade. This formidable artillery brought up the rear of +the procession, and formed the hindmost guard of the French army. + +It was six hours since the front guard entered the town; and as it was +now night and for every six artillery-men there was a torch-bearer, this +illumination gave to the objects around a more gloomy character than +they would have shown in the sunlight. The young king was to take up his +quarters in the Palazzo di Venezia, and all the artillery was directed +towards the plaza and the neighbouring streets. The remainder of the +army was dispersed about the town. The same evening, they brought to the +king, less to do honour to him than to assure him of his safety, the +keys of Rome and the keys of the Belvedere Garden just the same thing +had been done for the Duke of Calabria. + +The pope, as we said, had retired to the Castle S. Angelo with only six +cardinals, so from the day after his arrival the young king had around +him a court of very different brilliance from that of the head of the +Church. Then arose anew the question of a convocation to prove +Alexander's simony and proceed to depose him; but the king's chief +counsellors, gained over, as we know, pointed out that this was a bad +moment to excite a new schism in the Church, just when preparations were +being made for war against the infidels. As this was also the king's +private opinion, there was not much trouble in persuading him, and he +made up his mind to treat with His Holiness. + +But the negotiations had scarcely begun when they had to be broken off; +for the first thing Charles VIII demanded was the surrender of the +Castle S. Angelo, and as the pope saw in this castle his only refuge, it +was the last thing he chose to give up. Twice, in his youthful +impatience, Charles wanted to take by force what he could not get by +goodwill, and had his cannons directed towards the Holy Father's +dwelling-place; but the pope was unmoved by these demonstrations; and +obstinate as he was, this time it was the French king who gave way. + +This article, therefore, was set aside, and the following conditions +were agreed upon: + +That there should be from this day forward between His Majesty the King +of France and the Holy Father a sincere friendship and a firm alliance; + +Before the completion of the conquest of the kingdom of Naples, the King +of France should occupy, for the advantage and accommodation of his +army, the fortresses of Civita Vecchia, Terracina, and Spoleto; + +Lastly, the Cardinal Valentino (this was now the name of Caesar Borgia, +after his archbishopric of Valencia) should accompany the king in the +capacity of apostolic ambassador, really as a hostage. + +These conditions fixed, the ceremonial of an interview was arranged. The +king left the Palazzo di Venezia and went to live in the Vatican. At the +appointed time he entered by the door of a garden that adjoined the +palace, while the pope, who had not had to quit the Castle S. Angelo, +thanks to a corridor communicating between the two palaces, came down +into the same garden by another gate. The result of this arrangement was +that the king the next moment perceived the pope, and knelt down, but +the pope pretended not to see him, and the king advancing a few paces, +knelt a second time; as His Holiness was at that moment screened by some +masonry, this supplied him with another excuse, and the king went on +with the performance, got up again, once mare advanced several steps, +and was on the point of kneeling down the third time face to face, when +the Holy Father at last perceived him, and, walking towards him as +though he would prevent him from kneeling, took off his own hat, and +pressing him to his heart, raised him up and tenderly kissed his +forehead, refusing to cover until the king had put his cap upon his +head, with the aid of the pope's own hands. Then, after they had stood +for a moment, exchanging polite and friendly speeches, the king lost no +time in praying His Holiness to be so good as to receive into the Sacred +College William Bricannet, the Bishop of St. Malo. As this matter had +been agreed upon beforehand by that prelate and His Holiness, though the +king was not aware of it, Alexander was pleased to get credit by +promptly granting the request; and he instantly ordered one of his +attendants to go to the house of his son, Cardinal Valentino, and fetch +a cape and hat. Then taking the king by the hand, he conducted him into +the hall of Papagalli, where the ceremony was to take place of the +admission of the new cardinal. The solemn oath of obedience which was to +be taken by Charles to His Holiness as supreme head of the Christian +Church was postponed till the following day. + +When that solemn day arrived, every person important in Rome, noble, +cleric, or soldier, assembled around His Holiness. Charles, on his side, +made his approach to the Vatican with a splendid following of princes, +prelates, and captains. At the threshold of the palace he found four +cardinals who had arrived before him: two of them placed themselves one +on each side of him, the two others behind him, and all his retinue +following, they traversed a long line of apartments full of guards and +servants, and at last arrived in the reception-room, where the pope was +seated on his throne, with his son, Caesar Borgia; behind him. On his +arrival at the door, the King of France began the usual ceremonial, and +when he had gone on from genuflexions to kissing the feet, the hand, and +the forehead, he stood up, while the first president of the Parliament +of Paris, in his turn stepping forward, said in a loud voice: + +"Very Holy Father, behold my king ready to offer to your Holiness that +oath of obedience that he owes to you; but in France it is customary +that he who offers himself as vassal to his lord shall receive in +exchange therefor such boons as he may demand. His Majesty, therefore, +while he pledges himself for his own part to behave unto your Holiness +with a munificence even greater than that wherewith your Holiness shall +behave unto him, is here to beg urgently that you accord him three +favours. These favours are: first, the confirmation of priveleges +already granted to the king, to the queen his wife, and to the dauphin +his son; secondly, the investiture, for himself and his successors, of +the kingdom of Naples; lastly, the surrender to him of the person of the +sultan D'jem, brother of the Turkish emperor." + +At this address the pope was for a moment stupefied, for he did not +expect these three demands, which were moreover made so publicly by +Charles that no manner of refusal was possible. But quickly recovering +his presence of mind, he replied to the king that he would willingly +confirm the privileges that had been accorded to the house of France by +his predecessors; that he might therefore consider his first demand +granted; that the investiture of the kingdom was an affair that required +deliberation in a council of cardinals, but he would do all he possibly +could to induce them to accede to the king's desire; lastly, he must +defer the affair of the sultan's brother till a time more opportune for +discussing it with the Sacred College, but would venture to say that, as +this surrender could not fail to be for the good of Christendom, as it +was demanded for the purpose of assuring further the success of a +crusade, it would not be his fault if on this point also the king should +not be satisfied. + +At this reply, Charles bowed his head in sign of satisfaction, and the +first president stood up, uncovered, and resumed his discourse as +follows. + +"Very Holy Father, it is an ancient custom among Christian kings, +especially the Most Christian kings of France, to signify, through their +ambassadors, the respect they feel for the Holy See and the sovereign +pontiffs whom Divine Providence places thereon; but the Most Christian +king, having felt a desire to visit the tombs of the holy apostles, has +been pleased to pay this religious debt, which he regards as a sacred +duty, not by ambassadors or by delegates, but in his own person. This is +why, Very Holy Father, His Majesty the King of France is here to +acknowledge you as the true vicar of Christ, the legitimate successor of +the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, and with promise and vow renders +you that filial and respectful devotion which the kings his predecessors +have been accustomed to promise and vow, devoting himself and all his +strength to the service of your Holiness and the interests of the Holy +See." + +The pope arose with a joyful heart; for this oath, so publicly made, +removed all his fears about a council; so inclined from this moment to +yield to the King of France anything he might choose to ask, he took him +by his left hand and made him a short and friendly reply, dubbing him +the Church's eldest son. The ceremony over, they left the hall, the pope +always holding the king's hand in his, and in this way they walked as +far as the room where the sacred vestments are put off; the pope feigned +a wish to conduct the king to his own apartments, but the king would not +suffer this, and, embracing once more, they separated, each to retire to +his own domicile. + +The king remained eight days longer at the Vatican, then returned to the +Palazzo San Marco. During these eight days all his demands were debated +and settled to his satisfaction. The Bishop of Mans was made cardinal; +the investiture of the kingdom of Naples was promised to the conqueror; +lastly, it was agreed that on his departure the King of France should +receive from the pope's hand the brother of the Emperor of +Constantinople, for a sum of 120,000 livres. But--the pope, desiring to +extend to the utmost the hospitality he had been bestowing, invited +D'jem to dinner on the very day that he was to leave Rome with his new +protector. + +When the moment of departure arrived, Charles mounted his horse in full +armour, and with a numerous and brilliant following made his way to the +Vatican; arrived at the door, he dismounted, and leaving his escort at +the Piazza of St. Peter, went up with a few gentlemen only. He found His +Holiness waiting for him, with Cardinal Valentino on his right, and on +his left D'jem, who, as we said before, was dining with him, and round +the table thirteen cardinals. The king at once, bending on his knee, +demanded the pope's benediction, and stooped to kiss his feet. But this +Alexander would not suffer; he took him in his arms, and with the lips +of a father and heart of an enemy, kissed him tenderly on his forehead. +Then the pope introduced the son of Mahomet II, who was a fine young +man, with something noble and regal in his air, presenting in his +magnificent oriental costume a great contrast in its fashion and +amplitude to the narrow, severe cut of the Christian apparel. D'jem +advanced to Charles without humility and without pride, and, like an +emperor's son treating with a king, kissed his hand and then his +shoulder; then, turning towards the Holy Father, he said in Italian, +which he spoke very well, that he entreated he would recommend him to +the young king, who was prepared to take him under his protection, +assuring the pontiff that he should never have to repent giving him his +liberty, and telling Charles that he hoped he might some day be proud of +him, if after taking Naples he carried out his intention of going on to +Greece. These words were spoken with so much dignity and at the same +time with such gentleness, that the King of France loyally and frankly +grasped the young sultan's hand, as though he were his +companion-in-arms. Then Charles took a final farewell of the pope, and +went down to the piazza. There he was awaited by Cardinal Valentino, who +was about to accompany him, as we know, as a hostage, and who had +remained behind to exchange a few words with his father. In a moment +Caesar Borgia appeared, riding on a splendidly harnessed mule, and +behind him were led six magnificent horses, a present from the Holy +Father to the King of France. Charles at once mounted one of these, to +do honour to the gift. The pope had just conferred on him, and leaving +Rome with the rest of his troops, pursued his way towards Marino, where +he arrived the same evening. + +He learned there that Alfonso, belying his reputation as a clever +politician and great general, had just embarked with all his treasures +in a flotilla of four galleys, leaving the care of the war and the +management of his kingdom to his son Ferdinand. Thus everything went +well for the triumphant march of Charles: the gates of towns opened of +themselves at his approach, his enemies fled without waiting for his +coming, and before he had fought a single battle he had won for himself +the surname of Conqueror. + +The day after at dawn the army started once more, and after marching the +whole day, stopped in the evening at Velletri. There the king, who had +been on horseback since the morning, with Cardinal Valentine and D'jem, +left the former at his lodging, and taking D'jem with him, went on to +his own. Then Caesar Borgia, who among the army baggage had twenty very +heavy waggons of his own, had one of these opened, took out a splendid +cabinet with the silver necessary for his table, and gave orders for his +supper to be prepared, as he had done the night before. Meanwhile, night +had come on, and he shut himself up in a private chamber, where, +stripping off his cardinal's costume, he put on a groom's dress. Thanks +to this disguise, he issued from the house that had been assigned for +his accommodation without being recognised, traversed the streets, +passed through the gates, and gained the open country. Nearly half a +league outside the town, a servant awaited him with two swift horses. +Caesar, who was an excellent rider, sprang to the saddle, and he and his +companion at full gallop retraced the road to Rome, where they arrived +at break of day. Caesar got down at the house of one Flores, auditor of +the rota, where he procured a fresh horse and suitable clothes; then he +flew at once to his mother, who gave a cry of joy when she saw him; for +so silent and mysterious was the cardinal for all the world beside, and +even for her, that he had not said a word of his early return to Rome. +The cry of joy uttered by Rosa Vanozza when she beheld her son was far +mare a cry of vengeance than of love. One evening, while everybody was +at the rejoicings in the Vatican, when Charles VIII and Alexander VI +were swearing a friendship which neither of them felt, and exchanging +oaths that were broken beforehand, a messenger from Rosa Vanozza had +arrived with a letter to Caesar, in which she begged him to come at once +to her house in the Via delta Longara. Caesar questioned the messenger, +but he only replied that he could tell him nothing, that he would learn +all he cared to know from his mother's own lips. So, as soon as he was +at liberty, Caesar, in layman's dress and wrapped in a large cloak, +quitted the Vatican and made his way towards the church of Regina Coeli, +in the neighbourhood of which, it will be remembered, was the house +where the pope's mistress lived. + +As he approached his mother's house, Caesar began to observe the signs +of strange devastation. The street was scattered with the wreck of +furniture and strips of precious stuffs. As he arrived at the foot of +the little flight of steps that led to the entrance gate, he saw that +the windows were broken and the remains of torn curtains were fluttering +in front of them. Not understanding what this disorder could mean, he +rushed into the house and through several deserted and wrecked +apartments. At last, seeing light in one of the rooms, he went in, and +there found his mother sitting on the remains of a chest made of ebony +all inlaid with ivory and silver. When she saw Caesar, she rose, pale +and dishevelled, and pointing to the desolation around her, exclaimed: + +"Look, Caesar; behold the work of your new friends." + +"But what does it mean, mother?" asked the cardinal. "Whence comes all +this disorder?" + +"From the serpent," replied Rosa Vanozza, gnashing her teeth,--"from the +serpent you have warmed in your bosom. He has bitten me, fearing no +doubt that his teeth would be broken on you." + +"Who has done this?" cried Caesar. "Tell me, and, by Heaven, mother, he +shall pay, and pay indeed!" + +"Who?" replied Rosa. "King Charles VIII has done it, by the hands of his +faithful allies, the Swiss. It was well known that Melchior was away, +and that I was living alone with a few wretched servants; so they came +and broke in the doors, as though they were taking Rome by storm, and +while Cardinal Valentino was making holiday with their master, they +pillaged his mother's house, loading her with insults and outrages which +no Turks or Saracens could possibly have improved upon." + +"Very good, very good, mother," said Caesar; "be calm; blood shall wash +out disgrace. Consider a moment; what we have lost is nothing compared +with what we might lose; and my father and I, you may be quite sure, +will give you back more than they have stolen from you." + +"I ask for no promises," cried Rosa; "I ask for revenge." + +"My mother," said the cardinal, "you shall be avenged, or I will lose +the name of son." + +Having by these words reassured his mother, he took her to Lucrezia's +palace, which in consequence of her marriage with Pesaro was unoccupied, +and himself returned to the Vatican, giving orders that his mother's +house should be refurnished more magnificently than before the disaster. +These orders were punctually executed, and it was among her new +luxurious surroundings, but with the same hatred in her heart, that +Caesar on this occasion found his mother. This feeling prompted her cry +of joy when she saw him once more. + +The mother and son exchanged a very few words; then Caesar, mounting on +horseback, went to the Vatican, whence as a hostage he had departed two +days before. Alexander, who knew of the flight beforehand, and not only +approved, but as sovereign pontiff had previously absolved his son of +the perjury he was about to commit, received him joyfully, but all the +same advised him to lie concealed, as Charles in all probability would +not be slow to reclaim his hostage: + +Indeed, the next day, when the king got up, the absence of Cardinal +Valentino was observed, and as Charles was uneasy at not seeing him, he +sent to inquire what had prevented his appearance. When the messenger +arrived at the house that Caesar had left the evening before, he learned +that he had gone out at nine o'clock in the evening and not returned +since. He went back with this news to the king, who at once suspected +that he had fled, and in the first flush of his anger let the whole army +know of his perjury. The soldiers then remembered the twenty waggons, so +heavily laden, from one of which the cardinal, in the sight of all, had +produced such magnificent gold and silver plate; and never doubting that +the cargo of the others was equally precious, they fetched them down and +broke them to pieces; but inside they found nothing but stones and sand, +which proved to the king that the flight had been planned a long time +back, and incensed him doubly against the pope. So without loss of time +he despatched to Rome Philippe de Bresse, afterwards Duke of Savoy, with +orders to intimate to the Holy Father his displeasure at this conduct. +But the pope replied that he knew nothing whatever about his son's +flight, and expressed the sincerest regret to His Majesty, declaring +that he knew nothing of his whereabouts, but was certain that he was not +in Rome. As a fact, the pope was speaking the truth this time, for +Caesar had gone with Cardinal Orsino to one of his estates, and was +temporarily in hiding there. This reply was conveyed to Charles by two +messengers from the pope, the Bishops of Nepi and of Sutri, and the +people also sent an ambassador in their own behalf. He was Monsignore +Porcari, dean of the rota, who was charged to communicate to the king +the displeasure of the Romans when they learned of the cardinal's breach +of faith. Little as Charles was disposed to content himself with empty +words, he had to turn his attention to mare serious affairs; so he +continued his march to Naples without stopping, arriving there on +Sunday, the 22nd of February, 1495. + +Four days later, the unlucky D'jem, who had fallen sick at Capua died at +Castel Nuovo. When he was leaving, at the farewell banquet, Alexander +had tried on his guest the poison he intended to use so often later on +upon his cardinals, and whose effects he was destined to feel +himself,--such is poetical justice. In this way the pope had secured a +double haul; for, in his twofold speculation in this wretched young man, +he had sold him alive to Charles for 120,000 livres and sold him dead to +Bajazet for 300,00 ducats.... + +But there was a certain delay about the second payment; for the Turkish +emperor, as we remember, was not bound to pay the price of fratricide +till he received the corpse, and by Charles's order the corpse had been +buried at Gaeta. + +When Caesar Borgia learned the news, he rightly supposed that the king +would be so busy settling himself in his new capital that he would have +too much to think of to be worrying about him; so he went to Rome again, +and, anxious to keep his promise to his mother, he signalised his return +by a terrible vengeance. + +Cardinal Valentino had in his service a certain Spaniard whom he had +made the chief of his bravoes; he was a man of five-and-thirty or forty, +whose whole life had been one long rebellion against society's laws; he +recoiled from no action, provided only he could get his price. This Don +Michele Correglia, who earned his celebrity for bloody deeds under the +name of Michelotto, was just the man Caesar wanted; and whereas +Michelotto felt an unbounded admiration for Caesar, Caesar had unlimited +confidence in Michelotto. It was to him the cardinal entrusted the +execution of one part of his vengeance; the other he kept for himself. + +Don Michele received orders to scour the Campagna and cut every French +throat he could find. He began his work at once; and very few days +elapsed before he had obtained most satisfactory results: more than a +hundred persons were robbed or assassinated, and among the last the son +of Cardinal de St. Malo, who was en his way back to France, and on whom +Michelotto found a sum of 3000 crowns. + +For himself, Caesar reserved the Swiss; for it was the Swiss in +particular who had despoiled his mother's house. The pope had in his +service about a hundred and fifty soldiers belonging to their nation, +who had settled their families in Rome, and had grown rich partly by +their pay and partly in the exercise of various industries. The cardinal +had every one of them dismissed, with orders to quit Rome within +twenty-four hours and the Roman territories within three days. The poor +wretches had all collected together to obey the order, with their wives +and children and baggage, on the Piazza of St. Peter, when suddenly, by +Cardinal Valentino's orders, they were hemmed in on all sides by two +thousand Spaniards, who began to fire on them with their guns and charge +them with their sabres, while Caesar and his mother looked down upon the +carnage from a window. In this way they killed fifty or perhaps sixty; +but the rest coming up, made a charge at the assassins, and then, +without suffering any loss, managed to beat a retreat to a house, where +they stood a siege, and made so valiant a defense that they gave the +pope time--he knew nothing of the author of this butchery--to send the +captain of his guard to the rescue, who, with a strong detachment, +succeeded in getting nearly forty of them safely out of the town: the +rest had been massacred on the piazza or killed in the house. + +But this was no real and adequate revenge; for it did not touch Charles +himself, the sole author of all the troubles that the pope and his +family had experienced during the last year. So Caesar soon abandoned +vulgar schemes of this kind and busied himself with loftier concerns, +bending all the force of his genius to restore the league of Italian +princes that had been broken by the defection of Sforza, the exile of +Piero dei Medici, and the defeat of Alfonso. The enterprise was more +easily accomplished than the pope could have anticipated. The Venetians +were very uneasy when Charles passed so near, and they trembled lest, +when he was once master of Naples, he might conceive the idea of +conquering the rest of Italy. Ludovico Sforza, on his side, was +beginning to tremble, seeing the rapidity with which the King of France +had dethroned the house of Aragon, lest he might not make much +difference between his allies and his enemies. Maximilian, for his part, +was only seeking an occasion to break the temporary peace which he had +granted for the sake of the concession made to him. Lastly, Ferdinand +and Isabella were allies of the dethroned house. And so it came about +that all of them, for different reasons, felt a common fear, and were +soon in agreement as to the necessity of driving out Charles VIII, not +only from Naples, but from Italy, and pledged themselves to work +together to this end, by every means in their power, by negotiations, by +trickery, or by actual force. The Florentines alone refused to take part +in this general levy of arms, and remained faithful to their promises. + +According to the articles of the treaty agreed upon by the confederates, +the alliance was to last for five-and-twenty years, and had for +ostensible object the upholding of the majority of the pope, and the +interests of Christendom; and these preparations might well have been +taken for such as would precede a crusade against the Turks, if +Bajazet's ambassador had not always been present at the deliberations, +although the Christian princes could not have dared for very shame to +admit the, sultan by name into their league. Now the confederates had to +set on foot an army of 30,000 horse and 20,000 infantry, and each of +them was taxed for a contingent; thus the pope was to furnish 4000 +horse, Maximilian 6000, the King of Spain, the Duke of Milan, and the +republic of Venice, 8000 each. Every confederate was, in addition to +this, to levy and equip 4000 infantry in the six weeks following the +signature of the treaty. The fleets were to be equipped by the Maritime +States; but any expenses they should incur later on were to be defrayed +by all in equal shares. + +The formation of this league was made public on the 12th of April, 1495, +Palm Sunday, and in all the Italian States, especially at Rome, was made +the occasion of fetes and immense rejoicings. Almost as soon as the +publicly known articles were announced the secret ones were put into +execution. These obliged Ferdinand and Isabella to send a fleet of sixty +galleys to Ischia, where Alfonso's son had retired, with six hundred +horsemen on board and five thousand infantry, to help him to ascend the +throne once more. Those troops were to be put under the command of +Gonzalvo of Cordova, who had gained the reputation of the greatest +general in Europe after the taking of Granada. The Venetians with a +fleet of forty galleys under the command of Antonio Grimani, were to +attack all the French stations on the coast of Calabria and Naples. The +Duke of Milan promised for his part to check all reinforcements as they +should arrive from France, and to drive the Duke of Orleans out of Asti. + +Lastly, there was Maximilian, who had promised to make invasions on the +frontiers, and Bajazet, who was to help with money, ships, and soldiers +either the Venetians or the Spaniards, according as he might be appealed +to by Barberigo or by Ferdinand the Catholic. + +This league was all the more disconcerting for Charles, because of the +speedy abatement of the enthusiasm that had hailed his first appearance. +What had happened to him was what generally happens to a conqueror who +has more good luck than talent; instead of making himself a party among +the great Neapolitan and Calabrian vassals, whose roots would be +embedded in the very soil, by confirming their privileges and augmenting +their power, he had wounded their feelings by bestowing all the titles, +offices, and fiefs on those alone who had followed him from France, so +that all the important positions in the kingdom were filled by +strangers. + +The result was that just when the league was made known, Tropea and +Amantea, which had been presented by Charles to the Seigneur de Precy, +rose in revolt and hoisted the banner of Aragon; and the Spanish fleet +had only to present itself at Reggio, in Calabria, for the town to throw +open its gates, being more discontented with the new rule than the old; +and Don Federiga, Alfonso's brother and Ferdinand's uncle, who had +hitherto never quitted Brindisi, had only to appear at Tarentum to be +received there as a liberator. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +CHARLES learned all this news at Naples, and, tired of his late +conquests, which necessitated a labour in organisation for which he was +quite unfitted, turned his eyes towards France, where victorious fetes +and rejoicings were awaiting the victor's return. So he yielded at the +first breath of his advisers, and retraced his road to his kingdom, +threatened, as was said, by the Germans on the north and the Spaniards +on the south. Consequently, he appointed Gilbert de Montpensier, of the +house of Bourbon, viceroy; d'Aubigny, of the Scotch Stuart family, +lieutenant in Calabria; Etienne de Vese, commander at Gaeta; and Don +Juliano, Gabriel de Montfaucon, Guillaume de Villeneuve, George de +Lilly, the bailiff of Vitry, and Graziano Guerra respectively governors +of Sant' Angelo, Manfredonia, Trani, Catanzaro, Aquila, and Sulmone; +then leaving behind in evidence of his claims the half of his Swiss, a +party of his Gascons, eight hundred French lances, and about five +hundred Italian men-at-arms, the last under the command of the prefect +of Rome, Prospero and Fabrizio Colonna, and Antonio Savelli, he left +Naples on the 20th of May at two o'clock in the afternoon, to traverse +the whole of the Italian peninsula with the rest of his army, consisting +of eight hundred French lances, two hundred gentlemen of his guard, one +hundred Italian men-at-arms, three thousand Swiss infantry, one thousand +French and one thousand Gascon. He also expected to be joined by Camillo +Vitelli and his brothers in Tuscany, who were to contribute two hundred +and fifty men-at-arms. + +A week before he left Naples, Charles had sent to Rome Monseigneur de +Saint-Paul, brother of Cardinal de Luxembourg; and just as he was +starting he despatched thither the new Archbishop of Lyons. They both +were commissioned to assure Alexander that the King of France had the +most sincere desire and the very best intention of remaining his friend. +In truth, Charles wished for nothing so much as to separate the pope +from the league, so as to secure him as a spiritual and temporal +support; but a young king, full of fire, ambition, and courage, was not +the neighbour to suit Alexander; so the latter would listen to nothing, +and as the troops he had demanded from the doge and Ludavico Sforza had +not been sent in sufficient number for the defense of Rome, he was +content with provisioning the castle of S. Angelo, putting in a +formidable garrison, and leaving Cardinal Sant' Anastasio to receive +Charles while he himself withdrew with Caesar to Orvieto. Charles only +stayed in Rome three days, utterly depressed because the pope had +refused to receive him in spite of his entreaties. And in these three +days, instead of listening to Giuliano delta Rovere, who was advising +him once more to call a council and depose the pope, he rather hoped to +bring the pope round to his side by the virtuous act of restoring the +citadels of Terracina and Civita Vecchia to the authorities of the +Romagna, only keeping for himself Ostia, which he had promised Giuliano +to give back to him. At last, when the three days had elapsed, he left +Rome, and resumed his march in three columns towards Tuscany, crossed +the States of the Church, and on the 13th reached Siena, where he was +joined by Philippe de Commines, who had gone as ambassador extraordinary +to the Venetian Republic, and now announced that the enemy had forty +thousand men under arms and were preparing for battle. This news +produced no other effect an the king and the gentlemen of his army than +to excite their amusement beyond measure; for they had conceived such a +contempt for their enemy by their easy conquest, that they could not +believe that any army, however numerous, would venture to oppose their +passage. + +Charles, however, was forced to give way in the face of facts, when he +heard at San Teranza that his vanguard, commanded by Marechal de Gie, +and composed of six hundred lances and fifteen hundred Swiss, when it +arrived at Fornova had come face to face with the confederates, who had +encamped at Guiarole. The marechal had ordered an instant halt, and he +too had pitched his tents, utilising for his defence the natural +advantages of the hilly ground. When these first measures had been +taken, he sent out, first, a herald to the enemy's camp to ask from +Francesco di Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, generalissimo of the +confederate troops, a passage for his king's army and provisions at a +reasonable price; and secondly, he despatched a courier to Charles VIII, +pressing him to hurry on his march with the artillery and rearguard. The +confederates had given an evasive answer, for they were pondering +whether they ought to jeopardise the whole Italian force in a single +combat, and, putting all to the hazard, attempt to annihilate the King +of France and his army together, so overwhelming the conqueror in the +ruins of his ambition. The messenger found Charles busy superintending +the passage of the last of his cannon over the mountain of Pontremoli. +This was no easy matter, seeing that there was no sort of track, and the +guns had to be lifted up and lowered by main farce, and each piece +needed the arms of as many as two hundred men. At last, when all the +artillery had arrived without accident on the other side of the +Apennines, Charles started in hot haste for Fornovd, where he arrived +with all his following on the morning of the next day. + +From the top of the mountain where the Marechai de Gie had pitched his +tents, the king beheld both his own camp and the enemy's. Both were on +the right bank of the Taro, and were at either end of a semicircular +chain of hills resembling an amphitheatre; and the space between the two +camps, a vast basin filled during the winter floods by the torrent which +now only marked its boundary, was nothing but a plain covered with +gravel, where all manoeuvres must be equally difficult for horse and +infantry. Besides, on the western slope of the hills there was a little +wood which extended from the enemy's army to the French, and was in the +possession of the Stradiotes, who, by help of its cover, had already +engaged in several skirmishes with the French troops during the two days +of halt while they were waiting for the king. + +The situation was not reassuring. From the top of the mountain which +overlooked Fornovo, one could get a view, as we said before, of the two +camps, and could easily calculate the numerical difference between them. +The French army, weakened by the establishment of garrisons in the +various towns and fortresses they had won in Italy, were scarcely eight +thousand strong, while the combined forces of Milan and Venice exceeded +a total of thirty-five thousand. So Charles decided to try once more the +methods of conciliation, and sent Commines, who, as we know, had joined +him in Tuscany, to the Venetian 'proveditori', whose acquaintance he had +made when on his embassy; he having made a great impression on these +men, thanks to a general high opinion of his merits. He was commissioned +to tell the enemy's generals, in the name of the King of France, that +his master only desired to continue his road without doing or receiving +any harm; that therefore he asked to be allowed a free passage across +the fair plains of Lombardy, which he could see from the heights where +he now stood, stretching as far as the eye could reach, away to the foot +of the Alps. Commines found the confederate army deep in discussion: the +wish of the Milanese and Venetian party being to let the king go by, and +not attack him; they said they were only too happy that he should leave +Italy in this way, without causing any further harm; but the ambassadors +of Spain and Germany took quite another view. As their masters had no +troops in the army, and as all the money they had promised was already +paid, they must be the gainer in either case from a battle, whichever +way it went: if they won the day they would gather the fruits of +victory, and if they lost they would experience nothing of the evils of +defeat. This want of unanimity was the reason why the answer to Commines +was deferred until the following day, and why it was settled that on the +next day he should hold another conference with a plenipotentiary to be +appointed in the course of that night. The place of this conference was +to be between the two armies. + +The king passed the night in great uneasiness. All day the weather had +threatened to turn to rain, and we have already said how rapidly the +Taro could swell; the river, fordable to-day, might from tomorrow +onwards prove an insurmountable obstacle; and possibly the delay had +only been asked for with a view to putting the French army in a worse +position. As a fact the night had scarcely come when a terrible storm +arose, and so long as darkness lasted, great rumblings were heard in the +Apennines, and the sky was brilliant with lightning. At break of day, +however, it seemed to be getting a little calmer, though the Taro, only +a streamlet the day before, had become a torrent by this time, and was +rapidly rising. So at six in the morning, the king, ready armed and on +horseback, summoned Commines and bade him make his way to the rendezvous +that the Venetian 'proveditori' had assigned. But scarcely had he +contrived to give the order when loud cries were heard coming from the +extreme right of the French army. The Stradiotes, under cover of the +wood stretching between the two camps, had surprised an outpost, and +first cutting the soldiers' throats, were carrying off their heads in +their usual way at the saddle-bow. A detachment of cavalry was sent in +pursuit; but, like wild animals, they had retreated to their lair in the +woods, and there disappeared. + +This unexpected engagement, in all probability arranged beforehand by +the Spanish and German envoys, produced on the whole army the effect of +a spark applied to a train of gunpowder. Commines and the Venetian +'proveditori' each tried in vain to arrest the combat an either side. +Light troops, eager for a skirmish, and, in the usual fashion of those +days, prompted only by that personal courage which led them on to +danger, had already come to blows, rushing down into the plain as though +it were an amphitheatre where they might make a fine display of arms. +Far a moment the young king, drawn on by example, was an the point of +forgetting the responsibility of a general in his zeal as a soldier; but +this first impulse was checked by Marechal de Gie, Messire Claude de la +Chatre de Guise, and M. de la Trimauille, who persuaded Charles to adopt +the wiser plan, and to cross the Taro without seeking a battle,--at the +same time without trying to avoid it, should the enemy cross the river +from their camp and attempt to block his passage. The king accordingly, +following the advice of his wisest and bravest captains, thus arranged +his divisions. + +The first comprised the van and a body of troops whose duty it was to +support them. The van consisted of three hundred and fifty men-at-arms, +the best and bravest of the army, under the command of Marechal de Gie +and Jacques Trivulce; the corps following them consisted of three +thousand Swiss, under the command of Engelbert der Cleves and de Larnay, +the queen's grand equerry; next came three hundred archers of the guard, +whom the king had sent to help the cavalry by fighting in the spaces +between them. + +The second division, commanded by the king in person and forming the +middle of the army, was composed of the artillery, under Jean de +Lagrange, a hundred gentlemen of the guard with Gilles Carrone far +standard-bearer, pensioners of the king's household under Aymar de Prie, +some Scots, and two hundred cross-bowmen an horseback, with French +archers besides, led by M. de Crussol. + +Lastly, the third division, i.e. the rear, preceded by six thousand +beasts of burden bearing the baggage, was composed of only three hundred +men-at-arms, commanded by de Guise and by de la Trimouille: this was the +weakest part of the army. + +When this arrangement was settled, Charles ordered the van to cross the +river, just at the little town of Fornovo. This was done at once, the +riders getting wet up to their knees, and the footmen holding to the +horses' tails. As soon as he saw the last soldiers of his first division +on the opposite bank, he started himself to follow the same road and +cross at the same ford, giving orders to de Guise and de la Trimouille +to regulate the march of the rear guard by that of the centre, just as +he had regulated their march by that of the van. His orders were +punctually carried out; and about ten o'clock in the morning the whole +French army was on the left bank of the Taro: at the same time, when it +seemed certain from the enemy's arrangements that battle was imminent, +the baggage, led by the captain, Odet de Reberac, was separated from the +rear guard, and retired to the extreme left. + +Now, Francisco de Gonzaga, general-in-chief of the confederate troops, +had modelled his plans on those of the King of France; by his orders, +Count de Cajazzo, with four hundred men-at-arms and two thousand +infantry, had crossed the Taro where the Venetian camp lay, and was to +attack the French van; while Gonzaga himself, following the right bank +as far as Fornovo, would go over the river by the same ford that Charles +had used, with a view to attacking his rear. Lastly, he had placed the +Stradiotes between these two fords, with orders to cross the river in +their turn, so soon as they saw the French army attacked both in van and +in the rear, and to fall upon its flank. Not content with offensive +measures, Gonzaga had also made provision for retreat by leaving three +reserve corps on the right bank, one to guard the camp under the +instruction of the Venetian 'provveditori', and the other two arranged +in echelon to support each other, the first commanded by Antonio di +Montefeltro, the second by Annibale Bentivoglio. + +Charles had observed all these arrangements, and had recognised the +cunning Italian strategy which made his opponents the finest generals in +the world; but as there was no means of avoiding the danger, he had +decided to take a sideway course, and had given orders to continue the +match; but in a minute the French army was caught between Count di +Cajazzo, barring the way with his four hundred men-at-arms and his two +thousand infantry, and Gonzaga in pursuit of the rear, as we said +before; leading six hundred men-at-arms, the flower of his army, a +squadron of Stradiotes, and more than five thousand infantry: this +division alone was stronger than the whole of the French army. + +When, however, M. de Guise and M. de la Trimouille found themselves +pressed in this way, they ordered their two hundred men-at-arms to turn +right about face, while at the opposite end--that is, at the head of the +army-Marechal de Gie and Trivulce ordered a halt and lances in rest. +Meanwhile, according to custom, the king, who, as we said, was in the +centre, was conferring knighthood on those gentlemen who had earned the +favour either by virtue of their personal powers or the king's special +friendship. + +Suddenly there was heard a terrible clash behind it was the French +rearguard coming to blows with the Marquis of Mantua. In this encounter, +where each man had singled out his own foe as though it were a +tournament, very many lances were broken, especially those of the +Italian knights; for their lances were hollowed so as to be less heavy, +and in consequence had less solidity. Those who were thus disarmed at +once seized their swords. As they were far more numerous than the +French, the king saw them suddenly outflanking his right wing and +apparently prepared to surround it; at the same moment loud cries were +heard from a direction facing the centre: this meant that the Stradiotes +were crossing the river to make their attack. + +The king at once ordered his division into two detachments, and giving +one to Bourbon the bastard, to make head against the Stradiotes, he +hurried with the second to the rescue of the van, flinging himself into +the very midst of the melee, striking out like a king, and doing as +steady work as the lowest in rank of his captains. Aided by the +reinforcement, the rearguard made a good stand, though the enemy were +five against one, and the combat in this part continued to rage with +wonderful fury. + +Obeying his orders, Bourbon had thrown himself upon the Stradiotes; but +unfortunately, carried off by his horse, he had penetrated so far into +the enemy's ranks that he was lost to sight: the disappearance of their +chief, the strange dress of their new antagonists, and the peculiar +method of their fighting produced a considerable effect on those who +were to attack them; and for the moment disorder was the consequence in +the centre, and the horse men scattered instead of serrying their ranks +and fighting in a body. This false move would have done them serious +harm, had not most of the Stradiotes, seeing the baggage alone and +undefended, rushed after that in hope of booty, instead of following up +their advantage. A great part of the troop nevertheless stayed behind to +fight, pressing on the French cavalry and smashing their lances with +their fearful scimitars. Happily the king, who had just repulsed the +Marquis of Mantua's attack, perceived what was going on behind him, and +riding back at all possible speed to the succour of the centre, together +with the gentlemen of his household fell upon the Stradiotes, no longer +armed with a lance, for that he had just broken, but brandishing his +long sword, which blazed about him like lightning, and--either because +he was whirled away like Bourbon by his own horse, or because he had +allowed his courage to take him too far--he suddenly found himself in +the thickest ranks of the Stradiotes, accompanied only by eight of the +knights he had just now created, one equerry called Antoine des Ambus, +and his standard-bearer. "France, France!" he cried aloud, to rally +round him all the others who had scattered; they, seeing at last that +the danger was less than they had supposed, began to take their revenge +and to pay back with interest the blows they had received from the +Stradiotes. Things were going still better, for the van, which the +Marquis de Cajazzo was to attack; for although he had at first appeared +to be animated with a terrible purpose, he stopped short about ten or +twelve feet from the French line and turned right about face without +breaking a single lance. The French wanted to pursue, but the Marechal +de Gie, fearing that this flight might be only a trick to draw off the +vanguard from the centre, ordered every man to stay in his place. But +the Swiss, who were German, and did not understand the order, or thought +it was not meant for them, followed upon their heels, and although on +foot caught them up and killed a hundred of them. This was quite enough +to throw them into disorder, so that some were scattered about the +plain, and others made a rush for the water, so as to cross the river +and rejoin their camp. + +When the Marechal de Gie saw this, he detached a hundred of his own men +to go to the aid of the king, who was continuing to fight with +unheard-of courage and running the greatest risks, constantly separated +as he was from his gentlemen, who could not follow him; for wherever +there was danger, thither he rushed, with his cry of "France," little +troubling himself as to whether he was followed or not. And it was no +longer with his sword that he fought; that he had long ago broken, like +his lance, but with a heavy battle-axe, whose every blow was mortal +whether cut or pierced. Thus the Stradiotes, already hard pressed by the +king's household and his pensioners, soon changed attack for defence and +defence for flight. It was at this moment that the king was really in +the greatest danger; for he had let himself be carried away in pursuit +of the fugitives, and presently found himself all alone, surrounded by +these men, who, had they not been struck with a mighty terror, would +have had nothing to do but unite and crush him and his horse together; +but, as Commines remarks, "He whom God guards is well guarded, and God +was guarding the King of France." + +All the same, at this moment the French were sorely pressed in the rear; +and although de Guise and de la Trimouille held out as firmly as it was +possible to hold, they would probably have been compelled to yield to +superior numbers had not a double aid arrived in time: first the +indefatigable Charles, who, having nothing more to do among the +fugitives, once again dashed into the midst of the fight, next the +servants of the army, who, now that they were set free from the +Stradiotes and saw their enemies put to flight, ran up armed with the +axes they habitually used to cut down wood for building their huts: they +burst into the middle of the fray, slashing at the horses' legs and +dealing heavy blows that smashed in the visors of the dismounted +horsemen. + +The Italians could not hold out against this double attack; the 'furia +francese' rendered all their strategy and all their calculations +useless, especially as for more than a century they had abandoned their +fights of blood and fury for a kind of tournament they chose to regard +as warfare; so, in spite of all Gonzaga's efforts, they turned their +backs upon the French rear and took to flight; in the greatest haste and +with much difficulty they recrossed the torrent, which was swollen even +more now by the rain that had been falling during the whole time of the +battle. + +Some thought fit to pursue the vanquished, for there was now such +disorder in their ranks that they were fleeing in all directions from +the battlefield where the French had gained so glorious a victory, +blocking up the roads to Parma and Bercetto. But Marechal de Gie and de +Guise and de la Trimouille, who had done quite enough to save them from +the suspicion of quailing before imaginary dangers, put a stop to this +enthusiasm, by pointing out that it would only be risking the loss of +their present advantage if they tried to push it farther with men and +horses so worn out. This view was adopted in spite of the opinion of +Trivulce, Camillo Vitelli, and Francesco Secco, who were all eager to +follow up the victory. + +The king retired to a little village an the left bank of the Taro, and +took shelter in a poor house. There he disarmed, being perhaps among all +the captains and all the soldiers the man who had fought best. + +During the night the torrent swelled so high that the Italian army could +not have pursued, even if they had laid aside their fears. The king did +not propose to give the appearance of flight after a victory, and +therefore kept his army drawn up all day, and at night went on to sleep +at Medesano, a little village only a mile lower down than the hamlet +where he rested after the fight. But in the course of the night he +reflected that he had done enough for the honour of his arms in fighting +an army four times as great as his own and killing three thousand men, +and then waiting a day and a half to give them time to take their +revenge; so two hours before daybreak he had the fires lighted, that the +enemy might suppose he was remaining in camp; and every man mounting +noiselessly, the whole French army, almost out of danger by this time, +proceeded on their march to Borgo San Donnino. + +While this was going on, the pope returned to Rome, where news highly +favourable to his schemes was not slow to reach his ears. He learned +that Ferdinand had crossed from Sicily into Calabria with six thousand +volunteers and a considerable number of Spanish horse and foot, led, at +the command of Ferdinand and Isabella, by the famous Gonzalva de +Cordova, who arrived in Italy with a great reputation, destined to +suffer somewhat from the defeat at Seminara. At almost the same time the +French fleet had been beaten by the Aragonese; moreover, the battle of +the Taro, though a complete defeat for the confederates, was another +victory for the pope, because its result was to open a return to France +for that man whom he regarded as his deadliest foe. So, feeling that he +had nothing more to fear from Charles, he sent him a brief at Turin, +where he had stopped for a short time to give aid to Novara, therein +commanding him, by virtue of his pontifical authority, to depart out of +Italy with his army, and to recall within ten days those of his troops +that still remained in the kingdom of Naples, on pain of +excommunication, and a summons to appear before him in person. + +Charles VIII replied: + + (1) That he did not understand how the pope, the chief of the league, + ordered him to leave Italy, whereas the confederates had not only + refused him a passage, but had even attempted, though + unsuccessfully, as perhaps His Holiness knew, to cut off his + return into France; + (2) That, as to recalling his troops from Naples, he was not so + irreligious as to do that, since they had not entered the kingdom + without the consent and blessing of His Holiness; + (3) That he was exceedingly surprised that the pope should require his + presence in person at the capital of the Christian world just at + the present time, when six weeks previously, at the time of his + return from Naples, although he ardently desired an interview with + His Holiness, that he might offer proofs of his respect and + obedience, His Holiness, instead of according this favour, had + quitted Rome so hastily on his approach that he had not been able + to come up with him by any efforts whatsoever. On this point, + however, he promised to give His Holiness the satisfaction he + desired, if he would engage this time to wait for him: he would + therefore return to Rome so soon as the affairs that brought him + back to his own kingdom had been satisfactorily, settled. + +Although in this reply there was a touch of mockery and defiance, +Charles was none the less compelled by the circumstances of the case to +obey the pope's strange brief. His presence was so much needed in France +that, in spite of the arrival of a Swiss reinforcement, he was compelled +to conclude a peace with Ludovico Sforza, whereby he yielded Novara to +him; while Gilbert de Montpensier and d'Aubigny, after defending, inch +by inch, Calabria, the Basilicate, and Naples, were obliged to sign the +capitulation of Atella, after a siege of thirty-two days, on the 20th of +July, 1496. This involved giving back to Ferdinand II, King of Naples, +all the palaces and fortresses of his kingdom; which indeed he did but +enjoy for three months, dying of exhaustion on the 7th of September +following, at the Castello della Somma, at the foot of Vesuvius; all the +attentions lavished upon him by his young wife could not repair the evil +that her beauty had wrought. + +His uncle Frederic succeeded; and so, in the three years of his papacy, +Alexander VI had seen five kings upon the throne of Naples, while he was +establishing himself more firmly upon his own pontifical seat--Ferdinand +I, Alfonso I, Charles VIII, Ferdinand II, and Frederic. All this +agitation about his throne, this rapid succession of sovereigns, was the +best thing possible for Alexander; for each new monarch became actually +king only on condition of his receiving the pontifical investiture. The +consequence was that Alexander was the only gainer in power and credit +by these changes; for the Duke of Milan and the republics of Florence +and Venice had successively recognised him as supreme head of the +Church, in spite of his simony; moreover, the five kings of Naples had +in turn paid him homage. So he thought the time had now come for +founding a mighty family; and for this he relied upon the Duke of +Gandia, who was to hold all the highest temporal dignities; and upon +Caesar Borgia, who was to be appointed to all the great ecclesiastical +offices. The pope made sure of the success of these new projects by +electing four Spanish cardinals, who brought up the number of his +compatriots in the Sacred College to twenty-two, thus assuring him a +constant and certain majority. + +The first requirement of the pope's policy was to clear away from the +neighbourhood of Rome all those petty lords whom most people call vicars +of the Church, but whom Alexander called the shackles of the papacy. We +saw that he had already begun this work by rousing the Orsini against +the Colonna family, when Charles VIII's enterprise compelled him to +concentrate all his mental resources, and also the forces of his States, +so as to secure his own personal safety. + +It had come about through their own imprudent action that the Orsini, +the pope's old friends, were now in the pay of the French, and had +entered the kingdom of Naples with them, where one of them, Virginio, a +very important member of their powerful house, had been taken prisoner +during the war, and was Ferdinand II's captive. Alexander could not let +this opportunity escape him; so, first ordering the King of Naples not +to release a man who, ever since the 1st of June, 1496, had been a +declared rebel, he pronounced a sentence of confiscation against +Virginio Orsini and his whole family in a secret consistory, which sat +on the 26th of October following--that is to say, in the early days of +the reign of Frederic, whom he knew to be entirely at his command, owing +to the King's great desire of getting the investiture from him; then, as +it was not enough to declare the goods confiscated, without also +dispossessing the owners, he made overtures to the Colonna family, +saying he would commission them, in proof of their new bond of +friendship, to execute the order given against their old enemies under +the direction of his son Francesco, Duke of Gandia. In this fashion he +contrived to weaken his neighbours each by means of the other, till such +time as he could safely attack and put an end to conquered and conqueror +alike. + +The Colonna family accepted this proposition, and the Duke of Gandia was +named General of the Church: his father in his pontifical robes bestowed +on him the insignia of this office in the church of St. Peter's at Rome. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +Matters went forward as Alexander had wished, and before the end of the +year the pontifical army had, seized a great number of castles and +fortresses that belonged to the Orsini, who thought themselves already +lost when Charles VIII came to the rescue. They had addressed themselves +to him without much hope that he could be of real use to there, with his +want of armed troops and his preoccupation with his own affairs. He, +however, sent Carlo Orsini, son of Virginio, the prisoner, and +Vitellozzo Vitelli, brother of Camillo Vitelli, one of the three valiant +Italian condottieri who had joined him and fought for him at the +crossing of the Taro: These two captains, whose courage and skill were +well known, brought with them a considerable sum of money from the +liberal coffers of Charles VIII. Now, scarcely had they arrived at Citta +di Castello, the centre of their little sovereignty, and expressed their +intention of raising a band of soldiers, when men presented themselves +from all sides to fight under their banner; so they very soon assembled +a small army, and as they had been able during their stay among the +French to study those matters of military organisation in which France +excelled, they now applied the result of their learning to their own +troops: the improvements were mainly certain changes in the artillery +which made their manoeuvres easier, and the substitution for their +ordinary weapons of pikes similar in form to the Swiss pikes, but two +feet longer. These changes effected, Vitellozzo Vitelli spent three or +four months in exercising his men in the management of their new +weapons; then, when he thought them fit to make good use of these, and +when he had collected more or less help from the towns of Perugia, Todi, +and Narni, where the inhabitants trembled lest their turn should come +after the Orsini's, as the Orsini's had followed on the Colonnas', he +marched towards Braccianno, which was being besieged by the Duke of +Urbino, who had been lent to the pope by the Venetians, in virtue of the +treaty quoted above. + +The Venetian general, when he heard of Vitelli's approach, thought he +might as well spare him half his journey, and marched out to confront +him: the two armies met in the Soriano road, and the battle straightway +began. The pontifical army had a body of eight hundred Germans, on which +the Dukes of Urbino and Gandia chiefly relied, as well they might, for +they were the best troops in the world; but Vitelli attacked these +picked men with his infantry, who, armed with their formidable pikes, +ran them through, while they with arms four feet shorter had no chance +even of returning the blows they received; at the same time Vitelli's +light troops wheeled upon the flank, following their most rapid +movements, and silencing the enemy's artillery by the swiftness and +accuracy of their attack. The pontifical troops were put to flight, +though after a longer resistance than might have been expected when they +had to sustain the attack of an army so much better equipped than their +own; with them they bore to Ronciglione the Duke of Gandia, wounded in +the face by a pike-thrust, Fabrizia Calonna, and the envoy; the Duke of +Urbino, who was fighting in the rear to aid the retreat, was taken +prisoner with all his artillery and the baggage of the conquered army. +But this success, great as it was, did not so swell the pride of +Vitellozza Vitelli as to make him oblivious of his position. He knew +that he and the Orsini together were too weak to sustain a war of such +magnitude; that the little store of money to which he owed the existence +of his army would very soon be expended and his army would disappear +with it. So he hastened to get pardoned far the victory by making +propositions which he would very likely have refused had he been the +vanquished party; and the pope accepted his conditions without demur; +during the interval having heard that Trivulce had just recrossed the +Alps and re-entered Italy with three thousand Swiss, and fearing lest +the Italian general might only be the advance guard of the King of +France. So it was settled that the Orsini should pay 70,000 florins for +the expenses of the war, and that all the prisoners on both sides should +be exchanged without ransom with the single exception of the Duke of +Urbino. As a pledge for the future payment of the 70,000 florins, the +Orsini handed over to the Cardinals Sforza and San Severino the +fortresses of Anguillara and Cervetri; then, when the day came and they +had not the necessary money, they gave up their prisoner, the Duke of +Urbino, estimating his worth at 40,000 ducats--nearly all the sum +required--and handed him over to Alexander on account; he, a rigid +observer of engagements, made his own general, taken prisoner in his +service, pay, to himself the ransom he owed to the enemy. + +Then the pope had the corpse of Virginio sent to Carlo Orsini and +Vitellozzo Vitelli, as he could not send him alive. By a strange +fatality the prisoner had died, eight days before the treaty was signed, +of the same malady--at least, if we may judge by analogy--that had +carried off Bajazet's brother. + +As soon as the peace was signed, Prospero Calonna and Gonzalvo de +Cordova, whom the Pope had demanded from Frederic, arrived at Rome with +an army of Spanish and Neapolitan troops. Alexander, as he could not +utilise these against the Orsini, set them the work of recapturing +Ostia, not desiring to incur the reproach of bringing them to Rome far +nothing. Gonzalvo was rewarded for this feat by receiving the Rose of +Gold from the pope's hand--that being the highest honour His Holiness +can grant. He shared this distinction with the Emperor Maximilian, the +King of France, the Doge of Venice, and the Marquis of Mantua. + +In the midst of all this occurred the solemn festival of the Assumption; +in which Ganzalvo was invited to take part. He accordingly left his +palace, proceeded in great pomp in the front of the pontifical cavalry, +and took his place on the Duke of Gandia's left hand. The duke attracted +all eyes by his personal beauty, set off as it was by all the luxury he +thought fit to display at this festival. He had a retinue of pages and +servants, clad in sumptuous liveries, incomparable for richness with +anything heretofore seen in Rome, that city of religious pomp. All these +pages and servants rode magnificent horses, caparisoned in velvet +trimmed with silver fringe, and bells of silver hanging down every here +and there. He himself was in a robe of gold brocade, and wore at his +neck a string of Eastern pearls, perhaps the finest and largest that +ever belonged to a Christian prince, while on his cap was a gold chain +studded with diamonds of which the smallest was worth more than 20,000 +ducats. This magnificence was all the more conspicuous by the contrast +it presented to Caesar's dress, whose scarlet robe admitted of no +ornaments. The result was that Caesar, doubly jealous of his brother, +felt a new hatred rise up within him when he heard all along the way the +praises of his fine appearance and noble equipment. From this moment +Cardinal Valentino decided in his own mind the fate of this man, this +constant obstacle in the path of his pride, his love, and his ambition. +Very good reason, says Tommaso, the historian, had the Duke of Gandia to +leave behind him an impression on the public mind of his beauty and his +grandeur at this fete, for this last display was soon to be followed by +the obsequies of the unhappy young man. + +Lucrezia also had come to Rome, on the pretext of taking part in the +solemnity, but really, as we shall see later, with the view of serving +as a new instrument for her father's ambition. As the pope was not +satisfied with an empty triumph of vanity and display for his son, and +as his war with the Orsini had failed to produce the anticipated +results, he decided to increase the fortune of his firstborn by doing +the very thing which he had accused Calixtus in his speech of doing for +him, viz., alienating from the States of the Church the cities of +Benevento, Terracino, and Pontecorvo to form, a duchy as an appanage to +his son's house. Accordingly this proposition was put forward in a full +consistory, and as the college of cardinals was entirely Alexander's, +there was no difficulty about carrying his point. This new favour to his +elder brother exasperated Caesar, although he was himself getting a +share of the paternal gifts; for he had just been named envoy 'a latere' +at Frederic's court, and was appointed to crown him with his own hands +as the papal representative. But Lucrezia, when she had spent a few days +of pleasure with her father and brothers, had gone into retreat at the +convent of San Sisto. No one knew the real motive of her seclusion, and +no entreaties of Caesar, whose love for her was strange and unnatural, +had induced her to defer this departure from the world even until the +day after he left for Naples. His sister's obstinacy wounded him deeply, +for ever since the day when the Duke of Gandia had appeared in the +procession so magnificently attired, he fancied he had observed a +coldness in the mistress of his illicit affection, and so far did this +increase his hatred of his rival that he resolved to be rid of him at +all costs. So he ordered the chief of his sbirri to come and see him the +same night. + +Michelotto was accustomed to these mysterious messages, which almost +always meant his help was wanted in some love affair or some act of +revenge. As in either case his reward was generally a large one, he was +careful to keep his engagement, and at the appointed hour was brought +into the presence of his patron. + +Caesar received him leaning against a tall chimney-piece, no longer +wearing his cardinal's robe and hat, but a doublet of black velvet +slashed with satin of the same colour. One hand toyed mechanically with +his gloves, while the other rested an the handle of a poisoned dagger +which never left his side. This was the dress he kept for his nocturnal +expeditions, so Michelotto felt no surprise at that; but his eyes burned +with a flame more gloomy than their want, and his cheeks, generally +pale, were now livid. Michelotto had but to cast one look upon his +master to see that Caesar and he were about to share some terrible +enterprise. + +He signed to him to shut the door. Michelotto obeyed. Then, after a +moment's silence, during which the eyes of Borgia seemed to burn into +the soul of the bravo, who with a careless air stood bareheaded before +ham, he said, in a voice whose slightly mocking tone gave the only sign +of his emotion. + +"Michelotto, how do you think this dress suits me?" + +Accustomed as he was to his master's tricks of circumlocution, the bravo +was so far from expecting this question, that at first he stood mute, +and only after a few moments' pause was able to say: + +"Admirably, monsignore; thanks to the dress, your Excellency has the +appearance as well as the true spirit of a captain." + +"I am glad you think so," replied Caesar. "And now let me ask you, do +you know who is the cause that, instead of wearing this dress, which I +can only put an at night, I am forced to disguise myself in the daytime +in a cardinal's robe and hat, and pass my time trotting about from +church to church, from consistory to consistory, when I ought properly +to be leading a magnificent army in the battlefield, where you would +enjoy a captain's rank, instead of being the chief of a few miserable +sbirri?" + +"Yes, monsignore," replied Michelotto, who had divined Caesar's meaning +at his first word; "the man who is the cause of this is Francesco, Duke +of Gandia, and Benevento, your elder brother." + +"Do you know," Caesar resumed, giving no sign of assent but a nod and a +bitter smile,--"do you know who has all the money and none of the +genius, who has the helmet and none of the brains, who has the sword and +no hand to wield it?" + +"That too is the Duke of Gandia," said Michelotto. + +"Do you know;" continued Caesar, "who is the man whom I find continually +blocking the path of my ambition, my fortune, and my love?" + +"It is the same, the Duke of Gandia," said Michelotto. + +"And what do you think of it?" asked Caesar. + +"I think he must die," replied the man coldly. + +"That is my opinion also, Michelotto," said Caesar, stepping towards him +and grasping his hand; "and my only regret is that I did not think of it +sooner; for if I had carried a sword at my side in stead of a crosier in +my hand when the King of France was marching through Italy, I should now +have been master of a fine domain. The pope is obviously anxious to +aggrandise his family, but he is mistaken in the means he adopts: it is +I who ought to have been made duke, and my brother a cardinal. There is +no doubt at all that, had he made me duke, I should have contributed a +daring and courage to his service that would have made his power far +weightier than it is. The man who would make his way to vast dominions +and a kingdom ought to trample under foot all the obstacles in his path, +and boldly grasp the very sharpest thorns, whatever reluctance his weak +flesh may feel; such a man, if he would open out his path to fortune, +should seize his dagger or his sword and strike out with his eyes shut; +he should not shrink from bathing his hands in the blood of his kindred; +he should follow the example offered him by every founder of empire from +Romulus to Bajazet, both of whom climbed to the throne by the ladder of +fratracide. Yes, Michelotto, as you say, such is my condition, and I am +resolved I will not shrink. Now you know why I sent for you: am I wrong +in counting upon you?" + +As might have been expected, Michelotto, seeing his own fortune in this +crime, replied that he was entirely at Caesar's service, and that he had +nothing to do but to give his orders as to time, place, and manner of +execution. Caesar replied that the time must needs be very soon, since +he was on the point of leaving Rome for Naples; as to the place and the +mode of execution, they would depend on circumstances, and each of them +must look out for an opportunity, and seize the first that seemed +favourable. + +Two days after this resolution had been taken, Caesar learned that the +day of his departure was fixed for Thursday the 15th of June: at the +same time he received an invitation from his mother to come to supper +with her on the 14th. This was a farewell repast given in his honour. +Michelotto received orders to be in readiness at eleven o'clock at +night. + +The table was set in the open air in a magnificent vineyard, a property +of Rosa Vanozza's in the neighbourhood of San Piero-in-Vinculis: the +guests were Caesar Borgia, the hero of the occasion; the Duke of Gandia; +Prince of Squillace; Dona Sancha, his wife; the Cardinal of Monte Reale, +Francesco Borgia, son of Calixtus III; Don Roderigo Borgia, captain of +the apostolic palace; Don Goffredo, brother of the cardinal; Gian +Borgia, at that time ambassador at Perugia; and lastly, Don Alfonso +Borgia, the pope's nephew: the whole family therefore was present, +except Lucrezia, who was still in retreat, and would not come. + +The repast was magnificent: Caesar was quite as cheerful as usual, and +the Duke of Gandia seemed more joyous than he had ever been before. + +In the middle of supper a man in a mask brought him a letter. The duke +unfastened it, colouring up with pleasure; and when he had read it +answered in these words, "I will come": then he quickly hid the letter +in the pocket of his doublet; but quick as he was to conceal it from +every eye, Caesar had had time to cast a glance that way, and he fancied +he recognised the handwriting of his sister Lucrezia. Meanwhile the +messenger had gone off with his answer, no one but Caesar paying the +slightest attention to him, for at that period it was the custom for +have messages to be conveyed by men in domino or by women whose faces +were concealed by a veil. + +At ten o'clock they rose from the table, and as the air was sweet and +mild they walked about a while under the magnificent pine trees that +shaded the house of Rosa Vanozza, while Caesar never for an instant let +his brother out of his sight. At eleven o'clock the Duke of Gandia bade +good-night to his mother. Caesar at once followed suit, alleging his +desire to go to the Vatican to bid farewell to the pope, as he would not +be able to fulfil this duty an the morrow, his departure being fixed at +daybreak. This pretext was all the more plausible since the pope was in +the habit of sitting up every night till two or three o'clock in the +morning. + +The two brothers went out together, mounted their horses, which were +waiting for them at the door, and rode side by side as far as the +Palazzo Borgia, the present home of Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, who had +taken it as a gift from Alexander the night before his election to the +papacy. There the Duke of Gandia separated from his brother, saying with +a smile that he was not intending to go home, as he had several hours to +spend first with a fair lady who was expecting him. Caesar replied that +he was no doubt free to make any use he liked best of his opportunities, +and wished him a very good night. The duke turned to the right, and +Caesar to the left; but Caesar observed that the street the duke had +taken led in the direction of the convent of San Sisto, where, as we +said, Lucrezia was in retreat; his suspicions were confirmed by this +observation, and he directed his horse's steps to the Vatican, found the +pope, took his leave of him, and received his benediction. + +From this moment all is wrapped in mystery and darkness, like that in +which the terrible deed was done that we are now to relate. + +This, however, is what is believed. + +The Duke of Gandia, when he quitted Caesar, sent away his servants, and +in the company of one confidential valet alone pursued his course +towards the Piazza della Giudecca. There he found the same man in a mask +who had come to speak to him at supper, and forbidding his valet to +follow any farther, he bade him wait on the piazza where they then +stood, promising to be on his way back in two hours' time at latest, and +to take him up as he passed. And at the appointed hour the duke +reappeared, took leave this time of the man in the mask, and retraced +his steps towards his palace. But scarcely had he turned the corner of +the Jewish Ghetto, when four men on foot, led by a fifth who was on +horseback, flung themselves upon him. Thinking they were thieves, or +else that he was the victim of some mistake, the Duke of Gandia +mentioned his name; but instead of the name checking the murderers' +daggers, their strokes were redoubled, and the duke very soon fell dead, +his valet dying beside him. + +Then the man on horseback, who had watched the assassination with no +sign of emotion, backed his horse towards the dead body: the four +murderers lifted the corpse across the crupper, and walking by the side +to support it, then made their way down the lane that leads to the +Church of Santa Maria-in-Monticelli. The wretched valet they left for +dead upon the pavement. But he, after the lapse of a few seconds, +regained some small strength, and his groans were heard by the +inhabitants of a poor little house hard by; they came and picked him up, +and laid him upon a bed, where he died almost at once, unable to give +any evidence as to the assassins or any details of the murder. + +All night the duke was expected home, and all the next morning; then +expectation was turned into fear, and fear at last into deadly terror. +The pope was approached, and told that the Duke of Gandia had never come +back to his palace since he left his mother's house. But Alexander tried +to deceive himself all through the rest of the day, hoping that his son +might have been surprised by the coming of daylight in the midst of an +amorous adventure, and was waiting till the next night to get away in +that darkness which had aided his coming thither. But the night, like +the day, passed and brought no news. On the morrow, the pope, tormented +by the gloomiest presentiments and by the raven's croak of the 'vox +populi', let himself fall into the depths of despair: amid sighs and +sobs of grief, all he could say to any one who came to him was but these +words, repeated a thousand times: "Search, search; let us know how my +unhappy son has died." + +Then everybody joined in the search; for, as we have said, the Duke of +Gandia was beloved by all; but nothing could be discovered from scouring +the town, except the body of the murdered man, who was recognised as the +duke's valet; of his master there was no trace whatever: it was then +thought, not without reason, that he had probably been thrown into the +Tiber, and they began to follow along its banks, beginning from the Via +della Ripetta, questioning every boatman and fisherman who might +possibly have seen, either from their houses or from their boats, what +had happened on the river banks during the two preceding nights. At +first all inquiries were in vain; but when they had gone up as high as +the Via del Fantanone, they found a man at last who said he had seen +something happen on the night of the 14th which might very possibly have +some bearing on the subject of inquiry. He was a Slav named George, who +was taking up the river a boat laden with wood to Ripetta. The following +are his own words: + +"Gentlemen," he said, "last Wednesday evening, when I had set down my +load of wood on the bank, I remained in my boat, resting in the cool +night air, and watching lest other men should come and take away what I +had just unloaded, when, about two o'clock in the morning, I saw coming +out of the lane on the left of San Girolamo's Church two men on foot, +who came forward into the middle of the street, and looked so carefully +all around that they seemed to have come to find out if anybody was +going along the street. When they felt sure that it was deserted, they +went back along the same lane, whence issued presently two other men, +who used similar precautions to make sure that there was nothing fresh; +they, when they found all as they wished, gave a sign to their +companions to come and join them; next appeared one man on a dapple-grey +horse, which was carrying on the crupper the body of a dead man, his +head and arms hanging over on one side and his feet on the other. The +two fellows I had first seen exploring were holding him up by the arms +and legs. The other three at once went up to the river, while the first +two kept a watch on the street, and advancing to the part of the bank +where the sewers of the town are discharged into the Tiber, the horseman +turned his horse, backing on the river; then the two who were at either +side taking the corpse, one by the hands, the other by the feet, swung +it three times, and the third time threw it out into the river with all +their strength; then at the noise made when the body splashed into the +water, the horseman asked, 'Is it done?' and the others answered, 'Yes, +sir,' and he at once turned right about face; but seeing the dead man's +cloak floating, he asked what was that black thing swimming about. +'Sir,' said one of the men, 'it is his cloak'; and then another man +picked up some stones, and running to the place where it was still +floating, threw them so as to make it sink under; as soon, as it had +quite disappeared, they went off, and after walking a little way along +the main road, they went into the lane that leads to San Giacomo. That +was all I saw, gentlemen, and so it is all I can answer to the questions +you have asked me." + +At these words, which robbed of all hope any who might yet entertain it, +one of the pope's servants asked the Slav why, when he was witness of +such a deed, he had not gone to denounce it to the governor. But the +Slav replied that, since he had exercised his present trade on the +riverside, he had seen dead men thrown into the Tiber in the same way a +hundred times, and had never heard that anybody had been troubled about +them; so he supposed it would be the same with this corpse as the +others, and had never imagined it was his duty to speak of it, not +thinking it would be any more important than it had been before. + +Acting on this intelligence, the servants of His Holiness summoned at +once all the boatmen and fishermen who were accustomed to go up and down +the river, and as a large reward was promised to anyone who should find +the duke's body, there were soon mare than a hundred ready for the job; +so that before the evening of the same day, which was Friday, two men +were drawn out of the water, of whom one was instantly recognised as the +hapless duke. At the very first glance at the body there could be no +doubt as to the cause of death. It was pierced with nine wounds, the +chief one in the throat, whose artery was cut. The clothing had not been +touched: his doublet and cloak were there, his gloves in his waistband, +gold in his purse; the duke then must have been assassinated not for +gain but for revenge. + +The ship which carried the corpse went up the Tiber to the Castello +Sant' Angelo, where it was set down. At once the magnificent dress was +fetched from the duke's palace which he had worn on the day of the +procession, and he was clothed in it once more: beside him were placed +the insignia of the generalship of the Church. Thus he lay in state all +day, but his father in his despair had not the courage to came and look +at him. At last, when night had fallen, his most trusty and honoured +servants carried the body to the church of the Madonna del Papala, with +all the pomp and ceremony that Church and State combined could devise +for the funeral of the son of the pope. + +Meantime the bloodstained hands of Caesar Borgia were placing a royal +crown upon the head of Frederic of Aragon. + +This blow had pierced Alexander's heart very deeply. As at first he did +not know on whom his suspicions should fall, he gave the strictest +orders for the pursuit of the murderers; but little by little the +infamous truth was forced upon him. He saw that the blow which struck at +his house came from that very house itself and then his despair was +changed to madness: he ran through the rooms of the Vatican like a +maniac, and entering the consistory with torn garments and ashes on his +head, he sobbingly avowed all the errors of his past life, owning that +the disaster that struck his offspring through his offspring was a just +chastisement from God; then he retired to a secret dark chamber of the +palace, and there shut himself up, declaring his resolve to die of +starvation. And indeed for more than sixty hours he took no nourishment +by day nor rest by night, making no answer to those who knocked at his +door to bring him food except with the wailings of a woman or a roar as +of a wounded lion; even the beautiful Giulia Farnese, his new mistress, +could not move him at all, and was obliged to go and seek Lucrezia, that +daughter doubly loved to conquer his deadly resolve. Lucrezia came out +from the retreat were she was weeping for the Duke of Gandia, that she +might console her father. At her voice the door did really open, and it +was only then that the Duke of Segovia, who had been kneeling almost a +whole day at the threshold, begging His Holiness to take heart, could +enter with servants bearing wine and food. + +The pope remained alone with Lucrezia for three days and nights; then he +reappeared in public, outwardly calm, if not resigned; for Guicciardini +assures us that his daughter had made him understand how dangerous it +would be to himself to show too openly before the assassin, who was +coming home, the immoderate love he felt for his victim. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +Caesar remained at Naples, partly to give time to the paternal grief to +cool down, and partly to get on with another business he had lately been +charged with, nothing else than a proposition of marriage between +Lucrezia and Don Alfonso of Aragon, Duke of Bicelli and Prince of +Salerno, natural son of Alfonso II and brother of Dona Sancha. It was +true that Lucrezia was already married to the lord of Pesaro, but she +was the daughter of an father who had received from heaven the right of +uniting and disuniting. There was no need to trouble about so trifling a +matter: when the two were ready to marry, the divorce would be effected. +Alexander was too good a tactician to leave his daughter married to a +son-in-law who was becoming useless to him. + +Towards the end of August it was announced that the ambassador was +coming back to Rome, having accomplished his mission to the new king to +his great satisfaction. And thither he returned an the 5th of +September,--that is, nearly three months after the Duke of Gandia's +death,--and on the next day, the 6th, from the church of Santa Maria +Novella, where, according to custom, the cardinals and the Spanish and +Venetian ambassadors were awaiting him on horseback at the door, he +proceeded to the Vatican, where His Holiness was sitting; there he +entered the consistory, was admitted by the pope, and in accordance with +the usual ceremonial received his benediction and kiss; then, +accompanied once more in the same fashion by the ambassadors and +cardinals, he was escorted to his own apartments. Thence he proceeded +to, the pope's, as soon as he was left alone; for at the consistory they +had had no speech with one another, and the father and son had a hundred +things to talk about, but of these the Duke of Gandia was not one, as +might have been expected. His name was not once spoken, and neither on +that day nor afterwards was there ever again any mention of the unhappy +young man: it was as though he had never existed. + +It was the fact that Caesar brought good news, King Frederic gave his +consent to the proposed union; so the marriage of Sforza and Lucrezia +was dissolved on a pretext of nullity. Then Frederic authorised the +exhumation of D'jem's body, which, it will be remembered, was worth +300,000 ducats. + +After this, all came about as Caesar had desired; he became the man who +was all-powerful after the pope; but when he was second in command it +was soon evident to the Roman people that their city was making a new +stride in the direction of ruin. There was nothing but balls, fetes, +masquerades; there were magnificent hunting parties, when Caesar--who +had begun to cast off is cardinal's robe,--weary perhaps of the colour, +appeared in a French dress, followed, like a king by cardinals, envoys +and bodyguard. The whole pontifical town, given up like a courtesan to +orgies and debauchery, had never been more the home of sedition, luxury, +and carnage, according to the Cardinal of Viterba, not even in the days +of Nero and Heliogabalus. Never had she fallen upon days more evil; +never had more traitors done her dishonour or sbirri stained her streets +with blood. The number of thieves was so great, and their audacity such, +that no one could with safety pass the gates of the town; soon it was +not even safe within them. No house, no castle, availed for defence. +Right and justice no longer existed. Money, farce, pleasure, ruled +supreme. + +Still, the gold was melting as in a furnace at these Fetes; and, by +Heaven's just punishment, Alexander and Caesar were beginning to covet +the fortunes of those very men who had risen through their simony to +their present elevation. The first attempt at a new method of coining +money was tried upon the Cardinal Cosenza. The occasion was as follows. +A certain dispensation had been granted some time before to a nun who +had taken the vows: she was the only surviving heir to the throne of +Portugal, and by means of the dispensation she had been wedded to the +natural son of the last king. This marriage was more prejudicial than +can easily be imagined to the interests of Ferdinand and Isabella of +Spain; so they sent ambassadors to Alexander to lodge a complaint +against a proceeding of this nature, especially as it happened at the +very moment when an alliance was to be formed between the house of +Aragon and the Holy See. Alexander understood the complaint, and +resolved that all should be set right. So he denied all knowledge of the +papal brief though he had as a fact received 60,000 ducats for signing +it--and accused the Archbishop of Cosenza, secretary for apostolic +briefs, of having granted a false dispensation. By reason of this +accusation, the archbishop was taken to the castle of Sant' Angelo, and +a suit was begun. + +But as it was no easy task to prove an accusation of this nature, +especially if the archbishop should persist in maintaining that the +dispensation was really granted by the pope, it was resolved to employ a +trick with him which could not fail to succeed. One evening the +Archbishop of Cosenza saw Cardinal Valentino come into his prison; with +that frank air of affability which he knew well how to assume when it +could serve his purpose, he explained to the prisoner the embarrassing +situation in which the pope was placed, from which the archbishop alone, +whom His Holiness looked upon as his best friend, could save him. + +The archbishop replied that he was entirely at the service of His +Holiness. + +Caesar, on his entrance, found the captive seated, leaning his elbows on +a table, and he took a seat opposite him and explained the pope's +position: it was an embarrassing one. At the very time of contracting so +important an alliance with the house of Aragon as that of Lucrezia and +Alfonso, His Holiness could not avow to Ferdinand and Isabella that, for +the sake of a few miserable ducats, he had signed a dispensation which +would unite in the husband and wife together all the legitimate claims +to a throne to which Ferdinand and Isabella had no right at all but that +of conquest. This avowal would necessarily put an end to all +negotiations, and the pontifical house would fall by the overthrow of +that very pedestal which was to have heightened its grandeur. +Accordingly the archbishop would understand what the pope expected of +his devotion and friendship: it was a simple and straight avowal that he +had supposed he might take it upon himself to accord the dispensation. +Then, as the sentence to be passed on such an error would be the +business of Alexander, the accused could easily imagine beforehand how +truly paternal such a sentence would be. Besides, the reward was in the +same hands, and if the sentence was that of a father, the recompense +would be that of a king. In fact, this recompense would be no less than +the honour of assisting as envoy, with the title of cardinal, at the +marriage of Lucrezia and Alfonso--a favour which would be very +appropriate, since it would be thanks to his devotion that the marriage +could take place. + +The Archbishop of Cosenza knew the men he was dealing with; he knew that +to save their own ends they would hesitate at nothing; he knew they had +a poison like sugar to the taste and to the smell, impossible to +discover in food--a poison that would kill slowly or quickly as the +poisoner willed and would leave no trace behind; he knew the secret of +the poisoned key that lay always on the pope's mantelpiece, so that when +His Holiness wished to destroy some one of his intimates, he bade him +open a certain cupboard: on the handle of the key there was a little +spike, and as the lock of the cupboard turned stiffly the hand would +naturally press, the lock would yield, and nothing would have come of it +but a trifling scratch: the scratch was mortal. He knew, too, that +Caesar wore a ring made like two lions' heads, and that he would turn +the stone on the inside when he was shaking hands with a friend. Then +the lions' teeth became the teeth of a viper, and the friend died +cursing Borgia. So he yielded, partly through fear, partly blinded by +the thought of the reward; and Caesar returned to the Vatican armed with +a precious paper, in which the Archbishop of Cosenza admitted that he +was the only person responsible for the dispensation granted to the +royal nun. + +Two days later, by means of the proofs kindly furnished by the +archbishop, the pope; in the presence of the governor of Rome, the +auditor of the apostolic chamber, the advocate, and the fiscal attorney, +pronounced sentence, condemning the archbishop to the loss of all his +benefices and ecclesiastical offices, degradation from his orders, and +confiscation of his goods; his person was to be handed over to the civil +arm. Two days later the civil magistrate entered the prison to fulfil +his office as received from the pope, and appeared before the +archbishop, accompanied by a clerk, two servants, and four guards. The +clerk unrolled the paper he carried and read out the sentence; the two +servants untied a packet, and, stripping the prisoner of his +ecclesiastical garments, they reclothed him in a dress of coarse white +cloth which only reached down to his knees, breeches of the same, and a +pair of clumsy shoes. Lastly, the guards took him, and led him into one +of the deepest dungeons of the castle of Sant' Angelo, where for +furniture he found nothing but a wooden crucifix, a table, a chair, and +a bed; for occupation, a Bible and a breviary, with a lamp to read by; +for nourishment, two pounds of bread and a little cask of water, which +were to be renewed every three days, together with a bottle of oil for +burning in his lamp. + +At the end of a year the poor archbishop died of despair, not before he +had gnawed his own arms in his agony. + +The very same day that he was taken into the dungeon, Caesar Borgia, who +had managed the affair so ably, was presented by the pope with all the +belongings of the condemned prisoner. + +But the hunting parties, balls, and masquerades were not the only +pleasures enjoyed by the pope and his family: from time to time strange +spectacles were exhibited. We will only describe two--one of them a case +of punishment, the other no more nor less than a matter of the stud +farm. But as both of these give details with which we would not have our +readers credit our imagination, we will first say that they are +literally translated from Burchard's Latin journal. + +"About the same time--that is, about the beginning of 1499--a certain +courtesan named La Corsetta was in prison, and had a lover who came to +visit her in woman's clothes, a Spanish Moor, called from his disguise +'the Spanish lady from Barbary!' As a punishment, both of them were led +through the town, the woman without petticoat or skirt, but wearing only +the Moor's dress unbuttoned in front; the man wore his woman's garb; his +hands were tied behind his back, and the skirt fastened up to his +middle, with a view to complete exposure before the eyes of all. When in +this attire they had made the circuit of the town, the Corsetta was sent +back to the prison with the Moor. But on the 7th of April following, the +Moor was again taken out and escorted in the company of two thieves +towards the Campo dei Fiori. The three condemned men were preceded by a +constable, who rode backwards on an ass, and held in his hand a long +pole, on the end of which were hung, still bleeding, the amputated limbs +of a poor Jew who had suffered torture and death for some trifling +crime. When the procession reached the place of execution, the thieves +were hanged, and the unfortunate Moor was tied to a stake piled round +with wood, where he was to have been burnt to death, had not rain fallen +in such torrents that the fire would not burn, in spite of all the +efforts of the executioner." + +This unlooked for accident, taken as a miracle by the people, robbed +Lucrezia of the most exciting part of the execution; but her father was +holding in reserve another kind of spectacle to console her with later. +We inform the reader once more that a few lines we are about to set +before him are a translation from the journal of the worthy German +Burchard, who saw nothing in the bloodiest or most wanton performances +but facts for his journal, which he duly registered with the +impassibility of a scribe, appending no remark or moral reflection. + +"On the 11th of November a certain peasant was entering Rome with two +stallions laden with wood, when the servants of His Holiness, just as he +passed the Piazza of St. Peter's, cut their girths, so that their loads +fell on the ground with the pack-saddles, and led off the horses to a +court between the palace and the gate; then the stable doors were +opened, and four stallions, quite free and unbridled, rushed out and in +an instant all six animals began kicking, biting and fighting each other +until several were killed. Roderigo and Madame Lucrezia, who sat at the +window just over the palace gate, took the greatest delight in the +struggle and called their courtiers to witness the gallant battle that +was being fought below them." + +Now Caesar's trick in the matter of the Archbishop of Cosenza had had +the desired result, and Isabella and Ferdinand could no longer impute to +Alexander the signature of the brief they had complained of: so nothing +was now in the way of the marriage of Lucrezia and Alfonso; this +certainty gave the pope great joy, for he attached all the more +importance to this marriage because he was already cogitating a second, +between Caesar and Dona Carlota, Frederic's daughter. + +Caesar had shown in all his actions since his brother's death his want +of vocation for the ecclesiastical life; so no one was astonished when, +a consistory having been summoned one morning by Alexander, Caesar +entered, and addressing the pope, began by saying that from his earliest +years he had been drawn towards secular pursuits both by natural +inclination and ability, and it had only been in obedience to the +absolute commands of His Holiness that he entered the Church, accepted +the cardinal's scarlet, other dignities, and finally the sacred order of +the diaconate; but feeling that in his situation it was improper to +follow his passions, and at his age impossible to resist them, he humbly +entreated His Holiness graciously to yield to the desire he had failed +to overcome, and to permit him to lay aside the dress and dignities of +the Church, and enter once more into the world, thereto contract a +lawful marriage; also he entreated the lord cardinals to intercede for +him with His Holiness, to whom he would freely resign all his churches, +abbeys, and benefices, as well as every other ecclesiastical dignity and +preferment that had been accorded him. The cardinals, deferring to +Caesar's wishes, gave a unanimous vote, and the pope, as we may suppose, +like a good father, not wishing to force his son's inclinations, +accepted his resignation, and yielded to the petition; thus Caesar put +off the scarlet robe, which was suited to him, says his historian +Tommaso Tommasi, in one particular only--that it was the colour of +blood. + +In truth, the resignation was a pressing necessity, and there was no +time to lose. Charles VIII one day after he had came home late and tired +from the hunting-field, had bathed his head in cold water; and going +straight to table, had been struck dawn by an apoplectic seizure +directly after his supper; and was dead, leaving the throne to the good +Louis XII, a man of two conspicuous weaknesses, one as deplorable as the +other: the first was the wish to make conquests; the second was the +desire to have children. Alexander, who was on the watch far all +political changes, had seen in a moment what he could get from Louis +XII's accession to the throne, and was prepared to profit by the fact +that the new king of France needed his help for the accomplishment of +his twofold desire. Louis needed, first, his temporal aid in an +expedition against the duchy of Milan, on which, as we explained before, +he had inherited claims from Valentina Visconti, his grandmother; and, +secondly, his spiritual aid to dissolve his marriage with Jeanne, the +daughter of Louis XI; a childless and hideously deformed woman, whom he +had only married by reason of the great fear he entertained far her +father. Now Alexander was willing to do all this far Louis XII and to +give in addition a cardinal's hat to his friend George d'Amboise, +provided only that the King of France would use his influence in +persuading the young Dona Carlota, who was at his court, to marry his +son Caesar. + +So, as this business was already far advanced on the day when Caesar +doffed his scarlet and donned a secular garb, thus fulfilling the +ambition so long cherished, when the lord of Villeneuve, sent by Louis +and commissioned to bring Caesar to France, presented himself before the +ex-cardinal on his arrival at Rome, the latter, with his usual +extravagance of luxury and the kindness he knew well how to bestow on +those he needed, entertained his guest for a month, and did all the +honours of Rome. After that, they departed, preceded by one of the +pope's couriers, who gave orders that every town they passed through was +to receive them with marks of honour and respect. The same order had +been sent throughout the whole of France, where the illustrious visitors +received so numerous a guard, and were welcomed by a populace so eager +to behold them, that after they passed through Paris, Caesar's +gentlemen-in-waiting wrote to Rome that they had not seen any trees in +France, or houses, or walls, but only men, women and sunshine. + +The king, on the pretext of going out hunting, went to meet his guest +two leagues outside the town. As he knew Caesar was very fond of the +name of Valentine, which he had used as cardinal, and still continued to +employ with the title of Count, although he had resigned the +archbishopric which gave him the name, he there and then bestowed an him +the investiture of Valence, in Dauphine, with the title of Duke and a +pension of 20,000 francs; then, when he had made this magnificent gift +and talked with him for nearly a couple of hours, he took his leave, to +enable him to prepare the splendid entry he was proposing to make. + +It was Wednesday, the 18th of December 1498, when Caesar Borgia entered +the town of Chinon, with pomp worthy of the son of a pope who is about +to marry the daughter of a king. The procession began with +four-and-twenty mules, caparisoned in red, adorned with escutcheons +bearing the duke's arms, laden with carved trunks and chests inlaid with +ivory and silver; after them came four-and-twenty mare, also +caparisoned, this time in the livery of the King of France, yellow and +red; next after these came ten other mules, covered in yellow satin with +red crossbars; and lastly another ten, covered with striped cloth of +gold, the stripes alternately raised and flat gold. + +Behind the seventy mules which led the procession there pranced sixteen +handsome battle-horses, led by equerries who marched alongside; these +were followed by eighteen hunters ridden by eighteen pages, who were +about fourteen or fifteen years of age; sixteen of them were dressed in +crimson velvet, and two in raised gold cloth; so elegantly dressed were +these two children, who were also the best looking of the little band, +that the sight of them gave rise to strange suspicions as to the reason +for this preference, if one may believe what Brantome says. Finally, +behind these eighteen horses came six beautiful mules, all harnessed +with red velvet, and led by six valets, also in velvet to match. + +The third group consisted of, first, two mules quite covered with cloth +of gold, each carrying two chests in which it was said that the duke's +treasure was stored, the precious stones he was bringing to his fiancee, +and the relics and papal bulls that his father had charged him to convey +for him to Louis XII. These were followed by twenty gentlemen dressed in +cloth of gold and silver, among whom rode Paul Giordano Orsino and +several barons and knights among the chiefs of the state ecclesiastic. + +Next came two drums, one rebeck, and four soldiers blowing trumpets and +silver clarions; then, in the midst of a party of four-and-twenty +lacqueys, dressed half in crimson velvet and half in yellow silk, rode +Messire George d'Amboise and Monseigneur the Duke of Valentinois. Caesar +was mounted on a handsome tall courser, very richly harnessed, in a robe +half red satin and half cloth of gold, embroidered all over with pearls +and precious stones; in his cap were two rows of rubies, the size of +beans, which reflected so brilliant a light that one might have fancied +they were the famous carbuncles of the Arabian Nights; he also wore on +his neck a collar worth at least 200,000 livres; indeed, there was no +part of him, even down to his boots, that was not laced with gold and +edged with pearls. His horse was covered with a cuirass in a pattern of +golden foliage of wonderful workmanship, among which there appeared to +grow, like flowers, nosegays of pearls and clusters of rubies. + +Lastly, bringing up the rear of the magnificent cortege, behind the duke +came twenty-four mules with red caparisons bearing his arms, carrying +his silver plate, tents, and baggage. + +What gave to all the cavalcade an air of most wonderful luxury and +extravagance was that the horses and mules were shod with golden shoes, +and these were so badly nailed on that more than three-quarters of their +number, were lost on the road For this extravagance Caesar was greatly +blamed, for it was thought an audacious thing to put on his horses' feet +a metal of which king's crowns are made. + +But all this pomp had no effect on the lady for whose sake it had been +displayed; for when Dona Carlota was told that Caesar Bargia had come to +France in the hope of becoming her husband, she replied simply that she +would never take a priest far her husband, and, moreover, the son of a +priest; a man who was not only an assassin, but a fratricide; not only a +man of infamous birth, but still more infamous in his morals and his +actions. + +But, in default of the haughty lady of Aragon, Caesar soon found another +princess of noble blood who consented to be his wife: this was +Mademoiselle d'Albret, daughter of the King of Navarre. The marriage, +arranged on condition that the pope should pay 200,000 ducats dowry to +the bride, and should make her brother cardinal, was celebrated on the +10th of May; and on the Whitsunday following the Duke of Valentois +received the order of St. Michael, an order founded by Louis XI, and +esteemed at this period as the highest in the gift of the kings of +France. The news of this marriage, which made an alliance with Louis XII +certain, was received with great joy by the pope, who at once gave +orders far bonfires and illuminations all over the town. + +Louis XII was not only grateful to the pope for dissolving his marriage +with Jeanne of France and authorizing his union with Anne of Brittany, +but he considered it indispensable to his designs in Italy to have the +pope as his ally. So he promised the Duke of Valentinois to put three +hundred lances at his disposal, as soon as he had made an entry into +Milan, to be used to further his own private interests, and against +whomsoever he pleased except only the allies of France. The conquest of +Milan should be undertaken so soon as Louis felt assured of the support +of the Venetians, or at least of their neutrality, and he had sent them +ambassadors authorised to promise in his name the restoration of Cremona +and Ghiera d'Adda when he had completed the conquest of Lombardy. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +Everything from without was favouring Alexander's encroaching policy, +when he was compelled to turn his eyes from France towards the centre of +Italy: in Florence dwelt a man, neither duke, nor king, nor soldier, a +man whose power was in his genius, whose armour was his purity, who +owned no offensive weapon but his tongue, and who yet began to grow more +dangerous for him than all the kings, dukes, princes, in the whole world +could ever be; this man was the poor Dominican monk Girolamo Savonarola, +the same who had refused absolution to Lorenzo dei Medici because he +would not restore the liberty of Florence. + +Girolamo Savonarola had prophesied the invasion of a force from beyond +the Alps, and Charles VIII had conquered Naples; Girolamo Savonarola had +prophesied to Charles VIII that because he had failed to fulfil the +mission of liberator entrusted to him by God, he was threatened with a +great misfortune as a punishment, and Charles was dead; lastly, +Savonarola had prophesied his own fall like the man who paced around the +holy city for eight days, crying, "Woe to Jerusalem!" and on the ninth +day, "Woe be on my own head!" None the less, the Florentine reformer, +who could not recoil from any danger, was determined to attack the +colossal abomination that was seated on St. Peter's holy throne; each +debauch, each fresh crime that lifted up its brazen face to the light of +day or tried to hide its shameful head beneath the veil of night, he had +never failed to paint out to the people, denouncing it as the off spring +of the pope's luxurious living and lust of power. Thus had he +stigmatised Alexander's new amour with the beautiful Giulia Farnese, who +in the preceding April a added another son to the pope's family; thus +had he cursed the Duke of Gandia's murderer, the lustful, jealous +fratricide; lastly, he had pointed out to the Florentines, who were +excluded from the league then forming, what sort of future was in store +far them when the Borgias should have made themselves masters of the +small principalities and should come to attack the duchies and +republics. It was clear that in Savonarola, the pope had an enemy at +once temporal and spiritual, whose importunate and threatening voice +must be silenced at any cost. + +But mighty as the pope's power was, to accomplish a design like this was +no easy matter. Savonarola, preaching the stern principles of liberty, +had united to his cause, even in the midst of rich, pleasure-loving +Florence, a party of some size, known as the 'Piagnoni', or the +Penitents: this band was composed of citizens who were anxious for +reform in Church and State, who accused the Medici of enslaving the +fatherland and the Borgias of upsetting the faith, who demanded two +things, that the republic should return to her democratic principles, +and religion to a primitive simplicity. Towards the first of these +projects considerable progress had been made, since they had +successively obtained, first, an amnesty for all crimes and +delinquencies committed under other governments; secondly, the abolition +of the 'balia', which was an aristocratic magistracy; thirdly, the +establishment of a sovereign council, composed of 1800 citizens; and +lastly, the substitution of popular elections for drawing by lot and for +oligarchical nominations: these changes had been effected in spite of +two other factions, the 'Arrabiati', or Madmen, who, consisting of the +richest and noblest youths of the Florentine patrician families, desired +to have an oligarchical government; and the 'Bigi', or Greys, so called +because they always held their meetings in the shade, who desired the +return of the Medici. + +The first measure Alexander used against the growing power of Savonarola +was to declare him heretic, and as such banished from the pulpit; but +Savonarola had eluded this prohibition by making his pupil and friend, +Domenico Bonvicini di Pescia, preach in his stead. The result was that +the master's teachings were issued from other lips, and that was all; +the seed, though scattered by another hand, fell none the less on +fertile soil, where it would soon burst into flower. Moreover, +Savonarola now set an example that was followed to good purpose by +Luther, when, twenty-two years later, he burned Leo X's bull of +excommunication at Wittenberg; he was weary of silence, so he declared, +on the authority of Pope Pelagius, that an unjust excommunication had no +efficacy, and that the person excommunicated unjustly did not even need +to get absolution. So on Christmas Day, 1497, he declared that by the +inspiration of God he renounced his obedience to a corrupt master; and +he began to preach once more in the cathedral, with a success that was +all the greater for the interruption, and an influence far more +formidable than before, because it was strengthened by that sympathy of +the masses which an unjust persecution always inspires. + +Then Alexander made overtures to Leonardo dei Medici, vicar of the +archbishopric of Florence, to obtain the punishment of the rebel: +Leonardo, in obedience to the orders he received, from Rome, issued a +mandate forbidding the faithful to attend at Savonarola's sermons. After +this mandate, any who should hear the discourses of the excommunicated +monk would be refused communion and confession; and as when they died +they would be contaminated with heresy, in consequence of their +spiritual intercourse with a heretic, their dead bodies would be dragged +on a hurdle and deprived of the rights of sepulture. Savonarola appealed +from the mandate of his superior both to the people and to the Signoria, +and the two together gave orders to the episcopal vicar to leave +Florence within two hours: this happened at the beginning of the year +1498. + +The expulsion of Leonard's dei Medici was a new triumph for Savonarola, +so, wishing to turn to good moral account his growing influence, he +resolved to convert the last day of the carnival, hitherto given up to +worldly pleasures, into a day of religious sacrifice. So actually on +Shrove Tuesday a considerable number of boys were collected in front of +the cathedral, and there divided into bands, which traversed the whole +town, making a house-to-house visitation, claiming all profane books, +licentious paintings, lutes, harps, cards and dice, cosmetics and +perfumes--in a word, all the hundreds of products of a corrupt society +and civilisation, by the aid of which Satan at times makes victorious +war on God. The inhabitants of Florence obeyed, and came forth to the +Piazza of the Duoma, bringing these works of perdition, which were soon +piled up in a huge stack, which the youthful reformers set on fire, +singing religious psalms and hymns the while. On this pile were burned +many copies of Boccaccio and of Margante Maggiore, and pictures by Fro +Bartalommeo, who from that day forward renounced the art of this world +to consecrate his brush utterly and entirely to the reproduction of +religious scenes. + +A reform such as this was terrifying to Alexander; so he resolved on +fighting Savonarola with his own weapons--that is, by the force of +eloquence. He chose as the Dominican's opponent a preacher of recognised +talent, called Fra Francesco di Paglia; and he sent him to Florence, +where he began to preach in Santa Croce, accusing Savonarola of heresy +and impiety. At the same time the pope, in a new brief, announced to the +Signaria that unless they forbade the arch-heretic to preach, all the +goods of Florentine merchants who lived on the papal territory would be +confiscated, and the republic laid under an interdict and declared the +spiritual and temporal enemy of the Church. The Signoria, abandoned by +France, and aware that the material power of Rome was increasing in a +frightful manner, was forced this time to yield, and to issue to +Savonarola an order to leave off preaching. He obeyed, and bade farewell +to his congregation in a sermon full of strength and eloquence. + +But the withdrawal of Savonarola, so far from calming the ferment, had +increased it: there was talk about his prophecies being fulfilled; and +some zealots, more ardent than their mastery added miracle to +inspiration, and loudly proclaimed that Savonarola had offered to go +down into the vaults of the cathedral with his antagonist, and there +bring a dead man to life again, to prove that his doctrine was true, +promising to declare himself vanquished if the miracle were performed by +his adversary. These rumours reached the ears of Fra Francesco, and as +he was a man of warm blood, who counted his own life as nothing if it +might be spent to help his cause, he declared in all humility that he +felt he was too great a sinner for God to work a miracle in his behalf; +but he proposed another challenge: he would try with Savonarola the +ordeal of fire. He knew, he said, that he must perish, but at least he +should perish avenging the cause of religion, since he was certain to +involve in his destruction the tempter who plunged so many souls beside +his own into eternal damnation. + +The proposition made by Fra Francesco was taken to Savanarola; but as he +had never proposed the earlier challenge, he hesitated to accept the +second; hereupon his disciple, Fra Domenico Bonvicini, more confident +than his master in his own power, declared himself ready to accept the +trial by fire in his stead; so certain was he that God would perform a +miracle by the intercession of Savonarola, His prophet. + +Instantly the report spread through Florence that the mortal challenge +was accepted; Savonarola's partisans, all men of the strongest +convictions, felt no doubt as to the success of their cause. His enemies +were enchanted at the thought of the heretic giving himself to the +flames; and the indifferent saw in the ordeal a spectacle of real and +terrible interest. + +But the devotion of Fra Bonvicini of Pescia was not what Fra Francesco +was reckoning with. He was willing, no doubt, to die a terrible death, +but on condition that Savanarola died with him. What mattered to him the +death of an obscure disciple like Fra Bonvicini? It was the master he +would strike, the great teacher who must be involved in his own ruin. So +he refused to enter the fire except with Savonarola himself, and, +playing this terrible game in his own person, would not allow his +adversary to play it by proxy. + +Then a thing happened which certainly no one could have anticipated. In +the place of Fra Francesco, who would not tilt with any but the master, +two Franciscan monks appeared to tilt with the disciple. These were Fra +Nicholas de Pilly and Fra Andrea Rondinelli. Immediately the partisans +of Savonarala, seeing this arrival of reinforcements for their +antagonist, came forward in a crowd to try the ordeal. The Franciscans +were unwilling to be behindhand, and everybody took sides with equal +ardour for one or other party. All Florence was like a den of madmen; +everyone wanted the ordeal, everyone wanted to go into the fire; not +only did men challenge one another, but women and even children were +clamouring to be allowed to try. At last the Signoria, reserving this +privilege for the first applicants, ordered that the strange duel should +take place only between Fra Domenico Bonvicini and Fra Andrea +Rondinelli; ten of the citizens were to arrange all details; the day was +fixed for the 7th of April, 1498, and the place the Piazza del Palazzo. + +The judges of the field made their arrangements conscientiously. By +their orders scaffolding was erected at the appointed place, five feet +in height, ten in width, and eighty feet long. This scaffolding was +covered with faggots and heath, supported by cross-bars of the very +driest wood that could be found. Two narrow paths were made, two feet +wide at most, their entrance giving an the Loggia dei Lanzi, their exit +exactly opposite. The loggia was itself divided into two by a partition, +so that each champion had a kind of room to make his preparations in, +just as in the theatre every actor has his dressing-room; but in this +instance the tragedy that was about to be played was not a fictitious +one. + +The Franciscans arrived on the piazza and entered the compartment +reserved for them without making any religious demonstration; while +Savonarola, on the contrary, advanced to his own place in the +procession, wearing the sacerdotal robes in which he had just celebrated +the Holy Eucharist, and holding in his hand the sacred host for all the +world to see, as it was enclosed in a crystal tabernacle. Fra Domenico +di Pescia, the hero of the occasion, followed, bearing a crucifix, and +all the Dominican monks, their red crosses in their hands, marched +behind singing a psalm; while behind them again followed the most +considerable of the citizens of their party, bearing torches, for, sure +as they were of the triumph of their cause, they wished to fire the +faggots themselves. The piazza was so crowded that the people overflowed +into all the streets around. In every door and window there was nothing +to be seen but heads ranged one above the other; the terraces were +covered with people, and curious spectators were observed an the roof of +the Duomo and on the tap of the Campanile. + +But, brought face to face with the ordeal, the Franciscans raised such +difficulties that it was very plain the heart of their champion was +failing him. The first fear they expressed was that Fra Bonvicini was an +enchanter, and so carried about him some talisman or charm which would +save him from the fire. So they insisted that he should be stripped of +all has clothes and put on others to be inspected by witnesses. Fra +Bonvicini made no objection, though the suspicion was humiliating; he +changed shirt, dress, and cowl. Then, when the Franciscans observed that +Savanarola was placing the tabernacle in his hands, they protested that +it was profanation to expose the sacred host to the risk of burning, +that this was not in the bond, and if Bonvicini would not give up this +supernatural aid, they far their part would give up the trial +altogether. Savonarola replied that it was not astonishing that the +champion of religion who put his faith in God should bear in his hands +that very God to whom he entrusted his salvation. But this reply did not +satisfy the Franciscans, who were unwilling to let go their contention. +Savonarola remained inflexible, supporting his own right, and thus +nearly four hours passed in the discussion of points which neither party +would give up, and affairs remained in 'statu quo'. Meanwhile the +people, jammed together in the streets, on the terraces, on the roofs, +since break of day, were suffering from hunger and thirst and beginning +to get impatient: their impatience soon developed into loud murmurs, +which reached even the champions' ears, so that the partisans of +Savonarala, who felt such faith in him that they were confident of a +miracle, entreated him to yield to all the conditions suggested. To this +Savonarola replied that if it were himself making the trial he would be +less inexorable; but since another man was incurring the danger; he +could not take too many precautions. Two more hours passed, while his +partisans tried in vain to combat his refusals. At last, as night was +coming on and the people grew ever more and more impatient and their +murmurs began to assume a threatening tone, Bonvicini declared that he +was ready to walk through the fire, holding nothing in his hand but a +crucifix. No one could refuse him this; so Fra Rondinelli was compelled +to accept his proposition. The announcement was made to the populace +that the champions had come to terms and the trial was about to take +place. At this news the people calmed down, in the hope of being +compensated at last for their long wait; but at that very moment a storm +which had long been threatening brake over Florence with such fury that +the faggots which had just been lighted were extinguished by the rain, +leaving no possibility of their rekindling. From the moment when the +people suspected that they had been fooled, their enthusiasm was changed +into derision. They were ignorant from which side the difficulties had +arisen that had hindered the trial, so they laid the responsibility on +both champions without distinction. The Signoria, foreseeing the +disorder that was now imminent, ordered the assembly to retire; but the +assembly thought otherwise, and stayed on the piazza, waiting for the +departure of the two champions, in spite of the fearful rain that still +fell in torrents. Rondinelli was taken back amid shouts and hootings, +and pursued with showers of stones. Savonarola, thanks to his sacred +garments and the host which he still carried, passed calmly enough +through the midst of the mob--a miracle quite as remarkable as if he had +passed through the fire unscathed. + +But it was only the sacred majesty of the host that had protected this +man, who was indeed from this moment regarded as a false prophet: the +crowd allowed Savonarola to return to his convent, but they regretted +the necessity, so excited were they by the Arrabbiati party, who had +always denounced him as a liar and a hypocrite. So when the next +morning, Palm Sunday, he stood up in the pulpit to explain his conduct, +he could not obtain a moment's silence for insults, hooting, and loud +laughter. Then the outcry, at first derisive, became menacing: +Savonarola, whose voice was too weak to subdue the tumult, descended +from his pulpit, retired into the sacristy, and thence to his convent, +where he shut himself up in his cell. At that moment a cry was heard, +and was repeated by everybody present: + +"To San Marco, to San Marco!" The rioters, few at first, were recruited +by all the populace as they swept along the streets, and at last reached +the convent, dashing like an angry sea against the wall. + +The doors, closed on Savonarala's entrance, soon crashed before the +vehement onset of the powerful multitude, which struck down on the +instant every obstacle it met: the whole convent was quickly flooded +with people, and Savonarola, with his two confederates, Domenico +Bonvicini and Silvestro Maruffi, was arrested in his cell, and conducted +to prison amid the insults of the crowd, who, always in extremes, +whether of enthusiasm or hatred, would have liked to tear them to +pieces, and would not be quieted till they had exacted a promise that +the prisoners should be forcibly compelled to make the trial of fire +which they had refused to make of their own free will. + +Alexander VI, as we may suppose, had not been without influence in +bringing about this sudden and astonishing reaction, although he was not +present in person; and had scarcely learned the news of Savonarola's +fall and arrest when he claimed him as subject to ecclesiastical +jurisdiction. But in spite of the grant of indulgences wherewith this +demand was accompanied, the Signoria insisted that Savonarola's trial +should take place at Florence, adding a request so as not to appear to +withdraw the accused completely from the pontifical authority--that the +pope would send two ecclesiastical judges to sit in the Florentine +tribunal. Alexander, seeing that he would get nothing better from the +magnificent republic, sent as deputies Gioacchino Turriano of Venice, +General of the Dominicans, and Francesco Ramolini, doctor in law: they +practically brought the sentence with them, declaring Savonarola and his +accomplices heretics, schismatics, persecutors of the Church and +seducers of the people. + +The firmness shown by the Florentines in claiming their rights of +jurisdiction were nothing but an empty show to save appearances; the +tribunal, as a fact, was composed of eight members, all known to be +fervent haters of Savonarola, whose trial began with the torture. The +result was that, feeble in body constitutionally nervous and irritable, +he had not been able to endure the rack, and, overcome by agony just at +the moment when the executioner had lifted him up by the wrists and then +dropped him a distance of two feet to the ground, he had confessed, in +order to get some respite, that his prophecies were nothing mare than +conjectures. If is true that, so soon as he went back to prison, he +protested against the confession, saying that it was the weakness of his +bodily organs and his want of firmness that had wrested the lie from +him, but that the truth really was that the Lord had several times +appeared to him in his ecstasies and revealed the things that he had +spoken. This protestation led to a new application of the torture, +during which Savonarola succumbed once more to the dreadful pain, and +once more retracted. But scarcely was he unbound, and was still lying on +the bed of torture, when he declared that his confessions were the fault +of his torturers, and the vengeance would recoil upon their heads; and +he protested yet once mare against all he had confessed and might +confess again. A third time the torture produced the same avowals, and +the relief that followed it the same retractions. The judges therefore, +when they condemned him and his two disciples to the flames, decided +that his confession should not be read aloud at the stake, according to +custom, feeling certain that an this occasion also he would give it the +lie, and that publicly, which, as anyone must see who knew the versatile +spirit of the public, would be a most dangerous proceeding. + +On the 23rd of May, the fire which had been promised to the people +before was a second time prepared on the Piazza del Palazzo, and this +time the crowd assembled quite certain that they would not be +disappointed of a spectacle so long anticipated. And towards eleven +o'clock in the morning, Girolamo Savonarola, Domenico Bonvicini, and +Silvestro Maruffi were led to the place of execution, degraded of their +orders by the ecclesiastical judges, and bound all three to the same +stake in the centre of an immense pile of wood. Then the bishop +Pagnanoli told the condemned men that he cut them off from the Church. +"Ay, from the Church militant," said Savonarola, who from that very +hour, thanks to his martyrdom, was entering into the Church triumphant. +No other words were spoken by the condemned men, for at this moment one +of the Arrabbiati, a personal enemy of Savonarola, breaking through the +hedge of guards around the scaffold, snatched the torch from the +executioner's hand and himself set fire to the four corners of the pile. +Savonarola and his disciples, from the moment when they saw the smoke +arise, began to sing a psalm, and the flames enwrapped them on all sides +with a glowing veil, while their religious song was yet heard mounting +upward to the gates of heaven. + +Pope Alexander VI was thus set free from perhaps the most formidable +enemy who had ever risen against him, and the pontifical vengeance +pursued the victims even after their death: the Signoria, yielding to +his wishes, gave orders that the ashes of the prophet and his disciples +should be thrown into the Arno. But certain half-burned fragments were +picked up by the very soldiers whose business it was to keep the people +back from approaching the fire, and the holy relics are even now shown, +blackened by the flames, to the faithful, who if they no longer regard +Savonarola as a prophet, revere him none the less as a martyr. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +The French army was now preparing to cross the Alps a second time, under +the command of Trivulce. Louis XII had come as far as Lyons in the +company of Caesar Borgia and Giuliano della Rovere, on whom he had +forced a reconciliation, and towards the beginning of the month of May +had sent his vanguard before him, soon to be followed by the main body +of the army. The forces he was employing in this second campaign of +conquest were 1600, lances, 5000 Swiss, 9000 Gascons, and 3500 infantry, +raised from all parts of France. On the 13th of August this whole body, +amounting to nearly 15,000 men, who were to combine their forces with +the Venetians, arrived beneath the walls of Arezzo, and immediately laid +siege to the town. + +Ludovico Sforza's position was a terrible one: he was now suffering from +his imprudence in calling the French into Italy; all the allies he had +thought he might count upon were abandoning him at the same moment, +either because they were busy about their own affairs, or because they +were afraid of the powerful enemy that the Duke of Milan had made for +himself. Maximilian, who had promised him a contribution of 400 lances, +to make up for not renewing the hostilities with Louis XII that had been +interrupted, had just made a league with the circle of Swabia to war +against the Swiss, whom he had declared rebels against the Empire. The +Florentines, who had engaged to furnish him with 300 men-at-arms and +2000 infantry, if he would help them to retake Pisa, had just retracted +their promise because of Louis XII's threats, and had undertaken to +remain neutral. Frederic, who was holding back his troops for the +defence of his own States, because he supposed, not without reason, +that, Milan once conquered, he would again have to defend Naples, sent +him no help, no men, no money, in spite of his promises. Ludovico Sforza +was therefore reduced to his own proper forces. + +But as he was a man powerful in arms and clever in artifice, he did not +allow himself to succumb at the first blow, and in all haste fortified +Annona, Novarro, and Alessandria, sent off Cajazzo with troops to that +part of the Milanese territory which borders on the states of Venice, +and collected on the Po as many troops as he could. But these +precautions availed him nothing against the impetuous onslaught of the +French, who in a few days had taken Annona, Arezzo, Novarro, Voghiera, +Castelnuovo, Ponte Corona, Tartone, and Alessandria, while Trivulce was +on the march to Milan. + +Seeing the rapidity of this conquest and their numerous victories, +Ludovico Sforza, despairing of holding out in his capital, resolved to +retire to Germany, with his children, his brother, Cardinal Ascanio +Sforza, and his treasure, which had been reduced in the course of eight +years from 1,500,000 to 200,000 ducats. But before he went he left +Bernardino da Carte in charge of the castle of Milan. In vain did his +friends warn him to distrust this man, in vain did his brother Ascanio +offer to hold the fortress himself, and offer to hold it to the very +last; Ludovico refused to make any change in his arrangements, and +started on the 2nd of September, leaving in the citadel three thousand +foot and enough provisions, ammunition, and money to sustain a siege of +several months. + +Two days after Ludovico's departure, the French entered Milan. Ten days +later Bernardino da Come gave up the castle before a single gun had been +fired. Twenty-one days had sufficed for the French to get possession of +the various towns, the capital, and all the territories of their enemy. + +Louis XII received the news of this success while he was at Lyons, and +he at once started for Milan, where he was received with demonstrations +of joy that were really sincere. Citizens of every rank had come out +three miles' distance from the gates to receive him, and forty boys, +dressed in cloth of gold and silk, marched before him singing hymns of +victory composed by poets of the period, in which the king was styled +their liberator and the envoy of freedom. The great joy of the Milanese +people was due to the fact that friends of Louis had been spreading +reports beforehand that the King of France was rich enough to abolish +all taxes. And so soon as the second day from his arrival at Milan the +conqueror made some slight reduction, granted important favours to +certain Milanese gentlemen, and bestowed the town of Vigavano on +Trivulce as a reward for his swift and glorious campaign. But Caesar +Borgia, who had followed Louis XII with a view to playing his part in +the great hunting-ground of Italy, scarcely waited for him to attain his +end when he claimed the fulfilment of his promise, which the king with +his accustomed loyalty hastened to perform. He instantly put at the +disposal of Caesar three hundred lances under the command of Yves +d'Alegre, and four thousand Swiss under the command of the bailiff of +Dijon, as a help in his work of reducing the Vicars of the Church. + +We must now explain to our readers who these new personages were whom we +introduce upon the scene by the above name. + +During the eternal wars of Guelphs and Ghibelines and the long exile of +the popes at Avignon, most of the towns and fortresses of the Romagna +had been usurped by petty tyrants, who for the most part hard received +from the Empire the investiture of their new possessions; but ever since +German influence had retired beyond the Alps, and the popes had again +made Rome the centre of the Christian world, all the small princes, +robbed of their original protector, had rallied round the papal see, and +received at the hands of the pope a new investiture, and now they paid +annual dues, for which they received the particular title of duke, +count, or lord, and the general name of Vicar of the Church. + +It had been no difficult matter for Alexander, scrupulously examining +the actions and behaviour of these gentlemen during the seven years that +had elapsed since he was exalted to St. Peter's throne, to find in the +conduct of each one of them something that could be called an infraction +of the treaty made between vassals and suzerain; accordingly he brought +forward his complaints at a tribunal established for the purpose, and +obtained sentence from the judges to the effect that the vicars of the +Church, having failed to fulfil the conditions of their investiture, +were despoiled of their domains, which would again become the property +of the Holy See. As the pope was now dealing with men against whom it +was easier to pass a sentence than to get it carried out, he had +nominated as captain-general the new Duke of Valentinois, who was +commissioned to recover the territories for his own benefit. The lords +in question were the Malatesti of Rimini, the Sforza of Pesaro, the +Manfredi of Faenza, the Riarii of Imola and Farli, the Variani of +Camerina, the Montefeltri of Urbino, and the Caetani of Sermoneta. + +But the Duke of Valentinois, eager to keep as warm as possible his great +friendship with his ally and relative Louis XII, was, as we know, +staying with him at Milan so long as he remained there, where, after a +month's occupation, the king retraced his steps to his own capital, the +Duke of Valentinois ordered his men-at-arms and his Swiss to await him +between Parma and Modena, and departed posthaste for Rome, to explain +his plans to his father viva voce and to receive his final instructions. +When he arrived, he found that the fortune of his sister Lucrezia had +been greatly augmented in his absence, not from the side of her husband +Alfonso, whose future was very uncertain now in consequence of Louis's +successes, which had caused some coolness between Alfonso and the pope, +but from her father's side, upon whom at this time she exercised an +influence mare astonishing than ever. The pope had declared Lucrezia +Borgia of Aragon life-governor of Spoleto and its duchy, with all +emoluments, rights, and revenues accruing thereunto. This had so greatly +increased her power and improved her position, that in these days she +never showed herself in public without a company of two hundred horses +ridden by the most illustrious ladies and noblest knights of Rome. +Moreover, as the twofold affection of her father was a secret to nobody, +the first prelates in the Church, the frequenters of the Vatican, the +friends of His Holiness, were all her most humble servants; cardinals +gave her their hands when she stepped from her litter or her horse, +archbishops disputed the honour of celebrating mass in her private +apartments. + +But Lucrezia had been obliged to quit Rome in order to take possession +of her new estates; and as her father could not spend much time away +from his beloved daughter, he resolved to take into his hands the town +of Nepi, which on a former occasion, as the reader will doubtless +remember, he had bestowed on Ascanio Sforza in exchange for his +suffrage. Ascanio had naturally lost this town when he attached himself +to the fortunes of the Duke of Milan, his brother; and when the pope was +about to take it again, he invited his daughter Lucrezia to join him +there and be present at the rejoicings held in honour of his resuming +its possession. + +Lucrezia's readiness in giving way to her father's wishes brought her a +new gift from him: this was the town and territory of Sermoneta, which +belonged to the Caetani. Of course the gift was as yet a secret, because +the two owners of the seigneury, had first to be disposed of, one being +Monsignore Giacomo Caetano, apostolic protonotary, the other Prospero +Caetano, a young cavalier of great promise; but as both lived at Rome, +and entertained no suspicion, but indeed supposed themselves to be in +high favour with His Holiness, the one by virtue of his position, the +other of his courage, the matter seemed to present no great difficulty. +So directly after the return of Alexander to Rome, Giacomo Caetano was +arrested, on what pretext we know not, was taken to the castle of Sant' +Angelo, and there died shortly after, of poison: Prospero Caetano was +strangled in his own house. After these two deaths, which both occurred +so suddenly as to give no time for either to make a will, the pope +declared that Sermoneta and all of her property appertaining to the +Caetani devolved upon the apostolic chamber; and they were sold to +Lucrezia for the cum of 80,000 crowns, which her father refunded to her +the day after. Though Caesar hurried to Rome, he found when he arrived +that his father had been beforehand with him, and had made a beginning +of his conquests. + +Another fortune also had been making prodigious strides during Caesar's +stay in France, viz. the fortune of Gian Borgia, the pope's nephew, who +had been one of the most devoted friends of the Duke of Gandia up to the +time of his death. It was said in Rome, and not in a whisper, that the +young cardinal owed the favours heaped upon him by His Holiness less to +the memory of the brother than to the protection of the sister. Both +these reasons made Gian Borgia a special object of suspicion to Caesar, +and it was with an inward vow that he should not enjoy his new dignities +very long that the Duke of Valentinois heard that his cousin Gian had +just been nominated cardinal 'a latere' of all the Christian world, and +had quitted Rome to make a circuit through all the pontifical states +with a suite of archbishops, bishops, prelates, and gentlemen, such as +would have done honour to the pope himself. + +Caesar had only come to Rome to get news; so he only stayed three days, +and then, with all the troops His Holiness could supply, rejoined his +forces on the borders of the Euza, and marched at once to Imola. This +town, abandoned by its chiefs, who had retired to Forli, was forced to +capitulate. Imola taken, Caesar marched straight upon Forli. There he +met with a serious check; a check, moreover, which came from a woman. +Caterina Sforza, widow of Girolamo and mother of Ottaviano Riario, had +retired to this town, and stirred up the courage of the garrison by +putting herself, her goods and her person, under their protection. +Caesar saw that it was no longer a question of a sudden capture, but of +a regular siege; so he began to make all his arrangements with a view to +it, and placing a battery of cannon in front of the place where the +walls seemed to him weakest, he ordered an uninterrupted fire, to be +continued until the breach was practicable. + +When he returned to the camp after giving this order, he found there +Gian Borgia, who had gone to Rome from Ferrara and was unwilling to be +so near Caesar without paying him a visit: he was received with effusion +and apparently the greatest joy, and stayed three days; on the fourth +day all the officers and members of the court were invited to a grand +farewell supper, and Caesar bade farewell to his cousin, charging him +with despatches for the pope, and lavishing upon him all the tokens of +affection he had shown on his arrival. + +Cardinal Gian Bargia posted off as soon as he left the supper-table, but +on arriving at Urbino he was seized with such a sudden and strange +indisposition that he was forced to stop; but after a few minutes, +feeling rather better, he went an; scarcely, however, had he entered +Rocca Cantrada when he again felt so extremely ill that he resolved to +go no farther, and stayed a couple of days in the town. Then, as he +thought he was a little better again, and as he had heard the news of +the taking of Forli and also that Caterina Sforza had been taken +prisoner while she was making an attempt to retire into the castle, he +resolved to go back to Caesar and congratulate him on his victory; but +at Fassambrane he was forced to stop a third time, although he had given +up his carriage for a litter. This was his last halt: the same day he +sought his bed, never to rise from it again; three days later he was +dead. + +His body was taken to Rome and buried without any ceremony in the church +of Santa Maria del Populo, where lay awaiting him the corpse of his +friend the Duke of Gandia; and there was now no more talk of the young +cardinal, high as his rank had been, than if he had never existed. Thus +in gloom and silence passed away all those who were swept to destruction +by the ambition of that terrible trio, Alexander, Lucrezia, and Caesar. + +Almost at the same time Rome was terrified by another murder. Don +Giovanni Cerviglione, a gentleman by birth and a brave soldier, captain +of the pope's men-at-arms, was attacked one evening by the sbirri, as he +was on his way home from supping with Dan Elisio Pignatelli. One of the +men asked his name, and as he pronounced it, seeing that there was no +mistake, plunged a dagger into his breast, while a second man with a +back stroke of his sword cut off his head, which lay actually at his +feet before his body had time to fall. + +The governor of Rome lodged a complaint against this assassination with +the pope; but quickly perceiving, by the way his intimation was +received, that he would have done better to say nothing, he stopped the +inquiries he had started, so that neither of the murderers was ever +arrested. But the rumour was circulated that Caesar, in the short stay +he had made at Rome, had had a rendezvous with Cerviglione's wife, who +was a Borgia by birth, and that her husband when he heard of this +infringement of conjugal duty had been angry enough to threaten her and +her lover, too: the threat had reached Caesar's ears, who, making a long +arm of Michelotto, had, himself at Forli, struck down Cerviglione in the +streets of Rome. + +Another unexpected death followed so quickly on that of Don Giovanni +Cerviglione that it could not but be attributed to the same originator, +if not to the same cause. Monsignore Agnelli of Mantua, archbishop of +Cosenza, clerk of the chamber and vice-legate of Viterbo, having fallen +into disgrace with His Holiness, how it is not known, was poisoned at +his own table, at which he had passed a good part of the night in +cheerful conversation with three or four guests, the poison gliding +meanwhile through his veins; then going to bed in perfect health, he was +found dead in the morning. His possessions were at once divided into +three portions: the land and houses were given to the Duke of +Valentinois; the bishopric went to Francesco Borgia, son of Calixtus +III; and the office of clerk of the chamber was sold for 5000 ducats to +Ventura Bonnassai, a merchant of Siena, who produced this sum for +Alexander, and settled down the very same day in the Vatican. + +This last death served the purpose of determining a point of law +hitherto uncertain: as Monsignore Agnelli's natural heirs had made some +difficulty about being disinherited, Alexander issued a brief; whereby +he took from every cardinal and every priest the right of making a will, +and declared that all their property should henceforth devolve upon him. + +But Caesar was stopped short in the midst of his victories. Thanks to +the 200,000 ducats that yet remained in his treasury, Ludovico Sforza +had levied 500 men-at-arms from Burgundy and 8000 Swiss infantry, with +whom he had entered Lombardy. So Trivulce, to face this enemy, had been +compelled to call back Yves d'Alegre and the troops that Louis XII had +lent to Caesar; consequently Caesar, leaving behind a body of pontifical +soldiery as garrison at Forli and Imola, betook himself with the rest of +his force to Rome. + +It was Alexander's wish that his entry should be a triumph; so when he +learned that the quartermasters of the army were only a few leagues from +the town, he sent out runners to invite the royal ambassadors, the +cardinals, the prelates, the Roman barons, and municipal dignitaries to +make procession with all their suite to meet the Duke of Valentinois; +and as it always happens that the pride of those who command is +surpassed by the baseness of those who obey, the orders were not only +fulfilled to the letter, but beyond it. + +The entry of Caesar took place on the 26th of February, 1500. Although +this was the great Jubilee year, the festivals of the carnival began +none the less for that, and were conducted in a manner even more +extravagant and licentious than usual; and the conqueror after the first +day prepared a new display of ostentation, which he concealed under the +veil of a masquerade. As he was pleased to identify himself with the +glory, genius, and fortune of the great man whose name he bore, he +resolved on a representation of the triumph of Julius Caesar, to be +given on the Piazzi di Navona, the ordinary place for holding the +carnival fetes. The next day, therefore, he and his retinue started from +that square, and traversed all the streets of Rome, wearing classical +costumes and riding in antique cars, on one of which Caesar stood, clad +in the robe of an emperor of old, his brow crowned with a golden laurel +wreath, surrounded by lictors, soldiers, and ensign-bearers, who carried +banners whereon was inscribed the motto, 'Aut Caesar aut nihil'. + +Finally, an the fourth Sunday, in Lent, the pope conferred upon Caesar +the dignity he had so long coveted, and appointed him general and +gonfaloniere of the Holy Church. + +In the meanwhile Sforza had crossed the Alps and passed the Lake of +Como, amid acclamations of joy from his former subjects, who had quickly +lost the enthusiasm that the French army and Louis's promises had +inspired. These demonstrations were so noisy at Milan, that Trivulce, +judging that there was no safety for a French garrison in remaining +there, made his way to Navarra. Experience proved that he was not +deceived; for scarcely had the Milanese observed his preparations for +departure when a suppressed excitement began to spread through the town, +and soon the streets were filled with armed men. This murmuring crowd +had to be passed through, sword in hand and lance in rest; and scarcely +had the French got outside the gates when the mob rushed out after the +army into the country, pursuing them with shouts and hooting as far as +the banks of the Tesino. Trivulce left 400 lances at Novarra as well as +the 3000 Swiss that Yves d'Alegre had brought from the Romagna, and +directed his course with the rest of the army towards Mortara, where he +stopped at last to await the help he had demanded from the King of +France. Behind him Cardinal Ascanio and Ludovico entered Milan amid the +acclamations of the whole town. + +Neither of them lost any time, and wishing to profit by this enthusiasm, +Ascanio undertook to besiege the castle of Milan while Ludovico should +cross the Tesino and attack Novarra. + +There besiegers and besieged were sons of the same nation; for Yves +d'Alegre had scarcely as many as 300 French with him, and Ludovico 500 +Italians. In fact, for the last sixteen years the Swiss had been +practically the only infantry in Europe, and all the Powers came, purse +in hand, to draw from the mighty reservoir of their mountains. The +consequence was that these rude children of William Tell, put up to +auction by the nations, and carried away from the humble, hardy life of +a mountain people into cities of wealth and pleasure, had lost, not +their ancient courage, but that rigidity of principle for which they had +been distinguished before their intercourse with other nations. From +being models of honour and good faith they had become a kind of +marketable ware, always ready for sale to the highest bidder. The French +were the first to experience this venality, which later-on proved so +fatal to Ludovico Sforza. + +Now the Swiss in the garrison at Novarra had been in communication with +their compatriots in the vanguard of the ducal army, and when they found +that they, who as a fact were unaware that Ludavico's treasure was +nearly exhausted, were better fed as well as better paid than +themselves, they offered to give up the town and go over to the +Milanese, if they could be certain of the same pay. Ludovico, as we may +well suppose, closed with this bargain. The whole of Novarra was given +up to him except the citadel, which was defended by Frenchmen: thus the +enemy's army was recruited by 3000 men. Then Ludovico made the mistake +of stopping to besiege the castle instead of marching on to Mortara with +the new reinforcement. The result of this was that Louis XII, to whom +runners had been sent by Trivulce, understanding his perilous position, +hastened the departure of the French gendarmerie who were already +collected to cross into Italy, sent off the bailiff of Dijon to levy new +Swiss forces, and ordered Cardinal Amboise, his prime minister, to cross +the Alps and take up a position at Asti, to hurry on the work of +collecting the troops. There the cardinal found a nest-egg of 3000 men. +La Trimouille added 1500 lances and 6000 French infantry; finally, the +bailiff of Dijon arrived with 10,000 Swiss; so that, counting the troops +which Trivulce had at Mortara, Louis XII found himself master on the +other side of the Alps of the first army any French king had ever led +out to battle. Soon, by good marching, and before Ludovico knew the +strength or even the existence of this army, it took up a position +between Novarra and Milan, cutting off all communication between the +duke and his capital. He was therefore compelled, in spite of his +inferior numbers, to prepare for a pitched battle. + +But it so happened that just when the preparations for a decisive +engagement were being made on both sides, the Swiss Diet, learning that +the sons of Helvetia were on the paint of cutting one another's throats, +sent orders to all the Swiss serving in either army to break their +engagements and return to the fatherland. But during the two months that +had passed between the surrender of Novarra and the arrival of the +French army before the town, there had been a very great change in the +face of things, because Ludovico Sforza's treasure was now exhausted. +New confabulations had gone on between the outposts, and this time, +thanks to the money sent by Louis XII, it was the Swiss in the service +of France who were found to be the better fed and better paid. The +worthy Helvetians, since they no longer fought far their own liberty, +knew the value of their blood too well to allow a single drop of it to +be spilled for less than its weight in gold: the result was that, as +they had, betrayed Yves d'Alegre, they resolved to betray Ludovico +Sforza too; and while the recruits brought in by the bailiff of Dijon +were standing firmly by the French flag, careless of the order of the +Diet, Ludovico's auxiliaries declared that in fighting against their +Swiss brethren they would be acting in disobedience to the Diet, and +would risk capital punishment in the end--a danger that nothing would +induce them to incur unless they immediately received the arrears of +their pay. The duke, who a spent the last ducat he had with him, and was +entirely cut off from his capital, knew that he could not get money till +he had fought his way through to it, and therefore invited the Swiss to +make one last effort, promising them not only the pay that was in +arrears but a double hire. But unluckily the fulfilment of this promise +was dependent on the doubtful issue of a battle, and the Swiss replied +that they had far too much respect for their country to disobey its +decree, and that they loved their brothers far too well to consent to +shed their blood without reward; and therefore Sforza would do well not +to count upon them, since indeed the very next day they proposed to +return to their homes. The duke then saw that all was lost, but he made +a last appeal to their honour, adjuring them at least to ensure his +personal safety by making it a condition of capitulation. But they +replied that even if a condition of such a kind, would not make +capitulation impossible, it would certainly deprive them of advantages +which they had aright to expect, and on which they counted as +indemnification for the arrears of their pay. They pretended, however, +at last that they were touched by the prayers of the man whose orders +they had obeyed so long, and offered to conceal him dressed in their +clothes among their ranks. This proposition was barely plausible; far +Sforza was short and, by this time an old man, and he could not possibly +escape recognition in the midst of an army where the oldest was not past +thirty and the shortest not less than five foot six. Still, this was his +last chance, and he did not reject it at once, but tried to modify it so +that it might help him in his straits. His plan was to disguise himself +as a Franciscan monk, so that mounted an a shabby horse he might pass +for their chaplain; the others, Galeazzo di San Severing, who commanded +under him, and his two brothers, were all tall men, so, adopting the +dress of common soldiers, they hoped they might escape detection in the +Swiss ranks. + +Scarcely were these plans settled when the duke heard that the +capitulation was signed between Trivulce and the Swiss, who had made no +stipulation in favour of him and his generals. They were to go over the +next day with arms and baggage right into the French army; so the last +hope of the wretched Ludovico and his generals must needs be in their +disguise. And so it was. San Severino and his brothers took their place +in the ranks of the infantry, and Sforza took his among the baggage, +clad in a monk's frock, with the hood pulled over his eyes. + +The army marched off; but the Swiss, who had first trafficked in their +blood, now trafficked in their honour. The French were warned of the +disguise of Sforza and his generals, and thus they were all four +recognised, and Sforza was arrested by Trimouille himself. It is said +that the price paid for this treason was the town of Bellinzona; far it +then belonged to the French, and when the Swiss returned to their +mountains and took possession of it, Louis XII took no steps to get it +back again. + +When Ascanio Sforza, who, as we know, had stayed at Milan, learned the +news of this cowardly desertion, he supposed that his cause was lost and +that it would be the best plan for him to fly, before he found himself a +prisoner in the hand's of his brother's old subjects: such a change of +face on the people's part would be very natural, and they might propose +perhaps to purchase their own pardon at the price of his liberty; so he +fled by night with the chief nobles of the Ghibelline party, taking the +road to Piacenza, an his way to the kingdom of Naples. But when he +arrived at Rivolta, he remembered that there was living in that town an +old friend of his childhood, by name Conrad Lando, whom he had helped to +much wealth in his days of power; and as Ascanio and his companions were +extremely; tired, he resolved to beg his hospitality for a single night. +Conrad received them with every sign of joy, putting all his house and +servants at their disposal. But scarcely had they retired to bed when he +sent a runner to Piacenza, to inform Carlo Orsini, at that time +commanding the Venetian garrison, that he was prepared to deliver up +Cardinal Ascanio and the chief men of the Milanese army. Carlo Orsini +did not care to resign to another so important an expedition, and +mounting hurriedly with twenty-five men, he first surrounded Conrads +house, and then entered sword in hand the chamber wherein Ascanio and +his companions lay, and being surprised in the middle of their sleep, +they yielded without resistance. The prisoners were taken to Venice, but +Louis XII claimed them, and they were given up. Thus the King of France +found himself master of Ludovico Sforza and of Ascania, of a legitimate +nephew of the great Francesco Sforza named Hermes, of two bastards named +Alessandro and Cortino, and of Francesco, son of the unhappy Gian +Galeazza who had been poisoned by his uncle. + +Louis XII, wishing to make an end of the whole family at a blow, forced +Francesco to enter a cloister, shut up Cardinal Ascanio in the tower of +Baurges, threw into prison Alessandro, Cartino, and Hermes, and finally, +after transferring the wretched Ludovico from the fortress of +Pierre-Eucise to Lys-Saint-George he relegated him for good and all to +the castle of Loches, where he lived for ten years in solitude and utter +destitution, and there died, cursing the day when the idea first came +into his head of enticing the French into Italy. + +The news of the catastrophe of Ludovica and his family caused the +greatest joy at Rome, for, while the French were consolidating their +power in Milanese territory, the Holy See was gaining ground in the +Romagna, where no further opposition was offered to Caesar's conquest. +So the runners who brought the news were rewarded with valuable +presents, and it was published throughout the whole town of Rome to the +sound of the trumpet and drum. The war-cry of Louis, France, France, and +that of the Orsini, Orso, Orso, rang through all the streets, which in +the evening were illuminated, as though Constantinople or Jerusalem had +been taken. And the pope gave the people fetes and fireworks, without +troubling his head the least in the world either about its being Holy +Week, or because the Jubilee had attracted more than 200,000 people to +Rome; the temporal interests of his family seeming to him far more +important than the spiritual interests of his subjects. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +One thing alone was wanting to assure the success of the vast projects +that the pope and his son were founding upon the friendship of Louis and +an alliance with him--that is,--money. But Alexander was not the man to +be troubled about a paltry worry of that kind; true, the sale of +benefices was by now exhausted, the ordinary and extraordinary taxes had +already been collected for the whole year, and the prospect of +inheritance from cardinals and priests was a poor thing now that the +richest of them had been poisoned; but Alexander had other means at his +disposal, which were none the less efficacious because they were less +often used. + +The first he employed was to spread a, report that the Turks were +threatening an invasion of Christendom, and that he knew for a positive +fact that before the end of the summer Bajazet would land two +considerable armies, one in Romagna, the other in Calabria; he therefore +published two bulls, one to levy tithes of all ecclesiastical revenues +in Europe of whatever nature they might be, the other to force the Jews +into paying an equivalent sum: both bulls contained the severest +sentences of excommunication against those who refused to submit, or +attempted opposition. + +The second plan was the selling of indulgences, a thing which had never +been done before: these indulgences affected the people who had been +prevented by reasons of health or business from coming to Rome for the +Jubilee; the journey by this expedient was rendered unnecessary, and +sins were pardoned for a third of what it would have cost, and just as +completely as if the faithful had fulfilled every condition of the +pilgrimage. For gathering in this tax a veritable army of collectors was +instituted, a certain Ludovico delta Torre at their head. The sum that +Alexander brought into the pontifical treasury is incalculable, and same +idea of it may be gathered from the fact that 799,000 livres in gold was +paid in from the territory of Venice alone. + +But as the Turks did as a fact make some sort of demonstration from the +Hungarian side, and the Venetians began to fear that they might be +coming in their direction, they asked for help from the pope, who gave +orders that at twelve o'clock in the day in all his States an Ave Maria +should be said, to pray God to avert the danger which was threatening +the most serene republic. This was the only help the Venetians got from +His Holiness in exchange for the 799,000 livres in gold that he had got +from them. + +But it seemed as though God wished to show His strange vicar on earth +that He was angered by the mockery of sacred things, and on the Eve of +St. Peter's Day, just as the pope was passing the Capanile on his way to +the tribune of benedictions, a enormous piece of iron broke off and fell +at his feet; and then, as though one warning had not been enough, on the +next day, St. Peter's, when the pope happened to be in one of the rooms +of his ordinary dwelling with Cardinal Capuano and Monsignare Poto, his +private chamberlain, he saw through the open windows that a very black +cloud was coming up. Foreseeing a thunderstorm, he ordered the cardinal +and the chamberlain to shut the windows. He had not been mistaken; for +even as they were obeying his command, there came up such a furious gust +of wind that the highest chimney of the Vatican was overturned, just as +a tree is rooted up, and was dashed upon the roof, breaking it in; +smashing the upper flooring, it fell into the very room where they were. +Terrified by the noise of this catastrophe, which made the whole palace +tremble, the cardinal and Monsignore Poto turned round, and seeing the +room full of dust and debris, sprang out upon the parapet and shouted to +the guards at the gate, "The pope is dead, the pope is dead!" At this +cry, the guards ran up and discovered three persons lying in the rubbish +on the floor, one dead and the other two dying. The dead man was a +gentleman of Siena ailed Lorenzo Chigi, and the dying were two resident +officials of the Vatican. They had been walking across the floor above, +and had been flung down with the debris. But Alexander was not to be +found; and as he gave no answer, though they kept on calling to him, the +belief that he had perished was confirmed, and very soon spread about +the town. But he had only fainted, and at the end of a certain time he +began to come to himself, and moaned, whereupon he was discovered, dazed +with the blow, and injured, though not seriously, in several parts of +his body. He had been saved by little short of a miracle: a beam had +broken in half and had left each of its two ends in the side walls; and +one of these had formed a sort of roof aver the pontifical throne; the +pope, who was sitting there at the time, was protected by this +overarching beam, and had received only a few contusions. + +The two contradictory reports of the sudden death and the miraculous +preservation of the pope spread rapidly through Rome; and the Duke of +Valentinois, terrified at the thought of what a change might be wrought +in his own fortunes by any slight accident to the Holy Father, hurried +to the Vatican, unable to assure himself by anything less than the +evidence of his own eyes. Alexander desired to render public thanks to +Heaven for the protection that had been granted him; and on the very +same day was carried to the church of Santa Maria del Popalo, escorted +by a numerous procession of prelates and men-at arms, his pontifical +seat borne by two valets, two equerries, and two grooms. In this church +were buried the Duke of Gandia and Gian Borgia, and perhaps Alexander +was drawn thither by same relics of devotion, or may be by the +recollection of his love for his former mistress, Rosa Vanazza, whose +image, in the guise of the Madonna, was exposed for the veneration of +the faithful in a chapel on the left of the high altar. Stopping before +this altar, the pope offered to the church the gift of a magnificent +chalice in which were three hundred gold crowns, which the Cardinal of +Siena poured out into a silver paten before the eyes of all, much to the +gratification of the pontifical vanity. + +But before he left Rome to complete the conquest of the Romagna, the +Duke of Valentinois had been reflecting that the marriage, once so +ardently desired, between Lucrezia and Alfonso had been quite useless to +himself and his father. There was more than this to be considered: Louis +XII's rest in Lombardy was only a halt, and Milan was evidently but the +stage before Naples. It was very possible that Louis was annoyed about +the marriage which converted his enemy's nephew into the son-in-law of +his ally. Whereas, if Alfonso were dead, Lucrezia would be the position +to marry some powerful lord of Ferrara or Brescia, who would be able to +help his brother-in-law in the conquest of Romagna. Alfonso was now not +only useless but dangerous, which to anyone with the character of the +Borgias perhaps seemed worse, the death of Alfonso was resolved upon. +But Lucrezia's husband, who had understand for a long time past what +danger he incurred by living near his terrible father-in-law, had +retired to Naples. Since, however, neither Alexander nor Caesar had +changed in their perpetual dissimulation towards him, he was beginning +to lose his fear, when he received an invitation from the pope and his +son to take part in a bull-fight which was to be held in the Spanish +fashion in honour of the duke before his departure: In the present +precarious position of Naples it would not have been good policy far +Alfonso to afford Alexander any sort of pretext for a rupture, so he +could not refuse without a motive, and betook himself to Rome. It was +thought of no use to consult Lucrezia in this affair, for she had two or +three times displayed an absurd attachment for her husband, and they +left her undisturbed in her government of Spoleto. + +Alfonso was received by the pope and the duke with every demonstration +of sincere friendship, and rooms in the Vatican were assigned to him +that he had inhabited before with Lucrezia, in that part of the building +which is known as the Torre Nuova. + +Great lists were prepared on the Piazza of St. Peter's; the streets +about it were barricaded, and the windows of the surrounding houses +served as boxes for the spectators. The pope and his court took their +places on the balconies of the Vatican. + +The fete was started by professional toreadors: after they had exhibited +their strength and skill, Alfonso and Caesar in their turn descended to +the arena, and to offer a proof of their mutual kindness, settled that +the bull which pursued Caesar should be killed by Alfonso, and the bull +that pursued Alfonso by Caesar. + +Then Caesar remained alone an horseback within the lists, Alfonso going +out by an improvised door which was kept ajar, in order that he might go +back on the instant if he judged that his presence was necessary. At the +same time, from the opposite side of the lists the bull was introduced, +and was at the same moment pierced all over with darts and arrows, some +of them containing explosives, which took fire, and irritated the bull +to such a paint that he rolled about with pain, and then got up in a +fury, and perceiving a man on horseback, rushed instantly upon him. It +was now, in this narrow arena, pursued by his swift enemy, that Caesar +displayed all that skill which made him one of the finest horsemen of +the period. Still, clever as he was, he could not have remained safe +long in that restricted area from an adversary against whom he had no +other resource than flight, had not Alfonso appeared suddenly, just when +the bull was beginning to gain upon him, waving a red cloak in his left +hand, and holding in his right a long delicate Aragon sword. It was high +time: the bull was only a few paces distant from Caesar, and the risk he +was running appeared so imminent that a woman's scream was heard from +one of the windows. But at the sight of a man on foot the bull stopped +short, and judging that he would do better business with the new enemy +than the old one, he turned upon him instead. For a moment he stood +motionless, roaring, kicking up the dust with his hind feet, and lashing +his sides with his tail. Then he rushed upon Alfonso, his eyes all +bloodshot, his horns tearing up the ground. Alfonso awaited him with a +tranquil air; then, when he was only three paces away, he made a bound +to one sides and presented instead of his body his sword, which +disappeared at once to the hilt; the bull, checked in the middle of his +onslaught, stopped one instant motionless and trembling, then fell upon +his knees, uttered one dull roar, and lying down on the very spot where +his course had been checked, breathed his last without moving a single +step forward. + +Applause resounded an all sides, so rapid and clever had been the blow. +Caesar had remained on horseback, seeking to discover the fair spectator +who had given so lively a proof of her interest in him, without +troubling himself about what was going on: his search had not been +unrewarded, far he had recognized one of the maids of honour to +Elizabeth, Duchess of Urbino, who was betrothed to Gian Battista +Carraciualo, captain-general of the republic of Venice. + +It was now Alfonso's turn to run from the bull, Caesar's to fight him: +the young men changed parts, and when four mules had reluctantly dragged +the dead bull from the arena, and the valets and other servants of His +Holiness had scattered sand over the places that were stained with +blood, Alfonso mounted a magnificent Andalusian steed of Arab origin, +light as the wind of Sahara that had wedded with his mother, while +Caesar, dismounting, retired in his turn, to reappear at the moment when +Alfonso should be meeting the same danger from which he had just now +rescued him. + +Then a second bull was introduced upon the scene, excited in the same +manner with steeled darts and flaming arrows. Like his predecessor, when +he perceived a man on horseback he rushed upon him, and then began a +marvellous race, in which it was impossible to see, so quickly did they +fly over the ground, whether the horse was pursuing the bull or the bull +the horse. But after five or six rounds, the bull began to gain upon the +son of Araby, for all his speed, and it was plain to see who fled and +who pursued; in another moment there was only the length of two lances +between them, and then suddenly Caesar appeared, armed with one of those +long two handed swords which the French are accustomed to use, and just +when the bull, almost close upon Don Alfonso, came in front of Caesar he +brandished the sword, which flashed like lightning, and cut off his +head, while his body, impelled by the speed of the run, fell to the +ground ten paces farther on. This blow was so unexpected, and had been +performed with such dexterity, that it was received not with mere +clapping but with wild enthusiasm and frantic outcry. Caesar, apparently +remembering nothing else in his hour of triumph but the scream that had +been caused by his former danger, picked up the bull's head, and, giving +it to one of his equerries, ordered him to lay it as an act of homage at +the feet of the fair Venetian who had bestowed upon him so lively a sign +of interest. This fete, besides affording a triumph to each of the young +men, had another end as well; it was meant to prove to the populace that +perfect goodwill existed between the two, since each had saved the life +of the other. The result was that, if any accident should happen to +Caesar, nobody would dream of accusing Alfanso; and also if any accident +should happen to Alfonso, nobody would dream, of accusing Caesar. + +There was a supper at the Vatican. Alfonso made an elegant toilet, and +about ten o'clock at night prepared to go from the quarters he inhabited +into those where the pope lived; but the door which separated the two +courts of the building was shut, and knock as he would, no one came to +open it. Alfonso then thought that it was a simple matter for him to go +round by the Piazza of St. Peter's; so he went out unaccompanied through +one of the garden gates of the Vatican and made his way across the +gloomy streets which led to the stairway which gave on the piazza. But +scarcely had he set his foot on the first step when he was attacked by a +band of armed men. Alfonso would have drawn his sword; but before it was +out of the scabbard he had received two blows from a halberd, one on his +head, the other on his shoulder; he was stabbed in the side, and wounded +both in the leg and in the temple. Struck down by these five blows, he +lost his footing and fell to the ground unconscious; his assassins, +supposing he was dead, at once remounted the stairway, and found on the +piazza forty horsemen waiting for them: by them they were calmly +escorted from the city by the Porta Portesa. Alfonso was found at the +point of death, but not actually dead, by some passers-by, some of whom +recognised him, and instantly conveyed the news of his assassination to +the Vatican, while the others, lifting the wounded man in their arms, +carried him to his quarters in the Torre Nuova. The pope and Caesar, who +learned this news just as they were sitting down to table, showed great +distress, and leaving their companions, at once went to see Alfonso, to +be quite certain whether his wounds were fatal or not; and an the next +morning, to divert any suspicion that might be turned towards +themselves, they arrested Alfonso's maternal uncle, Francesco Gazella, +who had come to Rome in his nephew's company. Gazella was found guilty +on the evidence of false witnesses, and was consequently beheaded. + +But they had only accomplished half of what they wanted. By some means, +fair or foul, suspicion had been sufficiently diverted from the true +assassins; but Alfonso was not dead, and, thanks to the strength of his +constitution and the skill of his doctors, who had taken the +lamentations of the pope and Caesar quite seriously, and thought to +please them by curing Alexander's son-in-law, the wounded man was making +progress towards convalescence: news arrived at the same time that +Lucrezia had heard of her husband's accident, and was starting to come +and nurse him herself. There was no time to lose, and Caesar summoned +Michelotto. + +"The same night," says Burcardus, "Don Alfonso, who would not die of his +wounds, was found strangled in his bed." + +The funeral took place the next day with a ceremony not unbecoming in +itself, though, unsuited to his high rank. Dan Francesca Bargia, +Archbishop of Cosenza, acted as chief mourner at St. Peter's, where the +body was buried in the chapel of Santa Maria delle Febbre. + +Lucrezia arrived the same evening: she knew her father and brother too +well to be put on the wrong scent; and although, immediately after +Alfonso's death, the Duke of Valentinois had arrested the doctors, the +surgeons, and a poor deformed wretch who had been acting as valet, she +knew perfectly well from what quarter the blow had proceeded. In fear, +therefore, that the manifestation of a grief she felt this time too well +might alienate the confidence of her father and brother, she retired to +Nepi with her whole household, her whole court, and more than six +hundred cavaliers, there to spend the period of her mourning. + +This important family business was now settled, and Lucrezia was again a +widow, and in consequence ready to be utilized in the pope's new +political machinations. Caesar only stayed at Rome to receive the +ambassadors from France and Venice; but as their arrival was somewhat +delayed, and consider able inroads had been made upon the pope's +treasury by the recent festivities, the creation of twelve new cardinals +was arranged: this scheme was to have two effects, viz., to bring +600,000 ducats into the pontifical chest, each hat having been priced at +50,000 ducats, and to assure the pope of a constant majority in the +sacred council. + +The ambassadors at last arrived: the first was M. de Villeneuve, the +same who had come before to see the Duke of Valentinois in the name of +France. Just as he entered Rome, he met on the road a masked man, who, +without removing his domino, expressed the joy he felt at his arrival. +This man was Caesar himself, who did not wish to be recognised, and who +took his departure after a short conference without uncovering his face. +M. de Villeneuve then entered the city after him, and at the Porta del +Populo found the ambassadors of the various Powers, and among them those +of Spain and Naples, whose sovereigns were not yet, it is true, in +declared hostility to France, though there was already some coolness. +The last-named, fearing to compromise themselves, merely said to their +colleague of France, by way of complimentary address, "Sir, you are +welcome"; whereupon the master of the ceremonies, surprised at the +brevity of the greeting, asked if they had nothing else to say. When +they replied that they had not, M. de Villeneuve turned his back upon +them, remarking that those who had nothing to say required no answer; he +then took his place between the Archbishop of Reggia, governor of Rome, +and the Archbishop of Ragusa, and made his way to the palace of the Holy +Apostles, which had been, got ready far his reception. + +Same days later, Maria Giorgi, ambassador extraordinary of Venice, made +his arrival. He was commissioned not only to arrange the business on +hand with the pope, but also to convey to Alexander and Caesar the title +of Venetian nobles, and to inform them that their names were inscribed +in the Golden Book--a favour that both of them had long coveted, less +far the empty honour's sake than for the new influence that this title +might confer. Then the pope went on to bestow the twelve cardinals' hats +that had been sold. The new princes of the Church were Don Diego de +Mendoza, archbishop of Seville; Jacques, archbishop of Oristagny, the +Pope's vicar-general; Thomas, archbishop of Strigania; Piero, archbishop +of Reggio, governor of Rome; Francesco Bargia, archbishop of Cosenza, +treasurer-general; Gian, archbishop of Salerno, vice-chamberlain; Luigi +Bargia, archbishop of Valencia, secretary to His Holiness, and brother +of the Gian Borgia whom Caesar had poisoned; Antonio, bishop of Coma; +Gian Battista Ferraro, bishop of Modem; Amedee d'Albret, son of the King +of Navarre, brother-in-law of the Duke of Valentinois; and Marco +Cornaro, a Venetian noble, in whose person His Holiness rendered back to +the most serene republic the favour he had just received. + +Then, as there was nothing further to detain the Duke of Valentinois at +Rome, he only waited to effect a loan from a rich banker named Agostino +Chigi, brother of the Lorenzo Chigi who had perished on the day when the +pope had been nearly killed by the fall of a chimney, and departed far +the Romagna, accompanied by Vitellozzo Vitelli, Gian Paolo Baglione, and +Jacopo di Santa Croce, at that time his friends, but later on his +victims. + +His first enterprise was against Pesaro: this was the polite attention +of a brother-in-law, and Gian Sforza very well knew what would be its +consequences; for instead of attempting to defend his possessions by +taking up arms, or to venture an negotiations, unwilling moreover to +expose the fair lands he had ruled so long to the vengeance of an +irritated foe, he begged his subjects, to preserve their former +affection towards himself, in the hope of better days to come; and he +fled into Dalmatia. Malatesta, lord of Rimini, followed his example; +thus the Duke of Valentinois entered both these towns without striking a +single blow. Caesar left a sufficient garrison behind him, and marched +on to Faenza. + +But there the face of things was changed: Faenza at that time was under +the rule of Astor Manfredi, a brave and handsome young man of eighteen, +who, relying on the love of his subjects towards his family, had +resolved on defending himself to the uttermost, although he had been +forsaken by the Bentivagli, his near relatives, and by his allies, the +Venetian and Florentines, who had not dared to send him any aid because +of the affection felt towards Caesar by the King of France. Accordingly, +when he perceived that the Duke of Valentinois was marching against him, +he assembled in hot haste all those of his vassals who were capable of +bearing arms, together with the few foreign soldiers who were willing to +come into his pay, and collecting victual and ammunition, he took up his +position with them inside the town. + +By these defensive preparations Caesar was not greatly, disconcerted; he +commanded a magnificent army, composed of the finest troops of France +and Italy; led by such men as Paolo and Giulio Orsini, Vitellozzo +Vitelli and Paolo Baglione, not to steak of himself--that is to say, by +the first captains of the period. So, after he had reconnoitred, he at +once began the siege, pitching his camp between the two rivers, Amana +and Marziano, placing his artillery on the side which faces on Forli, at +which point the besieged party had erected a powerful bastion. + +At the end of a few days busy with entrenchments, the breach became +practicable, and the Duke of Valentinois ordered an assault, and gave +the example to his soldiers by being the first to march against the +enemy. But in spite of his courage and that of his captains beside him, +Astor Manfredi made so good a defence that the besiegers were repulsed +with great loss of men, while one of their bravest leaders, Honario +Savella; was left behind in the trenches. + +But Faenza, in spite of the courage and devotion of her defenders, could +not have held out long against so formidable an army, had not winter +come to her aid. Surprised by the rigour of the season, with no houses +for protection and no trees for fuel, as the peasants had destroyed both +beforehand, the Duke of Valentinois was forced to raise the siege and +take up his winter quarters in the neighbouring towns, in order to be +quite ready for a return next spring; for Caesar could not forgive the +insult of being held in check by a little town which had enjoyed a long +time of peace, was governed by a mere boy, and deprived of all outside +aid, and had sworn to take his revenge. He therefore broke up his army +into three sections, sent one-third to Imola, the second to Forli, and +himself took the third to Cesena, a third-rate town, which was thus +suddenly transformed into a city of pleasure and luxury. + +Indeed, for Caesar's active spirit there must needs be no cessation of +warfare or festivities. So, when war was interrupted, fetes began, as +magnificent and as exciting as he knew how to make them: the days were +passed in games and displays of horsemanship, the nights in dancing and +gallantry; for the loveliest women of the Romagna--and that is to say of +the whole world had come hither to make a seraglio for the victor which +might have been envied by the Sultan of Egypt or the Emperor of +Constantinople. + +While the Duke of Valentinois was making one of his excursions in the +neighbourhood of the town with his retinue of flattering nobles and +titled courtesans, who were always about him, he noticed a cortege an +the Rimini road so numerous that it must surely indicate the approach of +someone of importance. Caesar, soon perceiving that the principal person +was a woman, approached, and recognised the very same lady-in-waiting to +the Duchess of Urbino who, on the day of the bull-fight, had screamed +when Caesar was all but touched by the infuriated beast. At this time +she was betrothed, as we mentioned, to Gian Carracciuola, general of the +Venetians. Elizabeth of Gonzaga, her protectress and godmother, was now +sending her with a suitable retinue to Venice, where the marriage was to +take place. + +Caesar had already been struck by the beauty of this young girl, when at +Rome; but when he saw her again she appeared more lovely than on the +first occasion, so he resolved on the instant that he would keep this +fair flower of love for himself: having often before reproached himself +for his indifference in passing her by. Therefore he saluted her as an +old acquaintance, inquired whether she were staying any time at Cesena, +and ascertained that she was only passing through, travelling by long +stages, as she was awaited with much impatience, and that she would +spend the coming night at Forli. This was all that Caesar cared to knew; +he summoned Michelotto, and in a low voice said a few wards to him, +which were heard by no one else. + +The cortege only made a halt at the neighbouring town, as the fair bride +had said, and started at once for Forli, although the day was already +far advanced; but scarcely had a league been revered when a troop of +horsemen from Cesena overtook and surrounded them. Although the soldiers +in the escort were far from being in sufficient force, they were eager +to defend their general's bride; but soon same fell dead, and ethers, +terrified, took to flight; and when the lady came dawn from her litter +to try to escape, the chief seized her in his arms and set her in front +of him on his horse; then, ordering his men to return to Cesena without +him, he put his horse to the gallop in a cross direction, and as the +shades of evening were now beginning to fall, he soon disappeared into +the darkness. + +Carracciuolo learned the news through one of the fugitives, who declared +that he had recognised among the ravishers the Duke of Valentinois' +soldiers. At first he thought his ears had deceived him, so hard was it +to believe this terrible intelligence; but it was repeated, and he stood +for one instant motionless, and, as it were, thunderstruck; then +suddenly, with a cry of vengeance, he threw off his stupor and dashed +away to the ducal palace, where sat the Doge Barberigo and the Council +of Ten; unannounced, he rushed into their midst, the very moment after +they had heard of Caesar's outrage. + +"Most serene lords," he cried, "I am come to bid you farewell, for I am +resolved to sacrifice my life to my private vengeance, though indeed I +had hoped to devote it to the service of the republic. I have been +wounded in the soul's noblest part--in my honour. The dearest thing I +possessed, my wife, has been stolen from me, and the thief is the most +treacherous, the most impious, the most infamous of men, it is +Valentinois! My lords, I beg you will not be offended if I speak thus of +a man whose boast it is to be a member of your noble ranks and to enjoy +your protection: it is not so; he lies, and his loose and criminal life +has made him unworthy of such honours, even as he is unworthy of the +life whereof my sword shall deprive him. In truth, his very birth was a +sacrilege; he is a fratricide, an usurper of the goods of other men, an +oppressor of the innocent, and a highway assassin; he is a man who will +violate every law, even, the law of hospitality respected by the veriest +barbarian, a man who will do violence to a virgin who is passing through +his own country, where she had every right to expect from him not only +the consideration due to her sex and condition, but also that which is +due to the most serene republic, whose condottiere I am, and which is +insulted in my person and in the dishonouring of my bride; this man, I +say, merits indeed to die by another hand than mine. Yet, since he who +ought to punish him is not for him a prince and judge, but only a father +quite as guilty as the son, I myself will seek him out, and I will +sacrifice my own life, not only in avenging my own injury and the blood +of so many innocent beings, but also in promoting the welfare of the +most serene republic, on which it is his ambition to trample when he has +accomplished the ruin of the other princes of Italy." + +The doge and the senators, who, as we said, were already apprised of the +event that had brought Carracciuolo before them, listened with great +interest and profound indignation; for they, as he told them, were +themselves insulted in the person of their general: they all swore, on +their honour, that if he would put the matter in their hands, and not +yield to his rage, which could only work his own undoing, either his +bride should be rendered up to him without a smirch upon her bridal +veil, or else a punishment should be dealt out proportioned to the +affront. And without delay, as a proof of the energy wherewith the noble +tribunal would take action in the affair, Luigi Manenti, secretary to +the Ten, was sent to Imola, where the duke was reported to be, that he +might explain to him the great displeasure with which the most serene +republic viewed the outrage perpetrated upon their candottiere. At the +same time the Council of Ten and the doge sought out the French +ambassador, entreating him to join with them and repair in person with +Manenti to the Duke of Valentinois, and summon him, in the name of King +Louis XII, immediately to send back to Venice the lady he had carried +off. + +The two messengers arrived at Imola, where they found Caesar, who +listened to their complaint with every mark of utter astonishment, +denying that he had been in any way connected with the crime, nay, +authorising Manenti and the French ambassador to pursue the culprits and +promising that he would himself have the most active search carried on. +The duke appeared to act in such complete good faith that the envoys +were for the moment hoodwinked, and themselves undertook a search of the +most careful nature. They accordingly repaired to the exact spot and +began to procure information. On the highroad there had been found dead +and wounded. A man had been seen going by at a gallop, carrying a woman +in distress on his saddle; he had soon left the beaten track and plunged +across country. A peasant coming home from working in the fields had +seen him appear and vanish again like a shadow, taking the direction of +a lonely house. An old woman declared that she had seen him go into this +house. But the next night the house was gone, as though by enchantment, +and the ploughshare had passed over where it stood; so that none could +say, what had become of her whom they sought, far those who had dwelt in +the house, and even the house itself, were there no longer. + +Manenti and the French ambassador returned to Venice, and related what +the duke had said, what they had done, and how all search had been in +vain. No one doubted that Caesar was the culprit, but no one could prove +it. So the most serene republic, which could not, considering their war +with the Turks, be embroiled with the pope, forbade Caracciuala to take +any sort of private vengeance, and so the talk grew gradually less, and +at last the occurrence was no more mentioned. + +But the pleasures of the winter had not diverted Caesar's mind from his +plans about Faenza. Scarcely did the spring season allow him to go into +the country than he marched anew upon the town, camped opposite the +castle, and making a new breach, ordered a general assault, himself +going up first of all; but in spite of the courage he personally +displayed, and the able seconding of his soldiers, they were repulsed by +Astor, who, at the head of his men, defended the breach, while even the +women, at the top of the rampart, rolled down stones and trunks of trees +upon the besiegers. After an hour's struggle man to man, Caesar was +forced to retire, leaving two thousand men in the trenches about the +town, and among the two thousand one of his bravest condottieri, +Valentino Farnese. + +Then, seeing that neither excommunications nor assaults could help him, +Caesar converted the siege into a blockade: all the roads leading to +Faenza were cut off, all communications stopped; and further, as various +signs of revolt had been remarked at Cesena, a governor was installed +there whose powerful will was well known to Caesar, Ramiro d'Orco, with +powers of life and death over the inhabitants; he then waited quietly +before Faenza, till hunger should drive out the citizens from those +walls they defended with such vehement enthusiasm. At the end of a +month, during which the people of Faenza had suffered all the horrors of +famine, delegates came out to parley with Caesar with a view to +capitulation. Caesar, who still had plenty to do in the Romagna, was +less hard to satisfy than might have been expected, and the town yielded +an condition that he should not touch either the persons or the +belongings of the inhabitants, that Astor Manfredi, the youthful ruler, +should have the privilege of retiring whenever he pleased, and should +enjoy the revenue of his patrimony wherever he might be. + +The conditions were faithfully kept so far as the inhabitants were +concerned; but Caesar, when he had seen Astor, whom he did not know +before, was seized by a strange passion for this beautiful youth, who +was like a woman: he kept him by his side in his own army, showing him +honours befitting a young prince, and evincing before the eyes of all +the strongest affection for him: one day Astor disappeared, just as +Caracciuolo's bride had disappeared, and no one knew what had become of +him; Caesar himself appeared very uneasy, saying that he had no doubt +made his escape somewhere, and in order to give credence to this story, +he sent out couriers to seek him in all directions. + +A year after this double disappearance, there was picked up in the +Tiber, a little below the Castle Sant' Angelo, the body of a beautiful +young woman, her hands bound together behind her back, and also the +corpse of a handsome youth with the bowstring he had been strangled with +tied round his neck. The girl was Caracciuolo's bride, the young man was +Astor. + +During the last year both had been the slaves of Caesar's pleasures; +now, tired of them, he had had them thrown into the Tiber. + +The capture of Faenza had brought Caesar the title of Duke of Romagna, +which was first bestowed on him by the pope in full consistory, and +afterwards ratified by the King of Hungary, the republic of Venice, and +the Kings of Castile and Portugal. The news of the ratification arrived +at Rome on the eve of the day on which the people are accustomed to keep +the anniversary of the foundation of the Eternal City; this fete, which +went back to the days of Pomponius Laetus, acquired a new splendour in +their eyes from the joyful events that had just happened to their +sovereign: as a sign of joy cannon were fired all day long; in the +evening there were illuminations and bonfires, and during part of the +night the Prince of Squillace, with the chief lords of the Roman +nobility, marched about the streets, bearing torches, and exclaiming, +"Long live Alexander! Long live Caesar! Long live the Borgias! Long live +the Orsini! Long live the Duke of Romagna!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +Caesar's ambition was only fed by victories: scarcely was he master of +Faenza before, excited by the Mariscotti, old enemies of the Bentivoglio +family, he cast his eyes upon Bologna; but Gian di Bentivoglio, whose +ancestors had possessed this town from time immemorial, had not only +made all preparations necessary for a long resistance, but he had also +put himself under the protection of France; so, scarcely had he learned +that Caesar was crossing the frontier of the Bolognese territory with +his army, than he sent a courier to Louis XII to claim the fulfilment of +his promise. Louis kept it with his accustomed good faith; and when +Caesar arrived before Bologna, he received an intimation from the King +of France that he was not to enter on any undertaking against his ally +Bentivoglio; Caesar, not being the man to have his plans upset for +nothing, made conditions for his retreat, to which Bentivoglio +consented, only too happy to be quit of him at this price: the +conditions were the cession of Castello Bolognese, a fortress between +Imola and Faenza, the payment of a tribute of 9000 ducats, and the +keeping for his service of a hundred men-at-arms and two thousand +infantry. In exchange for these favours, Caesar confided to Bentivoglio +that his visit had been due to the counsels of the Mariscotti; then, +reinforced by his new ally's contingent, he took the road for Tuscany. +But he was scarcely out of sight when Bentivoglio shut the gates of +Bologna, and commanded his son Hermes to assassinate with his own hand +Agamemnon Mariscotti, the head of the family, and ordered the massacre +of four-and-thirty of his near relatives, brothers, sons, daughters, and +nephews, and two hundred other of his kindred and friends. The butchery +was carried out by the noblest youths of Bologna; whom Bentivoglio +forced to bathe their hands in this blood, so that he might attach them +to himself through their fear of reprisals. + +Caesar's plans with regard to Florence were now no longer a mystery: +since the month of January he had sent to Pisa ten or twelve hundred men +under the Command of Regniero della Sassetta and Piero di Gamba Corti, +and as soon as the conquest of the Romagna was complete, he had further +despatched Oliverotto di Fermo with new detachments. His own army he had +reinforced, as we have seen, by a hundred men-at-arms and two thousand +infantry; he had just been joined by Vitellozzo Vitelli, lord of Citta, +di Castello, and by the Orsini, who had brought him another two or three +thousand men; so, without counting the troops sent to Pisa, he had under +his control seven hundred men-at-arms and five thousand infantry. + +Still, in spite of this formidable company, he entered Tuscany declaring +that his intentions were only pacific, protesting that he only desired +to pass through the territories of the republic on his way to Rome, and +offering to pay in ready money for any victual his army might require. +But when he had passed the defiles of the mountains and arrived at +Barberino, feeling that the town was in his power and nothing could now +hinder his approach, he began to put a price on the friendship he had at +first offered freely, and to impose his own conditions instead of +accepting those of others. These were that Piero dei Medici, kinsman and +ally of the Orsini, should be reinstated in his ancient power; that six +Florentine citizens, to be chosen by Vitellozzo, should be put into his +hands that they might by their death expiate that of Paolo Vitelli, +unjustly executed by the Florentines; that the Signoria should engage to +give no aid to the lord of Piombino, whom Caesar intended to dispossess +of his estates without delay; and further, that he himself should be +taken into the service of the republic, for a pay proportionate to his +deserts. But just as Caesar had reached this point in his negotiations +with Florence, he received orders from Louis XII to get ready, so soon +as he conveniently could, to follow him with his army and help in the +conquest of Naples, which he was at last in a position to undertake. +Caesar dared not break his word to so powerful an ally; he therefore +replied that he was at the king's orders, and as the Florentines were +not aware that he was quitting them on compulsion, he sold his retreat +for the sum of 36,000 ducats per annum, in exchange for which sum he was +to hold three hundred men-at-arms always in readiness to go to the aid +of the republic at her earliest call and in any circumstances of need. + +But, hurried as he was, Caesar still hoped that he might find time to +conquer the territory of Piombino as he went by, and take the capital by +a single vigorous stroke; so he made his entry into the lands of Jacopo +IV of Appiano. The latter, he found, however, had been beforehand with +him, and, to rob him of all resource, had laid waste his own country, +burned his fodder, felled his trees, torn down his vines, and destroyed +a few fountains that produced salubrious waters. This did not hinder +Caesar from seizing in the space of a few days Severeto, Scarlino, the +isle of Elba, and La Pianosa; but he was obliged to stop short at the +castle, which opposed a serious resistance. As Louis XII's army was +continuing its way towards Rome, and he received a fresh order to join +it, he took his departure the next day, leaving behind him, Vitellozzo +and Gian Paolo Bagliani to prosecute the siege in his absence. + +Louis XII was this time advancing upon Naples, not with the incautious +ardour of Charles VIII, but, on the contrary, with that prudence and +circumspection which characterised him. Besides his alliance with +Florence and Rome, he had also signed a secret treaty with Ferdinand the +Catholic, who had similar pretensions, through the house of Duras, to +the throne of Naples to those Louis himself had through the house of +Anjou. By this treaty the two kings were sharing their conquests +beforehand: Louis would be master of Naples, of the town of Lavore and +the Abruzzi, and would bear the title of King of Naples and Jerusalem; +Ferdinand reserved for his own share Apulia and Calabria, with the title +of Duke of these provinces; both were to receive the investiture from +the pope and to hold them of him. This partition was all the more likely +to be made, in fact, because Frederic, supposing all the time that +Ferdinand was his good and faithful friend, would open the gates of his +towns, only to receive into his fortresses conquerors and masters +instead of allies. All this perhaps was not very loyal conduct on the +part of a king who had so long desired and had just now received the +surname of Catholic, but it mattered little to Louis, who profited by +treasonable acts he did not have to share. + +The French army, which the Duke of Valentinois had just joined, +consisted of 1000 lances, 4000 Swiss, and 6000 Gascons and adventurers; +further, Philip of Rabenstein was bringing by sea six Breton and +Provencal vessels, and three Genoese caracks, carrying 6500 invaders. + +Against this mighty host the King of Naples had only 700 men-at-arms, +600 light horse, and 6000 infantry under the command of the Colonna, +whom he had taken into his pay after they were exiled by the pope from +the States of the Church; but he was counting on Gonsalvo of Cordova, +who was to join him at Gaeta, and to whom he had confidingly opened all +his fortresses in Calabria. + +But the feeling of safety inspired by Frederic's faithless ally was not +destined to endure long: on their arrival at Rome, the French and +Spanish ambassadors presented to the pope the treaty signed at Grenada +on the 11th of November, 1500, between Louis XII and Ferdinand the +Catholic, a treaty which up, to that time had been secret. Alexander, +foreseeing the probable future, had, by the death of Alfonso, loosened +all the bonds that attached him to the house of Aragon, and then began +by making some difficulty about it. It was demonstrated that the +arrangement had only been undertaken to provide the Christian princes +with another weapon for attacking the Ottoman Empire, and before this +consideration, one may readily suppose, all the pope's scruples +vanished; on the 25th of June, therefore, it was decided to call a +consistory which was to declare Frederic deposed from the throne of +Naples. When Frederic heard all at once that the French army had arrived +at Rome, that his ally Ferdinand had deceived him, and that Alexander +had pronounced the sentence of his downfall, he understood that all was +lost; but he did not wish it to be said that he had abandoned his +kingdom without even attempting to save it. So he charged his two new +condottieri, Fabrizio Calonna and Ranuzia di Marciano, to check the +French before Capua with 300 men-at-arms, some light horse, and 3000 +infantry; in person he occupied Aversa with another division of his +army, while Prospero Colonna was sent to defend Naples with the rest, +and make a stand against the Spaniards on the side of Calabria. + +These dispositions were scarcely made when d'Aubigny, having passed the +Volturno, approached to lay siege to Capua, and invested the town on +both sides of the river. Scarcely were the French encamped before the +ramparts than they began to set up their batteries, which were soon in +play, much to the terror of the besieged, who, poor creatures, were +almost all strangers to the town, and had fled thither from every side, +expecting to find protection beneath the walls. So, although bravely +repulsed by Fabrizio Colonna, the French, from the moment of their first +assault, inspired so great and blind a terror that everyone began to +talk of opening the gates, and it was only with great difficulty that +Calonna made this multitude understand that at least they ought to reap +some benefit from the check the besiegers had received and obtain good +terms of capitulation. When he had brought them round to his view, he +sent out to demand a parley with d'Aubigny, and a conference was fixed +for the next day but one, in which they were to treat of the surrender +of the town. + +But this was not Caesar Borgia's idea at all: he had stayed behind to +confer with the pope, and had joined the French army with some of his +troops on the very day on which the conference had been arranged for two +days later: and a capitulation of any nature would rob him of his share +of the booty and the promise of such pleasure as would come from the +capture of a city so rich and populous as Capua. So he opened up +negotiations on his own account with a captain who was on guard at one +of the gates such negotiations, made with cunning supported by bribery, +proved as usual more prompt and efficacious than any others. At the very +moment when Fabrizio Colonna in a fortified outpost was discussing the +conditions of capitulation with the French captains, suddenly great +cries of distress were heard. These were caused by Borgia, who without a +word to anyone had entered the town with his faithful army from Romagna, +and was beginning to cut the throats of the garrison, which had +naturally somewhat relaxed their vigilance in the belief that the +capitulation was all but signed. The French, when they saw that the town +was half taken, rushed on the gates with such impetuosity that the +besieged did not even attempt to defend themselves any longer, and +forced their way into Capua by three separate sides: nothing more could +be done then to stop the issue. Butchery and pillage had begun, and the +work of destruction must needs be completed: in vain did Fabrizio +Colonna, Ranuzio di Marciano, and Don Ugo di Cardona attempt to make +head against the French and Spaniards with such men as they could get +together. Fabrizia Calonna and Don Ugo were made prisoners; Ranuzia, +wounded by an arrow, fell into the hands of the Duke of Valentinois; +seven thousand inhabitants were massacred in the streets among them the +traitor who had given up the gate; the churches were pillaged, the +convents of nuns forced open; and then might be seen the spectacle of +some of these holy virgins casting themselves into pits or into the +river to escape the soldiers. Three hundred of the noblest ladies of the +town took refuge in a tower. The Duke of Valentinois broke in the doors, +chased out for himself forty of the most beautiful, and handed over the +rest to his army. + +The pillage continued for three days. + +Capua once taken, Frederic saw that it was useless any longer to attempt +defence. So he shut himself up in Castel Nuovo and gave permission to +Gaeta and to Naples to treat with the conqueror. Gaeta bought immunity +from pillage with 60,000 ducats; and Naples with the surrender of the +castle. This surrender was made to d'Aubigny by Frederic himself, an +condition that he should be allowed to take to the island of Ischia his +money, jewels, and furniture, and there remain with his family for six +months secure from all hostile attack. The terms of this capitulation +were faithfully adhered to on both sides: d'Aubigny entered Naples, and +Frederic retired to Ischia. + +Thus, by a last terrible blow, never to rise again, fell this branch of +the house of Aragon, which had now reigned for sixty-five years. +Frederic, its head, demanded and obtained a safe-conduct to pass into +France, where Louis XII gave him the duchy of Anjou and 30,000 ducats a +year, an condition that he should never quit the kingdom; and there, in +fact, he died, an the 9th of September 1504. His eldest son, Dan +Ferdinand, Duke of Calabria, retired to Spain, where he was permitted to +marry twice, but each time with a woman who was known to be barren; and +there he died in 1550. Alfonso, the second son, who had followed his +father to France, died, it is said, of poison, at Grenoble, at the age +of twenty-two; lastly Caesar, the third son, died at Ferrara, before he +had attained his eighteenth birthday. + +Frederic's daughter Charlotte married in France Nicholas, Count of +Laval, governor and admiral of Brittany; a daughter was born of this +marriage, Anne de Laval, who married Francois de la Trimauille. Through +her those rights were transmitted to the house of La Trimouille which +were used later on as a claim upon the kingdom of the Two Sicilies. + +The capture of Naples gave the Duke of Valentinois his liberty again; so +he left the French army, after he had received fresh assurances on his +own account of the king's friendliness, and returned to the siege of +Piombino, which he had been forced to interrupt. During this interval +Alexander had been visiting the scenes of his son's conquests, and +traversing all the Romagna with Lucrezia, who was now consoled for her +husband's death, and had never before enjoyed quite so much favour with +His Holiness; so, when she returned to Rome. She no longer had separate +rooms from him. The result of this recrudescence of affection was the +appearance of two pontifical bulls, converting the towns of Nepi and +Sermoneta into duchies: one was bestowed on Gian Bargia, an illegitimate +child of the pope, who was not the son of either of his mistresses, Rosa +Vanozza or Giulia Farnese, the other an Don Roderigo of Aragon, son of +Lucrezia and Alfonso: the lands of the Colonna were in appanage to the +two duchies. + +But Alexander was dreaming of yet another addition to his fortune; this +was to came from a marriage between Lucrezia and Don Alfonso d'Este, son +of Duke Hercules of Ferrara, in favour of which alliance Louis XII had +negotiated. + +His Holiness was now having a run of good fortune, and he learned on the +same day that Piombino was taken and that Duke Hercules had given the +King of France his assent to the marriage. Both of these pieces of news +were good for Alexander, but the one could not compare in importance +with the other; and the intimation that Lucrezia was to marry the heir +presumptive to the duchy of Ferrara was received with a joy so great +that it smacked of the humble beginnings of the Borgian house. The Duke +of Valentinois was invited to return to Rome, to take his share in the +family rejoicing, and on the day when the news was made public the +governor of St. Angelo received orders that cannon should be fired every +quarter of an hour from noon to midnight. At two o'clock, Lucrezia, +attired as a fiancee, and accompanied by her two brothers, the Dukes of +Valentinois and Squillace, issued from the Vatican, followed by all the +nobility of Rome, and proceeded to the church of the Madonna del Papalo, +where the Duke of Gandia and Cardinal Gian Borgia were buried, to render +thanks for this new favour accorded to her house by God; and in the +evening, accompanied by the same cavalcade, which shone the more +brightly under the torchlight and brilliant illuminations, she made +procession through the whale town, greeted by cries of "Long live Pope +Alexander VI! Lang live the Duchess of Ferrara!" which were shouted +aloud by heralds clad in cloth of gold. + +The next day an announcement was made in the town that a racecourse for +women was opened between the castle of Sant' Angelo and the Piazza of +St. Peter's; that on every third day there would be a bull-fight in the +Spanish fashion; and that from the end of the present month, which was +October, until the first day of Lent, masquerades would be permitted in +the streets of Rome. + +Such was the nature of the fetes outside; the programme of those going +on within the Vatican was not presented to the people; for by the +account of Bucciardo, an eye-witness, this is what happened-- + +"On the last Sunday of the month of October, fifty courtesans supped in +the apostolic palace in the Duke of Valentinois' rooms, and after supper +danced with the equerries and servants, first wearing their usual +garments, afterwards in dazzling draperies; when supper was over, the +table was removed, candlesticks were set on the floor in a symmetrical +pattern, and a great quantity of chestnuts was scattered on the ground: +these the fifty women skilfully picked up, running about gracefully, in +and out between the burning lights; the pope, the Duke of Valentinois, +and his sister Lucrezia, who were looking on at this spectacle from a +gallery, encouraged the most agile and industrious with their applause, +and they received prizes of embroidered garters, velvet boots, golden +caps, and laces; then new diversions took the place of these." + +We humbly ask forgiveness of our readers, and especially of our lady +readers; but though we have found words to describe the first part of +the spectacle, we have sought them in vain for the second; suffice it to +say that just as there had been prizes for feats of adroitness, others +were given now to the dancers who were most daring and brazen. + +Some days after this strange night, which calls to mind the Roman +evenings in the days of Tiberius, Nero, and Heliogabalus, Lucrezia, clad +in a robe of golden brocade, her train carried by young girls dressed in +white and crowned with roses, issued from her palace to the sound of +trumpets and clarions, and made her way over carpets that were laid down +in the streets through which she had to pass. Accompanied by the noblest +cavaliers and the loveliest women in Rome, she betook herself to the +Vatican, where in the Pauline hall the pope awaited her, with the Duke +of Valentinois, Don Ferdinand, acting as proxy for Duke Alfonso, and his +cousin, Cardinal d'Este. The pope sat on one side of the table, while +the envoys from Ferrara stood on the other: into their midst came +Lucrezia, and Don Ferdinand placed on her finger the nuptial ring; this +ceremony over, Cardinal d'Este approached and presented to the bride +four magnificent rings set with precious stones; then a casket was +placed on the table, richly inlaid with ivory, whence the cardinal drew +forth a great many trinkets, chains, necklaces of pearls and diamonds, +of workmanship as costly as their material; these he also begged +Lucrezia to accept, before she received those the bridegroom was hoping +to offer himself, which would be more worthy of her. Lucrezia showed the +utmost delight in accepting these gifts; then she retired into the next +room, leaning on the pope's arm, and followed by the ladies of her +suite, leaving the Duke of Valentinois to do the honours of the Vatican +to the men. That evening the guests met again, and spent half the night +in dancing, while a magnificent display of fireworks lighted up the +Piazza of San Paolo. + +The ceremony of betrothal over, the pope and the Duke busied themselves +with making preparations for the departure. The pope, who wished the +journey to be made with a great degree of splendour, sent in his +daughter's company, in addition to the two brothers-in-law and the +gentlemen in their suite, the Senate of Rome and all the lords who, by +virtue of their wealth, could display most magnificence in their +costumes and liveries. Among this brilliant throng might be seen Olivero +and Ramiro Mattei, sons of Piero Mattel, chancellor of the town, and a +daughter of the pope whose mother was not Rosa Vanozza; besides these, +the pope nominated in consistory Francesco Borgia, Cardinal of Sosenza, +legate a latere, to accompany his daughter to the frontiers of the +Ecclesiastical States. + +Also the Duke of Valentinois sent out messengers into all the cities of +Romagna to order that Lucrezia should be received as sovereign lady and +mistress: grand preparations were at once set on foot for the fulfilment +of his orders. But the messengers reported that they greatly feared that +there would be some grumbling at Cesena, where it will be remembered +that Caesar had left Ramiro d'Orco as governor with plenary powers, to +calm the agitation of the town. Now Ramiro d'Orco had accomplished his +task so well that there was nothing more to fear in the way of +rebellion; for one-sixth of the inhabitants had perished on the +scaffold, and the result of this situation was that it was improbable +that the same demonstrations of joy could be expected from a town +plunged in mourning that were looked for from Imala, Faenza, and Pesaro. +The Duke of Valentinais averted this inconvenience in the prompt and +efficacious fashion characteristic of him alone. One morning the +inhabitants of Cesena awoke to find a scaffold set up in the square, and +upon it the four quarters of a man, his head, severed from the trunk, +stuck up on the end of a pike. + +This man was Ramiro d'Orco. + +No one ever knew by whose hands the scaffold had been raised by night, +nor by what executioners the terrible deed had been carried out; but +when the Florentine Republic sent to ask Macchiavelli, their ambassador +at Cesena, what he thought of it, he replied: + +"MAGNIFICENT LORDS,-I can tell you nothing concerning the execution of +Ramiro d'Orco, except that Caesar Borgia is the prince who best knows +how to make and unmake men according to their deserts. NICCOLO +MACCHIAVELLI" + +The Duke of Valentinois was not disappointed, and the future Duchess of +Ferrara was admirably received in every town along her route, and +particularly at Cesena. + +While Lucrezia was on her way to Ferrara to meet her fourth husband, +Alexander and the Duke of Valentinois resolved to make a progress in the +region of their last conquest, the duchy of Piombino. The apparent +object of this journey was that the new subjects might take their oath +to Caesar, and the real object was to form an arsenal in Jacopo +d'Appiano's capital within reach of Tuscany, a plan which neither the +pope nor his son had ever seriously abandoned. The two accordingly +started from the port of Corneto with six ships, accompanied by a great +number of cardinals and prelates, and arrived the same evening at +Piombina. The pontifical court made a stay there of several days, partly +with a view of making the duke known to the inhabitants, and also in +order to be present at certain ecclesiastical functions, of which the +most important was a service held on the third Sunday in Lent, in which +the Cardinal of Cosenza sang a mass and the pope officiated in state +with the duke and the cardinals. After these solemn functions the +customary pleasures followed, and the pope summoned the prettiest girls +of the country and ordered them to dance their national dances before +him. + +Following on these dances came feasts of unheard of magnificence, during +which the pope in the sight of all men completely ignored Lent and did +not fast. The abject of all these fetes was to scatter abroad a great +deal of money, and so to make the Duke of Valentinois popular, while +poor Jacopo d'Appiano was forgotten. + +When they left Piombino, the pope and his son visited the island of +Elba, where they only stayed long enough to visit the old fortifications +and issue orders for the building of new ones. + +Then the illustrious travellers embarked on their return journey to +Rome; but scarcely had they put out to sea when the weather became +adverse, and the pope not wishing to put in at Porto Ferrajo, they +remained five days on board, though they had only two days' provisions. +During the last three days the pope lived on fried fish that were caught +under great difficulties because of the heavy weather. At last they +arrived in sight of Corneto, and there the duke, who was not on the same +vessel as the pope, seeing that his ship could not get in, had a boat +put out, and so was taken ashore. The pope was obliged to continue on +his way towards Pontercole, where at last he arrived, after encountering +so violent a tempest that all who were with him were utterly subdued +either by sickness or by the terror of death. The pope alone did not +show one instant's fear, but remained on the bridge during the storm, +sitting on his arm-chair, invoking the name of Jesus and making the sign +of the cross. At last his ship entered the roads of Pontercole, where he +landed, and after sending to Corneto to fetch horses, he rejoined the +duke, who was there awaiting him. They then returned by slow stages, by +way of Civita Vecchia and Palo, and reached Rome after an absence of a +month. Almost at the same time d'Albret arrived in quest of his +cardinal's hat. He was accompanied by two princes of the house of +Navarre, who were received with not only those honours which beseemed +their rank, but also as brothers-in-law to whom the, duke was eager to +show in what spirit he was contracting this alliance. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +The time had now come for the Duke of Valentinois to continue the +pursuit of his conquests. So, since on the 1st of May in the preceding +year the pope had pronounced sentence of forfeiture in full consistory +against Julius Caesar of Varano, as punishment for the murder of his +brother Rudolph and for the harbouring of the pope's enemies, and he had +accordingly been mulcted of his fief of Camerino, which was to be handed +over to the apostolic chamber, Caesar left Rome to put the sentence in +execution. Consequently, when he arrived on the frontiers of Perugia, +which belonged to his lieutenant, Gian Paolo Baglioni, he sent +Oliverotta da Fermo and Orsini of Gravina to lay waste the March of +Camerino, at the same time petitioning Guido d'Ubaldo di Montefeltro, +Duke of Urbino, to lend his soldiers and artillery to help him in this +enterprise. This the unlucky Duke of Urbino, who enjoyed the best +possible relations with the pope, and who had no reason for distrusting +Caesar, did not dare refuse. But on the very same day that the Duke of +Urbina's troops started for Camerino, Caesar's troops entered the duchy +of Urbino, and took possession of Cagli, one of the four towns of the +little State. The Duke of Urbino knew what awaited him if he tried to +resist, and fled incontinently, disguised as a peasant; thus in less +than eight days Caesar was master of his whole duchy, except the +fortresses of Maiolo and San Leone. + +The Duke of Valentinois forthwith returned to Camerino, where the +inhabitants still held out, encouraged by the presence of Julius Caesar +di Varano, their lord, and his two sons, Venantio and Hannibal; the +eldest son, Gian Maria, had been sent by his father to Venice. + +The presence of Caesar was the occasion of parleying between the +besiegers and besieged. A capitulation was arranged whereby Varano +engaged to give up the town, on condition that he and his sons were +allowed to retire safe and sound, taking with them their furniture, +treasure, and carriages. But this was by no means Caesar's intention; +so, profiting by the relaxation in vigilance that had naturally come +about in the garrison when the news of the capitulation had been +announced, he surprised the town in the night preceding the surrender, +and seized Caesar di Varano and his two sons, who were strangled a short +time after, the father at La Pergola and the sons at Pesaro, by Don +Michele Correglio, who, though he had left the position of sbirro for +that of a captain, every now and then returned to his first business. + +Meanwhile Vitellozzo Vitelli, who had assumed the title of General of +the Church, and had under him 800 men-at-arms and 3,000 infantry, was +following the secret instructions that he had received from Caesar by +word of mouth, and was carrying forward that system of invasion which +was to encircle Florence in a network of iron, and in the end make her +defence an impossibility. A worthy pupil of his master, in whose school +he had learned to use in turn the cunning of a fox and the strength of a +lion, he had established an understanding between himself and certain +young gentlemen of Arezzo to get that town delivered into his hands. But +the plot had been discovered by Guglielma dei Pazzi, commissary of the +Florentine Republic, and he had arrested two of the conspirators, +whereupon the others, who were much more numerous than was supposed; had +instantly dispersed about the town summoning the citizens to arms. All +the republican faction, who saw in any sort of revolution the means of +subjugating Florence, joined their party, set the captives at liberty, +and seized Guglielmo; then proclaiming the establishment of the ancient +constitution, they besieged the citadel, whither Cosimo dei Pazzi, +Bishop of Arezzo, the son of Guglielmo, had fled for refuge; he, finding +himself invested on every side, sent a messenger in hot haste to +Florence to ask for help. + +Unfortunately for the cardinal, Vitellozzo's troops were nearer to the +besiegers than were the soldiers of the most serene republic to the +besieged, and instead of help--the whole army of the enemy came down +upon him. This army was under the command of Vitellozzo, of Gian Paolo +Baglioni, and of Fabio Orsino, and with them were the two Medici, ever +ready to go wherever there was a league against Florence, and ever ready +at the command of Borgia, on any conditions whatever, to re-enter the +town whence they had been banished. The next day more help in the form +of money and artillery arrived, sent by Pandolfo Petrucci, and on the +18th of June the citadel of Arezzo, which had received no news from +Florence, was obliged to surrender. + +Vitellozzo left the men of Arezzo to look after their town themselves, +leaving also Fabio Orsina to garrison the citadel with a thousand men. +Then, profiting by the terror that had been spread throughout all this +part of Italy by the successive captures of the duchy of Urbino, of +Camerino, and of Arezzo, he marched upon Monte San Severino, +Castiglione, Aretino, Cortone, and the other towns of the valley of +Chiana, which submitted one after the other almost without a struggle. +When he was only ten or twelve leagues from Florence, and dared not an +his own account attempt anything against her, he made known the state of +affairs to the Duke of Valentinois. He, fancying the hour had came at +last far striking the blow so long delayed, started off at once to +deliver his answer in person to his faithful lieutenants. + +But the Florentines, though they had sent no help to Guglielmo dei +Pazzi, had demanded aid from Chaumont dumbest, governor of the Milanese, +an behalf of Louis XII, not only explaining the danger they themselves +were in but also Caesar's ambitious projects, namely that after first +overcoming the small principalities and then the states of the second +order, he had now, it seemed, reached such a height of pride that he +would attack the King of France himself. The news from Naples was +disquieting; serious differences had already occurred between the Count +of Armagnac and Gonzalva di Cordova, and Louis might any day need +Florence, whom he had always found loyal and faithful. He therefore +resolved to check Caesar's progress, and not only sent him orders to +advance no further step forwards, but also sent off, to give effect to +his injunction, the captain Imbaut with 400 lances. The Duke of +Valentinais on the frontier of Tuscany received a copy of the treaty +signed between the republic and the King of France, a treaty in which +the king engaged to help his ally against any enemy whatsoever, and at +the same moment the formal prohibition from Louis to advance any +further. Caesar also learned that beside the 400 lances with the captain +Imbaut, which were on the road to Florence, Louis XII had as soon as he +reached Asti sent off to Parma Louis de la Trimouille and 200 +men-at-arms, 3000 Swiss, and a considerable train of artillery. In these +two movements combined he saw hostile intentions towards himself, and +turning right about face with his usual agility, he profited by the fact +that he had given nothing but verbal instructions to all his +lieutenants, and wrote a furious letter to Vitellozzo, reproaching him +for compromising his master with a view to his own private interest, and +ordering the instant surrender to the Florentines of the towns and +fortresses he had taken, threatening to march down with his own troops +and take them if he hesitated for a moment. + +As soon as this letter was written, Caesar departed for Milan, where +Louis XII had just arrived, bringing with him proof positive that he had +been calumniated in the evacuation of the conquered towns. He also was +entrusted with the pope's mission to renew for another eighteen months +the title of legate 'a latere' in France to Cardinal dumbest, the friend +rather than the minister of Louis XII. Thus, thanks to the public proof +of his innocence and the private use of his influence, Caesar soon made +his peace with the King of France. + +But this was not all. It was in the nature of Caesar's genius to divert +an impending calamity that threatened his destruction so as to come out +of it better than before, and he suddenly saw the advantage he might +take from the pretended disobedience of his lieutenants. Already he had +been disturbed now and again by their growing power, and coveted their +towns, now he thought the hour had perhaps came for suppressing them +also, and in the usurpation of their private possessions striking a blow +at Florence, who always escaped him at the very moment when he thought +to take her. It was indeed an annoying thing to have these fortresses +and towns displaying another banner than his own in the midst of the +beautiful Romagna which he desired far his own kingdom. For Vitellozzo +possessed Citta di Castello, Bentivoglio Bologna, Gian Paolo Baglioni +was in command of Perugia, Oliverotto had just taken Fermo, and Pandolfo +Petrucci was lord of Siena; it was high time that all these returned: +into his own hands. The lieutenants of the Duke of Valentinois, like +Alexander's, were becoming too powerful, and Borgia must inherit from +them, unless he were willing to let them become his own heirs. He +obtained from Louis XII three hundred lances wherewith to march against +them. As soon as Vitellozzo Vitelli received Caesar's letter he +perceived that he was being sacrificed to the fear that the King of +France inspired; but he was not one of those victims who suffer their +throats to be cut in the expiation of a mistake: he was a buffalo of +Romagna who opposed his horns to the knife of the butcher; besides, he +had the example of Varano and the Manfredi before him, and, death for +death, he preferred to perish in arms. + +So Vitellozzo convoked at Maggione all whose lives or lands were +threatened by this new reversal of Caesar's policy. These were Paolo +Orsino, Gian Paolo Baglioni, Hermes Bentivoglio, representing his father +Gian, Antonio di Venafro, the envoy of Pandolfo Petrucci, Olivertoxo da +Fermo, and the Duke of Urbino: the first six had everything to lose, and +the last had already lost everything. + +A treaty of alliance was signed between the confederates: they engaged +to resist whether he attacked them severally or all together. + +Caesar learned the existence of this league by its first effects: the +Duke of Urbino, who was adored by his subjects, had come with a handful +of soldiers to the fortress of San Leone, and it had yielded at once. In +less than a week towns and fortresses followed this example, and all the +duchy was once more in the hands of the Duke of Urbino. + +At the same time, each member of the confederacy openly proclaimed his +revolt against the common enemy, and took up a hostile attitude. + +Caesar was at Imola, awaiting the French troops, but with scarcely any +men; so that Bentivoglio, who held part of the country, and the Duke of +Urbino, who had just reconquered the rest of it, could probably have +either taken him or forced him to fly and quit the Romagna, had they +marched against him; all the more since the two men on whom he counted, +viz., Don Ugo di Cardona, who had entered his service after Capua was +taken, and Michelotto had mistaken his intention, and were all at once +separated from him. He had really ordered them to fall back upon Rimini, +and bring 200 light horse and 500 infantry of which they had the +command; but, unaware of the urgency of his situation, at the very +moment when they were attempting to surprise La Pergola and Fossombrone, +they were surrounded by Orsino of Gravina and Vitellozzo. Ugo di Cardona +and Michelotto defended themselves like lions; but in spite of their +utmost efforts their little band was cut to pieces, and Ugo di Cardona +taken prisoner, while Michelotto only escaped the same fate by lying +down among the dead; when night came on, he escaped to Fano. + +But even alone as he was, almost without troops at Imola, the +confederates dared attempt nothing against Caesar, whether because of +the personal fear he inspired, or because in him they respected the ally +of the King of France; they contented themselves with taking the towns +and fortresses in the neighbourhood. Vitellozzo had retaken the +fortresses of Fossombrone, Urbino, Cagli, and Aggobbio; Orsino of +Gravina had reconquered Fano and the whole province; while Gian Maria de +Varano, the same who by his absence had escaped being massacred with the +rest of his family, had re-entered Camerino, borne in triumph by his +people. Not even all this could destroy Caesar's confidence in his own +good fortune, and while he was on the one hand urging on the arrival of +the French troops and calling into his pay all those gentlemen known as +"broken lances," because they went about the country in parties of five +or six only, and attached themselves to anyone who wanted them, he had +opened up negotiations with his enemies, certain that from that very day +when he should persuade them to a conference they were undone. Indeed, +Caesar had the power of persuasion as a gift from heaven; and though +they perfectly well knew his duplicity, they had no power of resisting, +not so much his actual eloquence as that air of frank good-nature which +Macchiavelli so greatly admired, and which indeed more than once +deceived even him, wily politician as he was. In order to get Paolo +Orsino to treat with him at Imola, Caesar sent Cardinal Borgia to the +confederates as a hostage; and on this Paolo Orsino hesitated no longer, +and on the 25th of October, 1502, arrived at Imola. + +Caesar received him as an old friend from whom one might have been +estranged a few days because of some slight passing differences; he +frankly avowed that all the fault was no doubt on his side, since he had +contrived to alienate men who were such loyal lords and also such brave +captains; but with men of their nature, he added, an honest, honourable +explanation such as he would give must put everything once more in statu +quo. To prove that it was goodwill, not fear, that brought him back to +them, he showed Orsino the letters from Cardinal Amboise which announced +the speedy arrival of French troops; he showed him those he had +collected about him, in the wish, he declared, that they might be +thoroughly convinced that what he chiefly regretted in the whole matter +was not so much the loss of the distinguished captains who were the very +soul of his vast enterprise, as that he had led the world to believe, in +a way so fatal to his own interest, that he could for a single instant +fail to recognise their merit; adding that he consequently relied upon +him, Paolo Orsino, whom he had always cared for most, to bring back the +confederates by a peace which would be as much for the profit of all as +a war was hurtful to all, and that he was ready to sign a treaty in +consonance with their wishes so long as it should not prejudice his own +honour. + +Orsino was the man Caesar wanted: full of pride and confidence in +himself, he was convinced of the truth of the old proverb that says, "A +pope cannot reign eight days, if he has hath the Colonnas and the Orsini +against him." He believed, therefore, if not in Caesar's good faith, at +any rate in the necessity he must feel for making peace; accordingly he +signed with him the following conventions--which only needed +ratification--on the 18th of October, 1502, which we reproduce here as +Macchiavelli sent them to the magnificent republic of Florence. + +"Agreement between the Duke of Valentinois and the Confederates. + +"Let it be known to the parties mentioned below, and to all who shall +see these presents, that His Excellency the Duke of Romagna of the one +part and the Orsini of the other part, together with their confederates, +desiring to put an end to differences, enmities, misunderstandings, and +suspicions which have arisen between them, have resolved as follows: + +"There shall be between them peace and alliance true and perpetual, with +a complete obliteration of wrongs and injuries which may have taken +place up to this day, both parties engaging to preserve no resentment of +the same; and in conformity with the aforesaid peace and union, His +Excellency the Duke of Romagna shall receive into perpetual +confederation, league, and alliance all the lords aforesaid; and each of +them shall promise to defend the estates of all in general and of each +in particular against any power that may annoy or attack them for any +cause whatsoever, excepting always nevertheless the Pope Alexander VI +and his Very Christian Majesty Louis XII, King of France: the lords +above named promising on the other part to unite in the defence of the +person and estates of His Excellency, as also those of the most +illustrious lards, Don Gaffredo Bargia, Prince of Squillace, Don +Roderigo Bargia, Duke of Sermaneta and Biselli, and Don Gian Borgia, +Duke of Camerino and Negi, all brothers or nephews of the Duke of +Romagna. + +"Moreover, since the rebellion and usurpation of Urbino have occurred +during the above-mentioned misunderstandings, all the confederates +aforesaid and each of them shall bind themselves to unite all their +forces for the recovery of the estates aforesaid and of such other +places as have revolted and been usurped. + +"His Excellency the Duke of Romagna shall undertake to continue to the +Orsini and Vitelli their ancient engagements in the way of military +service and an the same conditions. + +"His Excellency promises further not to insist on the service in person +of more than one of them, as they may choose: the service that the +others may render shall be voluntary. + +"He also promises that the second treaty shall be ratified by the +sovereign pontiff, who shall not compel Cardinal Orsino to reside in +Rome longer than shall seem convenient to this prelate. + +"Furthermore, since there are certain differences between the Pope and +the lord Gian Bentivoglio, the confederates aforesaid agree that they +shall be put to the arbitration of Cardinal Orsino, of His Excellency +the Duke of Romagna, and of the lord Pandolfo Petrucci, without appeal. + +"Thus the confederates engage, each and all, so soon as they may be +required by the Duke of Romagna, to put into his hands as a hostage one +of the legitimate sons of each of them, in that place and at that time +which he may be pleased to indicate. + +"The same confederates promising moreover, all and each, that if any +project directed against any one of them come to their knowledge, to +give warning thereof, and all to prevent such project reciprocally. + +"It is agreed, over and above, between the Duke of Romagna and the +confederates aforesaid, to regard as a common enemy any who shall fail +to keep the present stipulations, and to unite in the destruction of any +States not conforming thereto. + +"(Signed) CAESAR, PAOLO ORSINO. + +"AGAPIT, Secretary." + +At the same time, while Orsino was carrying to the confederates the +treaty drawn up between him and the duke, Bentivoglio, not willing to +submit to the arbitration indicated, made an offer to Caesar of settling +their differences by a private treaty, and sent his son to arrange the +conditions: after some parleying, they were settled as follows:-- + +Bentivaglio should separate his fortunes from the Vitelli and Orsini; + +He should furnish the Duke of Valentinois with a hundred men-at-arms and +a hundred mounted archers for eight years; + +He should pay 12,000 ducats per annum to Caesar, for the support of a +hundred lances; + +In return for this, his son Hannibal was to marry the sister of the +Archbishop of Enna, who was Caesar's niece, and the pope was to +recognise his sovereignty in Bologna; + +The King of France, the Duke of Ferrara, and the republic of Florence +were to be the guarantors of this treaty. + +But the convention brought to the confederates by Orsino was the cause +of great difficulties on their part. Vitellozza Vitelli in particular, +who knew Caesar the best, never ceased to tell the other condottieri +that so prompt and easy a peace must needs be the cover to some trap; +but since Caesar had meanwhile collected a considerable army at Imala, +and the four hundred lances lent him by Louis XII had arrived at last, +Vitellozzo and Oliverotto decided to sign the treaty that Orsino +brought, and to let the Duke of Urbino and the lord of Camerino know of +it; they, seeing plainly that it was henceforth impassible to make a +defence unaided, had retired, the one to Citta di Castello and the other +into the kingdom of Naples. + +But Caesar, saying nothing of his intentions, started on the 10th of +December, and made his way to Cesena with a powerful army once more +under his command. Fear began to spread on all sides, not only in +Romagna but in the whole of Northern Italy; Florence, seeing him move +away from her, only thought it a blind to conceal his intentions; while +Venice, seeing him approach her frontiers, despatched all her troops to +the banks of the Po. Caesar perceived their fear, and lest harm should +be done to himself by the mistrust it might inspire, he sent away all +French troops in his service as soon as he reached Cesena, except a +hundred men with M. de Candale, his brother-in-law; it was then seen +that he only had 2000 cavalry and 2000 infantry with him. Several days +were spent in parleying, for at Cesena Caesar found the envoys of the +Vitelli and Orsini, who themselves were with their army in the duchy of +Urbino; but after the preliminary discussions as to the right course to +follow in carrying on the plan of conquest, there arose such +difficulties between the general-in-chief and these agents, that they +could not but see the impossibility of getting anything settled by +intermediaries, and the urgent necessity of a conference between Caesar +and one of the chiefs. So Oliverotto ran the risk of joining the duke in +order to make proposals to him, either to march an Tuscany or to take +Sinigaglia, which was the only place in the duchy of Urbino that had not +again fallen into Caesar's power. Caesar's reply was that he did not +desire to war upon Tuscany, because the Tuscans were his friends; but +that he approved of the lieutenants' plan with regard to Sinigaglia, and +therefore was marching towards Fano. + +But the daughter of Frederic, the former Duke of Urbino, who held the +town of Sinigaglia, and who was called the lady-prefect, because she had +married Gian delta Rovere, whom his uncle, Sixtus IV, had made prefect +of Rome, judging that it would be impossible to defend herself against +the forces the Duke of Valentinais was bringing, left the citadel in the +hands of a captain, recommending him to get the best terms he could for +the town, and took boat for Venice. + +Caesar learned this news at Rimini, through a messenger from Vitelli and +the Orsini, who said that the governor of the citadel, though refusing +to yield to them, was quite ready to make terms with him, and +consequently they would engage to go to the town and finish the business +there. Caesar's reply was that in consequence of this information he was +sending some of his troops to Cesena and Imola, for they would be +useless to him, as he should now have theirs, which together with the +escort he retained would be sufficient, since his only object was the +complete pacification of the duchy of Urbino. He added that this +pacification would not be possible if his old friends continued to +distrust him, and to discuss through intermediaries alone plans in which +their own fortunes were interested as well as his. The messenger +returned with this answer, and the confederates, though feeling, it is +true, the justice of Caesar's remarks, none the less hesitated to comply +with his demand. Vitellozzo Vitelli in particular showed a want of +confidence in him which nothing seemed able to subdue; but, pressed by +Oliverotto, Gravina, and Orsino, he consented at last to await the +duke's coming; making concession rather because he could not bear to +appear more timid than his companions, than because of any confidence he +felt in the return of friendship that Borgia was displaying. + +The duke learned the news of this decision, so much desired, when he +arrived at Fano on the 20th of December 1502. At once he summoned eight +of his most faithful friends, among whom were d'Enna, his nephew, +Michelotto, and Ugo di Cardona, and ordered them, as soon as they +arrived at Sinigaglia, and had seen Vitellozzo, Gravina, Oliveratta, and +Orsino come out to meet them, on a pretext of doing them honour, to +place themselves on the right and left hand of the four generals, two +beside each, so that at a given signal they might either stab or arrest +them; next he assigned to each of them his particular man, bidding them +not quit his side until he had reentered Sinigaglia and arrived at the +quarters prepared far him; then he sent orders to such of the soldiers +as were in cantonments in the neighbourhood to assemble to the number of +8000 on the banks of the Metaurus, a little river of Umbria which runs +into the Adriatic and has been made famous by the defeat of Hannibal. + +The duke arrived at the rendezvous given to his army on the 31st of +December, and instantly sent out in front two hundred horse, and +immediately behind them his infantry; following close in the midst of +his men-at-arms, following the coast of the Adriatic, with the mountains +on his right and the sea on his left, which in part of the way left only +space for the army to march ten abreast. + +After four hours' march, the duke at a turn of the path perceived +Sinigaglia, nearly a mile distant from the sea, and a bowshot from the +mountains; between the army and the town ran a little river, whose banks +he had to follow far some distance. At last he found a bridge opposite a +suburb of the town, and here Caesar ordered his cavalry to stop: it was +drawn up in two lines, one between the road and the river, the other on +the side of the country, leaving the whole width of the road to the +infantry: which latter defiled, crossed the bridge, and entering the +town, drew themselves up in battle array in the great square. + +On their side, Vitellazzo, Gravina, Orsino, and Oliverotto, to make room +for the duke's army, had quartered their soldiers in little towns or +villages in the neighbourhood of Sinigaglia; Oliverotto alone had kept +nearly 1000 infantry and 150 horse, who were in barracks in the suburb +through which the duke entered. + +Caesar had made only a few steps towards the town when he perceived +Vitellozzo at the gate, with the Duke of Gravina and Orsina, who all +came out to meet him; the last two quite gay and confident, but the +first so gloomy and dejected that you would have thought he foresaw the +fate that was in store for him; and doubtless he had not been without +same presentiments; for when he left his army to came to Sinigaglia, he +had bidden them farewell as though never to meet again, had commended +the care of his family to the captains, and embraced his children with +tears--a weakness which appeared strange to all who knew him as a brave +condottiere. + +The duke marched up to them holding out his hand, as a sign that all was +over and forgotten, and did it with an air at once so loyal and so +smiling that Gravina and Orsina could no longer doubt the genuine return +of his friendship, and it was only Vitellozza still appeared sad. At the +same moment, exactly as they had been commanded, the duke's accomplices +took their pasts on the right and left of those they were to watch, who +were all there except Oliverotto, whom the duke could not see, and began +to seek with uneasy looks; but as he crossed the suburb he perceived him +exercising his troops on the square. Caesar at once despatched +Michelotto and d'Enna, with a message that it was a rash thing to have +his troops out, when they might easily start some quarrel with the +duke's men and bring about an affray: it would be much better to settle +them in barracks and then come to join his companions, who were with +Caesar. Oliverotto, drawn by the same fate as his friends, made no +abjection, ordered his soldiers indoors, and put his horse to the gallop +to join the duke, escorted on either side by d'Enna and Michelotto. +Caesar, on seeing him, called him, took him by the hand, and continued +his march to the palace that had been prepared for him, his four victims +following after. + +Arrived on the threshold, Caesar dismounted, and signing to the leader +of the men-at-arms to, await his orders, he went in first, followed by +Oliverotto, Gravina, Vitellozzo Vitelli, and Orsino, each accompanied by +his two satellites; but scarcely had they gone upstairs and into the +first room when the door was shut behind them, and Caesar turned round, +saying, "The hour has come!" This was the signal agreed upon. Instantly +the former confederates were seized, thrown down, and forced to +surrender with a dagger at their throat. Then, while they were being +carried to a dungeon, Caesar opened the window, went out on the balcony +and cried out to the leader of his men-at-arms, "Go forward!" The man +was in the secret, he rushed on with his band towards the barracks where +Oliverotto's soldiers had just been consigned, and they, suddenly +surprised and off their guard, were at once made prisoners; then the +duke's troops began to pillage the town, and he summoned Macchiavelli. + +Caesar and the Florentine envoy were nearly two hours shut up together, +and since Macchiavelli himself recounts the history of this interview, +we will give his own words. + +"He summoned me," says the Florentine ambassador, "and in the calmest +manner showed me his joy at the success of this enterprise, which he +assured me he had spoken of to me the evening before; I remember that he +did, but I did not at that time understand what he meant; next he +explained, in terms of much feeling and lively affection for our city, +the different motives which had made him desire your alliance, a desire +to which he hopes you will respond. He ended with charging me to lay +three proposals before your lordships: first, that you rejoice with him +in the destruction at a single blow of the mortal enemies of the king, +himself, and you, and the consequent disappearance of all seeds of +trouble and dissension likely to waste Italy: this service of his, +together with his refusal to allow the prisoners to march against you, +ought, he thinks, to excite your gratitude towards him; secondly, he +begs that you will at this juncture give him a striking proof of your +friendliness, by urging your cavalry's advance towards Borgo, and there +assembling some infantry also, in order that they may march with him, +should need arise, on Castello or on Perugia. Lastly, he desires--and +this is his third condition--that you arrest the Duke of Urbino, if he +should flee from Castello into your territories, when he learns that +Vitellozzo is a prisoner. + +"When I objected that to give him up would not beseem the dignity of the +republic, and that you would never consent, he approved of my words, and +said that it would be enough for you to keep the duke, and not give him +his liberty without His Excellency's permission. I have promised to give +you all this information, to which he awaits your reply." + +The same night eight masked men descended to the dungeon where the +prisoners lay: they believed at that moment that the fatal hour had +arrived for all. But this time the executioners had to do with +Vitellozzo and Oliverotto alone. When these two captains heard that they +were condemned, Oliverotto burst forth into reproaches against +Vitellozzo, saying that it was all his fault that they had taken up arms +against the duke: not a word Vitellozzo answered except a prayer that +the pope might grant him plenary indulgence for all his sins. Then the +masked men took them away, leaving Orsino and Gravina to await a similar +fate, and led away the two chosen out to die to a secluded spot outside +the ramparts of the town, where they were strangled and buried at once +in two trenches that had been dug beforehand. + +The two others were kept alive until it should be known if the pope had +arrested Cardinal Orsino, archbishop of Florence and lord of Santa +Croce; and when the answer was received in the affirmative from His +Holiness, Gravina and Orsina, who had been transferred to a castle, were +likewise strangled. + +The duke, leaving instructions with Michelotto, set off for Sinigaglia +as soon as the first execution was over, assuring Macchiavelli that he +had never had any other thought than that of giving tranquillity to the +Romagna and to Tuscany, and also that he thought he had succeeded by +taking and putting to death the men who had been the cause of all the +trouble; also that any other revolt that might take place in the future +would be nothing but sparks that a drop of water could extinguish. + +The pope had barely learned that Caesar had his enemies in his power, +when, eager to play the same winning game himself, he announced to +Cardinal Orsino, though it was then midnight, that his son had taken +Sinigaglia, and gave him an invitation to come the next morning and talk +over the good news. The cardinal, delighted at this increase of favour, +did not miss his appointment. So, in the morning, he started an +horseback for the Vatican; but at a turn of the first street he met the +governor of Rome with a detachment of cavalry, who congratulated himself +on the happy chance that they were taking the same road, and accompanied +him to the threshold of the Vatican. There the cardinal dismounted, and +began to ascend the stairs; scarcely, however, had he reached the first +landing before his mules and carriages were seized and shut in the +palace stables. When he entered the hall of the Perropont, he found that +he and all his suite were surrounded by armed men, who led him into +another apartment, called the Vicar's Hall, where he found the Abbate +Alviano, the protonotary Orsino, Jacopo Santa Croce, and Rinaldo Orsino, +who were all prisoners like himself; at the same time the governor +received orders to seize the castle of Monte Giardino, which belonged to +the Orsini, and take away all the jewels, all the hangings, all the +furniture, and all the silver that he might find. + +The governor carried out his orders conscientiously, and brought to the +Vatican everything he seized, down to the cardinal's account-book. On +consulting this book, the pope found out two things: first, that a sum +of 2000 ducats was due to the cardinal, no debtor's name being +mentioned; secondly, that the cardinal had bought three months before, +for 1500 Roman crowns, a magnificent pearl which could not be found +among the objects belonging to him: on which Alexander ordered that from +that very moment until the negligence in the cardinal's accounts was +repaired, the men who were in the habit of bringing him food twice a day +on behalf of his mother should not be admitted into the Castle Sant' +Angelo. The same day, the cardinal's mother sent the pope the 2000 +ducats, and the next day his mistress, in man's attire, came in person +to bring the missing pearl. His Holiness, however, was so struck with +her beauty in this costume, that, we are told, he let her keep the pearl +for the same price she had paid for it. + +Then the pope allowed the cardinal to have his food brought as before, +and he died of poison on the 22nd of February--that is, two days after +his accounts had been set right. + +That same night the Prince of Squillace set off to take possession, in +the pope's name, of the lands of the deceased. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +The Duke of Valentinois had continued, his road towards Citta di +Castello and Perugia, and had seized these two towns without striking a +blow; for the Vitelli had fled from the former, and the latter had been +abandoned by Gian Paolo Baglione with no attempt whatever at resistance. +There still remained Siena, where Pandolfo Petrucci was shut up, the +only man remaining of all who had joined the league against Caesar. + +But Siena was under the protection of the French. Besides, Siena was not +one of the States of the Church, and Caesar had no rights there. +Therefore he was content with insisting upon Pandolfo Petrucci's leaving +the town and retiring to Lucca, which he accordingly did. + +Then all on this side being peaceful and the whole of Romagna in +subjection, Caesar resolved to return to Rome and help the pope to +destroy all that was left of the Orsini. + +This was all the easier because Louis XII, having suffered reverses in +the kingdom of Naples, had since then been much concerned with his own +affairs to disturb himself about his allies. So Caesar, doing for the +neighbourhood of the Holy See the same thing that he had done far the +Romagna, seized in succession Vicovaro, Cera, Palombera, Lanzano, and +Cervetti; when these conquests were achieved, having nothing else to do +now that he had brought the pontifical States into subjection from the +frontiers of Naples to those of Venice, he returned to Rome to concert +with his father as to the means of converting his duchy into a kingdom. + +Caesar arrived at the right moment to share with Alexander the property +of Cardinal Gian Michele, who had just died, having received a poisoned +cup from the hands of the pope. + +The future King of Italy found his father preoccupied with a grand +project: he had resolved, for the Feast of St. Peter's, to create nine +cardinals. What he had to gain from these nominations is as follows: + +First, the cardinals elected would leave all their offices vacant; these +offices would fall into the hands of the pope, and he would sell them; + +Secondly, each of them would buy his election, more or less dear +according to his fortune; the price, left to be settled at the pope's +fancy, would vary from 10,000 to 40,000 ducats; + +Lastly, since as cardinals they would by law lose the right of making a +will, the pope, in order to inherit from them, had only to poison them: +this put him in the position of a butcher who, if he needs money, has +only to cut the throat of the fattest sheep in the flock. + +The nomination came to pass: the new cardinals were Giovanni Castellaro +Valentine, archbishop of Trani; Francesco Remolini, ambassador from the +King of Aragon; Francesco Soderini, bishop of Volterra; Melchiore Copis, +bishop of Brissina; Nicolas Fiesque, bishop of Frejus; Francesco di +Sprate, bishop of Leome; Adriano Castellense, clerk of the chamber, +treasurer-general, and secretary of the briefs; Francesco Boris, bishop +of Elva, patriarch of Constantinople, and secretary to the pope; and +Giacomo Casanova, protonotary and private chamberlain to His Holiness. + +The price of their simony paid and their vacated offices sold, the pope +made his choice of those he was to poison: the number was fixed at +three, one old and two new; the old one was Cardinal Casanova, and the +new ones Melchiore Copis and Adriano Castellense, who had taken the name +of Adrian of Carneta from that town where he had been born, and where, +in the capacity of clerk of the chamber, treasurer-general, and +secretary of briefs, he had amassed an immense fortune. + +So, when all was settled between Caesar and the pope, they invited their +chosen guests to supper in a vineyard situated near the Vatican, +belonging to the Cardinal of Corneto. In the morning of this day, the +2nd of August, they sent their servants and the steward to make all +preparations, and Caesar himself gave the pope's butler two bottles of +wine prepared with the white powder resembling sugar whose mortal +properties he had so often proved, and gave orders that he was to serve +this wine only when he was told, and only to persons specially +indicated; the butler accordingly put the wine an a sideboard apart, +bidding the waiters on no account to touch it, as it was reserved for +the pope's drinking. + +[The poison of the Borgias, say contemporary writers, was of two kinds, +powder and liquid. The poison in the form of powder was a sort of white +flour, almost impalpable, with the taste of sugar, and called +Contarella. Its composition is unknown. + +The liquid poison was prepared, we are told in so strange a fashion that +we cannot pass it by in silence. We repeat here what we read, and vouch +for nothing ourselves, lest science should give us the lie. + +A strong dose of arsenic was administered to a boar; as soon as the +poison began to take effect, he was hung up by his heels; convulsions +supervened, and a froth deadly and abundant ran out from his jaws; it +was this froth, collected into a silver vessel and transferred into a +bottle hermetically sealed, that made the liquid poison.] + +Towards evening Alexander VI walked from the Vatican leaning on Caesar's +arm, and turned his steps towards the vineyard, accompanied by Cardinal +Caraffa; but as the heat was great and the climb rather steep, the pope, +when he reached the top, stopped to take breath; then putting his hand +on his breast, he found that he had left in his bedroom a chain that he +always wore round his neck, which suspended a gold medallion that +enclosed the sacred host. He owed this habit to a prophecy that an +astrologer had made, that so long as he carried about a consecrated +wafer, neither steel nor poison could take hold upon him. Now, finding +himself without his talisman, he ordered Monsignors Caraffa to hurry +back at once to the Vatican, and told him in which part of his room he +had left it, so that he might get it and bring it him without delay. +Then, as the walk had made him thirsty, he turned to a valet, giving +signs with his hand as he did so that his messenger should make haste, +and asked for something to drink. Caesar, who was also thirsty, ordered +the man to bring two glasses. By a curious coincidence, the butler had +just gone back to the Vatican to fetch some magnificent peaches that had +been sent that very day to the pope, but which had been forgotten when +he came here; so the valet went to the under butler, saying that His +Holiness and Monsignors the Duke of Romagna were thirsty and asking for +a drink. The under butler, seeing two bottles of wine set apart, and +having heard that this wine was reserved for the pope, took one, and +telling the valet to bring two glasses on a tray, poured out this wine, +which both drank, little thinking that it was what they had themselves +prepared to poison their guests. + +Meanwhile Caraffa hurried to the Vatican, and, as he knew the palace +well, went up to the pope's bedroom, a light in his hand and attended by +no servant. As he turned round a corridor a puff of wind blew out his +lamp; still, as he knew the way, he went on, thinking there was no need +of seeing to find the object he was in search of; but as he entered the +room he recoiled a step, with a cry of terror: he beheld a ghastly +apparition; it seemed that there before his eyes, in the middle of the +room, between the door and the cabinet which held the medallion, +Alexander VI, motionless and livid, was lying on a bier at whose four +corners there burned four torches. The cardinal stood still for a +moment, his eyes fixed, and his hair standing on end, without strength +to move either backward or forward; then thinking it was all a trick of +fancy or an apparition of the devil's making, he made the sign of the +cross, invoking God's holy name; all instantly vanished, torches, bier, +and corpse, and the seeming mortuary, chamber was once more in darkness. + +Then Cardinal Caraffa, who has himself recorded this strange event, and +who was afterwards Pope Paul IV, entered baldly, and though an icy sweat +ran dawn his brow, he went straight to the cabinet, and in the drawer +indicated found the gold chain and the medallion, took them, and hastily +went out to give them to the pope. He found supper served, the guests +arrived, and His Holiness ready to take his place at table; as soon as +the cardinal was in sight, His Holiness, who was very pale, made one +step towards him; Caraffa doubled his pace, and handed the medallion to +him; but as the pope stretched forth his arm to take it, he fell back +with a cry, instantly followed by violent convulsions: an instant later, +as he advanced to render his father assistance, Caesar was similarly +seized; the effect of the poison had been more rapid than usual, for +Caesar had doubled the dose, and there is little doubt that their heated +condition increased its activity. + +The two stricken men were carried side by side to the Vatican, where +each was taken to his own rooms: from that moment they never met again. + +As soon as he reached his bed, the pope was seized with a violent fever, +which did not give way to emetics or to bleeding; almost immediately it +became necessary to administer the last sacraments of the Church; but +his admirable bodily constitution, which seemed to have defied old age, +was strong enough to fight eight days with death; at last, after a week +of mortal agony, he died, without once uttering the name of Caesar or +Lucrezia, who were the two poles around which had turned all his +affections and all his crimes. His age was seventy-two, and he had +reigned eleven years. + +Caesar, perhaps because he had taken less of the fatal beverage, perhaps +because the strength of his youth overcame the strength of the poison, +or maybe, as some say, because when he reached his own rooms he had +swallowed an antidote known only to himself, was not so prostrated as to +lose sight for a moment of the terrible position he was in: he summoned +his faithful Michelotto, with those he could best count on among his +men, and disposed this band in the various rooms that led to his own, +ordering the chief never to leave the foot of his bed, but to sleep +lying on a rug, his hand upon the handle of his sward. + +The treatment had been the same for Caesar as for the pope, but in +addition to bleeding and emetics strange baths were added, which Caesar +had himself asked for, having heard that in a similar case they had once +cured Ladislaus, King of Naples. Four posts, strongly welded to the +floor and ceiling, were set up in his room, like the machines at which +farriers shoe horses; every day a bull was brought in, turned over on +his back and tied by his four legs to the four posts; then, when he was +thus fixed, a cut was made in his belly a foot and a half long, through +which the intestines were drawn out; then Caesar slipped into this +living bath of blood: when the bull was dead, Caesar was taken out and +rolled up in burning hot blankets, where, after copious perspirations, +he almost always felt some sort of relief. + +Every two hours Caesar sent to ask news of his father: he hardly waited +to hear that he was dead before, though still at death's door himself, +he summoned up all the force of character and presence of mind that +naturally belonged to him. He ordered Michelotto to shut the doors of +the Vatican before the report of Alexander's decease could spread about +the town, and forbade anyone whatsoever to enter the pope's apartments +until the money and papers had been removed. Michelotto obeyed at once, +went to find Cardinal Casanova, held a dagger at his throat, and made +him deliver up the keys of the pope's rooms and cabinets; then, under +his guidance, took away two chests full of gold, which perhaps contained +100,000 Roman crowns in specie, several boxes full of jewels, much +silver and many precious vases; all these were carried to Caesar's +chamber; the guards of the room were doubled; then the doors of the +Vatican were once more thrown open, and the death of the pope was +proclaimed. + +Although the news was expected, it produced none the less a terrible +effect in Rome; for although Caesar was still alive, his condition left +everyone in suspense: had the mighty Duke of Romagna, the powerful +condottiere who had taken thirty towns and fifteen fortresses in five +years, been seated, sword in hand, upon his charger, nothing would have +been uncertain of fluctuating even for a moment; far, as Caesar +afterwards told Macchiavelli, his ambitious soul had provided for all +things that could occur on the day of the pope's death, except the one +that he should be dying himself; but being nailed down to his bed, +sweating off the effects the poison had wrought; so, though he had kept +his power of thinking he could no longer act, but must needs wait and +suffer the course of events, instead of marching on in front and +controlling them. + +Thus he was forced to regulate his actions no longer by his own plans +but according to circumstances. His most bitter enemies, who could press +him hardest, were the Orsini and the Colonnas: from the one family he +had taken their blood, from the other their goods. + +So he addressed himself to those to whom he could return what he had +taken, and opened negotiations with the Colonnas. + +Meanwhile the obsequies of the pope were going forward: the +vice-chancellor had sent out orders to the highest among the clergy, the +superiors of convents, and the secular orders, not to fail to appear, +according to regular custom, on pain of being despoiled of their office +and dignities, each bringing his own company to the Vatican, to be +present at the pope's funeral; each therefore appeared on the day and at +the hour appointed at the pontifical palace, whence the body was to be +conveyed to the church of St. Peter's, and there buried. The corpse was +found to be abandoned and alone in the mortuary chamber; for everyone of +the name of Borgia, except Caesar, lay hidden, not knowing what might +come to pass. This was indeed well justified; for Fabio Orsino, meeting +one member of the family, stabbed him, and as a sign of the hatred they +had sworn to one another, bathed his mouth and hands in the blood. + +The agitation in Rome was so great, that when the corpse of Alexander VI +was about to enter the church there occurred a kind of panic, such as +will suddenly arise in times of popular agitation, instantly causing so +great a disturbance in the funeral cortege that the guards drew up in +battle array, the clergy fled into the sacristy, and the bearers dropped +the bier. + +The people, tearing off the pall which covered it, disclosed the corpse, +and everyone could see with impunity and close at hand the man who, +fifteen days before, had made princes, kings and emperors tremble, from +one end of the world to the other. + +But in accordance with that religious feeling towards death which all +men instinctively feel, and which alone survives every other, even in +the heart of the atheist, the bier was taken up again and carried to the +foot of the great altar in St. Peter's, where, set on trestles, it was +exposed to public view; but the body had become so black, so deformed +and swollen, that it was horrible to behold; from its nose a bloody +matter escaped, the mouth gaped hideously, and the tongue was so +monstrously enlarged that it filled the whole cavity; to this frightful +appearance was added a decomposition so great that, although at the +pope's funeral it is customary to kiss the hand which bore the +Fisherman's ring, not one approached to offer this mark of respect and +religious reverence to the representative of God on earth. + +Towards seven o'clock in the evening, when the declining day adds so +deep a melancholy to the silence of a church, four porters and two +working carpenters carried the corpse into the chapel where it was to be +interred, and, lifting it off the catafalque, where it lay in state, put +it in the coffin which was to be its last abode; but it was found that +the coffin was too short, and the body could not be got in till the legs +were bent and thrust in with violent blows; then the carpenters put on +the lid, and while one of them sat on the top to force the knees to +bend, the others hammered in the nails: amid those Shakespearian +pleasantries that sound as the last orison in the ear of the mighty; +then, says Tommaso Tommasi, he was placed on the right of the great +altar of St. Peter's, beneath a very ugly tomb. + +The next morning this epitaph was found inscribed upon the tomb: + + "VENDIT ALEXANDER CLAVES, ALTARIA, CHRISTUM: + EMERAT ILLE PRIUS, VENDERE JUKE POTEST"; + +that is, + + "Pope Alexander sold the Christ, the altars, and the keys: + But anyone who buys a thing may sell it if he please." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +From the effect produced at Rome by Alexander's death, one may imagine +what happened not only in the whole of Italy but also in the rest of the +world: for a moment Europe swayed, for the column which supported the +vault of the political edifice had given way, and the star with eyes of +flame and rays of blood, round which all things had revolved for the +last eleven years, was now extinguished, and for a moment the world, on +a sudden struck motionless, remained in silence and darkness. + +After the first moment of stupefaction, all who had an injury to avenge +arose and hurried to the chase. Sforza retook Pesaro, Bagloine Perugia, +Guido and Ubaldo Urbino, and La Rovere Sinigaglia; the Vitelli entered +Citta di Castello, the Appiani Piombino, the Orsini Monte Giordano and +their other territories; Romagna alone remained impassive and loyal, for +the people, who have no concern with the quarrels of the great, provided +they do not affect themselves, had never been so happy as under the +government of Caesar. + +The Colonnas were pledged to maintain a neutrality, and had been +consequently restored to the possession of their castles and the cities +of Chiuzano, Capo d'Anno, Frascati, Rocca di Papa, and Nettuno, which +they found in a better condition than when they had left them, as the +pope had had them embellished and fortified. + +Caesar was still in the Vatican with his troops, who, loyal to him in +his misfortune, kept watch about the palace, where he was writhing on +his bed of pain and roaring like a wounded lion. The cardinals, who had +in their first terror fled, each his own way, instead of attending the +pope's obsequies, began to assemble once more, some at the Minerva, +others around Cardinal Caraffa. Frightened by the troops that Caesar +still had, especially since the command was entrusted to Michelotto, +they collected all the money they could to levy an army of 2000 soldiers +with. Charles Taneo at their head, with the title of Captain of the +Sacred College. It was then hoped that peace was re-established, when it +was heard that Prospero Colonna was coming with 3000 men from the side +of Naples, and Fabio Orsino from the side of Viterbo with 200 horse and +more than 1000 infantry. Indeed, they entered Rome at only one day's +interval one from another, by so similar an ardour were they inspired. + +Thus there were five armies in Rome: Caesar's army, holding the Vatican +and the Borgo; the army of the Bishop of Nicastro, who had received from +Alexander the guardianship of the Castle Sant' Angelo and had shut +himself up there, refusing to yield; the army of the Sacred College, +which was stationed round about the Minerva; the army of Prospero +Colonna, which was encamped at the Capitol; and the army of Fabio +Orsino, in barracks at the Ripetta. + +On their side, the Spaniards had advanced to Terracino, and the French +to Nepi. The cardinals saw that Rome now stood upon a mine which the +least spark might cause to explode: they summoned the ambassadors of the +Emperor of Germany, the Kings of France and Spain, and the republic of +Venice to raise their voice in the name of their masters. The +ambassadors, impressed with the urgency of the situation, began by +declaring the Sacred College inviolable: they then ordered the Orsini, +the Colonnas, and the Duke of Valentinois to leave Rome and go each his +own, way. + +The Orsini were the first to submit: the next morning their example was +followed by the Colonnas. No one was left but Caesar, who said he was +willing to go, but desired to make his conditions beforehand: the +Vatican was undermined, he declared, and if his demands were refused he +and those who came to take him should be blown up together. + +It was known that his were never empty threats they came to terms with +him. + +[Caesar promised to remain ten miles away from Rome the whole time the +Conclave lasted, and not to take any action against the town or any +other of the Ecclesiastical States: Fabio Orsino and. Prospero Colonna +had made the same promises.] + +[It was agreed that Caesar should quit Rome with his army, artillery, +and baggage; and to ensure his not being attacked or molested in the +streets, the Sacred College should add to his numbers 400 infantry, who, +in case of attack or insult, would fight for him. The Venetian +ambassador answered for the Orsini, the Spanish ambassador for the +Colonnas, the ambassador of France for Caesar.] + +At the day and hour appointed Caesar sent out his artillery, which +consisted of eighteen pieces of cannon, and 400 infantry of the Sacred +College, on each of whom he bestowed a ducat: behind the artillery came +a hundred chariots escorted by his advance guard. + +The duke was carried out of the gate of the Vatican: he lay on a bed +covered with a scarlet canopy, supported by twelve halberdiers, leaning +forward on his cushions so that no one might see his face with its +purple lips and bloodshot eyes: beside him was his naked sword, to show +that, feeble as he was, he could use it at need: his finest charger, +caparisoned in black velvet embroidered with his arms, walked beside the +bed, led by a page, so that Caesar could mount in case of surprise or +attack: before him and behind, both right and left, marched his army, +their arms in rest, but without beating of drums or blowing of trumpets: +this gave a sombre, funereal air to the whole procession, which at the +gate of the city met Prospero Colonna awaiting it with a considerable +band of men. + +Caesar thought at first that, breaking his word as he had so often done +himself, Prospero Colonna was going to attack him. He ordered a halt, +and prepared to mount his horse; but Prospera Colonna, seeing the state +he was in, advanced to his bedside alone: he came, against expectation, +to offer him an escort, fearing an ambuscade on the part of Fabio +Orsino, who had loudly sworn that he would lose his honour or avenge the +death of Paolo Orsina, his father. Caesar thanked Colanna, and replied +that from the moment that Orsini stood alone he ceased to fear him. Then +Colonna saluted the duke, and rejoined his men, directing them towards +Albano, while Caesar took the road to Citta Castellana, which had +remained loyal. + +When there, Caesar found himself not only master of his own fate but of +others as well: of the twenty-two votes he owned in the Sacred College +twelve had remained faithful, and as the Conclave was composed in all of +thirty-seven cardinals, he with his twelve votes could make the majority +incline to whichever side he chose. Accordingly he was courted both by +the Spanish and the French party, each desiring the election of a pope +of their own nation. Caesar listened, promising nothing and refusing +nothing: he gave his twelve votes to Francesco Piccolomini, Cardinal of +Siena, one of his father's creatures who had remained his friend, and +the latter was elected on the 8th of October and took the name of Pius +III. + +Caesar's hopes did not deceive him: Pius III was hardly elected before +he sent him a safe-conduct to Rome: the duke came back with 250 +men-at-arms, 250 light horse, and 800 infantry, and lodged in his +palace, the soldiers camping round about. + +Meanwhile the Orsini, pursuing their projects of vengeance against +Caesar, had been levying many troops at Perugia and the neighbourhood to +bring against him to Rome, and as they fancied that France, in whose +service they were engaged, was humouring the duke for the sake of the +twelve votes which were wanted to secure the election of Cardinal +Amboise at the next Conclave, they went over to the service of Spain. + +Meanwhile Caesar was signing a new treaty with Louis XII, by which he +engaged to support him with all his forces, and even with his person, so +soon as he could ride, in maintaining his conquest of Naples: Louis, on +his side, guaranteed that he should retain possession of the States he +still held, and promised his help in recovering those he had lost. + +The day when this treaty was made known, Gonzalvo di Cordovo proclaimed +to the sound of a trumpet in all the streets of Rome that every Spanish +subject serving in a foreign army was at once to break his engagement on +pain of being found guilty of high treason. + +This measure robbed Caesar of ten or twelve of his best officers and of +nearly 300 men. + +Then the Orsini, seeing his army thus reduced, entered Rome, supported +by the Spanish ambassador, and summoned Caesar to appear before the pope +and the Sacred College and give an account of his crimes. + +Faithful to his engagements, Pius III replied that in his quality of +sovereign prince the duke in his temporal administration was quite +independent and was answerable for his actions to God alone. + +But as the pope felt he could not much longer support Caesar against his +enemies for all his goodwill, he advised him to try to join the French +army, which was still advancing on Naples, in the midst of which he +would alone find safety. Caesar resolved to retire to Bracciano, where +Gian Giordano Orsino, who had once gone with him to France, and who was +the only member of the family who had not declared against him, offered +him an asylum in the name of Cardinal dumbest: so one morning he ordered +his troops to march for this town, and, taking his place in their midst, +he left Rome. + +But though Caesar had kept his intentions quiet, the Orsini had been +forewarned, and, taking out all the troops they had by the gate of San +Pancracio, they had made along detour and blocked Caesar's way; so, when +the latter arrived at Storta, he found the Orsini's army drawn up +awaiting him in numbers exceeding his own by at least one-half. + +Caesar saw that to come to blows in his then feeble state was to rush on +certain destruction; so he ordered his troops to retire, and, being a +first-rate strategist, echelonned his retreat so skilfully that his +enemies, though they followed, dared not attack him, and he re-entered +the pontifical town without the loss of a single man. + +This time Caesar went straight to the Vatican, to put himself more +directly under the pope's protection; he distributed his soldiers about +the palace, so as to guard all its exits. Now the Orsini, resolved to +make an end of Caesar, had determined to attack him wheresoever he might +be, with no regard to the sanctity of the place: this they attempted, +but without success, as Caesar's men kept a good guard on every side, +and offered a strong defence. + +Then the Orsini, not being able to force the guard of the Castle Sant' +Angelo, hoped to succeed better with the duke by leaving Rome and then +returning by the Torione gate; but Caesar anticipated this move, and +they found the gate guarded and barricaded. None the less, they pursued +their design, seeking by open violence the vengeance that they had hoped +to obtain by craft; and, having surprised the approaches to the gate, +set fire to it: a passage gained, they made their way into the gardens +of the castle, where they found Caesar awaiting them at the head of his +cavalry. + +Face to face with danger, the duke had found his old strength: and he +was the first to rush upon his enemies, loudly challenging Orsino in the +hope of killing him should they meet; but either Orsino did not hear him +or dared not fight; and after an exciting contest, Caesar, who was +numerically two-thirds weaker than his enemy, saw his cavalry cut to +pieces; and after performing miracles of personal strength and courage, +was obliged to return to the Vatican. There he found the pope in mortal +agony: the Orsini, tired of contending against the old man's word of +honour pledged to the duke, had by the interposition of Pandolfo +Petrucci, gained the ear of the pope's surgeon, who placed a poisoned +plaster upon a wound in his leg. + +The pope then was actually dying when Caesar, covered with dust and +blood, entered his room, pursued by his enemies, who knew no check till +they reached the palace walls, behind which the remnant of his army +still held their ground. + +Pius III, who knew he was about to die, sat up in his bed, gave Caesar +the key of the corridor which led to the Castle of Sant' Angelo, and an +order addressed to the governor to admit him and his family, to defend +him to the last extremity, and to let him go wherever he thought fit; +and then fell fainting on his bed. + +Caesar took his two daughters by the hand, and, followed by the little +dukes of Sermaneta and Nepi, took refuge in the last asylum open to him. + +The same night the pope died: he had reigned only twenty-six days. + +After his death, Caesar, who had cast himself fully dressed upon his +bed, heard his door open at two o'clock in the morning: not knowing what +anyone might want of him at such an hour, he raised himself on one elbow +and felt for the handle of his sword with his other hand; but at the +first glance he recognised in his nocturnal visitor Giuliano della +Rovere. + +Utterly exhausted by the poison, abandoned by his troops, fallen as he +was from the height of his power, Caesar, who could now do nothing for +himself, could yet make a pope: Giuliano delta Rovere had come to buy +the votes of his twelve cardinals. + +Caesar imposed his conditions, which were accepted. + +If elected, Giuliano delta Ravere was to help Caesar to recover his +territories in Romagna; Caesar was to remain general of the Church; and +Francesco Maria delta Rovere, prefect of Rome, was to marry one of +Caesar's daughters. + +On these conditions Caesar sold his twelve cardinals to Giuliano. + +The next day, at Giuliano's request, the Sacred College ordered the +Orsini to leave Rome for the whole time occupied by the Conclave. + +On the 31st of October 1503, at the first scrutiny, Giuliano delta +Rovere was elected pope, and took the name of Julius II. + +He was scarcely installed in the Vatican when he made it his first care +to summon Caesar and give him his former rooms there; then, since the +duke was fully restored to health, he began to busy himself with the +re-establishment of his affairs, which had suffered sadly of late. + +The defeat of his army and his own escape to Sant' Angelo, where he was +supposed to be a prisoner, had brought about great changes in Romagna. +Sesena was once more in the power of the Church, as formerly it had +been; Gian Sforza had again entered Pesaro; Ordelafi had seized Forli; +Malatesta was laying claim to Rimini; the inhabitants of Imola had +assassinated their governor, and the town was divided between two +opinions, one that it should be put into the hands of the Riani, the +other, into the hands of the Church; Faenza had remained loyal longer +than any other place; but at last, losing hope of seeing Caesar recover +his power, it had summoned Francesco, a natural son of Galeotto +Manfredi, the last surviving heir of this unhappy family, all whose +legitimate descendants had been massacred by Borgia. + +It is true that the fortresses of these different places had taken no +part in these revolutions, and had remained immutably faithful to the +Duke of Valentinois. + +So it was not precisely the defection of these towns, which, thanks to +their fortresses, might be reconquered, that was the cause of uneasiness +to Caesar and Julius II, it was the difficult situation that Venice had +thrust upon them. Venice, in the spring of the same year, had signed a +treaty of peace with the Turks: thus set free from her eternal enemy, +she had just led her forces to the Romagna, which she had always +coveted: these troops had been led towards Ravenna, the farthermost +limit of the Papal estates, and put under the command of Giacopo +Venieri, who had failed to capture Cesena, and had only failed through +the courage of its inhabitants; but this check had been amply +compensated by the surrender of the fortresses of Val di Lamane and +Faenza, by the capture of Farlimpopoli, and the surrender of Rimini, +which Pandolfo Malatesta, its lard, exchanged for the seigniory of +Cittadella, in the State of Padua, and far the rank of gentleman of +Venice. + +Then Caesar made a proposition to Julius II: this was to make a +momentary cession to the Church of his own estates in Romagna, so that +the respect felt by the Venetians for the Church might save these towns +from their aggressors; but, says Guicciardini, Julius II, whose +ambition, so natural in sovereign rulers, had not yet extinguished the +remains of rectitude, refused to accept the places, afraid of exposing +himself to the temptation of keeping them later on, against his +promises. + +But as the case was urgent, he proposed to Caesar that he should leave +Rome, embark at Ostia, and cross over to Spezia, where Michelotto was to +meet him at the head of 100 men-at-arms and 100 light horse, the only +remnant of his magnificent army, thence by land to Ferrara, and from +Ferrara to Imala, where, once arrived, he could utter his war-cry so +loud that it would be heard through the length and breadth of Romagna. + +This advice being after Caesar's own heart, he accepted it at once. + +The resolution submitted to the Sacred College was approved, and Caesar +left for Ostia, accompanied by Bartolommeo della Rovere, nephew of His +Holiness. + +Caesar at last felt he was free, and fancied himself already on his good +charger, a second time carrying war into all the places where he had +formerly fought. When he reached Ostia, he was met by the cardinals of +Sorrento and Volterra, who came in the name of Julius II to ask him to +give up the very same citadels which he had refused three days before: +the fact was that the pope had learned in the interim that the Venetians +had made fresh aggressions, and recognised that the method proposed by +Caesar was the only one that would check them. But this time it was +Caesar's turn, to refuse, for he was weary of these tergiversations, and +feared a trap; so he said that the surrender asked for would be useless, +since by God's help he should be in Romagna before eight days were past. +So the cardinals of Sorrento and Volterra returned to Rome with a +refusal. + +The next morning, just as Caesar was setting foot on his vessel, he was +arrested in the name of Julius II. + +He thought at first that this was the end; he was used to this mode of +action, and knew how short was the space between a prison and a tomb; +the matter was all the easier in his case, because the pope, if he +chose, would have plenty of pretext for making a case against him. But +the heart of Julius was of another kind from his; swift to anger, but +open to clemency; so, when the duke came back to Rome guarded, the +momentary irritation his refusal had caused was already calmed, and the +pope received him in his usual fashion at his palace, and with his +ordinary courtesy, although from the beginning it was easy for the duke +to see that he was being watched. In return for this kind reception, +Caesar consented to yield the fortress of Cesena to the pope, as being a +town which had once belonged to the Church, and now should return; +giving the deed, signed by Caesar, to one of his captains, called Pietro +d'Oviedo, he ordered him to take possession of the fortress in the name +of the Holy See. Pietro obeyed, and starting at once for Cesena, +presented himself armed with his warrant before Don Diego Chinon; a +noble condottiere of Spain, who was holding the fortress in Caesar's +name. But when he had read over the paper that Pietro d'Oviedo brought, +Don Diego replied that as he knew his lord and master was a prisoner, it +would be disgraceful in him to obey an order that had probably been +wrested from him by violence, and that the bearer deserved to die for +undertaking such a cowardly office. He therefore bade his soldiers seize +d'Oviedo and fling him down from the top of the walls: this sentence was +promptly executed. + +This mark of fidelity might have proved fatal to Caesar: when the pope +heard how his messenger had been treated, he flew into such a rage that +the prisoner thought a second time that his hour was come; and in order +to receive his liberty, he made the first of those new propositions to +Julius II, which were drawn up in the form of a treaty and sanctioned by +a bull. By these arrangements, the Duke of Valentinois was bound to hand +over to His Holiness, within the space of forty days, the fortresses of +Cesena and Bertinoro, and authorise the surrender of Forli. This +arrangement was guaranteed by two bankers in Rome who were to be +responsible for 15,000 ducats, the sum total of the expenses which the +governor pretended he had incurred in the place on the duke's account. +The pope on his part engaged to send Caesar to Ostia under the sole +guard of the Cardinal of Santa Croce and two officers, who were to give +him his full liberty on the very day when his engagements were +fulfilled: should this not happen, Caesar was to be taken to Rome and +imprisoned in the Castle of Sant' Angelo. In fulfilment of this treaty, +Caesar went down the Tiber as far as Ostia, accompanied by the pope's +treasurer and many of his servants. The Cardinal of Santa Croce +followed, and the next day joined him there. + +But as Caesar feared that Julius II might keep him a prisoner, in spite +of his pledged word, after he had yielded up the fortresses, he asked, +through the mediation of Cardinals Borgia and Remolina, who, not feeling +safe at Rome, had retired to Naples, for a safe-conduct to Gonzalva of +Cordova, and for two ships to take him there; with the return of the +courier the safe-conduct arrived, announcing that the ships would +shortly follow. + +In the midst of all this, the Cardinal of Santa Croce, learning that by +the duke's orders the governors of Cesena and Bertinoro had surrendered +their fortresses to the captains of His Holiness, relaxed his rigour, +and knowing that his prisoner would some day or other be free, began to +let him go out without a guard. Then Caesar, feeling some fear lest when +he started with Gonzalvo's ships the same thing might happen as on the +occasion of his embarking on the pope's vessel--that is, that he might +be arrested a second time--concealed himself in a house outside the +town; and when night came on, mounting a wretched horse that belonged to +a peasant, rode as far as Nettuno, and there hired a little boat, in +which he embarked for Monte Dragone, and thence gained Naples. Gonzalvo +received him with such joy that Caesar was deceived as to his intention, +and this time believed that he was really saved. His confidence was +redoubled when, opening his designs to Gonzalvo, and telling him that he +counted upon gaining Pisa and thence going on into Romagna, Ganzalva +allowed him to recruit as many soldiers at Naples as he pleased, +promising him two ships to embark with. Caesar, deceived by these +appearances, stopped nearly six weeks at Naples, every day seeing the +Spanish governor and discussing his plans. But Gonzalvo was only waiting +to gain time to tell the King of Spain that his enemy was in his hands; +and Caesar actually went to the castle to bid Gonzalvo good-bye, +thinking he was just about to start after he had embarked his men on the +two ships. The Spanish governor received him with his accustomed +courtesy, wished him every kind of prosperity, and embraced him as he +left; but at the door of the castle Caesar found one of Gonzalvo's +captains, Nuno Campeja by name, who arrested him as a prisoner of +Ferdinand the Catholic. Caesar at these words heaved a deep sigh, +cursing the ill luck that had made him trust the word of an enemy when +he had so often broken his own. + +He was at once taken to the castle, where the prison gate closed behind +him, and he felt no hope that anyone would come to his aid; for the only +being who was devoted to him in this world was Michelotto, and he had +heard that Michelotto had been arrested near Pisa by order of Julius II. +While Caesar was being taken to prison an officer came to him to deprive +him of the safe-conduct given him by Gonzalvo. + +The day after his arrest, which occurred on the 27th of May, 1504, +Caesar was taken on board a ship, which at once weighed anchor and set +sail for Spain: during the whole voyage he had but one page to serve +him, and as soon as he disembarked he was taken to the castle of Medina +del Campo. + +Ten years later, Gonzalvo, who at that time was himself proscribed, +owned to Loxa on his dying bed that now, when he was to appear in the +presence of God, two things weighed cruelly on his conscience: one was +his treason to Ferdinand, the other his breach of faith towards Caesar. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +Caesar was in prison for two years, always hoping that Louis XII would +reclaim him as peer of the kingdom of France; but Louis, much disturbed +by the loss of the battle of Garigliano, which robbed him of the kingdom +of Naples, had enough to do with his own affairs without busying himself +with his cousin's. So the prisoner was beginning to despair, when one +day as he broke his bread at breakfast he found a file and a little +bottle containing a narcotic, with a letter from Michelotto, saying that +he was out of prison and had left Italy for Spain, and now lay in hiding +with the Count of Benevento in the neighbouring village: he added that +from the next day forward he and the count would wait every night on the +road between the fortress and the village with three excellent horses; +it was now Caesar's part to do the best he could with his bottle and +file. When the whole world had abandoned the Duke of Romagna he had been +remembered by a sbirro. + +The prison where he had been shut up for two years was so hateful to +Caesar that he lost not a single moment: the same day he attacked one of +the bars of a window that looked out upon an inner court, and soon +contrived so to manipulate it that it would need only a final push to +come out. But not only was the window nearly seventy feet from the +ground, but one could only get out of the court by using an exit +reserved for the governor, of which he alone had the key; also this key +never left him; by day it hung at his waist, by night it was under his +pillow: this then was the chief difficulty. + +But prisoner though he was, Caesar had always been treated with the +respect due to his name and rank: every day at the dinner-hour he was +conducted from the room that served as his prison to the governor, who +did the honours of the table in a grand and courteous fashion. The fact +was that Dan Manuel had served with honour under King Ferdinand, and +therefore, while he guarded Caesar rigorously, according to orders, he +had a great respect for so brave a general, and took pleasure in +listening to the accounts of his battles. So he had often insisted that +Caesar should not only dine but also breakfast with him; happily the +prisoner, yielding perhaps to some presentiment, had till now refused +this favour. This was of great advantage to him, since, thanks to his +solitude, he had been able to receive the instruments of escape sent by +Michelotto. The same day he received them, Caesar, on going back to his +room, made a false step and sprained his foot; at the dinner-hour he +tried to go down, but he pretended to be suffering so cruelly that he +gave it up. The governor came to see him in his room, and found him +stretched upon the bed. + +The day after, he was no better; the governor had his dinner sent in, +and came to see him, as on the night before; he found his prisoner so +dejected and gloomy in his solitude that he offered to come and sup with +him: Caesar gratefully accepted. + +This time it was the prisoner who did the honours: Caesar was charmingly +courteous; the governor thought he would profit by this lack of +restraint to put to him certain questions as to the manner of his +arrest, and asked him as an Old Castilian, for whom honour is still of +some account, what the truth really was as to Gonzalvo's and Ferdinand's +breach of faith, with him. Caesar appeared extremely inclined to give +him his entire confidence, but showed by a sign that the attendants were +in the way. This precaution appeared quite natural, and the governor +took no offense, but hastened to send them all away, so as to be sooner +alone with his companion. When the door was shut, Caesar filled his +glass and the governor's, proposing the king's health: the governor +honoured the toast: Caesar at once began his tale; but he had scarcely +uttered a third part of it when, interesting as it was, the eyes of his +host shut as though by magic, and he slid under the table in a profound +sleep. + +After half a hour had passed, the servants, hearing no noise, entered +and found the two, one on the table, the other under it: this event was +not so extraordinary that they paid any great attention to it: all they +did was to carry Don Manuel to his room and lift Caesar on the bed; then +they put away the remnant of the meal for the next day's supper, shut +the door very carefully, and left their prisoner alone. + +Caesar stayed for a minute motionless and apparently plunged in the +deepest sleep; but when he had heard the steps retreating, he quietly +raised his head, opened his eyes, slipped off the bed, walked to the +door, slowly indeed, but not to all appearance feeling the accident of +the night before, and applied his ear for some minutes to the keyhole; +then lifting his head with an expression of indescribable pride, he +wiped his brow with his hand, and for the first time since his guards +went out, breathed freely with full-drawn breaths. + +There was no time to lose: his first care was to shut the door as +securely on the inside as it was already shut on the outside, to blow +out the lamp, to open the window, and to finish sawing through the bar. +When this was done, he undid the bandages on his leg, took down the +window and bed curtains, tore them into strips, joined the sheets, table +napkins and cloth, and with all these things tied together end to end, +formed a rope fifty or sixty feet long, with knots every here and there. +This rope he fixed securely to the bar next to the one he had just cut +through; then he climbed up to the window and began what was really the +hardest part of his perilous enterprise, clinging with hands and feet to +this fragile support. Luckily he was both strong and skilful, and he +went down the whole length of the rope without accident; but when he +reached the end and was hanging on the last knot, he sought in vain to +touch the ground with his feet; his rope was too short. + +The situation was a terrible one: the darkness of the night prevented +the fugitive from seeing how far off he was from the ground, and his +fatigue prevented him from even attempting to climb up again. Caesar put +up a brief prayer, whether to Gad or Satan he alone could say; then +letting go the rope, he dropped from a height of twelve or fifteen feet. + +The danger was too great for the fugitive to trouble about a few +trifling contusions: he at once rose, and guiding himself by the +direction of his window, he went straight to the little door of exit; he +then put his hand into the pocket of his doublet, and a cold sweat +damped his brow; either he had forgotten and left it in his room or had +lost it in his fall; anyhow, he had not the key. + +But summoning his recollections, he quite gave up the first idea for the +second, which was the only likely one: again he crossed the court, +looking for the place where the key might have fallen, by the aid of the +wall round a tank on which he had laid his hand when he got up; but the +object of search was so small and the night so dark that there was +little chance of getting any result; still Caesar sought for it, for in +this key was his last hope: suddenly a door was opened, and a night +watch appeared, preceded by two torches. Caesar far the moment thought +he was lost, but remembering the tank behind him, he dropped into it, +and with nothing but his head above water anxiously watched the +movements of the soldiers, as they advanced beside him, passed only a +few feet away, crossed the court, and then disappeared by an opposite +door. But short as their luminous apparition had been, it had lighted up +the ground, and Caesar by the glare of the torches had caught the +glitter of the long-sought key, and as soon as the door was shut behind +the men, was again master of his liberty. + +Half-way between the castle and the village two cavaliers and a led +horse were waiting for him: the two men were Michelotto and the Count of +Benevento. Caesar sprang upon the riderless horse, pressed with fervour +the hand of the count and the sbirro; then all three galloped to the +frontier of Navarre, where they arrived three days later, and were +honourably received by the king, Jean d'Albret, the brother of Caesar's +wife. + +From Navarre he thought to pass into France, and from France to make an +attempt upon Italy, with the aid of Louis XII; but during Caesar's +detention in the castle of Medina del Campo, Louis had made peace with +the King of Spain; and when he heard of Caesar's flight; instead of +helping him, as there was some reason to expect he would, since he was a +relative by marriage, he took away the duchy of Valentinois and also his +pension. Still, Caesar had nearly 200,000 ducats in the charge of +bankers at Genoa; he wrote asking for this sum, with which he hoped to +levy troops in Spain and in Navarre, and make an attempt upon Pisa: 500 +men, 200,000 ducats, his name and his word were more than enough to save +him from despair. + +The bankers denied the deposit. + +Caesar was at the mercy of his brother-in-law. + +One of the vassals of the King of Navarre, named Prince Alarino, had +just then revolted: Caesar then took command of the army which Jean +d'Albret was sending out against him, followed by Michelotto, who was as +faithful in adversity as ever before. Thanks to Caesar's courage and +skilful tactics, Prince Alarino was beaten in a first encounter; but the +day after his defeat he rallied his army, and offered battle about three +o'clock in the afternoon. Caesar accepted it. + +For nearly four hours they fought obstinately on both sides; but at +length, as the day was going down, Caesar proposed to decide the issue +by making a charge himself, at the head of a hundred men-at-arms, upon a +body of cavalry which made his adversary's chief force. To his great +astonishment, this cavalry at the first shock gave way and took flight +in the direction of a little wood, where they seemed to be seeking +refuge. Caesar followed close on their heels up to the edge of the +forest; then suddenly the pursued turned right about face, three or four +hundred archers came out of the wood to help them, and Caesar's men, +seeing that they had fallen into an ambush, took to their heels like +cowards, and abandoned their leader. + +Left alone, Caesar would not budge one step; possibly he had had enough +of life, and his heroism was rather the result of satiety than courage: +however that may be, he defended himself like a lion; but, riddled with +arrows and bolts, his horse at last fell, with Caesar's leg under him. +His adversaries rushed upon him, and one of them thrusting a sharp and +slender iron pike through a weak place in his armour, pierced his +breast; Caesar cursed God and died. + +But the rest of the enemy's army was defeated, thanks to the courage of +Michelotto, who fought like a valiant condottiere, but learned, on +returning to the camp in the evening, from those who had fled; that they +had abandoned Caesar and that he had never reappeared. Then only too +certain, from his master's well-known courage, that disaster had +occurred, he desired to give one last proof of his devotion by not +leaving his body to the wolves and birds of prey. Torches were lighted, +for it was dark, and with ten or twelve of those who had gone with +Caesar as far as the little wood, he went to seek his master. On +reaching the spot they pointed out, he beheld five men stretched side by +side; four of them were dressed, but the fifth had been stripped of his +clothing and lay completely naked. Michelotto dismounted, lifted the +head upon his knees, and by the light of the torches recognised Caesar. + +Thus fell, on the 10th of March, 1507, on an unknown field, near an +obscure village called Viane, in a wretched skirmish with the vassal of +a petty king, the man whom Macchiavelli presents to all princes as the +model of ability, diplomacy, and courage. + +As to Lucrezia, the fair Duchess of Ferrara, she died full of years, and +honours, adored as a queen by her subjects, and sung as a goddess by +Ariosto and by Bembo. + + + + +EPILOGUE + + +There was once in Paris, says Boccaccio, a brave and good merchant named +Jean de Civigny, who did a great trade in drapery, and was connected in +business with a neighbour and fellow-merchant, a very rich man called +Abraham, who, though a Jew, enjoyed a good reputation. Jean de Civigny, +appreciating the qualities of the worthy Israelite; feared lest, good +man as he was, his false religion would bring his soul straight to +eternal perdition; so he began to urge him gently as a friend to +renounce his errors and open his eyes to the Christian faith, which he +could see for himself was prospering and spreading day by day, being the +only true and good religion; whereas his own creed, it was very plain, +was so quickly diminishing that it would soon disappear from the face of +the earth. The Jew replied that except in his own religion there was no +salvation, that he was born in it, proposed to live and die in it, and +that he knew nothing in the world that could change his opinion. Still, +in his proselytising fervour Jean would not think himself beaten, and +never a day passed but he demonstrated with those fair words the +merchant uses to seduce a customer, the superiority of the Christian +religion above the Jewish; and although Abraham was a great master of +Mosaic law, he began to enjoy his friend's preaching, either because of +the friendship he felt for him or because the Holy Ghost descended upon +the tongue of the new apostle; still obstinate in his own belief, he +would not change. The more he persisted in his error, the more excited +was Jean about converting him, so that at last, by God's help, being +somewhat shaken by his friend's urgency, Abraham one day said-- + +"Listen, Jean: since you have it so much at heart that I should be +converted, behold me disposed to satisfy you; but before I go to Rome to +see him whom you call God's vicar on earth, I must study his manner of +life and his morals, as also those of his brethren the cardinals; and +if, as I doubt not, they are in harmony with what you preach, I will +admit that, as you have taken such pains to show me, your faith is +better than mine, and I will do as you desire; but if it should prove +otherwise, I shall remain a Jew, as I was before; for it is not worth +while, at my age, to change my belief for a worse one." + +Jean was very sad when he heard these words; and he said mournfully to +himself, "Now I have lost my time and pains, which I thought I had spent +so well when I was hoping to convert this unhappy Abraham; for if he +unfortunately goes, as he says he will, to the court of Rome, and there +sees the shameful life led by the servants of the Church, instead of +becoming a Christian the Jew will be more of a Jew than ever." Then +turning to Abraham, he said, "Ah, friend, why do you wish to incur such +fatigue and expense by going to Rome, besides the fact that travelling +by sea or by land must be very dangerous for so rich a man as you are? +Do you suppose there is no one here to baptize you? If you have any +doubts concerning the faith I have expounded, where better than here +will you find theologians capable of contending with them and allaying +them? So, you see, this voyage seems to me quite unnecessary: just +imagine that the priests there are such as you see here, and all the +better in that they are nearer to the supreme pastor. If you are guided +by my advice, you will postpone this toil till you have committed some +grave sin and need absolution; then you and I will go together." + +But the Jew replied-- + +"I believe, dear Jean, that everything is as you tell me; but you know +how obstinate I am. I will go to Rome, or I will never be a Christian." + +Then Jean, seeing his great wish, resolved that it was no use trying to +thwart him, and wished him good luck; but in his heart he gave up all +hope; for it was certain that his friend would come back from his +pilgrimage more of a Jew than ever, if the court of Rome was still as he +had seen it. + +But Abraham mounted his horse, and at his best speed took the road to +Rome, where on his arrival he was wonderfully well received by his +coreligionists; and after staying there a good long time, he began to +study the behaviour of the pope, the cardinals and other prelates, and +of the whole court. But much to his surprise he found out, partly by +what passed under his eyes and partly by what he was told, that all from +the pope downward to the lowest sacristan of St. Peter's were committing +the sins of luxurious living in a most disgraceful and unbridled manner, +with no remorse and no shame, so that pretty women and handsome youths +could obtain any favours they pleased. In addition to this sensuality +which they exhibited in public, he saw that they were gluttons and +drunkards, so much so that they were more the slaves of the belly than +are the greediest of animals. When he looked a little further, he found +them so avaricious and fond of money that they sold for hard cash both +human bodies and divine offices, and with less conscience than a man in +Paris would sell cloth or any other merchandise. Seeing this and much +more that it would not be proper to set down here, it seemed to Abraham, +himself a chaste, sober, and upright man, that he had seen enough. So he +resolved to return to Paris, and carried out the resolution with his +usual promptitude. Jean de Civigny held a great fete in honour of his +return, although he had lost hope of his coming back converted. But he +left time for him to settle down before he spoke of anything, thinking +there would be plenty of time to hear the bad news he expected. But, +after a few days of rest, Abraham himself came to see his friend, and +Jean ventured to ask what he thought of the Holy Father, the cardinals, +and the other persons at the pontifical court. At these words the Jew +exclaimed, "God damn them all! I never once succeeded in finding among +them any holiness, any devotion, any good works; but, on the contrary, +luxurious living, avarice, greed, fraud, envy, pride, and even worse, if +there is worse; all the machine seemed to be set in motion by an impulse +less divine than diabolical. After what I saw, it is my firm conviction +that your pope, and of course the others as well, are using all their +talents, art, endeavours, to banish the Christian religion from the face +of the earth, though they ought to be its foundation and support; and +since, in spite of all the care and trouble they expend to arrive at +this end, I see that your religion is spreading every day and becoming +more brilliant and more pure, it is borne in upon me that the Holy +Spirit Himself protects it as the only true and the most holy religion; +this is why, deaf as you found me to your counsel and rebellious to your +wish, I am now, ever since I returned from this Sodom, firmly resolved +on becoming a Christian. So let us go at once to the church, for I am +quite ready to be baptized." + +There is no need to say if Jean de Civigny, who expected a refusal, was +pleased at this consent. Without delay he went with his godson to Notre +Dame de Paris, where he prayed the first priest he met to administer +baptism to his friend, and this was speedily done; and the new convert +changed his Jewish name of Abraham into the Christian name of Jean; and +as the neophyte, thanks to his journey to Rome, had gained a profound +belief, his natural good qualities increased so greatly in the practice +of our holy religion, that after leading an exemplary life he died in +the full odour of sanctity. + +This tale of Boccaccio's gives so admirable an answer to the charge of +irreligion which some might make against us if they mistook our +intentions, that as we shall not offer any other reply, we have not +hesitated to present it entire as it stands to the eyes of our readers. + +And let us never forget that if the papacy has had an Innocent VIII and +an Alexander VI who are its shame, it has also had a Pius VII and a +Gregory XVI who are its honour and glory. + + + + +*THE CENCI--1598* + + +Should you ever go to Rome and visit the villa Pamphili, no doubt, after +having sought under its tall pines and along its canals the shade and +freshness so rare in the capital of the Christian world, you will +descend towards the Janiculum Hill by a charming road, in the middle of +which you will find the Pauline fountain. Having passed this monument, +and having lingered a moment on the terrace of the church of St. Peter +Montorio, which commands the whole of Rome, you will visit the cloister +of Bramante, in the middle of which, sunk a few feet below the level, is +built, on the identical place where St. Peter was crucified, a little +temple, half Greek, half Christian; you will thence ascend by a side +door into the church itself. There, the attentive cicerone will show +you, in the first chapel to the right, the Christ Scourged, by Sebastian +del Piombo, and in the third chapel to the left, an Entombment by +Fiammingo; having examined these two masterpieces at leisure, he will +take you to each end of the transverse cross, and will show you--on one +side a picture by Salviati, on slate, and on the other a work by Vasari; +then, pointing out in melancholy tones a copy of Guido's Martyrdom of +St. Peter on the high altar, he will relate to you how for three +centuries the divine Raffaelle's Transfiguration was worshipped in that +spot; how it was carried away by the French in 1809, and restored to the +pope by the Allies in 1814. As you have already in all probability +admired this masterpiece in the Vatican, allow him to expatiate, and +search at the foot of the altar for a mortuary slab, which you will +identify by a cross and the single word; Orate; under this gravestone is +buried Beatrice Cenci, whose tragical story cannot but impress you +profoundly. + +She was the daughter of Francesco Cenci. Whether or not it be true that +men are born in harmony with their epoch, and that some embody its good +qualities and others its bad ones, it may nevertheless interest our +readers to cast a rapid glance over the period which had just passed +when the events which we are about to relate took place. Francesco Cenci +will then appear to them as the diabolical incarnation of his time. + +On the 11th of August, 1492, after the lingering death-agony of Innocent +VIII, during which two hundred and twenty murders were committed in the +streets of Rome, Alexander VI ascended the pontifical throne. Son of a +sister of Pope Calixtus III, Roderigo Lenzuoli Borgia, before being +created cardinal, had five children by Rosa Vanozza, whom he afterwards +caused to be married to a rich Roman. These children were: + +Francis, Duke of Gandia; + +Caesar, bishop and cardinal, afterwards Duke of Valentinois; + +Lucrezia, who was married four times: her first husband was Giovanni +Sforza, lord of Pesaro, whom she left owing to his impotence; the +second, Alfonso, Duke of Bisiglia, whom her brother Caesar caused to be +assassinated; the third, Alfonso d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, from whom a +second divorce separated her; finally, the fourth, Alfonso of Aragon, +who was stabbed to death on the steps of the basilica of St. Peter, and +afterwards, three weeks later, strangled, because he did not die soon +enough from his wounds, which nevertheless were mortal; + +Giofre, Count of Squillace, of whom little is known; + +And, finally, a youngest son, of whom nothing at all is known. + +The most famous of these three brothers was Caesar Borgia. He had made +every arrangement a plotter could make to be King of Italy at the death +of his father the pope, and his measures were so carefully taken as to +leave no doubt in his own mind as to the success of this vast project. +Every chance was provided against, except one; but Satan himself could +hardly have foreseen this particular one. The reader will judge for +himself. + +The pope had invited Cardinal Adrien to supper in his vineyard on the +Belvidere; Cardinal Adrien was very rich, and the pope wished to inherit +his wealth, as he already had acquired that of the Cardinals of Sant' +Angelo, Capua, and Modena. To effect this, Caesar Borgia sent two +bottles of poisoned wine to his father's cup-bearer, without taking him +into his confidence; he only instructed him not to serve this wine till +he himself gave orders to do so; unfortunately, during supper the +cup-bearer left his post for a moment, and in this interval a careless +butler served the poisoned wine to the pope, to Caesar Borgia, and to +Cardinal Corneto. + +Alexander VI died some hours afterwards; Caesar Borgia was confined to +bed, and sloughed off his skin; while Cardinal Corneto lost his sight +and his senses, and was brought to death's door. + +Pius III succeeded Alexander VI, and reigned twenty-five days; on the +twenty-sixth he was poisoned also. + +Caesar Borgia had under his control eighteen Spanish cardinals who owed +to him their places in the Sacred College; these cardinals were entirely +his creatures, and he could command them absolutely. As he was in a +moribund condition and could make no use of them for himself, he sold +them to Giuliano della Rovere, and Giuliano della Rovere was elected +pope, under the name of Julius II. To the Rome of Nero succeeded the +Athens of Pericles. + +Leo X succeeded Julius II, and under his pontificate Christianity +assumed a pagan character, which, passing from art into manners, gives +to this epoch a strange complexion. Crimes for the moment disappeared, +to give place to vices; but to charming vices, vices in good taste, such +as those indulged in by Alcibiades and sung by Catullus. Leo X died +after having assembled under his reign, which lasted eight years, eight +months, and nineteen days, Michael Angelo, Raffaelle, Leonardo da Vinci, +Correggio, Titian, Andrea del Sarto, Fra Bartolommeo, Giulio Romano, +Ariosto, Guicciardini, and Macchiavelli. + +Giulio di Medici and Pompeo Colonna had equal claims to succeed him. As +both were skilful politicians, experienced courtiers, and moreover of +real and almost equal merit, neither of them could obtain a majority, +and the Conclave was prolonged almost indefinitely, to the great fatigue +of the cardinals. So it happened one day that a cardinal, more tired +than the rest, proposed to elect, instead of either Medici or Colonna, +the son, some say of a weaver, others of a brewer of Utrecht, of whom no +one had ever thought till then, and who was for the moment acting head +of affairs in Spain, in the absence of Charles the Fifth. The jest +prospered in the ears of those who heard it; all the cardinals approved +their colleague's proposal, and Adrien became pope by a mere accident. + +He was a perfect specimen of the Flemish type a regular Dutchman, and +could not speak a word of Italian. When he arrived in Rome, and saw the +Greek masterpieces of sculpture collected at vast cost by Leo X, he +wished to break them to pieces, exclaiming, "Suet idola anticorum." His +first act was to despatch a papal nuncio, Francesco Cherigato, to the +Diet of Nuremberg, convened to discuss the reforms of Luther, with +instructions which give a vivid notion of the manners of the time. + +"Candidly confess," said he, "that God has permitted this schism and +this persecution on account of the sins of man, and especially those of +priests and prelates of the Church; for we know that many abominable +things have taken place in the Holy See." + +Adrien wished to bring the Romans back to the simple and austere manners +of the early Church, and with this object pushed reform to the minutest +details. For instance, of the hundred grooms maintained by Leo X, he +retained only a dozen, in order, he said, to have two more than the +cardinals. + +A pope like this could not reign long: he died after a year's +pontificate. The morning after his death his physician's door was found +decorated with garlands of flowers, bearing this inscription: "To the +liberator of his country." + +Giulio di Medici and Pompeo Colonna were again rival candidates. +Intrigues recommenced, and the Conclave was once more so divided that at +one time the cardinals thought they could only escape the difficulty in +which they were placed by doing what they had done before, and electing +a third competitor; they were even talking about Cardinal Orsini, when +Giulio di Medici, one of the rival candidates, hit upon a very ingenious +expedient. He wanted only five votes; five of his partisans each offered +to bet five of Colonna's a hundred thousand ducats to ten thousand +against the election of Giulio di Medici. At the very first ballot after +the wager, Giulio di Medici got the five votes he wanted; no objection +could be made, the cardinals had not been bribed; they had made a bet, +that was all. + +Thus it happened, on the 18th of November, 1523, Giulio di Medici was +proclaimed pope under the name of Clement VII. The same day, he +generously paid the five hundred thousand ducats which his five +partisans had lost. + +It was under this pontificate, and during the seven months in which +Rome, conquered by the Lutheran soldiers of the Constable of Bourbon, +saw holy things subjected to the most frightful profanations, that +Francesco Cenci was born. + +He was the son of Monsignor Nicolo Cenci, afterwards apostolic treasurer +during the pontificate of Pius V. Under this venerable prelate, who +occupied himself much more with the spiritual than the temporal +administration of his kingdom, Nicolo Cenci took advantage of his +spiritual head's abstraction of worldly matters to amass a net revenue +of a hundred and sixty thousand piastres, about f32,000 of our money. +Francesco Cenci, who was his only son, inherited this fortune. + +His youth was spent under popes so occupied with the schism of Luther +that they had no time to think of anything else. The result was, that +Francesco Cenci, inheriting vicious instincts and master of an immense +fortune which enabled him to purchase immunity, abandoned himself to all +the evil passions of his fiery and passionate temperament. Five times +during his profligate career imprisoned for abominable crimes, he only +succeeded in procuring his liberation by the payment of two hundred +thousand piastres, or about one million francs. It should be explained +that popes at this time were in great need of money. + +The lawless profligacy of Francesco Cenci first began seriously to +attract public attention under the pontificate of Gregory XIII. This +reign offered marvellous facilities for the development of a reputation +such as that which this reckless Italian Don Juan seemed bent on +acquiring. Under the Bolognese Buoncampagno, a free hand was given to +those able to pay both assassins and judges. Rape and murder were so +common that public justice scarcely troubled itself with these trifling +things, if nobody appeared to prosecute the guilty parties. The good +Gregory had his reward for his easygoing indulgence; he was spared to +rejoice over the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. + +Francesco Cenci was at the time of which we are speaking a man of +forty-four or forty-five years of age, about five feet four inches in +height, symmetrically proportioned, and very strong, although rather +thin; his hair was streaked with grey, his eyes were large and +expressive, although the upper eyelids drooped somewhat; his nose was +long, his lips were thin, and wore habitually a pleasant smile, except +when his eye perceived an enemy; at this moment his features assumed a +terrible expression; on such occasions, and whenever moved or even +slightly irritated, he was seized with a fit of nervous trembling, which +lasted long after the cause which provoked it had passed. An adept in +all manly exercises and especially in horsemanship, he sometimes used to +ride without stopping from Rome to Naples, a distance of forty-one +leagues, passing through the forest of San Germano and the Pontine +marshes heedless of brigands, although he might be alone and unarmed +save for his sword and dagger. When his horse fell from fatigue, he +bought another; were the owner unwilling to sell he took it by force; if +resistance were made, he struck, and always with the point, never the +hilt. In most cases, being well known throughout the Papal States as a +free-handed person, nobody tried to thwart him; some yielding through +fear, others from motives of interest. Impious, sacrilegious, and +atheistical, he never entered a church except to profane its sanctity. +It was said of him that he had a morbid appetite for novelties in crime, +and that there was no outrage he would not commit if he hoped by so +doing to enjoy a new sensation. + +At the age of about forty-five he had married a very rich woman, whose +name is not mentioned by any chronicler. She died, leaving him seven +children--five boys and two girls. He then married Lucrezia Petroni, a +perfect beauty of the Roman type, except for the ivory pallor of her +complexion. By this second marriage he had no children. + +As if Francesco Cenci were void of all natural affection, he hated his +children, and was at no pains to conceal his feelings towards them: on +one occasion, when he was building, in the courtyard of his magnificent +palace, near the Tiber, a chapel dedicated to St. Thomas, he remarked to +the architect, when instructing him to design a family vault, "That is +where I hope to bury them all." The architect often subsequently +admitted that he was so terrified by the fiendish laugh which +accompanied these words, that had not Francesco Cenci's work been +extremely profitable, he would have refused to go on with it. + +As soon as his three eldest boys, Giacomo, Cristoforo, and Rocco, were +out of their tutors' hands, in order to get rid of them he sent them to +the University of Salamanca, where, out of sight, they were out of mind, +for he thought no more about them, and did not even send them the means +of subsistence. In these straits, after struggling for some months +against their wretched plight, the lads were obliged to leave Salamanca, +and beg their way home, tramping barefoot through France and Italy, till +they made their way back to Rome, where they found their father harsher +and more unkind than ever. + +This happened in the early part of the reign of Clement VIII, famed for +his justice. The three youths resolved to apply to him, to grant them an +allowance out of their father's immense income. They consequently +repaired to Frascati, where the pope was building the beautiful +Aldobrandini Villa, and stated their case. The pope admitted the justice +of their claims, and ordered Francesco, to allow each of them two +thousand crowns a year. He endeavoured by every possible means to evade +this decree, but the pope's orders were too stringent to be disobeyed. + +About this period he was for the third time imprisoned for infamous +crimes. His three sons them again petitioned the pope, alleging that +their father dishonoured the family name, and praying that the extreme +rigour of the law, a capital sentence, should be enforced in his case. +The pope pronounced this conduct unnatural and odious, and drove them +with ignominy from his presence. As for Francesco, he escaped, as on the +two previous occasions, by the payment of a large sum of money. + +It will be readily understood that his sons' conduct on this occasion +did not improve their father's disposition towards them, but as their +independent pensions enabled them to keep out of his way, his rage fell +with all the greater intensity on his two unhappy daughters. Their +situation soon became so intolerable, that the elder, contriving to +elude the close supervision under which she was kept, forwarded to the +pope a petition, relating the cruel treatment to which she was +subjected, and praying His Holiness either to give her in marriage or +place her in a convent. Clement VIII took pity on her; compelled +Francesco Cenci to give her a dowry of sixty thousand crowns, and +married her to Carlo Gabrielli, of a noble family of Gubbio. Francesco +driven nearly frantic with rage when he saw this victim released from +his clutches. + +About the same time death relieved him from two other encumbrances: his +sons Rocco and Cristoforo were killed within a year of each other; the +latter by a bungling medical practitioner whose name is unknown; the +former by Paolo Corso di Massa, in the streets of Rome. This came as a +relief to Francesco, whose avarice pursued his sons even after their +death, far he intimated to the priest that he would not spend a farthing +on funeral services. They were accordingly borne to the paupers' graves +which he had caused to be prepared for them, and when he saw them both +interred, he cried out that he was well rid of such good-for-nothing +children, but that he should be perfectly happy only when the remaining +five were buried with the first two, and that when he had got rid of the +last he himself would burn down his palace as a bonfire to celebrate the +event. + +But Francesco took every precaution against his second daughter, +Beatrice Cenci, following the example of her elder sister. She was then +a child of twelve or thirteen years of age, beautiful and innocent as an +angel. Her long fair hair, a beauty seen so rarely in Italy, that +Raffaelle, believing it divine, has appropriated it to all his Madonnas, +curtained a lovely forehead, and fell in flowing locks over her +shoulders. Her azure eyes bore a heavenly expression; she was of middle +height, exquisitely proportioned; and during the rare moments when a +gleam of happiness allowed her natural character to display itself, she +was lively, joyous, and sympathetic, but at the same time evinced a firm +and decided disposition. + +To make sure of her custody, Francesco kept her shut up in a remote +apartment of his palace, the key of which he kept in his own possession. +There, her unnatural and inflexible gaoler daily brought her some food. +Up to the age of thirteen, which she had now reached, he had behaved to +her with the most extreme harshness and severity; but now, to poor +Beatrice's great astonishment, he all at once became gentle and even +tender. Beatrice was a child no longer; her beauty expanded like a +flower; and Francesco, a stranger to no crime, however heinous, had +marked her for his own. + +Brought up as she had been, uneducated, deprived of all society, even +that of her stepmother, Beatrice knew not good from evil: her ruin was +comparatively easy to compass; yet Francesco, to accomplish his +diabolical purpose, employed all the means at his command. Every night +she was awakened by a concert of music which seemed to come from +Paradise. When she mentioned this to her father, he left her in this +belief, adding that if she proved gentle and obedient she would be +rewarded by heavenly sights, as well as heavenly sounds. + +One night it came to pass that as the young girl was reposing, her head +supported on her elbow, and listening to a delightful harmony, the +chamber door suddenly opened, and from the darkness of her own room she +beheld a suite of apartments brilliantly illuminated, and sensuous with +perfumes; beautiful youths and girls, half clad, such as she had seen in +the pictures of Guido and Raffaelle, moved to and fro in these +apartments, seeming full of joy and happiness: these were the ministers +to the pleasures of Francesco, who, rich as a king, every night revelled +in the orgies of Alexander, the wedding revels of Lucrezia, and the +excesses of Tiberius at Capri. After an hour, the door closed, and the +seductive vision vanished, leaving Beatrice full of trouble and +amazement. + +The night following, the same apparition again presented itself, only, +on this occasion, Francesco Cenci, undressed, entered his daughter's +roam and invited her to join the fete. Hardly knowing what she did, +Beatrice yet perceived the impropriety of yielding to her father's +wishes: she replied that, not seeing her stepmother, Lucrezia Petroni, +among all these women, she dared not leave her bed to mix with persons +who were unknown to her. Francesco threatened and prayed, but threats +and prayers were of no avail. Beatrice wrapped herself up in the +bedclothes, and obstinately refused to obey. + +The next night she threw herself on her bed without undressing. At the +accustomed hour the door opened, and the nocturnal spectacle reappeared. +This time, Lucrezia Petroni was among the women who passed before +Beatrice's door; violence had compelled her to undergo this humiliation. +Beatrice was too far off to see her blushes and her tears. Francesco +pointed out her stepmother, whom she had lacked for in vain the previous +evening; and as she could no longer make any opposition, he led her, +covered with blushes and confusion, into the middle of this orgy. + +Beatrice there saw incredible and infamous things.... + +Nevertheless, she resisted a long time: an inward voice told her that +this was horrible; but Francesco had the slaw persistence of a demon. To +these sights, calculated to stimulate her passions, he added heresies +designed to warp her mind; he told her that the greatest saints +venerated by the Church were the issue of fathers and daughters, and in +the end Beatrice committed a crime without even knowing it to be a sin. + +His brutality then knew no bounds. He forced Lucrezia and Beatrice to +share the same bed, threatening his wife to kill her if she disclosed to +his daughter by a single word that there was anything odious in such an +intercourse. So matters went on for about three years. + +At this time Francesco was obliged to make a journey, and leave the +women alone and free. The first thing Lucrezia did was to enlighten +Beatrice an the infamy of the life they were leading; they then together +prepared a memorial to the pope, in which they laid before him a +statement of all the blows and outrages they had suffered. But, before +leaving, Francesco Cenci had taken precautions; every person about the +pope was in his pay, or hoped to be. The petition never reached His +Holiness, and the two poor women, remembering that Clement VIII had on a +farmer occasion driven Giacomo, Cristaforo, and Rocco from his presence, +thought they were included in the same proscription, and looked upon +themselves as abandoned to their fate. + +When matters were in this state, Giacomo, taking advantage of his +father's absence, came to pay them a visit with a friend of his, an abbe +named Guerra: he was a young man of twenty-five or twenty-six, belonging +to one of the most noble families in Rome, of a bold, resolute, and +courageous character, and idolised by all the Roman ladies for his +beauty. To classical features he added blue eyes swimming in poetic +sentiment; his hair was long and fair, with chestnut beard and eyebrows; +add to these attractions a highly educated mind, natural eloquence +expressed by a musical and penetrating voice, and the reader may form +some idea of Monsignor the Abbe Guerra. + +No sooner had he seen Beatrice than he fell in love with her. On her +side, she was not slow to return the sympathy of the young priest. The +Council of Trent had not been held at that time, consequently +ecclesiastics were not precluded from marriage. It was therefore decided +that on the return of Francesco the Abbe Guerra should demand the hand +of Beatrice from her father, and the women, happy in the absence of +their master, continued to live on, hoping for better things to come. + +After three or four months, during which no one knew where he was, +Francesco returned. The very first night, he wished to resume his +intercourse with Beatrice; but she was no longer the same person, the +timid and submissive child had become a girl of decided will; strong in +her love for the abbe, she resisted alike prayers, threats, and blows. + +The wrath of Francesco fell upon his wife, whom he accused of betraying +him; he gave her a violent thrashing. Lucrezia Petroni was a veritable +Roman she-wolf, passionate alike in love and vengeance; she endured all, +but pardoned nothing. + +Some days after this, the Abbe Guerra arrived at the Cenci palace to +carry out what had been arranged. Rich, young, noble, and handsome, +everything would seem to promise him success; yet he was rudely +dismissed by Francesco. The first refusal did not daunt him; he returned +to the charge a second time and yet a third, insisting upon the +suitableness of such a union. At length Francesco, losing patience, told +this obstinate lover that a reason existed why Beatrice could be neither +his wife nor any other man's. Guerra demanded what this reason was. +Francesco replied: + +"Because she is my mistress." + +Monsignor Guerra turned pale at this answer, although at first he did +not believe a word of it; but when he saw the smile with which Francesco +Cenci accompanied his words, he was compelled to believe that, terrible +though it was, the truth had been spoken. + +For three days he sought an interview with Beatrice in vain; at length +he succeeded in finding her. His last hope was her denial of this +horrible story: Beatrice confessed all. Henceforth there was no human +hope for the two lovers; an impassable gulf separated them. They parted +bathed in tears, promising to love one another always. + +Up to that time the two women had not formed any criminal resolution, +and possibly the tragical incident might never have happened, had not +Frances one night returned into his daughter's room and violently forced +her into the commission of fresh crime. + +Henceforth the doom of Francesco was irrevocably pronounced. + +As we have said, the mind of Beatrice was susceptible to the best and +the worst influences: it could attain excellence, and descend to guilt. +She went and told her mother of the fresh outrage she had undergone; +this roused in the heart of the other woman the sting of her own wrongs; +and, stimulating each other's desire for revenge, they, decided upon the +murder of Francesco. + +Guerra was called in to this council of death. His heart was a prey to +hatred and revenge. He undertook to communicate with Giacomo Cenci, +without whose concurrence the women would not act, as he was the head of +the family, when his father was left out of account. + +Giacomo entered readily into the conspiracy. It will be remembered what +he had formerly suffered from his father; since that time he had +married, and the close-fisted old man had left him, with his wife and +children, to languish in poverty. Guerra's house was selected to meet in +and concert matters. + +Giacomo hired a sbirro named Marzio, and Guerra a second named Olympio. + +Both these men had private reasons for committing the crime--one being +actuated by love, the other by hatred. Marzio, who was in the service of +Giacomo, had often seen Beatrice, and loved her, but with that silent +and hopeless love which devours the soul. When he conceived that the +proposed crime would draw him nearer to Beatrice, he accepted his part +in it without any demur. + +As for Olympio, he hated Francesco, because the latter had caused him to +lose the post of castellan of Rocco Petrella, a fortified stronghold in +the kingdom of Naples, belonging to Prince Colonna. Almost every year +Francesco Cenci spent some months at Rocco Petrella with his family; for +Prince Colonna, a noble and magnificent but needy prince, had much +esteem for Francesco, whose purse he found extremely useful. It had so +happened that Francesco, being dissatisfied with Olympio, complained +about him to Prince Colonna, and he was dismissed. + +After several consultations between the Cenci family, the abbe and the +sbirri, the following plan of action was decided upon. + +The period when Francesco Cenci was accustomed to go to Rocco Petrella +was approaching: it was arranged that Olympio, conversant with the +district and its inhabitants, should collect a party of a dozen +Neapolitan bandits, and conceal them in a forest through which the +travellers would have to pass. Upon a given signal, the whole family +were to be seized and carried off. A heavy ransom was to be demanded, +and the sons were to be sent back to Rome to raise the sum; but, under +pretext of inability to do so, they were to allow the time fixed by the +bandits to lapse, when Francesco was to be put to death. Thus all +suspicions of a plot would be avoided, and the real assassins would +escape justice. + +This well-devised scheme was nevertheless unsuccessful. When Francesco +left Rome, the scout sent in advance by the conspirators could not find +the bandits; the latter, not being warned beforehand, failed to come +down before the passage of the travellers, who arrived safe and sound at +Rocco Petreila. The bandits, after having patrolled the road in vain, +came to the conclusion that their prey had escaped, and, unwilling to +stay any longer in a place where they had already spent a week, went off +in quest of better luck elsewhere. + +Francesco had in the meantime settled down in the fortress, and, to be +more free to tyrannise over Lucrezia and Beatrice, sent back to Rome +Giacomo and his two other sons. He then recommenced his infamous +attempts upon Beatrice, and with such persistence, that she resolved +herself to accomplish the deed which at first she desired to entrust to +other hands. + +Olympio and Marzio, who had nothing to fear from justice, remained +lurking about the castle; one day Beatrice saw them from a window, and +made signs that she had something to communicate to them. The same night +Olympio, who having been castellan knew all the approaches to the +fortress, made his way there with his companion. Beatrice awaited them +at a window which looked on to a secluded courtyard; she gave them +letters which she had written to her brother and to Monsignor Guerra. +The former was to approve, as he had done before, the murder of their +father; for she would do nothing without his sanction. As for Monsignor +Guerra, he was to pay Olympio a thousand piastres, half the stipulated +sum; Marzio acting out of pure love for Beatrice, whom he worshipped as +a Madonna; which observing, the girl gave him a handsome scarlet mantle, +trimmed with gold lace, telling him to wear it for love of her. As for +the remaining moiety, it was to be paid when the death of the old man +had placed his wife and daughter in possession of his fortune. + +The two sbirri departed, and the imprisoned conspirators anxiously +awaited their return. On the day fixed, they were seen again. Monsignor +Guerra had paid the thousand piastres, and Giacomo had given his +consent. Nothing now stood in the way of the execution of this terrible +deed, which was fixed for the 8th of September, the day of the Nativity +of the Virgin; but Signora Lucrezia, a very devout person, having +noticed this circumstance, would not be a party to the committal of a +double sin; the matter was therefore deferred till the next day, the +9th. + +That evening, the 9th of September, 1598, the two women, supping with +the old man, mixed some narcotic with his wine so adroitly that, +suspicious though he was, he never detected it, and having swallowed the +potion, soon fell into a deep sleep. + +The evening previous, Marzio and Olympio had been admitted into the +castle, where they had lain concealed all night and all day; for, as +will be remembered, the assassination would have been effected the day +before had it not been for the religious scruples of Signora Lucrezia +Petroni. Towards midnight, Beatrice fetched them out of their +hiding-place, and took them to her father's chamber, the door of which +she herself opened. The assassins entered, and the two women awaited the +issue in the room adjoining. + +After a moment, seeing the sbirri reappear pale and nerveless, shaking +their heads without speaking, they at once inferred that nothing had +been done. + +"What is the matter?" cried Beatrice; "and what hinders you?" + +"It is a cowardly act," replied the assassins, "to kill a poor old man +in his sleep. At the thought of his age, we were struck with pity." + +Then Beatrice disdainfully raised her head, and in a deep firm voice +thus reproached them. + +"Is it possible that you, who pretend to be brave and strong, have not +courage enough to kill a sleeping old man? How would it be if he were +awake? And thus you steal our money! Very well: since your cowardice +compels me to do so, I will kill my father myself; but you will not long +survive him." + +Hearing these words, the sbirri felt ashamed of their irresolution, and, +indicating by signs that they would fulfil their compact, they entered +the room, accompanied by the two women. As they had said, a ray of +moonlight shone through the open window, and brought into prominence the +tranquil face of the old man, the sight of whose white hair had so +affected them. + +This time they showed no mercy. One of them carried two great nails, +such as those portrayed in pictures of the Crucifixion; the other bore a +mallet: the first placed a nail upright over one of the old man's eyes; +the other struck it with the hammer, and drove it into his head. The +throat was pierced in the same way with the second nail; and thus the +guilty soul, stained throughout its career with crimes of violence, was +in its turn violently torn from the body, which lay writhing on the +floor where it had rolled. + +The young girl then, faithful to her word, handed the sbirri a large +purse containing the rest of the sum agreed upon, and they left. When +they found themselves alone, the women drew the nails out of the wounds, +wrapped the corpse in a sheet, and dragged it through the rooms towards +a small rampart, intending to throw it down into a garden which had been +allowed to run to waste. They hoped that the old man's death would be +attributed to his having accidentally fallen off the terrace on his way +in the dark to a closet at the end of the gallery. But their strength +failed them when they reached the door of the last room, and, while +resting there, Lucrezia perceived the two sbirri, sharing the money +before making their escape. At her call they came to her, carried the +corpse to the rampart, and, from a spot pointed out by the women, where +the terrace was unfenced by any parapet, they threw it into an elder +tree below, whose branches retained' it suspended. + +When the body was found the following morning hanging in the branches of +the elder tree, everybody supposed, as Beatrice and her stepmother had +foreseen, that Francesco, stepping over the edge of the 386 terrace in +the dark, had thus met his end. The body was so scratched and disfigured +that no one noticed the wounds made by the two nails. The ladies, as +soon as the news was imparted to them, came out from their rooms, +weeping and lamenting in so natural a manner as to disarm any +suspicions. The only person who formed any was the laundress to whom +Beatrice entrusted the sheet in which her father's body had been +wrapped, accounting for its bloody condition by a lame explanation, +which the laundress accepted without question, or pretended to do so; +and immediately after the funeral, the mourners returned to Rome, hoping +at length to enjoy quietude and peace. For some time, indeed, they did +enjoy tranquillity, perhaps poisoned by remorse, but ere long +retribution pursued them. The court of Naples, hearing of the sudden and +unexpected death of Francesco Cenci, and conceiving some suspicions of +violence, despatched a royal commissioner to Petrella to exhume the body +and make minute inquiries, if there appeared to be adequate grounds for +doing so. On his arrival all the domestics in the castle were placed +under arrest and sent in chains to Naples. No incriminating proofs, +however, were found, except in the evidence of the laundress, who +deposed that Beatrice had given her a bloodstained sheet to wash. This, +clue led to terrible consequences; for, further questioned she declared +that she could not believe the explanation given to account for its +condition. The evidence was sent to the Roman court; but at that period +it did not appear strong enough to warrant the arrest of the Cenci +family, who remained undisturbed for many months, during which time the +youngest boy died. Of the five brothers there only remained Giacomo, the +eldest, and Bernardo, the youngest but one. Nothing prevented them from +escaping to Venice or Florence; but they remained quietly in Rome. + +Meantime Monsignor Guerra received private information that, shortly +before the death of Francesco, Marzio and Olympio had been seen prowling +round the castle, and that the Neapolitan police had received orders to +arrest them. + +The monsignor was a most wary man, and very difficult to catch napping +when warned in time. He immediately hired two other sbirri to +assassinate Marzio and Olympio. The one commissioned to put Olympio out +of the way came across him at Terni, and conscientiously did his work +with a poniard, but Marzio's man unfortunately arrived at Naples too +late, and found his bird already in the hands of the police. + +He was put to the torture, and confessed everything. His deposition was +sent to Rome, whither he shortly afterwards followed it, to be +confronted with the accused. Warrants were immediately issued for the +arrest of Giacomo, Bernardo, Lucrezia, and Beatrice; they were at first +confined in the Cenci palace under a strong guard, but the proofs +against them becoming stronger and stronger, they were removed to the +castle of Corte Savella, where they were confronted with Marzio; but +they obstinately denied both any complicity in the crime and any +knowledge of the assassin. Beatrice, above all, displayed the greatest +assurance, demanding to be the first to be confronted with Marzio; whose +mendacity she affirmed with such calm dignity, that he, more than ever +smitten by her beauty, determined, since he could not live for her, to +save her by his death. Consequently, he declared all his statements to +be false, and asked forgiveness from God and from Beatrice; neither +threats nor tortures could make him recant, and he died firm in his +denial, under frightful tortures. The Cenci then thought themselves +safe. + +God's justice, however, still pursued them. The sbirro who had killed +Olympio happened to be arrested for another crime, and, making a clean +breast, confessed that he had been employed by Monsignor Guerra--to put +out of the way a fellow-assassin named Olympio, who knew too many of the +monsignor's secrets. + +Luckily for himself, Monsignor Guerra heard of this opportunely. A man +of infinite resource, he lost not a moment in timid or irresolute plans, +but as it happened that at the very moment when he was warned, the +charcoal dealer who supplied his house with fuel was at hand, he sent +for him, purchased his silence with a handsome bribe, and then, buying +for almost their weight in gold the dirty old clothes which he wore, he +assumed these, cut off all his beautiful cherished fair hair, stained +his beard, smudged his face, bought two asses, laden with charcoal, and +limped up and down the streets of Rome, crying, "Charcoal! charcoal!" +Then, whilst all the detectives were hunting high and low for him, he +got out of the city, met a company of merchants under escort, joined +them, and reached Naples, where he embarked. What ultimately became of +him was never known; it has been asserted, but without confirmation, +that he succeeded--in reaching France, and enlisted in a Swiss regiment +in the pay of Henry IV. + +The confession of the sbirro and the disappearance of Monsignor Guerra +left no moral doubt of the guilt of the Cenci. They were consequently +sent from the castle to the prison; the two brothers, when put to the +torture, broke down and confessed their guilt. Lucrezia Petroni's full +habit of body rendered her unable to bear the torture of the rope, and, +on being suspended in the air, begged to be lowered, when she confessed +all she knew. + +As for Beatrice, she continued unmoved; neither promises, threats, nor +torture had any effect upon her; she bore everything unflinchingly, and +the judge Ulysses Moscati himself, famous though he was in such matters, +failed to draw from her a single incriminating word. Unwilling to take +any further responsibility, he referred the case to Clement VIII; and +the pope, conjecturing that the judge had been too lenient in applying +the torture to, a young and beautiful Roman lady, took it out of his +hands and entrusted it to another judge, whose severity and +insensibility to emotion were undisputed. + +This latter reopened the whole interrogatory, and as Beatrice up to that +time had only been subjected to the ordinary torture, he gave +instructions to apply both the ordinary and extraordinary. This was the +rope and pulley, one of the most terrible inventions ever devised by the +most ingenious of tormentors. + +To make the nature of this horrid torture plain to our readers, we give +a detailed description of it, adding an extract of the presiding judge's +report of the case, taken from the Vatican manuscripts. + +Of the various forms of torture then used in Rome the most common were +the whistle, the fire, the sleepless, and the rope. + +The mildest, the torture of the whistle, was used only in the case of +children and old persons; it consisted in thrusting between the nails +and the flesh reeds cut in the shape of whistles. + +The fire, frequently employed before the invention of the sleepless +torture, was simply roasting the soles of the feet before a hot fire. + +The sleepless torture, invented by Marsilius, was worked by forcing the +accused into an angular frame of wood about five feet high, the sufferer +being stripped and his arms tied behind his back to the frame; two men, +relieved every five hours, sat beside him, and roused him the moment he +closed his eyes. Marsilius says he has never found a man proof against +this torture; but here he claims more than he is justly entitled to. +Farinacci states that, out of one hundred accused persons subjected to +it, five only refused to confess--a very satisfactory result for the +inventor. + +Lastly comes the torture of the rope and pulley, the most in vogue of +all, and known in other Latin countries as the strappado. + +It was divided into three degrees of intensity--the slight, the severe, +and the very severe. + +The first, or slight torture, which consisted mainly in the +apprehensions it caused, comprised the threat of severe torture, +introduction into the torture chamber, stripping, and the tying of the +rope in readiness for its appliance. To increase the terror these +preliminaries excited, a pang of physical pain was added by tightening a +cord round the wrists. This often sufficed to extract a confession from +women or men of highly strung nerves. + +The second degree, or severe torture, consisted in fastening the +sufferer, stripped naked, and his hands tied behind his back, by the +wrists to one end of a rope passed round a pulley bolted into the +vaulted ceiling, the other end being attached to a windlass, by turning +which he could be hoisted, into the air, and dropped again, either +slowly or with a jerk, as ordered by the judge. The suspension generally +lasted during the recital of a Pater Noster, an Ave Maria, or a +Miserere; if the accused persisted in his denial, it was doubled. This +second degree, the last of the ordinary torture, was put in practice +when the crime appeared reasonably probable but was not absolutely +proved. + +The third, or very severe, the first of the extraordinary forms of +torture, was so called when the sufferer, having hung suspended by the +wrists, for sometimes a whole hour, was swung about by the executioner, +either like the pendulum of a clock, or by elevating him with the +windlass and dropping him to within a foot or two of the ground. If he +stood this torture, a thing almost unheard of, seeing that it cut the +flesh of the wrist to the bone and dislocated the limbs, weights were +attached to the feet, thus doubling the torture. This last form of +torture was only applied when an atrocious crime had been proved to have +been committed upon a sacred person, such as a priest, a cardinal, a +prince, or an eminent and learned man. + +Having seen that Beatrice was sentenced to the torture ordinary and +extraordinary, and having explained the nature of these tortures, we +proceed to quote the official report:-- + +"And as in reply to every question she would confess nothing, we caused +her to be taken by two officers and led from the prison to the torture +chamber, where the torturer was in attendance; there, after cutting off +her hair, he made her sit on a small stool, undressed her, pulled off +her shoes, tied her hands behind her back, fastened them to a rope +passed over a pulley bolted into the ceiling of the aforesaid chamber, +and wound up at the other end by a four lever windlass, worked by two +men." + +"Before hoisting her from the ground we again interrogated her touching +the aforesaid parricide; but notwithstanding the confessions of her +brother and her stepmother, which were again produced, bearing their +signatures, she persisted in denying everything, saying, 'Haul me about +and do what you like with me; I have spoken the truth, and will tell you +nothing else, even if I were torn to pieces.' + +"Upon this we had her hoisted in the air by the wrists to the height of +about two feet from the ground, while we recited a Pater Noster; and +then again questioned her as to the facts and circumstances of the +aforesaid parricide; but she would make no further answer, only saying, +'You are killing me! You are killing me!' + +"We then raised her to the elevation of four feet, and began an Ave +Maria. But before our prayer was half finished she fainted away; or +pretended to do so. + +"We caused a bucketful of water to be thrown over her head; feeling its +coolness, she recovered consciousness, and cried, 'My God! I am dead! +You are killing me! My God!' But this was all she would say. + +"We then raised her higher still, and recited a Miserere, during which, +instead of joining in the prayer, she shook convulsively and cried +several times, 'My God! My God!' + +"Again questioned as to the aforesaid parricide, she would confess +nothing, saying only that she was innocent, and then again fainted away. + +"We caused more water to be thrown over her; then she recovered her +senses, opened her eyes, and cried, 'O cursed executioners! You are +killing me! You are killing me!' But nothing more would she say. + +"Seeing which, and that she persisted in her denial, we ordered the +torturer to proceed to the torture by jerks. + +"He accordingly hoisted her ten feet from the ground, and when there we +enjoined her to tell the truth; but whether she would not or could not +speak, she answered only by a motion of the head indicating that she +could say nothing. + +"Seeing which, we made a sign to the executioner, to let go the rope, +and she fell with all her weight from the height of ten feet to that of +two feet; her arms, from the shock, were dislocated from their sockets; +she uttered a loud cry, and swooned away. + +"We again caused water to be dashed in her face; she returned to +herself, and again cried out, 'Infamous assassins! You are killing me; +but were you to tear out my arms, I would tell you nothing else.' + +"Upon this, we ordered a weight of fifty pounds to be fastened to her +feet. But at this moment the door opened, and many voices cried, +'Enough! Enough! Do not torture her any more!'" + +These voices were those of Giacomo, Bernardo, and Lucrezia Petroni. The +judges, perceiving the obstinacy of Beatrice, had ordered that the +accused, who had been separated for five months, should be confronted. + +They advanced into the torture chamber, and seeing Beatrice hanging by +the wrists, her arms disjointed, and covered with blood, Giacomo cried +out:-- + +"The sin is committed; nothing further remains but to save our souls by +repentance, undergo death courageously, and not suffer you to be thus +tortured." + +Then said Beatrice, shaking her head as if to cast off grief-- + +"Do you then wish to die? Since you wish it, be it so." + +Then turning to the officers:-- + +"Untie me," said she, "read the examination to me; and what I have to +confess, I will confess; what I have to deny, I will deny." + +Beatrice was then lowered and untied; a barber reduced the dislocation +of her arms in the usual manner; the examination was read over to her, +and, as she had promised, she made a full confession. + +After this confession, at the request of the two brothers, they were all +confined in the same prison; but the next day Giacomo and Bernardo were +taken to the cells of Tordinona; as for the women, they remained where +they were. + +The pope was so horrified on reading the particulars of the crime +contained in the confessions, that he ordered the culprits to be dragged +by wild horses through the streets of Rome. But so barbarous a sentence +shocked the public mind, so much so that many persons of princely rank +petitioned the Holy Father on their knees, imploring him to reconsider +his decree, or at least allow the accused to be heard in their defence. + +"Tell me," replied Clement VIII, "did they give their unhappy father +time to be heard in his own defence, when they slew him in so merciless +and degrading a fashion?" + +At length, overcome by so many entreaties, he respited them for three +days. + +The most eloquent and skilful advocates in Rome immediately busied +themselves in preparing pleadings for so emotional a case, and on the +day fixed for hearing appeared before His Holiness. + +The first pleader was Nicolo degli Angeli, who spoke with such force and +eloquence that the pope, alarmed at the effect he was producing among +the audience, passionately interrupted him. + +"Are there then to be found," he indignantly cried, "among the Roman +nobility children capable of killing their parents, and among Roman +lawyers men capable of speaking in their defence? This is a thing we +should never have believed, nor even for a moment supposed it possible!" + +All were silent upon this terrible rebuke, except Farinacci, who, +nerving himself with a strong sense of duty, replied respectfully but +firmly-- + +"Most Holy Father, we are not here to defend criminals, but to save the +innocent; for if we succeeded in proving that any of the accused acted +in self-defence, I hope that they will be exonerated in the eyes of your +Holiness; for just as the law provides for cases in which the father may +legally kill the child, so this holds good in the converse. We will +therefore continue our pleadings on receiving leave from your Holiness +to do so." + +Clement VIII then showed himself as patient as he had previously been +hasty, and heard the argument of Farinacci, who pleaded that Francesco +Cenci had lost all the rights of a father from, the day that he violated +his daughter. In support of his contention he wished to put in the +memorial sent by Beatrice to His Holiness, petitioning him, as her +sister had done, to remove her from the paternal roof and place her in a +convent. Unfortunately, this petition had disappeared, and +notwithstanding the minutest search among the papal documents, no trace +of it could be found. + +The pope had all the pleadings collected, and dismissed the advocates, +who then retired, excepting d'Altieri, who knelt before him, saying-- + +"Most Holy Father, I humbly ask pardon for appearing before you in this +case, but I had no choice in the matter, being the advocate of the +poor." + +The pope kindly raised him, saying: + +"Go; we are not surprised at your conduct, but at that of others, who +protect and defend criminals." + +As the pope took a great interest in this case, he sat up all night over +it, studying it with Cardinal di San Marcello, a man of much acumen and +great experience in criminal cases. Then, having summed it up, he sent a +draft of his opinion to the advocates, who read it with great +satisfaction, and entertained hopes that the lives of the convicted +persons would be spared; for the evidence all went to prove that even if +the children had taken their father's life, all the provocation came +from him, and that Beatrice in particular had been dragged into the part +she had taken in this crime by the tyranny, wickedness, and brutality of +her father. Under the influence of these considerations the pope +mitigated the severity of their prison life, and even allowed the +prisoners to hope that their lives would not be forfeited. + +Amidst the general feeling of relief afforded to the public by these +favours, another tragical event changed the papal mind and frustrated +all his humane intentions. This was the atrocious murder of the Marchese +di Santa Croce, a man seventy years of age, by his son Paolo, who +stabbed him with a dagger in fifteen or twenty places, because the +father would not promise to make Paolo his sole heir. The murderer fled +and escaped. + +Clement VIII was horror-stricken at the increasing frequency of this +crime of parricide: for the moment, however, he was unable to take +action, having to go to Monte Cavallo to consecrate a cardinal titular +bishop in the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli; but the day following, +on Friday the 10th of September 1599, at eight o'clock in the morning, +he summoned Monsignor Taverna, governor of Rome, and said to him-- + +"Monsignor, we place in your hands the Cenci case, that you may carry +out the sentence as speedily as possible." + +On his return to his palace, after leaving His Holiness, the governor +convened a meeting of all the criminal judges in the city, the result of +the council being that all the Cenci were condemned to death. + +The final sentence was immediately known; and as this unhappy family +inspired a constantly increasing interest, many cardinals spent the +whole of the night either on horseback or in their carriages, making +interest that, at least so far as the women were concerned, they should +be put to death privately and in the prison, and that a free pardon +should be granted to Bernardo, a poor lad only fifteen years of age, +who, guiltless of any participation in the crime, yet found himself +involved in its consequences. The one who interested himself most in the +case was Cardinal Sforza, who nevertheless failed to elicit a single +gleam of hope, so obdurate was His Holiness. At length Farinacci, +working on the papal conscience, succeeded, after long and urgent +entreaties, and only at the last moment, that the life of Bernardo +should be spared. + +From Friday evening the members of the brotherhood of the Conforteria +had gathered at the two prisons of Corte Savella and Tordinona. The +preparations for the closing scene of the tragedy had occupied workmen +on the bridge of Sant' Angelo all night; and it was not till five +o'clock in the morning that the registrar entered the cell of Lucrezia +and Beatrice to read their sentences to them. + +Both were sleeping, calm in the belief of a reprieve. The registrar woke +them, and told them that, judged by man, they must now prepare to appear +before God. + +Beatrice was at first thunderstruck: she seemed paralysed and +speechless; then she rose from bed, and staggering as if intoxicated, +recovered her speech, uttering despairing cries. Lucrezia heard the +tidings with more firmness, and proceeded to dress herself to go to the +chapel, exhorting Beatrice to resignation; but she, raving, wrung her, +hands and struck her head against the wall, shrieking, "To die! to die! +Am I to die unprepared, on a scaffold! on a gibbet! My God! my God!" +This fit led to a terrible paroxysm, after which the exhaustion of her +body enabled her mind to recover its balance, and from that moment she +became an angel of humility and an example of resignation. + +Her first request was for a notary to make her will. This was +immediately complied with, and on his arrival she dictated its +provisions with much calmness and precision. Its last clause desired her +interment in the church of San Pietro in Montorio, for which she always +had a strong attachment, as it commanded a view of her father's palace. +She bequeathed five hundred crowns to the nuns of the order of the +Stigmata, and ordered that her dowry; amounting to fifteen thousand +crowns, should be distributed in marriage portions to fifty poor girls. +She selected the foot of the high altar as the place where she wished to +be buried, over which hung the beautiful picture of the Transfiguration, +so often admired by her during her life. + +Following her example, Lucrezia in her turn, disposed of her property: +she desired to be buried in the church of San Giorgio di Velobre, and +left thirty-two thousand crowns to charities, with other pious legacies. +Having settled their earthly affairs, they joined in prayer, reciting +psalms, litanies, and prayers far the dying. + +At eight o'clock they confessed, heard mass, and received the +sacraments; after which Beatrice, observing to her stepmother that the +rich dresses they wore were out of place on a scaffold, ordered two to +be made in nun's fashion--that is to say, gathered at the neck, with +long wide sleeves. That for Lucrezia was made of black cotton stuff, +Beatrice's of taffetas. In addition she had a small black turban made to +place on her head. These dresses, with cords for girdles, were brought +them; they were placed on a chair, while the women continued to pray. + +The time appointed being near at hand, they were informed that their +last moment was approaching. Then Beatrice, who was still on her knees, +rose with a tranquil and almost joyful countenance. "Mother," said she, +"the moment of our suffering is impending; I think we had better dress +in these clothes, and help one another at our toilet for the last time." +They then put on the dresses provided, girt themselves with the cords; +Beatrice placed her turban on her head, and they awaited the last +summons. + +In the meantime, Giacomo and Bernardo, whose sentences had been read to +them, awaited also the moment of their death. About ten o'clock the +members of the Confraternity of Mercy, a Florentine order, arrived at +the prison of Tordinona, and halted on the threshold with the crucifix, +awaiting the appearance of the unhappy youths. Here a serious accident +had nearly happened. As many persons were at the prison windows to see +the prisoners come out, someone accidentally threw down a large +flower-pot full of earth, which fell into the street and narrowly missed +one of the Confraternity who was amongst the torch-bearers just before +the crucifix. It passed so close to the torch as to extinguish the flame +in its descent. + +At this moment the gates opened, and Giacomo appeared first on the +threshold. He fell on his knees, adoring the holy crucifix with great +devotion. He was completely covered with a large mourning cloak, under +which his bare breast was prepared to be torn by the red-hot pincers of +the executioner, which were lying ready in a chafing-dish fixed to the +cart. Having ascended the vehicle, in which the executioner placed him +so as more readily to perform this office, Bernardo came out, and was +thus addressed on his appearance by the fiscal of Rome-- + +"Signor Bernardo Cenci, in the name of our blessed Redeemer, our Holy +Father the Pope spares your life; with the sole condition that you +accompany your relatives to the scaffold and to their death, and never +forget to pray for those with whom you were condemned to die." + +At this unexpected intelligence, a loud murmur of joy spread among the +crowd, and the members of the Confraternity immediately untied the small +mask which covered the youth's eyes; for, owing to his tender age, it +had been thought proper to conceal the scaffold from his sight. + +Then the executioner; having disposed of Giacomo, came down from the +cart to take Bernardo; whose pardon being formally communicated to him, +he took off his handcuffs, and placed him alongside his brother, +covering him up with a magnificent cloak embroidered with gold, for the +neck and shoulders of the poor lad had been already bared, as a +preliminary to his decapitation. People were surprised to see such a +rich cloak in the possession of the executioner, but were told that it +was the one given by Beatrice to Marzio to pledge him to the murder of +her father, which fell to the executioner as a perquisite after the +execution of the assassin. The sight of the great assemblage of people +produced such an effect upon the boy that he fainted. + +The procession then proceeded to the prison of Corte Savella, marching +to the sound of funeral chants. At its gates the sacred crucifix halted +for the women to join: they soon appeared, fell on their knees, and +worshipped the holy symbol as the others had done. The march to the +scaffold was then resumed. + +The two female prisoners followed the last row of penitents in single +file, veiled to the waist, with the distinction that Lucrezia, as a +widow, wore a black veil and high-heeled slippers of the same hue, with +bows of ribbon, as was the fashion; whilst Beatrice, as a young +unmarried girl, wore a silk flat cap to match her corsage, with a plush +hood, which fell over her shoulders and covered her violet frock; white +slippers with high heels, ornamented with gold rosettes and +cherry-coloured fringe. The arms of both were untrammelled, except far a +thin slack cord which left their hands free to carry a crucifix and a +handkerchief. + +During the night a lofty scaffold had been erected on the bridge of +Sant' Angelo, and the plank and block were placed thereon. Above the +block was hung, from a large cross beam, a ponderous axe, which, guided +by two grooves, fell with its whole weight at the touch of a spring. + +In this formation the procession wended its way towards the bridge of +Sant' Angela. Lucrezia, the more broken down of the two, wept bitterly; +but Beatrice was firm and unmoved. On arriving at the open space before +the bridge, the women were led into a chapel, where they were shortly +joined by Giacomo and Bernardo; they remained together for a few +moments, when the brothers were led away to the scaffold, although one +was to be executed last, and the other was pardoned. But when they had +mounted the platform, Bernardo fainted a second time; and as the +executioner was approaching to his assistance, some of the crowd, +supposing that his object was to decapitate him, cried loudly, "He is +pardoned!" The executioner reassured them by seating Bernardo near the +block, Giacomo kneeling on the other side. + +Then the executioner descended, entered the chapel, and reappeared +leading Lucrezia, who was the first to suffer. At the foot of the +scaffold he tied her hands behind her back, tore open the top of her +corsage so as to uncover her shoulders, gave her the crucifix to kiss, +and led her to the step ladder, which she ascended with great +difficulty, on account of her extreme stoutness; then, on her reaching +the platform, he removed the veil which covered her head. On this +exposure of her features to the immense crowd, Lucrezia shuddered from +head to foot; then, her eyes full of tears, she cried with a loud +voice-- + +"O my God, have mercy upon me; and do you, brethren, pray for my soul!" + +Having uttered these words, not knowing what was required of her, she +turned to Alessandro, the chief executioner, and asked what she was to +do; he told her to bestride the plank and lie prone upon it; which she +did with great trouble and timidity; but as she was unable, on account +of the fullness of her bust, to lay her neck upon the block, this had to +be raised by placing a billet of wood underneath it; all this time the +poor woman, suffering even more from shame than from fear, was kept in +suspense; at length, when she was properly adjusted, the executioner +touched the spring, the knife fell, and the decapitated head, falling on +the platform of the scaffold, bounded two or three times in the air, to +the general horror; the executioner then seized it, showed it to the +multitude, and wrapping it in black taffetas, placed it with the body on +a bier at the foot of the scaffold. + +Whilst arrangements were being made for the decapitation of Beatrice, +several stands, full of spectators, broke down; some people were killed +by this accident, and still more lamed and injured. + +The machine being now rearranged and washed, the executioner returned to +the chapel to take charge of Beatrice, who, on seeing the sacred +crucifix, said some prayers for her soul, and on her hands being tied, +cried out, "God grant that you be binding this body unto corruption, and +loosing this soul unto life eternal!" She then arose, proceeded to the +platform, where she devoutly kissed the stigmata; then leaving her +slippers at the foot of the scaffold, she nimbly ascended the ladder, +and instructed beforehand, promptly lay down on the plank, without +exposing her naked shoulders. But her precautions to shorten the +bitterness of death were of no avail, for the pope, knowing her +impetuous disposition, and fearing lest she might be led into the +commission of some sin between absolution and death, had given orders +that the moment Beatrice was extended on the scaffold a signal gun +should be fired from the castle of Sant' Angelo; which was done, to the +great astonishment of everybody, including Beatrice herself, who, not +expecting this explosion, raised herself almost upright; the pope +meanwhile, who was praying at Monte Cavallo, gave her absolution 'in +articulo mortis'. About five minutes thus passed, during which the +sufferer waited with her head replaced on the block; at length, when the +executioner judged that the absolution had been given, he released the +spring, and the axe fell. + +A gruesome sight was then afforded: whilst the head bounced away on one +side of the block, on the other the body rose erect, as if about to step +backwards; the executioner exhibited the head, and disposed of it and +the body as before. He wished to place Beatrice's body with that of her +stepmother, but the brotherhood of Mercy took it out of his hands, and +as one of them was attempting to lay it on the bier, it slipped from him +and fell from the scaffold to the ground below; the dress being +partially torn from the body, which was so besmeared with dust and blood +that much time was occupied in washing it. Poor Bernardo was so overcome +by this horrible scene that he swooned away for the third time, and it +was necessary to revive him with stimulants to witness the fate of his +elder brother. + +The turn of Giacomo at length arrived: he had witnessed the death of his +stepmother and his sister, and his clothes were covered with their +blood; the executioner approached him and tore off his cloak, exposing +his bare breast covered with the wounds caused by the grip of red-hot +pincers; in this state, and half-naked, he rose to his feet, and turning +to his brother, said-- + +"Bernardo, if in my examination I have compromised and accused you, I +have done so falsely, and although I have already disavowed this +declaration, I repeat, at the moment of appearing before God, that you +are innocent, and that it is a cruel abuse of justice to compel you to +witness this frightful spectacle." + +The executioner then made him kneel down, bound his legs to one of the +beams erected on the scaffold, and having bandaged his eyes, shattered +his head with a blow of his mallet; then, in the sight of all, he hacked +his body into four quarters. The official party then left, taking with +them Bernardo, who, being in a state of high fever, was bled and put to +bed. + +The corpses of the two ladies were laid out each on its bier under the +statue of St. Paul, at the foot of the bridge, with four torches of +white wax, which burned till four o'clock in the afternoon; then, along +with the remains of Giacomo, they were taken to the church of San +Giovanni Decollato; finally, about nine in the evening, the body of +Beatrice, covered with flowers, and attired in the dress worn at her +execution, was carried to the church of San Pietro in Montorio, with +fifty lighted torches, and followed by the brethren of the order of the +Stigmata and all the Franciscan monks in Rome; there, agreeably to her +wish, it was buried at the foot of the high altar. + +The same evening Signora Lucrezia was interred, as she had desired to +be, in the church of San Giorgio di Velobre. + +All Rome may be said to have been present at this tragedy, carriages, +horses, foot people, and cars crowding as it were upon one another. The +day was unfortunately so hot, and the sun so scorching, that many +persons fainted, others returned home stricken with fever, and some even +died during the night, owing to sunstroke from exposure during the three +hours occupied by the execution. + +The Tuesday following, the 14th of September; being the Feast of the +Holy Cross, the brotherhood of San Marcello, by special licence of the +pope, set at liberty the unhappy Bernardo Cenci, with the condition of +paying within the year two thousand five hundred Roman crowns to the +brotherhood of the most Holy Trinity of Pope Sixtus, as may be found +to-day recorded in their archives. + +Having now seen the tomb, if you desire to form a more vivid impression +of the principal actors in this tragedy than can be derived from a +narrative, pay a visit to the Barberini Gallery, where you will see, +with five other masterpieces by Guido, the portrait of Beatrice, taken, +some say the night before her execution, others during her progress to +the scaffold; it is the head of a lovely girl, wearing a headdress +composed of a turban with a lappet. The hair is of a rich fair chestnut +hue; the dark eyes are moistened with recent tears; a perfectly farmed +nose surmounts an infantile mouth; unfortunately, the loss of tone in +the picture since it was painted has destroyed the original fair +complexion. The age of the subject may be twenty, or perhaps twenty-two +years. + +Near this portrait is that of Lucrezia Petrani the small head indicates +a person below the middle height; the attributes are those of a Roman +matron in her pride; her high complexion, graceful contour, straight +nose, black eyebrows, and expression at the same time imperious and +voluptuous indicate this character to the life; a smile still seems to +linger an the charming dimpled cheeks and perfect mouth mentioned by the +chronicler, and her face is exquisitely framed by luxuriant curls +falling from her forehead in graceful profusion. + +As for Giacomo and Bernardo, as no portraits of them are in existence, +we are obliged to gather an idea of their appearance from the manuscript +which has enabled us to compile this sanguinary history; they are thus +described by the eye-witness of the closing scene--Giacomo was short, +well-made and strong, with black hair and beard; he appeared to be about +twenty-six years of age. + +Poor Bernardo was the image of his sister, so nearly resembling her, +that when he mounted the scaffold his long hair and girlish face led +people to suppose him to be Beatrice herself: he might be fourteen or +fifteen years of age. + +The peace of God be with them! + + + + +*MASSACRES OF THE SOUTH--1551-1815* + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +It is possible that our reader, whose recollections may perhaps go back +as far as the Restoration, will be surprised at the size of the frame +required for the picture we are about to bring before him, embracing as +it does two centuries and a half; but as everything, has its precedent, +every river its source, every volcano its central fire, so it is that +the spot of earth on which we are going to fix our eyes has been the +scene of action and reaction, revenge and retaliation, till the +religious annals of the South resemble an account-book kept by double +entry, in which fanaticism enters the profits of death, one side being +written with the blood of Catholics, the other with that of Protestants. + +In the great political and religious convulsions of the South, the +earthquake-like throes of which were felt even in the capital, Nimes has +always taken the central place; Nimes will therefore be the pivot round +which our story will revolve, and though we may sometimes leave it for a +moment, we shall always return thither without fail. + +Nimes was reunited to France by Louis VIII, the government being taken +from its vicomte, Bernard Athon VI, and given to consuls in the year +1207. During the episcopate of Michel Briconnet the relics of St. +Bauzile were discovered, and hardly were the rejoicings over this event +at an end when the new doctrines began to spread over France. It was in +the South that the persecutions began, and in 1551 several persons were +publicly burnt as heretics by order of the Seneschal's Court at Nimes, +amongst whom was Maurice Secenat, a missionary from the Cevennes, who +was taken in the very act of preaching. Thenceforth Nimes rejoiced in +two martyrs and two patron saints, one revered by the Catholics, and one +by the Protestants; St. Bauzile, after reigning as sole protector for +twenty-four years, being forced to share the honours of his guardianship +with his new rival. + +Maurice Secenat was followed as preacher by Pierre de Lavau; these two +names being still remembered among the crowd of obscure and forgotten +martyrs. He also was put to death on the Place de la Salamandre, all the +difference being that the former was burnt and the latter hanged. + +Pierre de Lavau was attended in his last moments by Dominique Deyron, +Doctor of Theology; but instead of, as is usual, the dying man being +converted by the priest, it was the priest who was converted by de +Lavau, and the teaching which it was desired should be suppressed burst +forth again. Decrees were issued against Dominique Deyron; he was +pursued and tracked down, and only escaped the gibbet by fleeing to the +mountains. + +The mountains are the refuge of all rising or decaying sects; God has +given to the powerful on earth city, plain, and sea, but the mountains +are the heritage of the oppressed. + +Persecution and proselytism kept pace with each other, but the blood +that was shed produced the usual effect: it rendered the soil on which +it fell fruitful, and after two or three years of struggle, during which +two or three hundred Huguenots had been burnt or hanged, Nimes awoke one +morning with a Protestant majority. In 1556 the consuls received a sharp +reprimand on account of the leaning of the city towards the doctrines of +the Reformation; but in 1557, one short year after this admonition, +Henri II was forced to confer the office of president of the Presidial +Court on William de Calviere, a Protestant. At last a decision of the +senior judge having declared that it was the duty of the consuls to +sanction the execution of heretics by their presence, the magistrates of +the city protested against this decision, and the power of the Crown was +insufficient to carry it out. + +Henri II dying, Catherine de Medicis and the Guises took possession of +the throne in the name of Francois II. There is a moment when nations +can always draw a long breath, it is while their kings are awaiting +burial; and Nimes took advantage of this moment on the death of Henri +II, and on September 29th, 1559, Guillaume Moget founded the first +Protestant community. + +Guillaume Moget came from Geneva. He was the spiritual son of Calvin, +and came to Nimes with the firm purpose of converting all the remaining +Catholics or of being hanged. As he was eloquent, spirited, and wily, +too wise to be violent, ever ready to give and take in the matter of +concessions, luck was on his side, and Guillaume Moget escaped hanging. + +The moment a rising sect ceases to be downtrodden it becomes a queen, +and heresy, already mistress of three-fourths of the city, began to hold +up its head with boldness in the streets. A householder called Guillaume +Raymond opened his house to the Calvinist missionary, and allowed him to +preach in it regularly to all who came, and the wavering were thus +confirmed in the new faith. Soon the house became too narrow to contain +the crowds which flocked thither to imbibe the poison of the +revolutionary doctrine, and impatient glances fell on the churches. + +Meanwhile the Vicomte de Joyeuse, who had just been appointed governor +of Languedoc in the place of M. de Villars, grew uneasy at the rapid +progress made by the Protestants, who so far from trying to conceal it +boasted of it; so he summoned the consuls before him, admonished them +sharply in the king's name, and threatened to quarter a garrison in the +town which would soon put an end to these disorders. The consuls +promised to stop the evil without the aid of outside help, and to carry +out their promise doubled the patrol and appointed a captain of the town +whose sole duty was to keep order in the streets. Now this captain whose +office had been created solely for the repression of heresy, happened to +be Captain Bouillargues, the most inveterate Huguenot who ever existed. + +The result of this discriminating choice was that Guillaume Moget began +to preach, and once when a great crowd had gathered in a garden to hear +him hold forth, heavy rain came on, and it became necessary for the +people either to disperse or to seek shelter under a roof. As the +preacher had just reached the most interesting part of his sermon, the +congregation did not hesitate an instant to take the latter alternative. +The Church of St. Etienne du Capitole was quite near: someone present +suggested that this building, if not the most suitable, as at least the +most spacious for such a gathering. + +The idea was received with acclamation: the rain grew heavier, the crowd +invaded the church, drove out the priests, trampled the Holy Sacrament +under foot, and broke the sacred images. This being accomplished, +Guillaume Moget entered the pulpit, and resumed his sermon with such +eloquence that his hearers' excitement redoubled, and not satisfied with +what had already been done, rushed off to seize on the Franciscan +monastery, where they forthwith installed Moget and the two women, who, +according to Menard the historian of Languedoc, never left him day or +night; all which proceedings were regarded by Captain Bouillargues with +magnificent calm. + +The consuls being once more summoned before M. de Villars, who had again +become governor, would gladly have denied the existence of disorder; but +finding this impossible, they threw themselves on his mercy. He being +unable to repose confidence in them any longer, sent a garrison to the +citadel of Nimes, which the municipality was obliged to support, +appointed a governor of the city with four district captains under him, +and formed a body of military police which quite superseded the +municipal constabulary. Moget was expelled from Nimes, and Captain +Bouillargues deprived of office. + +Francis II dying in his turn, the usual effect was produced,--that is, +the persecution became less fierce,--and Moget therefore returned to +Nimes. This was a victory, and every victory being a step forward, the +triumphant preacher organised a Consistory, and the deputies of Nimes +demanded from the States-General of Orleans possession of the churches. +No notice was taken of this demand; but the Protestants were at no loss +how to proceed. On the 21st December 1561 the churches of Ste. Eugenie, +St. Augustin, and the Cordeliers were taken by assault, and cleared of +their images in a hand's turn; and this time Captain Bouillargues was +not satisfied with looking on, but directed the operations. + +The cathedral was still safe, and in it were entrenched the remnant of +the Catholic clergy; but it was apparent that at the earliest +opportunity it too would be turned into a meeting-house; and this +opportunity was not long in coming. + +One Sunday, when Bishop Bernard d'Elbene had celebrated mass, just as +the regular preacher was about to begin his sermon, some children who +were playing in the close began to hoot the 'beguinier' [a name of +contempt for friars]. Some of the faithful being disturbed in their +meditations, came out of the church and chastised the little Huguenots, +whose parents considered themselves in consequence to have been insulted +in the persons of their children. A great commotion ensued, crowds began +to form, and cries of "To the church! to the church!" were heard. +Captain Bouillargues happened to be in the neighbourhood, and being very +methodical set about organising the insurrection; then putting himself +at its head, he charged the cathedral, carrying everything before him, +in spite of the barricades which had been hastily erected by the +Papists. The assault was over in a few moments; the priests and their +flock fled by one door, while the Reformers entered by another. The +building was in the twinkling of an eye adapted to the new form of +worship: the great crucifix from above the altar was dragged about the +streets at the end of a rope and scourged at every cross-roads. In the +evening a large fire was lighted in the place before the cathedral, and +the archives of the ecclesiastical and religious houses, the sacred +images, the relics of the saints, the decorations of the altar, the +sacerdotal vestments, even the Host itself, were thrown on it without +any remonstrance from the consuls; the very wind which blew upon Nimes +breathed heresy. + +For the moment Nimes was in full revolt, and the spirit of organisation +spread: Moget assumed the titles of pastor and minister of the Christian +Church. Captain Bouillargues melted down the sacred vessels of the +Catholic churches, and paid in this manner the volunteers of Nimes and +the German mercenaries; the stones of the demolished religious houses +were used in the construction of fortifications, and before anyone +thought of attacking it the city was ready for a siege. It was at this +moment that Guillaume Calviere, who was at the head of the Presidial +Court, Moget being president of the Consistory, and Captain Bouillargues +commander-in-chief of the armed forces, suddenly resolved to create a +new authority, which, while sharing the powers hitherto vested solely in +the consuls, should be, even more than they, devoted to Calvin: thus the +office of les Messieurs came into being. This was neither more nor less +than a committee of public safety, and having been formed in the stress +of revolution it acted in a revolutionary spirit, absorbing the powers +of the consuls, and restricting the authority of the Consistory to +things spiritual. In the meantime the Edict of Amboise, was promulgated, +and it was announced that the king, Charles IX, accompanied by Catherine +de Medicis, was going to visit his loyal provinces in the South. + +Determined as was Captain Bouillargues, for once he had to give way, so +strong was the party against him; therefore, despite the murmurs of the +fanatics, the city of Nimes resolved, not only to open its gates to its +sovereign, but to give him such a reception as would efface the bad +impression which Charles might have received from the history of recent +events. The royal procession was met at the Pont du Gare, where young +girls attired as nymphs emerged from a grotto bearing a collation, which +they presented to their Majesties, who graciously and heartily partook +of it. The repast at an end, the illustrious travellers resumed their +progress; but the imagination of the Nimes authorities was not to be +restrained within such narrow bounds: at the entrance to the city the +king found the Porte de la Couronne transformed into a mountain-side, +covered with vines and olive trees, under which a shepherd was tending +his flock. As the king approached the mountain parted as if yielding to +the magic of his power, the most beautiful maidens and the most noble +came out to meet their sovereign, presenting him the keys of the city +wreathed with flowers, and singing to the accompaniment of the +shepherd's pipe. Passing through the mountain, Charles saw chained to a +palm tree in the depths of a grotto a monster crocodile from whose jaws +issued flames: this was a representation of the old coat of arms granted +to the city by Octavius Caesar Augustus after the battle of Actium, and +which Francis I had restored to it in exchange for a model in silver of +the amphitheatre presented to him by the city. Lastly, the king found in +the Place de la Salamandre numerous bonfires, so that without waiting to +ask if these fires were made from the remains of the faggots used at the +martyrdom of Maurice Secenat, he went to bed very much pleased with the +reception accorded him by his good city of Nimes, and sure that all the +unfavourable reports he had heard were calumnies. + +Nevertheless, in order that such rumours, however slight their +foundation, should not again be heard, the king appointed Damville +governor of Languedoc, installing him himself in the chief city of his +government; he then removed every consul from his post without +exception, and appointed in their place Guy-Rochette, doctor and lawyer; +Jean Beaudan, burgess; Francois Aubert, mason; and Cristol Ligier, farm +labourer--all Catholics. He then left for Paris, where a short time +after he concluded a treaty with the Calvinists, which the people with +its gift of prophecy called "The halting peace of unsure seat," and +which in the end led to the massacre of St. Bartholomew. + +Gracious as had been the measures taken by the king to secure the peace +of his good city of Nimes, they had nevertheless been reactionary; +consequently the Catholics, feeling the authorities were now on their +side, returned in crowds: the householders reclaimed their houses, the +priests their churches; while, rendered ravenous by the bitter bread of +exile, both the clergy and the laity pillaged the treasury. Their return +was not, however; stained by bloodshed, although the Calvinists were +reviled in the open street. A few stabs from a dagger or shots from an +arquebus might, however, have been better; such wounds heal while +mocking words rankle in the memory. + +On the morrow of Michaelmas Day--that is, on the 31st September 1567--a +number of conspirators might have been seen issuing from a house and +spreading themselves through the streets, crying "To arms! Down with the +Papists!" Captain Bouillargues was taking his revenge. + +As the Catholics were attacked unawares, they did not make even a show +of resistance: a number of Protestants--those who possessed the best +arms--rushed to the house of Guy-Rochette, the first consul, and seized +the keys of the city. Guy Rochette, startled by the cries of the crowds, +had looked out of the window, and seeing a furious mob approaching his +house, and feeling that their rage was directed against himself, had +taken refuge with his brother Gregoire. There, recovering his courage +and presence of mind, he recalled the important responsibilities +attached to his office, and resolving to fulfil them whatever might +happen, hastened to consult with the other magistrates, but as they all +gave him very excellent reasons for not meddling, he soon felt there was +no dependence to be placed on such cowards and traitors. He next +repaired to the episcopal palace, where he found the bishop surrounded +by the principal Catholics of the town, all on their knees offering up +earnest prayers to Heaven, and awaiting martyrdom. Guy-Rochette joined +them, and the prayers were continued. + +A few instants later fresh noises were heard in the street, and the +gates of the palace court groaned under blows of axe and crowbar. +Hearing these alarming sounds, the bishop, forgetting that it was his +duty to set a brave example, fled through a breach in the wall of the +next house; but Guy-Rochette and his companions valiantly resolved not +to run away, but to await their fate with patience. The gates soon +yielded, and the courtyard and palace were filled with Protestants: at +their head appeared Captain Bouillargues, sword in hand. Guy-Rochette +and those with him were seized and secured in a room under the charge of +four guards, and the palace was looted. Meantime another band of +insurgents had attacked the house of the vicar-general, John Pebereau, +whose body pierced by seven stabs of a dagger was thrown out of a +window, the same fate as was meted out to Admiral Coligny eight years +later at the hands of the Catholics. In the house a sum of 800 crowns +was found and taken. The two bands then uniting, rushed to the +cathedral, which they sacked for the second time. + +Thus the entire day passed in murder and pillage: when night came the +large number of prisoners so imprudently taken began to be felt as an +encumbrance by the insurgent chiefs, who therefore resolved to take +advantage of the darkness to get rid of them without causing too much +excitement in the city. They were therefore gathered together from the +various houses in which they had been confined, and were brought to a +large hall in the Hotel de Ville, capable of containing from four to +five hundred persons, and which was soon full. An irregular tribunal +arrogating to itself powers of life and death was formed, and a clerk +was appointed to register its decrees. A list of all the prisoners was +given him, a cross placed before a name indicating that its bearer was +condemned to death, and, list in hand, he went from group to group +calling out the names distinguished by the fatal sign. Those thus sorted +out were then conducted to a spot which had been chosen beforehand as +the place of execution. + +This was the palace courtyard in the middle of which yawned a well +twenty-four feet in circumference and fifty deep. The fanatics thus +found a grave ready-digged as it were to their hand, and to save time, +made use of it. + +The unfortunate Catholics, led thither in groups, were either stabbed +with daggers or mutilated with axes, and the bodies thrown down the +well. Guy-Rochette was one of the first to be dragged up. For himself he +asked neither mercy nor favour, but he begged that the life of his young +brother might be spared, whose only crime was the bond of blood which +united them; but the assassins, paying no heed to his prayers, struck +down both man and boy and flung them into the well. The corpse of the +vicar-general, who had been killed the day before, was in its turn +dragged thither by a rope and added to the others. All night the +massacre went on, the crimsoned water rising in the well as corpse after +corpse was thrown in, till, at break of day, it overflowed, one hundred +and twenty bodies being then hidden in its depths. + +Next day, October 1st, the scenes of tumult were renewed: from early +dawn Captain Bouillargues ran from street to street crying, "Courage, +comrades! Montpellier, Pezenas, Aramon, Beaucaire, Saint-Andeol, and +Villeneuve are taken, and are on our side. Cardinal de Lorraine is dead, +and the king is in our power." This aroused the failing energies of the +assassins. They joined the captain, and demanded that the houses round +the palace should be searched, as it was almost certain that the bishop, +who had, as may be remembered, escaped the day before, had taken refuge +in one of them. This being agreed to, a house-to-house visitation was +begun: when the house of M. de Sauvignargues was reached, he confessed +that the bishop was in his cellar, and proposed to treat with Captain +Bouillargues for a ransom. This proposition being considered reasonable, +was accepted, and after a short discussion the sum of 120 crowns was +agreed on. The bishop laid down every penny he had about him, his +servants were despoiled, and the sum made up by the Sieur de +Sauvignargues, who having the bishop in his house kept him caged. The +prelate, however, made no objection, although under other circumstances +he would have regarded this restraint as the height of impertinence; but +as it was he felt safer in M. de Sauvignargues' cellar than in the +palace. + +But the secret of the worthy prelate's hiding place was but badly kept +by those with whom he had treated; for in a few moments a second crowd +appeared, hoping to obtain a second ransom. Unfortunately, the Sieur de +Sauvignargues, the bishop, and the bishop's servants had stripped +themselves of all their ready money to make up the first, so the master +of the house, fearing for his own safety, having barricaded the doors, +got out into a lane and escaped, leaving the bishop to his fate. The +Huguenots climbed in at the windows, crying, "No quarter! Down with the +Papists!" The bishop's servants were cut down, the bishop himself +dragged out of the cellar and thrown into the street. There his rings +and crozier were snatched from him; he was stripped of his clothes and +arrayed in a grotesque and ragged garment which chanced to be at hand; +his mitre was replaced by a peasant's cap; and in this condition he was +dragged back to the palace and placed on the brink of the well to be +thrown in. One of the assassins drew attention to the fact that it was +already full. "Pooh!" replied another, "they won't mind a little +crowding for a bishop." Meantime the prelate, seeing he need expect no +mercy from man, threw himself on his knees and commended his soul to +God. Suddenly, however, one of those who had shown himself most +ferocious during the massacre, Jean Coussinal by name, was touched as if +by miracle with a feeling of compassion at the sight of so much +resignation, and threw himself between the bishop and those about to +strike, and declaring that whoever touched the prelate must first +overcome himself, took him under his protection, his comrades retreating +in astonishment. Jean Coussinal raising the bishop, carried him in his +arms into a neighbouring house, and drawing his sword, took his stand on +the threshold. + +The assassins, however, soon recovered from their surprise, and +reflecting that when all was said and done they were fifty to one, +considered it would be shameful to let themselves be intimidated by a +single opponent, so they advanced again on Coussinal, who with a +back-handed stroke cut off the head of the first-comer. The cries upon +this redoubled, and two or three shots were fired at the obstinate +defender of the poor bishop, but they all missed aim. At that moment +Captain Bouillargues passed by, and seeing one man attacked by fifty, +inquired into the cause. He was told of Coussinal's odd determination to +save the bishop. "He is quite right," said the captain; "the bishop has +paid ransom, and no one has any right to touch him." Saying this, he +walked up to Coussinal, gave him his hand, and the two entered the +house, returning in a few moments with the bishop between them. In this +order they crossed the town, followed by the murmuring crowd, who were, +however, afraid to do more than murmur; at the gate the bishop was +provided with an escort and let go, his defenders remaining there till +he was out of sight. + +The massacres went on during the whole of the second day, though towards +evening the search for victims relaxed somewhat; but still many isolated +acts of murder took place during the night. On the morrow, being tired +of killing, the people began to destroy, and this phase lasted a long +time, it being less fatiguing to throw stones about than corpses. All +the convents, all the monasteries, all the houses of the priests and +canons were attacked in turn; nothing was spared except the cathedral, +before which axes and crowbars seemed to lose their power, and the +church of Ste. Eugenie, which was turned into a powder-magazine. The day +of the great butchery was called "La Michelade," because it took place +the day after Michaelmas, and as all this happened in the year 1567 the +Massacre of St. Bartholomew must be regarded as a plagiarism. + +At last, however, with the help of M. Damville; the Catholics again got +the upper hand, and it was the turn of the Protestants to fly. They took +refuge in the Cevennes. From the beginning of the troubles the Cevennes +had been the asylum of those who suffered for the Protestant faith; and +still the plains are Papist, and the mountains Protestant. When the +Catholic party is in the ascendant at Nimes, the plain seeks the +mountain; when the Protestants come into power, the mountain comes down +into the plain. + +However, vanquished and fugitive though they were, the Calvinists did +not lose courage: in exile one day, they felt sure their luck would turn +the next; and while the Catholics were burning or hanging them in effigy +for contumacy, they were before a notary, dividing the property of their +executioners. + +But it was not enough for them to buy or sell this property amongst each +other, they wanted to enter into possession; they thought of nothing +else, and in 1569--that is, in the eighteenth month of their exile--they +attained their wish in the following manner: + +One day the exiles perceived a carpenter belonging to a little village +called Cauvisson approaching their place of refuge. He desired to speak +to M. Nicolas de Calviere, seigneur de St. Cosme, and brother of the +president, who was known to be a very enterprising man. To him the +carpenter, whose name was Maduron, made the following proposition: + +In the moat of Nimes, close to the Gate of the Carmelites, there was a +grating through which the waters from the fountain found vent. Maduron +offered to file through the bars of this grating in such a manner that +some fine night it could be lifted out so as to allow a band of armed +Protestants to gain access to the city. Nicolas de Calviere approving of +this plan, desired that it should be carried out at once; but the +carpenter pointed out that it would be necessary to wait for stormy +weather, when the waters swollen by the rain would by their noise drown +the sound of the file. This precaution was doubly necessary as the box +of the sentry was almost exactly above the grating. M. de Calviere tried +to make Maduron give way; but the latter, who was risking more than +anyone else, was firm. So whether they liked it or not, de Calviere and +the rest had to await his good pleasure. + +Some days later rainy weather set in, and as usual the fountain became +fuller; Maduron seeing that the favourable moment had arrived, glided at +night into the moat and applied his file, a friend of his who was hidden +on the ramparts above pulling a cord attached to Maduron's arm every +time the sentinel, in pacing his narrow round, approached the spot. +Before break of day the work was well begun. Maduron then obliterated +all traces of his file by daubing the bars with mud and wax, and +withdrew. For three consecutive nights he returned to his task, taking +the same precautions, and before the fourth was at an end he found that +by means of a slight effort the grating could be removed. That was all +that was needed, so he gave notice to Messire Nicolas de Calviere that +the moment had arrived. + +Everything was favourable to the undertaking: as there was no moon, the +next night was chosen to carry out the plan, and as soon as it was dark +Messire Nicolas de Calviere set out with his men, who, slipping down +into the moat without noise, crossed, the water being up to their belts, +climbed up the other side, and crept along at the foot of the wall till +they reached the grating without being perceived. There Maduron was +waiting, and as soon as he caught sight of them he gave a slight blow to +the loose bars; which fell, and the whole party entered the drain, led +by de Calviere, and soon found themselves at the farther end--that is to +say, in the Place de la Fontaine. They immediately formed into companies +twenty strong, four of which hastened to the principal gates, while the +others patrolled the streets shouting, "The city taken! Down with the +Papists! A new world!" Hearing this, the Protestants in the city +recognised their co-religionists, and the Catholics their opponents: but +whereas the former had been warned and were on the alert, the latter +were taken by surprise; consequently they offered no resistance, which, +however, did not prevent bloodshed. M. de St. Andre, the governor of the +town, who during his short period of office had drawn the bitter hatred +of the Protestants on him, was shot dead in his bed, and his body being +flung out of the window, was torn in pieces by the populace. The work of +murder went on all night, and on the morrow the victors in their turn +began an organised persecution, which fell more heavily on the Catholics +than that to which they had subjected the Protestants; for, as we have +explained above, the former could only find shelter in the plain, while +the latter used the Cevennes as a stronghold. + +It was about this time that the peace, which was called, as we have +said, "the insecurely seated," was concluded. Two years later this name +was justified by the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. + +When this event took place, the South, strange as it may seem, looked +on: in Nimes both Catholics and Protestants, stained with the other's +blood, faced each other, hand on hilt, but without drawing weapon. It +was as if they were curious to see how the Parisians would get through. +The massacre had one result, however, the union of the principal cities +of the South and West: Montpellier, Uzes, Montauban, and La Rochelle, +with Nimes at their head, formed a civil and military league to last, as +is declared in the Act of Federation, until God should raise up a +sovereign to be the defender of the Protestant faith. In the year 1775 +the Protestants of the South began to turn their eyes towards Henri IV +as the coming defender. + +At that date Nimes, setting an example to the other cities of the +League, deepened her moats, blew up her suburbs, and added to the height +of her ramparts. Night and day the work of perfecting the means of +defence went on; the guard at every gate was doubled, and knowing how +often a city had been taken by surprise, not a hole through which a +Papist could creep was left in the fortifications. In dread of what the +future might bring, Nimes even committed sacrilege against the past, and +partly demolished the Temple of Diana and mutilated the amphitheatre--of +which one gigantic stone was sufficient to form a section of the wall. +During one truce the crops were sown, during another they were garnered +in, and so things went on while the reign of the Mignons lasted. At +length the prince raised up by God, whom the Huguenots had waited for so +long, appeared; Henri IV ascended the, throne. + +But once seated, Henri found himself in the same difficulty as had +confronted Octavius fifteen centuries earlier, and which confronted +Louis Philippe three centuries later--that is to say, having been raised +to sovereign power by a party which was not in the majority, he soon +found himself obliged to separate from this party and to abjure his +religious beliefs, as others have abjured or will yet abjure their +political beliefs; consequently, just as Octavius had his Antony, and +Louis Philippe was to have his Lafayette, Henri IV was to have his +Biron. When monarchs are in this position they can no longer have a will +of their own or personal likes and dislikes; they submit to the force of +circumstances, and feel compelled to rely on the masses; no sooner are +they freed from the ban under which they laboured than they are obliged +to bring others under it. + +However, before having recourse to extreme measures, Henri IV with +soldierly frankness gathered round him all those who had been his +comrades of old in war and in religion; he spread out before them a map +of France, and showed them that hardly a tenth of the immense number of +its inhabitants were Protestants, and that even that tenth was shut up +in the mountains; some in Dauphine, which had been won for them by their +three principal leaders, Baron des Adrets, Captain Montbrun, and +Lesdiguieres; others in the Cevennes, which had become Protestant +through their great preachers, Maurice Secenat and Guillaume Moget; and +the rest in the mountains of Navarre, whence he himself had come. He +recalled to them further that whenever they ventured out of their +mountains they had been beaten in every battle, at Jarnac, at +Moncontour, and at Dreux. He concluded by explaining how impossible it +was for him, such being the case, to entrust the guidance of the State +to their party; but he offered them instead three things, viz., his +purse to supply their present needs, the Edict of Nantes to assure their +future safety, and fortresses to defend themselves should this edict one +day be revoked, for with profound insight the grandfather divined the +grandson: Henri IV feared Louis XIV. + +The Protestants took what they were offered, but of course like all who +accept benefits they went away filled with discontent because they had +not been given more. + +Although the Protestants ever afterwards looked on Henri IV as a +renegade, his reign nevertheless was their golden age, and while it +lasted Nines was quiet; for, strange to say, the Protestants took no +revenge for St. Bartholomew, contenting themselves with debarring the +Catholics from the open exercise of their religion, but leaving them +free to use all its rites and ceremonies in private. They even permitted +the procession of the Host through the streets in case of illness, +provided it took place at night. Of course death would not always wait +for darkness, and the Host was sometimes carried to the dying during the +day, not without danger to the priest, who, however, never let himself +be deterred thereby from the performance of his duty; indeed, it is of +the essence of religious devotion to be inflexible; and few soldiers, +however brave, have equalled the martyrs in courage. + +During this time, taking advantage of the truce to hostilities and the +impartial protection meted out to all without distinction by the +Constable Damville, the Carmelites and Capuchins, the Jesuits and monks +of all orders and colours, began by degrees to return to Nines; without +any display, it is true, rather in a surreptitious manner, preferring +darkness to daylight; but however this may be, in the course of three or +four years they had all regained foothold in the town; only now they +were in the position in which the Protestants had been formerly, they +were without churches, as their enemies were in possession of all the +places of worship. It also happened that a Jesuit high in authority, +named Pere Coston, preached with such success that the Protestants, not +wishing to be beaten, but desirous of giving word for word, summoned to +their aid the Rev. Jeremie Ferrier, of Alais, who at the moment was +regarded as the most eloquent preacher they had. Needless to say, Alais +was situated in the mountains, that inexhaustible source of Huguenot +eloquence. At once the controversial spirit was aroused; it did not as +yet amount to war, but still less could it be called peace: people were +no longer assassinated, but they were anathematised; the body was safe, +but the soul was consigned to damnation: the days as they passed were +used by both sides to keep their hand in, in readiness for the moment +when the massacres should again begin. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +The death of Henri IV led to new conflicts, in which although at first +success was on the side of the Protestants it by degrees went over to +the Catholics; for with the accession of Louis XIII Richelieu had taken +possession of the throne: beside the king sat the cardinal; under the +purple mantle gleamed the red robe. It was at this crisis that Henri de +Rohan rose to eminence in the South. He was one of the most illustrious +representatives of that great race which, allied as it was to the royal +houses of Scotland, France, Savoy, and Lorraine; had taken as their +device, "Be king I cannot, prince I will not, Rohan I am." + +Henri de Rohan was at this time about forty years of age, in the prime +of life. In his youth, in order to perfect his education, he had visited +England, Scotland, and Italy. In England Elizabeth had called him her +knight; in Scotland James VI had asked him to stand godfather to his +son, afterwards Charles I; in Italy he had been so deep in the +confidence of the leaders of men, and so thoroughly initiated into the +politics of the principal cities, that it was commonly said that, after +Machiavel, he was the greatest authority in these matters. He had +returned to France in the lifetime of Henry IV, and had married the +daughter of Sully, and after Henri's death had commanded the Swiss and +the Grison regiments--at the siege of Juliers. This was the man whom the +king was so imprudent as to offend by refusing him the reversion of the +office of governor of Poitou, which was then held by Sully, his +father-in-law. In order to revenge himself for the neglect he met with +at court, as he states in his Memoires with military ingenuousness, he +espoused the cause of Conde with all his heart, being also drawn in this +direction by his liking for Conde's brother and his consequent desire to +help those of Conde's religion. + +From this day on street disturbances and angry disputes assumed another +aspect: they took in a larger area and were not so readily appeased. It +was no longer an isolated band of insurgents which roused a city, but +rather a conflagration which spread over the whole South, and a general +uprising which was almost a civil war. + +This state of things lasted for seven or eight years, and during this +time Rohan, abandoned by Chatillon and La Force, who received as the +reward of their defection the field marshal's baton, pressed by Conde, +his old friend, and by Montmorency, his consistent rival, performed +prodigies of courage and miracles of strategy. At last, without +soldiers, without ammunition, without money, he still appeared to +Richelieu to be so redoubtable that all the conditions of surrender he +demanded were granted. The maintenance of the Edict of Nantes was +guaranteed, all the places of worship were to be restored to the +Reformers, and a general amnesty granted to himself and his partisans. +Furthermore, he obtained what was an unheard-of thing until then, an +indemnity of 300,000 livres for his expenses during the rebellion; of +which sum he allotted 240,000 livres to his co-religionists--that is to +say, more than three-quarters of the entire amount--and kept, for the +purpose of restoring his various chateaux and setting his domestic +establishment, which had been destroyed during the war, again on foot, +only 60,000 livres. This treaty was signed on July 27th, 1629. + +The Duc de Richelieu, to whom no sacrifice was too great in order to +attain his ends, had at last reached the goal, but the peace cost him +nearly 40,000,000 livres; on the other hand, Saintonge, Poitou, and +Languedoc had submitted, and the chiefs of the houses of La Tremouille, +Conde, Bouillon, Rohan, and Soubise had came to terms with him; +organised armed opposition had disappeared, and the lofty manner of +viewing matters natural to the cardinal duke prevented him from noticing +private enmity. He therefore left Nimes free to manage her local affairs +as she pleased, and very soon the old order, or rather disorder, reigned +once more within her walls. At last Richelieu died, and Louis XIII soon +followed him, and the long minority of his successor, with its +embarrassments, left to Catholics and Protestants in the South more +complete liberty than ever to carry on the great duel which down to our +own days has never ceased. + +But from this period, each flux and reflux bears more and more the +peculiar character of the party which for the moment is triumphant; when +the Protestants get the upper hand, their vengeance is marked by +brutality and rage; when the Catholics are victorious, the retaliation +is full of hypocrisy and greed. The Protestants pull down churches and +monasteries, expel the monks, burn the crucifixes, take the body of some +criminal from the gallows, nail it on a cross, pierce its side, put a +crown of thorns round its temples and set it up in the market-place--an +effigy of Jesus on Calvary. The Catholics levy contributions, take back +what they had been deprived of, exact indemnities, and although ruined +by each reverse, are richer than ever after each victory. The +Protestants act in the light of day, melting down the church bells to +make cannon to the sound of the drum, violate agreements, warm +themselves with wood taken from the houses of the cathedral clergy, +affix their theses to the cathedral doors, beat the priests who carry +the Holy Sacrament to the dying, and, to crown all other insults, turn +churches into slaughter-houses and sewers. + +The Catholics, on the contrary, march at night, and, slipping in at the +gates which have been left ajar for them, make their bishop president of +the Council, put Jesuits at the head of the college, buy converts with +money from the treasury, and as they always have influence at court, +begin by excluding the Calvinists from favour, hoping soon to deprive +them of justice. + +At last, on the 31st of December, 1657, a final struggle took place, in +which the Protestants were overcome, and were only saved from +destruction because from the other side of the Channel, Cromwell exerted +himself in their favour, writing with his own hand at the end of a +despatch relative to the affairs of Austria, "I Learn that there have +been popular disturbances in a town of Languedoc called Nimes, and I beg +that order may be restored with as much mildness as possible, and +without shedding of blood." As, fortunately for the Protestants, Mazarin +had need of Cromwell at that moment, torture was forbidden, and nothing +allowed but annoyances of all kinds. These henceforward were not only +innumerable, but went on without a pause: the Catholics, faithful to +their system of constant encroachment, kept up an incessant persecution, +in which they were soon encouraged by the numerous ordinances issued by +Louis XIV. The grandson of Henri IV could not so far forget all ordinary +respect as to destroy at once the Edict of Nantes, but he tore off +clause after clause. + +In 1630--that is, a year after the peace with Rohan had been signed in +the preceding reign--Chalons-sur-Saone had resolved that no Protestant +should be allowed to take any part in the manufactures of the town. + +In 1643, six months after the accession of Louis XIV, the laundresses of +Paris made a rule that the wives and daughters of Protestants were +unworthy to be admitted to the freedom of their respectable guild. + +In 1654, just one year after he had attained his majority, Louis XIV +consented to the imposition of a tax on the town of Nimes of 4000 francs +towards the support of the Catholic and the Protestant hospitals; and +instead of allowing each party to contribute to the support of its own +hospital, the money was raised in one sum, so that, of the money paid by +the Protestants, who were twice as numerous as the Catholics, two-sixths +went to their enemies. On August 9th of the same year a decree of the +Council ordered that all the artisan consuls should be Catholics; on the +16th September another decree forbade Protestants to send deputations to +the king; lastly, on the 20th of December, a further decree declared +that all hospitals should be administered by Catholic consuls alone. + +In 1662 Protestants were commanded to bury their dead either at dawn or +after dusk, and a special clause of the decree fixed the number of +persons who might attend a funeral at ten only. + +In 1663 the Council of State issued decrees prohibiting the practice of +their religion by the Reformers in one hundred and forty-two communes in +the dioceses of Nimes, Uzes, and Mendes; and ordering the demolition of +their meetinghouses. + +In 1664 this regulation was extended to the meeting-houses of Alencon +and Montauban, as Well as their small place of worship in Nimes. On the +17th July of the same year the Parliament of Rouen forbade the +master-mercers to engage any more Protestant workmen or apprentices when +the number already employed had reached the proportion of one +Protestant, to fifteen Catholics; on the 24th of the same month the +Council of State declared all certificates of mastership held by a +Protestant invalid from whatever source derived; and in October reduced +to two the number of Protestants who might be employed at the mint. + +In 1665 the regulation imposed on the mercers was extended to the +goldsmiths. + +In 1666 a royal declaration, revising the decrees of Parliament, was +published, and Article 31 provided that the offices of clerk to the +consulates, or secretary to a guild of watchmakers, or porter in a +municipal building, could only be held by Catholics; while in Article 33 +it was ordained that when a procession carrying the Host passed a place +of worship belonging to the so-called Reformers, the worshippers should +stop their psalm-singing till the procession had gone by; and lastly, in +Article 34 it was enacted that the houses and other buildings belonging +to those who were of the Reformed religion might, at the pleasure of the +town authorities, be draped with cloth or otherwise decorated on any +religious Catholic festival. + +In 1669 the Chambers appointed by the Edict of Nantes in the Parliaments +of Rouen and Paris were suppressed, as well as the articled clerkships +connected therewith, and the clerkships in the Record Office; and in +August of the same year, when the emigration of Protestants was just +beginning, an edict was issued, of which the following is a clause: + +"Whereas many of our subjects have gone to foreign countries, where they +continue to follow their various trades and occupations, even working as +shipwrights, or taking service as sailors, till at length they feel at +home and determine never to return to France, marrying abroad and +acquiring property of every description: We hereby forbid any member of +the so-called Reformed Church to leave this kingdom without our +permission, and we command those who have already left France to return +forthwith within her boundaries." + +In 1670 the king excluded physicians of the Reformed faith from the +office of dean of the college of Rouen, and allowed only two Protestant +doctors within its precincts. In 1671 a decree was published commanding +the arms of France to be removed from all the places of worship +belonging to the pretended Reformers. In 1680 a proclamation from the +king closed the profession of midwife to women of the Reformed faith. In +1681 those who renounced the Protestant religion were exempted for two +years from all contributions towards the support of soldiers sent to +their town, and were for the same period relieved from the duty of +giving them board and lodging. In the same year the college of Sedan was +closed--the only college remaining in the entire kingdom at which +Calvinist children could receive instruction. In 1682 the king commanded +Protestant notaries; procurators, ushers, and serjeants to lay down +their offices, declaring them unfit for such professions; and in +September of the same year three months only were allowed them for the +sale of the reversion of the said offices. In 1684 the Council of State +extended the preceding regulations to those Protestants holding the +title of honorary secretary to the king, and in August of the same year +Protestants were declared incapable of serving on a jury of experts. + +In 1685 the provost of merchants in Paris ordered all Protestant +privileged merchants in that city to sell their privileges within a +month. And in October of the same year the long series of persecutions, +of which we have omitted many, reached its culminating point--the: +Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Henri IV, who foresaw this result, +had hoped that it would have occurred in another manner, so that his +co-religionists would have been able to retain their fortresses; but +what was actually done was that the strong places were first taken away, +and then came the Revocation; after which the Calvinists found +themselves completely at the mercy of their mortal enemies. + +From 1669, when Louis first threatened to aim a fatal blow at the civil +rights of the Huguenots, by abolishing the equal partition of the +Chambers between the two parties, several deputations had been sent to +him praying him to stop the course of his persecutions; and in order not +to give him any fresh excuse for attacking their party, these +deputations addressed him in the most submissive manner, as the +following fragment from an address will prove: + +"In the name of God, sire," said the Protestants to the king, "listen to +the last breath of our dying liberty, have pity on our sufferings, have +pity on the great number of your poor subjects who daily water their +bread with their tears: they are all filled with burning zeal and +inviolable loyalty to you; their love for your august person is only +equalled by their respect; history bears witness that they contributed +in no small degree to place your great and magnanimous ancestor on his +rightful throne, and since your miraculous birth they have never done +anything worthy of blame; they might indeed use much stronger terms, but +your Majesty has spared their modesty by addressing to them on many +occasions words of praise which they would never have ventured to apply +to themselves; these your subjects place their sole trust in your +sceptre for refuge and protection on earth, and their interest as well +as their duty and conscience impels them to remain attached to the +service of your Majesty with unalterable devotion." + +But, as we have seen, nothing could restrain the triumvirate which held +the power just then, and thanks to the suggestions of Pere Lachaise and +Madame de Maintenon, Louis XIV determined to gain heaven by means of +wheel and stake. + +As we see, for the Protestants, thanks to these numerous decrees, +persecution began at the cradle and followed them to the grave. + +As a boy, a Huguenot could--enter no public school; as a youth, no +career was open to him; he could become neither mercer nor concierge, +neither apothecary nor physician, neither lawyer nor consul. As a man, +he had no sacred house, of prayer; no registrar would inscribe his +marriage or the birth of his children; hourly his liberty and his +conscience were ignored. If he ventured to worship God by the singing of +psalms, he had to be silent as the Host was carried past outside. When a +Catholic festival occurred, he was forced not only to swallow his rage +but to let his house be hung with decorations in sign of joy; if he had +inherited a fortune from his fathers, having neither social standing nor +civil rights, it slipped gradually out of his hands, and went to support +the schools and hospitals of his foes. Having reached the end of his +life, his deathbed was made miserable; for dying in the faith of his +fathers, he could not be laid to rest beside them, and like a pariah he +would be carried to his grave at night, no more than ten of those near +and dear to him being allowed to follow his coffin. + +Lastly, if at any age whatever he should attempt to quit the cruel soil +on which he had no right to be born, to live, or to die, he would be +declared a rebel, his goads would be confiscated, and the lightest +penalty that he had to expect, if he ever fell into the hands of his +enemies, was to row for the rest of his life in the galleys of the king, +chained between a murderer and a forger. + +Such a state of things was intolerable: the cries of one man are lost in +space, but the groans of a whole population are like a storm; and this +time, as always, the tempest gathered in the mountains, and the +rumblings of the thunder began to be heard. + +First there were texts written by invisible hands on city walls, on the +signposts and cross-roads, on the crosses in the cemeteries: these +warnings, like the 'Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin' of Belshazzar, even +pursued the persecutors into the midst of their feasts and orgies. + +Now it was the threat, "Jesus came not to send peace, but a sword." Then +this consolation, "For where two or three are gathered together in My +name, there am I in the midst of them." Or perhaps it was this appeal +for united action which was soon to become a summons to revolt, "That +which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have +fellowship with us." + +And before these promises, taken from the New Testament, the persecuted +paused, and then went home inspired by faith in the prophets, who spake, +as St. Paul says in his First Epistle to the Thessalonians, "not the +word of men but the word of God." + +Very soon these words became incarnate, and what the prophet Joel +foretold came to pass: "Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, +your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions,... +and I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and +fire,... and it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name +of the Lord shall be delivered." + +In 1696 reports began to circulate that men had had visions; being able +to see what was going on in the most distant parts, and that the heavens +themselves opened to their eyes. While in this ecstatic state they were +insensible to pain when pricked with either pin or blade; and when, on +recovering consciousness, they were questioned they could remember +nothing. + +The first of these was a woman from Vivarais, whose origin was unknown. +She went about from town to town, shedding tears of blood. M. de +Baville, intendant of Languedoc, had her arrested and brought to +Montpellier. There she was condemned to death and burnt at the stake, +her tears of blood being dried by fire. + +After her came a second fanatic, for so these popular prophets were +called. He was born at Mazillon, his name was Laquoite, and he was +twenty years of age. The gift of prophecy had come to him in a strange +manner. This is the story told about him:--"One day, returning from +Languedoc, where he had been engaged in the cultivation of silkworms, on +reaching the bottom of the hill of St. Jean he found a man lying on the +ground trembling in every limb. Moved by pity, he stopped and asked what +ailed him. The man replied, 'Throw yourself on your knees, my son, and +trouble not yourself about me, but learn how to attain salvation and +save your brethren. This can only be done by the communion of the Holy +Ghost, who is in me, and whom by the grace of God I can bestow on you. +Approach and receive this gift in a kiss.' At these words the unknown +kissed the young man on the mouth, pressed his hand and disappeared, +leaving the other trembling in his turn; for the spirit of God was in +him, and being inspired he spread the word abroad." + +A third fanatic, a prophetess, raved about the parishes of St. Andeol de +Clerguemont and St. Frazal de Vantalon, but she addressed herself +principally to recent converts, to whom she preached concerning the +Eucharist that in swallowing the consecrated wafer they had swallowed a +poison as venomous as the head of the basilisk, that they had bent the +knee to Baal, and that no penitence on their part could be great enough +to save them. These doctrines inspired such profound terror that the +Rev. Father Louvreloeil himself tells us that Satan by his efforts +succeeded in nearly emptying the churches, and that at the following +Easter celebrations there were only half as many communicants as the +preceding year. + +Such a state of licence, which threatened to spread farther and farther, +awoke the religious solicitude of Messire Francois Langlade de Duchayla, +Prior of Laval, Inspector of Missions of Gevaudan, and Arch-priest of +the Cevennes. He therefore resolved to leave his residence at Mende and +to visit the parishes in which heresy had taken the strongest hold, in +order to oppose it by every mean's which God and the king had put in his +power. + +The Abbe Duchayla was a younger son of the noble house of Langlade, and +by the circumstances of his birth, in spite of his soldierly instincts, +had been obliged to leave epaulet and sword to his elder brother, and +himself assume cassock and stole. On leaving the seminary, he espoused +the cause of the Church militant with all the ardour of his temperament. +Perils to encounter; foes to fight, a religion to force on others, were +necessities to this fiery character, and as everything at the moment was +quiet in France, he had embarked for India with the fervent resolution +of a martyr. + +On reaching his destination, the young missionary had found himself +surrounded by circumstances which were wonderfully in harmony with his +celestial longings: some of his predecessors had been carried so far by +religious zeal that the King of Siam had put several to death by torture +and had forbidden any more missionaries to enter his dominions; but +this, as we can easily imagine, only excited still more the abbe's +missionary fervour; evading the watchfulness of the military, and +regardless of the terrible penalties imposed by the king, he crossed the +frontier, and began to preach the Catholic religion to the heathen, many +of whom were converted. + +One day he was surprised by a party of soldiers in a little village in +which he had been living for three months, and in which nearly all the +inhabitants had abjured their false faith, and was brought before the +governor of Bankan, where instead of denying his faith, he nobly +defended Christianity and magnified the name of God. He was handed over +to the executioners to be subjected to torture, and suffered at their +hands with resignation everything that a human body can endure while yet +retaining life, till at length his patience exhausted their rage; and +seeing him become unconscious, they thought he was dead, and with +mutilated hands, his breast furrowed with wounds, his limbs half warn +through by heavy fetters, he was suspended by the wrists to a branch of +a tree and abandoned. A pariah passing by cut him down and succoured +him, and reports of his martyrdom having spread, the French ambassador +demanded justice with no uncertain voice, so that the King of Siam, +rejoicing that the executioners had stopped short in time, hastened to +send back to M. de Chaumont, the representative of Louis XIV, a +mutilated though still living man, instead of the corpse which had been +demanded. + +At the time when Louis XIV was meditating the Revocation of the Edict of +Nantes he felt that the services of such a man would be invaluable to +him, so about 1632, Abbe Duchayla was recalled from India, and a year +later was sent to Mende, with the titles of Arch-priest of the Cevennes +and Inspector of Missions. + +Soon the abbe, who had been so much persecuted, became a persecutor, +showing himself as insensible to the sufferings of others as he had been +inflexible under his own. His apprenticeship to torture stood him in +such good stead that he became an inventor, and not only did he enrich +the torture chamber by importing from India several scientifically +constructed machines, hitherto unknown in Europe, but he also designed +many others. People told with terror of reeds cut in the form of +whistles which the abbe pitilessly forced under the nails of malignants; +of iron pincers for tearing out their beards, eyelashes, and eyebrows; +of wicks steeped in oil and wound round the fingers of a victim's hands, +and then set on fire so as to form a pair of five-flamed candelabra; of +a case turning on a pivot in which a man who refused to be converted was +sometimes shut up, the case being then made to revolve rapidly till the +victim lost consciousness; and lastly of fetters used when taking +prisoners from one town to another, and brought to such perfection, that +when they were on the prisoner could neither stand nor sit. + +Even the most fervent panegyrists of Abbe Duchayla spoke of him with +bated breath, and, when he himself looked into his own heart and +recalled how often he had applied to the body the power to bind and +loose which God had only given him over the soul, he was seized with +strange tremors, and falling on his knees with folded hands and bowed +head he remained for hours wrapt in thought, so motionless that were it +not for the drops of sweat which stood on his brow he might have been +taken for a marble statue of prayer over a tomb. + +Moreover, this priest by virtue of the powers with which he was +invested, and feeling that he had the authority of M. de Baville, +intendant of Languedoc, and M. de Broglie, commander of the troops, +behind him, had done other terrible things. + +He had separated children from father and mother, and had shut them up +in religious houses, where they had been subjected to such severe +chastisement, by way of making them do penance for the heresy of their +parents, that many of them died under it. + +He had forced his way into the chamber of the dying, not to bring +consolation but menaces; and bending over the bed, as if to keep back +the Angel of Death, he had repeated the words of the terrible decree +which provided that in case of the death of a Huguenot without +conversion, his memory should be persecuted, and his body, denied +Christian burial, should be drawn on hurdles out of the city, and cast +on a dungheap. + +Lastly, when with pious love children tried to shield their parents in +the death-agony from his threats, or dead from his justice, by carrying +them, dead or dying, to some refuge in which they might hope to draw +their last breath in peace or to obtain Christian burial, he declared +that anyone who should open his door hospitably to such disobedience was +a traitor to religion, although among the heathen such pity would have +been deemed worthy of an altar. + +Such was the man raised up to punish, who went on his way, preceded by +terror, accompanied by torture, and followed by death, through a country +already exhausted by long and bloody oppression, and where at every step +he trod on half repressed religious hate, which like a volcano was ever +ready to burst out afresh, but always prepared for martyrdom. Nothing +held him back, and years ago he had had his grave hollowed out in the +church of St. Germain, choosing that church for his last long sleep +because it had been built by Pope Urban IV when he was bishop of Mende. + +Abbe Duchayla extended his visitation over six months, during which +every day was marked by tortures and executions: several prophets were +burnt at the stake; Francoise de Brez, she who had preached that the +Host contained a more venomous poison than a basilisk's head, was +hanged; and Laquoite, who had been confined in the citadel of +Montpellier, was on the point of being broken on the wheel, when on the +eve of his execution his cell was found empty. No one could ever +discover how he escaped, and consequently his reputation rose higher +than ever, it being currently believed that, led by the Holy Spirit as +St. Peter by the angel, he had passed through the guards invisible to +all, leaving his fetters behind. + +This incomprehensible escape redoubled the severity of the Arch-priest, +till at last the prophets, feeling that their only chance of safety lay +in getting rid of him, began to preach against him as Antichrist, and +advocate his death. The abbe was warned of this, but nothing could abate +his zeal. In France as in India, martyrdom was his longed-for goal, and +with head erect and unfaltering step he "pressed toward the mark." + +At last, on the evening of the 24th of July, two hundred conspirators +met in a wood on the top of a hill which overlooked the bridge of +Montvert, near which was the Arch-priest's residence. Their leader was a +man named Laporte, a native of Alais, who had become a master-blacksmith +in the pass of Deze. He was accompanied by an inspired man, a former +wool-carder, born at Magistavols, Esprit Seguier by name. This man was, +after Laquoite, the most highly regarded of the twenty or thirty +prophets who were at that moment going up and down the Cevennes in every +direction. The whole party was armed with scythes, halberts, and swords; +a few had even pistols and guns. + +On the stroke of ten, the hour fixed for their departure, they all knelt +down and with uncovered heads began praying as fervently as if they were +about to perform some act most pleasing to God, and their prayers ended, +they marched down the hill to the town, singing psalms, and shouting +between the verses to the townspeople to keep within their homes, and +not to look out of door or window on pain of death. + +The abbe was in his oratory when he heard the mingled singing and +shouting, and at the same moment a servant entered in great alarm, +despite the strict regulation of the Arch-priest that he was never to be +interrupted at his prayers. This man announced that a body of fanatics +was coming down the hill, but the abbe felt convinced that it was only +an unorganised crowd which was going to try and carry off six prisoners, +at that moment in the 'ceps.' [ A terrible kind of stocks--a beam split +in two, no notches being made for the legs: the victim's legs were +placed between the two pieces of wood, which were then, by means of a +vice at each end, brought gradually together. Translators Note.] + +These prisoners were three young men and three girls in men's clothes, +who had been seized just as they were about to emigrate. As the abbe was +always protected by a guard of soldiers, he sent for the officer in +command and ordered him to march against, the fanatics and disperse +them. But the officer was spared the trouble of obeying, for the +fanatics were already at hand. On reaching the gate of the courtyard he +heard them outside, and perceived that they were making ready to burst +it in. Judging of their numbers by the sound of their voices, he +considered that far from attacking them, he would have enough to do in +preparing for defence, consequently he bolted and barred the gate on the +inside, and hastily erected a barricade under an arch leading to the +apartments of the abbe. Just as these preparations were complete, Esprit +Seguier caught sight of a heavy beam of wood lying in a ditch; this was +raised by a dozen men and used as a battering-ram to force in the gate, +which soon showed a breach. Thus encouraged, the workers, cheered by the +chants of their comrades, soon got the gate off the hinges, and thus the +outside court was taken. The crowd then loudly demanded the release of +the prisoners, using dire threats. + +The commanding officer sent to ask the abbe what he was to do; the abbe +replied that he was to fire on the conspirators. This imprudent order +was carried out; one of the fanatics was killed on the spot, and two +wounded men mingled their groans with the songs and threats of their +comrades. + +The barricade was next attacked, some using axes, others darting their +swords and halberts through the crevices and killing those behind; as +for those who had firearms, they climbed on the shoulders of the others, +and having fired at those below, saved themselves by tumbling down +again. At the head of the besiegers were Laporte and Esprit Seguier, one +of whom had a father to avenge and the other a son, both of whom had +been done to death by the abbe. They were not the only ones of the party +who were fired by the desire of vengeance; twelve or fifteen others were +in the same position. + +The abbe in his room listened to the noise of the struggle, and finding +matters growing serious, he gathered his household round him, and making +them kneel down, he told them to make their confession, that he might, +by giving them absolution, prepare them for appearing before God. The +sacred words had just been pronounced when the rioters drew near, having +carried the barricade, and driven the soldiers to take refuge in a hall +on the ground floor just under the Arch-priest's room. + +But suddenly, the assault was stayed, some of the men going to surround +the house, others setting out on a search for the prisoners. These were +easily found, for judging by what they could hear that their brethren +had come to their rescue, they shouted as loudly as they could. + +The unfortunate creatures had already passed a whole week with their +legs caught and pressed by the cleft beams which formed these +inexpressibly painful stocks. When the unfortunate victims were +released, the fanatics screamed with rage at the sight of their swollen +bodies and half-broken bones. None of the unhappy people were able to +stand. The attack on the soldiers was renewed, and these being driven +out of the lower hall, filled the staircase leading to the abbe's +apartments, and offered such determined resistance that their assailants +were twice forced to fall back. Laporte, seeing two of his men killed +and five or six wounded, called out loudly, "Children of God, lay down +your arms: this way of going to work is too slow; let us burn the abbey +and all in it. To work! to work!" The advice was good, and they all +hastened to follow it: benches, chairs, and furniture of all sorts were +heaped up in the hall, a palliasse thrown on the top, and the pile +fired. In a moment the whole building was ablaze, and the Arch-priest, +yielding to the entreaties of his servants, fastened his sheets to the +window-bars, and by their help dropped into the garden. The drop was so +great that he broke one of his thigh bones, but dragging himself along +on his hands and one knee, he, with one of his servants, reached a +recess in the wall, while another servant was endeavouring to escape +through the flames, thus falling into the hands of the fanatics, who +carried him before their captain. Then cries of "The prophet! the +prophet!" were heard on all sides. Esprit Seguier, feeling that +something fresh had taken place, came forward, still holding in his hand +the blazing torch with which he had set fire to the pile. + +"Brother," asked Laporte, pointing to the prisoner, "is this man to +die?" + +Esprit Seguier fell on his knees and covered his face with his mantle, +like Samuel, and sought the Lord in prayer, asking to know His will. + +In a short time he rose and said, "This man is not to die; for inasmuch +as he has showed mercy to our brethren we must show mercy to him." + +Whether this fact had been miraculously revealed to Seguier, or whether +he had gained his information from other sources, the newly released +prisoners confirmed its truth, calling out that the man had indeed +treated them with humanity. Just then a roar as of a wild beast was +heard: one of the fanatics, whose brother had been put to death by the +abbe, had just caught sight of him, the whole neighbourhood being lit up +by the fire; he was kneeling in an angle of the wall, to which he had +dragged himself. + +"Down with the son of Belial!" shouted the crowd, rushing towards the +priest, who remained kneeling and motionless like a marble statue. His +valet took advantage of the confusion to escape, and got off easily; for +the sight of him on whom the general hate was concentrated made the +Huguenots forget everything else: + +Esprit Seguier was the first to reach the priest, and spreading his +hands over him, he commanded the others to hold back. "God desireth not +the death of a sinner,'" said he, "'but rather that he turn from his +wickedness and live.'" + +"No, no!" shouted a score of voices, refusing obedience for the first +time, perhaps, to an order from the prophet; "let him die without mercy, +as he struck without pity. Death to the son of Belial, death!" + +"Silence!" exclaimed the prophet in a terrible voice, "and listen to the +word of God from my mouth. If this man will join us and take upon him +the duties of a pastor, let us grant him his life, that he may +henceforward devote it to the spread of the true faith." + +"Rather a thousand deaths than apostasy!" answered the priest. + +"Die, then!" cried Laporte, stabbing him; "take that for having burnt my +father in Nimes." + +And he passed on the dagger to Esprit Seguier. + +Duchayla made neither sound nor gesture: it would have seemed as if the +dagger had been turned by the priest's gown as by a coat of mail were it +not that a thin stream of blood appeared. Raising his eyes to heaven, he +repeated the words of the penitential psalm: "Out of the depths have I +cried unto Thee, O Lord! Lord, hear my voice!" + +Then Esprit Seguier raised his arm and struck in his turn, saying, "Take +that for my son, whom you broke on the wheel at Montpellier." + +And he passed on the dagger. + +But this blow also was not mortal, only another stream of blood +appeared, and the abbe said in a failing voice, "Deliver me, O my +Saviour, out of my well-merited sufferings, and I will acknowledge their +justice; far I have been a man of blood." + +The next who seized the dagger came near and gave his blow, saying, +"Take that for my brother, whom you let die in the 'ceps.'" + +This time the dagger pierced the heart, and the abbe had only time to +ejaculate, "Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy!" +before he fell back dead. + +But his death did not satisfy the vengeance of those who had not been +able to strike him living; one by one they drew near and stabbed, each +invoking the shade of some dear murdered one and pronouncing the same +words of malediction. + +In all, the body of the abbe received fifty-two dagger thrusts, of which +twenty-four would have been mortal. + +Thus perished, at the age of fifty-five, Messire Francois de Langlade +Duchayla, prior of Laval, inspector of missions in Gevaudan, and +Arch-priest of the Cevennes and Mende. + +Their vengeance thus accomplished, the murderers felt that there was no +more safety for them in either city or plain, and fled to the mountains; +but in passing near the residence of M. de Laveze, a Catholic nobleman +of the parish of Molezon, one of the fugitives recollected that he had +heard that a great number of firearms was kept in the house. This seemed +a lucky chance, for firearms were what the Huguenots needed most of all. +They therefore sent two envoys to M. de Laveze to ask him to give them +at, least a share of his weapons; but he, as a good Catholic, replied +that it was quite true that he had indeed a store of arms, but that they +were destined to the triumph and not to the desecration of religion, and +that he would only give them up with his life. With these words, he +dismissed the envoys, barring his doors behind them. + +But while this parley was going on the conspirators had approached the +chateau, and thus received the valiant answer to their demands sooner +than M. de Laveze had counted on. Resolving not to leave him time to +take defensive measures, they dashed at the house, and by standing on +each other's shoulders reached the room in which M. de Laveze and his +entire family had taken refuge. In an instant the door was forced, and +the fanatics, still reeking with the life-blood of Abbe Duchayla, began +again their work of death. No one was spared; neither the master of the +house, nor his brother, nor his uncle, nor his sister, who knelt to the +assassins in vain; even his old mother, who was eighty years of age, +having from her bed first witnessed the murder of all her family, was at +last stabbed to the heart, though the butchers might have reflected that +it was hardly worth while thus to anticipate the arrival of Death, who +according to the laws of nature must have been already at hand. + +The massacre finished, the fanatics spread over the castle, supplying +themselves with arms and under-linen, being badly in need of the latter; +for when they left their homes they had expected soon to return, and had +taken nothing with them. They also carried off the copper kitchen +utensils, intending to turn them into bullets. Finally, they seized on a +sum of 5000 francs, the marriage-portion of M. de Laveze's sister, who +was just about to be married, and thus laid the foundation of a war +fund. + +The news of these two bloody events soon reached not only Nimes but all +the countryside, and roused the authorities to action. M. le Comte de +Broglie crossed the Upper Cevennes, and marched down to the bridge of +Montvert, followed by several companies of fusiliers. From another +direction M. le Comte de Peyre brought thirty-two cavalry and three +hundred and fifty infantry, having enlisted them at Marvejols, La +Canourgue, Chiac, and Serverette. M. de St. Paul, Abbe Duchayla's +brother, and the Marquis Duchayla, his nephew, brought eighty horsemen +from the family estates. The Count of Morangiez rode in from St. Auban +and Malzieu with two companies of cavalry, and the town of Mende by +order of its bishop despatched its nobles at the head of three companies +of fifty men each. + +But the mountains had swallowed up the fanatics, and nothing was ever +known of their fate, except that from time to time a peasant would +relate that in crossing the Cevennes he had heard at dawn or dusk, on +mountain peak or from valley depths, the sound going up to heaven of +songs of praise. It was the fanatic assassins worshipping God. + +Or occasionally at night, on the tops of the lofty mountains, fires +shone forth which appeared to signal one to another, but on looking the +next night in the same direction all was dark. + +So M. de Broglie, concluding that nothing could be done against enemies +who were invisible, disbanded the troops which had come to his aid, and +went back to Montpellier, leaving a company of fusiliers at Collet, +another at Ayres, one at the bridge of Montvert, one at Barre, and one +at Pompidon, and appointing Captain Poul as their chief. + +This choice of such a man as chief showed that M. de Broglie was a good +judge of human nature, and was also perfectly acquainted with the +situation, for Captain Poul was the very man to take a leading part in +the coming struggle. "He was," says Pere Louvreloeil, priest of the +Christian doctrine and cure of Saint-Germain de Calberte, "an officer of +merit and reputation, born in Ville-Dubert, near Carcassonne, who had +when young served in Hungary and Germany, and distinguished himself in +Piedmont in several excursions against the Barbets, [ A name applied +first to the Alpine smugglers who lived in the valleys, later to the +insurgent peasants in the Cevennes.--Translator's Note.] notably in one +of the later ones, when, entering the tent of their chief, Barbanaga, he +cut off his head. His tall and agile figure, his warlike air, his love +of hard work, his hoarse voice, his fiery and austere character, his +carelessness in regard to dress, his mature age, his tried courage, his +taciturn habit, the length and weight of his sword, all combined to +render him formidable. Therefore no one could have been chosen more +suitable for putting down the rebels, for forcing their entrenchments, +and for putting them to flight." + +Hardly had he taken up a position in the market town of Labarre, which +was to be his headquarters, than he was informed that a gathering of +fanatics had been seen on the little plain of Fondmorte, which formed a +pass between two valleys. He ordered out his Spanish steed, which he was +accustomed to ride in the Turkish manner--that is, with very short +stirrups, so that he could throw himself forward to the horse's ears, or +backward to the tail, according as he wished to give or avoid a mortal +blow. Taking with him eighteen men of his own company and twenty-five +from the town, he at once set off for the place indicated, not +considering any larger number necessary to put to rout a band of +peasants, however numerous. + +The information turned out to be correct: a hundred Reformers led by +Esprit Seguier had encamped in the plain of Fondmorte, and about eleven +o'clock in the morning one of their sentinels in the defile gave the +alarm by firing off his gun and running back to the camp, shouting, "To +arms!" But Captain Poul, with his usual impetuosity, did not give the +insurgents time to form, but threw himself upon them to the beat of the +drum, not in the least deterred by their first volley. As he had +expected, the band consisted of undisciplined peasants, who once +scattered were unable to rally. They were therefore completely routed. +Poul killed several with his own hand, among whom were two whose heads +he cut off as cleverly as the most experienced executioner could have +done, thanks to the marvellous temper of his Damascus blade. At this +sight all who had till then stood their ground took to flight, Poul at +their heels, slashing with his sword unceasingly, till they disappeared +among the mountains. He then returned to the field of battle, picked up +the two heads, and fastening them to his saddlebow, rejoined his +soldiers with his bloody trophies,--that is to say, he joined the +largest group of soldiers he could find; for the fight had turned into a +number of single combats, every soldier fighting for himself. Here he +found three prisoners who were about to be shot; but Poul ordered that +they should not be touched: not that he thought for an instant of +sparing their lives, but that he wished to reserve them for a public +execution. These three men were Nouvel, a parishioner of Vialon, Moise +Bonnet of Pierre-Male, and Esprit Seguier the prophet. + +Captain Poul returned to Barre carrying with him his two heads and his +three prisoners, and immediately reported to M. Just de Baville, +intendant of Languedoc, the important capture he had made. The prisoners +were quickly tried. Pierre Nouvel was condemned to be burnt alive at the +bridge of Montvert, Molise Bonnet to be broken on the wheel at Deveze, +and Esprit Seguier to be hanged at Andre-de-Lancise. Thus those who were +amateurs in executions had a sufficient choice. + +However, Moise Bonnet saved himself by becoming Catholic, but Pierre +Nouvel and Esprit Seguier died as martyrs, making profession of the new +faith and praising God. + +Two days after the sentence on Esprit Seguier had been carried out, the +body disappeared from the gallows. A nephew of Laporte named Roland had +audaciously carried it off, leaving behind a writing nailed to the +gibbet. This was a challenge from Laporte to Poul, and was dated from +the "Camp of the Eternal God, in the desert of Cevennes," Laporte +signing himself "Colonel of the children of God who seek liberty of +conscience." Poul was about to accept the challenge when he learned that +the insurrection was spreading on every side. A young man of Vieljeu, +twenty-six years of age, named Solomon Couderc, had succeeded Esprit +Seguier in the office of prophet, and two young lieutenants had joined +Laporte. One of these was his nephew Roland, a man of about thirty, +pock-marked, fair, thin, cold, and reserved; he was not tall, but very +strong, and of inflexible courage. The other, Henri Castanet of +Massevaques, was a keeper from the mountain of Laygoal, whose skill as a +marksman was so well known that it was said he never missed a shot. Each +of these lieutenants had fifty men under him. + +Prophets and prophetesses too increased apace, so that hardly a day +passed without reports being heard of fresh ones who were rousing whole +villages by their ravings. + +In the meantime a great meeting of the Protestants of Languedoc had been +held in the fields of Vauvert, at which it had been resolved to join +forces with the rebels of the Cevennes, and to send a messenger thither +to make this resolution known. + +Laporte had just returned from La Vaunage, where he had been making +recruits, when this good news arrived; he at once sent his nephew Roland +to the new allies with power to pledge his word in return for theirs, +and to describe to them, in order to attract them, the country which he +had chosen as the theatre of the coming war, and which, thanks to its +hamlets, its woods, its defiles, its valleys, its precipices, and its +caves, was capable of affording cover to as many bands of insurgents as +might be employed, would be a good rallying-ground after repulse, and +contained suitable positions for ambuscades. Roland was so successful in +his mission that these new "soldiers of the Lord," as they called +themselves, on learning that he had once been a dragoon, offered him the +post of leader, which he accepted, and returned to his uncle at the head +of an army. + +Being thus reinforced, the Reformers divided themselves into three +bands, in order to spread abroad their beliefs through the entire +district. One went towards Soustele and the neighbourhood of Alais, +another towards St. Privat and the bridge of Montvert, while the third +followed the mountain slope down to St. Roman le Pompidou, and Barre. + +The first was commanded by Castanet, the second by Roland, and the third +by Laporte. + +Each party ravaged the country as it passed, returning deathblow for +deathblow and conflagration for conflagration, so that hearing one after +another of these outrages Captain Poul demanded reinforcements from M. +de Broglie and M. de Baville, which were promptly despatched. + +As soon as Captain Poul found himself at the head of a sufficient number +of troops, he determined to attack the rebels. He had received +intelligence that the band led by Laporte was just about to pass through +the valley of Croix, below Barre, near Temelague. In consequence of this +information, he lay in ambush at a favourable spot on the route. As soon +as the Reformers who were without suspicion, were well within the narrow +pass in which Poul awaited them, he issued forth at the head of his +soldiers, and charged the rebels with such courage and impetuosity that +they, taken by surprise, made no attempt at resistance, but, thoroughly +demoralised, spread over the mountain-side, putting a greater and +greater distance at, every instant between themselves and the enemy, +despite the efforts of Laporte to make them stand their ground. At last, +seeing himself deserted, Laporte began to think of his own safety. But +it was already too late, for he was surrounded by dragoons, and the only +way of retreat open to him lay over a large rock. This he successfully +scaled, but before trying to get down the other side he raised his hands +in supplication to Heaven; at that instant a volley was fired, two +bullets struck him, and he fell head foremost down the precipice. + +When the dragoons reached the foot of the rock, they found him dead. As +they knew he was the chief of the rebels, his body was searched: sixty +Louis was found in his pockets, and a sacred chalice which he was in the +habit of using as an ordinary drinking-cup. Poul cut off his head and +the heads of twelve other Reformers found dead on the field of battle, +and enclosing them in a wicker basket, sent them to M. Just de Baville. + +The Reformers soon recovered from this defeat and death, joined all +their forces into one body, and placed Roland at their head in the place +of Laporte. Roland chose a young man called Couderc de Mazel-Rozade, who +had assumed the name of Lafleur, as his lieutenant, and the rebel forces +were not only quickly reorganised, but made complete by the addition of +a hundred men raised by the new lieutenant, and soon gave a sign that +they were again on the war-path by burning down the churches of +Bousquet, Cassagnas, and Prunet. + +Then first it was that the consuls of Mende began to realise that it was +no longer an insurrection they had on hand but a war, and Mende being +the capital of Gevaudan and liable to be attacked at any moment, they +set themselves to bring into repair their counterscarps, ravelins, +bastions, gates, portcullises, moats, walls, turrets, ramparts, +parapets, watchtowers, and the gear of their cannon, and having laid in +a stock of firearms, powder and ball, they formed eight companies each +fifty strong, composed of townsmen, and a further band of one hundred +and fifty peasants drawn from the neighbouring country. Lastly, the +States of the province sent an envoy to the king, praying him graciously +to take measures to check the plague of heresy which was spreading from +day to day. The king at once sent M. Julien in answer to the petition. +Thus it was no longer simple governors of towns nor even chiefs of +provinces who were engaged in the struggle; royalty itself had come to +the rescue. + + M. de Julien, born a Protestant, was a, member of the nobility of + Orange, and in his youth had served against France and borne arms + in England and Ireland when William of Orange succeeded James II as + King of England, Julien was one of his pages, and received as a + reward for his fidelity in the famous campaign of 1688 the command + of a regiment which was sent to the aid of the Duke of Savoy, who + had begged both England and Holland to help him. He bore himself so + gallantly that it was in great part due to him that the French were + forced to raise the siege of Cony. + +Whether it was that he expected too much from this success, or that the +Duke of Savoy did not recognise his services at their worth, he withdrew +to Geneva, where Louis XIV hearing of his discontent, caused overtures +to be made to him with a view to drawing him into the French service. He +was offered the same rank in the French army as he had held in the +English, with a pension of 3000 livres. + + M. de Julien accepted, and feeling that his religious belief would be + in the way of his advancement, when he changed his master he + changed his Church. He was given the command of the valley of + Barcelonnette, whence he made many excursions against the Barbets; + then he was transferred to the command of the Avennes, of the + principality of Orange, in order to guard the passes, so that the + French Protestants could not pass over the frontier for the purpose + of worshipping with their Dutch Protestant brethren; and after + having tried this for a year, he went to Versailles to report + himself to the king. While he was there, it chanced that the envoy + from Gevaudan arrived, and the king being satisfied with de + Julien's conduct since he had entered his service, made him + major-general, chevalier of the military order of St. Louis; and + commander-in-chief in the Vivarais and the Cevennes. + + M. de Julien from the first felt that the situation was very grave, + and saw that his predecessors had felt such great contempt for the + heretics that they had not realised the danger of the revolt. He + immediately proceeded to inspect in person the different points + where M. de Broglie had placed detachments of the Tournon and + Marsily regiments. It is true that he arrived by the light of + thirty burning village churches. + + M. de Broglie, M. de Baville, M. de Julien, and Captain Poul met + together to consult as to the best means of putting an end to these + disorders. It was agreed that the royal troops should be divided + into two bodies, one under the command of M. de Julien to advance + on Alais, where it was reported large meetings of the rebels were + taking place, and the other under M. de Brogue, to march about in + the neighbourhood of Nimes. + +Consequently, the two chiefs separated. M. le Comte de Broglie at the +head of sixty-two dragoons and some companies of foot, and having under +him Captain Poul and M. de Dourville, set out from Cavayrac on the 12th +of January at 2 a. m., and having searched without finding anything the +vineyards of Nimes and La Garrigue de Milhau, took the road to the +bridge of Lunel. There he was informed that those he was in search of +had been seen at the chateau of Caudiac the day before; he therefore at +once set out for the forest which lies around it, not doubting to find +the fanatics entrenched there; but, contrary to his expectations, it was +vacant. He then pushed on to Vauvert, from Vauvert to Beauvoisin, from +Beauvoisin to Generac, where he learned that a troop of rebels had +passed the night there, and in the morning had left for Aubore. Resolved +to give them no rest, M. de Broglie set out at once for this village. + +When half-way there, a member of his staff thought he could distinguish +a crowd of men near a house about half a league distant; M. de Broglie +instantly ordered Sieur de Gibertin, Captain Paul's lieutenant, who was +riding close by, at the head of his company, to take eight dragoons and +make a reconnaissance, in order to ascertain who these men were, while +the rest of the troops would make a halt. + +This little band, led by its officer, crossed a clearing in the wood, +and advanced towards the farmhouse, which was called the Mas de Gafarel, +and which now seemed deserted. But when they were within half a gun-shot +of the wall the charge was sounded behind it, and a band of rebels +rushed towards them, while from a neighbouring house a second troop +emerged, and looking round, he perceived a third lying on their faces in +a small wood. These latter suddenly stood up and approached him, singing +psalms. As it was impossible for M. de Gibertin to hold his ground +against so large a force, he ordered two shots to be fired as a warning +to de Brogue to advance to meet him, and fell back on his comrades. +Indeed, the rebels had only pursued him till they had reached a +favourable position, on which they took their stand. + + M. de Brogue having surveyed the whole position with the aid of a + telescope, held a council of war, and it was decided that an attack + should be made forthwith. They therefore advanced on the rebels in + line: Captain Poul on the right, M. de Dourville on the left, and + Count Broglie in the centre. + +As they got near they could see that the rebels had chosen their ground +with an amount of strategical sagacity they had never till then +displayed. This skill in making their dispositions was evidently due to +their having found a new leader whom no one knew, not even Captain Poul, +although they could see him at the head of his men, carbine in hand. + +However, these scientific preparations did not stop M. de Brogue: he +gave the order to charge, and adding example to precept, urged his horse +to a gallop. The rebels in the first rank knelt on one knee, so that the +rank behind could take aim, and the distance between the two bodies of +troops disappeared rapidly, thanks to the impetuosity of the dragoons; +but suddenly, when within thirty paces of the enemy, the royals found +themselves on the edge of a deep ravine which separated them from the +enemy like a moat. Some were able to check their horses in time, but +others, despite desperate efforts, pressed upon by those behind, were +pushed into the ravine, and rolled helplessly to the bottom. At the same +moment the order to fire was given in a sonorous voice, there was a +rattle of musketry, and several dragoons near M. de Broglie fell. + +"Forward!" cried Captain Poul, "forward!" and putting his horse at a +part of the ravine where the sides were less steep, he was soon +struggling up the opposite side, followed by a few dragoons. + +"Death to the son of Belial!" cried the same voice which had given the +order to fire. At that moment a single shot rang out, Captain Poul threw +up his hands, letting his sabre go, and fell from his horse, which +instead of running away, touched his master with its smoking nostrils, +then lifting its head, neighed long and low. The dragoons retreated. + +"So perish all the persecutors of Israel!" cried the leader, brandishing +his carbine. He then dashed down into the ravine, picked up Captain +Poul's sabre and jumped upon his horse. The animal, faithful to its old +master, showed some signs of resistance, but soon felt by the pressure +of its rider's knees that it had to do with one whom it could not +readily unseat. Nevertheless, it reared and bounded, but the horseman +kept his seat, and as if recognising that it had met its match, the +noble animal tossed its head, neighed once more, and gave in. While this +was going on, a party of Camisards [Name given to the insurgent +Calvinists after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.--Translator's +Note.] and one of the dragoons had got down into the ravine, which had +in consequence been turned into a battlefield; while those who remained +above on either side took advantage of their position to fire down at +their enemies. M. de Dourville, in command of the dragoons, fought among +the others like a simple soldier, and received a serious wound in the +head; his men beginning to lose ground, M. de Brogue tried to rally +them, but without avail, and while he was thus occupied his own troop +ran away; so seeing there was no prospect of winning the battle, he and +a few valiant men who had remained near him dashed forward to extricate +M. Dourville, who, taking advantage of the opening thus made, retreated, +his wound bleeding profusely. On the other hand, the Camisards +perceiving at some distance bodies of infantry coming up to reinforce +the royals, instead of pursuing their foes, contented themselves with +keeping up a thick and well-directed musketry-fire from the position in +which they had won such a quick and easy victory. + +As soon as the royal forces were out of reach of their weapons, the +rebel chief knelt down and chanted the song the Israelites sang when, +having crossed the Red Sea in safety, they saw the army of Pharaoh +swallowed up in the waters, so that although no longer within reach of +bullets the defeated troops were still pursued by songs of victory. +Their thanksgivings ended, the Calvinists withdrew into the forest, led +by their new chief, who had at his first assay shown the great extent of +his knowledge, coolness, and courage. + +This new chief, whose superiors were soon to become his lieutenants, was +the famous Jean Cavalier. + +Jean Cavalier was then a young man of twenty-three, of less than medium +height, but of great strength. His face was oval, with regular features, +his eyes sparkling and beautiful; he had long chestnut hair falling on +his shoulders, and an expression of remarkable sweetness. He was born in +1680 at Ribaute, a village in the diocese of Alais, where his father had +rented a small farm, which he gave up when his son was about fifteen, +coming to live at the farm of St. Andeol, near Mende. + +Young Cavalier, who was only a peasant and the son of a peasant, began +life as a shepherd at the Sieur de Lacombe's, a citizen of Vezenobre, +but as the lonely life dissatisfied a young man who was eager for +pleasure, Jean gave it up, and apprenticed himself to a baker of Anduze. + +There he developed a great love for everything connected with the +military; he spent all his free time watching the soldiers at their +drill, and soon became intimate with some of them, amongst others with a +fencing-master who gave him lessons, and a dragoon who taught him to +ride. + +On a certain Sunday, as he was taking a walk with his sweetheart on his +arm, the young girl was insulted by a dragoon of the Marquis de Florae's +regiment. Jean boxed the dragoon's ears, who drew his sword. Cavalier +seized a sword from one of the bystanders, but the combatants were +prevented from fighting by Jean's friends. Hearing of the quarrel, an +officer hurried up: it was the Marquis de Florae himself, captain of the +regiment which bore his name; but when he arrived on the scene he found, +not the arrogant peasant who had dared to attack a soldier of the king, +but only the young girl, who had fainted, the townspeople having +persuaded her lover to decamp. + +The young girl was so beautiful that she was commonly called la belle +Isabeau, and the Marquis de Florac, instead of pursuing Jean Cavalier, +occupied himself in reviving Isabeau. + +As it was, however, a serious affair, and as the entire regiment had +sworn Cavalier's death, his friends advised him to leave the country for +a time. La belle Isabeau, trembling for the safety of her lover, joined +her entreaties to those of his friends, and Jean Cavalier yielded. The +young girl promised him inviolable fidelity, and he, relying on this +promise, went to Geneva. + +There he made the acquaintance of a Protestant gentleman called Du +Serre, who having glass-works at the Mas Arritas, quite near the farm of +St. Andeol, had undertaken several times, at the request of Jean's +father, Jerome, to convey money to Jean; for Du Serre went very often to +Geneva, professedly on business affairs, but really in the interests of +the Reformed faith. Between the outlaw and the apostle union was +natural. Du Serre found in Cavalier a young man of robust nature, active +imagination, and irreproachable courage; he confided to him his hopes of +converting all Languedoc and Vivarais. Cavalier felt himself drawn back +there by many ties, especially by patriotism and love. He crossed the +frontier once more, disguised as a servant, in the suite of a Protestant +gentleman; he arrived one night at Anduze, and immediately directed his +steps to the house of Isabeau. + +He was just about to knock, although it was one o'clock in the morning, +when the door was opened from within, and a handsome young man came out, +who took tender leave of a woman on the threshold. The handsome young +man was the Marquis de Florac; the woman was Isabeau. The promised wife +of the peasant had become the mistress of the noble. + +Our hero was not the man to suffer such an outrage quietly. He walked +straight up to the marquis and stood right in his way. The marquis tried +to push him aside with his elbow, but Jean Cavalier, letting fall the +cloak in which he was wrapped, drew his sword. The marquis was brave, +and did not stop to inquire if he who attacked him was his equal or not. +Sword answered sword, the blades crossed, and at the end of a few +instants the marquis fell, Jean's sword piercing his chest. + +Cavalier felt sure that he was dead, for he lay at his feet motionless. +He knew he had no time to lose, for he had no mercy to hope for. He +replaced his bloody sword in the scabbard, and made for the open +country; from the open country he hurried into the mountains, and at +break of day he was in safety. + +The fugitive remained the whole day in an isolated farmhouse whose +inmates offered him hospitality. As he very soon felt that he was in the +house of a co-religionist, he confided to his host the circumstances in +which he found himself, and asked where he could meet with an organised +band in which he could enrol himself in order to fight for the +propagation of the Reformed religion. The farmer mentioned Generac as +being a place in which he would probably find a hundred or so of the +brethren gathered together. Cavalier set out the same evening for this +village, and arrived in the middle of the Camisards at the very moment +when they had just caught sight of M. de Broglie and his troops in the +distance. The Calvinists happening to have no leader, Cavalier with +governing faculty which some men possess by nature, placed himself at +their head and took those measures for the reception of the royal forces +of which we have seen the result, so that after the victory to which his +head and arm had contributed so much he was confirmed in the title which +he had arrogated to himself, by acclamation. + +Such was the famous Jean Cavalier when the Royalists first learned of +his existence, through the repulse of their bravest troops and the death +of their most intrepid captain. + +The news of this victory soon spread through the Cevennes, and fresh +conflagrations lit up the mountains in sign of joy. The beacons were +formed of the chateau de la Bastide, the residence of the Marquis de +Chambonnas, the church of Samson, and the village of Grouppieres, where +of eighty houses only seven were left standing. + +Thereupon M. de Julien wrote to the king, explaining the serious turn +things had taken, and telling him that it was no longer a few fanatics +wandering through the mountains and flying at the sight of a dragoon +whom they had to put down, but organised companies well led and +officered, which if united would form an army twelve to fifteen hundred +strong. The king replied by sending M. le Comte de Montrevel to Nimes. +He was the son of the Marechal de Montrevel, chevalier of the Order of +the Holy Spirit, major-general, lieutenant of the king in Bresse and +Charolais, and captain of a hundred men-at-arms. + +In their struggle against shepherds, keepers, and peasants, M. de +Brogue, M. de Julien, and M. de Baville were thus joined together with +the head of the house of Beaune, which had already at this epoch +produced two cardinals, three archbishops, two bishops, a viceroy of +Naples, several marshals of France, and many governors of Savoy, +Dauphine, and Bresse. + +He was followed by twenty pieces of ordnance, five thousand bullets, +four thousand muskets, and fifty thousand pounds of powder, all of which +was carried down the river Rhone, while six hundred of the skilful +mountain marksmen called 'miquelets' from Roussillon came down into +Languedoc. + + M. de Montrevel was the bearer of terrible orders. Louis XIV was + determined, no matter what it cost, to root out heresy, and set + about this work as if his eternal salvation depended on it. As soon + as M. de Baville had read these orders, he published the following + proclamation: + +"The king having been informed that certain people without religion +bearing arms have been guilty of violence, burning down churches and +killing priests, His Majesty hereby commands all his subjects to hunt +these people down, and that those who are taken with arms in their hands +or found amongst their bands, be punished with death without any trial +whatever, that their houses be razed to the ground and their goods +confiscated, and that all buildings in which assemblies of these people +have been held, be demolished. The king further forbids fathers, +mothers, brothers, sisters, and other relations of the fanatics, or of +other rebels, to give them refuge, food, stores, ammunition, or other +assistance of any kind, under any pretext whatever, either directly or +indirectly, on pain of being reputed accessory to the rebellion, and he +commands the Sieur de Baville and whatever officers he may choose to +prosecute such and pronounce sentence of death on them. Furthermore, His +Majesty commands that all the inhabitants of Languedoc who may be absent +at the date of the issue of this proclamation, return home within a +week, unless their absence be caused by legitimate business, in which +case they shall declare the same to the commandant, the Sieur de +Montrevel, or to the intendant, the Sieur de Baville, and also to the +mayors and consuls of the places where they may be, receiving from the +latter certificates that there is a sufficient reason for their delay, +which certificates they shall forward to the above-mentioned commandant +or intendant. And His Majesty furthermore commands the said commandant +and intendant to admit no foreigner or inhabitant of any other province +into Languedoc for commercial purposes or for any other reason +whatsoever, unless provided with certificates from the commandants or +intendants of the provinces whence they come, or from the judges of the +royal courts in the places whence they come, or from the nearest place +containing such courts. Foreigners must be provided with passports from +the ambassadors or ministers of the king accredited to the countries to +which they belong, or from the commandants or intendants of the +provinces, or from the judges of the royal courts of the places in which +they may be at the date of this proclamation. Furthermore, it is His +Majesty's will that those who are found in the, aforesaid province of +Languedoc without such certificates be regarded as fanatics and rebels, +and that they be prosecuted as such, and punished with death, and that +they be brought for this purpose before the aforesaid Sieur de Baville +or the officers whom he may choose. + +"(Signed) "(Countersigned) "LOUIS PHILIPPEAU + +"Given at Versailles the 25th day, of the month of February 1703." + + M. de Montrevel obeyed this proclamation to the letter. For instance, + one day--the 1st of April 1703--as he was seated at dinner it was + reported to him that about one hundred and fifty Reformers were + assembled in a mill at Carmes, outside Nimes, singing psalms. + Although he was told at the same time that the gathering was + composed entirely of old people and children, he was none the less + furious, and rising from the table, gave orders that the call to + horse should be sounded. Putting himself at the head of his + dragoons, he advanced on the mill, and before the Huguenots knew + that they were about to be attacked they were surrounded on every + side. It was no combat which ensued, for the Huguenots were + incapable of resistance, it was simply a massacre; a certain number + of the dragoons entered the mill sword in hand, stabbing all whom + they could reach, whilst the rest of the force stationed outside + before the windows received those who jumped out on the points of + their swords. But soon this butchery tired the butchers, and to get + over the business more quickly, the marshal, who was anxious to + return to his dinner, gave orders that the mill should be set on + fire. This being done, the dragoons, the marshal still at their + head, no longer exerted themselves so violently, but were satisfied + with pushing back into the flames the few unfortunates who, + scorched and burnt, rushed out, begging only for a less cruel + death. + +Only one victim escaped. A beautiful young girl of sixteen was saved by +the marshal's valet: both were taken and condemned to death; the young +girl was hanged, and the valet was on the point of being executed when +some Sisters of Mercy from the town threw themselves at the marshal's +feet end begged for his life: after long supplication, he granted their +prayer, but he banished the valet not only from his service, but from +Nimes. + +The very same evening at supper word was brought to the marshal that +another gathering had been discovered in a garden near the still smoking +mill. The indefatigable marshal again rose from table, and taking with +him his faithful dragoons, surrounded the garden, and caught and shot on +the spot all those who were assembled in it. The next day it turned out +that he had made a mistake: those whom he had shot were Catholics who +had gathered together to rejoice over the execution of the Calvinists. +It is true that they had assured the marshal that they were Catholics, +but he had refused to listen to them. Let us, however, hasten to assure +the reader that this mistake caused no further annoyance to the marshal, +except that he received a paternal remonstrance from the Bishop of +Nimes, begging him in future not to confound the sheep with the wolves. + +In requital of these bloody deeds, Cavalier took the chateau of Serras, +occupied the town of Sauve, formed a company of horse, and advancing to +Nimes, took forcible possession of sufficient ammunition for his +purposes. Lastly, he did something which in the eyes of the courtiers +seemed the most incredible thing of all, he actually wrote a long letter +to Louis XIV himself. This letter was dated from the "Desert, Cevennes," +and signed "Cavalier, commander of the troops sent by God"; its purpose +was to prove by numerous passages from Holy Writ that Cavalier and his +comrades had been led to revolt solely from a sense of duty, feeling +that liberty of conscience was their right; and it dilated on the +subject of the persecutions under which Protestants had suffered, and +asserted that it was the infamous measures put in force against them +which had driven them to take up arms, which they were ready to lay down +if His Majesty would grant them that liberty in matters of religion +which they sought and if he would liberate all who were in prison for +their faith. If this were accorded, he assured the king His Majesty +would have no more faithful subjects than themselves, and would +henceforth be ready to shed their last drop of blood in his service, and +wound up by saying that if their just demands were refused they would +obey God rather than the king, and would defend their religion to their +last breath. + +Roland, who, whether in mockery or pride, began now to call himself +"Comte Roland," did not lag behind his young brother either as warrior +or correspondent. He had entered the town of Ganges, where a wonderful +reception awaited him; but not feeling sure that he would be equally +well received at St. Germain and St. Andre, he had written the following +letters:-- + +"Gentlemen and officers of the king's forces, and citizens of St. +Germain, make ready to receive seven hundred troops who have vowed to +set Babylon on fire; the seminary and the houses of MM. de Fabregue, de +Sarrasin, de Moles, de La Rouviere, de Musse, and de Solier, will be +burnt to the ground. God, by His Holy Spirit, has inspired my brother +Cavalier and me with the purpose of entering your town in a few days; +however strongly you fortify yourselves, the children of God will bear +away the victory. If ye doubt this, come in your numbers, ye soldiers of +St. Etienne, Barre, and Florac, to the field of Domergue; we shall be +there to meet you. Come, ye hypocrites, if your hearts fail not. "COMTE +ROLAND." + +The second letter was no less violent. It was as follows:-- + +"We, Comte Roland, general of the Protestant troops of France assembled +in the Cevennes in Languedoc, enjoin on the inhabitants of the town of +St. Andre of Valborgne to give proper notice to all priests and +missionaries within it, that we forbid them to say mass or to preach in +the afore-mentioned town, and that if they will avoid being burnt alive +with their adherents in their churches and houses, they are to withdraw +to some other place within three days. "COMTE ROLAND." + +Unfortunately for the cause of the king, though the rebels met with some +resistance in the villages of the plain, such as St. Germain and St. +Andre, it was otherwise with those situated in the mountains; in those, +when beaten, the Protestants found cover, when victorious rest; so that +M. de Montrevel becoming aware that while these villages existed heresy +would never be extirpated, issued the following ordinance:-- + +"We, governor for His most Christian Majesty in the provinces of +Languedoc and Vivarais, do hereby make known that it has pleased the +king to command us to reduce all the places and parishes hereinafter +named to such a condition that they can afford no assistance to the +rebel troops; no inhabitants will therefore be allowed to remain in +them. His Majesty, however, desiring to provide for the subsistence of +the afore-mentioned inhabitants, orders them to conform to the following +regulations. He enjoins on the afore-mentioned inhabitants of the +hereinafter-mentioned parishes to repair instantly to the places +hereinafter appointed, with their furniture, cattle, and in general all +their movable effects, declaring that in case of disobedience their +effects will be confiscated and taken away by the troops employed to +demolish their houses. And it is hereby forbidden to any other commune +to receive such rebels, under pain of having their houses also razed to +the ground and their goods confiscated, and furthermore being regarded +and treated as rebels to the commands of His Majesty." + +To this proclamation were appended the following instructions:-- + +"I. The officers who may be appointed to perform the above task shall +first of all make themselves acquainted with the position of the +parishes and villages which are to be destroyed and depopulated, in +order to an effective disposition of the troops, who are to guard the +militia engaged in the work of destruction. + +"II. The attention of the officers is called to the following:--When two +or more villages or hamlets are so near together that they may be +protected at the same time by the same troops, then in order to save +time the work is to be carried on simultaneously in such villages or +hamlets. + +"III. When inhabitants are found still remaining in any of the +proscribed places, they are to be brought together, and a list made of +them, as well as an inventory taken of their stock and corn. + +"IV. Those inhabitants who are of the most consequence among them shall +be selected to guide the others to the places assigned. + +"V. With regard to the live stock, the persons who may be found in +charge of it shall drive it to the appointed place, save and except +mules and asses, which shall be employed in the transport of corn to +whatever places it may be needed in. Nevertheless, asses may be given to +the very old, and to women with child who may be unable to walk. + +"VI. A regular distribution of the militia is to be made, so that each +house to be destroyed may have a sufficient number, for the task; the +foundations of such houses may be undermined or any other method +employed which may be most convenient; and if the house can be destroyed +by no other means, it is to be set on fire. + +"VII. No damage is to be done to the houses of former Catholics until +further notice, and to ensure the carrying out of this order a guard is +to be placed in them, and an inventory of their contents taken and sent +to Marechal de Montrevel. + +"VIII. The order forbidding the inhabitants to return to their houses is +to be read to the inhabitants of each village; but if any do return they +shall not be harmed, but simply driven away with threats; for the king +does not desire that blood be shed; and the said order shall be affixed +to a wall or tree in each village. + +"IX. Where no inhabitants are found, the said order shall simply be +affixed as above-mentioned in each place. + +"(Signed) "MARECHAL DE MONTREVEL" + +Under these instructions the list of the villages to be destroyed was +given. It was as follows: + + 18 in the parish of Frugeres, + + 5 " " Fressinet-de-Lozere, + + 4 " " Grizac, + + 15 " " Castagnols, + + 11 " " Vialas, + + 6 " " Saint-Julien, + + 8 " " Saint-Maurice de Vantalon, + + 14 " " Frezal de Vantalon, + + 7 " " Saint-Hilaire de Laret, + + 6 " " Saint-Andeol de Clergues, + + 28 " " Saint-Privat de Vallongues, + + 10 " " Saint-Andre de Lancise, + + 19 " " Saint-Germain de Calberte, + + 26 " " Saint-Etienne de Valfrancesque, + + 9 " " parishes of Prunet and Montvaillant, + + 16 " " parish of Florac. + --- + 202 + +A second list was promised, and was shortly afterwards published: it +included the parishes of Frugeres, Pompidon, Saint-Martin, Lansuscle, +Saint-Laurent, Treves, Vebron, Ronnes, Barre, Montluzon, Bousquet, La +Barthes, Balme, Saint-Julien d'Aspaon Cassagnas, Sainte-Croix de +Valfrancesque, Cabriac, Moissac, Saint-Roman, Saint Martin de Robaux, La +Melouse, le Collet de Deze, Saint-Michel de Deze, and the villages of +Salieges, Rampon, Ruas, Chavrieres, Tourgueselle, Ginestous, Fressinet, +Fourques, Malbos, Jousanel, Campis, Campredon, Lous-Aubrez, La Croix de +Fer, Le Cap de Coste, Marquayres, Le Cazairal, and Le Poujal. + +In all, 466 market towns, hamlets, and villages, with 19,500 +inhabitants, were included. + +All these preparations made Marechal de Montrevel set out for Aix, +September 26th, 1703, in order that the work might be carried out under +his personal supervision. He was accompanied by MM. de Vergetot and de +Marsilly, colonels of infantry, two battalions of the Royal-Comtois, two +of the Soissonnais infantry, the Languedoc regiment of dragoons, and two +hundred dragoons from the Fimarcon regiment. M. de Julien, on his side, +set out for the Pont-de-Montvert at the same time with two battalions +from Hainault, accompanied by the Marquis of Canillac, colonel of +infantry, who brought two battalions of his own regiment, which was +stationed in Rouergue, with him, and Comte de Payre, who brought +fifty-five companies of militia from Gevaudan, and followed by a number +of mules loaded with crowbars, axes, and other iron instruments +necessary for pulling down houses. + +The approach of all these troops following close on the terrible +proclamations we have given above, produced exactly the contrary effect +to that intended. The inhabitants of the proscribed districts were +convinced that the order to gather together in certain places was given +that they might be conveniently massacred together, so that all those +capable of bearing arms went deeper into the mountains, and joined the +forces of Cavalier and Roland, thus reinforcing them to the number of +fifteen hundred men. Also hardly had M. de Julien set his hand to the +work than he received information from M. de Montrevel, who had heard +the news through a letter from Flechier, that while the royal troops +were busy in the mountains the Camisards had come down into the plain, +swarmed over La Camargue, and had been seen in the neighbourhood of +Saint-Gilles. At the same time word was sent him that two ships had been +seen in the offing, from Cette, and that it was more than probable that +they contained troops, that England and Holland were sending to help the +Camisards. + + M. de Montrevel; leaving the further conduct of the expedition to MM. + de Julien and de Canillac, hastened to Cette with eight hundred men + and ten guns. The ships were still in sight, and were really, as + had been surmised, two vessels which had been detached from the + combined fleets of England and Holland by Admiral Schowel, and were + the bearers of money, arms, and ammunition to the Huguenots. They + continued to cruise about and signal, but as the rebels were forced + by the presence of M. de Montrevel to keep away from the coast, and + could therefore make no answer, they put off at length into the + open, and rejoined the fleet. As M. de Montrevel feared that their + retreat might be a feint, he ordered all the fishermen's huts from + Aigues-Morte to Saint-Gilles to be destroyed, lest they should + afford shelter to the Camisards. At the same time he carried off + the inhabitants of the district of Guillan and shut them up in the + chateau of Sommerez, after having demolished their villages. + Lastly, he ordered all those who lived in homesteads, farms, or + hamlets, to quit them and go to some large town, taking with them + all the provisions they were possessed of; and he forbade any + workman who went outside the town to work to take more than one + day's provisions with him. + +These measures had the desired effect, but they were terrible in their +results; they deprived the Camisards of shelter indeed, but they ruined +the province. M. de Baville, despite his well-known severity tried +remonstrances, but they were taken in bad part by M. de Montrevel, who +told the intendant to mind his own business, which was confined to civil +matters, and to leave military matters in his, M. de Montrevel's, hands; +whereupon the commandant joined M. de Julien, who was carrying on the +work of destruction with indefatigable vigour. + +In spite of all the enthusiasm with which M. de Julien went to work to +accomplish his mission, and being a new convert, it was, of course, very +great. Material hindrances hampered him at every step. Almost all the +doomed houses were built on vaulted foundations, and were therefore +difficult to lay low; the distance of one house from another, too, their +almost inaccessible position, either on the peak of a high mountain or +in the bottom of a rocky valley, or buried in the depths of the forest +which hid then like a veil, made the difficulty still greater; whole +days were often lost by the workmen and militia in searching for the +dwellings they came to destroy. + +The immense size of the parishes also caused delay: that of +Saint-Germain de Calberte, for instance, was nine leagues in +circumference, and contained a hundred and eleven hamlets, inhabited by +two hundred and seventy-five families, of which only nine were Catholic; +that of Saint-Etienne de Valfrancesque was of still greater extent, and +its population was a third larger, so that obstacles to the work +multiplied in a remarkable manner. For the first few days the soldiers +and workmen found food in and around the villages, but this was soon at +an end, and as they could hardly expect the peasants to keep up the +supply, and the provisions they had brought with them being also +exhausted, they were soon reduced to biscuit and water; and they were +not even able to make it into a warm mess by heating the water, as they +had no vessels; moreover, when their hard day's work was at an end, they +had but a handful of straw on which to lie. These privations, added to +their hard and laborious life, brought on an endemic fever, which +incapacitated for work many soldiers and labourers, numbers of whom had +to be dismissed. Very soon the unfortunate men, who were almost as much +to be pitied as those whom they were persecuting, waited no longer to be +sent away, but deserted in numbers. + + M. de Julien soon saw that all his efforts would end in failure if he + could not gain the king's consent to a slight change in the + original plan. He therefore wrote to Versailles, and represented to + the king how long the work would take if the means employed were + only iron tools and the human hand, instead of fire, the only true + instrument employed by Heaven in its vengeance. He quoted in + support of his petition the case of Sodom and Gomorrah--those + cities accursed of the Lord. Louis XIV, impressed by the truth of + this comparison, sent him back a messenger post-haste authorising + him to employ the suggested means. + +"At once," says Pere Louvreloeil, "the storm burst, and soon of all the +happy homesteads nothing was left: the hamlets, with their barns and +outhouses, the isolated farmhouses, the single huts and cottages, every +species of building in short, disappeared before the swift advancing +flames as wild flowers, weeds, and roots fall before the ploughshare." + +This destruction was accompanied by horrible cruelty. For instance, +twenty-five inhabitants of a certain village took refuge in a chateau; +the number consisted of children and very old people, and they were all +that was left of the entire population. Palmerolle, in command of the +miquelets, hearing of this, hastened thither, seized the first eight he +could lay hold of, and shot them on the spot, "to teach them," as he +says in his report, "not to choose a shelter which was not on the list +of those permitted to them." + +The Catholics also of St. Florent, Senechas, Rousson, and other +parishes, becoming excited at seeing the flames which enveloped the +houses of their old enemies, joined together, and arming themselves with +everything that could be made to serve as an instrument of death, set +out to hunt the conscripts down; they carried off the flocks of Perolat, +Fontareche, and Pajolas, burned down a dozen houses at the +Collet-de-Deze, and from there went to the village of Brenoux, drunk +with the lust of destruction. There they massacred fifty-two persons, +among them mothers with unborn children; and with these babes, which +they tore from them, impaled on their pikes and halberts, they continued +their march towards the villages of St. Denis and Castagnols. + +Very soon these volunteers organised themselves into companies, and +became known under the name of Cadets de la Croix, from a small white +cross which they wore on their coats; so the poor Huguenots had a new +species of enemy to contend with, much more bloodthirsty than the +dragoons and the miquelets; for while these latter simply obeyed orders +from Versailles, Nimes, or Montpellier, the former gratified a personal +hate--a hate which had come down to them from their fathers, and which +they would pass on to their children. + +On the other hand, the young Huguenot leader, who every day gained more +influence over his soldiers, tried to make the dragoons and Cadets de la +Croix suffer in return everything they inflicted on the Huguenots, +except the murders. In the night from the 2nd to the 3rd October, about +ten o'clock, he came down into the plain and attacked Sommieres from two +different points, setting fire to the houses. The inhabitants seizing +their arms, made a sortie, but Cavalier charged them at the head of the +Cavalry and forced them to retreat. Thereupon the governor, whose +garrison was too small to leave the shelter of the walls, turned his +guns on them and fired, less in the hope of inflicting injury on them +than in that of being heard by the neighbouring garrisons. + +The Camisards recognising this danger, retired, but not before they had +burnt down the hotels of the Cheval-Blanc, the Croix-d'Or, the +Grand-Louis, and the Luxembourg, as well as a great number of other +houses, and the church and the presbytery of Saint-Amand. + +Thence the Camisards proceeded to Cayla and Vauvert, into which they +entered, destroying the fortifications. There they provided themselves +abundantly with provisions for man and beast. In Vauvert, which was +almost entirely inhabited by his co-religionists, Cavalier assembled the +inhabitants in the market-place, and made them join with him in prayer +to God, that He would prevent the king from following evil counsel; he +also exhorted his brethren to be ready to sacrifice their goods and +their lives for the re-establishment of their religion, affirming that +the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that the arm of the Lord, which had +always come to their aid, was still stretched out over them. + +Cavalier undertook these movements in the hope of interrupting the work +of destruction going on in Upper Cevennes; and partly obtained the +desired result; for M. de Julien received orders to come down into the +open country and disperse the Camisards. + +The troops tried to fulfil this task, but, thanks to the knowledge that +the rebels had of the country, it was impossible to come up with them, +so that Fleshier, who was in the thick of the executions, +conflagrations, and massacres, but who still found time to write Latin +verse and gallant letters, said, in speaking of them, "They were never +caught, and did all the damage they wished to do without let or +hindrance. We laid their mountains waste, and they laid waste our plain. +There are no more churches left in our dioceses, and not being able +either to plough or sow our lands, we have no revenues. We dread serious +revolt, and desire to avoid a religious civil war; so all our efforts +are relaxing, we let our arms fall without knowing why, and we are told, +'You must have patience; it is not possible to fight against phantoms.'" +Nevertheless, from time to time, these phantoms became visible. Towards +the end of October, Cavalier came down to Uzes, carried off two +sentinels who were guarding the gates, and hearing the call to arms +within, shouted that he would await the governor of the city, M. de +Vergetot, near Lussan. + +And indeed Cavalier, accompanied by his two lieutenants, Ravanel and +Catinat, took his way towards this little town, between Uzes and +Bargeac, which stands upon an eminence surrounded upon all sides by +cliffs, which serve it as ramparts and render it very difficult of +access. Having arrived within three gun-shots of Lussan, Cavalier sent +Ravanel to demand provisions from the inhabitants; but they, proud of +their natural ramparts, and believing their town impregnable, not only +refused to comply with the requisition, but fired several shots on the +envoy, one of which wounded in the arm a Camisard of the name of La +Grandeur, who had accompanied Ravanel. Ravanel withdrew, supporting his +wounded comrade, followed by shots and the hootings of the inhabitants. +When they rejoined Cavalier and made their report, the young commander +issued orders to his soldiers to make ready to take the town the next +morning; for, as night was already falling, he did not venture to start +in the dark. In the meantime the besieged sent post-haste to M. de +Vergetot to warn him of their situation; and resolving to defend +themselves as long as they could, while waiting for a response to their +message they set about barricading their gates, turned their scythes +into weapons, fastened large hooks on long poles, and collected all the +instruments they could find that could be used in attack or defence. As +to the Camisards, they encamped for the night near an old chateau called +Fan, about a gun-shot from Lussan. + +At break of day loud shouts from the town told the Camisards that the +expected relief was in sight, and looking out they saw in the distance a +troop of soldiers advancing towards them; it was M. de Vergetat at the +head of his regiment, accompanied by forty Irish officers. + +The Protestants prepared themselves, as usual, by reciting psalms and +prayers, notice without taking of the shouts and threats of any of the +townspeople, and having finished their invocations, they marched out to +meet the approaching column. The cavalry, commanded by Catinat, made a +detour, taking a sheltered way to an unguarded bridge over a small river +not far off, so as to outflank the royal forces, which they were to +attack in the rear as soon as Cavalier and Ravanel should have engaged +them in front. + + M. de Vergetot, on his side, continued to advance, so that the + Calvinists and the Catholics were soon face to face. The battle + began on both sides by a volley; but Cavalier having seen his + cavalry emerging from a neighbouring wood, and counting upon their + assistance, charged the enemy at the double quick. Catinat judging + by the noise of the firing that his presence was necessary, charged + also at a gallop, falling on the flank of the Catholics. + +In this charge, one of M. de Vergetot's captains was killed by a bullet, +and the other by a sabre-cut, and the grenadiers falling into disorder, +first lost ground and then fled, pursued by Catinat and his horsemen, +who, seizing them by the hair, despatched them with their swords. Having +tried in vain to rally his men, M. de Vergetot, surrounded by a few +Irish, was forced in his turn to fly; he was hotly pursued, and on the +point of being taken, when by good luck he reached the height of Gamene, +with its walls of rock. Jumping off his horse, he entered the narrow +pathway which led to the top, and entrenched himself with about a +hundred men in this natural fort. Cavalier perceiving that further +pursuit would be dangerous, resolved to rest satisfied with his victory; +as he knew by his own experience that neither men nor horses had eaten +for eighteen hours, he gave the signal far retreat, and retired on +Seyne, where he hoped to find provisions. + +This defeat mortified the royal forces very deeply, and they resolved to +take their revenge. Having learnt by their spies that on a certain night +in November Cavalier and his band intended to sleep on a mountain called +Nages, they surrounded the mountain during the night, so that at dawn +Cavalier found himself shut in on every side. As he wished to see with +his own eyes if the investment was complete, he ordered his troops to +fall into rank on the top of the mountain, giving the command to Ravanel +and Catinat, and with a pair of pistols in his belt and his carbine on +his shoulder, he glided from bush to bush and rock to rock, determined, +if any weak spot existed, to discover it; but the information he had +received was perfectly correct, every issue was guarded. + +Cavalier now set off to rejoin his troops, passing through a ravine, but +he had hardly taken thirty steps when he found himself confronted by a +cornet and two dragoons who were lying in ambush. There was no time to +run away, and indeed such a thought never entered the young commander's +head; he walked straight up to them. On their side, the dragoons +advanced towards him, and the cornet covering him with his pistol, +called out, "Halt! you are Cavalier; I know you. It is not possible for +you to escape; surrender at discretion." Cavalier's answer was to blow +out the cornet's brains with a shot from his carbine, then throwing it +behind him as of no further use, he drew his two pistols from his belt, +walked up to the two dragoons, shot them both dead, and rejoined his +comrades unwounded. These, who had believed him lost, welcomed him with +cheers. + +But Cavalier had something else to do than to celebrate his return; +mounting his horse, he put himself at the head of his men, and fell upon +the royal troops with such impetuosity that they gave way at the first +onset. Then a strange incident occurred. About thirty women who had come +to the camp with provisions, carried away by their enthusiasm at the +sight of this success, threw themselves upon the enemy, fighting like +men. One young girl of about seventeen, Lucrese Guigon by name, +distinguished herself amongst the others by her great valour. Not +content with encouraging her brethren by the cry of "The sword of the +Lord and of Gideon!" she tore sabres from the hands of the dead dragoons +to despatch the dying. Catinat, followed by ten of his men, pursued the +flying troops as far as the plain of Calvisson. There they were able to +rally, thanks to the advance of the garrison to meet them. + +Eighty dragoons lay dead on the field of battle, while Cavalier had only +lost five men. + +As we shall see, Cavalier was not only a brave soldier and a skilful +captain, but also a just judge. A few days after the deed of arms which +we have just related, he learned that a horrible murder had been +committed by four Camisards, who had then retired into the forest of +Bouquet. He sent a detachment of twenty men with orders to arrest the +murderers and bring them before him. The following are the details of +the crime: + +The daughter of Baron Meyrargues, who was not long married to a +gentleman named M. de Miraman, had set out on the 29th November for +Ambroix to join her husband, who was waiting for her there. She was +encouraged to do this by her coachman, who had often met with Camisards +in the neighbourhood, and although a Catholic, had never received any +harm from them. She occupied her own carriage, and was accompanied by a +maid, a nurse, a footman, and the coachman who had persuaded her to +undertake the journey. Two-thirds of the way already lay safely behind +them, when between Lussan and Vaudras she was stopped by four, men, who +made her get out of her carriage and accompany them into the +neighbouring forest. The account of what then happened is taken from the +deposition of the maid. We copy it word for word: + +"These wretches having forced us," says she, "to walk into the forest +till we were at some distance from the high road, my poor mistress grew +so tired that she begged the man who walked beside her to allow her to +lean on his shoulder. He looking round and seeing that they had reached +a lonely spot, replied, 'We need hardly go any farther,' and made us sit +dawn on a plot of grass which was to be the scene of our martyrdom. My +poor mistress began to plead with the barbarians in the most touching +manner, and so sweetly that she would have softened the heart of a +demon. She offered them her purse, her gold waistband, and a fine +diamond which she drew from her finger; but nothing could move these +tigers, and one of them said, 'I am going to kill all the Catholics at +once, and shall be gin with you.' 'What will you gain by my death?' +asked my mistress. 'Spare my life.'--'No; shut up!' replied he. 'You +shall die by my hand. Say your prayers.' My good mistress threw herself +at once on her knees and prayed aloud that God would show mercy to her +and to her murderers, and while she was thus praying she received a +pistol-shot in her left breast, and fell; a second assassin cut her +across the face with his sword, and a third dropped a large stone on her +head, while the fourth killed the nurse with a shot from his pistol. +Whether it was that they had no more loaded firearms, or that they +wished to save their ammunition, they were satisfied with only giving me +several bayonet wounds. I pretended to be dead: they thought it was +really the case, and went away. Some time after, seeing that everything +had become quiet, and hearing no sound, I dragged myself, dying as I +was, to where my dear mistress lay, and called her. As it happened, she +was not quite dead, and she said in a faint voice, 'Stay with me, Suzon, +till I die.' She added, after a short pause, for she was hardly able to +speak, 'I die for my religion, and I hope that God will have pity on me. +Tell my husband that I confide our little one to his care.' Having said +this, she turned her thoughts from the world, praying to God in broken +and tender words, and drew her last breath as the night fell." + +In obedience to Cavalier's orders, the four criminals were taken and +brought before him. He was then with his troops near Saint-Maurice de +Casevielle; he called a council of war, and having had the prisoners +tried for their atrocious deed, he summed up the evidence in as clear a +manner as any lawyer could have done, and called upon the judges to +pronounce sentence. All the judges agreed that the prisoners should be +put to death, but just as the sentence was made known one of the +assassins pushed aside the two men who guarded him, and jumping down a +rock, disappeared in the forest before any attempt could be made to stop +him. The three others were shot. + +The Catholics also condemned many to be executed, but the trials +conducted by then were far from being as remarkable for honour and +justice as was that which we have just described. We may instance the +trial of a poor boy of fourteen, the son of a miller of Saint-Christol +who had been broken the wheel just a month before. For a moment the +judges hesitated to condemn so young a boy to death, but a witness +presented himself who testified that the little fellow was employed by +the fanatics to strangle Catholic children. Although no one believed the +evidence, yet it was seized-on as a pretext: the unfortunate boy was +condemned to death, and hanged without mercy an hour later. + +A great many people from the parishes devastated by M. de Julien had +taken refuge in Aussilargues, in the parish of St. Andre. Driven by +hunger and misery, they went beyond the prescribed limits in search of +means of subsistence. Planque hearing of this, in his burning zeal for +the Catholic faith resolved not to leave such a crime unpunished. He +despatched a detachment of soldiers to arrest the culprits: the task was +easy, for they were all once more inside the barrier and in their beds. +They were seized, brought to St. Andre's Church and shut in; then, +without trial of any kind,--they were taken, five at a time, and +massacred: some were shot and some cut down with sword or axe; all were +killed without exception--old and young women and children. One of the +latter, who had received three shots was still able to raise his head +and cry, "Where is father? Why doesn't he come and take me away." + +Four men and a young girl who had taken refuge in the town of Lasalle, +one of the places granted to the houseless villagers as an asylum, asked +and received formal permission from the captain of the Soissonais +regiment, by name Laplace, to go home on important private business, on +condition that they returned the same night. They promised, and in the +intention of keeping this promise they all met on their way back at a +small farmhouse. Just as they reached it a terrible storm came on. The +men were for continuing their way in spite of the weather, but the young +girl besought them to wait till daylight, as she did not dare to venture +out in the dark during such a storm, and would die of fright if left +alone at the farm. The men, ashamed to desert their companion, who was +related to one of them, yielded to her entreaties and remained, hoping +that the storm would be a sufficient excuse for the delay. As soon as it +was light, the five resumed their journey. But the news of their crime +had reached the ears of Laplace before they got back. They were +arrested, and all their excuses were of no avail. Laplace ordered the +men to be taken outside the town and shot. The young girl was condemned +to be hanged; and the sentence was to be carried out that very day, but +some nuns who had been sent for to prepare her for death, having vainly +begged Laplace to show mercy, entreated the girl to declare that she +would soon become a mother. She indignantly refused to save her life at +the cost of her good name, so the nuns took the lie on themselves and +made the necessary declaration before the captain, begging him if he had +no pity for the mother to spare the child at least, by granting a +reprieve till it should be born. The captain was not for a moment +deceived, but he sent for a midwife and ordered her to examine the young +girl. At the end of half an hour she declared that the assertion of the +nuns was true. + +"Very well," said the captain: "let them both be kept in prison for +three months; if by the end of that time the truth of this assertion is +not self-evident, both shall be hanged." When this decision was made +known to the poor woman, she was overcome by fear, and asked to see the, +captain again, to whom she confessed that, led away by the entreaties of +the nuns, she had told a lie. + +Upon this, the woman was sentenced to be publicly whipped, and the young +girl hanged on a gibbet round which were placed the corpses of the four +men of whose death she was the cause. + +As may easily be supposed, the "Cadets of the Cross" vied with both +Catholics and Protestants in the work of destruction. One of their bands +devoted itself to destroying everything belonging to the new converts +from Beaucaire to Nimes. They killed a woman and two children at +Campuget, an old man of eighty at a farm near Bouillargues, several +persons at Cicure, a young girl at Caissargues, a gardener at Nimes, and +many other persons, besides carrying off all the flocks, furniture, and +other property they could lay hands on, and burning down the farmhouses +of Clairan, Loubes, Marine, Carlot, Campoget Miraman, La Bergerie, and +Larnac--all near St. Gilies and Manduel. "They stopped travellers on the +highways," says Louvreloeil, "and by way of finding out whether they +were Catholic or not, made them say in Latin the Lord's Prayer, the Ave +Maria, the Symbol of the Faith, and the General Confession, and those +who were unable to do this were put to the sword. In Dions nine corpses +were found supposed to have been killed by their hands, and when the +body of a shepherd who had been in the service of the Sieur de +Roussiere, a former minister, was found hanging to a tree, no one +doubted who were the murderers. At last they went so far that one of +their bands meeting the Abbe de Saint Gilles on the road, ordered him to +deliver up to them one of his servants, a new convert, in order to put +him to death. It was in vain that the abbe remonstrated with them, +telling them it was a shame to put such an affront on a man of his birth +and rank; they persisted none the less in their determination, till at +last the abbe threw his arms round his servant and presented his own +body to the blows directed at the other." + +The author of The Troubles in the Cevennes relates something surpassing +all this which took place at Montelus on the 22nd February "There were a +few Protestants in the place," he says, "but they were far outnumbered +by the Catholics; these being roused by a Capuchin from Bergerac, formed +themselves into a body of 'Cadets of the Cross,' and hastened to serve +their apprenticeship to the work of assassination at the cost of their +countrymen. They therefore entered the house of one Jean Bernoin, cut +off his ears and further mutilated him, and then bled him to death like +a pig. On coming out of this house they met Jacques Clas, and shot him +in the abdomen, so that his intestines obtruded; pushing them back, he +reached his house in a terrible condition, to the great alarm of his +wife, who was near her confinement, and her children, who hastened to +the help of husband and father. But the murderers appeared on the +threshold, and, unmoved by the cries and tears of the unfortunate wife +and the poor little children, they finished the wounded man, and as the +wife made an effort to prevent them, they murdered her also, treating +her dead body, when they discovered her condition, in a manner too +revolting for description; while a neighbour, called Marie Silliot, who +tried to rescue the children, was shot dead; but in her case they did +not pursue their vengeance any further. They then went into the open +country and meeting Pierre and Jean Bernard, uncle and nephew, one aged +forty-five and the other ten, seized on them both, and putting a pistol +into the hands of the child, forced him to shoot his uncle. In the +meantime the boy's father had come up, and him they tried to constrain +to shoot his son; but finding that no threats had any effect, they ended +by killing both, one by the sword, the other by the bayonet. + +"The reason why they put an end to father and son so quickly was that +they had noticed three young girls of Bagnols going towards a grove of +mulberry trees, where they were raising silk-worms. The men followed +them, and as it was broad daylight and the girls were therefore not +afraid, they soon came up with them. Having first violated them, they +hung them by the feet to a tree, and put them to death in a horrible +manner." + +All this took place in the reign of Louis the Great, and for the greater +glory of the Catholic religion. + +History has preserved the names of the five wretches who perpetrated +these crimes: they were Pierre Vigneau, Antoine Rey, Jean d'Hugon, +Guillaume, and Gontanille. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Such crimes, of which we have only described a few, inspired horror in +the breasts of those who were neither maddened by fanaticism nor +devoured by the desire of vengeance. One of these, a Protestant, Baron +d'Aygaliers, without stopping to consider what means he had at his +command or what measures were the best to take to accomplish his object, +resolved to devote his life to the pacification of the Cevennes. The +first thing to be considered was, that if the Camisards were ever +entirely destroyed by means of Catholic troops directed by de Baville, +de Julien, and de Montrevel, the Protestants, and especially the +Protestant nobles who had never borne arms, would be regarded as +cowards, who had been prevented by fear of death or persecution from +openly taking the part of the Huguenots: He was therefore convinced that +the only course to pursue was to get, his co-religionists to put an end +to the struggle themselves, as the one way of pleasing His Majesty and +of showing him how groundless were the suspicions aroused in the minds +of men by the Catholic clergy. + +This plan presented, especially to Baron d'Aygaliers, two apparently +insurmountable difficulties, for it could only be carried out by +inducing the king to relax his rigorous measures and by inducing the +Camisards to submit. Now the baron had no connection with the court, and +was not personally acquainted with a single Huguenot chief. + +The first thing necessary to enable the baron to begin his efforts was a +passport for Paris, and he felt sure that as he was a Protestant neither +M. de Baville nor M. de Montrevel would give him one. A lucky accident, +however, relieved his embarrassment and strengthened his resolution, for +he thought he saw in this accident the hand of Providence. + +Baron d'Aygaliers found one day at the house of a friend a M. de +Paratte, a colonel in the king's army, and who afterwards became +major-general, but who at the time we are speaking of was commandant at +Uzes. He was of a very impulsive disposition, and so zealous in matters +relating to the Catholic religion and in the service of the king, that +he never could find himself in the presence of a Protestant without +expressing his indignation at those who had taken up arms against their +prince, and also those who without taking up arms encouraged the rebels +in their designs. M. d'Aygaliers understood that an allusion was meant +to himself, and he resolved to take advantage of it. + +So the next day he paid a visit to M. de Paratte, and instead of +demanding satisfaction, as the latter quite expected, for the rudeness +of his remarks on the previous day, he professed himself very much +obliged for what he had said, which had made such a deep impression on +him that he had made up his mind to give proof of his zeal and loyalty +by going to Paris and petitioning the king for a position at court. De +Paratte, charmed with what he had heard, and enchanted with his convert, +embraced d'Aygaliers, and gave him, says the chronicler, his blessing; +and with the blessing a passport, and wished him all the success that a +father could wish for his son. D'Aygaliers had now attained his object, +and furnished with the lucky safe-conduct, he set out for Paris, without +having communicated his intentions to anyone, not even to his mother. + +On reaching Paris he put up at a friend's house, and drew up a statement +of his plan: it was very short and very clear. + +"The undersigned has the honour to point out humbly to His Majesty: + +"That the severities and the persecutions which have been employed by +some of the village priests have caused many people in the country +districts to take up arms, and that the suspicions which new converts +excited have driven a great many of them to join the insurgents. In +taking this step they were also impelled by the desire to avoid +imprisonment or removal from their homes, which were the remedies chosen +to keep them in the old faith. This being the case, he thinks that the +best means of putting an end to this state of things would be to take +measures exactly the contrary of those which produced it, such as +putting an end to the persecutions and permitting a certain number of +those of the Reformed religion to bear arms, that they might go to the +rebels and tell them that far from approving of their actions the +Protestants as a whole wished to bring them back to the right way by +setting them a good example, or to fight against them in order to show +the king and France, at the risk of their lives, that they disapproved +of the conduct of their co-religionists, and that the priests had been +in the wrong in writing to the court that all those of the Reformed +religion were in favour of revolt." + +D'Aygaliers hoped that the court would adopt this plan; for if they did, +one of two things must happen: either the Camisards, by refusing to +accept the terms offered to them, would make themselves odious to their +brethren (for d'Aygaliers intended to take with him on his mission of +persuasion only men of high reputation among the Reformers, who would be +repelled by the Camisards if they refused to submit), or else; by laying +down their arms and submitting, they would restore peace to the South of +France, obtain liberty of worship, set free their brethren from the +prisons and galleys, and come to the help of the king in his war against +the allied powers, by supplying him in a moment with a large body of +disciplined troops ready to take the field against his enemies; for not +only would the Camisards, if they were supplied with officers, be +available for this purpose, but also those troops which were at the +moment employed in hunting down the Camisards would be set free for this +important duty. + +This proposition was so clear and promised to produce such useful +results, that although the prejudice against the Reformers was very +strong, Baron d'Aygaliers found supporters who were at once intelligent +and genuine in the Duke de Chevreuse and the Duke de Montfort, his son. +These two gentlemen brought about a meeting between the baron and +Chamillard, and the latter presented him to the Marechal de Villars, to +whom he showed his petition, begging him to bring it to the notice of +the king; but M. de Villars, who was well acquainted with the obstinacy +of Louis, who, as Baron de Peken says, "only saw the Reformers through +the spectacles of Madame de Maintenon," told d'Aygaliers that the last +thing he should do would be to give the king any hint of his plans, +unless he wished to see them come to nothing; on the contrary, he +advised him to go at once to Lyons and wait there for him, M. de +Villars; for he would probably be passing through that town in a few +days, being almost certain to be appointed governor of Languedoc in +place of M. de Montrevel, who had fallen under the king's displeasure +and was about to be recalled. In the course of the three interviews +which d'Aygaliers had had with M. de Villars, he had become convinced +that de Villars was a man capable of understanding his object; he +therefore followed his advice, as he believed his knowledge of the king +to be correct, and left Paris for Lyons. + +The recall of M. de Montrevel had been brought about in the following +manner:--M. de Montrevel having just come to Uzes, learned that Cavalier +and his troops were in the neighbourhood of Sainte-Chatte; he +immediately sent M. de La Jonquiere, with six hundred picked marines and +some companies of dragoons from the regiment of Saint-Sernin, but half +an hour later, it having occurred to him that these forces were not +sufficient, he ordered M. de Foix, lieutenant of the dragoons of +Fimarqon, to join M. de La Jonquiere at Sainte-Chatte with a hundred +soldiers of his regiment, and to remain with him if he were wanted; if +not, to return the same night. + + M. de Foix gave the necessary orders, chose a hundred of his bravest + men, put himself at their head, and joined M. de La Jonquiere, + showing him his orders; but the latter, confiding in the courage of + his soldiers and unwilling to share with anyone the glory of a + victory of which he felt assured, not only sent away M. de Foix, + but begged him to go back to Uzes, declaring to him that he had + enough troops to fight and conquer all the Camisards whom he might + encounter; consequently the hundred dragoons whom the lieutenant + had brought with him were quite useless at Sainte-Chatte, while on + the contrary they might be very necessary somewhere else. M. de + Foix did not consider that it was his duty to insist on remaining + under these circumstances, and returned to Uzes, while M. de La + Jonquiere continued his route in order to pass the night at + Moussac. Cavalier left the town by one gate just as M. de La + Jonquiere entered at the other. The wishes of the young Catholic + commander were thus in a fair way to be fulfilled, for in all + probability he would come up with his enemy the next day. + +As the village was inhabited for the most part by new converts, the +night instead of being spent in repose was devoted to pillage. + +The next day the Catholic troops reached Moussac, which they found +deserted, so they went on to Lascours-de-Gravier, a little village +belonging to the barony of Boucairan, which M. de La Jonquiere gave up +to pillage, and where he had four Protestants shot--a man, a woman, and +two young girls. He then resumed his route. As it had rained, he soon +came on the trail of the Camisards, the terrible game which he was +hunting down. For three hours he occupied himself in this pursuit, +marching at the head of his troops, lest someone else less careful than +he should make some mistake, when, suddenly raising his eyes, he +perceived the Camisards on a small eminence called Les Devois de +Maraignargues. This was the spot they had chosen to await attack in, +being eager for the approaching combat. + +As soon as Cavalier saw the royals advancing, he ordered his men, +according to custom, to offer up prayers to God, and when these were +finished he disposed his troops for battle. His plan was to take up +position with the greater part of his men on the other side of a ravine, +which would thus form a kind of moat between him and the king's +soldiers; he also ordered about thirty horsemen to make a great round, +thus reaching unseen a little wood about two hundred yards to his left, +where they could conceal themselves; and lastly, he sent to a point on +the right sixty foot-soldiers chosen from his best marksmen, whom he +ordered not to fire until the royal forces were engaged in the struggle +with him. + + M. de La Jonquiere having approached to within a certain distance, + halted, and sent one of his lieutenants named de Sainte-Chatte to + make a reconnaissance, which he did, advancing beyond the men in + ambush, who gave no sign of their existence, while the officer + quietly examined the ground. But Sainte-Chatte was an old soldier + of fortune and not easily taken in, so on his return, while + explaining the plan of the ground chosen by Cavalier for the + disposition of his troops to M. de La Jonquiere, he added that he + should be very much astonished if the young Camisard had not + employed the little wood on his left and the lie of the ground on + his right as cover for soldiers in ambush; but M. de La Jonquiere + returned that the only thing of importance was to know the position + of the principal body of troops in order to attack it at once. + Sainte-Chatte told him that the principal body was that which was + before his eyes, and that on this subject there could be no + mistake; for he had approached near enough to recognise Cavalier + himself in the front rank. + +This was enough for M. de La Jonquiere: he put himself at the head of +his men and rode straight to the ravine, beyond which Cavalier and his +comrades awaited him in order of battle. Having got within a +pistol-shot, M. de La Jonquiere gave the order to fire, but he was so +near that Cavalier heard the words and saw the motion made by the men as +they made ready; he therefore gave a rapid sign to his men, who threw +themselves on their faces, as did their leader, and the bullets passed +over them without doing any harm M.M. de La Jonquiere, who believed them +all dead, was astonished when Cavalier and his Camisards rose up and +rushed upon the royal troops, advancing to the sound of a psalm. At a +distance of ten paces they fired, and then charged the enemy at the +point of the bayonet. At this moment the sixty men in ambush to the +right opened fire, while the thirty horsemen to the left, uttering loud +shouts, charged at a gallop. Hearing this noise, and seeing death +approach them in three different directions, the royals believed +themselves surrounded, and did not attempt to make a stand; the men, +throwing away their weapons, took to their heels, the officers alone and +a few dragoons whom they had succeeded in rallying making a desperate +resistance. + +Cavalier was riding over the field of battle, sabring all the fugitives +whom he met, when he caught sight of a group, composed of ten naval +officers; standing close together and back to back, spontoon in hand, +facing the Camisards, who surrounded them. He spurred up to them, +passing through the ranks of his soldiers, and not pausing till he was +within fifteen paces of them, although they raised their weapons to +fire. Then making a sign with his hand that he wished to speak to them, +he said, "Gentlemen, surrender. I shall give quarter, and in return for +the ten lives I now spare you, will ask that my father, who is in prison +at Nimes, be released." + +For sole answer, one of the officers fired and wounded the young chief's +horse in the head. Cavalier drew a pistol from his belt, took aim at the +officer and killed him, then turning again to the others, he asked, +"Gentlemen, are you as obstinate as your comrade, or do you accept my +offer?" A second shot was the reply, and a bullet grazed his shoulder. +Seeing that no other answer was to be hoped for, Cavalier turned to his +soldiers. "Do your duty," said he, and withdrew, to avoid seeing the +massacre. The nine officers were shot. + + M. de La Jonquiere, who had received a slight wound in the cheek, + abandoned his horse in order to climb over a wall. On the other + side he made a dragoon dismount and give him his horse, on which he + crossed the river Gardon, leaving behind him on the battlefield + twenty-five officers and six hundred soldiers killed. This defeat + was doubly disastrous to the royal cause, depriving it of the + flower of its officers, almost all of those who fell belonging to + the noblest families of France, and also because the Camisards + gained what they so badly needed, muskets, swords, and bayonets in + great quantities, as well as eighty horses, these latter enabling + Cavalier to complete the organisation of a magnificent troop of + cavalry. + +The recall of the Marechal de Montrevel was the consequence of this +defeat, and M. de Villars, as he had anticipated, was appointed in his +place. But before giving up his governorship Montrevel resolved to +efface the memory of the check which his lieutenant's foolhardiness had +caused, but for which, according to the rules of war, the general had to +pay the penalty. His plan was by spreading false rumours and making +feigned marches to draw the Camisards into a trap in which they, in +their turn, would be caught. This was the less difficult to accomplish +as their latest great victory had made Cavalier over confident both in +himself and his men. + +In fact, since the incident connected with the naval officers the troops +of Cavalier had increased enormously in numbers, everyone desiring to +serve under so brave a chief, so that he had now under him over one +thousand infantry and two hundred cavalry; they were furnished, besides, +just like regular troops, with a bugler for the cavalry, and eight drums +and a fife for the infantry. + +The marechal felt sure that his departure would be the signal for some +expedition into the level country under Cavalier, so it was given out +that he had left for Montpellier, and had sent forward some of his +baggage-waggons to that place. On April 15th he was informed that +Cavalier, deceived by the false news, had set out on the 16th April, +intending to pass the night at Caveyrac, a small town about a league +from Nimes, that he might be ready next day to make a descent on La +Vannage. This news was brought to M. de Montrevel by a village priest +called Verrien, who had in his pay vigilant and faithful spies in whom +he had every confidence. + +Montrevel accordingly ordered the commandant of Lunel, M. de Grandval, +to set out the next day, very early in the morning, with the Charolais +regiment and five companies of the Fimarcon and Saint-Sernin dragoons, +and to repair to the heights of Boissieres, where instructions would +await him. Sandricourt, governor of Nimes, was at the same time directed +to withdraw as many men as possible from the garrison, both Swiss and +dragoons, and send them by night towards Saint-Come and Clarensac; +lastly, he himself set out, as he had said, but instead of going on to +Montpellier, he stopped at Sommieres, whence he could observe the +movements of Cavalier. + +Cavalier, as M. de Montrevel already knew, was to sleep on the 15th at +Caveyrac. On this day Cavalier reached the turning-point in his +magnificent career. As he entered the town with his soldiers, drums +beating and flags flying, he was at the zenith of his power. He rode the +splendid horse M. de La Jonquiere had abandoned in his flight; behind +him, serving as page, rode his young brother, aged ten, followed by four +grooms; he was preceded by twelve guards dressed in red; and as his +colleague Roland had taken the title of Comte, he allowed himself to be +called Duke of the Cevennes. + +At his approach half of the garrison, which was commanded by M. de +Maillan, took possession of the church and half of the citadel; but as +Cavalier was more bent on obtaining food and rest for his soldiers than +of disturbing the town, he billeted his men on the townspeople, and +placed sentinels at the church and fortress, who exchanged shots all the +night through with the royal troops. The next morning, having destroyed +the fortifications, he marched out of the town again, drums beating and +flags flying as before. When almost in sight of Nimes he made his +troops, which had never before been so numerous or so brilliant, perform +a great many evolutions, and then continued his way towards Nages. + + M. de Montrevel received a report at nine o'clock in the morning of + the direction Cavalier and his troops had taken, and immediately + left Sommieres, followed by six companies of Fimarqon dragoons, one + hundred Irish free-lances, three hundred rank and file of the + Hainault regiment, and one company each of the Soissonnais, + Charolais, and Menon regiments, forming in all a corps over nine + hundred strong. They took the direction of Vaunages, above + Clarensac; but suddenly hearing the rattle of musketry behind them, + they wheeled and made for Langlade. + +They found that Grandval had already encountered the Camisards. These +being fatigued had withdrawn into a hollow between Boissieres and the +windmill at Langlade, in order to rest. The infantry lay down, their +arms beside them; the cavalry placed themselves at the feet of their +horses, the bridle on arm. Cavalier himself, Cavalier the indefatigable, +broken by the fatigues of the preceding days, had fallen asleep, with +his young brother watching beside him. Suddenly he felt himself shaken +by the arm, and rousing up, he heard on all sides cries of "Kill! Kill!" +and "To arms! To arms!" Grandval and his men, who had been sent to find +out where the Camisards were, had suddenly come upon them. + +The infantry formed, the cavalry sprang to their saddles, Cavalier +leaped on his horse, and drawing his sword, led his soldiers as usual +against the dragoons, and these, as was also usual, ran away, leaving +twelve of their number dead on the field. The Camisard cavalry soon gave +up the pursuit, as they found themselves widely separated from the +infantry and from their leader; for Cavalier had been unable to keep up +with them, his horse having received a bullet through its neck. + +Still they followed the flying dragoons for a good hour, from time to +time a wounded dragoon falling from his horse, till at last the Camisard +cavalry found itself confronted by the Charolais regiment, drawn up in +battle array, and behind them the royal dragoons, who had taken refuge +there, and were re-forming. + +Carried on by the rapidity of their course, the Camisards could not pull +up till they were within a hundred yards of the enemy; they fired once, +killing several, then turned round and retreated. + +When a third of the way, back had been covered, they met their chief, +who had found a fresh horse by the wayside standing beside its dead +master. He arrived at full gallop, as he was anxious to unite his +cavalry and infantry at once, as he had seen the forces of the marechal +advancing, who, as we have already said, had turned in the direction of +the firing. Hardly had Cavalier effected the desired junction of his +forces than he perceived that his retreat was cut off. He had the royal +troops both before and behind him. + +The young chief saw that a desperate dash to right or left was all that +remained to him, and not knowing this country as well as the Cevennes, +he asked a peasant the way from Soudorgues to Nages, that being the only +one by which he could escape. There was no time to inquire whether the +peasant was Catholic or Protestant; he could only trust to chance, and +follow the road indicated. But a few yards from the spot where the road +from Doudorgues to Nages joins the road to Nimes he found himself in +face of Marechal Montrevel's troops under the command of Menon. However, +as they hardly outnumbered the Camisards, these did not stop to look for +another route, but bending forward in their saddles, they dashed through +the lines at full gallop, taking the direction of Nages, hoping to reach +the plain round Calvisson. But the village, the approaches, the issues +were all occupied by royal troops, and at the same time Grandval and the +marechal joined forces, while Menon collected his men together and +pushed forward. Cavalier was completely surrounded: he gave the +situation a comprehensive glance--his foes, were five to one. + +Rising in his stirrups, so that he could see over every head, Cavalier +shouted so loud that not only his own men heard but also those of the +enemy: "My children, if our hearts fail us now, we shall be taken and +broken on the wheel. There is only one means of safety: we must cut our +way at full gallop through these people. Follow me, and keep close +order!" + +So speaking, he dashed on the nearest group, followed by all his men, +who formed a compact mass; round which the three corps of royal troops +closed. Then there was everywhere a hand-to-hand battle there was no +time to load and fire; swords flashed and fell, bayonets stabbed, the +royals and the Camisards took each other by the throat and hair. For an +hour this demoniac fight lasted, during which Cavalier lost five hundred +men and slew a thousand of the enemy. At last he won through, followed +by about two hundred of his troops, and drew a long breath; but finding +himself in the centre of a large circle of soldiers, he made for a +bridge, where alone it seemed possible to break through, it being only +guarded by a hundred dragoons. + +He divided his men into two divisions, one to force the bridge, the +other to cover the retreat. Then he faced his foes like a wild boar +driven to bay. + +Suddenly loud shouts behind him announced that the bridge was forced; +but the Camisards, instead of keeping the passage open for their leader, +scattered over the plain and sought safety in flight. But a child threw +himself before them, pistol in hand. It was Cavalier's young brother, +mounted on one of the small wild horses of Camargues of that Arab breed +which was introduced into Languedoc by the Moors from Spain. Carrying a +sword and carbine proportioned to his size, the boy addressed the flying +men. "Where are you going?" he cried, "Instead of running away like +cowards, line the river banks and oppose the enemy to facilitate my +brother's escape." Ashamed of having deserved such reproaches, the +Camisards stopped, rallied, lined the banks of the river, and by keeping +up a steady fire, covered Cavalier's retreat, who crossed without having +received a single wound, though his horse was riddled with bullets and +he had been forced to change his sword three times. + +Still the combat raged; but gradually Cavalier managed to retreat: a +plain cut by trenches, the falling darkness, a wood which afforded +cover, all combined to help him at last. Still his rearguard, harassed +by the enemy, dotted the ground it passed over with its dead, until at +last both victors and vanquished were swallowed up by night. The fight +had lasted ten hours, Cavalier had lost more than five hundred men, and +the royals about a thousand. + +"Cavalier," says M. de Villars, in his Memoirs, "acted on this day in a +way which astonished everyone. For who could help being astonished to +see a nobody, inexperienced in the art of warfare, bear himself in such +difficult and trying circumstances like some great general? At one +period of the day he was followed everywhere by a dragoon; Cavalier shot +at him and killed his horse. The dragoon returned the shot, but missed. +Cavalier had two horses killed under him; the first time he caught a +dragoon's horse, the second time he made one of his own men dismount and +go on foot." + + M. de Montrevel also showed himself to be a gallant soldier; wherever + there was danger there was he, encouraging officers and soldiers by + his example: one Irish captain was killed at his side, another + fatally wounded, and a third slightly hurt. Grandval, on his part, + had performed miracles: his horse was shot under him, and M. de + Montrevel replaced it by one of great value, on which he joined in + the pursuit of the Camisards. After this affair M. de Montrevel + gave up his place to M. de Villars, leaving word for Cavalier that + it was thus he took leave of his friends. + +Although Cavalier came out of this battle with honour, compelling even +his enemies to regard him as a man worthy of their steel, it had +nevertheless destroyed the best part of his hopes. He made a halt-near +Pierredon to gather together the remnant of his troops, and truly it was +but a remnant which remained. Of those who came back the greater number +were without weapons, for they had thrown them away in their flight. +Many were incapacitated for service by their wounds; and lastly, the +cavalry could hardly be said to exist any longer, as the few men who +survived had been obliged to abandon their horses, in order to get +across the high ditches which were their only cover from the dragoons +during the flight. + +Meantime the royalists were very active, and Cavalier felt that it would +be imprudent to remain long at Pierredon, so setting out during the +night, and crossing the Gardon, he buried himself in the forest of +Hieuzet, whither he hoped his enemies would not venture to follow him. +And in fact the first two days were quiet, and his troops benefited +greatly by the rest, especially as they were able to draw stores of all +kinds--wheat, hay, arms, and ammunition--from an immense cave which the +Camisards had used for a long time as a magazine and arsenal. Cavalier +now also employed it as a hospital, and had the wounded carried there, +that their wounds might receive attention. + +Unfortunately, Cavalier was soon obliged to quit the forest, in spite of +his hopes of being left in peace; for one day on his way back from a +visit to the wounded in the cave, whose existence was a secret, he came +across a hundred miquelets who had penetrated thus far, and who would +have taken him prisoner if he had not, with his, accustomed presence of +mind and courage, sprung from a rock twenty feet high. The miquelets +fired at him, but no bullet reached him. Cavalier rejoined his troops, +but fearing to attract the rest of the royalists to the +place,--retreated to some distance from the cave, as it was of the +utmost importance that it should not be discovered, since it contained +all his resources. + +Cavalier had now reached one of those moments when Fortune, tired of +conferring favours, turns her back on the favourite. The royalists had +often noticed an old woman from the village of Hieuzet going towards the +forest, sometimes carrying a basket in her hand, sometimes with a hamper +on her head, and it occurred to them that she was supplying the hidden +Camisards with provisions. She was arrested and brought before General +Lalande, who began his examination by threatening that he would have her +hanged if she did not at once declare the object of her frequent +journeys to the forest without reserve. At first she made use of all +kinds of pretexts, which only strengthened the suspicions of Lalande, +who, ceasing his questions, ordered her to be taken to the gallows and +hanged. The old woman walked to the place of execution with such a firm +step that the general began to think he would get no information from +her, but at the foot of the ladder her courage failed. She asked to be +taken back before the general, and having been promised her life, she +revealed everything. + + M. de Lalande put himself at once at the head of a strong detachment + of miquelets, and forced the woman to walk before them till they + reached the cavern, which they never would have discovered without + a guide, so cleverly was the entrance hidden by rocks and + brushwood. On entering, the first thing that met their eye was the + wounded, about thirty in number. The miquelets threw themselves + upon them and slaughtered them. This deed accomplished, they went + farther into the cave, which to their great surprise contained a + thousand things they never expected to find there--heaps of grain, + sacks of flour, barrels of wine, casks of brandy, quantities of + chestnuts and potatoes; and besides all this, chests containing + ointments, drugs and lint, and lastly a complete arsenal of + muskets, swords, and bayonets, a quantity of powder ready-made, and + sulphur, saltpetre, and charcoal-in short, everything necessary for + the manufacture of more, down to small mills to be turned by hand. + Lalande kept his word: the life of an old woman was not too much to + give in return for such a treasure. + +Meantime M. de Villars, as he had promised, took up Baron d'Aygaliers in +passing through Lyons, so that during the rest of the journey the +peacemaker had plenty of time to expatiate on his plans. As M. de +Villars was a man of tact and a lover of justice, and desired above all +things to bring a right spirit to bear on the performance of the duties +of his new office, in which his two predecessors had failed, he promised +the baron "to keep," as he expressed himself, his "two ears open" and +listen to both sides, and as a first proof of impartiality--he refused +to give any opinion until he had heard M. de Julien, who was coming to +meet him at Tournon. + +When they arrived at Tournon, M. de Julien was there to receive them, +and had a very different story to tell from that which M. de Villars had +heard from d'Aygaliers. According to him, the only pacific ration +possible was the complete extermination of the Camisards. He felt +himself very hardly treated in that he had been allowed to destroy only +four hundred villages and hamlets in the Upper Cevennes,--assuring de +Villars with the confidence of a man who had studied the matter +profoundly, that they should all have been demolished without exception, +and all the peasants killed to the last man. + +So it came to pass that M. de Villars arrived at Beaucaire placed like +Don Juan between the spirits of good and evil, the one advising clemency +and the other murder. M. de Villars not being able to make up his mind, +on reaching Nimes, d'Aygaliers assembled the principal Protestants of +the town, told them of his plan, showing them its practicability, so +that also joined in the good work, and drew up a document in which they +asked the marechal to allow them to take up arms and march against the +rebels, as they were determined either to bring them back into the good +way by force of example or to fight them as a proof of their loyalty. + +This petition, which was signed by several nobles and by almost all the +lawyers and merchants of the city of Nimes, was presented to M. de +Villars on Tuesday, 22nd April, 1704, by M. de Albenas, at the head of +seven or eight hundred persons of the Reformed religion. M. de Villars +received the request kindly, thanked its bearer and those who +accompanied him, assuring them that he had no doubt of the sincerity of +their professions, and that if he were in want of help he would have +recourse to them with as much confidence as if they were old Catholics. +He hoped, however, to win the rebels back by mildness, and he begged +them to second his efforts in this direction by spreading abroad the +fact that an amnesty was offered to all those who would lay down arms +and return to their houses within a week. The very next day but one, M. +de Villars set out from Nimes to visit all the principal towns, in order +to make himself acquainted with men, things, and places. + +Although the answer to the petition had been a delicate refusal, +d'Aygaliers was not discouraged, but followed M. de Villars everywhere. +When the latter arrived at Alais, the new governor sent for MM. de +Lalande and de Baville, in order to consult them as to the best means of +inducing the Camisards to lay down their arms. Baron d'Aygaliers was +summoned to this consultation, and described his plan to the two +gentlemen. As he expected, both were opposed to it; however, he tried to +bring them over to his side by presenting to them what seemed to him to +be cogent reasons for its adoption. But de Lalande and de Baville made +light of all his reasons, and rejected his proposals with such +vehemence, that the marechal, however much inclined to the side of +d'Aygaliers, did not venture to act quite alone, and said he would not +decide on any course until he reached Uzes. + +D'Aygaliers saw clearly that until he had obtained the approbation of +either the general or the intendant, he would get nothing from the +marechal. He therefore considered which of the two he should try to +persuade, and although de Baville was his personal enemy, having several +times shown his hatred for him and his family, he decided to address +himself to him. + +In consequence, the next day, to the great astonishment of M. de +Baville, d'Aygaliers paid him a visit. The intendant received him coldly +but politely, asked him to sit down, and when he was seated begged to +know the motive which had brought him. "Sir," replied the baron, "you +have given my family and me such cause of offence that I had come to the +firm resolution never to ask a favour of you, and as perhaps you may +have remarked during the journey we have taken with M. le marechal, I +would rather have died of thirst than accept a glass of water from you. +But I have come here to-day not upon any private matter, to obtain my +own ends, but upon a matter which concerns the welfare of the State. I +therefore beg you to put out of your mind the dislike which you have to +me and mine, and I do this the more earnestly that your dislike can only +have been caused by the fact that our religion is different from +yours--a thing which could neither have been foreseen nor prevented. My +entreaty is that you do not try to set M. le marechal against the course +which I have proposed to him, which I am convinced would bring the +disorders in our province to an end, stop the occurrence of the many +unfortunate events which I am sure you look on with regret, and spare +you much trouble and embarrassment." + +The intendant was much touched by this calm speech, and above all by the +confidence which M. d'Aygaliers had shown him, and replied that he had +only offered opposition to the plan of pacification because he believed +it to be impracticable. M. d'Aygaliers then warmly pressed him to try it +before rejecting it for ever, and in the end M. de Baville withdrew his +opposition. + + M. d'Aygaliers hastened to the marechal, who finding himself no longer + alone in his favourable opinion, made no further delay, but told + the baron to call together that very day all the people whom he + thought suitable for the required service, and desired that they + should be presented to him the next morning before he set out for + Nimes. + +The next day, instead of the fifty men whom the marachal had thought +could be gathered together, d'Aygaliers came to him followed by eighty, +who were almost all of good and many of noble family. The meeting took +place, by the wish of the baron, in the courtyard of the episcopal +palace. "This palace," says the baron in his Memoirs, "which was of +great magnificence, surrounded by terraced gardens and superbly +furnished, was occupied by Monseigneur Michel Poncet de La Riviere. He +was a man passionately devoted to pleasures of all kinds, especially to +music, women, and good cheer. There were always to be found in his house +good musicians, pretty women, and excellent wines. These latter suited +him so well that he never left the table without being in a pleasant +humour, and at such a moment if it came into his head that anyone in his +diocese was not as good a Christian as himself, he would sit down and +write to M. de Baville, urging that the delinquent ought to be sent into +exile. He often did this honour to my late father." M. d'Aygaliers goes +on to say that "on seeing such a great number of Huguenots in the court +who were all declaring that they were better servants of the king than +the Catholics, he almost fell from his balcony with vexation and +surprise. This vexation increased when he saw M. de Villars and M. de +Baville, who had apartments in the palace, come down into the court and +talk to these people. One hope still remained to him: it was that the +marechal and the intendant had come down to send them away; but this +last hope was cruelly disappointed when he heard M. de Villars say that +he accepted their service and expected them to obey d'Aygaliers in all +matters concerning the service of the king." + +But this was not all that had to be accomplished arms were necessary for +the Protestants, and though their number was not great, there was a +difficulty in finding them weapons. The unfortunate Calvinists had been +disarmed so often that even their table-knives had been carried off, so +it was useless to search their houses for guns and sabres. D'Aygaliers +proposed that they should take the arms of the townspeople, but M. de +Villars considered that it would offend the Catholics to have their arms +taken from them and given to the Protestants. In the end, however, this +was the course that had to be adopted: M. de Paratte was ordered to give +fifty muskets and the same number of bayonets to M. d'Aygaliers, who +also received, as the reward of his long patience, from M. de Villars, +before the latter left for Nimes, the following commission: + +"We, Marechal de Villars, general in the armies of the king, etc., etc., +have given permission to M. d'Aygaliers, nobleman and Protestant of the +town of Uzes, and to fifty men chosen by him, to make war on the +Camisards. + +"(Signed) "VILLARS + +"Given at Uzes, the 4th of May 1704" + +Hardly had M. de Villars set out for Nimes than d'Aygaliers met with +fresh difficulties. The bishop, who could not forget that his episcopal +palace had been turned into barracks for Huguenots, went from house to +house threatening those who had promised to countenance d'Aygaliers' +plans, and strictly forbidding the captains of the town troops to +deliver any weapons to the Protestants. Fortunately, d'Aygaliers had not +accomplished so much without having learned not to draw back when the +road grew rough, so he also on his side went about confirming the strong +and encouraging the feeble, and called on M. de Paratte to beg him to +carry out the orders of M. de Villars. De Paratte was happily an old +soldier, whose one idea was that discipline should be maintained, so +that he gave the guns and bayonets to d'Aygaliers on the spot, without a +word of objection, and thus enabled the latter to start at five o'clock +next morning with his little band. + +Meantime de Baville and de Lalande had been reflecting what great +influence d'Aygaliers would gain in the province should he succeed in +his aims, and their jealousy had made them resolve to forestall him in +his work, by themselves inducing Cavalier to abandon his present course. +They did not conceal from themselves that this would be difficult, but +as they could command means of corruption which were not within the +power of d'Aygaliers, they did not despair of success. + +They therefore sent for a countryman called Lacombe, in order to enlist +him on their side; for Cavalier, when a boy, had been his shepherd for +two years, and both had remained friends ever since: this man undertook +to try and bring about a meeting between the two gentlemen and +Cavalier--an enterprise which would have been dangerous for anyone else. +He promised first of all to explain to Cavalier the offers of MM. de +Baville and de Lalande. + +Lacombe kept his word: he set off the same day, and two days later +appeared before Cavalier. The first feeling of the young chief was +astonishment, the second pleasure. Lacombe could not have chosen a +better moment to speak of peace to his former shepherd. + +"Indeed," says Cavalier in his Memoirs, "the loss which I had just +sustained at Nages was doubly painful to me because it was irreparable. +I had lost at one blow not only a great number of weapons, all my +ammunition, and all my money, but also a body of men, inured to danger +and fatigue, and capable of any undertaking;--besides all this, I had +been robbed of my stores--a loss which made itself felt more than all +the others put together, because as long as the secret of the cavern was +kept, in all our misfortunes we were never without resources; but from +the moment it got into the possession of our enemies we were quite +destitute. The country was ravaged, my friends had grown cold, their +purses were empty, a hundred towns had been sacked and burned, the +prisons were full of Protestants, the fields were uncultivated. Added to +all this, the long promised help from England had never arrived, and the +new marechal had appeared in the province accompanied by fresh troops." + +Nevertheless, in spite of his desperate position, Cavalier listened to +the propositions laid before him by Lacombe with cold and haughty front, +and his reply was that he would never lay down arms till the Protestants +had obtained the right to the free exercise of their religion. + +Firm as was this answer, Lalande did not despair of inducing Cavalier to +come to terms: he therefore wrote him a letter with his own hand, asking +him for an interview, and pledging his word that if they came to no +agreement Cavalier should be free to retire without any harm being done +him; but he added that, if he refused this request, he should regard him +as an enemy to peace, and responsible for all the blood which might be +shed in future. + +This overture, made with a soldier's frankness, had a great effect on +Cavalier, and in order that neither his friends nor his enemies should +have the least excuse for blaming him, he resolved to show everyone that +he was eager to seize the first chance of making peace on advantageous +terms. + +He therefore replied to Lalande, that he would come to the bridge of +Avene on that very day, the 12th May, at noon, and sent his letter by +Catinat, ordering him to deliver it into the hands of the Catholic +general himself. + +Catinat was worthy of his mission. He was a peasant from Cayla, whose +real name was Abdias Maurel. He had served under Marshal Catinat in +Italy, the same who had maintained so gallant a struggle against Prince +Eugene. When Maurel returned home he could talk of nothing but his +marshal and his campaigns, so that he soon went among his neighbours by +the name of "Catinat." He was, as we have seen, Cavalier's right hand, +who had placed him in command of his cavalry, and who now entrusted him +with a still more dangerous post, that of envoy to a man who had often +said that he would give 2000 livres to him who would bring him the head +of Cavalier, and 1000 livres each for the heads of his two lieutenants. +Catinat was quite well aware of this offer of Lalande's, yet he appeared +before the general perfectly cool and calm; only, either from a feeling +of propriety or of pride, he was dressed in full uniform. + +The bold and haughty expression of the man who presented Cavalier's +letter astonished the general, who asked him his name. + +"I am Catinat," he answered. + +"Catinat!" exclaimed Lalande in surprise. + +"Yes, Catinat, commander of the cavalry of Cavalier." + +"What!" said Lalande, "are you the Catinat who massacred so many people +in Beaucaire?" + +"Yes, I am. I did it, but it was my duty." + +"Well," exclaimed M. de Lalande, "you show great hardihood in daring to +appear before me." + +"I came," said Catinat proudly, "trusting to your honour and to the +promise that Brother Cavalier gave me that nothing should happen to me." + +"He was quite right," returned Lalande, taking the letter. Having read +it, he said, "Go back to Cavalier and assure him that I shall be at the +bridge of Avene at noon, accompanied only by a few officers and thirty +dragoons. I expect to find him there with a similar number of men." + +"But," answered Catinat, "it is possible that Brother Cavalier may not +wish-to come with so poor a following." + +"If so," returned Lalande, "then tell him that he may bring his whole +army if he likes, but that I shall not take a single man with me more +than I have said; as Cavalier has confidence in me, I have confidence in +him." + +Catinat reported Lalande's answer to his chief it was of a kind that he +understood and liked, so leaving the rest of his troops at Massanes, he +chose sixty men from his infantry, and eight horsemen as escort. On +coming in sight of the bridge, he saw Lalande approaching from the other +side. He at once ordered his sixty men to halt, went a few steps farther +with his eight horsemen, and then ordered them in their turn to stop, +and advanced alone towards the bridge. Lalande had acted in the same +manner with regard to his dragoons and officers, and now dismounting, +came towards Cavalier. + +The two met in the middle of the bridge, and saluted with the courtesy +of men who had learned to esteem each other on the field of battle. Then +after a short silence, during which they examined each other, Lalande +spoke. + +"Sir," said he, "the king in his clemency desires to put an end to the +war which is going on between his subjects, and which can only result in +the ruin of his kingdom. As he knows that this war has been instigated +and supported by the enemies of France, he hopes to meet no opposition +to his wishes among those of his subjects who were momentarily led +astray, but to whom he now offers pardon." + +"Sir," answered Cavalier, "the war not having been begun by the +Protestants, they are always ready for peace--but a real peace, without +restriction or reserve. They have no right, I know, to lay down +conditions, but I hope they will be permitted to discuss those which may +be laid down for them. Speak openly, sir, and let me know what the +offers are that you have been authorised to make to us, that I may judge +if we can accept them." + +"But how would it be," said Lalande, "if you were mistaken, and if the +king desired to know what conditions you would consider reasonable?" + +"If that is so," answered Cavalier, "I will tell you our conditions at +once, in order not to prolong the negotiations; for every minute's +delay, as you know, costs someone his life or fortune." + +"Then tell me what your conditions are," returned Lalande. + +"Well," said Cavalier, "our demands are three first, liberty of +conscience; secondly, the release of all prisoners who have been +condemned to imprisonment or the galleys because of their religion; and +thirdly, that if we are not granted liberty of conscience we may be at +least permitted to leave the kingdom." + +"As far as I can judge," replied Lalande, "I do not believe that the +king will accept the first proposition, but it is possible that he may +accede to the third. In that case, how many Protestants would you take +with you?" + +"Ten thousand of all ages and both sexes." + +"The number is excessive, sir. I believe that His Majesty is not +disposed to go beyond three thousand." + +"Then," replied Cavalier, "there is nothing more to be said, for I could +not accept passports for any smaller number, and I could accept for the +ten thousand only on condition that the king would grant us three months +in which to dispose of our possessions and withdraw from the country +without being molested. Should His Majesty, however, not be pleased to +allow us to leave the kingdom, then we beg that our edicts be re-enacted +and our privileges restored, whereupon we shall become once more, what +we were formerly, His Majesty's loyal and obedient servants." + +"Sir," said Lalande, "I shall lay your conditions before M. le Marechal, +and if no satisfactory conclusion can be arrived at, it will be to me a +matter of profound regret. And now, sir, will you permit me to inspect +more closely the gallant men with whose help you have done such +astounding deeds?" Cavalier smiled; for these "gallant men" when caught +had been broken on the wheel, burnt at the stake, or hanged like +brigands. His sole answer was an inclination of the head as he turned +and led the way to his little escort. M. de Lalande followed him with +perfect confidence, and, passing by the eight horsemen who were grouped +on the road, he walked up to the infantry, and taking out of his pocket +a handful of gold, he scattered it before them, saying: + +"There, my men! that is to drink the king's health with." + +Not a man stooped to pick the money up, and one of them said, shaking +his head, + +"It is not money we want, but liberty of conscience." + +"My men," answered Lalande, "it is unfortunately not in my power to +grant your demand, but I advise you to submit to the king's will and +trust in his clemency." + +"Sir," answered Cavalier, "we are all ready to obey him, provided that +he graciously grant us our just demands; if not, we shall die weapon in +hand, rather than expose ourselves once more to such outrages as have +already been inflicted on us." + +"Your demands shall be transmitted word for word to M. de Villars, who +will lay them before the king," said Lalande, "and you may be sure, sir, +that my most sincere wish is that His Majesty may not find them +exorbitant." + +With these words, M. de Lalande saluted Cavalier, and turned to rejoin +his escort; but Cavalier, wishing to return confidence with confidence, +crossed the bridge with him, and accompanied the general to where his +soldiers had halted. There, with another salute, the two chiefs parted, +M. de Lalande taking the road to Uzes, while Cavalier rejoined his +comrades. + +Meantime d'Aygaliers, who, as we have seen, had not left Uzes until the +5th May, in order to join Cavalier, did not come up with him until the +13th, that is to say, the day after his conference with Lalande. +D'Aygaliers gives us an account of their interview, and we cannot do +better than quote it. + +"Although it was the first time that we had met face to face, we +embraced each other as if we were old acquaintances. My little band +mixed with his and sang psalms together, while Cavalier and I talked. I +was very much pleased with what, he said, and convinced him without +difficulty that he should submit for the sake of the brethren, who could +then choose whichever course best suited them, and either leave the +kingdom or serve the king. I said that I believed the last course to be +the best, provided we were allowed to worship God according to our +consciences; because I hoped that, seeing their faithful service, His +Majesty would recognise that he had been imposed upon by those who had +described us as disloyal subjects, and that we should thus obtain for +the whole nation that liberty of conscience which had been granted to +us; that in no other way, as far as I could see, could our deplorable +condition be ameliorated, for although Cavalier and his men might be +able to exist for some time longer in the forests and mountains, they +would never be strong enough to save the inhabitants of towns and other +enclosed places from perishing. + +"Upon this he replied, that although the Catholics seldom kept a promise +made to those of our religion, he was willing to risk his life for the +welfare of his brethren and the province but that he trusted if he +confided in the clemency of the king for whom he had never ceased to +pray, no harm would happen him." + +Thereupon d'Aygaliers, delighted to find him so well inclined, begged +him to give him a letter for M. de Villars, and as Cavalier knew the +marechal to be loyal and zealous, and had great confidence in him, he +wrote without any hesitation the following letter: + +"MONSEIGNEUR,--Permit me to address your Excellency in order to beg +humbly for the favour of your protection for myself and for my soldiers. +We are filled with the most ardent desire to repair the fault which we +have committed by bearing arms, not against the king, as our enemies +have so falsely asserted, but to defend our lives against those who +persecuted us, attacking us so fiercely that we believed it was done by +order of His Majesty. We know that it was written by St. Paul that +subjects ought to submit themselves to their king, and if in spite of +these sincere protestations our sovereign should still demand our blood, +we shall soon be ready to throw ourselves on his justice or his mercy; +but we should, Monseigneur, regard ourselves as happy, if His Majesty, +moved by our repentance, would grant us his pardon and receive us into +his service, according to the example of the God of mercy whose +representative His Majesty is on earth. We trust, Monseigneur, by our +faithfulness and zeal to acquire the honour of your protection, and we +glory in the thought of being permitted, under the command of such an +illustrious and noble-minded general as yourself, to shed our blood for +the king; this being so, I hope that your Excellency will be pleased to +allow me to inscribe myself with profound respect and humility, +Monseigneur, your most humble and obedient servant, "CAVALIER." + +D'Aygaliers, as soon as he got possession of this letter, set out for +Nimes in the best of spirits; for he felt sure that he was bringing M. +de Villars more than he had expected. And, indeed, as soon as the +marechal saw how far things had gone, in spite of everything that +Lalande could say, who in his jealousy asserted that d'Aygaliers would +spoil everything, he sent him back to Cavalier with an invitation to +come to Nimes. D'Aygaliers set out at once, promising to bring the young +chief back with him, at which Lalande laughed loudly, pretending to be +very much amused at the baron's confident way of speaking, and +protesting that Cavalier would not come. + +In the meantime events were happening in the mountains which might +easily have changed the state of mind of the young chief. The Comte de +Tournan, who was in command at Florae, had encountered Roland's army in +the plain of Fondmortes, and had lost two hundred men, a considerable +sum of money, and eighty mules loaded with provisions. The anxiety which +this news caused to M. de Villars was soon relieved; for six days after +the defeat he received a letter from Cavalier by the hands of Lacombe, +the same who had brought about the interview on the bridge of Avenes. In +this letter Cavalier expressed the greatest regret for what had just +happened. + +D'Aygaliers therefore found Cavalier in the best of humours when he +joined him at Tarnac. The first feeling that the young chief felt on +receiving the invitation was one of stupefaction; for an interview with +the marechal was an honour so unexpected and so great, that his +impression was that some treason lay behind it; but he was soon +reassured when he recalled the character for loyalty which the marechal +bore, and how impossible it was that d'Aygaliers should lend himself to +treachery. So Cavalier sent back word that he would obey the marechal's +orders; and that he put himself entirely into his hands in what +concerned the arrangements for the interview. M. de Villars let him know +that he would expect him on the 16th in the garden of the convent of the +Recollets of Nimes, which lay just outside the city, between the gates +of Beaucaire and the Madeleine, and that Lalande would meet him beyond +Carayrac to receive him and to bring him hostages. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +On the 15th May Cavalier set out from Tarnac at the head of one hundred +and sixty foot-soldiers and fifty horse; he was accompanied by his young +brother and by d'Aygaliers and Lacombe. They all passed the night at +Langlade. + +The next day they set out for Nimes, and, as had been agreed upon, were +met by Lalande between Saint-Cesaire and Carayrac. Lalande advanced to +greet Cavalier and present the hostages to him. These hostages were M. +de La Duretiere, captain of the Fimarcon regiment, a captain of +infantry, several other officers, and ten dragoons. Cavalier passed them +over to his lieutenant, Ravanel, who was in command of the infantry, and +left them in his charge at Saint-Cesaire. The cavalry accompanied him to +within a musket-shot of Nimes, and encamped upon the heights. Besides +this, Cavalier posted sentinels and mounted orderlies at all the +approaches to the camp, and even as far off as the fountain of Diana and +the tennis-court. These precautions taken, he entered the city, +accompanied by his brother, d'Aygaliers, Lacombe, and a body-guard of +eighteen cavalry, commanded by Catinat. Lalande rode on before to +announce their arrival to the marechal, whom he found waiting with MM. +de Baville and Sandricourt, in the garden of the Recollets, dreading +every moment to receive word that Cavalier had refused to come; for he +expected great results from this interview. Lalande, however, reassured +him by telling him the young Huguenot was behind. + +In a few minutes a great tumult was heard: it was the people hastening +to welcome their hero. Not a Protestant, except paralytic old people and +infants in the cradle, remained indoors; for the Huguenots, who had long +looked on Cavalier as their champion, now considered him their saviour, +so that men and women threw themselves under the feet of his horse in +their efforts to kiss the skirts of his coat. It was more like a victor +making his entry into a conquered town than a rebel chief coming to beg +for an amnesty for himself and his adherents. M. de Villars heard the +outcry from the garden of Recollets, and when he learned its cause his +esteem for Cavalier rose higher, for every day since his arrival as +governor had showed him more and more clearly how great was the young +chief's influence. The tumult increased as Cavalier came nearer, and it +flashed through the marechal's mind that instead of giving hostages he +should have claimed them. At this moment Cavalier appeared at the gate, +and seeing the marechal's guard drawn up in line, he caused his own to +form a line opposite them. The memoirs of the time tell us that he was +dressed in a coffee-coloured coat, with a very full white muslin cravat; +he wore a cross-belt from which depended his sword, and on his head a +gold-laced hat of black felt. He was mounted on a magnificent bay horse, +the same which he had taken from M. de La Jonquiere on the bloody day of +Vergenne. + +The lieutenant of the guard met him at the gate. Cavalier quickly +dismounted, and throwing the bridle of his horse to one of his men, he +entered the garden, and advanced towards the expectant group, which was +composed, as we have said, of Villars, Baville, and Sandricourt. As he +drew near, M. de Villars regarded him with growing astonishment; for he +could not believe that in the young man, or rather boy, before him he +saw the terrible Cevenol chief, whose name alone made the bravest +soldiers tremble. Cavalier at this period had just completed his +twenty-fourth year, but, thanks to his fair hair which fell in long +locks over his shoulders, and to the gentle expression of his eyes he +did not appear more than eighteen. Cavalier was acquainted with none of +the men in whose presence he stood, but he noticed M. de Villars' rich +dress and air of command. He therefore saluted him first; afterwards, +turning towards the others, he bowed to each, but less profoundly, then +somewhat embarrassed and with downcast eyes he stood motionless and +silent. The marechal still continued to look at him in silent +astonishment, turning from time to time to Baville and Sandricourt, as +if to assure himself that there was no mistake and that it was really +the man whom they expected who stood before them. At last, doubting +still, in spite of the signs they made to reassure him, he asked-- + +"Are you really Jean Cavalier?" + +"Yes, monseigneur," was the reply, given in an unsteady voice. + +"But I mean Jean Cavalier, the Camisard general, he who has assumed the +title of Duke of the Cevennes." + +"I have not assumed that title, monseigneur, only some people call me so +in joke: the king alone has the right to confer titles, and I rejoice +exceedingly, monseigneur, that he has given you that of governor of +Languedoc." + +"When you are speaking of the king, why do you not say 'His Majesty'?" +said M. de Baville. "Upon my soul, the king is too good to treat thus +with a rebel." + +The blood rushed to Cavalier's head, his face flamed, and after a +moment's pause, fixing his eye boldly upon M. de Baville, and speaking +in a voice which was now as firm as it had been tremulous a moment +before, he said, "If you have only brought me here, sir, to speak to me +in such a manner, you might better have left me in my mountains, and +come there yourself to take a lesson in hospitality. If I am a rebel, it +is not I who am answerable, for it was the tyranny and cruelty of M. de +Baville which forced us to have recourse to arms; and if history takes +exception to anything connected with the great monarch for whose pardon +I sue to-day, it will be, I hope, not that he had foes like me, but +friends like him." + + M. de Baville grew pale with anger; for whether Cavalier knew to whom + he was speaking or not, his words had the effect of a violent blow + full in his face; but before he could reply M. de Villars + interposed. + +"Your business is only with me, sir," he said; "attend to me alone, I +beg: I speak in the name of the king; and the king, of his clemency, +wishes to spare his subjects by treating them with tenderness." + +Cavalier opened his mouth to reply, but the intendant cut him short. + +"I should hope that that suffices," he said contemptuously: "as pardon +is more than you could have hoped for, I suppose you are not going to +insist on the other conditions you laid down?" + +"But it is precisely those other conditions," said Cavalier, addressing +himself to M. de Villars, and not seeming to see that anyone else was +present, "for which we have fought. If I were alone, sir, I should give +myself up, bound hand and foot, with entire confidence in your good +faith, demanding no assurances and exacting no conditions; but I stand +here to defend the interests of my brethren and friends who trust me; +and what is more, things have gone so far that we must either die weapon +in hand, or obtain our rights." + +The intendant was about to speak, but the marechal stopped him with such +an imperative gesture that he stepped back as if to show that he washed +his hands of the whole matter. + +"What are those rights? Are they those which M. Lalande has transmitted +to me by word of mouth?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"It would be well to commit them to writing." + +"I have done so, monseigneur, and sent a copy to M. d'Aygaliers." + +"I have not seen it, sir; make me another copy and place it in my hands, +I beg." + +"I shall go and set about it directly, monseigneur," stepping back as if +about to withdraw. + +"One moment!" said the marechal, detaining him by a smile. "Is it true +that you are willing to enter the king's army?" + +"I am more than willing, I desire it with all my heart," exclaimed +Cavalier, with the frank enthusiasm natural to his age, "but I cannot do +so till our just demands are granted." + +"But if they were granted--?" + +"Then, sir," replied Cavalier, "the king has never had more loyal +subjects than we shall be." + +"Well, have a little patience and everything will be arranged, I hope." + +"May God grant it!" said Cavalier. "He is my witness that we desire +peace beyond everything." And he took another step backwards. + +"You will not go too far away, I hope," said the marechal. + +"We shall remain wherever your excellency may appoint," said Cavalier. + +"Very well," continued M. de Villars; "halt at Calvisson, and try all +you can to induce the other leaders to follow your example." + +"I shall do my best, monseigneur; but while we await His Majesty's reply +shall we be allowed to fulfil our religious duties unimpeded?" + +"Yes, I shall give orders that you are to have full liberty in that +respect." + +"Thanks, monseigneur." + +Cavalier bowed once more, and was about to go; but M. de Villars +accompanied him and Lalande, who had now joined them, and who stood with +his hand on Cavalier's shoulder, a few steps farther. Catinat seeing +that the conference was at an end, entered the garden with his men. +Thereupon M. de Villars took leave, saying distinctly, "Adieu, Seigneur +Cavalier," and withdrew, leaving the young chief surrounded by a dozen +persons all wanting to speak to him at once. For half an hour he was +detained by questions, to all of which he replied pleasantly. On one +finger was an emerald taken from a naval officer named Didier, whom he +had killed with his own hand in the action at Devois de Martignargues; +he kept time by a superb watch which had belonged to M. d'Acqueville, +the second in command of the marines; and he offered his questioners +from time to time perfumed snuff from a magnificent snuffbox, which he +had found in the holsters when he took possession of M. de La +Jonquiere's horse. He told everyone who wished to listen that he had +never intended to revolt against the king; and that he was now ready to +shed the last drop of his blood in his service; that he had several +times offered to surrender on condition that liberty of conscience was +granted to those of the new faith, but that M. de Montrevel had always +rejected his offers, so that he had been obliged to remain under arms, +in order to deliver those who were in prison, and to gain permission for +those who were free to worship God in their own way. + +He said these things in an unembarrassed and graceful manner, hat in +hand; then passing through the crowd which had gathered outside the +garden of the Recollets, he repaired to the Hotel de la Poste for lunch, +and afterwards walked along the Esplanade to the house of one Guy +Billard, a gardener, who was his head prophet's father. As he thus moved +about he was preceded by two Camisards with drawn swords, who made way +for him; and several ladies were presented to him who were happy to +touch his doublet. The visit over, he once again passed along the +Esplanade, still preceded by his two Camisards, and just as he passed +the Little Convent he and those with him struck up a psalm tune, and +continued singing till they reached Saint-Cesaire, where the hostages +were. These he at once sent back. + +Five hundred persons from Nimes were awaiting him; refreshments were +offered to him, which he accepted gratefully, thanking all those who had +gathered together to meet him. At last he went off to St. Denoise, where +he was to sup and sleep; but before going to bed he offered up +supplications in a loud voice for the king, for M. de Villars, for M. de +Lalande, and even for M. de Baville. + +The next morning, Cavalier, according to promise, sent a copy of his +demands to M. de Villars, who caused it to be laid before the king, +along with a full report of all that had passed at the interview at +Nimes. As soon as the young chief had sent off his missive, he rejoined +his troops at Tarnac, and related all that had passed to Roland, urging +him to follow his example. That night he slept at Sauves, having passed +through Durfort at the head of his men; a captain of dragoons named +Montgros, with twenty-five soldiers, accompanying him everywhere, by M. +de Villars' orders, and seeing that the villages through which they +passed furnished him with all that was needed. They left Sauves on May +16th very early in the morning, in order to get to Calvisson, which, as +our readers may remember, was the place appointed for the residence of +Cavalier during the truce. In passing through Quissac, where they +stopped for refreshments, they were joined by Castanet who delivered a +long sermon, at which all the Protestants of the neighbourhood were +present. + +The two battalions of the Charolais regiment which were quartered at +Calvisson had received orders on the evening of the 17th to march out +next morning, so as to make room for the Camisards. + +On the 18th the head of the commissary department, Vincel, ordered +suitable accommodation to be provided for Cavalier and his troops; the +muster roll being in the hands of M. d'Aygaliers, it would be sent by +him or brought in the course of the day. In the meantime, vans were +arriving filled with all sorts of provisions, followed by droves of +cattle, while a commissary and several clerks, charged with the +distribution of rations, brought up the rear. + +On the 19th, Catinat, accompanied by twelve Camisards, rode into the +town, and was met at the barrier by the commandant and eighty +townspeople. As soon as the little band came in sight the commandant +reiterated his orders that nothing should be said or done in the town, +on pain of corporal punishment, that could offend the Camisards. + +At one o'clock P. M. Baron d'Aygaliers arrived, followed in his turn by +the chief of the commissariat, Vincel, by Captain Cappon, two other +officers named Viala and Despuech, and six dragoons. These were the +hostages Cavalier had given. + +At six o'clock there was heard a great noise; and shouts of "Cavalier! +Cavalier!" resounded on all sides. The young Cevenol was in sight, and +the whole population hastened to meet him. He rode at the head of his +cavalry, the infantry following, and the whole number--about six hundred +men--sang psalms in a loud voice. + +When they reached the church, Cavalier drew up before it with all his +men in review order, and for some time the singing went on. When it +stopped, a long prayer was offered up, which was most edifying to all +the bystanders; and this being over, Cavalier went to the quarters +assigned him, which were in the best house in Calvisson. Arrived there, +he sent out for a dozen loaves that he might judge how his men were +going to be fed; not finding them white enough, he complained to M. +Vincel, whom he sent for, and who promised that in future the bread +should be of a better quality. Having received this assurance, Cavalier +gave orders that the loaves in hand should be distributed for that day, +but probably fearing poison, he first made M. de Vincel and his clerks +taste them in his presence. These duties accomplished, he visited in +person all the gates of the town, placed guards and posted sentinels at +all the entrances and along all the avenues, the most advanced being +three-quarters of a league from the town. Besides this, he placed guards +in the streets, and a sentinel at each door of the house he occupied; in +addition, thirty guards always slept outside the door of his bedroom, +and these accompanied him as an escort when he went out; not that he was +afraid, for he was not of a mistrustful character, but that he thought +it politic to give people an exalted idea of his importance. As to his +soldiers, they were billeted on the inhabitants, and received each as +daily rations a pound of meat, a quart of wine, and two and a half +pounds of bread. + +The same day a convocation was held on the site of the old meeting-house +which had been destroyed by the Catholics. It was a very numerous +assembly, to which crowds of people came from all parts; but on the +following days it was still more numerous; for, as the news spread, +people ran with great eagerness to hear the preaching of the word of +which they had been so long deprived. D'Aygaliers tells us in his +Memoirs that--"No one could help being touched to see a whole people +just escaped from fire and sword, coming together in multitudes to +mingle their tears and sighs. So famished were they for the manna +divine, that they were like people coming out of a besieged city, after +a long and cruel famine, to whom peace has brought food in abundance, +and who, first devouring it with their eyes, then throw themselves on +it, devouring it bodily--meat, bread, and fruit--as it comes to hand. So +it was with the unfortunate inhabitants of La Vannage, and even of +places more distant still. They saw their brethren assembling in the +meadows and at the gates of Calvisson, gathering in crowds and pressing +round anyone who started singing a psalm, until at last four or five +thousand persons, singing, weeping, and praying, were gathered together, +and remained there all day, supplicating God with a devotion that went +to every heart and made a deep impression. All night the same things +went on; nothing was to be heard but preaching, singing, praying, and +prophesying." + +But if it was a time of joy for the Protestants, it was a time of +humiliation for the Catholics. "Certainly," says a contemporary +historian, "it was a very surprising thing, and quite a novelty, to see +in a province like Languedoc, where so many troops were quartered, such +a large number of villains--all murderers, incendiaries, and guilty of +sacrilege--gathered together in one place by permission of those in +command of the troops; tolerated in their eccentricities, fed at the +public expense, flattered by everyone, and courteously, received by +people sent specially to meet them." + +One of those who was most indignant at this state of things was M. de +Baville. He was so eager to put an end to it that he went to see the +governor, and told him the scandal was becoming too great in his +opinion: the assemblies ought to be put an end to by allowing the troops +to fall upon them and disperse them; but the governor thought quite +otherwise, and told Baville that to act according to his advice would be +to set fire to the province again and to scatter for ever people whom +they had got together with such difficulty. In any case, he reminded +Baville that what he objected to would be over in a few days. His +opinion was that de Baville might stifle the expression of his +dissatisfaction for a little, to bring about a great good. "More than +that," added the marechal, "the impatience of the priests is most +ridiculous. Besides your remonstrances, of which I hope I have now heard +the last, I have received numberless letters full of such complaints +that it would seem as if the prayers of the Camisards not only grated on +the ears of the clergy but flayed them alive. I should like above +everything to find out the writers of these letters, in order to have +them flogged; but they have taken good care to put no signatures. I +regard it as a very great impertinence for those who caused these +disturbances to grumble and express their disapproval at my efforts to +bring them to an end." After this speech, M. de Baville saw there was +nothing for him to do but to let things take their course. + +The course that they took turned Cavalier's head more and more; for +thanks to the injunctions of M. de Villars, all the orders that Cavalier +gave were obeyed as if they had been issued by the governor himself. He +had a court like a prince, lieutenants like a general, and secretaries +like a statesman. It was the duty of one secretary to give leave of +absence to those Camisards who had business to attend to or who desired +to visit their relations. The following is a copy of the form used for +these passports: + +"We, the undersigned, secretary to Brother Cavalier, generalissimo of +the Huguenots, permit by this order given by him to absent himself on +business for three days. + +"(Signed) DUPONT. + +"Calvisson, this----" + +And these safe-conducts were as much respected as if they had been +signed "Marechal de Villars." + +On the 22nd M. de Saint-Pierre arrived from the court, bringing the +reply of the king to the proposals which Cavalier had submitted to M. de +Lalande. What this reply was did not transpire; probably it was not in +harmony with the pacific intentions of the marechal. At last, on the +25th, the answer to the demands which Cavalier had made to M. de Villars +himself arrived. The original paper written by the Camisard chief +himself had been sent to Louis XIV, and he returned it with notes in his +own writing; thus these two hands, to one of which belonged the +shepherd's crook and to the other the sceptre, had rested on the same +sheet of paper. The following is the text of the agreement as given by +Cavalier in his Memoirs: + + "THE HUMBLE PETITION OF THE REFORMERS OF + LANGUEDOC TO THE KING + +"1. That it may please the king to grant us liberty of conscience +throughout the province, and to permit us to hold religious meetings in +every suitable place, except fortified places and walled cities. + +'Granted, on condition that no churches be built. + +"2. That all those in prison or at the galleys who have been sent there +since the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, because of their religion, +be set at liberty within six weeks from the date of this petition. + +'Granted. + +"3. That all those who have left the kingdom because of their religion +be allowed to return in freedom and safety, and that their goods and +privileges be restored to them. + +'Granted on condition that they take the oath of fidelity to the king. + +"4. That the Parliament of Languedoc be reestablished on its ancient +footing, and with all its former privileges. + +'The king reserves decision on this point. + +"5. That the province of Languedoc be exempted from the poll tax for ten +years, this to apply, to Catholics and Protestants alike, both sides +having equally suffered. + +'Refused. + +"6. That the cities of Perpignan, Montpellier, Cette, and Aiguemortes be +assigned us as cities of refuge. + +'Refused. + +"7. That the inhabitants of the Cevennes whose houses were burnt or +otherwise destroyed during the war be exempt from taxes for seven years. + +'Granted. + +"8. That it may please His Majesty to permit Cavalier to choose 2000 +men, both from among his own troops and from among those who may be +delivered from the prisons and galleys, to form a regiment of dragoons +for the service of His Majesty, and that this regiment when formed may +at once be ordered to serve His Majesty in Portugal. + +'Granted: and on condition that all the Huguenots everywhere lay down +their arms, the king will permit them to live quietly in the free +exercise of their religion.'" + +"I had been a week at Calvisson," says Cavalier in his Memoirs, "when I +received a letter from M. le Marechal de Villars ordering me to repair +to Nimes, as he wished to see me, the answer to my demands having +arrived. I obeyed at once, and was very much displeased to find that +several of my demands, and in particular the one relating to the cities +of refuge, had been refused; but M. le marechal assured me that the +king's word was better than twenty cities of refuge, and that after all +the trouble we had given him we should regard it as showing great +clemency on his part that he had granted us the greater part of what we +had asked. This reasoning was not entirely convincing, but as there was +no more time for deliberation, and as I was as anxious for peace as the +king himself, I decided to accept gracefully what was offered." + +All the further advantage that Cavalier could obtain from M. de Villars +was that the treaty should bear the date of the day on which it had been +drawn up; in this manner the prisoners who were to be set at liberty in +six weeks gained one week. + + M. de Villars wrote at the bottom of the treaty, which was signed the + same day by him and M. de Baville on the part of the king, and by + Cavalier and Daniel Billard on the part of the Protestants, the + following ratification: + +"In virtue of the plenary powers which we have received from the king, +we have granted to the Reformers of Languedoc the articles above made +known. + +"MARECHAL DE VILLARS J. CAVALIER "LAMOIGNON DE BAVILLE DANIEL BILLARD + +"Given at Nimes, the 17th of May 1704" + +These two signatures, all unworthy as they were to stand beside their +own, gave such great delight to MM. de Villars and de Baville, that they +at once sent off fresh orders to Calvisson that the wants of the +Camisards should be abundantly supplied until the articles of the treaty +were executed--that is to say, until the prisoners and the galley slaves +were set at liberty, which, according to article 2 of the treaty, would +be within the next six weeks. As to Cavalier, the marechal gave him on +the spot a commission as colonel, with a pension of 1200 livres +attached, and the power of nominating the subordinate officers in his +regiment, and at the same time he handed him a captain's commission for +his young brother. + +Cavalier drew up the muster-roll of the regiment the same day, and gave +it to the marechal. It was to consist of seven hundred and twelve men, +forming fifteen companies, with sixteen captains, sixteen lieutenants, a +sergeant-major, and a surgeon-major. + +While all this was happening, Roland, taking advantage of the suspension +of hostilities, was riding up and down the province as if he were +viceroy of the Cevennes, and wherever he appeared he had a magnificent +reception. Like Cavalier, he gave leave of absence and furnished +escorts, and held himself haughtily, sure that he too would soon be +negotiating treaties on terms of equality with marshals of France and +governors of provinces. But Roland was much mistaken: M. de Villars had +made great concessions to the popularity of Cavalier, but they were the +last he intended to make. So, instead of being in his turn summoned to +Nimes, or Uzes, to confer with M. de Villars, Roland merely received an +intimation from Cavalier that he desired to speak with him on important +business. + +They met near Anduze, and Cavalier, faithful to the promise given to M. +de Villars, neglected no argument that he could think of to induce +Roland to follow his example; but Roland would listen to nothing. Then, +when Cavalier saw that arguments and promises were of no avail, he +raised his voice in anger; but Roland, laying his hand on his shoulder, +told him that his head was turned, that he should remember that he, +Roland, was his senior in command, and therefore bound by nothing that +had been promised in his name by his junior, and that he had registered +a vow in Heaven that nothing would persuade him to make peace unless +complete liberty of conscience were granted to all. The young Cevenol, +who was unaccustomed to such language, laid his hand on the hilt of his +sword, Roland, stepping back, drew his, and the consultation would have +ended in a duel if the prophets had not thrown themselves between them, +and succeeded in getting Roland to consent to one of their number, a man +much esteemed among the Huguenots, named Salomon, going back to Nimes +with Cavalier to learn from M. de Villars' own mouth what the exact +terms were which Cavalier had accepted and now offered to Roland. + +In a couple of hours Cavalier and Salomon set out together, and arrived +at Nimes on the 27th May, escorted by twenty-five men; they halted at +the tower of Magne, and the Protestants of the city came out to meet +them, bringing refreshments; then, after prayers and a hasty meal, they +advanced to the barracks and crossed the courtyards. The concourse of +people and the enthusiasm was no whit less than on Cavalier's first +entry, more than three hundred persons kissing his hands and knees. +Cavalier was dressed on this occasion in a doublet of grey cloth, and a +beaver hat, laced with gold, and adorned with a white feather. + +Cavalier and his travelling-companion went direct to the garden of the +Recollets, and hardly had they got there than MM. de Villars and de +Baville, accompanied by Lalande and Sandricourt, came out to meet them: +the conference lasted three hours, but all that could be learned of the +result was that Salomon had declared that his brethren would never lay +down their arms till full liberty of conscience had been secured to +them. In consequence of this declaration, it was decided that Cavalier +and his regiment should be despatched to Spain without delay, in order +to weaken the Calvinist forces to that extent; meantime Salomon was sent +back to Roland with a positive promise that if he would surrender, as +Cavalier had done, he would be granted the same conditions--that is to +say, receive a commission as colonel, have the right to name the +officers of his regiment, and receive a pension of 1200 livres. On +quitting the garden of the Recollets, Cavalier found as great a crowd as +ever waiting for him, and so closely did they press on him that two of +his men were obliged to ride before him with drawn sabres to clear a way +for him till the Montpellier road was reached. He lay that night at +Langlade, in order to rejoin his troops early next morning. + +But during his absence things had happened among these men, who had +hitherto obeyed him blindly, which he little expected. He had left, as +usual, Ravanel in command; but hardly had he ridden away when Ravanel +began to take all kinds of precautions, ordering the men not to lay +aside their arms. The negotiations with M. de Villars had made him most +anxious; he looked upon all the promises given as snares, and he +regarded the compromise favoured by his chief as a defection on +Cavalier's part. He therefore called all the officers and men together, +told them of his fears, and ended by imbuing them with his suspicions. +This was all the more easily done, as it was very well known that +Cavalier had joined the Huguenots less from devotion to the cause than +to avenge a private wrong, and on many occasions had given rise to the +remark that he had more genius than religion. + +So, on getting back to Calvisson, the young chief found his principal +officers, Ravanel at their head, drawn up in the market-place, waiting +for him. As soon as he drew near they told him that they were determined +to know at once what were the conditions of the treaty he had signed +with the marechal; they had made up their minds to have a plain answer +without delay. Such a way of speaking to him was so strange and +unexpected, that Cavalier shrugged his shoulders and replied that such +matters were no business of theirs, being too high for their +intelligence; that it was his business to decide what course to take and +theirs to take it; it had always been so in the past, and with the help +of God and his own, Cavalier's, goodwill, it should still be so in +future; and having so spoken, he told them to disperse. Ravanel upon +this came forward, and in the name of all the others said they would not +go away until they knew what orders Cavalier was about to give the +troops, that they might consult among themselves whether they should +obey them or not. This insubordination was too much for Cavalier's +patience. + +"The orders are," he said, "to put on the uniforms that are being made +for you, and to follow me to Portugal." + +The effect of such words on men who were expecting nothing less than the +re-enactment of the Edict of Nantes, can be easily imagined; the words +"coward" and "traitor" could be distinguished above the murmurs, as +Cavalier noticed with increasing astonishment. Raising himself in his +stirrups, and glancing round with that look before which they had been +used to tremble, he asked in a voice as calm as if all the demons of +anger were not raging in his heart, "Who called Jean Cavalier traitor +and coward?" + +"I," said Ravanel, crossing his arms on his breast. + +Cavalier drew a pistol from his holsters, and striking those near him +with the butt end, opened a way towards his lieutenant, who drew his +sword; but at this moment the commissary-general, Vincel, and Captain +Cappon threw themselves between the two and asked the cause of the +quarrel. + +"The cause," said Ravanel, "is that the Cadets of the Cross, led by the +'Hermit,' have just knocked out the brains of two of our brethren, who +were coming to join us, and are hindering others front attending our +meetings to worship God: the conditions of the truce having been thus +broken, is it likely they will keep those of the treaty? We refuse to +accept the treaty." + +"Sir," said Vincel, "if the 'Hermit' has done what you say, it is +against the orders of the marachal, and the misdoer will be punished; +besides, the large number of strangers at present in Calvisson ought to +be sufficient proof that no attempt has been made to prevent the new +converts from coming to the town, and it seems to me that you have been +too easily led to believe everything that malicious people have told +you." + +"I believe what I choose to believe," said Ravanel impatiently; "but +what I know and say is, that I shall never lay down arms till the king +grants us full liberty of conscience, permission to rebuild our places +of worship, and sends us back all prisoners and exiles." + +"But, judging by your tone," said Cavalier, who had till now remained +silent while toying with his pistol, "you seem to be in command here; +have we changed, parts without my being aware?" + +"It is possible," said Ravanel. + +Cavalier burst out laughing. + +"It seems to astonish you," said Ravanel, "but it is true. Make peace +for yourself, lay down what conditions suit you, sell yourself for +whatever you will bring; my only reply is, You are a coward and a +traitor. But as to the troops, they will not lay down arms except on the +conditions formulated by me." + +Cavalier tried to get at Ravanel, but seeing from his paleness and his +smile that terrible things would happen if he reached his lieutenant, +Vincel and Cappon, backed by some Camisards, threw themselves before his +horse. Just then the whole band shouted with one voice, "No peace! no +peace! no reconciliation till our temples are restored!" Cavalier then +saw for the first time that things were more serious than he had +believed, but Vincel, Cappon, Berlie, and about twenty Camisards +surrounded the young chief and forced him to enter a house; it was the +house of Vincel. + +They had hardly got indoors when the 'generale' was sounded: resisting +all entreaties, Cavalier sprang to the door, but was detained by Berlie, +who said that the first thing he ought to do was to write M. de Villars +an account of what had happened, who would then take measures to put +things straight. + +"You are right," said Cavalier; "as I have so many enemies, the general +might be told if I were killed that I had broken my word. Give me pen +and ink." + +Writing materials were brought, and he wrote to M. de Villars. + +"Here," he said, giving the letter unsealed to Vincel, "set out for +Nimes and give this to the marechal, and tell him, if I am killed in the +attempt I am about to make, I died his humble servant." + +With these words, he darted out of the house and mounted his horse, +being met at the door by twelve to fifteen men who had remained faithful +to him. He asked them where Ravanel and his troops were, not seeing a +single Camisard in the streets; one of the soldiers answered that they +were probably still in town, but that they were moving towards Les +Garrigues de Calvisson. Cavalier set off at a gallop to overtake them. + +In crossing the market-place he met Catinat, walking between two +prophets, one called Moses and the other Daniel Guy; Catinat was just +back from a visit to the mountains, so that he had taken no part in the +scene of insubordination that had so lately been enacted. + +Cavalier felt a ray of hope; he was sure he could depend on Catinat as +on himself. He hurried to greet him, holding out his hand; but Catinat +drew back his. + +"What does this mean?" cried Cavalier, the blood mounting to his +forehead. + +"It means," answered Catinat, "that you are a traitor, and I cannot give +my hand to a traitor." + +Cavalier gave a cry of rage, and advancing on Catinat, raised his cane +to strike him; but Moses and Daniel Guy threw themselves between, so +that the blow aimed at Catinat fell on Moses. At the same moment +Catinat, seeing Cavalier's gesture, drew a pistol from his belt. As it +was at full cock, it went off in his hand, a bullet piercing Guy's hat, +without, however, wounding him. + +At the noise of the report shouts were heard about a hundred yards away. +It was the Camisards, who had been on the point of leaving the town, but +hearing the shot had turned back, believing that some of their brethren +were being murdered. On seeing them appear, Cavalier forgot Catinat, and +rode straight towards them. As soon as they caught sight of him they +halted, and Ravanel advanced before them ready for every danger. + +"Brethren," he cried, "the traitor has come once more to tempt us. +Begone, Judas! You have no business here." + +"But I have," exclaimed Cavalier. "I have to punish a scoundrel called +Ravanel, if he has courage to follow me." + +"Come on, then," cried Ravanel, darting down a small side-street, "and +let us have done with it." The Camisards made a motion as if to follow +them, but Ravanel turning towards them ordered them to remain where they +were. + +They obeyed, and thus Cavalier could see that, insubordinate as they had +been towards him, they were ready to obey another. + +Just at the moment as he turned into the narrow street where the dispute +was to be settled once for all, Moses and Guy came up, and seizing the +bridle of his horse stopped him, while the Camisards who were on the +side of Cavalier surrounded Ravanel and forced him to return to his +soldiers. The troops struck up a psalm, and resumed their march, while +Cavalier was held back by force. + +At last, however, the young Cevenol succeeded in breaking away from +those who surrounded him, and as the street by which the Camisards had +retired was blocked, he dashed down another. The two prophets suspecting +his intention, hurried after the troops by the most direct route, and +got up with them, just as Cavalier, who had made the circuit of the +town, came galloping across the plain to intercept their passage. The +troops halted, and Ravanel gave orders to fire. The first rank raised +their muskets and took aim, thus indicating that they were ready to +obey. But it was not a danger of this kind that could frighten Cavalier; +he continued to advance. Then Moses seeing his peril, threw himself +between the Camisards and him, stretching out his arms and shouting, +"Stop! stop! misguided men! Are you going to kill Brother Cavalier like +a highwayman and thief? You must pardon him, my brethren! you must +pardon him! If he has done wrong in the past, he will do better in +future." + +Then those who had taken aim at Cavalier grounded their muskets, and +Cavalier changing menace for entreaty, begged them not to break the +promise that he had made in their name; whereupon the prophets struck up +a psalm, and the rest of the soldiers joining in, his voice was +completely drowned. Nevertheless, Cavalier did not lose heart, but +accompanied them on their march to Saint-Esteve, about a league farther +on, unable to relinquish all hope. On reaching Saint-Esteve the singing +ceased for a moment, and he made another attempt to recall them to +obedience. Seeing, however, that it was all in vain, he gave up hope, +and calling out, "At least defend yourselves as well as you can, for the +dragoons will soon be on you," he set his horse's head towards the town. +Then turning to them for the last time, he said, "Brethren, let those +who love me follow me!" He pronounced these words in tones so full of +grief and affection that many were shaken in their resolution; but +Ravanel and Moses seeing the effect he had produced, began to shout, +"The sword of the Lord!" Immediately all the troops turned their back on +Cavalier except about forty men who had joined him on his first +appearance. + +Cavalier went into a house near by, and wrote another letter to M. de +Villars, in which he told him what had just taken place, the efforts he +had made to win back his troops, and the conditions they demanded. He +ended by assuring him that he would make still further efforts, and +promised the marechal that he would keep him informed of everything that +went on. He then withdrew to Cardet, not venturing to return to +Calvisson. + +Both Cavalier's letters reached M. de Villars at the same time; in the +first impulse of anger aroused by this unexpected check, he issued the +following order: + +"Since coming to this province and taking over the government by order +of the king, our sole thought has been how to put an end to the +disorders we found existing here by gentle measures, and to restore +peace and to preserve the property of those who had taken no part in the +disturbances. To that end we obtained His Majesty's pardon for those +rebels who had, by the persuasion of their chiefs, been induced to lay +down their arms; the only condition exacted being that they should throw +themselves on the king's clemency and beg his permission to expiate +their crime by adventuring their lives in his service. But, being +informed that instead of keeping the engagements they had made by +signing petitions, by writing letters, and by speaking words expressing +their intentions, some among them have been trying to delude the minds +of the people with false hopes of full liberty for the exercise of this +so-called Reformed religion, which there has never been any intention of +granting, but which we have always declared as clearly as we could, to +be contrary to the will of the king and likely to bring about great +evils for which it would be difficult to find a remedy, it becomes +necessary to prevent those who give belief to these falsehoods from +expecting to escape from well-deserved chastisement. We therefore +declare hereby that all religious assemblies are expressly forbidden +under the penalties proclaimed in the edicts and ordinances of His +Majesty, and that these will be more strictly enforced in the future +than in the past. + +"Furthermore, we order all the troops under our command to break up such +assemblies by force, as having been always illegal, and we desire to +impress on the new converts of this province that they are to give their +obedience where it is due, and we forbid them to give any credence to +the false reports which the enemies of their repose are spreading +abroad. If they let themselves be led astray, they will soon find +themselves involved in troubles and misfortunes, such as the loss of +their lands, the ruin of their families, and the desolation of their +country; and we shall take care that the true authors of these +misfortunes shall receive punishment proportioned to their crime. + +"MARECHAL DE VILLARS + +"Given at Nimes the 27th day of May 1704" + +This order, which put everything back upon the footing on which it had +been in the time of M. de Montrevel, had hardly been issued than +d'Aygaliers, in despair at seeing the result of so much labour destroyed +in one day, set off for the mountains to try and find Cavalier. He found +him at Cardet, whither, as we have said, he had retired after the day of +Calvisson. Despite the resolution which Cavalier had taken never to show +his face again to the marechal, the baron repeated to him so many times +that M. de Villars was thoroughly convinced that what had happened had +not been his fault, he having done everything that he could to prevent +it, that the young chief began to feel his self-confidence and courage +returning, and hearing that the marachal had expressed himself as very +much pleased with his conduct, to which Vincel had borne high testimony, +made up his mind to return to Nimes. They left Cardet at once, followed +by the forty men who had remained true to Cavalier, ten on horse and +thirty on foot, and arrived on the 31st May at Saint-Genies, whither M. +de Villars had come to meet them. + +The assurances of d'Aygaliers were justified. The marechal received +Cavalier as if he were still the chief of a powerful party and able to +negotiate with him on terms of equality. At Cavalier's request, in order +to prove to him that he stood as high in his good opinion as ever, the +marechal returned once more to gentle methods, and mitigated the +severity of his first proclamation by a second, granting an extension of +the amnesty: + +"The principal chiefs of the rebels, with the greater number of their +followers, having surrendered, and having received the king's pardon, we +declare that we give to all those who have taken up arms until next +Thursday, the 5th instant inclusive, the opportunity of receiving the +like pardon, by surrendering to us at Anduze, or to M. le Marquis de +Lalande at Alais, or to M. de Menon at Saint Hippolyte, or to the +commandants of Uzes, Nimes, and Lunel. But the fifth day passed, we +shall lay a heavy hand on all rebels, pillaging and burning all the +places which have given them refuge, provisions, or help of any kind; +and that they may not plead ignorance of this proclamation, we order it +to be publicly read and posted up in every suitable place. + +"MARECHAL DE VILLARS + +"At Saint-Genies, the 1st June 1704" + +The next day, in order to leave no doubt as to his good intentions, the +marechal had the gibbets and scaffolds taken down, which until then had +been permanent erections. + +At the same time all the Huguenots were ordered to make a last effort to +induce the Camisard chiefs to accept the conditions offered them by M. +de Villars. The towns of Alais, Anduze, Saint-Jean, Sauve, +Saint-Hippolyte, and Lasalle, and the parishes of Cros, Saint-Roman, +Manoblet, Saint-Felix, Lacadiere, Cesas, Cambo, Colognac, and Vabre were +ordered to send deputies to Durfort to confer as to the best means of +bringing about that peace which everyone desired. These deputies wrote +at once to M. de Villars to beg him to send them M. d'Aygaliers, and to +M. d'Aygaliers to request him to come. + +Both consented to do as they were asked, and M. d'Aygaliers arrived at +Durfort on the 3rd of June 1704. + +The deputies having first thanked him for the trouble which he had taken +to serve the common cause during the past year, resolved to divide their +assembly into two parts, one of which, was to remain permanently +sitting, while the other went to seek Roland and Ravanel to try and +obtain a cessation of hostilities. The deputies charged with this task +were ordered to make it quite clear to the two chiefs that if they did +not accept the proposals made by M. de Villars, the Protestants in +general would take up arms and hunt them down, and would cease to supply +them with the means of subsistence. + +On hearing this, Roland made reply that the deputies were to go back at +once to those who sent them, and threatened, should they ever show him +their faces again, to fire on them. + +This answer put an end to the assembly, the deputies dispersed, and +d'Aygaliers returned to the Marechal de Villars to make his report. + +Hardly had he done this when a letter from Roland arrived, in which the +Camisard chief asked M. de Villars to grant him an interview, such as he +had granted to Cavalier. This letter was addressed to d'Aygaliers, who +immediately communicated its contents to the marechal, from whom he +received orders to set out at once to find Roland and to spare no pains +to bring him round. + +D'Aygaliers, who was always indefatigable when working for his country, +started the same day, and went to a mountain about three-quarters of a +league from Anduze, where Roland awaited him. After a conference of two +hours, it was agreed that hostages should be exchanged and negotiations +entered upon. + +Consequently, M. de Villars on his side sent Roland M. de Montrevel, an +officer commanding a battalion of marines, and M. de la Maison-Blanche, +captain of the Froulay regiment; while Roland in return sent M. de +Villars four of his principal officers with the title of +plenipotentiaries. + +Unskilled in diplomacy as these envoys were, and laughable as they +appeared to contemporary historians, they received nevertheless the +marechal's consent to the following conditions: + + 1. That Cavalier and Roland should each be placed in charge of a + regiment serving abroad, and that each of them should be allowed a + minister. + 2. That all the prisoners should be released and the exiles recalled. + 3. That the Protestants should be permitted to leave the kingdom, + taking their effects with them. + 4. That those Camisards who desired to remain might do so, on giving + up their arms. + 5. That those who were abroad might return. + 6. That no one should be molested on account of his religion provided + everyone remained quietly at home. + 7. That indemnities should be borne by the whole province, and not + exacted specially from the Protestants. + 8. That a general amnesty should be granted to all without reserve. + +These articles were laid before Roland and Ravanel by d'Aygaliers. +Cavalier, who from the day he went back to Nimes had remained in the +governor's suite, asked leave to return with the baron, and was +permitted to do so. D'Aygaliers and he set out together in consequence +for Anduze, and met Roland and Ravanel about a quarter of a league from +the town, waiting to know the result of the negotiations. They were +accompanied by MM. de Montbel and de Maison-Blanche, the Catholic +hostages. + +As soon as Cavalier and Roland met they burst out into recriminations +and reproaches, but through the efforts of d'Aygaliers they soon became +more friendly, and even embraced on parting. + +But Ravanel was made of harder stuff: as soon as he caught sight of +Cavalier he called him "traitor," saying that for his part he would +never surrender till the Edict of Nantes was re-enacted; then, having +warned them that the governor's promises were not to be trusted, and +having predicted that a day would come when they would regret their too +great confidence in him, he left the conference and rejoined his troops, +which, with those of Roland, were drawn up on a mountain about +three-quarters of a league distant. + +The negotiators did not, however, despair. Ravanel had gone away, but +Roland had debated with them at some length, so they determined to speak +to "the brethren"--that is, to the troops under Roland and Ravanel, +whose headquarters at the moment were at Leuzies, in order that they +might know exactly what articles had been agreed on between Roland's +envoys and the marechal. Those who made up their minds to take this step +were, Cavalier, Roland, Moise, Saint-Paul, Laforet, Maille, and +d'Aygaliers. We take the following account of what happened in +consequence of this decision from d'Aygaliers' Memoirs: + +"We had no sooner determined on this plan, than, anxious to carry it +out, we set off. We followed a narrow mountain path on the face of the +cliff which rose up to our right; to our left flowed the Gardon. + +"Having gone about a league, we came in sight of the troops, about 3000 +strong; an advanced post barred our way. + +"Thinking it was placed there in our honour, I was advancing +unsuspiciously, when suddenly we found our road cut off by Camisards to +right and left, who threw themselves on Roland and forced him in among +their troops. Maille and Malplach were dragged from their horses. As to +Cavalier, who was somewhat behind, as soon as he saw people coming +towards him with uplifted sabres and shouting Traitor! he put spurs to +his horse and went off at full gallop, followed by some townspeople from +Anduze who had come with us, and who, now that they saw the reception we +met with, were ready to die with fear. + +"I was too far forward to escape: five or six muskets rested on my +breast and a pistol pressed each ear; so I made up my mind to be bold. I +told the troopers to fire; I was willing to die in the service of my +prince, my country, and my religion, as well as for themselves, whom I +was trying to benefit by procuring them the king's goodwill. + +"These words, which I repeated several times in the midst of the +greatest uproar, gave them pause. + +"They commanded me to retire, as they did not want to kill me. I said I +should do nothing of the kind: I was going into the middle of the troops +to defend Roland against the charge of treason, or be put to death +myself, unless I could convince them that what I had proposed to him and +Cavalier was for the good of the country, of our religion, and the +brethren; and having thus expostulated at the top of my voice against +thirty voices all trying to drown mine for about an hour, I offered to +fight the man who had induced them to oppose us. + +"At this offer they pointed their muskets at me once more; but Maille, +Malplach, and some others threw themselves before me, and although they +were unarmed, had enough influence to hinder my being insulted; I was +forced, however, to retreat. + +"In leaving, I warned them that they were about to bring great +misfortunes on the province, whereupon a man named Claris stepped out +from among the troops, and approaching me exclaimed, 'Go on, sir, and +God bless you! We know that you mean well, and were the first to be +taken in. But go on working for the good of the country, and God will +bless you.'" + +D'Aygaliers returned to the marechal, who, furious at the turn things +had taken, resolved instantly to break off all negotiations and have +recourse once more to measures of severity. However, before actually +carrying out this determination, he wrote the following letter to the +king: + +"SIRE,--It is always my glory to execute faithfully your Majesty's +orders, whatever those orders may be; but I should have been able, on +many occasions since coming here, to display my zeal for your Majesty's +service in other ways if I had not had to deal with madmen on whom no +dependence could be placed. As soon as we were ready to attack them, +they offered to submit, but a little later changed their minds again. +Nothing could be a greater proof of madness than their hesitation to +accept a pardon of which they were unworthy, and which was so generously +offered by your Majesty. If they do not soon make up their minds, I +shall bring them back to the paths of duty by force, and thus restore +this province to that state of peace which has been disturbed by these +fools." + +The day after writing this letter to the king, Roland sent Maille to M. +de Villars to beg him to wait till Saturday and Sunday the 7th and the +8th June were over, before resorting to severity, that being the end of +the truce. He gave him a solemn promise that he would, in the interval, +either bring in his troops to the last man, or would himself surrender +along with a hundred and fifty followers. The marechal consented to wait +till Saturday morning, but as soon as Saturday arrived he gave orders to +attack the Camisards, and the next day led a considerable body of troops +to Carnoulet, intending to take the Huguenots by surprise, as word had +been brought that they were all gathered there. They, however, received +intelligence of his plan, and evacuated the village during the night. + +The village had to pay dearly for its sin of hospitality; it was +pillaged and burnt down: the miquelets even murdered two women whom they +found there, and d'Aygaliers failed to obtain any satisfaction for this +crime. In this manner M. de Villars kept the fatal promise he had given, +and internecine war raged once more. + +Furious at having missed the Camisards, de Menon having heard from his +scouts that Roland was to sleep next night at the chateau de Prade, went +to M. de Villars and asked leave to conduct an expedition against the +chief. He was almost sure of taking Roland by surprise, having procured +a guide whose knowledge of the country was minute. The marechal gave him +carte blanche. In the evening Menon set out with two hundred grenadiers. +He had already put three-quarters of the way behind him without being +discovered, when an Englishman met them by chance. This man was serving +under Roland, but had been visiting his sweetheart in a neighbouring +village, and was on his way home when he fell among Menon's grenadiers. +Without a thought for his own safety, he fired off his gun, shouting, +"Fly! fly! The royals are upon you!" + +The sentinels took up the cry, Roland jumped out of bed, and, without +staying for clothes or horse, ran off in his shirt, escaping by a +postern gate which opened on the forest just as de Menon entered by +another. He found Roland's bed still warm, and took possession of his +clothes, finding in a coat pocket a purse containing thirty-five Louis, +and in the stables three superb horses. The Camisards answered this +beginning of hostilities by a murder. Four of them, thinking they had +reasons for displeasure against one of M. de Baville's subordinates, +named Daude, who was both mayor and magistrate; at Le Vigan, hid in a +corn-field which he had to pass on his way back from La Valette, his +country place. Their measures were successful: Daude came along just as +was expected, and as he had not the slightest suspicion of the impending +danger, he continued conversing with M. de Mondardier, a gentleman of +the neighbourhood who had asked for the; hand of Daude's daughter in +marriage that very day. Suddenly he found himself surrounded by four +men, who, upbraiding him for his exactions and cruelties, shot him twice +through the head with a pistol. They offered no violence to M. de +Mondardier except to deprive him of his laced hat and sword. The day on +which M. de Villars heard of its murder he set a price on the heads of +Roland, Ravanel, and Catinat. Still the example set by Cavalier, joined +to the resumption of hostilities, was not without influence on the +Camisards; every day letters arrived from single troopers offering to +lay down their arms, and in one day thirty rebels came in and put +themselves into Lalande's hands, while twenty surrendered to Grandval; +these were accorded not only pardon, but received a reward, in hopes +that they might be able to induce others to do like them; and on the +15th June eight of the troops which had abandoned Cavalier at Calvisson +made submission; while twelve others asked to be allowed to return to +their old chief to follow him wherever he went. This request was at once +granted: they were sent to Valabregues, where they found forty-two of +their old comrades, amongst whom were Duplan and Cavalier's young +brother, who had been ordered there a few days before. As they arrived +they were given quarters in the barracks, and received good pay--the +chiefs forty sous a day, and the privates ten. So they felt as happy as +possible, being well fed and well lodged, and spent their time +preaching, praying, and psalm-singing, in season and out of season. All +this, says La Baume, was so disagreeable to the inhabitants of the +place, who were Catholics, that if they had not been guarded by the +king's soldiers they would have been pitched into the Rhone. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +Meantime the date of Cavalier's departure drew near. A town was to be +named in which he was to reside at a sufficient distance from the +theatre of war to prevent the rebels from depending on him any more; in +this town he was to organise his regiment, and as soon as it was +complete it was to go, under his command, to Spain, and fight for the +king. M. de Villars was still on the same friendly terms with him, +treating him, not like a rebel, but according to his new rank in the +French army. On the 21st June he told him that he was to get ready to +leave the next day, and at the same time he handed him an advance on +their future pay--fifty Louis for himself, thirty for Daniel Billard, +who had been made lieutenant-colonel in the place of Ravanel, ten for +each captain, five for each lieutenant, two for each sergeant, and one +for each private. The number of his followers had then reached one +hundred and fifty, only sixty of whom were armed. M. de Vassiniac, major +in the Fimarcn regiment, accompanied them with fifty dragoons and fifty +of the rank and file from Hainault. + +All along the road Cavalier and his men met with a courteous reception; +at Macon they found orders awaiting them to halt. Cavalier at once wrote +to M. de Chamillard to tell him that he had things of importance to +communicate to him, and the minister sent a courier of the Cabinet +called Lavallee to bring Cavalier to Versailles. This message more than +fulfilled all Cavalier's hopes: he knew that he had been greatly talked +about at court, and in spite of his natural modesty the reception he had +met with at Times had given him new ideas, if not of his own merit, at +least of his own importance. Besides, he felt that his services to the +king deserved some recognition. + +The way in which Cavalier was received by Chamillard did not disturb +these golden dreams: the minister welcomed the young colonel like a man +whose worth he appreciated, and told him that the great lords and ladies +of the court were not less favourably disposed towards him. The next day +Chamillard announced to Cavalier that the king desired to see him, and +that he was to keep himself prepared for a summons to court. Two days +later, Cavalier received a letter from the minister telling him to be at +the palace at four o'clock in the afternoon, and he would place him on +the grand staircase, up which the king would pass. + +Cavalier put on his handsomest clothes, for the first time in his life +perhaps taking trouble with his toilet. He had fine features, to which +his extreme youth, his long fair hair, and the gentle expression of his +eyes lent much charm. Two years of warfare had given him a martial air; +in short, even among the most elegant, he might pass as a beau cavalier. + +At three o'clock he reached Versailles, and found Chamillard waiting for +him; all the courtiers of every rank were in a state of great +excitement, for they had learned that the great Louis had expressed a +wish to meet the late Cevenol chief, whose name had been pronounced so +loud and so often in the mountains of Languedoc that its echoes had +resounded in the halls of Versailles. Cavalier had not been mistaken in +thinking that everyone was curious to see him, only as no one yet knew +in what light the king regarded him, the courtiers dared not accost him +for fear of compromising their dignity; the manner of his reception by +His Majesty would regulate the warmth of his reception by everyone else. + +Met thus by looks of curiosity and affected silence, the young colonel +felt some embarrassment, and this increased when Chamillard, who had +accompanied him to his appointed place, left him to rejoin the king. +However, in a few moments he did what embarrassed people so often do, +hid his shyness under an air of disdain, and, leaning on the balustrade, +crossed his legs and played with the feather of his hat. + +When half an hour had passed in this manner, a great commotion was +heard: Cavalier turned in the direction from which it came, and +perceived the king just entering the vestibule. It was the first time he +had seen him, but he recognized him at once. Cavalier's knees knocked +together and his face flushed. + +The king mounted the stairs step by step with his usual dignity, +stopping from time to time to say a word or make a sign with head or +hand. Behind him, two steps lower, came Chamillard, moving and stopping +as the king moved and stopped, and answering the questions which His +Majesty put to him in a respectful but formal and precise manner. + +Reaching the level on which Cavalier stood, the king stopped under +pretext of pointing out to Chamillard a new ceiling which Le Brun had +just finished, but really to have a good look at the singular man who +had maintained a struggle against two marshals of France and treated +with a third on equal terms. When he had examined him quite at his ease, +he turned to Chamillard, pretending he had only just caught sight of the +stranger, and asked: + +"Who is this young gentleman?" + +"Sire," answered the minister, stepping forward to present him to the +king, "this is Colonel Jean Cavalier." + +"Ah yes," said the king contemptuously, "the former baker of Anduze!" + +And shrugging his shoulders disdainfully, he passed on. + +Cavalier on his side had, like Chamillard, taken a step forward, when +the scornful answer of the great king changed him into a statue. For an +instant he stood motionless and pale as death, then instinctively he +laid his hand on his sword, but becoming conscious that he was lost if +he remained an instant longer among these people, whom not one of his +motions escaped, although they pretended to despise him too much to be +aware of his presence, he dashed down the staircase and through the +hall, upsetting two or three footmen who were in his way, hurried into +the garden, ran across it at full speed, and regaining his room at the +hotel, threw himself on the floor, where he rolled like a maniac, +uttering cries of rage, and cursing the hour when, trusting to the +promises of M. de Villars, he had abandoned the mountains where he was +as much a king as Louis XIV at Versailles. The same evening he received +orders to leave Paris and rejoin his regiment at Macon. He therefore set +out the next morning, without seeing M. de Chamillard again. + +Cavalier on arriving at Macon found that his comrades had had a visit +from M. d'Aygaliers, who had come again to Paris, in the hope of +obtaining more from the king than M. de Villars could or would grant. + +Cavalier, without telling his comrades of the strange manner in which +the king had received him, gave them to understand that he was beginning +to fear that not only would the promises they had received be broken, +but that some strange trick would be played upon them. + +Thereupon these men, whose chief and oracle he had been for so long, +asked him what they ought to do; Cavalier replied that if they would +follow him, their best course and his would be to take the first +opportunity of gaining the frontier and leaving the country. They all +declared themselves ready to follow him anywhere. This caused Cavalier a +new pang of regret, for he could not help recollecting that he had once +had under his command fifteen hundred men like these. + +The next day Cavalier and his comrades set out on their march without +knowing whither they were being taken, not having been able to obtain +any information as to their destination from their escort--a silence +which confirmed them in their resolution. As soon, therefore, as they +reached Onnan, Cavalier declared that he considered that the looked-for +opportunity had arrived, asking them if they were still in the same +mind: they returned that they would do whatever he advised. Cavalier +then ordered them to hold themselves in readiness, Daniel offered up a +prayer, and the prayer ended, the whole company deserted in a body, and, +crossing Mont Belliard, entered Porentruy, and took the road to +Lausanne. + +Meantime d'Aygaliers, in his turn, arrived at Versailles, with letters +from M. de Villars for the Duke of Beauvilliers, president of the king's +council, and for Chamillard. The evening of his arrival he delivered +these letters to those to whom they were addressed, and both gentlemen +promised to present him to the king. + +Four days later, Chamillard sent word to d'Aygaliers that he was to be +next day at the door of the king's chamber at the time when the council +entered. D'Aygaliers was punctual, the king appeared at the usual hour, +and as he paused before d'Aygaliers, Chamillard came forward and said: + +"Baron d'Aygaliers, sire." + +"I am very glad to see you, sir," said the king, "for I am very much +pleased with the zeal you have displayed in Languedoc in my +service--very much pleased indeed." + +"Sire," answered d'Aygaliers, "I consider myself most unfortunate in +that I have been able to accomplish nothing deserving of the gracious +words which your Majesty deigns to address me, and I pray God of His +grace to grant me in the future an opportunity of proving my zeal and +loyalty in your Majesty's service more clearly than hitherto." + +"Never mind, never mind," said the king. "I repeat, sir, that I am very +much pleased with what you have done." + +And he entered the room where the council was waiting. + +D'Aygaliers went away only half satisfied: he had not come so far only +to receive commendation from the king, but in the hope of obtaining some +concession for his brethren; but with Louis XIV it was impossible either +to intercede or complain, one could only wait. + +The same evening Chamillard sent for the baron, and told him that as +Marechal Villars had mentioned in his letter that the Camisards had +great confidence in him, d'Aygaliers, he wished to ask him if he were +willing to go once more to them and try and bring them back to the path +of duty. + +"Certainly I am willing; but I fear things have now got so far that +there will be great difficulty in calming the general perturbation of +mind." + +"But what can these people want?" asked Chamillard, as if he had just +heard them spoken of for the first time, "and by what means can we +pacify them?" + +"In my opinion," said the baron, "the king should allow to all his +subjects the free exercise of their religion." + +"What! legalise once more the exercise of the so-called Reformed +religion!" exclaimed the minister. "Be sure you never mention such a +thing again. The king would rather see his kingdom destroyed than +consent to such a measure." + +"Monseigneur," replied the baron, "if that is the case, then I must say +with great regret that I know of no other way to calm the discontent +which will ultimately result in the ruin of one of the fairest provinces +in France." + +"But that is unheard-of obstinacy," said the minister, lost in +astonishment; "these people will destroy themselves, and drag their +country down with them. If they cannot conform to our religion, why do +they not worship God in their own way at home? No one will disturb them +as long as they don't insist on public worship." + +"At first that was all they wanted, monseigneur; and I am convinced that +if people had not been dragged to confession and communion by force, it +would have been easy to keep them in that submissive frame of mind from +which they were only driven by despair; but at present they say that it +is not enough to pray at home, they want to be married, to have their +children baptised and instructed, and to die and be buried according to +the ordinances of their own faith." + +"Where may you have seen anyone who was ever made to communicate by +force?" asked Chamillard. + +D'Aygaliers looked at the minister in surprise, thinking he spoke in +joke; but seeing he was quite serious, he answered: + +"Alas, monseigneur, my late father and my mother, who is still living, +are both instances of people subjected to this indignity." + +"Are you, then, not a Catholic?" asked Chamillard. + +"No, monseigneur," replied d'Aygaliers. + +"Then how did you manage to return to France?" + +"To speak the truth, sir, I only came back to help my mother to escape; +but she never could make up her mind to leave France, as such a step was +surrounded by many difficulties which she feared she could never +surmount. So she asked my other relations to persuade me to remain. I +yielded to their importunities on condition that they would never +interfere with my beliefs. To accomplish this end they got a priest with +whom they were intimate to say that I had changed my views once more, +and I did not contradict the report. It was a great sin on my part, and +I deeply repent it. I must add, however, that whenever anyone has asked +me the question your Excellency asked me just now I have always given +the same reply." + +The minister did not seem to take the baron's frankness in bad part; +only he remarked, when dismissing him, that he hoped he would find out +some way of ridding the kingdom of those who refused to think in +religious matters as His Majesty commanded. + +D'Aygaliers replied that it was a problem to which he had given much +thought, but without ever being able to find a solution, but that he +would think about it more earnestly in future. He then withdrew. + +Some days later, Chamillard sent ward to d'Aygaliers that the king would +graciously give him a farewell audience. The baron relates what took +place at this second interview, as follows. + +"His Majesty," says he, "received me in the council chamber, and was so +good as to repeat once more in the presence of all his ministers that he +was very much pleased with my services, but that there was one thing +about me he should like to correct. I begged His Majesty to tell me what +the fault was, and I should try to get rid of it at, the peril of my +life." + +"'It is your religion,' said the king. 'I should like to have you become +a good Catholic, so that I might be able to grant you favours and enable +you to serve me better.' His Majesty added that I ought to seek +instruction, and that then I should one day recognise what a great +benefit he desired to bring within my reach. + +"I answered that I would esteem myself happy if at the cost of my life I +could prove the burning zeal with which I was filled for the service of +the greatest of earthly kings, but that I should be unworthy of the +least of his favours if I obtained it by hypocrisy or by anything of +which my conscience did not approve, but that I was grateful for the +goodness which made him anxious for my salvation. I told him also that I +had already taken every opportunity of receiving instruction, and had +tried to put aside the prejudices arising from my birth, such as often +hindered people from recognising the truth, with the result that I had +at one time almost lost all sense of religion, until God, taking pity on +me, had opened my eyes and brought me out of that deplorable condition, +making me see that the faith in which I had been born was the only one +for me. 'And I can assure your Majesty,' I added, 'that many of the +Languedoc bishops who ought, it seems to me, to try to make us +Catholics, are the instruments which Providence uses to prevent us from +becoming so. For instead of attracting us by gentleness and good +example, they ceaselessly subject us to all kinds of persecutions, as if +to convince us that God is punishing us for our cowardice in giving up a +religion which we know to be good, by delivering us up to pastors who, +far from labouring to assure our salvation, use all their efforts to +drive us to despair." + +"At this the king shrugged his shoulders and said, 'Enough, do not say +any more.' I asked for his blessing as the king and father of all his +subjects. The king burst out laughing, and told me that M. de Chamillard +would give me his orders." + +In virtue of this intimation d'Aygaliers went next day to the minister's +country house; for Chamillard had given him that address, and there he +learned that the king had granted him a pension of 800 livres. The baron +remarked that, not having worked for money, he had hoped for a better +reward; as far as money was concerned, he desired only the reimbursement +of the actual expenses of his journeys to and from, but Chamillard +answered that the king expected all that he offered and whatever he +offered to be accepted with gratitude. To this there was no possible +reply, so the same evening d'Aygaliers set out on his return to +Languedoc. + +Three months later, Chamillard forwarded him an order to leave the +kingdom, telling him that he was to receive a pension of four hundred +crowns per annum, and enclosing the first quarter in advance. + +As there was no means of evading this command, D'Aygaliers set out for +Geneva, accompanied by thirty-three followers, arriving there on the +23rd of September. Once rid of him, Louis the Magnificent thought that +he had done his part nobly and that he owed him nothing further, so that +d'Aygaliers waited a whole year in vain for the second quarter of his +pension. + +At the end of this time, as his letters to Chamillard remained +unanswered, and finding himself without resources in a foreign country, +he believed himself justified in returning to France and taking up his +residence on his family estate. Unfortunately, on his way through Lyons, +the provost of merchants, hearing of his return, had him arrested, and +sent word to the king, who ordered him to be taken to the chateau de +Loches. After a year's imprisonment, d'Aygaliers, who had just entered +on his thirty-fifth year, resolved to try and escape, preferring to die +in the attempt rather than remain a prisoner for life. He succeeded in +getting possession of a file with which he removed one of the bars of +his window, and by means of knotting his sheets together, he got down, +taking the loosened bar with him to serve, in case of need, as a weapon. +A sentinel who was near cried, "Who goes there?" but d'Aygaliers stunned +him with his bar. The cry, however, had given the alarm: a second +sentinel saw a man flying, fired at him, and killed him on the spot. + +Such was the reward of the devoted patriotism of Baron d'Aygaliers! + +Meantime Roland's troops had increased greatly in number, having been +joined by the main body of those who had once been commanded by +Cavalier, so that he had, about eight hundred men at his disposal. Some +distance away, another chief, named Joanny, had four hundred; Larose, to +whom Castanet had transferred his command, found himself at the head of +three hundred; Boizeau de Rochegude was followed by one hundred, Saltet +de Soustel by two hundred, Louis Coste by fifty, and Catinat by forty, +so that, in spite of the victory of Montrevel and the negotiations of M. +de Villars, the Camisards still formed an effective force of eighteen +hundred and ninety men, not to speak of many single troopers who owned +no commander but acted each for himself, and were none the less +mischievous for that. All these troops, except these latter, obeyed +Roland, who since the defection of Cavalier had been recognised as +generalissimo of the forces. M. de Villars thought if he could separate +Roland from his troops as he had separated Cavalier, his plans would be +more easy to carry out. + +So he made use of every means within his reach to gain over Roland, and +as soon as one plan failed he tried another. At one moment he was almost +sure of obtaining his object by the help of a certain Jourdan de Mianet, +a great friend of his, who offered his services as an intermediary, but +who failed like all the others, receiving from Roland a positive +refusal, so that it became evident that resort must be had to other +means than those of persuasion. A sum of 100 Louis had already been set +on Roland's head: this sum was now doubled. + +Three days afterwards, a young man from Uzes, by name Malarte, in whom +Roland had every confidence, wrote to M. de Paratte that the Camisard +general intended to pass the night of the 14th of August at the chateau +Castelnau. + +De Paratte immediately made his dispositions, and ordered Lacoste-Badie, +at the head of two companies of dragoons, and all the officers at Uzes +who were well mounted, to hold themselves in readiness to start on an +expedition at eight o'clock in the evening, but not revealing its object +to them till the time came. At eight o'clock, having been told what they +had to do, they set off at such a pace that they came in sight of the +chateau within an hour, and were obliged to halt and conceal themselves, +lest they should appear too soon, before Roland had retired for the +night. But they need not have been afraid; the Camisard chief, who was +accustomed to rely on all his men as on himself, had gone to bed without +any suspicion, having full confidence in the vigilance of one of his +officers, named Grimaud, who had stationed himself as sentinel on the +roof of the chateau. Led by Malarte, Lacoste-Badie and his dragoons took +a narrow covered way, which led them to the foot of the walls, so that +when Grimaud saw them it was already too late, the chateau being +surrounded on all sides. Firing off his gun, he cried, "To arms!" +Roland, roused by the cry and the shot, leaped out of bed, and taking +his clothes in one hand and his sword in the other, ran out of his room. +At the door he met Grimaud, who, instead of thinking of his own safety, +had come to watch over that of his chief. They both ran to the stables +to get horses, but three of their men--Marchand, Bourdalie, and +Bayos--had been before them and had seized on the best ones, and riding +them bare-backed had dashed through the front gates before the dragoons +could stop them. The horses that were left were so wretched that Roland +felt there was no chance of out-distancing the dragoons by their help, +so he resolved to fly on foot, thus avoiding the open roads and being +able to take refuge in every ravine and every bush as cover. He +therefore hastened with Grimaud and four other officers who had gathered +round him towards a small back gate which opened on the fields, but as +there was, besides the troops which entered the chateau, a ring of +dragoons round it, they fell at once into the hands of some men who had +been placed in ambush. Seeing himself surrounded, Roland let fall the +clothes which he had not yet had time to put on, placed his back against +a tree, drew his sword, and challenged the boldest, whether officer or +private, to approach. His features expressed such resolution, that when +he thus, alone and half naked, defied them all, there was a moment's +hesitation, during which no one ventured to take a forward step; but +this pause was broken by the report of a gun: the arm which Roland had +stretched out against his adversaries fell to his side, the sword with +which he had threatened them escaped from his hand, his knees gave way, +so that his body, which was only supported by the tree against which he +leaned, after remaining an instant erect, gradually sank to the ground. +Collecting all his strength, Roland raised his two hands to Heaven, as +if to call down the vengeance of God upon his murderers, then, without +having uttered a single word, he fell forward dead, shot through the +heart. The name of the dragoon who killed him was Soubeyrand. + +Maillie, Grimaud, Coutereau, Guerin, and Ressal, the five Camisard +officers, seeing their chief dead, let themselves be taken as if they +were children, without thinking of making any resistance. + +The dead body of Roland was carried back in triumph to Uzes, and from +there to Nimes, where it was put upon trial as if still alive. It was +sentenced to be dragged on hurdles and then burnt. The execution of this +sentence was carried out with such pomp as made it impossible for the +one party to forget the punishment and for the other to forget the +martyrdom. At the end the ashes of Roland were scattered to the four +winds of heaven. + +The execution of the five officers followed close on that of their +chief's body; they were condemned to be broken on the wheel, and the +sentence was carried out on all at once. But their death, instead of +inspiring the Calvinists with terror, gave them rather fresh courage, +for, as an eye-witness relates, the five Camisards bore their tortures +not only with fortitude, but with a light-heartedness which surprised +all present, especially those who had never seen a Camisard executed +before. + +Malarte received his 200 Louis, but to-day his name is coupled with that +of Judas in the minds of his countrymen. + +From this time on fortune ceased to smile on the Camisards. Genius had +gone with Cavalier, and, faith with Roland. The very day of the death of +the latter, one of their stores, containing more than eighty sacks of +corn, had been taken at Toiras. The next day, Catinat, who, with a dozen +men, was in hiding in a vineyard of La Vaunage, was surprised by a +detachment of Soissonnais; eleven of his men were killed, the twelfth +made prisoner, and he himself barely escaped with a severe wound. The +25th of the same month, a cavern near Sauve, which the rebels used as a +store, and which contained one hundred and fifty sacks of fine wheat, +was discovered; lastly, Chevalier de Froulay had found a third +hiding-place near Mailet. In this, which had been used not only as a +store but as a hospital, besides a quantity of salt beef, wine, and +flour, six wounded Camisards were found, who were instantly shot as they +lay. + +The only band which remained unbroken was Ravanel's, but since the +departure of Cavalier things had not gone well with his lieutenant. + +In consequence of this, and also on account of the successive checks +which the other bodies of Camisard troops had met with, Ravanel +proclaimed a solemn fast, in order to intercede with God to protect the +Huguenot cause. On Saturday, the 13th September, he led his entire force +to the wood of St. Benazet, intending to pass the whole of the next day +with them there in prayer. But treason was rife. Two peasants who knew +of this plan gave information to M. Lenoir, mayor of Le Vigan, and he +sent word to the marechal and M. de Saville, who were at Anduze. + +Nothing could have been more welcome to the governor than this important +information: he made the most careful disposition of his forces, hoping +to destroy the rebellion at one blow. He ordered M. de Courten, a +brigadier-colonel in command at Alais, to take a detachment of the +troops under him and patrol the banks of the Gardon between Ners and +Castagnols. He was of opinion that if the Camisards were attacked on the +other side by a body of soldiers drawn from Anduze, which he had +stationed during the night at Dommersargues, they would try to make good +their retreat towards the river. The force at Dommersargues might almost +be called a small army; for it was composed of a Swiss battalion, a +battalion of the Hainault regiment, one from the Charolais regiment, and +four companies of dragoons from Fimarcon and Saint-Sernin. + +Everything took place as the peasants had said: on Saturday the 13th, +the Camisards entered, as we have seen, the wood of St. Benazet, and +passed the night there. + +At break of day the royals from Dommersargues began their advance. The +Camisard outposts soon perceived the movement, and warned Ravanel, who +held his little council of war. Everyone was in favour of instant +retreat, so they retired towards Ners, intending to cross the Gardon +below that town: just as M. de Villars had foreseen, the Camisards did +everything necessary for the success of his plans, and ended by walking +right into the trap set for them. + +On emerging from the wood of St. Benazet, they caught sight of a +detachment of royals drawn up and waiting for them between Marvejols and +a mill called the Moulin-du-Pont. Seeing the road closed in this +direction, they turned sharp to the left, and gained a rocky valley +which ran parallel to the Gardon. This they followed till they came out +below Marvejols, where they crossed the river. They now thought +themselves out of danger, thanks to this manoeuvre, but suddenly they +saw another detachment of royals lying on the grass near the mill of La +Scie. They at once halted again, and then, believing themselves +undiscovered, turned back, moving as noiselessly as possible, intending +to recross the river and make for Cardet. But they only avoided one trap +to fall into another, for in this direction they were met by the +Hainault battalion, which swooped down upon them. A few of these +ill-fated men rallied at the sound of Ravanel's voice and made an effort +to defend themselves in spite of the prevailing confusion; but the +danger was so imminent, the foes so numerous, and their numbers +decreased so rapidly under the fierce assault, that their example failed +of effect, and flight became general: every man trusted to chance for +guidance, and, caring nothing for the safety of others, thought only of +his own. + +Then it ceased to be a battle and become a massacre, for the royals were +ten to one; and among those they encountered, only sixty had firearms, +the rest, since the discovery of their various magazines, having been +reduced to arm themselves with bad swords, pitchforks, and bayonets +attached to sticks. Hardly a man survived the fray. Ravanel himself only +succeeded in escaping by throwing himself into the river, where he +remained under water between two rocks for seven hours, only coming to +the surface to breathe. When night fell and the dragoons had retired, he +also fled. + +This was the last battle of the war, which had lasted four years. With +Cavalier and Roland, those two mountain giants, the power of the rebels +disappeared. As the news of the defeat spread, the Camisard chiefs and +soldiers becoming convinced that the Lord had hidden His face from them, +surrendered one by one. The first to set an example was Castanet. On +September 6th, a week after the defeat of Ravanel, he surrendered to the +marechal. On the 19th, Catinat and his lieutenant, Franqois Souvayre, +tendered their submission; on the 22nd, Amet, Roland's brother, came in; +on October 4th, Joanny; on the 9th, Larose, Valette, Salomon, Laforet, +Moulieres, Salles, Abraham and Marion; on the 20th, Fidele; and on the +25th, Rochegude. + +Each made what terms he could; in general the conditions were +favourable. Most of those who submitted received rewards of money, some +more, some less; the smallest amount given being 200 livres. They all +received passports, and were ordered to leave the kingdom, being sent, +accompanied by an escort and at the king's expense, to Geneva. The +following is the account given by Marion of the agreement he came to +with the Marquis Lalande; probably all the others were of the same +nature. + +"I was deputed," he says, "to treat with this lieutenant-general in +regard to the surrender of my own troops and those of Larose, and to +arrange terms for the inhabitants of thirty-five parishes who had +contributed to our support during the war. The result of the +negotiations was that all the prisoners from our cantons should be set +at liberty, and be reinstated in their possessions, along with all the +others. The inhabitants of those parishes which had been ravaged by fire +were to be exempt from land-tax for three years; and in no parish were +the inhabitants to be taunted with the past, nor molested on the subject +of religion, but were to be free to worship God in their own houses +according to their consciences." + +These agreements were fulfilled with such punctuality, that Larose was +permitted to open the prison doors of St. Hippolyte to forty prisoners +the very day he made submission. + +As we have said, the Camisards, according as they came in, were sent off +to Geneva. D'Aygaliers, whose fate we have anticipated, arrived there on +September 23rd, accompanied by Cavalier's eldest brother, Malpach, +Roland's secretary, and thirty-six Camisards. Catinat and Castanet +arrived there on the 8th October, along with twenty-two other persons, +while Larose, Laforet, Salomon, Moulieres, Salles, Marion, and Fidele +reached it under the escort of forty dragoons from Fimarcon in the month +of November. + +Of all the chiefs who had turned Languedoc for four years into a vast +arena, only Ravanel remained, but he refused either to surrender or to +leave the country. On the 8th October the marechal issued an order +declaring he had forfeited all right to the favour of an amnesty, and +offering a reward of 150 Louis to whoever delivered him up living, and +2400 livres to whoever brought in his dead body, while any hamlet, +village, or town which gave him refuge would be burnt to the ground and +the inhabitants put to the sword. + +The revolt seemed to be at an end and peace established. So the marechal +was recalled to court, and left Nimes on January the 6th. Before his +departure he received the States of Languedoc, who bestowed on him not +only the praise which was his due for having tempered severity with +mercy, but also a purse of 12,000 livres, while a sum of 8000 livres was +presented to his wife. But all this was only a prelude to the favours +awaiting him at court. On the day he returned to Paris the king +decorated him with all the royal orders and created him a duke. On the +following day he received him, and thus addressed him: "Sir, your past +services lead me to expect much of those you will render me in the +future. The affairs of my kingdom would be better conducted if I had +several Villars at my disposal. Having only one, I must always send him +where he is most needed. It was for that reason I sent you to Languedoc. +You have, while there, restored tranquillity to my subjects, you must +now defend them against their enemies; for I shall send you to command +my army on the Moselle in the next campaign." + +The, Duke of Berwick arrived at Montpellier on the 17th March to replace +Marechal Villars. His first care was to learn from M. de Baville the +exact state of affairs. M. de Baville told him that they were not at all +settled as they appeared to be on the surface. In fact, England and +Holland, desiring nothing so much as that an intestine war should waste +France, were making unceasing efforts to induce the exiles to return +home, promising that this time they would really support them by lending +arms, ammunition, and men, and it was said that some were already on +their way back, among the number Castanet. + +And indeed the late rebel chief, tired of inaction, had left Geneva in +the end of February, and arrived safely at Vivarais. He had held a +religious meeting in a cave near La Goree, and had drawn to his side +Valette of Vals and Boyer of Valon. Just as the three had determined to +penetrate into the Cevennes, they were denounced by some peasants before +a Swiss officer named Muller, who was in command of a detachment of +troops in the village of Riviere. Muller instantly mounted his horse, +and guided by the informers made his way into the little wood in which +the Camisards had taken refuge, and fell upon them quite unexpectedly. +Boyer was killed in trying to escape; Castanet was taken and brought to +the nearest prison, where he was joined the next day by Valette, who had +also been betrayed by some peasants whom he had asked for assistance. + +The first punishment inflicted on Castanet was, that he was compelled to +carry in his hand the head of Boyer all the way from La Goree to +Montpellier. He protested vehemently at first, but in vain: it was +fastened to his wrist by the hair; whereupon he kissed it on both +cheeks, and went through the ordeal as if it were a religious act, +addressing words of prayer to the head as he might have done to a relic +of a martyr. + +Arrived at Montpellier, Castanet was examined, and at first persisted in +saying that he had only returned from exile because he had not the +wherewithal to live abroad. But when put to the torture he was made to +endure such agony that, despite his courage and constancy, he confessed +that he had formed a plan to introduce a band of Huguenot soldiers with +their officers into the Cevennes by way of Dauphine or by water, and +while waiting for their arrival he had sent on emissaries in advance to +rouse the people to revolt; that he himself had also shared in this +work; that Catinat was at the moment in Languedoc or Vivarais engaged in +the same task, and provided with a considerable sum of money sent him by +foreigners for distribution, and that several persons of still greater +importance would soon cross the frontier and join him. + +Castanet was condemned to be broken on the wheel. As he was about to be +led to execution, Abbe Tremondy, the cure of Notre-Dame, and Abbe +Plomet, canon of the cathedral, came to his cell to make a last effort +to convert him, but he refused to speak. They therefore went on before, +and awaited him on the scaffold. There they appeared to inspire Castanet +with more horror than the instruments of torture, and while he addressed +the executioner as "brother," he called out to the priests, "Go away out +of my sight, imps from the bottomless pit! What are you doing here, you +accursed tempters? I will die in the religion in which I was born. Leave +me alone, ye hypocrites, leave me alone!" But the two abbes were +unmoved, and Castanet expired cursing, not the executioner but the two +priests, whose presence during his death-agony disturbed his soul, +turning it away from things which should have filled it. + +Valette was sentenced to be hanged, and was executed on the same day as +Castanet. + +In spite of the admissions wrung from Castanet in March, nearly a month +passed without any sign of fresh intrigues or any attempt at rebellion. +But on the 17th of April, about seven o'clock in the evening, M. de +Baville received intelligence that several Camisards had lately returned +from abroad, and were in hiding somewhere, though their retreat was not +known. This information was laid before the Duke of Berwick, and he and +M. de Baville ordered certain houses to be searched, whose owners were +in their opinion likely to have given refuge to the malcontents. At +midnight all the forces which they could collect were divided into +twelve detachments, composed of archers and soldiers, and at the head of +each detachment was placed a man that could be depended upon. Dumayne, +the king's lieutenant, assigned to each the districts they were to +search, and they all set out at once from the town hall, at half-past +twelve, marching in silence, and separating at signs from their leaders, +so anxious were they to make no noise. At first all their efforts were +of no avail, several houses being searched without any result; but at +length Jausserand, the diocesan provost, having entered one of the +houses which he and Villa, captain of the town troops, had had assigned +to them, they found three men sleeping on mattresses laid on the floor. +The provost roused them by asking them who they were, whence they came, +and what they were doing at Montpellier, and as they, still half asleep, +did not reply quite promptly, he ordered them to dress and follow him. + +These three men were Flessiere, Gaillard, and Jean-Louis. Flessiere was +a deserter from the Fimarcon regiment: he it was who knew most about the +plot. Gaillard had formerly served in the Hainault regiment; and +Jean-Louis, commonly called "the Genevois," was a deserter from the +Courten regiment. + +Flessiere, who was the leader, felt that it would be a great disgrace to +let themselves be taken without resistance; he therefore pretended to +obey, but in lifting up his clothes, which lay upon a trunk, he managed +to secure two pistols, which he cocked. At the noise made by the hammers +the provost's suspicions were aroused, and throwing himself on +Flessiere, he seized him round the waist from behind. Flessiere, unable +to turn, raised his arm and fired over his shoulder. The shot missed the +provost, merely burning a lock of his hair, but slightly wounded one of +his servants, who was carrying a lantern. He then tried to fire a second +shot, but Jausserand, seizing him by the wrist with one hand, blew out +his brains with the other. While Jausserand and Flessiere were thus +struggling, Gaillard threw himself on Villa, pinning his arms to his +sides. As he had no weapons, he tried to push him to the wall, in order +to stun him by knocking his head against it; but when the servant, being +wounded, let the lantern fall, he took advantage of the darkness to make +a dash for the door, letting go his hold of his antagonist. +Unfortunately for him, the doors, of which there were two, were guarded, +and the guards, seeing a half-naked man running away at the top of his +speed, ran after him, firing several shots. He received a wound which, +though not dangerous, impeded his flight, so that he was boon overtaken +and captured. They brought him back a prisoner to the town hall, where +Flessiere's dead body already lay. + +Meanwhile Jean-Louis had had better luck. While the two struggles as +related above were going on, he slipped unnoticed to an open window and +got out into the street. He ran round the corner of the house, and +disappeared like a shadow in the darkness before the eyes of the guards. +For a long time he wandered from street to street, running down one and +up another, till chance brought him near La Poissonniere. Here he +perceived a beggar propped against a post and fast asleep; he awoke him, +and proposed that they should exchange clothes. As Jean-Louis' suit was +new and the beggar's in rags, the latter thought at first it was a joke. +Soon perceiving, however, that the offer was made in all seriousness, he +agreed to the exchange, and the two separated, each delighted with his +bargain. Jean-Louis approached one of the gates of the town, in order to +be able to get out as soon as it was opened, and the beggar hastened off +in another direction, in order to get away from the man who had let him +have so good a bargain, before he had time to regret the exchange he had +made. + +But the night's adventures were far from being over. The beggar was +taken a prisoner, Jean-Louis' coat being recognised, and brought to the +town hall, where the mistake was discovered. The Genevois meantime got +into a dark street, and lost his way. Seeing three men approach, one of +whom carried a lantern, he went towards the light, in order to find out +where he was, and saw, to his surprise, that one of the men was the +servant whom Flessiere had wounded, and who was now going to have his +wound dressed. The Genevois tried to draw back into the shade, but it +was too late: the servant had recognised him. He then tried to fly; but +the wounded man soon overtook him, and although one of his hands was +disabled, he held him fast with the other, so that the two men who were +with him ran up and easily secured him. He also was brought to the town +hall, where he found the Duke of Berwick and M. de Baville, who were +awaiting the result of the affray. + +Hardly had the prisoner caught sight of them than, seeing himself +already hanged, which was no wonder considering the marvellous celerity +with which executions were conducted at that epoch, he threw himself on +his knees, confessed who he was, and related for what reason he had +joined the fanatics. He went on to say that as he had not joined them of +his own free will, but had been forced to do so, he would, if they would +spare his life, reveal important secrets to them, by means of which they +could arrest the principal conspirators. + +His offer was so tempting and his life of so little worth that the duke +and de Baville did not long hesitate, but pledged their word to spare +his life if the revelations he was about to make proved to be of real +importance. The bargain being concluded, the Genevois made the following +statement: + +"That several letters having arrived from foreign countries containing +promises of men and money, the discontented in the provinces had leagued +together in order to provoke a fresh rebellion. By means of these +letters and other documents which were scattered abroad, hopes were +raised that M. de Miremont, the last Protestant prince of the house of +Bourbon, would bring them reinforcements five or six thousand strong. +These reinforcements were to come by sea and make a descent on +Aigues-Mortes or Cette,--and two thousand Huguenots were to arrive at +the same time by way of Dauphine and join the others as they +disembarked. + +"That in this hope Catinat, Clary, and Jonquet had left Geneva and +returned to France, and having joined Ravanel had gone secretly through +those parts of the country known to be infected with fanaticism, and +made all necessary arrangements, such as amassing powder and lead, +munitions of war, and stores of all kinds, as well as enrolling the +names of all those who were of age to bear arms. Furthermore, they had +made an estimate of what each city, town, and village ought to +contribute in money or in kind to the--League of the Children of God, so +that they could count on having eight or ten thousand men ready to rise +at the first signal. They had furthermore resolved that there should be +risings in several places at the same time, which places were already +chosen, and each of those who were to take part in the movement knew his +exact duty. At Montpellier a hundred of the most determined amongst the +disaffected were to set fire in different quarters to the houses of the +Catholics, killing all who attempted to extinguish the fires, and with +the help of the Huguenot inhabitants were, to slaughter the garrison, +seize the citadel, and carry off the Duke of Berwick and M. de Baville. +The same things were to be done at Nimes, Uzes, Alais, Anduze, +Saint-Hippolyte, and Sommieres. Lastly, he said, this conspiracy had +been going on for more than three months, and the conspirators, in order +not to be found out, had only revealed their plans to those whom they +knew to be ready to join them: they had not admitted a single woman to +their confidence, or any man whom it was possible to suspect. Further, +they had only met at night and a few persons at a time, in certain +country houses, to which admittance was gained by means of a +countersign; the 25th of April was the day fixed for the general rising +and the execution of these projects." + +As may be seen, the danger was imminent, as there was only six days' +interval between the revelation and the expected outburst; so the +Genevois was consulted, under renewed promises of safety for himself, as +to the best means of seizing on the principal chiefs in the shortest +possible time. He replied that he saw no other way but to accompany them +himself to Nimes, where Catinat and Ravanel were in hiding, in a house +of which he did not know the number and in a street of which he did not +know the name, but which he was sure of recognising when he saw them. If +this advice were to be of any avail, there was no time to be lost, for +Ravanel and Catinat were to leave Nimes on the 20th or the 21st at +latest; consequently, if they did not set off at once, the chiefs would +no longer be there when they arrived. The advice seemed good, so the +marechal and the intendant hastened to follow it: the informer was sent +to Nimes guarded by six archers, the conduct of the expedition was given +to Barnier, the provost's lieutenant, a man of intellect and common +sense, and in whom the provost had full confidence. He carried letters +for the Marquis of Sandricourt. + +As they arrived late on the evening of the 19th, the Genevois was at +once led up and down the streets of Nimes, and, as he had promised, he +pointed out several houses in the district of Sainte-Eugenie. +Sandricourt at once ordered the garrison officers, as well as those of +the municipal and Courten regiments, to put all their soldiers under +arms and to station them quietly throughout the town so as to surround +that district. At ten o'clock, the Marquis of Sandricourt, having made +certain that his instructions had been carefully carried out, gave +orders to MM. de L'Estrade, Barnier, Joseph Martin, Eusebe, the major of +the Swiss regiment, and several other officers, along with ten picked +men, to repair to the house of one Alison, a silk merchant, this house +having been specially pointed out by the prisoner. This they did, but +seeing the door open, they had little hope of finding the chiefs of a +conspiracy in a place so badly guarded; nevertheless, determined to obey +their instructions, they glided softly into the hall. In a few moments, +during which silence and darkness reigned, they heard people speaking +rather loudly in an adjoining room, and by listening intently they +caught the following words: "It is quite sure that in less than three +weeks the king will be no longer master of Dauphine, Vivarais, and +Languedoc. I am being sought for everywhere, and here I am in Nimes, +with nothing to fear." + +It was now quite clear to the listeners that close at hand were some at +least of those for whom they were looking. They ran to the door, which +was ajar, and entered the room, sword in hand. They found Ravanel, +Jonquet, and Villas talking together, one sitting on a table, another +standing on the hearth, and the third lolling on a bed. + +Jonquet was a young man from Sainte-Chatte, highly thought of among the +Camisards. He had been, it may be remembered, one of Cavalier's +principal officers. Villas was the son of a doctor in Saint-Hippolyte; +he was still young, though he had seen ten years' service, having been +cornet in England in the Galloway regiment. As to Ravanel, he is +sufficiently known to our readers to make any words of introduction +unnecessary. + +De l'Estrade threw himself on the nearest of the three, and, without +using his sword, struck him with his fist. Ravanel (for it was he) being +half stunned, fell back a step and asked the reason of this violent +assault; while Barnier exclaimed, "Hold him fast, M. de l'Estrade; it is +Ravanel!" "Well, yes, I am Ravanel," said the Camisard, "but that is no +reason for making so much noise." As he said these words he made an +attempt to reach his weapons, but de l'Estrade and Barnier prevented him +by throwing themselves on him, and succeeded in knocking him down after +a fierce struggle. While, this was going on, his two companions were +secured, and the three were removed to the fort, where their guard never +left them night or day. + +The Marquis of Sandricourt immediately sent off a courier to the Duke of +Berwick and M. de Baville to inform them of the important capture he had +made. They were so delighted at the news that they came next day to +Nimes. + +They found the town intensely excited, soldiers with fixed bayonets at +every street corner, all the houses shut up, and the gates of the town +closed, and no one allowed to leave without written permission from +Sandricourt. On the 20th, and during the following night, more than +fifty persons were arrested, amongst whom were Alison, the merchant in +whose house Ravanel, Villas, and Jonquet were found; Delacroix, Alison's +brother-in-law, who, on hearing the noise of the struggle, had hidden on +the roof and was not discovered till next day; Jean Lauze, who was +accused of having prepared Ravanel's supper; Lauze's mother, a widow; +Tourelle, the maid-servant; the host of the Coupe d'Or, and a preacher +named La Jeunesse. + +Great, however, as was the joy felt by the duke, the marquis, and de +Baville, it fell short of full perfection, for the most dangerous man +among the rebels was still at large; in spite of every effort, Catinat's +hiding-place had not till now been discovered. + +Accordingly, the duke issued a proclamation offering a reward of one +hundred Louis-d'or to whoever would take Catinat, or cause him to be +taken prisoner, and granting a free pardon to anyone who had sheltered +him, provided that he was denounced before the house-to-house visitation +which was about to be made took place. After the search began, the +master of the house in which he might be found would be hung at his own +door, his family thrown into prison, his goods confiscated, his house +razed to the ground, without any form of trial whatever. + +This proclamation had the effect expected by the duke: whether the man +in whose house Catinat was concealed grew frightened and asked him to +leave, or whether Catinat thought his best course would be to try and +get away from the town, instead of remaining shut up in it, he dressed +himself one morning in suitable clothes, and went to a barber's, who +shaved him, cut his hair, and made up his face so as to give him as much +the appearance of a nobleman as possible; and then with wonderful +assurance he went out into the streets, and pulling his hat over his +eyes and holding a paper in his hand as if reading it, he crossed the +town to the gate of St. Antoine. He was almost through when Charreau, +the captain of the guard, having his attention directed to Catinat by a +comrade to whom he was talking, stopped him, suspecting he was trying to +escape. Catinat asked what he wanted with him, and Charreau replied that +if he would enter the guard-house he would learn; as under such +circumstances any examination was to be avoided, Catinat tried to force +his way out; whereupon he was seized by Charreau and his +brother-officer, and Catinat seeing that resistance would be not only +useless but harmful, allowed himself to be taken to the guard-room. + +He had been there about an hour without being recognised by any of those +who, drawn by curiosity, came to look at him, when one of the visitors +in going out said he bore a strong resemblance to Catinat; some children +hearing these words, began to shout, "Catinat is taken! Catinat is +taken!" This cry drew a large crowd to the guard-house, among others a +man whose name was Anglejas, who, looking closely at the prisoner, +recognised him and called him by name. + +Instantly the guard was doubled, and Catinat searched: a psalm-book with +a silver clasp and a letter addressed to "M. Maurel, called Catinat," +were found on him, leaving no doubt as to his identity; while he +himself, growing impatient, and desiring to end all these +investigations, acknowledged that he was Catinat and no other. + +He was at once taken to the palace, where the Presidial Court was +sitting, M. de Baville and the president being occupied in trying +Ravanel, Villas, and Jonquet. On hearing the news of this important +capture, the intendant, hardly daring to believe his ears, rose and went +out to meet the prisoner, in order to convince himself that it was +really Catinat. + +From the Presidial Court he was brought before the Duke of Berwick, who +addressed several questions to him, which Catinat answered; he then told +the duke he had something of importance to impart to him and to him +alone. The duke was not very anxious for a tete-a-tete with Catinat; +however, having ordered his hands to be securely bound, and telling +Sandricourt not to go away, he consented to hear what the prisoner had +to say. + +Catinat then, in the presence of the duke and Sandricourt, proposed that +an exchange of prisoners should be made, the Marechal de Tallard, who +was a prisoner of war in England, being accepted in his place. Catinat +added that if this offer was not accepted, the marechal would meet the +same treatment from the English as might be meted out to him, Catinat, +in France. The duke, full of the aristocratic ideas to which he was +born, found the proposal insolent, and said, "If that is all you have to +propose, I can assure you that your hours are numbered." + +Thereupon Catinat was promptly sent back to the palace, where truly his +trial did not occupy much time. That of the three others was already +finished, and soon his was also at an end, and it only remained to +pronounce sentence on all four. Catinat and Ravanel, as the most guilty, +were condemned to be burnt at the stake. Some of the councillors thought +Catinat should have been torn apart by four horses, but the majority +were for the stake, the agony lasting longer, being more violent and +more exquisite than in the of other case. + +Villars and Jonquet were sentenced to be broken on the wheel alive--the +only difference between them being that Jonquet was to be to taken while +still living and thrown into the fire lit round Catinat and Ravael. It +was also ordered that the four condemned men before their execution +should be put to the torture ordinary and extraordinary. Catinat, whose +temper was fierce, suffered with courage, but cursed his torturers. +Ravanel bore all the torments that could be inflicted on him with a +fortitude that was more than human, so that the torturers were exhausted +before he was. Jonquet spoke little, and the revelations he made were of +slight importance. Villas confessed that the conspirators had the +intention of carrying off the duke and M. de Baville when they were out +walking or driving, and he added that this plot had been hatched at the +house of a certain Boeton de Saint-Laurent-d'Aigozre, at Milhaud, in +Rouergue. + +Meanwhile all this torturing and questioning had taken so much time that +when the stake and the scaffold were ready it was almost dark, so that +the duke put off the executions until the next day, instead of carrying +them out by torchlight. Brueys says that this was done in order that the +most disaffected amongst the fanatics should not be able to say that it +was not really Catinat, Ravanel, Villas, and Jonquet who had been +executed but some other unknown men; but it is more probable that the +duke and Baville were afraid of riots, as was proved by their ordering +the scaffold and the stake to be erected at the end of the Cours and +opposite the glacis of the fortress, so that the garrison might be at +hand in case of any disturbance. + +Catinat was placed in a cell apart, and could be, heard cursing and +complaining all night through. Ravanel, Villas, and Jonquet were +confined together, and passed the night singing and praying. + +The next day, the 22nd April, 1705, they were taken from the prison and +drawn to the place of execution in two carts, being unable to walk, on +account of the severe torture to which they had been subjected, and +which had crushed the bones of their legs. A single pile of wood had +been prepared for Catinat and Ravanel, who were to be burnt together; +they were in one cart, and Villas and Jonquet, for whom two wheels had +been prepared, were in the other. + +The first operation was to bind Catinat and Ravanel back to back to the +same stake, care being taken to place Catinat with his face to windward, +so that his agony might last longer, and then the pile was lit under +Ravanel. + +As had been foreseen, this precaution gave great pleasure to those +people who took delight in witnessing executions. The wind being rather +high, blew the flames away from Catinat, so that at first the fire burnt +his legs only--a circumstance which, the author of the History of the +Camisards tells us, aroused Catinat's impatience. Ravanel, however, bore +everything to the end with the greatest heroism, only pausing in his +singing to address words of encouragement to his companion in suffering, +whom he could not see, but whose groans and curses he could hear; he +would then return to his psalms, which he continued to sing until his +voice was stifled in the flames. Just as he expired, Jonquet was removed +from the wheel, and carried, his broken limbs dangling, to the burning +pile, on which he was thrown. From the midst of the flames his voice was +heard saying, "Courage, Catinat; we shall soon meet in heaven." A few +moments later, the stake, being burnt through at the base, broke, and +Catinat falling into the flames, was quickly suffocated. That this +accident had not been forseen and prevented by proper precautions caused +great displeasure to spectators who found that the three-quarter of an +hour which the spectacle had lasted was much too brief a time. + +Villas lived three hours longer on his wheel, and expired without having +uttered a single complaint. + +Two days later, there was another trial, at which six persons were +condemned to death and one to the galleys; these were the two Alisons, +in whose house Villas, Ravanel, and Jonquet had been found; Alegre, who +was accused of having concealed Catinat, and of having been the Camisard +treasurer; Rougier, an armourer who was found guilty of having repaired +the muskets of the rebels; Jean Lauze, an innkeeper who had prepared +meals for Ravanel; La Jeunesse, a preacher, convicted of having preached +sermons and sung psalms; and young Delacroix, brother-in-law to one of +the Alisons. The first three were condemned to be broken on the wheel, +their houses demolished, and their goods confiscated. The next three +were to be hanged. Jean Delacroix, partly because of his youth, but more +because of the revelations he made, was only sent to the galleys. +Several years later he was liberated and returned to Arles, and was +carried off by the plague in 1720. + +All these sentences were carried out with the utmost rigour. + +Thus, as may be seen, the suppression of the revolt proceeded apace; +only two young Camisard chiefs were still at large, both of whom had +formerly served under Cavalier and Catinat. The name of the one was Brun +and of the other Francezet. Although neither of them possessed the +genius and influence of Catinat and Ravanel, yet they were both men to +be feared, the one on account of his personal strength, the other for +his skill and agility. Indeed, it was said of him that he never missed a +shot, and that one day being pursued by dragoons he had escaped by +jumping over the Gardon at a spot where it was twenty-two feet wide. + +For a long time all search was in vain, but one day the wife of a miller +named Semenil came into town ostensibly to buy provisions, but really to +denounce them as being concealed, with two other Camisards, in her +husband's house. + +This information was received with an eager gratitude, which showed the +importance which the governor of Nimes attached to their capture. The +woman was promised a reward of fifty Louis if they were taken, and the +Chevalier de la Valla, Grandidier, and fifty Swiss, the major of the +Saint-Sernin regiment, a captain, and thirty dragoons, were sent off to +make the capture. When they were within a quarter of a league of the +mill, La Valla, who was in command of the expedition, made the woman +give him all the necessary topographical information. + +Having learned that besides the door by which they hoped to effect an +entrance, the mill possessed only one other, which opened on a bridge +over the Vistre, he despatched ten dragoons and five Swiss to occupy +this bridge, whilst he and the rest of the troops bore down on the main +entrance. As soon as the four Camisards perceived the approach of the +soldiers, their first thought was to escape by the bridge, but one of +them having gone up to the roof to make sure that the way was clear, +came down exclaiming that the bridge was occupied. On hearing this, the +four felt that they were lost, but nevertheless resolved to defend +themselves as valiantly and to sell their lives as dearly as possible. +As soon as the royals were within musket range of the mill, four shots +were fired, and two dragoons, one Swiss, and one horse, fell. M. de +Valla thereupon ordered the troops to charge at full gallop, but before +the mill door was reached three other shots were heard, and two more men +killed. Nevertheless, seeing they could not long hold out against such +numbers, Francezet gave the signal for retreat, calling out, "Sauve qui +petit!" at the same instant he jumped out of a lattice window twenty +feet from the ground, followed by Brun. Neither of them being hurt, both +set off across country, one trusting to his strength and the other to +his fleetness of foot. The two other Camisards, who had tried to escape +by the door, were captured. + +The soldiers, horse and foot, being now free to give all their attention +to Brun and Francezet, a wonderful race began; for the two fugitives, +being strong and active, seemed to play with their pursuers, stopping +every now and then, when they had gained sufficient headway, to shoot at +the nearest soldiers; when Francezet, proving worthy of his reputation, +never missed a single shot. Then, resuming their flight and loading +their weapons as they ran, they leaped rivers and ditches, taking +advantage of the less direct road which the troops were obliged to +follow, to stop and take breath, instead of making for some cover where +they might have found safety. Two or three times Brun was on the point +of being caught, but each time the dragoon or Swiss who had got up to +him fell, struck by Francezet's unerring bullet. The chase lasted four +hours, during which time five officers, thirty dragoons, and fifty Swiss +were baffled by two men, one of whom Francezet was almost a boy, being +only twenty years old! Then the two Camisards, having exhausted their +ammunition, gave each other the name of a village as a rendezvous, and +each taking a different direction, bounded away with the lightness of a +stag. Francezet ran in the direction of Milhaud with such rapidity that +he gained on the dragoons, although they put their horses at full speed. +He was within an inch of safety, when a peasant named La Bastide, who +was hoeing in a field, whence he had watched the contest with interest +from the moment he had first caught sight of it, seeing the fugitive +make for an opening in a wall, ran along at the foot of the wall on the +other side, and, just as Francezet dashed through the opening like a +flash of lightning, struck him such a heavy blow on the head with his +hoe that the skull was laid open, and he fell bathed in blood. + +The dragoons, who had seen in the distance what had happened, now came +up, and rescued Francezet from the hands of his assailant, who had +continued to rain blows upon him, desiring to put an end to him. The +unconscious Camisard was carried to Milhaud, where his wounds were +bandaged, and himself revived by means of strong spirits forced into +mouth and nostrils. + +We now return to Brun. At first it seemed as if he were more fortunate +than his comrade; for, meeting with no obstacle, he was soon not only +out of reach, but out of sight of his enemies. He now, however, felt +broken by fatigue, and taught caution by the treachery to which he had +almost fallen a victim, he dared not ask for an asylum, so, throwing +himself down in a ditch, he was soon fast asleep. The dragoons, who had +not given up the search, presently came upon him, and falling on him as +he lay, overpowered him before he was well awake. + +When both Camisards met before the governor, Francezet replied to all +interrogations that since the death of brother Catinat his sole desire +had been to die a martyr's death like him; while Brun said that he was +proud and happy to die in the cause of the Lord along with such a brave +comrade as Francezet. This manner of defence led to the application of +the question both ordinary and extraordinary, and to the stake; and our +readers already know what such a double sentence meant. Francezet and +Brun paid both penalties on the 30th of April, betraying no secrets and +uttering no complaints. + +Boeton, who had been denounced by Villas when under torture (and who +thereby abridged his agony) as the person in whose house the plot to +carry off the Duke of Berwick and de Baville had been arranged, still +remained to be dealt with. + +He was moderate in his religious views, but firm and full of faith; his +principles resembled those of the Quakers in that he refused to carry +arms; he was, however, willing to aid the good cause by all other means +within his reach. He was at home waiting, with that calm which perfect +trust in God gives, for the day to come which had been appointed for the +execution of the plan, when suddenly his house was surrounded during the +night by the royals. Faithful to his principles, he offered no +resistance, but held out his hands to be bound. He was taken in triumph +to Nimes, and from there to the citadel of Montpellier. On the way he +encountered his wife and his son, who were going to the latter town to +intercede for him. When they met him, they dismounted from their horse, +for the mother was riding on a pillion behind the son, and kneeling on +the highroad, asked for Boeton's blessing. Unfeeling though the soldiers +were, they yet permitted their prisoner to stop an instant, while he, +raising his fettered hands to heaven, gave the double blessing asked +for. So touched was Baron Saint-Chatte by the scene (be it remarked in +passing that the baron and Boeton were cousins by marriage) that he +permitted them to embrace one another, so for a few moments they stood, +the husband and father clasped to the hearts of his dear ones; then, on +a sign from Boeton, they tore themselves away, Boeton commanding them to +pray for M. de Saint-Chatte, who had given them this consolation. As he +resumed his march the prisoner set them the example by beginning to sing +a psalm for the benefit of M. de Saint-Chatte. + +The next day, despite the intercession of his wife and son, Boeton was +condemned to torture both ordinary and extraordinary, and then to be +broken on the wheel. On hearing this cruel sentence, he said that he was +ready to suffer every ill that God might send him in order to prove the +steadfastness of his faith. + +And indeed he endured his torture with such firmness, that M. de +Baville, who was present in the hope of obtaining a confession, became +more impatient than the sufferer, and, forgetting his sacred office, the +judge struck and insulted the prisoner. Upon this Baeton raised his eyes +to heaven and cried, "Lord, Lord! how long shall the wicked triumph? How +long shall innocent blood be shed? How long wilt Thou not judge and +avenge our blood with cries to Thee? Remember Thy jealousy, O Lord, and +Thy loving-kindness of old!" Then M. de Baville withdrew, giving orders +that he was to be brought to the scaffold. + +The scaffold was erected on the Esplanade: being, as was usual when this +sort of death was to be inflicted, a wooden platform five or six feet +high, on which was fastened flat a St. Andrew's cross, formed of two +beams of wood in the form of an X. In each of the four arms two square +pieces were cut out to about half the depth of the beam, and about a +foot apart, so that when the victim was bound on the cross the +outstretched limbs were easy to break by a blow at these points, having +no support beneath. Lastly, near the cross, at one corner of the +scaffold an upright wooden post was fixed, on which was fastened +horizontally a small carriage wheel, as on a pivot, the projecting part +of the nave being sawn off to make it flat. On this bed of pain the +sufferer was laid, so that the spectators might enjoy the sight of his +dying convulsions when, the executioner having accomplished his part, +the turn of death arrived. + +Boeton was carried to execution in a cart, and drums were beaten that +his exhortations might not be heard. But above the roll of drums his +voice rose unfalteringly, as he admonished his brethren to uphold their +fellowship in Christ. + +Half-way to the Esplanade a friend of the condemned man, who happened to +be in the street, met the procession, and fearing that he could not +support the sight, he took refuge in a shop. When Boeton was opposite +the door, he stopped the cart and asked permission of the provost to +speak to his friend. The request being granted, he called him out, and +as he approached, bathed in tears, Boeton said, "Why do you run away +from me? Is it because you see me covered with the tokens of Jesus +Christ? Why do you weep because He has graciously called me to Himself, +and all unworthy though I be, permits me to seal my faith with my +blood?" Then, as the friend threw himself into Boeton's arms and some +signs of sympathetic emotion appeared among the crowd; the procession +was abruptly ordered to move on; but though the leave-taking was thus +roughly broken short, no murmur passed the lips of Boeton. + +In turning out of the first street, the scaffold came in sight; the +condemned man raised his hands towards heaven, and exclaimed in a +cheerful voice, while a smile lit up his face, "Courage, my soul! I see +thy place of triumph, whence, released from earthly bonds, thou shah +take flight to heaven." + +When he got to the foot of the scaffold, it was found he could not mount +without assistance; for his limbs, crushed in the terrible "boot," could +no longer sustain his weight. While they were preparing to carry him up, +he exhorted and comforted the Protestants, who were all weeping round +him. When he reached the platform he laid himself of his own accord on +the cross; but hearing from the executioner that he must first be +undressed, he raised himself again with a smile, so that the +executioner's assistant could remove his doublet and small-clothes. As +he wore no stockings, his legs being bandaged the man also unwound these +bandages, and rolled up Boeton's shirts-sleeves to the elbow, and then +ordered him to lay himself again on the cross. Boeton did so with +unbroken calm. All his limbs were then bound to the beams with cords at +every joint; this accomplished, the assistant retired, and the +executioner came forward. He held in his hand a square bar of iron, an +inch and a half thick, three feet long, and rounded at one end so as to +form a handle. + +When Boeton saw it he began singing a psalm, but almost immediately the +melody was interrupted by a cry: the executioner had broken a bone of +Boeton's right leg; but the singing was at once resumed, and continued +without interruption till each limb had been broken in two places. Then +the executioner unbound the formless but still living body from the +cross, and while from its lips issued words of faith in God he laid it +on the wheel, bending it back on the legs in such a manner that the +heels and head met; and never once during the completion of this +atrocious performance did the voice of the sufferer cease to sound forth +the praises of the Lord. + +No execution till then had ever produced such an effect on the crowd, so +that Abbe Massilla, who was present, seeing the general emotion, +hastened to call M. de Baville's attention to the fact that, far from +Boeton's death inspiring the Protestants with terror, they were only +encouraged to hold out, as was proved by their tears, and the praises +they lavished on the dying man. + + M. de Baville, recognising the truth of this observation, ordered that + Boeton should be put out of misery. This order being conveyed to + the executioner, he approached the wheel to break in Boeton's chest + with one last blow; but an archer standing on the scaffold threw + himself before the sufferer, saying that the Huguenot had not yet + suffered half enough. At this, Boeton, who had heard the dreadful + dispute going on beside him, interrupted his prayers for an + instant, and raising his head, which hung down over the edge of the + wheel, said, "Friend, you think I suffer, and in truth I do; but He + for whom I suffer is beside me and gives me strength to bear + everything joyfully." Just then M. de Baville's order was repeated, + and the archer, no longer daring to interfere, allowed the + executioner to approach. Then Boeton, seeing his last moment had + come, said, "My dear friends, may my death be an example to you, to + incite you to preserve the gospel pure; bear faithful testimony + that I died in the religion of Christ and His holy apostles." + Hardly had these words passed his lips, than the death-blow was + given and his chest crushed; a few inarticulate sounds, apparently + prayers, were heard; the head fell back, the martyrdom was ended. + +This execution ended the war in Languedoc. A few imprudent preachers +still delivered belated sermons, to which the rebels listened trembling +with fear, and for which the preachers paid on the wheel or gibbet. +There were disturbances in Vivarais, aroused by Daniel Billard, during +which a few Catholics were found murdered on the highway; there were a +few fights, as for instance at Sainte-Pierre-Ville, where the Camisards, +faithful to the old traditions which had come to them from Cavalier, +Catinat, and Ravenal, fought one to twenty, but they were all without +importance; they were only the last quiverings of the dying civil +strife, the last shudderings of the earth when the eruption of the +volcano is over. + +Even Cavalier understood that the end had come, for he left Holland for +England. There Queen Anne distinguished him by a cordial welcome; she +invited him to enter her service, an offer which he accepted, and he was +placed in command of a regiment of refugees; so that he actually +received in England the grade of colonel, which he had been offered in +France. At the battle of Almanza the regiment commanded by Cavalier +found itself opposed by a French regiment. The old enemies recognised +each other, and with a howl of rage, without waiting for the word of +command or executing any military evolutions, they hurled themselves at +each other with such fury that, if we may believe the Duke of Berwick, +who was present, they almost annihilated each other in the conflict. +Cavalier, however, survived the slaughter, in which he had performed his +part with energy; and for his courage was made general and governor of +the island of Jersey. He died at Chelsea in May 1740, aged sixty years. +"I must confess," says Malesherbes, "that this soldier, who without +training became a great general by means of his natural gifts; this +Camisard, who dared in the face of fierce troopers to punish a crime +similar to those by which the troopers existed; this rude peasant, who, +admitted into the best society; adopted its manners and gained its +esteem and love; this man, who though accustomed to an adventurous life, +and who might justly have been puffed up by success, had yet enough +philosophy to lead for thirty-five years a tranquil private existence, +appears to me to be one of the rarest characters to be met with in the +pages of history." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +At length Louis XIV, bowed beneath the weight of a reign of sixty years, +was summoned in his turn to appear before God, from whom, as some said, +he looked for reward, and others for pardon. But Nimes, that city with +the heart of fire, was quiet; like the wounded who have lost the best +part of their blood, she thought only, with the egotism of a +convalescent, of being left in peace to regain the strength which had +become exhausted through the terrible wounds which Montrevel and the +Duke of Berwick had dealt her. For sixty years petty ambition had taken +the place of sublime self-sacrifice, and disputes about etiquette +succeeded mortal combats. Then the philosophic era dawned, and the +sarcasms of the encyclopedists withered the monarchical intolerance of +Louis XIV and Charles IX. Thereupon the Protestants resumed their +preaching, baptized their children and buried their dead, commerce +flourished once more, and the two religions lived side by side, one +concealing under a peaceful exterior the memory of its martyrs, the +other the memory of its triumphs. Such was the mood on which the +blood-red orb of the sun of '89 rose. The Protestants greeted it with +cries of joy, and indeed the promised liberty gave them back their +country, their civil rights, and the status of French citizens. + +Nevertheless, whatever were the hopes of one party or the fears of the +other, nothing had as yet occurred to disturb the prevailing +tranquillity, when, on the 19th and 20th of July, 1789, a body of troops +was formed in the capital of La Gard which was to bear the name of the +Nimes Militia: the resolution which authorised this act was passed by +the citizens of the three orders sitting in the hall of the palace. + +It was as follows:-- + +"Article 10. The Nimes Legion shall consist of a colonel, a +lieutenant-colonel, a major, a lieutenant-major, an adjutant, +twenty-four captains, twenty-four lieutenants, seventy-two sergeants, +seventy-two corporals, and eleven hundred and fifty-two privates--in +all, thirteen hundred and forty-nine men, forming eighty companies. + +"Article 11. The place of general assembly shall be, the Esplanade. + +"Article 12. The eighty companies shall be attached to the four quarters +of the town mentioned below--viz., place de l'Hotel-de-Ville, place de +la Maison-Carree, place Saint-Jean, and place du Chateau. + +"Article 13. The companies as they are formed by the permanent council +shall each choose its own captain, lieutenant, sergeants and corporals, +and from the date of his nomination the captain shall have a seat on the +permanent council." + +The Nimes Militia was deliberately formed upon certain lines which +brought Catholics and Protestants closely together as allies, with +weapons in their hands; but they stood over a mine which was bound to +explode some day, as the slightest friction between the two parties +would produce a spark. + +This state of concealed enmity lasted for nearly a year, being augmented +by political antipathies; for the Protestants almost to man were +Republicans, and the Catholics Royalists. + +In the interval--that is to say, towards January, 1790--a Catholic +called Francois Froment was entrusted by the Marquis de Foucault with +the task of raising, organising, and commanding a Royalist party in the +South. This we learn from one of his own letters to the marquis, which +was printed in Paris in 1817. He describes his mode of action in the +following words:-- + +It is not difficult to understand that being faithful to my religion and +my king, and shocked at the seditious ideas which were disseminated on +all sides, I should try to inspire others with the same spirit with +which I myself was animated, so, during the year 1789, I published +several articles in which I exposed the dangers which threatened altar +and throne. Struck with the justice of my criticisms, my countrymen +displayed the most zealous ardor in their efforts to restore to the king +the full exercise of all his rights. Being anxious to take advantage of +this favourable state of feeling, and thinking that it would be +dangerous to hold communication with the ministers of Louis XVI, who +were watched by the conspirators, I went secretly to Turin to solicit +the approbation and support of the French princes there. At a +consultation which was held just after my arrival, I showed them that if +they would arm not only the partisans of the throne, but those of the +altar, and advance the interests of religion while advancing the +interests of royalty, it would be easy to save both. + +"My plan had for sole object to bind a party together, and give it as +far as I was able breadth and stability. + +"As the revolutionists placed their chief dependence on force, I felt +that they could only be met by force; for then as now I was convinced of +this great truth, that one strong passion can only be overcome by +another stronger, and that therefore republican fanaticism could only be +driven out by religious zeal. + +"The princes being convinced of the correctness of my reasoning and the +efficacy of my remedies, promised me the arms and supplies necessary to +stem the tide of faction, and the Comte d'Artois gave me letters of +recommendation to the chief nobles in Upper Languedoc, that I might +concert measures with them; for the nobles in that part of the country +had assembled at Toulouse to deliberate on the best way of inducing the +other Orders to unite in restoring to the Catholic religion its useful +influence, to the laws their power, and to the king his liberty and +authority. + +"On my return to Languedoc, I went from town to town in order to meet +those gentlemen to whom the Comte d'Artois had written, among whom were +many of the most influential Royalists and some members of the States of +Parliament. Having decided on a general plan, and agreed on a method of +carrying on secret correspondence with each other, I went to Nimes to +wait for the assistance which I had been promised from Turin, but which +I never received. While waiting, I devoted myself to awakening and +sustaining the zeal of the inhabitants, who at my suggestion, on the +20th April, passed a resolution, which was signed by 5,000 inhabitants." + +This resolution, which was at once a religious and political manifesto, +was drafted by Viala, M. Froment's secretary, and it lay for signature +in his office. Many of the Catholics signed it without even reading it, +for there was a short paragraph prefixed to the document which contained +all the information they seemed to desire. + +"GENTLEMEN,--The aspirations of a great number of our Catholic and +patriotic fellow-citizens are expressed in the resolution which we have +the honour of laying before you. They felt that under present +circumstances such a resolution was necessary, and they feel convinced +that if you give it your support, as they do not doubt you will, knowing +your patriotism, your religious zeal, and your love for our august +sovereign, it will conduce to the happiness of France, the maintenance +of the true religion, and the rightful authority of the king. + +"We are, gentlemen, with respect, your very humble and obedient +servants, the President and Commissioners of the Catholic Assembly of +Nimes. + +"(Signed): + + "FROMENT, Commissioner + LAPIERRE, President + FOLACHER, " + LEVELUT, Commissioner + FAURE, + MELCHIOND, " + ROBIN, " + VIGNE, " " + +At the same time a number of pamphlets, entitled Pierre Roman to the +Catholics of Nines, were distributed to the people in the streets, +containing among other attacks on the Protestants the following +passages: + +"If the door to high positions and civil and military honours were +closed to the Protestants, and a powerful tribunal established at Nimes +to see that this rule were strictly kept, you would soon see +Protestantism disappear. + +"The Protestants demand to share all the privileges which you enjoy, but +if you grant them this, their one thought will then be to dispossess you +entirely, and they will soon succeed. + +"Like ungrateful vipers, who in a torpid state were harmless, they will +when warmed by your benefits turn and kill you. + +"They are your born enemies: your fathers only escaped as by a miracle +from their blood-stained hands. Have you not often heard of the +cruelties practised on them? It was a slight thing when the Protestants +inflicted death alone, unaccompanied by the most horrible tortures. Such +as they were such they are." + +It may easily be imagined that such attacks soon embittered minds +already disposed to find new causes for the old hatred, and besides the +Catholics did not long confine themselves to resolutions and pamphlets. +Froment, who had already got himself appointed Receiver-General of the +Chapter and captain of one of the Catholic companies, insisted on being +present at the installation of the Town Council, and brought his company +with him armed with pitchforks, in spite of the express prohibition of +the colonel of the legion. These forks were terrible weapons, and had +been fabricated in a particular form for the Catholics of Nimes, Uzes, +and Alais. But Froment and his company paid no attention to the +prohibition, and this disobedience made a great impression on the +Protestants, who began to divine the hostility of their adversaries, and +it is very possible that if the new Town Council had not shut their eyes +to this act of insubordination, civil war might have burst forth in +Nimes that very day. + +The next day, at roll-call, a sergeant of another company, one Allien, a +cooper by trade, taunted one of the men with having carried a pitchfork +the day before, in disobedience to orders. He replied that the mayor had +permitted him to carry it; Allien not believing this, proposed to some +of the men to go with him to the mayor's and ask if it were true. When +they saw M. Marguerite, he said that he had permitted nothing of the +kind, and sent the delinquent to prison. Half an hour later, however, he +gave orders for his release. + +As soon as he was free he set off to find his comrades, and told them +what had occurred: they, considering that an insult to one was an insult +to the whole company, determined on having satisfaction at once, so +about eleven o'clock P.M. they went to the cooper's house, carrying with +them a gallows and ropes ready greased. But quietly as they approached, +Allien heard them, for his door being bolted from within had to be +forced. Looking out of the window, he saw a great crowd, and as he +suspected that his life was in danger, he got out of a back window into +the yard and so escaped. The militia being thus disappointed, wreaked +their vengeance on some passing Protestants, whose unlucky stars had led +them that way; these they knocked about, and even stabbed one of them +three times with a knife. + +On the 22nd April, 1790, the royalists--that is to say, the +Catholics--assumed the white cockade, although it was no longer the +national emblem, and on the 1st May some of the militia who had planted +a maypole at the mayor's door were invited to lunch with him. On the +2nd, the company which was on guard at the mayor's official residence +shouted several times during the day, "Long live the king! Up with the +Cross and down with the black throats!" (This was the name which they +had given to the Calvinists.) "Three cheers for the white cockade! +Before we are done, it will be red with the blood of the Protestants!" +However, on the 5th of May they ceased to wear it, replacing it by a +scarlet tuft, which in their patois they called the red pouf, which was +immediately adopted as the Catholic emblem. + +Each day as it passed brought forth fresh brawls and provocations: +libels were invented by the Capuchins, and spread abroad by three of +their number. Meetings were held every day, and at last became so +numerous that the town authorities called in the aid of the +militia-dragoons to disperse them. Now these gatherings consisted +chiefly of those tillers of the soil who are called cebets, from a +Provencal word cebe, which means "onion," and they could easily be +recognised as Catholics by their red pouf, which they wore both in and +out of uniform. On the other hand, the dragoons were all Protestants. + +However, these latter were so very gentle in their admonitions, that +although the two parties found themselves, so to speak, constantly face +to face and armed, for several days the meetings were dispersed without +bloodshed. But this was exactly what the cebets did not want, so they +began to insult the dragoons and turn them into ridicule. Consequently, +one morning they gathered together in great numbers, mounted on asses, +and with drawn swords began to patrol the city. + +At the same time, the lower classes, who were nearly all Catholics, +joined the burlesque patrols in complaining loudly of the dragoons, some +saying that their horses had trampled on their children, and others that +they had frightened their wives. + +The Protestants contradicted them, both parties grew angry, swords were +half drawn, when the municipal authorities came on the scene, and +instead of apprehending the ringleaders, forbade the dragoons to patrol +the town any more, ordering them in future to do nothing more than send +twenty men every day to mount guard at the episcopal palace and to +undertake no other duty except at the express request of the Town +Council. Although it was expected that the dragoons would revolt against +such a humiliation, they submitted, which was a great disappointment to +the cebets, who had been longing for a chance to indulge in new +outrages. For all that, the Catholics did not consider themselves +beaten; they felt sure of being able to find some other way of driving +their quarry to bay. + +Sunday, the 13th of June, arrived. This day had been selected by the +Catholics for a great demonstration. Towards ten o'clock in the morning, +some companies wearing the red tuft, under pretext of going to mass, +marched through the city armed and uttering threats. The few dragoons, +on the other hand, who were on guard at the palace, had not even a +sentinel posted, and had only five muskets in the guard-house. At two +o'clock P.M. there was a meeting held in the Jacobin church, consisting +almost exclusively of militia wearing the red tuft. The mayor pronounced +a panegyric on those who wore it, and was followed by Pierre Froment, +who explained his mission in much the same words as those quoted above. +He then ordered a cask of wine to be broached and distributed among the +cebets, and told them to walk about the streets in threes, and to disarm +all the dragoons whom they might meet away from their post. About six +o'clock in the evening a red-tuft volunteer presented himself at the +gate of the palace, and ordered the porter to sweep the courtyard, +saying that the volunteers were going to get up a ball for the dragoons. +After this piece of bravado he went away, and in a few moments a note +arrived, couched in the following terms: + +"The bishop's porter is warned to let no dragoon on horse or on foot +enter or leave the palace this evening, on pain of death. + +"13th June 1790." + +This note being brought to the lieutenant, he came out, and reminded the +volunteer that nobody but the town authorities could give orders to the +servants at the palace. The volunteer gave an insolent answer, the +lieutenant advised him to go away quietly, threatening if he did not to +put him out by force. This altercation attracted a great many of the +red-tufts from outside, while the dragoons, hearing the noise, came down +into the yard; the quarrel became more lively, stones were thrown, the +call to arms was heard, and in a few moments about forty cebets, who +were prowling around in the neighbourhood of the palace, rushed into the +yard carrying guns and swords. The lieutenant, who had only about a +dozen dragoons at his back, ordered the bugle to sound, to recall those +who had gone out; the volunteers threw themselves upon the bugler, +dragged his instrument from his hands, and broke it to pieces. Then +several shots were fired by the militia, the dragoons returned them, and +a regular battle began. The lieutenant soon saw that this was no mere +street row, but a deliberate rising planned beforehand, and realising +that very serious consequences were likely to ensue, he sent a dragoon +to the town hall by a back way to give notice to the authorities. + + M. de Saint-Pons, major of the Nimes legion, hearing some noise + outside, opened his window, and found the whole city in a tumult: + people were running in every direction, and shouting as they ran + that the dragoons were being killed at the palace. The major rushed + out into the streets at once, gathered together a dozen to fifteen + patriotic citizens without weapons, and hurried to the town hall: + There he found two officials of the town, and begged them to go at + once to the place de l'Eveche, escorted by the first company, which + was on guard at the town hall. They agreed, and set off. On the way + several shots were fired at them, but no one was hit. When they + arrived at the square, the cebets fired a volley at them with the + same negative result. Up the three principal streets which led to + the palace numerous red-tufts were hurrying; the first company took + possession of the ends of the streets, and being fired at returned + the fire, repulsing the assailants and clearing the square, with + the loss of one of their men, while several of the retreating + cebets were wounded. + +While this struggle was going on at the palace, the spirit of murder +broke loose in the town. + +At the gate of the Madeleine, M. de Jalabert's house was broken into by +the red-tufts; the unfortunate old man came out to meet them and asked +what they wanted. "Your life and the lives of all the other dogs of +Protestants!" was the reply. Whereupon he was seized and dragged through +the streets, fifteen insurgents hacking at him with their swords. + +At last he managed to escape from their hands, but died two days later +of his wounds. + +Another old man named Astruc, who was bowed beneath the weight of +seventy-two years and whose white hair covered his shoulders, was met as +he was on his way to the gate of Carmes. Being recognised as a +Protestant, he received five wounds from some of the famous pitchforks +belonging to the company of Froment. He fell, but the assassins picked +him up, and throwing him into the moat, amused themselves by flinging +stones at him, till one of them, with more humanity than his fellows, +put a bullet through his head. + +Three electors--M. Massador from near Beaucaire, M. Vialla from the +canton of Lasalle, and M. Puech of the same place-were attacked by +red-tufts on their way home, and all three seriously wounded. The +captain who had been in command of the detachment on guard at the +Electoral Assembly was returning to his quarters, accompanied by a +sergeant and three volunteers of his own company, when they were stopped +on the Petit-Cours by Froment, commonly called Damblay, who, pressing +the barrel of a pistol to the captain's breast, said, "Stand, you +rascal, and give up your arms." At the same time the red-tufts, seizing +the captain from behind by the hair, pulled him down. Froment fired his +pistol, but missed. As he fell the captain drew his sword, but it was +torn from his hands, and he received a cut from Froment's sword. Upon +this the captain made a great effort, and getting one of his arms free, +drew a pistol from his pocket, drove back his assassins, fired at +Froment, and missed him. One of the men by his side was wounded and +disarmed. + +A patrol of the regiment of Guienne, attached to which was M. Boudon, a +dragoon officer, was passing the Calquieres. M. Boudon was attacked by a +band of red-tufts and his casque and his musket carried off. Several +shots were fired at him, but none of them hit him; the patrol surrounded +him to save him, but as he had received two bayonet wounds, he desired +revenge, and, breaking through his protectors, darted forward to regain +possession of his musket, and was killed in a moment. One of his fingers +was cut off to get at a diamond ring which he wore, his pockets were +rifled of his purse and watch, and his body was thrown into the moat. + +Meantime the place-des-Recollets, the Cours, the place-des-Carmes, the +Grand-Rue, and rue de Notre Dame-de-l'Esplanade were filled with men +armed with guns, pitchforks, and swords. They had all come from +Froment's house, which overlooked that part of Nimes called Les +Calquieres, and the entrance to which was on the ramparts near the +Dominican Towers. The three leaders of the insurrection--Froment. +Folacher, and Descombiez--took possession of these towers, which formed +a part of the old castle; from this position the Catholics could sweep +the entire quay of Les Calquieres and the steps of the Salle de +Spectacle with their guns, and if it should turn out that the +insurrection they had excited did not attain the dimensions they +expected nor gain such enthusiastic adherents, it would be quite +feasible for them to defend themselves in such a position until relief +came. + +These arrangements were either the result of long meditation or were the +inspiration of some clever strategist. The fact is that everything leads +one to believe that it was a plan which had been formed with great care, +for the rapidity with which all the approaches to the fortress were +lined with a double row of militiamen all wearing the red tuft, the care +which was taken to place the most eager next the barracks in which the +park of artillery was stationed, and lastly, the manner in which the +approach to the citadel was barred by an entire company (this being the +only place where the patriots could procure arms), combine to prove that +this plan was the result of much forethought; for, while it appeared to +be only defensive, it enabled the insurrectionists to attack without +much, danger; it caused others to believe that they had been first +attacked. It was successfully carried out before the citizens were +armed, and until then only a part of the foot guard and the twelve +dragoons at the palace had offered any resistance to the conspirators. + +The red flag round which, in case of civil war, all good citizens were +expected to gather, and which was kept at the town hall, and which +should have been brought out at the first shot, was now loudly called +for. The Abbe de Belmont, a canon, vicar-general, and municipal +official, was persuaded, almost forced, to become standard-bearer, as +being the most likely on account of his ecclesiastical position to awe +rebels who had taken up arms in the name of religion. The abbe himself +gives the following account of the manner in which he fulfilled this +mandate: + +"About seven o'clock in the evening I was engaged with MM. Porthier and +Ferrand in auditing accounts, when we heard a noise in the court, and +going out on the lobby, we saw several dragoons coming upstairs, amongst +whom was M. Paris. They told us that fighting was going on in the place +de-l'Eveche, because some one or other had brought a note to the porter +ordering him to admit no more dragoons to the palace on pain of death. +At this point I interrupted their story by asking why the gates had not +been closed and the bearer of the letter arrested, but they replied to +me that it had not been possible; thereupon MM. Ferrand and Ponthier put +on their scarfs and went out. + +"A few instants later several dragoons, amongst whom I recognised none +but MM. Lezan du Pontet, Paris junior, and Boudon, accompanied by a +great number of the militia, entered, demanding that the red flag should +be brought out. They tried to open the door of the council hall, and +finding it locked, they called upon me for the key. I asked that one of +the attendants should be sent for, but they were all out; then I went to +the hall-porter to see if he knew where the key was. He said M. Berding +had taken it. Meanwhile, just as the volunteers were about to force an +entrance, someone ran up with the key. The door was opened, and the red +flag seized and forced into my hands. I was then dragged down into the +courtyard, and from thence to the square. + +"It was all in vain to tell them that they ought first to get authority, +and to represent to them that I was no suitable standard-bearer on +account of my profession; but they would not listen to any objection, +saying that my life depended upon my obedience, and that my profession +would overawe the disturbers of the public peace. So I went on, followed +by a detachment of the Guienne regiment, part of the first company of +the legion, and several dragoons; a young man with fixed bayonet kept +always at my side. Rage was depicted on the faces of all those who +accompanied me, and they indulged in oaths and threats, to which I paid +no attention. + +"In passing through the rue des Greffes they complained that I did not +carry the red flag high enough nor unfurl it fully. When we got to the +guardhouse at the Crown Gate, the guard turned out, and the officer was +commanded to follow us with his men. He replied that he could not do +that without a written order from a member of the Town Council. +Thereupon those around me told me I must write such an order, but I +asked for a pen and ink; everybody was furious because I had none with +me. So offensive were the remarks indulged in by the volunteers and some +soldiers of the Guienne regiment, and so threatening their gestures, +that I grew alarmed. I was hustled and even received several blows; but +at length M. de Boudon brought me paper and a pen, and I wrote:--'I +require the troops to assist us to maintain order by force if +necessary.' Upon this, the officer consented to accompany us. We had +hardly taken half a dozen steps when they all began to ask what had +become of the order I had just written, for it could not be found. They +surrounded me, saying that I had not written it at all, and I was on the +point of being trampled underfoot, when a militiaman found it all +crumpled up in his pocket. The threats grew louder, and once more it was +because I did not carry the flag high enough, everyone insisting that I +was quite tall enough to display it to better advantage. + +"However, at this point the militiamen with the red tufts made their +appearance, a few armed with muskets but the greater number with swords; +shots were exchanged, and the soldiers of the line and the National +Guard arranged themselves in battle order, in a kind of recess, and +desired me to go forward alone, which I refused to do, because I should +have been between two fires. + +"Upon this, curses, threats, and blows reached their height. I was +dragged out before the troops and struck with the butt ends of their +muskets and the flat of their swords until I advanced. One blow that I +received between the shoulders filled my mouth with blood. + +"All this time those of the opposite party were coming nearer, and those +with whom I was continued to yell at me to go on. I went on until I met +them. I besought them to retire, even throwing myself at their feet. But +all persuasion was in vain; they swept me along with them, making me +enter by the Carmelite Gate, where they took the flag from me and +allowed me to enter the house of a woman whose name I have never known. +I was spitting such a quantity of blood that she took pity on me and +brought me everything she could think of as likely to do me good, and as +soon as I was a little revived I asked to be shown the way to M. +Ponthier's." + +While Abbe de Belmont was carrying the red flag the militia forced the +Town Councillors to proclaim martial law. This had just been done when +word was brought that the first red flag had been carried off, so M. +Ferrand de Missol got out another, and, followed by a considerable +escort, took the same road as his colleague, Abbe de Belmont. When he +arrived at the Calquieres, the red-tufts, who still adorned the ramparts +and towers, began to fire upon the procession, and one of the militia +was disabled; the escort retreated, but M. Ferrand advanced alone to the +Carmelite Gate, like M. de Belmont, and like him, he too, was taken +prisoner. + +He was brought to the tower, where he found Froment in a fury, declaring +that the Council had not kept its promise, having sent no relief, and +having delayed to give up the citadel to him. + +The escort, however, had only retreated in order to seek help; they +rushed tumultuously to the barracks, and finding the regiment of Guienne +drawn up in marching order in command of Lieutenant-Colonel Bonne, they +asked him to follow them, but he refused without a written order from a +Town Councillor. Upon this an old corporal shouted, "Brave soldiers of +Guienne! the country is in danger, let us not delay to do our duty." +"Yes, yes," cried the soldiers; "let us march" The lieutenant colonel no +longer daring to resist, gave the word of command, and they set off for +the Esplanade. + +As they came near the rampart with drums beating, the firing ceased, but +as night was coming on the new-comers did not dare to risk attacking, +and moreover the silence of the guns led them to think that the rebels +had given up their enterprise. Having remained an hour in the square, +the troops returned to their quarters, and the patriots went to pass the +night in an inclosure on the Montpellier road. + +It almost seemed as if the Catholics were beginning to recognise the +futility of their plot; for although they had appealed to fanaticism, +forced the Town Council to do their will, scattered gold lavishly and +made wine flow, out of eighteen companies only three had joined them. +"Fifteen companies," said M. Alquier in his report to the National +Assembly, "although they had adopted the red tuft, took no part in the +struggle, and did not add to the number of crimes committed either on +that day or during the days that followed. But although the Catholics +gained few partisans among their fellow-citizens, they felt certain that +people from the country would rally to their aid; but about ten o'clock +in the evening the rebel ringleaders, seeing that no help arrived from +that quarter either, resolved to apply a stimulus to those without. +Consequently, Froment wrote the following letter to M. de Bonzols, +under-commandant of the province of Languedoc, who was living at Lunel: + +"SIR, Up to the present all my demands, that the Catholic companies +should be put under arms, have been of no avail. In spite of the order +that you gave at my request, the officials of the municipality were of +opinion that it would be more prudent to delay the distribution of the +muskets until after the meeting of the Electoral Assembly. This day the +Protestant dragoons have attacked and killed several of our unarmed +Catholics, and you may imagine the confusion and alarm that prevail in +the town. As a good citizen and a true patriot, I entreat you to send an +order to the regiment of royal dragoons to repair at once to Nimes to +restore tranquillity and put down all who break the peace. The Town +Council does not meet, none of them dares to leave his house; and if you +receive no requisition from them just now, it is because they go in +terror of their lives and fear to appear openly. Two red flags have been +carried about the streets, and municipal officers without guards have +been obliged to take refuge in patriotic houses. Although I am only a +private citizen, I take the liberty of asking for aid from you, knowing +that the Protestants have sent to La Vannage and La Gardonninque to ask +you for reinforcements, and the arrival of fanatics from these districts +would expose all good patriots to slaughter. Knowing as I do of your +kindness and justice, I have full trust that my prayer will receive your +favourable attention. + +"FROMENT, Captain of Company No. 39 + +"June 13, 1790, 11 o'c. p.m." + +Unfortunately for the Catholic party, Dupre and Lieutaud, to whom this +letter was entrusted for delivery, and for whom passports were made out +as being employed on business connected with the king and the State, +were arrested at Vehaud, and their despatches laid before the Electoral +Assembly. Many other letters of the same kind were also intercepted, and +the red-tufts went about the town saying that the Catholics of Nimes +were being massacred. + +The priest of Courbessac, among others, was shown a letter saying that a +Capuchin monk had been murdered, and that the Catholics were in need of +help. The agents who brought this letter to him wanted him to put his +name to it that they might show it everywhere, but were met by a +positive refusal. + +At Bouillargues and Manduel the tocsin was sounded: the two villages +joined forces, and with weapons in their hands marched along the road +from Beaucaire to Nimes. At the bridge of Quart the villagers of +Redressan and Marguerite joined them. Thus reinforced, they were able to +bar the way to all who passed and subject them to examination; if a man +could show he was a Catholic, he was allowed to proceed, but the +Protestants were murdered then and there. We may remind our readers that +the "Cadets de la Croix" pursued the same method in 1704. + +Meantime Descombiez, Froment, and Folacher remained masters of the +ramparts and the tower, and when very early one morning their forces +were augmented by the insurgents from the villages (about two hundred +men), they took advantage of their strength to force a way into the +house of a certain Therond, from which it was easy to effect an entrance +to the Jacobin monastery, and from there to the tower adjoining, so that +their line now extended from the gate at the bridge of Calquieres to +that at the end of College Street. From daylight to dusk all the +patriots who came within range were fired at whether they were armed or +not. + +On the 14th June, at four o'clock in the morning, that part of the +legion which was against the Catholics gathered together in the square +of the Esplanade, where they were joined by the patriots from the +adjacent towns and villages, who came in in small parties till they +formed quite an army. At five A.M. M. de St. Pons, knowing that the +windows of the Capuchin monastery commanded the position taken up by the +patriots, went there with a company and searched the house thoroughly, +and also the Amphitheatre, but found nothing suspicious in either. + +Immediately after, news was heard of the massacres that had taken place +during the night. + +The country-house belonging to M. and Mme. Noguies had been broken into, +the furniture destroyed, the owners killed in their beds, and an old man +of seventy who lived with them cut to pieces with a scythe. + +A young fellow of fifteen, named Payre, in passing near the guard placed +at the Pont des files, had been asked by a red-tuft if he were Catholic +or Protestant. On his replying he was Protestant, he was shot dead on +the spot. "That was like killing a lamb," said a comrade to the +murderer. "Pooh!" said he, "I have taken a vow to kill four Protestants, +and he may pass for one." + + M. Maigre, an old man of eighty-two, head of one of the most respected + families in the neighbourhood, tried to escape from his house along + with his son, his daughter-in-law, two grandchildren, and two + servants; but the carriage was stopped, and while the rebels were + murdering him and his son, the mother and her two children + succeeded in escaping to an inn, whither the assassins pursued + them, Fortunately, however, the two fugitives having a start, + reached the inn a few minutes before their pursuers, and the + innkeeper had enough presence of mind to conceal them and open the + garden gate by which he said they had escaped. The Catholics, + believing him, scattered over the country to look for them, and + during their absence the mother and children were rescued by the + mounted patrol. + +The exasperation of the Protestants rose higher and higher as reports of +these murders came in one by one, till at last the desire for vengeance +could no longer be repressed, and they were clamorously insisting on +being led against the ramparts and the towers, when without warning a +heavy fusillade began from the windows and the clock tower of the +Capuchin monastery. M. Massin, a municipal officer, was killed on the +spot, a sapper fatally wounded, and twenty-five of the National Guard +wounded more or less severely. The Protestants immediately rushed +towards the monastery in a disorderly mass; but the superior, instead of +ordering the gates to be opened, appeared at a window above the +entrance, and addressing the assailants as the vilest of the vile, asked +them what they wanted at the monastery. "We want to destroy it, we want +to pull it down till not one stone rests upon another," they replied. +Upon this, the reverend father ordered the alarm bells to be rung, and +from the mouths of bronze issued the call for help; but before it could +arrive, the door was burst in with hatchets, and five Capuchins and +several of the militia who wore the red tuft were killed, while all the +other occupants of the monastery ran away, taking refuge in the house of +a Protestant called Paulhan. During this attack the church was +respected; a man from Sornmieres, however, stole a pyx which he found in +the sacristy, but as soon as his comrades perceived this he was arrested +and sent to prison. + +In the monastery itself, however, the doors were broken in, the +furniture smashed, the library and the dispensary wrecked. The sacristy +itself was not spared, its presses being broken into, its chests +destroyed, and two monstrances broken; but nothing further was touched. +The storehouses and the small cloth-factory connected with the monastery +remained intact, like the church. + +But still the towers held out, and it was round them that the real +fighting took place, the resistance offered from within being all the +more obstinate that the besieged expected relief from moment to moment, +not knowing that their letters had been intercepted by the enemy. On +every side the rattling of shot was heard, from the Esplanade, from the +windows, from the roofs; but very little effect was produced by the +Protestants, for Descombiez had told his men to put their caps with the +red tufts on the top of the wall, to attract the bullets, while they +fired from the side. Meantime the conspirators, in order to get a better +command of the besiegers, reopened a passage which had been long walled +up between the tower Du Poids and the tower of the Dominicans. +Descombiez, accompanied by thirty men, came to the door of the monastery +nearest the fortifications and demanded the key of another door which +led to that part of the ramparts which was opposite the place des +Carmes, where the National Guards were stationed. In spite of the +remonstrances of the monks, who saw that it would expose them to great +danger, the doors were opened, and Froment hastened to occupy every post +of vantage, and the battle began in that quarter, too, becoming fiercer +as the conspirators remarked that every minute brought the Protestants +reinforcements from Gardonninque and La Vaunage. The firing began at ten +o'clock in the morning, and at four o'clock in the afternoon it was +going on with unabated fury. + +At four o'clock, however, a servant carrying a flag of truce appeared; +he brought a letter from Descombiez, Fremont, and Folacher, who styled +themselves "Captains commanding the towers of the Castle." It was +couched in the following words:-- + +"To the Commandant of the troops of the line, with the request that the +contents be communicated to the militia stationed in the Esplanade. + +"SIR,--We have just been informed that you are anxious for peace. We +also desire it, and have never done anything to break it. If those who +have caused the frightful confusion which at present prevails in the +city are willing to bring it to an end, we offer to forget the past and +to live with them as brothers. + +"We remain, with all the frankness and loyalty of patriots and +Frenchmen, your humble servants, + +"The Captains of the Legion of Nimes, in command of the towers of the +Castle, + +"FROMENT, DESCOMBIEZ, FOLACHER NIMES, the 14th June 1790, 4.00 P.M." + +On the receipt of this letter, the city herald was sent to the towers to +offer the rebels terms of capitulation. The three "captains in command" +came out to discuss the terms with the commissioners of the electoral +body; they were armed and followed by a great number of adherents. +However, as the negotiators desired peace before all things, they +proposed that the three chiefs should surrender and place themselves in +the hands of the Electoral Assembly. This offer being refused, the +electoral commissioners withdrew, and the rebels retired behind their +fortifications. About five o'clock in the evening, just as the +negotiations were broken off, M. Aubry, an artillery captain who had +been sent with two hundred men to the depot of field artillery in the +country, returned with six pieces of ordnance, determined to make a +breach in the tower occupied by the conspirators, and from which they +were firing in safety at the soldiers, who had no cover. At six o'clock, +the guns being mounted, their thunder began, first drowning the noise of +the musketry and then silencing it altogether; for the cannon balls did +their work quickly, and before long the tower threatened to fall. +Thereupon the electoral commissioners ordered the firing to cease for a +moment, in the hope that now the danger had become so imminent the +leaders would accept the conditions which they had refused one hour +before; and not desiring to drive them to desperation, the commissioners +advanced again down College Street, preceded by a bugler, and the +captains were once more summoned to a parley. Froment and Descombiez +came out to meet them, and seeing the condition of the tower, they +agreed to lay down their arms and send them for the palace, while they +themselves would proceed to the Electoral Assembly and place themselves +under its protection. These proposals being accepted, the commissioners +waved their hats as a sign that the treaty was concluded. + +At that instant three shots were fired from the ramparts, and cries of +"Treachery! treachery!" were heard on every side. The Catholic chiefs +returned to the tower, while the Protestants, believing that the +commissioners were being assassinated, reopened the cannonade; but +finding that it took too long to complete the breach, ladders were +brought, the walls scaled, and the towers carried by assault. Some of +the Catholics were killed, the others gained Froment's house, where, +encouraged by him, they tried to organise a resistance; but the +assailants, despite the oncoming darkness, attacked the place with such +fury that doors and windows were shattered in an instant. Froment and +his brother Pierre tried to escape by a narrow staircase which led to +the roof, but before they reached it Pierre was wounded in the hip and +fell; but Froment reached the roof, and sprang upon an adjacent +housetop, and climbing from roof to roof, reached the college, and +getting into it by a garret window, took refuge in a large room which +was always unoccupied at night, being used during the day as a study. + +Froment remained hidden there until eleven o'clock. It being then +completely dark, he got out of the window, crossed the city, gained the +open country, and walking all night, concealed himself during the day in +the house of a Catholic. The next night he set off again, and reached +the coast, where he embarked on board a vessel for Italy, in order to +report to those who had sent him the disastrous result of his +enterprise. + +For three whole days the carnage lasted. The Protestants losing all +control over themselves, carried on the work of death not only without +pity but with refined cruelty. More than five hundred Catholics lost +their lives before the 17th, when peace was restored. + +For a long time recriminations went on between Catholics and +Protestants, each party trying to fix on the other the responsibility +for those dreadful three days; but at last Franqois Froment put an end +to all doubt on the subject, by publishing a work from which are set +forth many of the details just laid before our readers, as well as the +reward he met with when he reached Turin. At a meeting of the French +nobles in exile, a resolution was passed in favour of M. Pierre Froment +and his children, inhabitants of Nimes. + +We give a literal reproduction of this historic document: + +"We the undersigned, French nobles, being convinced that our Order was +instituted that it might become the prize of valour and the +encouragement of virtue, do declare that the Chevalier de Guer having +given us proof of the devotion to their king and the love of their +country which have been displayed by M. Pierre Froment, receiver of the +clergy, and his three sons, Mathieu Froment citizen, Jacques Froment +canon, Francois Froment advocate, inhabitants of Nimes, we shall +henceforward regard them and their descendants as nobles and worthy to +enjoy all the distinctions which belong to the true nobility. Brave +citizens, who perform such distinguished actions as fighting for the +restoration of the monarchy, ought to be considered as the equals of +those French chevaliers whose ancestors helped to found it. Furthermore, +we do declare that as soon as circumstances permit we shall join +together to petition His Majesty to grant to this family, so illustrious +through its virtue, all the honours and prerogatives which belong to +those born noble. + +"We depute the Marquis de Meran, Comte d'Espinchal, the Marquis +d'Escars, Vicomte de Pons, Chevalier de Guer, and the Marquis de la +Feronniere to go to Mgr. le Comte d'Artois, Mgr. le Duc d'Angouleme, +Mgr. le Duc de Berry, Mgr. le Prince de Conde, Mgr. le Due de Bourbon, +and Mgr. le Duc d'Enghien, to beg them to put themselves at our head +when we request His Majesty to grant to MM. Froment all the distinctions +and advantages reserved for the true nobility. + +"At TURIN, 12th September 1790." + +The nobility of Languedoc learned of the honours conferred on their +countryman, M. Froment, and addressed the following letter to him: + +"LORCH, July 7, 1792 + +"MONSIEUR, The nobles of Languedoc hasten to confirm the resolution +adopted in your favour by the nobles assembled at Turin. They appreciate +the zeal and the courage which have distinguished your conduct and that +of your family; they have therefore instructed us to assure you of the +pleasure with which they will welcome you among those nobles who are +under the orders of Marshal de Castries, and that you are at liberty to +repair to Lorch to assume your proper rank in one of the companies. + +"We have the honour to be, monsieur, your humble and obedient servants, + +"COMTE DE TOULOUSE-LAUTREC + +"MARQUIS DE LA JONQUIERE "ETC." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +The Protestants, as we have said, hailed the golden dawn of the +revolution with delight; then came the Terror, which struck at all +without distinction of creed. A hundred and thirty-eight heads fell on +the scaffold, condemned by the revolutionary tribunal of the Gard. +Ninety-one of those executed were Catholic, and forty-seven Protestants, +so that it looked as if the executioners in their desire for +impartiality had taken a census of the population. + +Then came the Consulate: the Protestants being mostly tradesmen and +manufacturers, were therefore richer than the Catholics, and had more to +lose; they seemed to see more chance of stability in this form of +government than in those preceding it, and it was evident that it had a +more powerful genius at its head, so they rallied round it with +confidence and sincerity. The Empire followed, with its inclination to +absolutism, its Continental system, and its increased taxation; and the +Protestants drew back somewhat, for it was towards them who had hoped so +much from him that Napoleon in not keeping the promises of Bonaparte was +most perjured. + +The first Restoration, therefore, was greeted at Nimes with a universal +shout of joy; and a superficial-observer might have thought that all +trace of the old religious leaven had disappeared. In fact, for +seventeen years the two faiths had lived side by side in perfect peace +and mutual good-will; for seventeen years men met either for business or +for social purposes without inquiring about each other's religion, so +that Nimes on the surface might have been held up as an example of union +and fraternity. + +When Monsieur arrived at Nimes, his guard of honour was drawn from the +city guard, which still retained its organisation of 1812, being +composed of citizens without distinction of creed. Six decorations were +conferred on it--three on Catholics, and three on Protestants. At the +same time, M. Daunant, M. Olivier Desmonts, and M. de Seine, the first +the mayor, the second the president of the Consistory, and the third a +member of the Prefecture, all three belonging to the Reformed religion, +received the same favour. + +Such impartiality on the part of Monsieur almost betrayed a preference, +and this offended the Catholics. They muttered to one another that in +the past there had been a time when the fathers of those who had just +been decorated by the hand of the prince had fought against his faithful +adherents. Hardly had Monsieur left the town, therefore, than it became +apparent that perfect harmony no longer existed. + +The Catholics had a favorite cafe, which during the whole time the +Empire lasted was also frequented by Protestants without a single +dispute caused by the difference of religion ever arising. But from this +time forth the Catholics began to hold themselves aloof from the +Protestants; the latter perceiving this, gave up the cafe by degrees to +the Catholics, being determined to keep the peace whatever it might +cost, and went to a cafe which had been just opened under the sign of +the "Isle of Elba." The name was enough to cause them to be regarded as +Bonapartists, and as to Bonapartists the cry "Long live the king!" was +supposed to be offensive, they were saluted at every turn with these +words, pronounced in a tone which became every day more menacing. At +first they gave back the same cry, "Long live the king!" but then they +were called cowards who expressed with their lips a sentiment which did +not come from their hearts. Feeling that this accusation had some truth +in it, they were silent, but then they were accused of hating the royal +family, till at length the cry which at first had issued from full +hearts in a universal chorus grew to be nothing but an expression of +party hatred, so that on the 21st February, 1815, M. Daunant the mayor, +by a decree, prohibited the public from using it, as it had become a +means of exciting sedition. Party feeling had reached this height at +Nimes when, on the 4th March, the news of the landing of Napoleon +arrived. + +Deep as was the impression produced, the city remained calm, but +somewhat sullen; in any case, the report wanted confirmation. Napoleon, +who knew of the sympathy that the mountaineers felt for him, went at +once into the Alps, and his eagle did not as yet take so high a flight +that it could be seen hovering above Mount Geneve. + +On the 12th, the Duc d'Angouleme arrived: two proclamations calling the +citizens to arms signalised his presence. The citizens answered the call +with true Southern ardour: an army was formed; but although Protestants +and Catholics presented themselves for enrolment with equal alacrity, +the Protestants were excluded, the Catholics denying the right of +defending their legitimate sovereign to any but themselves. + +This species of selection apparently went on without the knowledge of +the Duc d'Angouleme. During his stay in Nimes he received Protestants +and Catholics with equal cordiality, and they set at his table side by +side. It happened once, on a Friday, at dinner, that a Protestant +general took fish and a Catholic general helped himself to fowl. The +duke being amused, drew attention to this anomaly, whereupon the +Catholic general replied, "Better more chicken and less treason." This +attack was so direct, that although the Protestant general felt that as +far as he was concerned it had no point, he rose from table and left the +room. It was the brave General Gilly who was treated in this cruel +manner. + +Meanwhile the news became more disastrous every day: Napoleon was moving +about with the rapidity of his eagles. On the 24th March it was reported +in Nimes that Louis XVIII had left Paris on the 19th and that Napoleon +had entered on the 20th. This report was traced to its source, and it +was found that it had been spread abroad by M. Vincent de Saint-Laurent, +a councillor of the Prefecture and one of the most respected men in +Nimes. He was summoned at once before the authorities and asked whence +he had this information; he replied, "From a letter received from M. +Bragueres," producing the letter. But convincing as was this proof, it +availed him nothing: he was escorted from brigade to brigade till he +reached the Chateau d'If. The Protestants sided with M. Vincent de +Saint-Laurent, the Catholics took the part of the authorities who were +persecuting him, and thus the two factions which had been so long +quiescent found themselves once more face to face, and their dormant +hatred awoke to new life. For the moment, however, there was no +explosion, although the city was at fever heat, and everyone felt that a +crisis was at hand. + +On the 22nd March two battalions of Catholic volunteers had already been +enlisted at Nimes, and had formed part of the eighteen hundred men who +were sent to Saint-Esprit. Just before their departure fleurs-de-lys had +been distributed amongst them, made of red cloth; this change in the +colour of the monarchical emblem was a threat which the Protestants well +understood. + +The prince left Nimes in due course, taking with him the rest of the +royal volunteers, and leaving the Protestants practically masters of +Nimes during the absence of so many Catholics. The city, however, +continued calm, and when provocations began, strange to say they came +from the weaker party. + +On the 27th March six men met in a barn; dined together, and then agreed +to make the circuit of the town. These men were Jacques Dupont, who +later acquired such terrible celebrity under the name of Trestaillons, +Truphemy the butcher, Morenet the dog shearer, Hours, Servant, and +Gilles. They got opposite the cafe "Isle of Elba," the name of which +indicated the opinion of those who frequented it. This cafe was faced by +a guard-house which was occupied by soldiers of the 67th Regiment. The +six made a halt, and in the most insulting tones raised the cry of "Long +live the king!" The disturbance that ensued was so slight that we only +mention it in order to give an idea of the tolerance of the Protestants, +and to bring upon the stage the men mentioned above, who were three +months later to play such a terrible part. + +On April 1st the mayor summoned to a meeting at his official residence +the municipal council, the members of all the variously constituted +administrative bodies in Nimes, the officers of the city guards, the +priests, the Protestant pastors, and the chief citizens. At this +meeting, M. Trinquelague, advocate of the Royal Courts, read a powerful +address, expressing the love, of the citizens for their king and +country, and exhorting them to union and peace. This address was +unanimously adopted and signed by all present, and amongst the +signatures were those of the principal Protestants of Nimes. But this +was not all: the next day it was printed and published, and copies sent +to all the communes in the department over which the white flag still +floated. And all this happened, as we have said, on April and, eleven +days after Napoleon's return to Paris. + +The same day word arrived that the Imperial Government had been +proclaimed at Montpellier. + +The next day, April 3rd, all the officers on half-pay assembled at the +fountain to be reviewed by a general and a sub-inspector, and as these +officers were late, the order of the, day issued by General Ambert, +recognising the Imperial Government, was produced and passed along the +ranks, causing such excitement that one of the officers drew his sword +and cried, "Long live the emperor!" These magic words were re-echoed +from every side, and they all hastened to the barracks of the 63rd +Regiment, which at once joined the officers. At this juncture Marshal +Pelissier arrived, and did not appear to welcome the turn things had +taken; he made an effort to restrain the enthusiasm of the crowd, but +was immediately arrested by his own soldiers. The officers repaired in a +body to the headquarters of General Briche, commandant of the garrison, +and asked for the official copy of the order of the day. He replied that +he had received none, and when questioned as to which side he was on he +refused to answer. The officers upon this took him prisoner. Just as +they had consigned him to the barracks for confinement, a post-office +official arrived bringing a despatch from General Ambert. Learning that +General Briche was a prisoner, the messenger carried his packet to the +colonel of the 63rd Regiment, who was the next in seniority after the +general. In opening it, it was found to contain the order of the day. + +Instantly the colonel ordered the 'gineyale' to sound: the town guards +assumed arms, the troops left the barracks and formed in line, the +National Guards in the rear of the regular troops, and when they were +all thus drawn up; the order of the day was read; it was then snatched +out of the colonel's hands, printed on large placards, and in less time +than seemed possible it was posted up in every street and at every +street corner; the tricolour replaced the white cockade, everyone being +obliged to wear the national emblem or none at all, the city was +proclaimed in a state of seige, and the military officers formed a +vigilance committee and a police force. + +While the Duc d'Angouleme had been staying at Nimes, General Gilly had +applied for a command in that prince's army, but in spite of all his +efforts obtained nothing; so immediately after the dinner at which he +was insulted he had withdrawn to Avernede, his place in the country. He +was awoke in the night of the 5th-6th April by a courier from General +Ambert, who sent to offer him the command of the 2nd Subdivision. On the +6th, General Gilly went to Nimes, and sent in his acceptance, whereby +the departments of the Gard, the Lozere, and Ardeche passed under his +authority. + +Next day General Gilly received further despatches from General Ambert, +from which he learned that it was the general's intention, in order to +avoid the danger of a civil war, to separate the Duc d'Angouleme's army +from the departments which sympathised with the royal cause; he had +therefore decided to make Pont-Saint-Esprit a military post, and had +ordered the 10th Regiment of mounted chasseurs, the 13th artillery, and +a battalion of infantry to move towards this point by forced marches. +These troops were commanded by Colonel Saint-Laurent, but General Ambert +was anxious that if it could be done without danger, General Gilly +should leave Nimes, taking with him part of the 63rd Regiment, and +joining the other forces under the command of Colonel Saint-Laurent, +should assume the chief command. As the city was quite tranquil, General +Gilly did not hesitate to obey this order: he set out from Nimes on the +7th, passed the night at Uzes, and finding that town abandoned by the +magistrates, declared it in a state of siege, lest disturbances should +arise in the absence of authority. Having placed M. de Bresson in +command, a retired chief of battalion who was born in Uzes, and who +usually lived there, he continued his march on the morning of the 8th. + +Beyond the village of Conans, General Gilly met an orderly sent to him +by Colonel Saint-Laurent to inform him that he, the colonel, had +occupied Pont Saint-Esprit, and that the Duc d'Angouleme, finding +himself thus caught between two fires, had just sent General d'Aultanne, +chief of staff in the royal army, to him, to enter into negotiations for +a surrender. Upon this, General Gilly quickened his advance, and on +reaching Pont-Saint-Esprit found General d'Aultanne and Colonel +Saint-Laurent conferring together at the Hotel de la Poste. + +As Colonel Saint-Laurent had received his instructions directly from the +commander-in-chief, several points relating to the capitulation had +already been agreed upon; of these General Gilly slightly altered some, +and approved of the others, and the same day the following convention +was signed: + +"Convention concluded between General Gilly and Baron de Damas + +"S.A.R. Mgr. le Duc d'Angouleme, Commander-in-Chief of the royal army in +the South, and Baron de Gilly, General of Division and +Commander-in-Chief of the first corps of the Imperial Army, being most +anxiously desirous to prevent any further effusion of French blood, have +given plenary powers to arrange the terms of a convention to S.A.R. M. +le Baron de Damas, Field-Marshal and Under-Chief of Staff, and General +de Gilly and Adjutant Lefevre, Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, and +Chief of the Staff of the first Army Corps; who, having shown each other +their respective credentials, have agreed on the following terms:-- + +"Art. 1. The royal army is to be disbanded; and the National Guards +which are enrolled in it, under whatever name they may have been levied, +will return to their homes, after laying down their arms. Safe conducts +will be provided, and the general of division commanding-in-chief +guarantees that they shall never be molested for anything they may have +said or done in connection with the events preceding the present +convention. + +"The officers will retain their swords; the troops of the line who form +part of this army will repair to such garrisons as may be assigned to +them. + +"Art. 2. The general officers, superior staff officers and others of all +branches of the service, and the chiefs and subordinates of the +administrative departments, of whose names a list will be furnished to +the general-in-chief, will retire to their homes and there await the +orders of His Majesty the Emperor. + +"Art. 3. Officers of every rank who wish to resign their commissions are +competent to do so. They will receive passports for their homes. + +"Art. 4. The funds of the army and the lists of the paymaster-general +will be handed over at once to commissioners appointed for that purpose +by the commander-in-chief. + +"Art. 5. The above articles apply to the corps commanded by Mgr. le Duc +d'Angouleme in person, and also to those who act separately but under +his orders, and as forming part of the royal army of the South. + +"Art. 6. H.R.H. will post to Cette, where the vessels necessary for him +and his suite will be waiting to take him wherever he may desire. +Detachments of the Imperial Army will be placed at all the relays on the +road to protect His Royal Highness during the journey, and the honours +due to his rank will be everywhere paid him, if he so desire. + +"Art. 7. All the officers and other persons of His Royal Highness' suite +who desire to follow him will be permitted to do so, and they may either +embark with him at once or later, should their private affairs need time +for arrangement. + +"Art. 8. The present treaty will be kept secret until His Royal Highness +have quitted the limits of the empire. + +"Executed in duplicate and agreed upon between the above-mentioned +plenipotentiaries the 8th day of April in the year 1815, with the +approval of the general commanding-in-chief, and signed, + +"At the headquarters at Pont-Saint-Esprit on the day and year above +written. + +"(Signed) LEFEVRE Adjutant and Chief of Staff of the First Corps of the +Imperial Army of the South + +"(Signed) BARON DE DAMAS Field-Marshal and Under-Chief of Staff + +"The present convention is approved of by the General of Division +Commanding-in-Chief the Imperial Army of the South. + +"(Signed) GILLY" + +After some discussion between General Gilly and General Grouchy, the +capitulation was carried into effect. On the 16th April, at eight +o'clock in the morning, the Duc d'Angouleme arrived at Cette, and went +on board the Swedish vessel Scandinavia, which, taking advantage of a +favourable wind, set sail the same day. + +Early in the morning of the 9th an officer of high rank had been sent to +La Palud to issue safe-conducts to the troops, who according to Article +I of the capitulation were to return home "after laying down their +arms." But during the preceding day and night some of the royal +volunteers had evaded this article by withdrawing with their arms and +baggage. As this infraction of the terms led to serious consequences, we +propose, in order to establish the fact, to cite the depositions of +three royal volunteers who afterwards gave evidence. + +"On leaving the army of the Duc d'Angouleme after the capitulation," +says Jean Saunier, "I went with my officers and my corps to +Saint-Jean-des-Anels. From there we marched towards Uzes. In the middle +of a forest, near a village, the name of which I have forgotten, our +General M. de Vogue told us that we were all to return to our own homes. +We asked him where we should deposit the flag. Just then Commandant +Magne detached it from the staff and put it in his pocket. We then asked +the general where we should deposit our arms; he replied, that we had +better keep them, as we should probably find use for them before long, +and also to take our ammunition with us, to ensure our safety on the +road. + +"From that time on we all did what we thought best: sixty-four of us +remained together, and took a guide to enable us to avoid Uzes." + +Nicholas Marie, labourer, deposed as follows: + +"On leaving the army of the Duc d'Angouleme after the capitulation, I +went with my officers and my corps to Saint-Jean-des-Anels. We marched +towards Uzes, but when we were in the middle of a forest, near a village +the name of which I have forgotten, our general, M. de Vogue, told us +that we were to go to our own homes as soon as we liked. We saw +Commandant Magne loose the flag from its staff, roll it up and put it in +his pocket. We asked the general what we were to do with our arms; he +replied that we were to keep both them and our ammunition, as we should +find them of use. Upon this, our chiefs left us, and we all got away as +best we could." + +"After the capitulation of the Duc d'Angouleme I found myself," deposes +Paul Lambert, lace-maker of Nimes, "in one of several detachments under +the orders of Commandant Magne and General Vogue. In the middle of a +forest near a village, the name of which I do not know, M. de Vogue and +the other officer, told us we might go home. The flag was folded up, and +M. Magne put it in his pocket. We asked our chiefs what we were to do +with our arms. M. de Vogue told us that we had better keep them, as we +should need them before very long; and in any case it would be well to +have them with us on the road, lest anything should happen to us." + +The three depositions are too much alike to leave room for any doubt. +The royal volunteers contravened Article I of the convention. + +Being thus abandoned by their chiefs, without general and without flag, +M. de Vogue's soldiers asked no further counsel of anyone but +themselves, and, as one of them has already told us, sixty-four of them +joined together to hire a guide who was to show them how to get by Uzes +without going through it, for they were afraid of meeting with insult +there. The guide brought them as far as Montarem without anyone opposing +their passage or taking notice of their arms. + +Suddenly a coachman named Bertrand, a confidential servant of Abbe +Rafin, former Grand-Vicar of Alais, and of Baroness Arnaud-Wurmeser (for +the abbe administered the estate of Aureillac in his own name and that +of the baroness), galloped into the village of Arpaillargues, which was +almost entirely Protestant and consequently Napoleonist, announcing that +the miquelets (for after one hundred and ten years the old name given to +the royal troops was revived) were on the way from Montarem, pillaging +houses, murdering magistrates, outraging women, and then throwing them +out of the windows. It is easy to understand the effect of such a story. +The people gathered together in groups; the mayor and his assistant +being absent, Bertrand was taken before a certain Boucarut, who on +receiving his report ordered the generale to be beaten and the tocsin to +be rung. Then the consternation became general: the men seized their +muskets, the women and children stones and pitchforks, and everyone made +ready to face a danger which only existed in the imagination of +Bertrand, for there was not a shadow of foundation for the story he had +told. + +While the village was in this state of feverish excitement the royal +volunteers came in sight. Hardly were they seen than the cry, "There +they are! There they are!" arose on all sides, the streets were +barricaded with carts, the tocsin rang out with redoubled frenzy, and +everyone capable of carrying arms rushed to the entrance of the village. + +The volunteers, hearing the uproar and seeing the hostile preparations, +halted, and to show that their intentions were peaceful, put their +shakos on their musket stocks and waved them above their heads, shouting +that no one need fear, for they would do no harm to anyone. But alarmed +as they were by the terrible stories told by Bertrand, the villagers +shouted back that they could not trust to such assurances, and that if +they wanted to pass through the village they must first give up their +weapons. It may easily be imagined that men who had broken the +convention in order to keep their weapons were not likely to give them +up to these villagers--in fact, they obstinately refused to let them out +of their hands, and by doing so increased the suspicions of the people. +A parley of a very excited character took place between M. Fournier for +the royal guards and M. Boucarut, who was chosen spokesman by the +villagers. From words they came to deeds: the miquelets tried to force +their way through, some shots were fired, and two miquelets, Calvet and +Fournier, fell. The others scattered, followed by a lively discharge, +and two more miquelets were slightly wounded. Thereupon they all took to +flight through the fields on either side of the road, pursued for a +short distance by the villagers, but soon returned to examine the two +wounded men, and a report was drawn up by Antoine Robin, advocate and +magistrate of the canton of Uzes, of the events just related. + +This accident was almost the only one of its kind which happened during +the Hundred Days: the two parties remained face to face, threatening but +self-controlled. But let there be no mistake: there was no peace; they +were simply awaiting a declaration of war. When the calm was broken, it +was from Marseilles that the provocation came. We shall efface ourselves +for a time and let an eye-witness speak, who being a Catholic cannot be +suspected of partiality for the Protestants. + +"I was living in Marseilles at the time of Napoleon's landing, and I was +a witness of the impression which the news produced upon everyone. There +was one great cry; the enthusiasm was universal; the National Guard +wanted to join him to the last man, but Marshal Massena did not give his +consent until it was too late, for Napoleon had already reached the +mountains, and was moving with such swiftness that it would have been +impossible to overtake him. Next we heard of his triumphal entry into +Lyons, and of his arrival in Paris during the night. Marseilles +submitted like the rest of France; Prince d'Essling was recalled to the +capital, and Marshal Brune, who commanded the 6th corps of observation, +fixed his headquarters at Marseilles. + +"With quite incomprehensible fickleness, Marseilles, whose name during +the Terror had been, as one may say, the symbol of the most advanced +opinions, had become almost entirely Royalist in 1815. Nevertheless, its +inhabitants saw without a murmur the tricolour flag after a year's +absence floating once more above the walls. No arbitrary interference on +the part of the authorities, no threats, and no brawling between the +citizens and the soldiers, troubled the peace of old Phocea; no +revolution ever took place with such quietness and facility. + +"It must, however, be said, that Marshal Brune was just the man to +accomplish such a transformation without friction; in him the frankness +and loyalty of an old soldier were combined with other qualities more +solid than brilliant. Tacitus in hand, he looked on at modern +revolutions as they passed, and only interfered when the, voice of his +country called him to her defence. The conqueror of Harlem and Bakkun +had been for four years forgotten in retirement, or rather in exile, +when the same voice which sent him away recalled him, and at the summons +Cincinnatus left his plough and grasped his weapons. Physically he was +at this period a man of about fifty-five, with a frank and open face +framed by large whiskers; his head was bald except for a little grizzled +hair at the temples; he was tall and active, and had a remarkably +soldierly bearing. + +"I had been brought into contact with him by a report which one of my +friends and I had drawn up on the opinions of the people of the South, +and of which he had asked to have a copy. In a long conversation with +us, he discussed the subject with the impartiality of a man who brings +an open mind to a debate, and he invited us to come often to see him. We +enjoyed ourselves so much in his society that we got into the habit of +going to his house nearly every evening. + +"On his arrival in the South an old calumny which had formerly pursued +him again made its appearance, quite rejuvenated by its long sleep. A +writer whose name I have forgotten, in describing the Massacres of the +Second of September and the death of the unfortunate Princesse de +Lamballe, had said, 'Some people thought they recognised in the man who +carried her head impaled on a pike, General Brune in disguise,' and this +accusation; which had been caught up with eagerness under the Consulate, +still followed him so relentlessly in 1815, that hardly a day passed +without his receiving an anonymous letter, threatening him with the same +fate which had overtaken the princess. One evening while we were with +him such a letter arrived, and having read it he passed it on to us. It +was as follows: + +"'Wretch,--We are acquainted with all your crimes, for which you will +soon receive the chastisement you well deserve. It was you who during +the revolution brought about the death of the Princesse de Lamballe; it +was you who carried her head on a pike, but your head will be impaled on +something longer. If you are so rash as to be present at the review of +the Allies it is all up with you, and your head will be stuck on the +steeple of the Accoules. Farewell, SCOUNDREL!' + +"We advised him to trace this calumny to its source, and then to take +signal vengeance on the authors. He paused an instant to reflect, and +then lit the letter at a candle, and looking at it thoughtfully as it +turned to ashes in his hand, said,--Vengeance! Yes, perhaps by seeking +that I could silence the authors of these slanders and preserve the +public tranquillity which they constantly imperil. But I prefer +persuasion to severity. My principle is, that it is better to bring +men's heads back to a right way of thinking than to cut them off, and to +be regarded as a weak man rather than as a bloodthirsty one.' + +"The essence of Marshal Brune's character was contained in these words. + +"Public tranquillity was indeed twice endangered at Marseilles during +the Hundred Days, and both times in the same manner. The garrison +officers used to gather at a coffee-house in the place Necker, and sing +songs suggested by passing events. This caused an attack by the +townspeople, who broke the windows by throwing stones, some of which +struck the officers. These rushed out, crying, 'To arms!' The +townspeople were not slow to respond, but the commandant ordered the +'geneydle' to beat, sent out numerous patrols, and succeeded in calming +the excitement and restoring quietness without any casualties. + +"The day of the Champ du Mai orders for a general illumination were +given, and that the tricolour flag should be displayed from the windows. +The greater number of the inhabitants paid no attention to the desires +of the authorities, and the officers being annoyed at this neglect, +indulged in reprehensible excesses, which, however, resulted in nothing +mare serious than some broken windows belonging to houses which had not +illuminated, and in some of the householders being forced to illuminate +according to order. + +"In Marseilles as in the rest of France, people began to despair of the +success of the royal cause, and those who represented this cause, who +were very numerous at Marseilles, gave up annoying the military and +seemed to resign themselves to their fate. Marshal Brune had left the +city to take up his post on the frontier, without any of the dangers +with which he was threatened having come across his path. + +"The 25th of June arrived, and the news of the successes obtained at +Fleurus and at Ligny seemed to justify the hopes of the soldiers, when, +in the middle of the day, muttered reports began to spread in the town, +the distant reverberations of the cannon of Waterloo. The silence of the +leaders, the uneasiness of the soldiers, the delight of the Royalists, +foretold the outbreak of a new struggle, the, results of which it was +easy to anticipate. About four o'clock in the afternoon, a man, who had +probably got earlier information than his fellow-townspeople, tore off +his tricoloured cockade and trampled it under foot, crying, "Long live +the king!" The angry soldiers seized him and were about to drag him to +the guard-house, but the National Guards prevented them, and their +interference led to a fight. Shouts were heard on all sides, a large +ring was formed round the soldiers, a few musket shots heard, others +answered, three or four men fell, and lay there weltering in their +blood. Out of this confused uproar the word "Waterloo" emerged distinct; +and with this unfamiliar name pronounced for the first time in the +resounding voice of history, the news of the defeat of the French army +and the triumph of the Allies spread apace. Then General Verdier, who +held the chief command in the absence of Marshal Brune, tried to +harangue the people, but his voice was drowned by the shouts of the mob +who had gathered round a coffee-house where stood a bust of the emperor, +which they insisted should be given up to them. Verdier, hoping to calm, +what he took to be a simple street row, gave orders that the bust should +be brought out, and this concession, so significant on the part of a +general commanding in the emperor's name, convinced the crowd that his +cause was lost. The fury of the populace grew greater now that they felt +that they could indulge it with impunity; they ran to the Town Hall, and +tearing down and burning the tricoloured, raised the white flag. The +roll of the generale, the clang of the tocsin were heard, the +neighbouring villages poured in their populations and increased the +throng in the streets; single acts of violence began to occur, wholesale +massacres were approaching. I had arrived in the town with my friend +M____ the very beginning of the tumult, so we had seen the dangerous +agitation and excitement grow under our eyes, but we were still ignorant +of its true cause, when, in the rue de Noailles, we met an acquaintance, +who, although his political opinions did not coincide with ours, had +always shown himself very friendly to us. 'Well,' said I, 'what news?' +'Good for me and bad for you,' he answered;' I advise you to go away at +once.' Surprised and somewhat alarmed at these words, we begged him to +explain. 'Listen,' said he; 'there are going to be riots in the town; it +is well known that you used to go to Brune's nearly every evening, and +that you are in consequence no favourite with your neighbours; seek +safety in the country.' I addressed some further question to him, but, +turning his back on me, he left me without another word. + +"M______ and I were still looking at each other in stupefaction, when +the increasing uproar aroused us to a sense that if we desired to follow +the advice just given we had not a moment to lose. We hastened to my +house, which was situated in the Allees de Meilhan. My wife was just +going out, but I stopped her. + +"'We are not safe here,' I said; 'we must get away into the country.' + +"'But where can we go?' + +"'Wherever luck takes us. Let us start.' + +"She was going to put on her bonnet, but I told her to leave it behind; +for it was most important that no one should think we suspected +anything, but were merely going for a stroll. This precaution saved us, +for we learned the next day that if our intention to fly had been +suspected we should have been stopped. + +"We walked at random, while behind us we heard musket shots from every +part of the town. We met a company of soldiers who were hurrying to the +relief of their comrades, but heard later that they had not been allowed +to pass the gate. + +"We recollected an old officer of our acquaintance who had quitted the +service and withdrawn from the world some years before, and had taken a +place in the country near the village of Saint-Just; we directed our +course towards his house. + +"'Captain,' said I to him, 'they are murdering each other in the town, +we are pursued and without asylum, so we come to you.' 'That's right, my +children,' said he; 'come in and welcome. I have never meddled with +political affairs, and no one can have anything against me. No one will +think of looking for you here.' + +"The captain had friends in the town, who, one after another, reached +his house, and brought us news of all that went on during that dreadful +day. Many soldiers had been killed, and the Mamelukes had been +annihilated. A negress who had been in the service of these unfortunates +had been taken on the quay. 'Cry "Long live the king!' shouted the mob. +'No,' she replied. 'To Napoleon I owe my daily bread; long live +Napoleon!' A bayonet-thrust in the abdomen was the answer. 'Villains!' +said she, covering the wound with her hand to keep back the protruding +entrails. 'Long live Napoleon!' A push sent her into the water; she +sank, but rose again to the surface, and waving her hand, she cried for +the last time, 'Long live Napoleon!' a bullet shot putting an end to her +life. + +"Several of the townspeople had met with shocking deaths. For instance, +M. Angles, a neighbour of mine, an old man and no inconsiderable +scholar, having unfortunately, when at the palace some days before, +given utterance before witnesses to the sentiment that Napoleon was a +great man, learned that for this crime he was about to be arrested. +Yielding to the prayers of his family, he disguised himself, and, +getting into a waggon, set off to seek safety in the country. He was, +however, recognised and brought a prisoner to the place du Chapitre, +where, after being buffeted about and insulted for an hour by the +populace, he was at last murdered. + +"It may easily be imagined that although no one came to disturb us we +did not sleep much that night. The ladies rested on sofas or in +arm-chairs without undressing, while our host, M______ and myself took +turns in guarding the door, gun in hand. + +"As soon as it was light we consulted what course we should take: I was +of the opinion that we ought to try to reach Aix by unfrequented paths; +having friends there, we should be able to procure a carriage and get to +Nimes, where my family lived. But my wife did not agree with me. 'I must +go back to town for our things,' said she; 'we have no clothes but those +on our backs. Let us send to the village to ask if Marseilles is quieter +to-day than yesterday.' So we sent off a messenger. + +"The news he brought back was favourable; order was completely restored. +I could not quite believe this, and still refused to let my wife return +to the town unless I accompanied her. But in that everyone was against +me: my presence would give rise to dangers which without me had no +existence. Where were the miscreants cowardly enough to murder a woman +of eighteen who belonged to no-party and had never injured anyone? As +for me, my opinions were well known. Moreover, my mother-in-law offered +to accompany her daughter, and both joined in persuading me that there +was no danger. At last I was forced to consent, but only on one +condition. + +"'I cannot say,' I observed, 'whether there is any foundation for the +reassuring tidings we have heard, but of one thing you may be sure: it +is now seven o'clock in the morning, you can get to Marseilles in an +hour, pack your trunks in another hour, and return in a third; let us +allow one hour more for unforeseen delays. If you are not back by eleven +o'clock, I shall believe something has happened, and take steps +accordingly.' 'Very well,' said my wife; 'if I am not back by then, you +may think me dead, and do whatever you think best.' And so she and her +mother left me. + +"An hour later, quite different news came to hand. Fugitives, seeking +like ourselves safety in the country, told us that the rioting, far from +ceasing, had increased; the streets were encumbered with corpses, and +two people had been murdered with unheard-of cruelty. + +"An old man named Bessieres, who had led a simple and blameless life, +and whose only crime was that he had served under the Usurper, +anticipating that under existing circumstances this would be regarded as +a capital crime, made his will, which was afterwards found among his +papers. It began with the following words: + +"'As it is possible that during this revolution I may meet my death, as +a partisan of Napoleon, although I have never loved him, I give and +bequeath, etc., etc. + +"The day before, his brother-in-law, knowing he had private enemies, had +come to the house and spent the night trying to induce him to flee, but +all in vain. But the next morning, his house being attacked, he yielded, +and tried to escape by the back door. He was stopped by some of the +National Guard, and placed himself under their protection. + +"They took him to the Cours St. Louis, where, being hustled by the crowd +and very ineffectually defended by the Guards, he tried to enter the +Cafe Mercantier, but the door was shut in his face. Being broken by +fatigue, breathless, and covered with dust and sweat, he threw himself +on one of the benches placed against the wall, outside the house. Here +he was wounded by a musket bullet, but not killed. At the sight of his +blood shrieks of joy were heard, and then a young man with a pistol in +each hand forced his way through the throng and killed the old man by +two shots fired point blank in his face. + +"Another still more atrocious murder took place in the course of the +same morning. A father and son, bound back to back, were delivered over +to the tender mercies of the mob. Stoned and beaten and covered with +each other's blood, for two long hours their death-agony endured, and +all the while those who could not get near enough to strike were dancing +round them. + +"Our time passed listening to such stories; suddenly I saw a friend +running towards the house. I went to meet him. He was so pale that I +hardly dared to question him. He came from the city, and had been at my +house to see what had become of me. There was no one in it, but across +the door lay two corpses wrapped in a blood-stained sheet which he had +not dared to lift. + +"At these terrible words nothing could hold me back. I set off for +Marseilles. M______ who would not consent to let me return alone, +accompanied me. In passing through the village of Saint-Just we +encountered a crowd of armed peasants in the main street who appeared to +belong to the free companies. Although this circumstance was rather +alarming, it would have been dangerous to turn back, so we continued our +way as if we were not in the least uneasy. They examined our bearing and +our dress narrowly, and then exchanged some sentences in a low, voice, +of which we only caught the word austaniers. This was the name by which +the Bonapartists were called by the peasants, and means 'eaters of +chestnuts,' this article of food being brought from Corsica to France. +However, we were not molested in any way, for as we were going towards +the city they did not think we could be fugitives. A hundred yards +beyond the village we came up with a crowd of peasants, who were, like +us, on the way to Marseilles. It was plain to see that they had just +been pillaging some country house, for they were laden with rich stuffs, +chandeliers and jewels. It proved to be that of M. R____, inspector of +reviews. Several carried muskets. I pointed out to my companion a stain +of blood on the trousers of one of the men, who began to laugh when he +saw what we were looking at. Two hundred yards outside the city I met a +woman who had formerly been a servant in my house. She was very much +astonished to see me, and said, 'Go away at once; the massacre is +horrible, much worse than yesterday.' + +"'But my wife,' I cried, 'do you know anything about her?' + +"'No, sir,' she replied; 'I was going to knock at the door, but some +people asked me in a threatening manner if I could tell them where the +friend of that rascal Brine was, as they were going to take away his +appetite for bread. So take my advice,' she continued, 'and go back to +where you came from.' + +"This advice was the last I could make up my mind to follow, so we went +on, but found a strong guard at the gate, and saw that it would be +impossible to get through without being recognised. At the same time, +the cries and the reports of firearms from within were coming nearer; it +would therefore have been to court certain death to advance, so we +retraced our steps. In passing again through the village of Saint-Just +we met once more our armed peasants. But this time they burst out into +threats on seeing us, shouting, 'Let us kill them! Let us kill them!' +Instead of running away, we approached them, assuring them that we were +Royalists. Our coolness was so convincing that we got through safe and +sound. + +"On getting back to the captain's I threw myself on the sofa, quite +overcome by the thought that only that morning my wife had been beside +me under my protection, and that I had let her go back to the town to a +cruel and inevitable death. I felt as if my heart would break, and +nothing that our host and my friend could say gave me the slightest +comfort. I was like a madman, unconscious of everything round me. + +"M______ went out to try to pick up some news, but in an instant we +heard him running back, and he dashed into the room, calling out: + +"'They are coming! There they are!' + +"'Who are coming?' we asked. + +"'The assassins!' + +"My first feeling, I confess, was one of joy. I pounced upon a pair of +double-barrelled pistols, resolved not to let myself be slaughtered like +a sheep. Through the window I could see some men climbing over the wall +and getting down into the garden. We had just sufficient time to escape +by a back staircase which led to a door, through which we passed, +shutting it behind us. We found ourselves on a road, at the other side +of which was a vineyard. We crossed the road and crept under the vines, +which completely concealed us. + +"As we learned later, the captain's house had been denounced as a +Bonapartist nest, and the assassins had hoped to take it by surprise; +and, indeed, if they had come a little sooner we had been lost, for +before we had been five minutes in our hiding-place the murderers rushed +out on the road, looking for us in every direction, without the +slightest suspicion that we were not six yards distant. Though they did +not see us I could see them, and I held my pistols ready cocked, quite +determined to kill the first who came near. However, in a short time +they went away. + +"As soon as they were out of hearing we began to consider our situation +and weigh our chances. There was no use in going back to the captain's, +for he was no longer there, having also succeeded in getting away. If we +were to wander about the country we should be recognised as fugitives, +and the fate that awaited us as such was at that moment brought home to +us, for a few yards away we suddenly heard the shrieks of a man who was +being murdered. They were the first cries of agony I had ever heard, and +for a few moments, I confess, I was frozen with terror. But soon a +violent reaction took place within me, and I felt that it would be +better to march straight to meet peril than to await its coming, and +although I knew the danger of trying to go through Saint-Just again, I +resolved to risk it, and to get to Marseilles at all costs. So, turning +to M____, I said: + +"'You can remain here without danger until the evening, but I am going +to Marseilles at once; for I cannot endure this uncertainty any longer. +If I find Saint-Just clear, I shall come back and rejoin you, but if not +I shall get away as best I can alone.' + +"Knowing the danger that we were running, and how little chance there +was that we should ever see each other again, he held out his hand to +me, but I threw myself into his arms and gave him a last embrace. + +"I started at once: when I reached Saint-Just I found the freebooters +still there; so I walked up to them, trolling a melody, but one of them +seized me by the collar and two others took aim at me with their +muskets. + +"If ever in my life I shouted 'Long live the king!' with less enthusiasm +than the cry deserves, it was then: to assume a rollicking air, to laugh +with cool carelessness when there is nothing between you and death but +the more or less strong pressure of a highwayman's finger on the trigger +of a musket, is no easy task; but all this I accomplished, and once more +got through the village with a whole skin indeed, but with the +unalterable resolution to blow my brains out rather than again try such +an experiment. + +"Having now a village behind me which I had vowed never to re-enter, and +there being no road available by which I could hope to get round +Marseilles, the only course open to me was to make my way into the city. +At that moment this was a thing of difficulty, for many small bodies of +troops, wearing the white cockade, infested the approaches. I soon +perceived that the danger of getting in was as great as ever, so I +determined to walk up and down till night, hoping the darkness would +come to my aid; but one of the patrols soon gave me to understand that +my prowling about had aroused suspicion, and ordered me either to go on +to the city, in which by all accounts there was small chance of safety +for me, or back to the village; where certain death awaited me. A happy +inspiration flashed across my mind, I would get some refreshment, and +seeing an inn near by, I went in and ordered a mug of beer, sitting down +near the window, faintly hoping that before the necessity for a final +decision arrived, someone who knew me would pass by. After waiting half +an hour, I did indeed see an acquaintance--no other than M______, whom I +had left in the vineyard. I beckoned him, and he joined me. He told me +that, being too impatient to await my return, he had soon made up his +mind to follow me, and by joining a band of pillagers was lucky enough +to get safely through Saint-Just. We consulted together as to what we +had better do next, and having applied to our host, found he could +supply us with a trusty messenger, who would carry the news of our +whereabouts to my brother-in-law. After an anxious wait of three hours, +we saw him coming. I was about to run out to meet him, but M____ held me +back, pointing out the danger of such a step; so we sat still our eyes +fixed on the approaching figure. But when my brother-in-law reached the +inn, I could restrain my impatience no longer, but rushing out of the +room met him on the stairs. + +"'My wife?' I cried. 'Have you seen my wife?' + +"'She is at my house,' was the reply, and with a cry of joy I threw +myself into his arms. + +"My wife, who had been threatened, insulted, and roughly treated because +of my opinions, had indeed found safety at my brother-in-law's. + +"Night was coming on. My brother-in-law, who wore the uniform of the +National Guard, which was at that moment a safeguard, took us each by an +arm, and we passed the barrier without anyone asking us who we were. +Choosing quiet streets, we reached his house unmolested; but in fact the +whole city was quiet, for the carnage was practically at an end. + +"My wife safe! this thought filled my heart with joy almost too great to +bear. + +"Her adventures were the following: + +"My wife and her mother had gone to our house, as agreed upon, to pack +our trunks. As they left their rooms, having accomplished their task, +they found the landlady waiting on the staircase, who at once +overwhelmed my wife with a torrent of abuse. + +"The husband, who until then had known nothing of their tenant's return, +hearing the noise, came out of his room, and, seizing his wife by the +arm, pulled her in and shut the door. She, however, rushed to the +window, and just as my wife and her mother reached the street, shouted +to a free band who were on guard across the way, 'Fire! they are +Bonapartists!' Fortunately the men, more merciful than the woman, seeing +two ladies quite alone, did not hinder their passage, and as just then +my brother-in-law came by, whose opinions were well known and whose +uniform was respected, he was allowed to take them under his protection +and conduct them to his house in safety. + +"A young man, employed at the Prefecture, who had called at my house the +day before, I having promised to help him in editing the Journal des +Bouches-du-Rhone, was not so lucky. His occupation and his visit to me +laid him under suspicion of possessing dangerous opinions, and his +friends urged him to fly; but it was too late. He was attacked at the +corner of the rue de Noailles, and fell wounded by a stab from a dagger. +Happily, however, he ultimately recovered. + +"The whole day was passed in the commission of deeds still more bloody +than those of the day before; the sewers ran blood, and every hundred +yards a dead body was to be met. But this sight, instead of satiating +the thirst for blood of the assassins, only seemed to awaken a general +feeling of gaiety. In the evening the streets resounded with song and +roundelay, and for many a year to come that which we looked back on as +'the day of the massacre' lived in the memory of the Royalists as 'the +day of the farce.' + +"As we felt we could not live any longer in the midst of such scenes, +even though, as far as we were concerned, all danger was over, we set +out for Nimes that same evening, having been offered the use of a +carriage. + +"Nothing worthy of note happened on the road to Orgon, which we reached +next day; but the isolated detachments of troops which we passed from +time to time reminded us that the tranquillity was nowhere perfect. As +we neared the town we saw three men going about arm in arm; this +friendliness seemed strange to us after our recent experiences, for one +of them wore a white cockade, the second a tricolour, and the third none +at all, and yet they went about on the most brotherly terms, each +awaiting under a different banner the outcome of events. Their wisdom +impressed me much, and feeling I had nothing to fear from such +philosophers, I went up to them and questioned them, and they explained +their hopes to me with the greatest innocence, and above all, their firm +determination to belong to what ever party got the upper hand. As we +drove into Orgon we saw at a glance that the whole town was simmering +with excitement. Everybody's face expressed anxiety. A man who, we were +told, was the mayor, was haranguing a group. As everyone was listening, +with the greatest attention, we drew near and asked them the cause of +the excitement. + +"'Gentlemen,' said he, 'you ought to know the news: the king is in his +capital, and we have once more hoisted the white flag, and there has not +been a single dispute to mar the tranquillity of the day; one party has +triumphed without violence, and the other has submitted with +resignation. But I have just learned that a band of vagabonds, numbering +about three hundred, have assembled on the bridge over the Durance, and +are preparing to raid our little town to-night, intending by pillage or +extortion to get at what we possess. I have a few guns left which I am +about to distribute, and each man will watch over the safety of all.' + +"Although he had not enough arms to go round, he offered to supply us, +but as I had my double-barrelled pistols I did not deprive him of his +weapons. I made the ladies go to bed, and, sitting at their door, tried +to sleep as well as I could, a pistol in each hand. But at every instant +the noise of a false alarm sounded through the town, and when day dawned +my only consolation was that no one else in Orgon had slept any better +than I. + +"The next day we continued our journey to Tarascon, where new +excitements awaited us. As we got near the town we heard the tocsin +clanging and drums beating the generale. We were getting so accustomed +to the uproar that we were not very much astonished. However, when we +got in we asked what was going on, and we were told that twelve thousand +troops from Nimes had marched on Beaucaire and laid it waste with fire +and sword. I insinuated that twelve thousand men was rather a large +number for one town to furnish, but was told that that included troops +from the Gardonninque and the Cevennes. Nimes still clung to the +tricolour, but Beaucaire had hoisted the white flag, and it was for the +purpose of pulling it down and scattering the Royalists who were +assembling in numbers at Beaucaire that Nimes had sent forth her troops +on this expedition. Seeing that Tarascon and Beaucaire are only +separated by the Rhone, it struck me as peculiar that such quiet should +prevail on one bank, while such fierce conflict was raging on the other. +I did not doubt that something had happened, but not an event of such +gravity as was reported. We therefore decided to push on to Beaucaire, +and when we got there we found the town in the most perfect order. The +expedition of twelve thousand men was reduced to one of two hundred, +which had been easily repulsed, with the result that of the assailants +one had been wounded and one made prisoner. Proud of this success, the +people of Beaucaire entrusted us with a thousand objurgations to deliver +to their inveterate enemies the citizens of Nimes. + +"If any journey could give a correct idea of the preparations for civil +war and the confusion which already prevailed in the South, I should +think that without contradiction it would be that which we took that +day. Along the four leagues which lie between Beaucaire and Nimes were +posted at frequent intervals detachments of troops displaying +alternately the white and the tricoloured cockade. Every village upon +our route except those just outside of Nimes had definitely joined +either one party or the other, and the soldiers, who were stationed at +equal distances along the road, were now Royalist and now Bonapartist. +Before leaving Beaucaire we had all provided ourselves, taking example +by the men we had seen at Orgon, with two cockades, one white, and one +tricoloured, and by peeping out from carriage windows we were able to +see which was worn by the troops we were approaching in time to attach a +similar one to our hats before we got up to them, whilst we hid the +other in our shoes; then as we were passing we stuck our heads, +decorated according to circumstances, out of the windows, and shouted +vigorously, 'Long live the king!' or 'Long live the emperor!' as the +case demanded. Thanks to this concession to political opinions on the +highway, and in no less degree to the money which we gave by way of tips +to everybody everywhere, we arrived at length at the barriers of Nimes, +where we came up with the National Guards who had been repulsed by the +townspeople of Beaucaire. + +"This is what had taken place just before we arrived in the city: + +"The National Guard of Nimes and the troops of which the garrison was +composed had resolved to unite in giving a banquet on Sunday, the 28th +of June, to celebrate the success of the French army. The news of the +battle of Waterloo travelled much more quickly to Marseilles than to +Nimes, so the banquet took place without interruption. A bust of +Napoleon was carried in procession all over the town, and then the +regular soldiers and the National Guard devoted the rest of the day to +rejoicings, which were followed by no excess. + +"But the day was not quite finished before news came that numerous +meetings were taking place at Beaucaire, so although the news of the +defeat at Waterloo reached Nimes on the following Tuesday, the troops +which we had seen returning at the gates of the city had been despatched +on Wednesday to disperse these assemblies. Meantime the Bonapartists, +under the command of General Gilly, amongst whom was a regiment of +chasseurs, beginning to despair of the success of their cause, felt that +their situation was becoming very critical, especially as they learnt +that the forces at Beaucaire had assumed the offensive and were about to +march upon Nimes. As I had had no connection with anything that had +taken place in the capital of the Gard, I personally had nothing to +fear; but having learned by experience how easily suspicions arise, I +was afraid that the ill-luck which had not spared either my friends or +my family might lead to their being accused of having received a refugee +from Marseilles, a word which in itself had small significance, but +which in the mouth of an enemy might be fatal. Fears for the future +being thus aroused by my recollections of the past, I decided to give up +the contemplation of a drama which might become redoubtable, asked to +bury myself in the country with the firm intention of coming back to +Nimes as soon as the white flag should once more float from its towers. + +"An old castle in the Cevennes, which from the days when the Albigenses +were burnt, down to the massacre of La Bagarre, had witnessed many a +revolution and counter revolution, became the asylum of my wife, my +mother, M______, and myself. As the peaceful tranquillity of our life +there was unbroken by any event of interest, I shall not pause to dwell +on it. But at length we grew weary, for such is man, of our life of +calm, and being left once for nearly a week without any news from +outside, we made that an excuse for returning to Nimes in order to see +with our own eyes how things were going on. + +"When we were about two leagues on our way we met the carriage of a +friend, a rich landed proprietor from the city; seeing that he was in +it, I alighted to ask him what was happening at Nimes. 'I hope you do +not think of going there,' said he, 'especially at this moment; the +excitement is intense, blood has already flowed, and a catastrophe is +imminent.' So back we went to our mountain castle, but in a few days +became again a prey to the same restlessness, and, not being able to +overcome it, decided to go at all risks and see for ourselves the +condition of affairs; and this time, neither advice nor warning having +any effect, we not only set out, but we arrived at our destination the +same evening. + +"We had not been misinformed, frays having already taken place in the +streets which had heated public opinion. One man had been killed on the +Esplanade by a musket shot, and it seemed as if his death would be only +the forerunner of many. The Catholics were awaiting with impatience the +arrival of those doughty warriors from Beaucaire on whom they placed +their chief reliance. The Protestants went about in painful silence, and +fear blanched every face. At length the white flag was hoisted and the +king proclaimed without any of the disorders which had been dreaded +taking place, but it was plainly visible that this calm was only a pause +before a struggle, and that on the slightest pretext the pent-up +passions would break loose again. + +"Just at this time the memory of our quiet life in the mountains +inspired us with a happy idea. We had learned that the obstinate +resolution of Marshal Brune never to acknowledge Louis XVIII as king had +been softened, and that the marshal had been induced to hoist the white +flag at Toulon, while with a cockade in his hat he had formally resigned +the command of that place into the hands of the royal authorities. + +"Henceforward in all Provence there was no spot where he could live +unmarked. His ultimate intentions were unknown to us, indeed his +movements seemed to show great hesitation on his part, so it occurred to +us to offer him our little country house as a refuge where he could +await the arrival of more peaceful times. We decided that M____ and +another friend of ours who had just arrived from Paris should go to him +and make the offer, which he would at once accept all the more readily +because it came from the hearts which were deeply devoted to him. They +set out, but to my great surprise returned the same day. They brought us +word that Marshal Brune had been assassinated at Avignon. + +"At first we could not believe the dreadful news, and took it for one of +those ghastly rumours which circulate with such rapidity during periods +of civil strife; but we were not left long in uncertainty, for the +details of the catastrophe arrived all too soon." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +For some days Avignon had its assassins, as Marseilles had had them, and +as Nimes was about to have them; for some days all Avignon shuddered at +the names of five men--Pointu, Farges, Roquefort, Naudaud, and Magnan. + +Pointu was a perfect type of the men of the South, olive-skinned and +eagle-eyed, with a hook nose, and teeth of ivory. Although he was hardly +above middle height, and his back was bent from bearing heavy burdens, +his legs bowed by the pressure of the enormous masses which he daily +carried, he was yet possessed of extraordinary strength and dexterity. +He could throw over the Loulle gate a 48-pound cannon ball as easily as +a child could throw its ball. He could fling a stone from one bank of +the Rhone to the other where it was two hundred yards wide. And lastly, +he could throw a knife backwards while running at full speed with such +strength and precision of aim that this new kind of Parthian arrow would +go whistling through the air to hide two inches of its iron head in a +tree trunk no thicker than a man's thigh. When to these accomplishments +are added an equal skill with the musket, the pistol, and the +quarter-staff, a good deal of mother wit, a deep hatred for Republicans, +against whom he had vowed vengeance at the foot of the scaffold on which +his father and mother had perished, an idea can be formed of the +terrible chief of the assassins of Avignon, who had for his lieutenants, +Farges the silk-weaver, Roquefort the porter, Naudaud the baker, and +Magnan the secondhand clothes dealer. + +Avignon was entirely in the power of these five men, whose brutal +conduct the civil and military authorities would not or could not +repress, when word came that Marshal Brune, who was at Luc in command of +six thousand troops, had been summoned to Paris to give an account of +his conduct to the new Government. + +The marshal, knowing the state of intense excitement which prevailed in +the South, and foreseeing the perils likely to meet him on the road, +asked permission to travel by water, but met with an official refusal, +and the Duc de Riviere, governor of Marseilles, furnished him with a +safe-conduct. The cut-throats bellowed with joy when they learned that a +Republican of '89, who had risen to the rank of marshal under the +Usurper, was about to pass through Avignon. At the same time sinister +reports began to run from mouth to mouth, the harbingers of death. Once +more the infamous slander which a hundred times had been proved to be +false, raised its voice with dogged persistence, asserting that Brune, +who did not arrive at Paris until the 5th of September, 1792, had on the +2nd, when still at Lyons, carried the head of the Princesse de Lamballe +impaled on a pike. Soon the news came that the marshal had just escaped +assassination at Aix, indeed he owed his safety to the fleetness of his +horses. Pointu, Forges, and Roquefort swore that they would manage +things better at Avignon. + +By the route which the marshal had chosen there were only two ways open +by which he could reach Lyons: he must either pass through Avignon, or +avoid it by taking a cross-road, which branched off the Pointet highway, +two leagues outside the town. The assassins thought he would take the +latter course, and on the 2nd of August, the day on which the marshal +was expected, Pointu, Magnan, and Naudaud, with four of their creatures, +took a carriage at six o'clock in the morning, and, setting out from the +Rhone bridge, hid themselves by the side of the high road to Pointet. + +When the marshal reached the point where the road divided, having been +warned of the hostile feelings so rife in Avignon, he decided to take +the cross-road upon which Pointu and his men were awaiting him; but the +postillion obstinately refused to drive in this direction, saying that +he always changed horses at Avignon, and not at Pointet. One of the +marshal's aides-de-camp tried, pistol in hand, to force him to obey; but +the marshal would permit no violence to be offered him, and gave him +orders to go on to Avignon. + +The marshal reached the town at nine o'clock in the morning, and +alighted at the Hotel du Palais Royal, which was also the post-house. +While fresh horses were being put to and the passports and safe-conduct +examined at the Loulle gate, the marshal entered the hotel to take a +plate of soup. In less than five minutes a crowd gathered round the +door, and M. Moulin the proprietor noticing the sinister and threatening +expression many of the faces bore, went to the marshal's room and urged +him to leave instantly without waiting for his papers, pledging his word +that he would send a man on horseback after him, who would overtake him +two or three leagues beyond the town, and bring him his own safe-conduct +and the passports of his aides-de-camp. The marshal came downstairs, and +finding the horses ready, got into the carriage, on which loud murmurs +arose from the populace, amongst which could be distinguished the +terrible word 'zaou!' that excited cry of the Provencal, which according +to the tone in which it is uttered expresses every shade of threat, and +which means at once in a single syllable, "Bite, rend, kill, murder!" + +The marshal set out at a gallop, and passed the town gates unmolested, +except by the howlings of the populace, who, however, made no attempt to +stop him. He thought he had left all his enemies behind, but when he +reached the Rhone bridge he found a group of men armed with muskets +waiting there, led by Farges and Roquefort. They all raised their guns +and took aim at the marshal, who thereupon ordered the postillion to +drive back. The order was obeyed, but when the carriage had gone about +fifty yards it was met by the crowd from the "Palais Royal," which had +followed it, so the postillion stopped. In a moment the traces were cut, +whereupon the marshal, opening the door, alighted, followed by his +valet, and passing on foot through the Loulle gate, followed by a second +carriage in which were his aides-de-camp, he regained the "Palais +Royal," the doors of which were opened to him and his suite, and +immediately secured against all others. + +The marshal asked to be shown to a room, and M. Moulin gave him No. 1, +to the front. In ten minutes three thousand people filled the square; it +was as if the population sprang up from the ground. Just then the +carriage, which the marshal had left behind, came up, the postillion +having tied the traces, and a second time the great yard gates were +opened, and in spite of the press closed again and barricaded by the +porter Vernet, and M. Moulin himself, both of whom were men of colossal +strength. The aides-de-camp, who had remained in the carriage until +then, now alighted, and asked to be shown to the marshal; but Moulin +ordered the porter to conceal them in an outhouse. Vernet taking one in +each hand, dragged them off despite their struggles, and pushing them +behind some empty barrels, over which he threw an old piece of carpet, +said to them in a voice as solemn as if he were a prophet, "If you move, +you are dead men," and left them. The aides-de-camp remained there +motionless and silent. + +At that moment M. de Saint-Chamans, prefect of Avignon, who had arrived +in town at five o'clock in the morning, came out into the courtyard. By +this time the crowd was smashing the windows and breaking in the street +door. The square was full to overflowing, everywhere threatening cries +were heard, and above all the terrible zaou, which from moment to moment +became more full of menace. M. Moulin saw that if they could not hold +out until the troops under Major Lambot arrived, all was lost; he +therefore told Vernet to settle the business of those who were breaking +in the door, while he would take charge of those who were trying to get +in at the window. Thus these two men, moved by a common impulse and of +equal courage, undertook to dispute with a howling mob the possession of +the blood for which it thirsted. + +Both dashed to their posts, one in the hall, the other in the +dining-room, and found door and windows already smashed, and several men +in the house. At the sight of Vernet, with whose immense strength they +were acquainted, those in the hall drew back a step, and Vernet, taking +advantage of this movement, succeeded in ejecting them and in securing +the door once more. Meantime M. Moulin, seizing his double-barrelled +gun, which stood in the chimney-corner, pointed it at five men who had +got into the dining-room, and threatened to fire if they did not +instantly get out again. Four obeyed, but one refused to budge; +whereupon Moulin, finding himself no longer outnumbered, laid aside his +gun, and, seizing his adversary round the waist, lifted him as if he +were a child and flung him out of the window. The man died three weeks +later, not from the fall but from the squeeze. + +Moulin then dashed to the window to secure it, but as he laid his hand +on it he felt his head seized from behind and pressed violently down on +his left shoulder; at the same instant a pane was broken into splinters, +and the head of a hatchet struck his right shoulder. M. de +Saint-Chamans, who had followed him into the room, had seen the weapon +thrown at Moulin's head, and not being able to turn aside the iron, had +turned aside the object at which it was aimed. Moulin seized the hatchet +by the handle and tore it out of the hands of him who had delivered the +blow, which fortunately had missed its aim. He then finished closing the +window, and secured it by making fast the inside shutters, and went +upstairs to see after the marshal. + +Him he found striding up and down his room, his handsome and noble face +as calm as if the voices of all those shouting men outside were not +demanding his death. Moulin made him leave No. 1 for No. 3, which, being +a back room and looking out on the courtyard, seemed to offer more +chances of safety than the other. The marshal asked for writing +materials, which Moulin brought, whereupon the marshal sat down at a +little table and began to write. + +Just then the cries outside became still more uproarious. M. de +Saint-Chamans had gone out and ordered the crowd to disperse, whereupon +a thousand people had answered him with one voice, asking who he was +that he should give such an order. He announced his rank and authority, +to which the answer was, "We only know the prefect by his clothes." Now +it had unfortunately happened that M. de Chamans having sent his trunks +by diligence they had not yet arrived, and being dressed in a green +coat; nankeen trousers, and a pique vest, it could hardly be expected +that in such a suit he should overawe the people under the +circumstances; so, when he got up on a bench to harangue the populace, +cries arose of "Down with the green coat! We have enough of charlatans +like that!" and he was forced to get down again. As Vernet opened the +door to let him in, several men took advantage of the circumstance to +push in along with him; but Vernet let his fist fall three times, and +three men rolled at his feet like bulls struck by a club. The others +withdrew. A dozen champions such as Vernet would have saved the marshal. +Yet it must not be forgotten that this man was a Royalist, and held the +same opinions as those against whom he fought; for him as for them the +marshal was a mortal enemy, but he had a noble heart, and if the marshal +were guilty he desired a trial and not a murder. Meantime a certain +onlooker had heard what had been said to M. de Chamans about his +unofficial costume, and had gone to put on his uniform. This was M. de +Puy, a handsome and venerable old man, with white hair, pleasant +expression, and winning voice. He soon came back in his mayor's robes, +wearing his scarf and his double cross of St. Louis and the Legion of +Honour. But neither his age nor his dignity made the slightest +impression on these people; they did not even allow him to get back to +the hotel door, but knocked him down and trampled him under foot, so +that he hardly escaped with torn clothes and his white hair covered with +dust and blood. The fury of the mob had now reached its height. + +At this juncture the garrison of Avignon came in sight; it was composed +of four hundred volunteers, who formed a battalion known as the Royal +Angouleme. It was commanded by a man who had assumed the title of +Lieutenant-General of the Emancipating Army of Vaucluse. These forces +drew up under the windows of the "Palais Royal." They were composed +almost entirely of Provenceaux, and spoke the same dialect as the people +of the lower orders. The crowd asked the soldiers for what they had +come, why they did not leave them to accomplish an act of justice in +peace, and if they intended to interfere. "Quite the contrary," said one +of the soldiers; "pitch him out of the window, and we will catch him on +the points of our bayonets." Brutal cries of joy greeted this answer, +succeeded by a short silence, but it was easy to see that under the +apparent calm the crowd was in a state of eager expectation. Soon new +shouts were heard, but this time from the interior of the hotel; a small +band of men led by Forges and Roquefort had separated themselves from +the throng, and by the help of ladders had scaled the walls and got on +the roof of the house, and, gliding down the other side, had dropped +into the balcony outside the windows of the rooms where the marshal was +writing. + +Some of these dashed through the windows without waiting to open them, +others rushed in at the open door. The marshal, thus taken by surprise, +rose, and not wishing that the letter he was writing to the Austrian +commandant to claim his protection should fall into the hands of these +wretches, he tore it to pieces. Then a man who belonged to a better +class than the others, and who wears to-day the Cross of the Legion of +Honour, granted to him perhaps for his conduct on this occasion, +advanced towards the marshal, sword in hand, and told him if he had any +last arrangements to make, he should make them at once, for he had only +ten minutes to live. + +"What are you thinking of?" exclaimed Forges. "Ten minutes! Did he give +the Princesse de Lamballe ten minutes?" and he pointed his pistol at the +marshal's breast; but the marshal striking up the weapon, the shot +missed its aim and buried itself in the ceiling. + +"Clumsy fellow!" said the marshal, shrugging his shoulders, "not to be +able to kill a man at such close range." + +"That's true," replied Roquefort in his patois. "I'll show you how to do +it"; and, receding a step, he took aim with his carbine at his victim, +whose back was partly towards him. A report was heard, and the marshal +fell dead on the spot, the bullet which entered at the shoulder going +right through his body and striking the opposite wall. + +The two shots, which had been heard in the street, made the howling mob +dance for joy. One cowardly fellow, called Cadillan, rushed out on one +of the balconies which looked on the square, and, holding a loaded +pistol in each hand, which he had not dared to discharge even into the +dead body of the murdered man, he cut a caper, and, holding up the +innocent weapons, called out, "These have done the business!" But he +lied, the braggart, and boasted of a crime which was committed by braver +cutthroats than he. + +Behind him came the general of the "Emancipating Army of Vaucluse," who, +graciously saluting the crowd, said, "The marshal has carried out an act +of justice by taking his own life." Shouts of mingled joy, revenge, and +hatred rose from the crowd, and the king's attorney and the examining +magistrate set about drawing up a report of the suicide. + +Now that all was over and there was no longer any question of saving the +marshal, M. Moulin desired at least to save the valuables which he had +in his carriage. He found in a cash box 40,000 francs, in the pockets a +snuff-box set with diamonds, and a pair of pistols and two swords; the +hilt of one of these latter was studded with precious stones, a gift +from the ill-starred Selim. M. Moulin returned across the court, +carrying these things. The Damascus blade was wrenched from his hands, +and the robber kept it five years as a trophy, and it was not until the +year 1820 that he was forced to give it up to the representative of the +marshal's widow. Yet this man was an officer, and kept his rank all +through the Restoration, and was not dismissed the army till 1830. When +M. Moulin had placed the other objects in safety, he requested the +magistrate to have the corpse removed, as he wished the crowds to +disperse, that he might look after the aides-de camp. While they were +undressing the marshal, in order to certify the cause of death, a +leathern belt was found on him containing 5536 francs. The body was +carried downstairs by the grave-diggers without any opposition being +offered, but hardly had they advanced ten yards into the square when +shouts of "To the Rhone! to the Rhone!" resounded on all sides. A police +officer who tried to interfere was knocked down, the bearers were +ordered to turn round; they obeyed, and the crowd carried them off +towards the wooden bridge. When the fourteenth arch was reached, the +bier was torn from the bearers' hands, and the corpse was flung into the +river. "Military honours!" shouted some one, and all who had guns fired +at the dead body, which was twice struck. "Tomb of Marshal Brune" was +then written on the arch, and the crowd withdrew, and passed the rest of +the day in holiday-making. + +Meanwhile the Rhone, refusing to be an accomplice in such a crime, bore +away the corpse, which the assassins believed had been swallowed up for +ever. Next day it was found on the sandy shore at Tarascon, but the news +of the murder had preceded it, and it was recognised by the wounds, and +pushed back again into the waters, which bore it towards the sea. + +Three leagues farther on it stopped again, this time by a grassy bank, +and was found by a man of forty and another of eighteen. They also +recognised it, but instead of shoving it back into the current, they +drew it up gently on the bank and carried it to a small property +belonging to one of them, where they reverently interred it. The elder +of the two was M. de Chartruse, the younger M. Amedee Pichot. + +The body was exhumed by order of the marshal's widow, and brought to her +castle of Saint-Just, in Champagne; she had it embalmed, and placed in a +bedroom adjoining her own, where it remained, covered only by a veil, +until the memory of the deceased was cleansed from the accusation of +suicide by a solemn public trial and judgment. Then only it was finally +interred, along with the parchment containing the decision of the Court +of Riom. + +The ruffians who killed Marshal Brune, although they evaded the justice +of men, did not escape the vengeance of God: nearly every one of them +came to a miserable end. Roquefort and Farges were attacked by strange +and hitherto unknown diseases, recalling the plagues sent by God on the +peoples whom He desired to punish in bygone ages. In the case of Farges, +his skin dried up and became horny, causing him such intense irritation, +that as the only means of allaying it he had to be kept buried up to the +neck while still alive. The disease under which Roquefort suffered +seemed to have its seat in the marrow, for his bones by degrees lost all +solidity and power of resistance, so that his limbs refused to bear his +weight, and he went about the streets crawling like a serpent. Both died +in such dreadful torture that they regretted having escaped the +scaffold, which would have spared them such prolonged agony. + +Pointu was condemned to death, in his absence, at the Assizes Court of +La Drome, for having murdered five people, and was cast off by his own +faction. For some time his wife, who was infirm and deformed, might be +seen going from house to house asking alms for him, who had been for two +months the arbiter of civil war and assassination. Then came a day when +she ceased her quest, and was seen sitting, her head covered by a black +rag: Pointu was dead, but it was never known where or how. In some +corner, probably, in the crevice of a rock or in the heart of the +forest, like an old tiger whose talons have been clipped and his teeth +drawn. + +Naudaud and Magnan were sentenced to the galleys for ten years. Naudaud +died there, but Magnan finished his time and then became a scavenger, +and, faithful to his vocation as a dealer of death, a poisoner of stray +dogs. + +Some of these cut-throats are still living, and fill good positions, +wearing crosses and epaulets, and, rejoicing in their impunity, imagine +they have escaped the eye of God. + +We shall wait and see! + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +It was on Saturday that the white flag was hoisted at Nimes. The next +day a crowd of Catholic peasants from the environs marched into the +city, to await the arrival of the Royalist army from Beaucaire. +Excitement was at fever heat, the desire of revenge filled every breast, +the hereditary hatred which had slumbered during the Empire again awoke +stronger than ever. Here I may pause to say that in the account which +follows of the events which took place about this time, I can only +guarantee the facts and not the dates: I relate everything as it +happened; but the day on which it happened may sometimes have escaped my +memory, for it is easier to recollect a murder to which one has been an +eye-witness, than to recall the exact date on which it happened. + +The garrison of Nimes was composed of one battalion of the 13th Regiment +of the line, and another battalion of the 79th Regiment, which not being +up to its full war-strength had been sent to Nimes to complete its +numbers by enlistment. But after the battle of Waterloo the citizens had +tried to induce the soldiers to desert, so that of the two battalions, +even counting the officers, only about two hundred men remained. + +When the news of the proclamation of Napoleon II reached Nimes, +Brigadier-General Malmont, commandant of the department, had him +proclaimed in the city without any disturbance being caused thereby. It +was not until some days later that a report began to be circulated that +a royal army was gathering at Beaucaire, and that the populace would +take advantage of its arrival to indulge in excesses. In the face of +this two-fold danger, General Malmont had ordered the regular troops, +and a part of the National Guard of the Hundred Days, to be drawn up +under arms in the rear of the barracks upon an eminence on which he had +mounted five pieces of ordnance. This disposition was maintained for two +days and a night, but as the populace remained quiet, the troops +returned to the barracks and the Guards to their homes. + +But on Monday a concourse of people, who had heard that the army from +Beaucaire would arrive the next day, made a hostile demonstration before +the barracks, demanding with shouts and threats that the five cannons +should be handed over to them. The general and the officers who were +quartered in the town, hearing of the tumult, repaired at once to the +barracks, but soon came out again, and approaching the crowd tried to +persuade it to disperse, to which the only answer they received was a +shower of bullets. Convinced by this, as he was well acquainted with the +character of the people with whom he had to deal, that the struggle had +begun in earnest and must be fought out to the bitter end, the general +retreated with his officers, step by step, to the barracks, and having +got inside the gates, closed and bolted them. + +He then decided that it was his duty to repulse force by force, for +everyone was determined to defend, at no matter what cost, a position +which, from the first moment of revolt, was fraught with such peril. So, +without waiting for orders, the soldiers, seeing that some of their +windows had been broken by shots from without, returned the fire, and, +being better marksmen than the townspeople, soon laid many low. Upon +this the alarmed crowd retired out of musket range, and entrenched +themselves in some neighbouring houses. + +About nine o'clock in the evening, a man bearing something resembling a +white flag approached the walls and asked to speak to the general. He +brought a message inquiring on what terms the troops would consent to +evacuate Nimes. The general sent back word that the conditions were, +that the troops should be allowed to march out fully armed and with all +their baggage; the five guns alone would be left behind. When the forces +reached a certain valley outside the city they would halt, that the men +might be supplied with means sufficient to enable them either to rejoin +the regiments to which they belonged, or to return to their own homes. + +At two o'clock A. M. the same envoy returned, and announced to the +general that the conditions had been accepted with one alteration, which +was that the troops, before marching out, should lay down their arms. +The messenger also intimated that if the offer he had brought were not +quickly accepted--say within two hours--the time for capitulation would +have gone by, and that he would not be answerable for what the people +might then do in their fury. The general accepted the conditions as +amended, and the envoy disappeared. + +When the troops heard of the agreement, that they should be disarmed +before being allowed to leave the town, their first impulse was to +refuse to lay down their weapons before a rabble which had run away from +a few musket shots; but the general succeeded in soothing their sense of +humiliation and winning their consent by representing to them that there +could be nothing dishonourable in an action which prevented the children +of a common fatherland from shedding each other's blood. + +The gendarmerie, according to one article of the treaty, were to close +in at, the rear of the evacuating column; and thus hinder the populace +from molesting the troops of which it was composed. This was the only +concession obtained in return for the abandoned arms, and the farce in +question was already drawn up in field order, apparently waiting to +escort the troops out of the city. + +At four o'clock P.M. the troops got ready, each company stacking its +arms in the courtyard before: marching out; but hardly had forty or +fifty men passed the gates than fire was opened on them at such close +range that half of them were killed or disabled at the first volley. +Upon this, those who were still within the walls closed the courtyard +gates, thus cutting off all chance of retreat from their comrades. In +the event; however, it turned out that several of the latter contrived +to escape with their lives and that they lost nothing through being +prevented from returning; for as soon as the mob saw that ten or twelve +of their victims had slipped through their hands they made a furious +attack on the barracks, burst in the gates, and scaled the walls with +such rapidity, that the soldiers had no time to repossess themselves of +their muskets, and even had they succeeded in seizing them they would +have been of little use, as ammunition was totally wanting. The barracks +being thus carried by assault, a horrible massacre ensued, which lasted +for three hours. Some of the wretched men, being hunted from room to +room, jumped out of the first window they could reach, without stopping +to measure its height from the ground, and were either impaled on the +bayonets held in readiness below, or, falling on the pavement, broke +their limbs and were pitilessly despatched. + +The gendarmes, who had really been called out to protect the retreat of +the garrison, seemed to imagine they were there to witness a judicial +execution, and stood immovable and impassive while these horrid deeds +went on before their eyes. But the penalty of this indifference was +swiftly exacted, for as soon as the soldiers were all done with, the +mob, finding their thirst for blood still unslacked, turned on the +gendarmes, the greater number of whom were wounded, while all lost their +horses, and some their lives. + +The populace was still engaged at its bloody task when news came that +the army from Beaucaire was within sight of the town, and the murderers, +hastening to despatch some of the wounded who still showed signs of +life, went forth to meet the long expected reinforcements. + +Only those who saw the advancing army with their own eyes can form any +idea of its condition and appearance, the first corps excepted. This +corps was commanded by M. de Barre, who had put himself at its head with +the noble purpose of preventing, as far as he could, massacre and +pillage. In this he was seconded by the officers under him, who were +actuated by the same philanthropic motives as their general in +identifying themselves with the corps. Owing to their exertions, the men +advanced in fairly regular order, and good discipline was maintained. +All the men carried muskets. + +But the first corps was only a kind of vanguard to the second, which was +the real army, and a wonderful thing to see and hear. Never were brought +together before or since so many different kinds of howl, so many +threats of death, so many rags; so many odd weapons, from the matchlock +of the time of the Michelade to the steel-tipped goad of the bullock +drovers of La Camargue, so that when the Nimes mob; which in all +conscience was howling and ragged enough, rushed out to offer a +brotherly welcome to the strangers, its first feeling was one of +astonishment and dismay as it caught sight of the motley crew which held +out to it the right hand of fellowship. + +The new-comers soon showed that it was through necessity and not choice +that their outer man presented such a disreputable appearance; for they +were hardly well within the gates before demanding that the houses of +the members of the old Protestant National Guard should be pointed out +to them. + +This being done, they promptly proceeded to exact from each household a +musket, a coat, a complete kit, or a sum of money, according to their +humour, so that before evening those who had arrived naked and penniless +were provided with complete uniforms and had money in their pockets. +These exactions were levied under the name of a contribution, but before +the day was ended naked and undisguised pillage began. + +Someone asserted that during the assault on the barracks a certain +individual had fired out of a certain house on the assailants. The +indignant people now rushed to the house indicated, and soon left +nothing of it in existence but its walls. A little later it was clearly +proved that the individual accused was quite innocent of the crime laid +to his charge. + +The house of a rich merchant lay in the path of the advancing army. A +cry arose that the owner was a Bonapartist, and nothing more was needed. +The house was broken into and pillaged, and the furniture thrown out of +the windows. + +Two days later it turned out that not only was the merchant no +Bonapartist, but that his son had been one of those who had accompanied +the Duc d'Angouleme to Cette when he left the country. The pillagers +excused themselves by saying they had been misled by a resemblance +between two names, and this excuse, as far as appears, was accepted as +valid by the authorities. + +It was not long before the populace of Nimes began to think they might +as well follow the example set them by their brothers from Beaucaire. In +twenty-four hours free companies were formed, headed by Trestaillons, +Trupheny, Graffan, and Morinet. These bands arrogated to themselves the +title of National Guard, and then what took place at Marseilles in the +excitement of the moment was repeated at Nimes with deliberation and +method, inspired by hate and the desire of vengeance. A revolt broke out +which followed the ordinary course: first pillage, then fire, then +murder, laid waste the city. + + M. V______'s house, which stood in the middle of the town, was sacked + and then burnt to the ground, without a hand being raised to + prevent the crime. + + M. T______'s house, on the road to Montpellier, was sacked and wrecked + and a bonfire made of the furniture, round which the crowd danced; + as if it had been an occasion of public rejoicing. Then cries were + raised for the proprietor, that he might be killed, and as he could + not be found the baffled fury of the mob vented itself on the dead. + A child three months buried was dragged from its grave, drawn by + the feet through the sewers and wayside puddles, and then flung on + a dung-heap; and, strange to say, while incendiarism and sacrilege + thus ran riot, the mayor of the place slept so sound that when he + awoke he was "quite astonished," to use his own expression, to hear + what had taken place during the night. + +This expedition completed, the same company which had brought this +expedition to a successful issue next turned their attention to a small +country house occupied by a widow, whom I had often begged to take +refuge with us. But, secure in her insignificance, she had always +declined our offers, preferring to live solitary and retired in her own +home. But the freebooters sought her out, burst in her doors, drove her +away with blows and insults, destroyed her house and burnt her +furniture. They then proceeded to the vault in which lay the remains of +her family, dragged them out of their coffins and scattered them about +the fields. The next day the poor woman-ventured back, collected the +desecrated remains with pious care, and replaced them in the vault. But +this was counted to her as a crime; the company returned, once more cast +forth the contents of the coffins, and threatened to kill her should she +dare to touch them again. She was often seen in the days that followed +shedding bitter tears and watching over the sacred relics as they lay +exposed on the ground. + +The name of this widow was Pepin, and the scene of the sacrilege was a +small enclosure on the hill of the Moulins-a-Vent. + +Meantime the people in the Faubourg des Bourgades had invented a new +sort of game, or rather, had resolved to vary the serious business of +the drama that was being enacted by the introduction of comic scenes. +They had possessed themselves of a number of beetles such as washerwomen +use, and hammered in long nails, the points of which projected an inch +on the other side in the form of a fleur-de-lis. Every Protestant who +fell into their hands, no matter what his age or rank, was stamped with +the bloody emblem, serious wounds being inflicted in many cases. + +Murders were now becoming common. Amongst other names of victims +mentioned were Loriol, Bigot, Dumas, Lhermet, Heritier, Domaison, Combe, +Clairon, Begomet, Poujas, Imbert, Vigal, Pourchet, Vignole. Details more +or less shocking came to light as to the manner in which the murderers +went to work. A man called Dalbos was in the custody of two armed men; +some others came to consult with them. Dalbos appealed for mercy to the +new-comers. It was granted, but as he turned to go he was shot dead. +Another of the name of Rambert tried to escape by disguising himself as +a woman, but was recognised and shot down a few yards outside his own +door. A gunner called Saussine was walking in all security along the +road to Uzes, pipe in mouth, when he was met by five men belonging to +Trestaillon's company, who surrounded him and stabbed him to the heart +with their knives. The elder of two brothers named Chivas ran across +some fields to take shelter in a country house called Rouviere, which, +unknown to him, had been occupied by some of the new National Guard. +These met him on the threshold and shot him dead. + +Rant was seized in his own house and shot. Clos was met by a company, +and seeing Trestaillons, with whom he had always been friends, in its +ranks, he went up to him and held out his hand; whereupon Trestaillons +drew a pistol from his belt and blew his brains out. Calandre being +chased down the rue des Soeurs-Grises, sought shelter in a tavern, but +was forced to come out, and was killed with sabres. Courbet was sent to +prison under the escort of some men, but these changed their minds on +the way as to his punishment, halted, and shot him dead in the middle of +the street. + +A wine merchant called Cabanot, who was flying from Trestaillons, ran +into a house in which there was a venerable priest called Cure Bonhomme. +When the cut-throat rushed in, all covered with blood, the priest +advanced and stopped him, crying: + +"What will happen, unhappy man, when you come to the confessional with +blood-stained hands?" + +"Pooh!" replied Trestaillons, "you must put on your wide gown; the +sleeves are large enough to let everything pass." + +To the short account given above of so many murders I will add the +narrative of one to which I was an eye-witness, and which made the most +terrible impression on me of, anything in my experience. + +It was midnight. I was working beside my wife's bed; she was just +becoming drowsy, when a noise in the distance caught our attention. It +gradually became more distinct, and drums began to beat the 'generale' +in every direction. Hiding my own alarm for fear of increasing hers, I +answered my wife, who was asking what new thing was about to happen, +that it was probably troops marching in or out of garrison. But soon +reports of firearms, accompanied by an uproar with which we were so +familiar that we could no longer mistake its meaning, were heard +outside. Opening my window, I heard bloodcurdling imprecations, mixed +with cries of "Long live the king!" going on. Not being able to remain +any longer in this uncertainty, I woke a captain who lived in the same +house. He rose, took his arms, and we went out together, directing our +course towards the point whence the shouts seemed to come. The moon +shone so bright that we could see everything almost as distinctly as in +broad daylight. + +A concourse of people was hurrying towards the Cours yelling like +madmen; the greater number of them, half naked, armed with muskets, +swords, knives, and clubs, and swearing to exterminate everything, waved +their weapons above the heads of men who had evidently been torn from +their houses and brought to the square to be put to death. The rest of +the crowd had, like ourselves, been drawn thither by curiosity, and were +asking what was going on. "Murder is abroad," was the answer; "several +people have been killed in the environs, and the patrol has been fired +on." While this questioning was going on the noise continued to +increase. As I had really no business to be on a spot where such things +were going on, and feeling that my place was at my wife's side, to +reassure her for the present and to watch over her should the rioters +come our way, I said good-bye to the captain, who went on to the +barracks, and took the road back to the suburb in which I lived. + +I was not more than fifty steps from our house when I heard loud talking +behind me, and, turning, saw gun barrels glittering in the moonlight. As +the speakers seemed to be rapidly approaching me, I kept close in the +shadow of the houses till I reached my own door, which I laid softly to +behind me, leaving myself a chink by which I could peep out and watch +the movements of the group which was drawing near. Suddenly I felt +something touch my hand; it was a great Corsican dog, which was turned +loose at night, and was so fierce that it was a great protection to our +house. I felt glad to have it at my side, for in case of a struggle it +would be no despicable ally. + +Those approaching turned out to be three armed men leading a fourth, +disarmed and a prisoner. They all stopped just opposite my door, which I +gently closed and locked, but as I still wished to see what they were +about, I slipped into the garden, which lay towards the street, still +followed by my dog. Contrary to his habit, and as if he understood the +danger, he gave a low whine instead of his usual savage growl. I climbed +into a fig tree the branches of which overhung the street, and, hidden +by the leaves, and resting my hands on the top of the wall, I leaned far +enough forward to see what the men were about. + +They were still on the same spot, but there was a change in their +positions. The prisoner was now kneeling with clasped hands before the +cut-throats, begging for his life for the sake of his wife and children, +in heartrending accents, to which his executioners replied in mocking +tones, "We have got you at last into our hands, have we? You dog of a +Bonapartist, why do you not call on your emperor to come and help you +out of this scrape?" The unfortunate man's entreaties became more +pitiful and their mocking replies more pitiless. They levelled their +muskets at him several times, and then lowered them, saying; "Devil take +it, we won't shoot yet; let us give him time to see death coming," till +at last the poor wretch, seeing there was no hope of mercy, begged to be +put out of his misery. + +Drops of sweat stood on my forehead. I felt my pockets to see if I had +nothing on me which I could use as a weapon, but I had not even a knife. +I looked at my dog; he was lying flat at the foot of the tree, and +appeared to be a prey to the most abject terror. The prisoner continued +his supplications, and the assassins their threats and mockery. I +climbed quietly down out of the fig tree, intending to fetch my pistols. +My dog followed me with his eyes, which seemed to be the only living +things about him. Just as my foot touched the ground a double report +rang out, and my dog gave a plaintive and prolonged howl. Feeling that +all was over, and that no weapons could be of any use, I climbed up +again into my perch and looked out. The poor wretch was lying face +downwards writhing in his blood; the assassins were reloading their +muskets as they walked away. + +Being anxious to see if it was too late to help the man whom I had not +been able to save, I went out into the street and bent over him. He was +bloody, disfigured, dying, but was yet alive, uttering dismal groans. I +tried to lift him up, but soon saw that the wounds which he had received +from bullets fired at close range were both mortal, one being in the +head, and the other in the loins. Just then a patrol, of the National +Guard turned round the corner of the street. This, instead of being a +relief, awoke me to a sense of my danger, and feeling I could do nothing +for the wounded man, for the death rattle had already begun, I entered +my house, half shut the door, and listened. + +"Qui vive?" asked the corporal. + +"Idiot!" said someone else, "to ask 'Qui vive?' of a dead man!" + +"He is not dead," said a third voice; "listen to him singing"; and +indeed the poor fellow in his agony was giving utterance to dreadful +groans. + +"Someone has tickled him well," said a fourth, "but what does it matter? +We had better finish the job." + +Five or six musket shots followed, and the groans ceased. + +The name of the man who had just expired was Louis Lichaire; it was not +against him, but against his nephew, that the assassins had had a +grudge, but finding the nephew out when they burst into the house, and a +victim being indispensable, they had torn the uncle from the arms of his +wife, and, dragging him towards the citadel, had killed him as I have +just related. + +Very early next morning I sent to three commissioners of police, one +after the other, for permission to have the corpse carried to the +hospital, but these gentlemen were either not up or had already gone +out, so that it was not until eleven o'clock and after repeated +applications that they condescended to give me the needed authorisation. + +Thanks to this delay, the whole town came to see the body of the +unfortunate man. Indeed, the day which followed a massacre was always +kept as a holiday, everyone leaving his work undone and coming out to +stare at the slaughtered victims. In this case, a man wishing to amuse +the crowd took his pipe out of his mouth and put it between the teeth of +the corpse--a joke which had a marvellous success, those present +shrieking with laughter. + +Many murders had been committed during the night; the companies had +scoured the streets singing some doggerel, which one of the bloody +wretches, being in poetic vein, had composed, the chorus of which was: + + "Our work's well done, + We spare none!" + +Seventeen fatal outrages were committed, and yet neither the reports of +the firearms nor the cries of the victims broke the peaceful slumbers of +M. le Prefet and M. le Commissaire General de la Police. But if the +civil authorities slept, General Lagarde, who had shortly before come to +town to take command of the city in the name of the king, was awake. He +had sprung from his bed at the first shot, dressed himself, and made a +round of the posts; then sure that everything was in order, he had +formed patrols of chasseurs, and had himself, accompanied by two +officers only, gone wherever he heard cries for help. But in spite of +the strictness of his orders the small number of troops at his +disposition delayed the success of his efforts, and it was not until +three o'clock in the morning that he succeeded in securing Trestaillons. +When this man was taken he was dressed as usual in the uniform of the +National Guard, with a cocked hat and captain's epaulets. General +Lagarde ordered the gens d'armes who made the capture to deprive him of +his sword and carbine, but it was only after a long struggle that they +could carry out this order, for Trestaillons protested that he would +only give up his carbine with his life. However, he was at last obliged +to yield to numbers, and when disarmed was removed to the barracks; but +as there could be no peace in the town as long as he was in it, the +general sent him to the citadel of Montpellier next morning before it +was light. + +The disorders did not, however, cease at once. At eight o'clock A.M. +they were still going on, the mob seeming to be animated by the spirit +of Trestaillons, for while the soldiers were occupied in a distant +quarter of the town a score of men broke into the house of a certain +Scipion Chabrier, who had remained hidden from his enemies for a long +time, but who had lately returned home on the strength of the +proclamations published by General Lagarde when he assumed the position +of commandant of the town. He had indeed been sure that the disturbances +in Nimes were over, when they burst out with redoubled fury on the 16th +of October; on the morning of the 17th he was working quietly at home at +his trade of a silk weaver, when, alarmed by the shouts of a parcel of +cut-throats outside his house, he tried to escape. He succeeded in +reaching the "Coupe d'Or," but the ruffians followed him, and the first +who came up thrust him through the thigh with his bayonet. In +consequence of this wound he fell from top to bottom of the staircase, +was seized and dragged to the stables, where the assassins left him for +dead, with seven wounds in his body. + +This was, however, the only murder committed that day in the town, +thanks to the vigilance and courage of General Lagarde. + +The next day a considerable crowd gathered, and a noisy deputation went +to General Lagarde's quarters and insolently demanded that Trestaillons +should be set at liberty. The general ordered them to disperse, but no +attention was paid to this command, whereupon he ordered his soldiers to +charge, and in a moment force accomplished what long-continued +persuasion had failed to effect. Several of the ringleaders were +arrested and taken to prison. + +Thus, as we shall see, the struggle assumed a new phase: resistance to +the royal power was made in the name of the royal power, and both those +who broke or those who tried to maintain the public peace used the same +cry, "Long live the king!" + +The firm attitude assumed by General Lagarde restored Nimes to a state +of superficial peace, beneath which, however, the old enmities were +fermenting. An occult power, which betrayed itself by a kind of passive +resistance, neutralised the effect of the measures taken by the military +commandant. He soon became cognisant of the fact that the essence of +this sanguinary political strife was an hereditary religious animosity, +and in order to strike a last blow at this, he resolved, after having +received permission from the king, to grant the general request of the +Protestants by reopening their places of worship, which had been closed +for more than four months, and allowing the public exercise of the +Protestant religion, which had been entirely suspended in the city for +the same length of time. + +Formerly there had been six Protestant pastors resident in Nimes, but +four of them, had fled; the two who remained were MM. Juillerat and +Olivier Desmonts, the first a young man, twenty-eight years of age, the +second an old man of seventy. + +The entire weight of the ministry had fallen during this period of +proscription on M. Juillerat, who had accepted the task and religiously +fulfilled it. It seemed as if a special providence had miraculously +protected him in the midst of the many perils which beset his path. +Although the other pastor, M. Desmonts, was president of the Consistory, +his life was in much less danger; for, first, he had reached an age +which almost everywhere commands respect, and then he had a son who was +a lieutenant in, one of the royal corps levied at Beaucaire, who +protected him by his name when he could not do so by his presence. M. +Desmonts had therefore little cause for anxiety as to his safety either +in the streets of Nimes or on the road between that and his country +house. + +But, as we have said, it was not so with M. Juillerat. Being young and +active, and having an unfaltering trust in God, on him alone devolved +all the sacred duties of his office, from the visitation of the sick and +dying to the baptism of the newly born. These latter were often brought +to him at night to be baptized, and he consented, though unwillingly, to +make this concession, feeling that if he insisted on the performance of +the rite by day he would compromise not only his own safety but that of +others. In all that concerned him personally, such as consoling the +dying or caring for the wounded, he acted quite openly, and no danger +that he encountered on his way ever caused him to flinch from the path +of duty. + +One day, as M. Juillerat was passing through the rue des Barquettes on +his way to the prefecture to transact some business connected with his +ministry, he saw several men lying in wait in a blind alley by which he +had to pass. They had their guns pointed at him. He continued his way +with tranquil step and such an air of resignation that the assassins +were overawed, and lowered their weapons as he approached, without +firing a single shot. When M. Juillerat reached the prefecture, thinking +that the prefect ought to be aware of everything connected with the +public order, he related this incident to M. d'Arbaud-Jouques, but the +latter did not think the affair of enough importance to require any +investigation. + +It was, as will be seen, a difficult enterprise to open once again the +Protestant places of worship, which had been so long closed, in present +circumstances, and in face of the fact that the civil authorities +regarded such a step with disfavour, but General Lagarde was one of +those determined characters who always act up to their convictions. +Moreover, to prepare people's minds for this stroke of religious policy, +he relied on the help of the Duc d'Angouleme, who in the course of a +tour through the South was almost immediately expected at Nimes. + +On the 5th of November the prince made his entry into the city, and +having read the reports of the general to the King Louis XVIII, and +having received positive injunctions from his uncle to pacify the +unhappy provinces which he was about to visit, he arrived full of the +desire to displays whether he felt it or not, a perfect impartiality; so +when the delegates from the Consistory were presented to him, not only +did he receive them most graciously, but he was the first to speak of +the interests of their faith, assuring them that it was only a few days +since he had learned with much regret that their religious services had +been; suspended since the 16th of July. The delegates replied that in +such a time of agitation the closing of their places of worship was, a +measure of prudence which they had felt ought to be borne, and which had +been borne, with resignation. The prince expressed his approval of this +attitude with regard to the past, but said that his presence was a +guarantee for the future, and that on Thursday the 9th inst. the two +meeting-houses should be reopened and restored to their proper use. The +Protestants were alarmed at, having a favour accorded to them which was +much more than they would have dared to ask and for which they were +hardly prepared. But the prince reassured them by saying that all +needful measures would be taken to provide against any breach of the +public peace, and at the same time invited M. Desmonts, president, and +M. Roland-Lacoste, member of the Consistory, to dine with him. + +The next deputation to arrive was a Catholic one, and its object was to +ask that Trestaillons might be set at liberty. The prince was so +indignant at this request that his only answer was to turn his back on +those who proffered it. + +The next day the duke, accompanied by General Lagarde, left for +Montpellier; and as it was on the latter that the Protestants placed +their sole reliance for the maintenance of those rights guaranteed for +the future by the word of the prince, they hesitated to take any new +step in his absence, and let the 9th of November go by without +attempting to resume public worship, preferring to wait for the return +of their protector, which took place on Saturday evening the 11th of +November. + +When the general got back, his first thought was to ask if the commands +of the prince had been carried out, and when he heard that they had not, +without waiting to hear a word in justification of the delay, he sent a +positive order to the president of the Consistory to open both places of +worship the next morning. + +Upon this, the president carrying self-abnegation and prudence to their +extreme limits, went to the general's quarters, and having warmly +thanked him, laid before him the dangers to which he would expose +himself by running counter to the opinions of those who had had their +own way in the city for the last four months. But General Lagarde +brushed all these considerations aside: he had received an order from +the prince, and to a man of his military cast of mind no course was open +but to carry that order out. + +Nevertheless, the president again expressed his doubts and fears. + +"I will answer with my head," said the general, "that nothing happens." +Still the president counselled prudence, asking that only one place of +worship at first be opened, and to this the general gave his consent. + +This continued resistance to the re-establishment of public worship on +the part of those who most eagerly desired it enabled the general at +last to realise the extent of the danger which would be incurred by the +carrying out of this measure, and he at once took all possible +precautions. Under the pretext that he was going to-have a general +review, he brought the entire civil and military forces of Nimes under +his authority, determined, if necessary, to use the one to suppress the +other. As early as eight o'clock in the morning a guard of gens d'armes +was stationed at the doors of the meeting-house, while other members of +the same force took up their positions in the adjacent streets. On the +other hand, the Consistory had decided that the doors were to be opened +an hour sooner than usual, that the bells were not to be rung, and that +the organ should be silent. + +These precautions had both a good and a bad side. The gens d'armes at +the door of the meetinghouse gave if not a promise of security at least +a promise of support, but they showed to the citizens of the other party +what was about to be done; so before nine o'clock groups of Catholics +began to form, and as it happened to be Sunday the inhabitants of the +neighbouring villages arriving constantly by twos and threes soon united +these groups into a little army. Thus the streets leading to the church +being thronged, the Protestants who pushed their way through were +greeted with insulting remarks, and even the president of the +Consistory, whose white, hair and dignified expression had no effect +upon the mob, heard the people round him saying, "These brigands of +Protestants are going again to their temple, but we shall soon give them +enough of it." + +The anger of the populace soon grows hot; between the first bubble and +the boiling-point the interval is short. Threats spoken in a low voice +were soon succeeded by noisy objurgations. Women, children, and men +brake out into yells, "Down with the broilers!" (for this was one of the +names by which the Protestants were designated). "Down with the +broilers! We do not want to see them using our churches: let them give +us back our churches; let them give us back our churches, and go to the +desert. Out with them! Out with them! To the desert! To the desert!" + +As the crowd did not go beyond words, however insulting, and as the +Protestants were long inured to much worse things, they plodded along to +their meeting-house, humble and silent, and went in, undeterred by the +displeasure they aroused, whereupon the service commenced. + +But some Catholics went in with them, and soon the same shouts which had +been heard without were heard also within. The general, however, was on +the alert, and as soon as the shouts arose inside the gens d'armes +entered the church and arrested those who had caused the disturbance. +The crowds tried to rescue them on their way to prison, but the general +appeared at the head of imposing forces, at the sight of which they +desisted. An apparent cam succeeded the tumult, and the public worship +went on without further interruption. + +The general, misled by appearances, went off himself to attend a +military mass, and at eleven o'clock returned to his quarters for lunch. +His absence was immediately perceived and taken advantage of. In the: +twinkling of an eye, the crowds, which had dispersed, gathered together +in even greater numbers and the Protestants, seeing themselves once more +in danger, shut the doors from within, while the gens d'armes guarded +them without. The populace pressed so closely round the gens d'armes, +and assumed such a threatening attitude, that fearing he and his men +would not be able to hold their own in such a throng, the captain +ordered M. Delbose, one of his officers, to ride off and warn the +general. He forced his way through the crowd with great trouble, and +went off at a gallop. On seeing this, the people felt there was no time +to be lost; they knew of what kind the general was, and that he would be +on the spot in a quarter of an hour. A large crowd is invincible through +its numbers; it has only to press forward, and everything gives way, +men, wood, iron. At this moment the crowd, swayed by a common impulse, +swept forward, the gens d'armes and their horses were crushed against +the wall, doors gave way, and instantly with a tremendous roar a living +wave flooded the church. Cries of terror and frightful imprecations were +heard on all sides, everyone made a weapon of whatever came to hand, +chairs and benches were hurled about, the disorder was at its height; it +seemed as if the days of the Michelade and the Bagarre were about to +return, when suddenly the news of a terrible event was spread abroad, +and assailants and assailed paused in horror. General Lagarde had just +been assassinated. + +As the crowd had foreseen, no sooner did the messenger deliver his +message than the general sprang on his horse, and, being too brave, or +perhaps too scornful, to fear such foes, he waited for no escort, but, +accompanied by two or three officers, set off at full gallop towards the +scene of the tumult. He had passed through the narrow streets which led +to the meeting-house by pushing the crowd aside with his horse's chest, +when, just as he got out into the open square, a young man named +Boisson, a sergeant in the Nimes National Guard, came up and seemed to +wish to speak to him. The general seeing a man in uniform, bent down +without a thought of danger to listen to what he had to say, whereupon +Boisson drew a pistol out and fired at him. The ball broke the +collar-bone and lodged in the neck behind the carotid artery, and the +general fell from his horse. + +The news of this crime had a strange and unexpected effect; however +excited and frenzied the crowd was, it instantly realised the +consequences of this act. It was no longer like the murder of Marshal +Brune at Avignon or General Ramel at Toulouse, an act of vengeance on a +favourite of Napoleon, but open and armed rebellion against the king. It +was not a simple murder, it was high treason. + +A feeling of the utmost terror spread through the town; only a few +fanatics went on howling in the church, which the Protestants, fearing +still greater disasters, had by this time resolved to abandon. The first +to come out was President Olivier Desmonts, accompanied by M. +Vallongues, who had only just arrived in the city, but who had +immediately hurried to the spot at the call of duty. + + M. Juillerat, his two children in his arms, walked behind them, + followed by all the other worshippers. At first the crowd, + threatening and ireful, hooted and threw stones at them, but at the + voice of the mayor and the dignified aspect of the president they + allowed them to pass. During this strange retreat over eighty + Protestants were wounded, but not fatally, except a young girl + called Jeannette Cornilliere, who had been so beaten and ill-used + that she died of her injuries a few days later. + +In spite of the momentary slackening of energy which followed the +assassination of General Lagarde, the Catholics did not remain long in a +state of total inaction. During the rest of the day the excited populace +seemed as if shaken by an earthquake. About six o'clock in the evening, +some of the most desperate characters in the town possessed themselves +of a hatchet, and, taking their way to the Protestant church, smashed +the doors, tore the pastors' gowns, rifled the poor-box, and pulled the +books to pieces. A detachment of troops arrived just in time to prevent +their setting the building on fire. + +The next day passed more quietly. This time the disorders were of too +important a nature for the prefect to ignore, as he had ignored so many +bloody acts in the past; so in due time a full report was laid before +the king. It became know the same evening that General Lagarde was still +living, and that those around him hoped that the wound would not prove +mortal. Dr. Delpech, who had been summoned from Montpellier, had +succeeded in extracting the bullet, and though he spoke no word of hope, +he did not expressly declare that the case was hopeless. + +Two days later everything in the town had assumed its ordinary aspect, +and on the 21st of November the king issued the following edict:-- + +"Louis, by the grace of God, King of France and of Navarre, + +"To all those to whom these presents shall come, greeting: + +"An abominable crime has cast a stain on Our city of Nimes. A seditious +mob has dared to oppose the opening of the Protestant place of worship, +in contempt of the constitutional charter, which while it recognises the +Catholic religion as the religion of the State, guarantees to the other +religious bodies protection and freedom of worship. Our military +commandant, whilst trying to disperse these crowds by gentle means +before having resort to force, was shot down, and his assassin has till +now successfully evaded the arm of the law. If such an outrage were to +remain unpunished, the maintenance of good government and public order +would be impossible, and Our ministers would be guilty of neglecting the +law. + +"Wherefore We have ordered and do order as follows: + +"Art. 1. Proceedings shall be commenced without delay by Our attorney, +and the attorney-general, against the perpetrator of the murderous +attack on the person of Sieur Lagarde, and against the authors, +instigators, and accomplices of the insurrection which took place in the +city of Nimes on the 12th of the present month. + +"Art. 2. A sufficient number of troops shall be quartered in the said +city, and shall remain there at the cost of the inhabitants, until the +assassin and his accomplices have been produced before a court of law. + +"Art. 3. All those citizens whose names are not entitled to be on the +roll of the National Guard shall be disarmed. + +"Our Keeper of the Seals, Our Minister of War, Our Minister of the +Interior, and Our Minister of Police, are entrusted with the execution +of this edict. + +"Given at Paris at Our Castle of the Tuileries on the 21st of November +in the year of grace 1815, and of Our reign the 21st. + +"(Signed) Louis" + +Boissin was acquitted. + +This was the last crime committed in the South, and it led fortunately +to no reprisals. + +Three months after the murderous attempt to which he had so nearly +fallen a victim, General Lagarde left Nimes with the rank of ambassador, +and was succeeded as prefect by M. d'Argont. + +During the firm, just, and independent administration of the latter, the +disarming of the citizens decreed by the royal edict was carried out +without bloodshed. + +Through his influence, MM. Chabot-Latour, Saint-Aulaire, and Lascour +were elected to the Chamber of Deputies in place of MM. De Calviere, De +Vogue, and De Trinquelade. + +And down to the present time the name of M. d'Argont is held in +veneration at Nimes, as if he had only quitted the city yesterday. + + + + +*MARY STUART--1587* + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +Some royal names are predestined to misfortune: in France, there is the +name "Henry". Henry I was poisoned, Henry II was killed in a tournament, +Henry III and Henry IV were assassinated. As to Henry V, for whom the +past is so fatal already, God alone knows what the future has in store +for him. + +In Scotland, the unlucky name is "Stuart". Robert I, founder of the +race, died at twenty-eight of a lingering illness. Robert II, the most +fortunate of the family, was obliged to pass a part of his life, not +merely in retirement, but also in the dark, on account of inflammation +of the eyes, which made them blood-red. Robert III succumbed to grief, +the death of one son and the captivity of other. James I was stabbed by +Graham in the abbey of the Black Monks of Perth. James II was killed at +the siege of Roxburgh, by a splinter from a burst cannon. James III was +assassinated by an unknown hand in a mill, where he had taken refuge +during the battle of Sauchie. James IV, wounded by two arrows and a blow +from a halberd, fell amidst his nobles on the battlefield of Flodden. +James V died of grief at the loss of his two sons, and of remorse for +the execution of Hamilton. James VI, destined to unite on his head the +two crowns of Scotland and England, son of a father who had been +assassinated, led a melancholy and timorous existence, between the +scaffold of his mother, Mary Stuart, and that of his son, Charles I. +Charles II spent a portion of his life in exile. James II died in it. +The Chevalier Saint-George, after having been proclaimed King of +Scotland as James VIII, and of England and Ireland as James III, was +forced to flee, without having been able to give his arms even the +lustre of a defeat. His son, Charles Edward, after the skirmish at Derby +and the battle of Culloden, hunted from mountain to mountain, pursued +from rock to rock, swimming from shore to shore, picked up half naked by +a French vessel, betook himself to Florence to die there, without the +European courts having ever consented to recognise him as a sovereign. +Finally, his brother, Henry Benedict, the last heir of the Stuarts, +having lived on a pension of three thousand pounds sterling, granted him +by George III, died completely forgotten, bequeathing to the House of +Hanover all the crown jewels which James II had carried off when he +passed over to the Continent in 1688--a tardy but complete recognition +of the legitimacy of the family which had succeeded his. + +In the midst of this unlucky race, Mary Stuart was the favourite of +misfortune. As Brantome has said of her, "Whoever desires to write about +this illustrious queen of Scotland has, in her, two very, large +subjects, the one her life, the other her death," Brantome had known her +on one of the most mournful occasions of her life--at the moment when +she was quitting France for Scotland. + +It was on the 9th of August, 1561, after having lost her mother and her +husband in the same year, that Mary Stuart, Dowager of France and Queen +of Scotland at nineteen, escorted by her uncles, Cardinals Guise and +Lorraine, by the Duke and Duchess of Guise, by the Duc d'Aumale and M. +de Nemours, arrived at Calais, where two galleys were waiting to take +her to Scotland, one commanded by M. de Mevillon and the other by +Captain Albize. She remained six days in the town. At last, on the 15th +of the month, after the saddest adieus to her family, accompanied by +Messieurs d'Aumale, d'Elboeuf, and Damville, with many nobles, among +whom were Brantome and Chatelard, she embarked in M. Mevillon's galley, +which was immediately ordered to put out to sea, which it did with the +aid of oars, there not being sufficient wind to make use of the sails. + +Mary Stuart was then in the full bloom of her beauty, beauty even more +brilliant in its mourning garb--a beauty so wonderful that it shed +around her a charm which no one whom she wished to please could escape, +and which was fatal to almost everyone. About this time, too, someone +made her the subject of a song, which, as even her rivals confessed, +contained no more than the truth. It was, so it was said, by M. de +Maison-Fleur, a cavalier equally accomplished in arms and letters: Here +it is:-- + +"In robes of whiteness, lo, Full sad and mournfully, Went pacing to and +fro Beauty's divinity; A shaft in hand she bore From Cupid's cruel +store, And he, who fluttered round, Bore, o'er his blindfold eyes And +o'er his head uncrowned, A veil of mournful guise, Whereon the words +were wrought: 'You perish or are caught.'" + +Yes, at this moment, Mary Stuart, in her deep mourning of white, was +more lovely than ever; for great tears were trickling down her cheeks, +as, weaving a handkerchief, standing on the quarterdeck, she who was so +grieved to set out, bowed farewell to those who were so grieved to +remain. + +At last, in half an hour's time, the harbour was left behind; the vessel +was out at sea. Suddenly, Mary heard loud cries behind her: a boat +coming in under press of sail, through her pilot's ignorance had struck +upon a rock in such a manner that it was split open, and after having +trembled and groaned for a moment like someone wounded, began to be +swallowed up, amid the terrified screams of all the crew. Mary, +horror-stricken, pale, dumb, and motionless, watched her gradually sink, +while her unfortunate crew, as the keel disappeared, climbed into the +yards and shrouds, to delay their death-agony a few minutes; finally, +keel, yards, masts, all were engulfed in the ocean's gaping jaws. For a +moment there remained some black specks, which in turn disappeared one +after another; then wave followed upon wave, and the spectators of this +horrible tragedy, seeing the sea calm and solitary as if nothing had +happened, asked themselves if it was not a vision that had appeared to +them and vanished. + +"Alas!" cried Mary, falling on a seat and leaning both arms an the +vessel's stern, "what a sad omen for such a sad voyage!" Then, once more +fixing on the receding harbour her eyes, dried for a moment by terror, +and beginning to moisten anew, "Adieu, France!" she murmured, "adieu, +France!" and for five hours she remained thus, weeping and murmuring, +"Adieu, France! adieu, France!" + +Darkness fell while she was still lamenting; and then, as the view was +blotted out and she was summoned to supper, "It is indeed now, dear +France," said she, rising, "that I really lose you, since jealous night +heaps mourning upon mourning, casting a black veil before my sight. +Adieu then, one last time, dear France; for never shall I see you more." + +With these words, she went below, saying that she was the very opposite +of Dido, who, after the departure of AEneas, had done nothing but look +at the waves, while she, Mary, could not take her eyes off the land. +Then everyone gathered round her to try to divert and console her. But +she, growing sadder, and not being able to respond, so overcome was she +with tears, could hardly eat; and, having had a bed got ready on the +stern deck, she sent for the steersman, and ordered him if he still saw +land at daybreak, to come and wake her immediately. On this point Mary +was favoured; for the wind having dropped, when daybreak came the vessel +was still within sight of France. + +It was a great joy when, awakened by the steersman, who had not +forgotten the order he had received, Mary raised herself on her couch, +and through the window that she had had opened, saw once more the +beloved shore. But at five o'clock in the morning, the wind having +freshened, the vessel rapidly drew farther away, so that soon the land +completely disappeared. Then Mary fell back upon her bed, pale as death, +murmuring yet once again--"Adieu, France! I shall see thee no more." + +Indeed, the happiest years of her life had just passed away in this +France that she so much regretted. Born amid the first religious +troubles, near the bedside of her dying father, the cradle mourning was +to stretch for her to the grave, and her stay in France had been a ray +of sunshine in her night. Slandered from her birth, the report was so +generally spread abroad that she was malformed, and that she could not +live to grow up, that one day her mother, Mary of Guise, tired of these +false rumours, undressed her and showed her naked to the English +ambassador, who had come, on the part of Henry VIII, to ask her in +marriage for the Prince of Wales, himself only five years old. Crowned +at nine months by Cardinal Beaton, archbishop of St. Andrews, she was +immediately hidden by her mother, who was afraid of treacherous dealing +in the King of England, in Stirling Castle. Two years later, not finding +even this fortress safe enough, she removed her to an island in the +middle of the Lake of Menteith, where a priory, the only building in the +place, provided an asylum for the royal child and for four young girls +born in the same year as herself, having like her the sweet name which +is an anagram of the word "aimer," and who, quitting her neither in her +good nor in her evil fortune, were called the "Queen's Marys". They were +Mary Livingston, Mary Fleming, Mary Seyton, and Mary Beaton. Mary stayed +in this priory till Parliament, having approved her marriage with the +French dauphin, son of Henry II, she was taken to Dumbarton Castle, to +await the moment of departure. There she was entrusted to M. de Breze, +sent by Henry II to-fetch her. Having set out in the French galleys +anchored at the mouth of the Clyde, Mary, after having been hotly +pursued by the English fleet, entered Brest harbour, 15th August, 1548, +one year after the death of Francis! Besides the queen's four Marys, the +vessels also brought to France three of her natural brothers, among whom +was the Prior of St. Andrews, James Stuart, who was later to abjure the +Catholic faith, and with the title of Regent, and under the name of the +Earl of Murray, to become so fatal to poor Mary. From Brest, Mary went +to St. Germain-en-Laye, where Henry II, who had just ascended the +throne, overwhelmed her with caresses, and then sent her to a convent +where the heiresses of the noblest French houses were brought up. There +Mary's happy qualities developed. Born with a woman's heart and a man's +head, Mary not only acquired all the accomplishments which constituted +the education of a future queen, but also that real knowledge which is +the object of the truly learned. + +Thus, at fourteen, in the Louvre, before Henry II, Catherine de Medici, +and the whole court, she delivered a discourse in Latin of her own +composition, in which she maintained that it becomes women to cultivate +letters, and that it is unjust and tyrannical to deprive flowery of +their perfumes, by banishing young girls from all but domestic cares. +One can imagine in what manner a future queen, sustaining such a thesis, +was likely to be welcomed in the most lettered and pedantic court in +Europe. Between the literature of Rabelais and Marot verging on their +decline, and that of Ronsard and Montaigne reaching their zenith, Mary +became a queen of poetry, only too happy never to have to wear another +crown than that which Ronsard, Dubellay, Maison-Fleur, and Brantome +placed daily on her head. But she was predestined. In the midst of those +fetes which a waning chivalry was trying to revive came the fatal joust +of Tournelles: Henry II, struck by a splinter of a lance for want of a +visor, slept before his time with his ancestors, and Mary Stuart +ascended the throne of France, where, from mourning for Henry, she +passed to that for her mother, and from mourning for her mother to that +for her husband. Mary felt this last loss both as woman and as poet; her +heart burst forth into bitter tears and plaintive harmonies. Here are +some lines that she composed at this time:-- + +"Into my song of woe, Sung to a low sad air, My cruel grief I throw, For +loss beyond compare; In bitter sighs and tears Go by my fairest years. + +Was ever grief like mine Imposed by destiny? Did ever lady pine, In high +estate, like me, Of whom both heart and eye Within the coffin lie? + +Who, in the tender spring And blossom of my youth, Taste all the +sorrowing Of life's extremest ruth, And take delight in nought Save in +regretful thought. + +All that was sweet and gay Is now a pain to see; The sunniness of day Is +black as night to me; All that was my delight Is hidden from my sight. + +My heart and eye, indeed, One face, one image know, The which this +mournful weed On my sad face doth show, Dyed with the violet's tone That +is the lover's own. + +Tormented by my ill, I go from place to place, But wander as I will My +woes can nought efface; My most of bad and good I find in solitude. + +But wheresoe'er I stay, In meadow or in copse, Whether at break of day +Or when the twilight drops, My heart goes sighing on, Desiring one +that's gone. + +If sometimes to the skies My weary gaze I lift, His gently shining eyes +Look from the cloudy drift, Or stooping o'er the wave I see him in the +grave. + +Or when my bed I seek, And-sleep begins to steal, Again I hear him +speak, Again his touch I feel; In work or leisure, he Is ever near to +me. + +No other thing I see, However fair displayed, By which my heart will be +A tributary made, Not having the perfection Of that, my lost affection. + +Here make an end, my verse, Of this thy sad lament, Whose burden shall +rehearse Pure love of true intent, Which separation's stress Will never +render less." + +"It was then," says Brantorne, "that it was delightful to see her; for +the whiteness of her countenance and of her veil contended together; but +finally the artificial white yielded, and the snow-like pallor of her +face vanquished the other. For it was thus," he adds, "that from the +moment she became a widow, I always saw her with her pale hue, as long +as I had the honour of seeing her in France, and Scotland, where she had +to go in eighteen months' time, to her very great regret, after her +widowhood, to pacify her kingdom, greatly divided by religious troubles. +Alas! she had neither the wish nor the will for it, and I have often +heard her say so, with a fear of this journey like death; for she +preferred a hundred times to dwell in France as a dowager queen, and to +content herself with Touraine and Poitou for her jointure, than to go +and reign over there in her wild country; but her uncles, at least some +of them, not all, advised her, and even urged her to it, and deeply +repented their error." + +Mary was obedient, as we have seen, and she began her journey under such +auspices that when she lost sight of land she was like to die. Then it +was that the poetry of her soul found expression in these famous lines: + + "Farewell, delightful land of France, + My motherland, + The best beloved! + Foster-nurse of my young years! + Farewell, France, and farewell my happy days! + The ship that separates our loves + Has borne away but half of me; + One part is left thee and is throe, + And I confide it to thy tenderness, + That thou may'st hold in mind the other part."' + +_[Translator's note.-It has not been found possible to make a rhymed +version of these lines without sacrificing the simplicity which is their +chief charm.]_ + +This part of herself that Mary left in France was the body of the young +king, who had taken with him all poor Mary's happiness into his tomb. + +Mary had but one hope remaining, that the sight of the English fleet +would compel her little squadron to turn back; but she had to fulfil her +destiny. This same day, a fog, a very unusual occurrence in summer-time, +extended all over the Channel, and caused her to escape the fleet; for +it was such a dense fog that one could not see from stern to mast. It +lasted the whole of Sunday, the day after the departure, and did not +lift till the following day, Monday, at eight o'clock in the morning. +The little flotilla, which all this time had been sailing haphazard, had +got among so many reefs that if the fog had lasted some minutes longer +the galley would certainly have grounded on some rock, and would have +perished like the vessel that had been seen engulfed on leaving port. +But, thanks to the fog's clearing, the pilot recognised the Scottish +coast, and, steering his four boats with great skill through all the +dangers, on the 20th August he put in at Leith, where no preparation had +been made for the queen's reception. Nevertheless, scarcely had she +arrived there than the chief persons of the town met together and came +to felicitate her. Meanwhile, they hastily collected some wretched nags, +with harness all falling in pieces, to conduct the queen to Edinburgh. + +At sight of this, Mary could not help weeping again; for she thought of +the splendid palfreys and hackneys of her French knights and ladies, and +at this first view Scotland appeared to-her in all its poverty. Next day +it was to appear to her in all its wildness. + +After having passed one night at Holyrood Palace, "during which," says +Brantome, "five to six hundred rascals from the town, instead of letting +her sleep, came to give her a wild morning greeting on wretched fiddles +and little rebecks," she expressed a wish to hear mass. Unfortunately, +the people of Edinburgh belonged almost entirely to the Reformed +religion; so that, furious at the queen's giving such a proof of +papistry at her first appearance, they entered the church by force, +armed with knives, sticks and stones, with the intention of putting to +death the poor priest, her chaplain. He left the altar, and took refuge +near the queen, while Mary's brother, the Prior of St. Andrews, who was +more inclined from this time forward to be a soldier than an +ecclesiastic, seized a sword, and, placing himself between the people +and the queen, declared that he would kill with his own hand the first +man who should take another step. This firmness, combined with the +queen's imposing and dignified air, checked the zeal of the Reformers. + +As we have said, Mary had arrived in the midst of all the heat of the +first religious wars. A zealous Catholic, like all her family on the +maternal side, she inspired the Huguenots with the gravest fears: +besides, a rumour had got about that Mary, instead of landing at Leith, +as she had been obliged by the fog, was to land at Aberdeen. There, it +was said, she would have found the Earl of Huntly, one of the peers who +had remained loyal to the Catholic faith, and who, next to the family of +Hamilton, was, the nearest and most powerful ally of the royal house. +Seconded by him and by twenty thousand soldiers from the north, she +would then have marched upon Edinburgh, and have re-established the +Catholic faith throughout Scotland. Events were not slow to prove that +this accusation was false. + +As we have stated, Mary was much attached to the Prior of St. Andrews, a +son of James V and of a noble descendant of the Earls of Mar, who had +been very handsome in her youth, and who, in spite of the well-known +love for her of James V, and the child who had resulted, had none the +less wedded Lord Douglas of Lochleven, by whom she had had two other +sons, the elder named William and the younger George, who were thus +half-brothers of the regent. Now, scarcely had she reascended the throne +than Mary had restored to the Prior of St. Andrews the title of Earl of +Mar, that of his maternal ancestors, and as that of the Earl of Murray +had lapsed since the death of the famous Thomas Randolph, Mary, in her +sisterly friendship for James Stuart, hastened to add, this title to +those which she had already bestowed upon him. + +But here difficulties and complications arose; for the new Earl of +Murray, with his character, was not a man to content himself with a +barren title, while the estates which were crown property since the +extinction of the male branch of the old earls, had been gradually +encroached upon by powerful neighbours, among whom was the famous Earl +of Huntly, whom we have already mentioned: the result was that, as the +queen judged that in this quarter her orders would probably encounter +opposition, under pretext of visiting her possessions in the north, she +placed herself at the head of a small army, commanded by her brother, +the Earl of Mar and Murray. + +The Earl of Huntly was the less duped by the apparent pretext of this +expedition, in that his son, John Cordon, for some abuse of his powers, +had just been condemned to a temporary imprisonment. He, +notwithstanding, made every possible submission to the queen, sending +messengers in advance to invite-her to rest in his castle; and following +up the messengers in person, to renew his invitation viva voce. +Unfortunately, at the very moment when he was about to join the queen, +the governor of Inverness, who was entirely devoted to him, was refusing +to allow Mary to enter this castle, which was a royal one. It is true +that Murray, aware that it does not do to hesitate in the face of such +rebellions, had already had him executed for high treason. + +This new act of firmness showed Huntly that the young queen was not +disposed to allow the Scottish lords a resumption of the almost +sovereign power humbled by her father; so that, in spite of the +extremely kind reception she accorded him, as he learned while in camp +that his son, having escaped from prison, had just put himself at the +head of his vassals, he was afraid that he should be thought, as +doubtless he was, a party to the rising, and he set out the same night +to assume command of his troops, his mind made up, as Mary only had with +her seven to eight thousand men, to risk a battle, giving out, however, +as Buccleuch had done in his attempt to snatch James V from the hands of +the Douglases, that it was not at the queen he was aiming, but solely at +the regent, who kept her under his tutelage and perverted her good +intentions. + +Murray, who knew that often the entire peace of a reign depends on the +firmness one displays at its beginning, immediately summoned all the +northern barons whose estates bordered on his, to march against Huntly. +All obeyed, for the house of Cordon was already so powerful that each +feared it might become still more so; but, however, it was clear that if +there was hatred for the subject there was no great affection for the +queen, and that the greater number came without fixed intentions and +with the idea of being led by circumstances. + +The two armies encountered near Aberdeen. Murray at once posted the +troops he had brought from Edinburgh, and of which he was sure, on the +top of rising ground, and drew up in tiers on the hill slope all his +northern allies. Huntly advanced resolutely upon them, and attacked his +neighbours the Highlanders, who after a short resistance retired in +disorder. His men immediately threw away their lances, and, drawing +their swords, crying, "Cordon, Cordon!" pursued the fugitives, and +believed they had already gained the battle, when they suddenly ran +right against the main body of Murray's army, which remained motionless +as a rampart of iron, and which, with its long lances, had the advantage +of its adversaries, who were armed only with their claymores. It was +then the turn of the Cordons to draw back, seeing which, the northern +clans rallied and returned to the fight, each soldier having a sprig of +heather in his cap that his comrades might recognise him. This +unexpected movement determined the day: the Highlanders ran down the +hillside like a torrent, dragging along with them everyone who could +have wished to oppose their passage. Then Murray seeing that the moment +had come for changing the defeat into a rout, charged with his entire +cavalry: Huntly, who was very stout and very heavily armed, fell and was +crushed beneath the horses' feet; John Cordon, taken prisoner in his +flight, was executed at Aberdeen three days afterwards; finally, his +brother, too young to undergo the same fate at this time, was shut up in +a dungeon and executed later, the day he reached the age of sixteen. + +Mary had been present at the battle, and the calm and courage she +displayed had made a lively impression on her wild defenders, who all +along the road had heard her say that she would have liked to be a man, +to pass her days on horseback, her nights under a tent, to wear a coat +of mail, a helmet, a buckler, and at her side a broadsword. + +Mary made her entry into Edinburgh amid general enthusiasm; for this +expedition against the Earl of Huntly, who was a Catholic, had been very +popular among the inhabitants, who had no very clear idea of the real +motives which had caused her to undertake it: They were of the Reformed +faith, the earl was a papist, there was an enemy the less; that is all +they thought about. Now, therefore; the Scotch, amid their acclamations, +whether viva voce or by written demands, expressed the wish that their +queen, who was without issue by Francis II, should re-marry: Mary agreed +to this, and, yielding to the prudent advice of those about her, she +decided to consult upon this marriage Elizabeth, whose heir she was, in +her title of granddaughter of Henry VII, in the event of the Queen of +England's dying without posterity. Unfortunately, she had not always +acted with like circumspection; for at the death of Mary Tudor, known as +Bloody. Mary, she had laid claim to the throne of Henry VIII, and, +relying on the illegitimacy of Elizabeth's birth, had with the dauphin +assumed sovereignty over Scotland, England, and Ireland, and had had +coins struck with this new title, and plate engraved with these new +armorial bearings. + +Elizabeth was nine years older than Mary--that is to say, that at this +time she had not yet attained her thirtieth year; she was not merely her +rival as queen, then, but as woman. As regards education, she could +sustain comparison with advantage; for if she had less charm of mind, +she had more solidity of judgment: versed in politics, philosophy, +history; rhetoric, poetry and music, besides English, her maternal +tongue, she spoke and wrote to perfection Greek, Latin, French, Italian +and Spanish; but while Elizabeth excelled Mary on this point, in her +turn Mary was more beautiful, and above all more attractive, than her +rival. Elizabeth had, it is true, a majestic and agreeable appearance, +bright quick eyes, a dazzlingly white complexion; but she had red hair, +a large foot,--[Elizabeth bestowed a pair of her shoes on the University +of Oxford; their size would point to their being those of a man of +average stature.]--and a powerful hand, while Mary, on the contrary, +with her beautiful ashy-fair hair,--[Several historians assert that Mary +Stuart had black hair; but Brantome, who had seen it, since, as we have +said, he accompanied her to Scotland, affirms that it was fair. And, so +saying, he (the executioner) took off her headdress, in a contemptuous +manner, to display her hair already white, that while alive, however, +she feared not to show, nor yet to twist and frizz as in the days when +it was so beautiful and so fair.]--her noble open forehead, eyebrows +which could be only blamed for being so regularly arched that they +looked as if drawn by a pencil, eyes continually beaming with the +witchery of fire, a nose of perfect Grecian outline, a mouth so ruby red +and gracious that it seemed that, as a flower opens but to let its +perfume escape, so it could not open but to give passage to gentle +words, with a neck white and graceful as a swan's, hands of alabaster, +with a form like a goddess's and a foot like a child's, Mary was a +harmony in which the most ardent enthusiast for sculptured form could +have found nothing to reproach. + +This was indeed Mary's great and real crime: one single imperfection in +face or figure, and she would not have died upon the scaffold. Besides, +to Elizabeth, who had never seen her, and who consequently could only +judge by hearsay, this beauty was a great cause of uneasiness and of +jealousy, which she could not even disguise, and which showed itself +unceasingly in eager questions. One day when she was chatting with James +Melville about his mission to her court, Mary's offer to be guided by +Elizabeth in her choice of a husband,--a choice which the queen of +England had seemed at first to wish to see fixed on the Earl of +Leicester,--she led the Scotch ambassador into a cabinet, where she +showed him several portraits with labels in her own handwriting: the +first was one of the Earl of Leicester. As this nobleman was precisely +the suitor chosen by Elizabeth, Melville asked the queen to give it him +to show to his mistress; but Elizabeth refused, saying that it was the +only one she had. Melville then replied, smiling, that being in +possession of the original she might well part with the copy; but +Elizabeth would on no account consent. This little discussion ended, she +showed him the portrait of Mary Stuart, which she kissed very tenderly, +expressing to Melville a great wish to see his mistress. "That is very +easy, madam," he replied: "keep your room, on the pretext that you are +indisposed, and set out incognito for Scotland, as King James V set out +for France when he wanted to see Madeleine de Valois, whom he afterwards +married." + +"Alas!" replied Elizabeth, "I would like to do so, but it is not so easy +as you think. Nevertheless, tell your queen that I love her tenderly, +and that I wish we could live more in friendship than we have done up to +the present". Then passing to a subject which she seemed to have wanted +to broach for a long time, "Melville," she continued, "tell me frankly, +is my sister as beautiful as they say?" + +"She has that reputation," replied Melville; "but I cannot give your +Majesty any idea of hex beauty, having no point of comparison." + +"I will give you one," the queen said. "Is she more beautiful than I?" + +"Madam," replied Melville, "you are the most beautiful woman in England, +and Mary Stuart is the most beautiful woman in Scotland." + +"Then which of the two is the taller?" asked Elizabeth, who was not +entirely satisfied by this answer, clever as it was. + +"My mistress, madam," responded Melville; "I am obliged to confess it." + +"Then she is too tall," Elizabeth said sharply, "for I am tall enough. +And what are her favourite amusements?" she continued. + +"Madam," Melville replied, "hunting, riding, performing on the lute and +the harpischord." + +"Is she skilled upon the latter?" Elizabeth inquired. "Oh yes, madam," +answered Melville; "skilled enough for a queen." + +There the conversation stopped; but as Elizabeth was herself an +excellent musician, she commanded Lord Hunsdon to bring Melville to her +at a time when she was at her harpischord, so that he could hear her +without her seeming to have the air of playing for him. In fact, the +same day, Hunsdon, agreeably to her instructions, led the ambassador +into a gallery separated from the queen's apartment merely by tapestry, +so that his guide having raised it. Melville at his leisure could hear +Elizabeth, who did not turn round until she had finished the piece, +which, however, she was playing with much skill. When she saw Melville, +she pretended to fly into a passion, and even wanted to strike him; but +her anger calmed down by little and little at the ambassador's +compliments, and ceased altogether when he admitted that Mary Stuart was +not her equal. But this was not all: proud of her triumph, Elizabeth +desired also that Melville should see her dance. Accordingly, she kept +back her despatches for two days that he might be present at a ball that +she was giving. These despatches, as we have said, contained the wish +that Mary Stuart should espouse Leicester; but this proposal could not +be taken seriously. Leicester, whose personal worth was besides +sufficiently mediocre, was of birth too inferior to aspire to the hand +of the daughter of so many kings; thus Mary replied that such an +alliance would not become her. Meanwhile, something strange and tragic +came to pass. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +Among the lords who had followed Mary Stuart to Scotland was, as we have +mentioned, a young nobleman named Chatelard, a true type of the nobility +of that time, a nephew of Bayard on his mother's side, a poet and a +knight, talented and courageous, and attached to Marshal Damville, of +whose household he formed one. Thanks to this high position, Chatelard, +throughout her stay in France, paid court to Mary Stuart, who, in the +homage he rendered her in verse, saw nothing more than those poetical +declarations of gallantry customary in that age, and with which she +especially was daily overwhelmed. But it happened that about the time +when Chatelard was most in love with the queen she was obliged to leave +France, as we have said. Then Marshal Damville, who knew nothing of +Chatelard's passion, and who himself, encouraged by Mary's kindness, was +among the candidates to succeed Francis II as husband, set out for +Scotland with the poor exile, taking Chatelard with him, and, not +imagining he would find a rival in him, he made a confidant of him, and +left him with Mary when he was obliged to leave her, charging the young +poet to support with her the interests of his suit. This post as +confidant brought Mary and Chatelard more together; and, as in her +capacity as poet, the queen treated him like a brother, he made bold in +his passion to risk all to obtain another title. Accordingly, one +evening he got into Mary Stuart's room, and hid himself under the bed; +but at the moment when the queen was beginning to undress, a little dog +she had began to yelp so loudly that her women came running at his +barking, and, led by this indication, perceived Chatelard. A woman +easily pardons a crime for which too great love is the excuse: Mary +Stuart was woman before being queen--she pardoned. + +But this kindness only increased Chatelard's confidence: he put down the +reprimand he had received to the presence of the queen's women, and +supposed that if she had been alone she would have forgiven him still +more completely; so that, three weeks after, this same scene was +repeated. But this time, Chatelard, discovered in a cupboard, when the +queen was already in bed, was placed under arrest. + +The moment was badly chosen: such a scandal, just when the queen was +about to re-marry, was fatal to Mary, let alone to Chatelard. Murray +took the affair in hand, and, thinking that a public trial could alone +save his sister's reputation, he urged the prosecution with such vigour, +that Chatelard, convicted of the crime of lese-majeste, was condemned to +death. Mary entreated her brother that Chatelard might be sent back to +France; but Murray made her see what terrible consequences such a use of +her right of pardon might have, so that Mary was obliged to let justice +take its course: Chatelard was led to execution. Arrived on the +scaffold, which was set up before the queen's palace, Chatelard, who had +declined the services of a priest, had Ronsard's Ode on Death read; and +when the reading, which he followed with evident pleasure, was ended, he +turned--towards the queen's windows, and, having cried out for the last +time, "Adieu, loveliest and most cruel of princesses!" he stretched out +his neck to the executioner, without displaying any repentance or +uttering any complaint. This death made all the more impression upon +Mary, that she did not dare to show her sympathy openly. + +Meanwhile there was a rumour that the queen of Scotland was consenting +to a new marriage, and several suitors came forward, sprung from the +principal reigning families of Europe: first, the Archduke Charles, +third son of the Emperor of Germany; then the Duke of Anjou, who +afterwards became Henry III. But to wed a foreign prince was to give up +her claims to the English crown. So Mary refused, and, making a merit of +this to Elizabeth, she cast her eyes on a relation of the latter's, +Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, son of the Earl of Lennox. Elizabeth, who +had nothing plausible to urge against this marriage, since the Queen of +Scotland not only chose an Englishman for husband, but was marrying into +her own family, allowed the Earl of Lennox and his son to go to the +Scotch court, reserving it to herself, if matters appeared to take a +serious turn, to recall them both--a command which they would be +constrained to obey, since all their property was in England. + +Darnley was eighteen years of age: he was handsome, well-made, elegant; +he talked in that attractive manner of the young nobles of the French +and English courts that Mary no longer heard since her exile in +Scotland; she let herself be deceived by these appearances, and did not +see that under this brilliant exterior Darnley hid utter insignificance, +dubious courage, and a fickle and churlish character. It is true that he +came to her under the auspices of a man whose influence was as striking +as the risen fortune which gave him the opportunity to exert it. We +refer to David Rizzio. + +David Rizzio, who played such a great part in the life of Mary Stuart, +whose strange favour for him has given her enemies, probably without any +cause, such cruel weapons against her, was the son of a Turin musician +burdened with a numerous family, who, recognising in him a pronounced +musical taste, had him instructed in the first principles of the art. At +the age of fifteen he had left his father's house and had gone on foot +to Nice, where the Duke of Savoy held his court; there he entered the +service of the Duke of Moreto, and this lord having been appointed, some +years afterwards, to the Scottish embassy, Rizzio followed him to +Scotland. As this young man had a very fine voice, and accompanied on +the viol and fiddle songs of which both the airs and the words were of +his own composition, the ambassador spoke of him to Mary, who wished to +see him. Rizzio, full of confidence in himself, and seeing in the +queen's desire a road to success, hastened to obey her command, sang +before her, and pleased her. She begged him then of Moreto, making no +more of it than if she had asked of him a thoroughbred dog or a +well-trained falcon. Moreta presented him to her, delighted at finding +such an opportunity to pay his court; but scarcely was Rizzio in her +service than Mary discovered that music was the least of his gifts, that +he possessed, besides that, education if not profound at least varied, a +supple mind, a lively imagination, gentle ways, and at the same time +much boldness and presumption. He reminded her of those Italian artists +whom she had seen at the French court, and spoke to her the tongue of +Marot and Ronsard, whose most beautiful poems he knew by heart: this was +more than enough to please Mary Stuart. In a short time he became her +favourite, and meanwhile the place of secretary for the French +despatches falling vacant, Rizzio was provided for with it. + +Darnley, who wished to succeed at all costs, enlisted Rizzio in his +interests, unconscious that he had no need of this support; and as, on +her side, Mary, who had fallen in love with him at first sight, fearing +some new intrigue of Elizabeth's, hastened on this union so far as the +proprieties permitted, the affair moved forward with wonderful rapidity; +and in the midst of public rejoicing, with the approbation of the +nobility, except for a small minority, with Murray at its head, the +marriage was solemnised under the happiest auspices, 29th July 1565. Two +days before, Darnley and his father, the Earl of Lennox, had received a +command to return to London, and as they had not obeyed it, a week after +the celebration of the marriage they learned that the Countess of +Lennox, the only one of the family remaining in Elizabeth's power, had +been arrested and taken to the Tower. Thus Elizabeth, in spite of her +dissimulation, yielding to that first impulse of violence that she +always had such trouble to overcome, publicly displayed her resentment. + +However, Elizabeth was not the woman to be satisfied with useless +vengeance: she soon released the countess, and turned her eyes towards +Murray, the most discontented of the nobles in opposition, who by this +marriage was losing all his personal influence. It was thus easy for +Elizabeth to put arms in his hand. In fact, when he had failed in his +first attempt to seize Darnley, he called to his aid the Duke of +Chatellerault, Glencairn, Argyll, and Rothes, and collecting what +partisans they could, they openly rebelled against the queen. This was +the first ostensible act of that hatred which was afterwards so fatal to +Mary. + +The queen, on her side, appealed to her nobles, who in response hastened +to rally to her, so that in a month's time she found herself at the head +of the finest army that ever a king of Scotland had raised. Darnley +assumed the command of this magnificent assembly, mounted on a superb +horse, arrayed in gilded armour; and accompanied by the queen, who, in a +riding habit, with pistols at her saddle-bow, wished to make the +campaign with him, that she might not quit his side for a moment. Both +were young, both were handsome, and they left Edinburgh amidst the +cheers of the people and the army. + +Murray and his accomplices did not even try to stand against them, and +the campaign consisted of such rapid and complex marches and +counter-marches, that this rebellion is called the Run-about Raid-that +is to say, the run in every sense of the word. Murray and the rebels +withdrew into England, where Elizabeth, while seeming to condemn their +unlucky attempt, afforded them all the assistance they needed. + +Mary returned to Edinburgh delighted at the success of her two first +campaigns, not suspecting that this new good fortune was the last she +would have, and that there her short-lived prosperity would cease. +Indeed, she soon saw that in Darnley she had given herself not a devoted +and very attentive husband, as she had believed, but an imperious and +brutal master, who, no longer having any motive for concealment, showed +himself to her just as he was, a man of disgraceful vices, of which +drunkenness and debauchery was the least. Accordingly, serious +differences were not long in springing up in this royal household. + +Darnley in wedding Mary had not become king, but merely the queen's +husband. To confer on him authority nearly equalling a regent's, it was +necessary that Mary should grant him what was termed the crown +matrimonial--a crown Francis II had worn during his short royalty, and +that Mary, after Darnley's conduct to herself, had not the slightest +intention of bestowing on him. Thus, to whatever entreaties he made, in +whatever form they were wrapped, Mary merely replied with an unvaried +and obstinate refusal. Darnley, amazed at this force of will in a young +queen who had loved him enough to raise him to her, and not believing +that she could find it in herself, sought in her entourage for some +secret and influential adviser who might have inspired her with it. His +suspicions fell on Rizzio. + +In reality, to whatever cause Rizzio owed his power (and to even the +most clear-sighted historians this point has always remained obscure), +be it that he ruled as lover, be it that he advised as minister, his +counsels as long as he lived were always given for the greater glory of +the queen. Sprung from so low, he at least wished to show himself +worthy, of having risen so high, and owing everything to Mary, he tried +to repay her with devotion. Thus Darnley was not mistaken, and it was +indeed Rizzio who, in despair at having helped to bring about a union +which he foresaw must become so unfortunate, gave Mary the advice not to +give up any of her power to one who already possessed much more than he +deserved, in possessing her person. + +Darnley, like all persons of both weak and violent character, +disbelieved in the persistence of will in others, unless this will was +sustained by an outside influence. He thought that in ridding himself of +Rizzio he could not fail to gain the day, since, as he believed, he +alone was opposing the grant of this great desire of his, the crown +matrimonial. Consequently, as Rizzio was disliked by the nobles in +proportion as his merits had raised him above them, it was easy for +Darnley to organise a conspiracy, and James Douglas of Morton, +chancellor of the kingdom, consented to act as chief. + +This is the second time since the beginning of our narrative that we +inscribe this name Douglas, so often pronounced, in Scottish history, +and which at this time, extinct in the elder branch, known as the Black +Douglases, was perpetuated in the younger branch, known as the Red +Douglases. It was an ancient, noble, and powerful family, which, when +the descent in the male line from Robert Bruce had lapsed, disputed the +royal title with the first Stuart, and which since then had constantly +kept alongside the throne, sometimes its support, sometimes its enemy, +envying every great house, for greatness made it uneasy, but above all +envious of the house of Hamilton, which, if not its equal, was at any +rate after itself the next most powerful. + +During the whole reign of James V, thanks to the hatred which the king +bore them, the Douglases had: not only lost all their influence, but had +also been exiled to England. This hatred was on account of their having +seized the guardianship of the young prince and kept him prisoner till +he was fifteen. Then, with the help of one of his pages, James V had +escaped from Falkland, and had reached Stirling, whose governor was in +his interests. Scarcely was he safe in the castle than he made +proclamation that any Douglas who should approach within a dozen miles +of it would be prosecuted for high treason. This was not all: he +obtained a decree from Parliament, declaring them guilty of felony, and +condemning them to exile; they remained proscribed, then, during the +king's lifetime, and returned to Scotland only upon his death. The +result was that, although they had been recalled about the throne, and +though, thanks to the past influence of Murray, who, one remembers, was +a Douglas on the mother's side, they filled the most important posts +there, they had not forgiven to the daughter the enmity borne them by +the father. + +This was why James Douglas, chancellor as he was, and consequently +entrusted with the execution of the laws, put himself at the head of a +conspiracy which had for its aim the violation of all laws; human and +divine. + +Douglas's first idea had been to treat Rizzio as the favourites of James +III had been treated at the Bridge of Lauder--that is to say, to make a +show of having a trial and to hang him afterwards. But such a death did +not suffice for Darnley's vengeance; as above everything he wished to +punish the queen in Rizzio's person, he exacted that the murder should +take place in her presence. + +Douglas associated with himself Lord Ruthven, an idle and dissolute +sybarite, who under the circumstances promised to push his devotion so +far as to wear a cuirass; then, sure of this important accomplice, he +busied himself with finding other agents. + +However, the plot was not woven with such secrecy but that something of +it transpired; and Rizzio received several warnings that he despised. +Sir James Melville, among others, tried every means to make him +understand the perils a stranger ran who enjoyed such absolute +confidence in a wild, jealous court like that of Scotland. Rizzio +received these hints as if resolved not to apply them to himself; and +Sir James Melville, satisfied that he had done enough to ease his +conscience, did not insist further. Then a French priest, who had a +reputation as a clever astrologer, got himself admitted to Rizzio, and +warned him that the stars predicted that he was in deadly peril, and +that he should beware of a certain bastard above all. Rizzio replied +that from the day when he had been honoured with his sovereign's +confidence, he had sacrificed in advance his life to his position; that +since that time, however, he had had occasion to notice that in general +the Scotch were ready to threaten but slow to act; that, as to the +bastard referred to, who was doubtless the Earl of Murray, he would take +care that he should never enter Scotland far enough for his sword to +reach him, were it as long as from Dumfries to Edinburgh; which in other +words was as much as to say that Murray should remain exiled in England +for life, since Dumfries was one of the principal frontier towns. + +Meanwhile the conspiracy proceeded, and Douglas and Ruthven, having +collected their accomplices and taken their measures, came to Darnley to +finish the compact. As the price of the bloody service they rendered the +king, they exacted from him a promise to obtain the pardon of Murray and +the nobles compromised with him in the affair of the "run in every +sense". Darnley granted all they asked of him, and a messenger was sent +to Murray to inform him of the expedition in preparation, and to invite +him to hold himself in readiness to reenter Scotland at the first notice +he should receive. Then, this point settled, they made Darnley sign a +paper in which he acknowledged himself the author and chief of the +enterprise. The other assassins were the Earl of Morton, the Earl of +Ruthven, George Douglas the bastard of Angus, Lindley, and Andrew, +Carew. The remainder were soldiers, simple murderers' tools, who did not +even know what was afoot. Darnley reserved it for himself to appoint the +time. + +Two days after these conditions were agreed upon, Darnley having been +notified that the queen was alone with Rizzio, wished to make himself +sure of the degree of her favour enjoyed by the minister. He accordingly +went to her apartment by a little door of which he always kept the key +upon him; but though the key turned in the lock, the door did not open. +Then Darnley knocked, announcing himself; but such was the contempt into +which he had fallen with the queen, that Mary left him outside, +although, supposing she had been alone with Rizzio, she would have had +time to send him away. Darnley, driven to extremities by this, summoned +Morton, Ruthven, Lennox, Lindley, and Douglas's bastard, and fixed the +assassination of Rizzio for two days later. + +They had just completed all the details, and had, distributed the parts +that each must play in this bloody tragedy, when suddenly, and at the +moment when they least expected it, the door opened and, Mary Stuart +appeared on the threshold. + +"My lords," said she, "your holding these secret counsels is useless. I +am informed of your plots, and with God's help I shall soon apply a +remedy". + +With these words, and before the conspirators hid had time to collect +themselves, she shut the door again, and vanished like a passing but +threatening vision. All remained thunderstruck. Morton was the first to +find his tongue. + +"My lords," said he, "this is a game of life and death, and the winner +will not be the cleverest or the strongest, but the readiest. If we do +not destroy this man, we are lost. We must strike him down, this very +evening, not the day after to-morrow." + +Everyone applauded, even Ruthven, who, still pale and feverish from +riotous living, promised not to be behindhand. The only point changed, +on Morton's suggestion, was that the murder should take place next day; +for, in the opinion of all, not less than a day's interval was needed to +collect the minor conspirators, who numbered not less than five hundred. + +The next day, which was Saturday, March 9th, 1566, Mary Stuart, who had +inherited from her father, James V, a dislike of ceremony and the need +of liberty, had invited to supper with her six persons, Rizzio among the +number. Darnley, informed of this in the morning, immediately gave +notice of it to the conspirators, telling them that he himself would let +them into the palace between six and seven o'clock in the evening. The +conspirators replied that they would be in readiness. + +The morning had been dark and stormy, as nearly all the first days of +spring are in Scotland, and towards evening the snow and wind redoubled +in depth and violence. So Mary had remained shut up with Rizzio, and +Darnley, who had gone to the secret door several times, could hear the +sound of instruments and the voice of the favourite, who was singing +those sweet melodies which have come down to our time, and which +Edinburgh people still attribute to him. These songs were for Mary a +reminder of her stay in France, where the artists in the train of the +Medicis had already brought echoes from Italy; but for Darnley they were +an insult, and each time he had withdrawn strengthened in his design. + +At the appointed time, the conspirators, who had been given the password +during the day, knocked at the palace gate, and were received there so +much the more easily that Darnley himself, wrapped in a great cloak, +awaited them at the postern by which they were admitted. The five +hundred soldiers immediately stole into an inner courtyard, where they +placed themselves under some sheds, as much to keep themselves from the +cold as that they might not be seen on the snow-covered ground. A +brightly lighted window looked into this courtyard; it was that of the +queen's study: at the first signal give them from this window, the +soldiers were to break in the door and go to the help of the chief +conspirators. + +These instructions given, Darnley led Morton, Ruthven, Lennox, Lindley, +Andrew Carew, and Douglas's bastard into the room adjoining the study, +and only separated from it by a tapestry hanging before the door. From +there one could overhear all that was being said, and at a single bound +fall upon the guests. + +Darnley left them in this room, enjoining silence; then, giving them as +a signal to enter the moment when they should hear him cry, "To me, +Douglas!" he went round by the secret passage, so that seeing him come +in by his usual door the queen's suspicions might not be roused by his +unlooked-for visit. + +Mary was at supper with six persons, having, say de Thou and Melville, +Rizzio seated on her right; while, on the contrary, Carapden assures us +that he was eating standing at a sideboard. The talk was gay and +intimate; for all were giving themselves up to the ease one feels at +being safe and warm, at a hospitable board, while the snow is beating +against the windows and the wind roaring in the chimneys. Suddenly Mary, +surprised that the most profound silence had succeeded to the lively and +animated flow of words among her guests since the beginning of supper, +and suspecting, from their glances, that the cause of their uneasiness +was behind her, turned round and saw Darnley leaning on the back of her +chair. The queen shuddered; for although her husband was smiling when +looking at Rizzio, this smile lead assumed such a strange expression +that it was clear that something terrible was about to happen. At the +same moment, Mary heard in the next room a heavy, dragging step drew +near the cabinet, then the tapestry was raised, and Lord Ruthven, in +armour of which he could barely support the weight, pale as a ghost, +appeared on the threshold, and, drawing his sword in silence, leaned +upon it. + +The queen thought he was delirious. + +"What do you want, my lord?" she said to him; "and why do you come to +the palace like this?" + +"Ask the king, madam," replied Ruthven in an indistinct voice. "It is +for him to answer." + +"Explain, my lord," Mary demanded, turning again towards Darnley; "what +does such a neglect of ordinary propriety mean?" + +"It means, madam," returned Darnley, pointing to Rizzio, "that that man +must leave here this very minute." + +"That man is mine, my lord," Mary said, rising proudly, "and +consequently takes orders only from me." + +"To me, Douglas!" cried Darnley. + +At these words, the conspirators, who for some moments had drawn nearer +Ruthven, fearing, so changeable was Darnley's character, lest he had +brought them in vain and would not dare to utter the signal--at these +words, the conspirators rushed into the room with such haste that they +overturned the table. Then David Rizzio, seeing that it was he alone +they wanted, threw himself on his knees behind the queen, seizing the +hem of her robe and crying in Italian, "Giustizia! giustizia!" Indeed, +the queen, true to her character, not allowing herself to be intimidated +by this terrible irruption, placed herself in front of Rizzio and +sheltered him behind her Majesty. But she counted too much on the +respect of a nobility accustomed to struggle hand to hand with its kings +for five centuries. Andrew Carew held a dagger to her breast and +threatened to kill her if she insisted on defending any longer him whose +death was resolved upon. Then Darnley, without consideration for the +queen's pregnancy, seized her round the waist and bore her away from +Rizzio, who remained on his knees pale and trembling, while Douglas's +bastard, confirming the prediction of the astrologer who had warned +Rizzio to beware of a certain bastard, drawing the king's own dagger, +plunged it into the breast of the minister, who fell wounded, but not +dead. Morton immediately took him by the feet and dragged him from the +cabinet into the larger room, leaving on the floor that long track of +blood which is still shown there; then, arrived there, each rushed upon +him as upon a quarry, and set upon the corpse, which they stabbed in +fifty-six places. Meanwhile Darnley held the queen, who, thinking that +all was not over, did not cease crying for mercy. But Ruthven came back, +paler than at first, and at Darnley's inquiry if Rizzio were dead, he +nodded in the affirmative; then, as he could not bear further fatigue in +his convalescent state, he sat down, although the queen, whom Darnley +had at last released, remained standing on the same spot. At this Mary +could not contain herself. + +"My lord," cried she, "who has given you permission to sit down in my +presence, and whence comes such insolence?" + +"Madam," Ruthven answered, "I act thus not from insolence, but from +weakness; for, to serve your husband, I have just taken more exercise +than my doctors allow". Then turning round to a servant, "Give me a +glass of wine," said he, showing Darnley his bloody dagger before +putting it back in its sheath, "for here is the proof that I have well +earned it". The servant obeyed, and Ruthven drained his glass with as +much calmness as if he had just performed the most innocent act. + +"My lord," the queen then said, taking a step towards him, "it may be +that as I am a woman, in spite of my desire and my will, I never find an +opportunity to repay you what you are doing to me; but," she added, +energetically striking her womb with her hand, "he whom I bear there, +and whose life you should have respected, since you respect my Majesty +so little, will one day revenge me for all these insults". Then, with a +gesture at once superb and threatening, she withdrew by Darnley's door, +which she closed behind her. + +At that moment a great noise was heard in the queen's room. Huntly, +Athol, and Bothwell, who, we are soon about to see, play such an +important part in the sequel of this history, were supping together in +another hall of the palace, when suddenly they had heard outcries and +the clash of arms, so that they had run with all speed. When Athol, who +came first, without knowing whose it was, struck against the dead body +of Rizzio, which was stretched at the top of the staircase, they +believed, seeing someone assassinated, that the lives of the king and +queen were threatened, and they had drawn their swords to force the door +that Morton was guarding. But directly Darnley understood what was going +on, he darted from the cabinet, followed by Ruthven, and showing himself +to the newcomers-- + +"My lords," he said, "the persons of the queen and myself are safe, and +nothing has occurred here but by our orders. Withdraw, then; you will +know more about it in time. As to him," he added, holding up Rizzio's +head by the hair, whilst the bastard of Douglas lit up the face with a +torch so that it could be recognised, "you see who it is, and whether it +is worth your while to get into trouble for him". + +And in fact, as soon as Huntly, Athol, and Bothwell had recognised the +musician-minister, they sheathed their swords, and, having saluted the +king, went away. + +Mary had gone away with a single thought in her heart, vengeance. But +she understood that she could not revenge herself at one and the same +time on her husband and his companions: she set to work, then, with all +the charms of her wit and beauty to detach the kind from his +accomplices. It was not a difficult task: when that brutal rage which +often carried Darnley beyond all bounds was spent, he was frightened +himself at the crime he had committed, and while the assassins, +assembled by Murray, were resolving that he should have that greatly +desired crown matrimonial, Darnley, as fickle as he was violent, and as +cowardly as he was cruel, in Mary's very room, before the scarcely dried +blood, made another compact, in which he engaged to deliver up his +accomplices. Indeed, three days after the event that we have just +related, the murderers learned a strange piece of news--that Darnley and +Mary, accompanied by Lord Seyton, had escaped together from Holyrood +Palace. Three days later still, a proclamation appeared, signed by Mary +and dated from Dunbar, which summoned round the queen, in her own name +and the king's, all the Scottish lords and barons, including those who +had been compromised in the affair of the "run in every sense," to whom +she not only granted full and complete pardon, but also restored her +entire confidence. In this way she separated Murray's cause from that of +Morton and the other assassins, who, in their turn, seeing that there +was no longer any safety for them in Scotland, fled to England, where +all the queen's enemies were always certain to find a warm welcome, in +spite of the good relations which reigned in appearance between Mary and +Elizabeth. As to Bothwell, who had wanted to oppose the assassination, +he was appointed Warden of all the Marches of the Kingdom. + +Unfortunately for her honour, Mary, always more the woman than the +queen, while, on the contrary, Elizabeth was always more the queen than +the woman, had no sooner regained her power than her first royal act was +to exhume Rizzio, who had been quietly buried on the threshold of the +chapel nearest Holyrood Palace, and to have him removed to the +burial-place of the Scottish kings, compromising herself still more by +the honours she paid him dead than by the favour she had granted him +living. + +Such an imprudent demonstration naturally led to fresh quarrels between +Mary and Darnley: these quarrels were the more bitter that, as one can +well understand, the reconciliation between the husband and wife, at +least on the latter's side, had never been anything but a pretence; so +that, feeling herself in a stronger position still on account of her +pregnancy, she restrained herself no longer, and, leaving Darnley, she +went from Dunbar to Edinburgh Castle, where on June 19th, 1566, three +months after the assassination of Rizzio, she gave birth to a son who +afterwards became James VI. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Directly she was delivered, Mary sent for James Melville, her usual +envoy to Elizabeth, and charged him to convey this news to the Queen of +England, and to beg her to be godmother to the royal child at the same +time. On arriving in London, Melville immediately presented himself at +the palace; but as there was a court ball, he could not see the queen, +and contented himself with making known the reason for his journey to +the minister Cecil, and with begging him to ask his mistress for an +audience next day. Elizabeth was dancing in a quadrille at the moment +when Cecil, approaching her, said in a low voice, "Queen Mary of +Scotland has just given birth to a son". At these words she grew +frightfully pale, and, looking about her with a bewildered air, and as +if she were about to faint, she leaned against an arm-chair; then, soon, +not being able to stand upright, she sat down, threw back her head, and +plunged into a mournful reverie. Then one of the ladies of her court, +breaking through the circle which had formed round the queen, approached +her, ill at ease, and asked her of what she was thinking so sadly. "Ah! +madam," Elizabeth replied impatiently, "do you not know that Mary Stuart +has given birth to a son, while I am but a barren stock, who will die +without offspring?" + +Yet Elizabeth was too good a politician, in spite of her liability to be +carried away by a first impulse, to compromise herself by a longer +display of her grief. The ball was not discontinued on that account, and +the interrupted quadrille was resumed and finished. + +The next day, Melville had his audience. Elizabeth received him to +perfection, assuring him of all the pleasure that the news he brought +had caused her, and which, she said, had cured her of a complaint from +which she had suffered for a fortnight. Melville replied that his +mistress had hastened to acquaint her with her joy, knowing that she had +no better friend; but he added that this joy had nearly cost Mary her +life, so grievous had been her confinement. As he was returning to this +point for the third time, with the object of still further increasing +the queen of England's dislike to marriage-- + +"Be easy, Melville," Elizabeth answered him; "you need not insist upon +it. I shall never marry; my kingdom takes the place of a husband for me, +and my subjects are my children. When I am dead, I wish graven on my +tombstone: 'Here lies Elizabeth, who reigned so many years, and who died +a virgin.'" + +Melville availed himself of this opportunity to remind Elizabeth of the +desire she had shown to see Mary, three or four years before; but +Elizabeth said, besides her country's affairs, which necessitated her +presence in the heart of her possessions, she did not care, after all +she had heard said of her rival's beauty, to expose herself to a +comparison disadvantageous to her pride. She contented herself, then, +with choosing as her proxy the Earl of Bedford, who set out with several +other noblemen for Stirling Castle, where the young prince was +christened with great pomp, and received the name of Charles James. + +It was remarked that Darnley did not appear at this ceremony, and that +his absence seemed to scandalise greatly the queen of England's envoy. +On the contrary, James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, had the most important +place there. + +This was because, since the evening when Bothwell, at Mary's cries, had +run to oppose the murder of Rizzio, he had made great way in the queen's +favour; to her party he himself appeared to be really attached, to the +exclusion of the two others, the king's and the Earl of Murray's. +Bothwell was already thirty-five years old, head of the powerful family +of Hepburn, which had great influence in East Lothian and the county of +Berwick; for the rest, violent, rough, given to every kind of +debauchery, and capable of anything to satisfy an ambition that he did +not even give himself the trouble to hide. In his youth he had been +reputed courageous, but for long he had had no serious opportunity to +draw the sword. + +If the king's authority had been shaken by Rizzio's influence, it was +entirely upset by Bothwell's. The great nobles, following the +favourite's example, no longer rose in the presence of Darnley, and +ceased little by little to treat him as their equal: his retinue was cut +down, his silver plate taken from him, and some officers who remained +about him made him buy their services with the most bitter vexations. As +for the queen, she no longer even took the trouble to conceal her +dislike for him, avoiding him without consideration, to such a degree +that one day when she had gone with Bothwell to Alway, she left there +again immediately, because Darnley came to join her. The king, however, +still had patience; but a fresh imprudence of Mary's at last led to the +terrible catastrophe that, since the queen's liaison with Bothwell, some +had already foreseen. + +Towards the end of the month of October, 1566, while the queen was +holding a court of justice at Jedburgh, it was announced to her that +Bothwell, in trying to seize a malefactor called John Elliot of Park, +had been badly wounded in the hand; the queen, who was about to attend +the council, immediately postponed the sitting till next day, and, +having ordered a horse to be saddled, she set out for Hermitage Castle, +where Bothwell was living, and covered the distance at a stretch, +although it was twenty miles, and she had to go across woods, marshes, +and rivers; then, having remained some hours tete-a-tete with him, she +set out again with the same sped for Jedburgh, to which she returned in +the night. + +Although this proceeding had made a great deal of talk, which was +inflamed still more by the queen's enemies, who chiefly belonged to the +Reformed religion, Darnley did not hear of it till nearly two months +afterwards--that is to say, when Bothwell, completely recovered, +returned with the queen to Edinburgh. + +Then Darnley thought that he ought not to put up any longer with such +humiliations. But as, since his treason to his accomplices, he had not +found in all Scotland a noble who would have drawn the sword for him, he +resolved to go and seek the Earl of Lennox, his father, hoping that +through his influence he could rally the malcontents, of whom there were +a great number since Bothwell had been in favour. Unfortunately, +Darnley, indiscreet and imprudent as usual, confided this plan to some +of his officers, who warned Bothwell of their master's intention. +Bothwell did not seem to oppose the journey in any way; but Darnley was +scarcely a mile from Edinburgh when he felt violent pains none the less, +he continued his road, and arrived very ill at Glasgow. He immediately +sent for a celebrated doctor, called James Abrenets, who found his body +covered with pimples, and declared without any hesitation that he had +been poisoned. However, others, among them Walter Scott, state that this +illness was nothing else than smallpox. + +Whatever it may have been, the queen, in the presence of the danger her +husband ran, appeared to forget her resentment, and at the risk of what +might prove troublesome to herself, she went to Darnley, after sending +her doctor in advance. It is true that if one is to believe in the +following letters, dated from Glasgow, which Mary is accused of having +written to Bothwell, she knew the illness with which he was attacked too +well to fear infection. As these letters are little known, and seem to +us very singular we transcribe them here; later we shall tell how they +fell into the power of the Confederate lords, and from their hands +passed into Elizabeth's, who, quite delighted, cried on receiving them, +"God's death, then I hold her life and honour in my hands!" + +FIRST LETTER + +"When I set out from the place where I had left my heart, judge in what +a condition I was, poor body without a soul: besides, during the whole +of dinner I have not spoken to anyone, and no one has dared to approach +me, for it was easy to see that there was something amiss. When I +arrived within a league of the town, the Earl of Lennox sent me one of +his gentlemen to make me his compliments, and to excuse himself for not +having come in person; he has caused me to be informed, moreover, that +he did not dare to present himself before me after the reprimand that I +gave Cunningham. This gentleman begged me, as if of his own accord, to +examine his master's conduct, to ascertain if my suspicions were well +founded. I have replied to him that fear was an incurable disease, that +the Earl of Lennox would not be so agitated if his conscience reproached +him with nothing, and that if some hasty words had escaped me, they were +but just reprisals for the letter he had written me. + +"None of the inhabitants visited me, which makes me think they are all +in his interests; besides, they speak of him very favourably, as well as +of his son. The king sent for Joachim yesterday, and asked him why I did +not lodge with him, adding that my presence would soon cure him, and +asked me also with what object I had come: if it were to be reconciled +with him; if you were here; if I had taken Paris and Gilbert as +secretaries, and if I were still resolved to dismiss Joseph? I do not +know who has given him such accurate information. There is nothing, down +to the marriage of Sebastian, with which he has not made himself +acquainted. I have asked him the meaning of one of his letters, in which +he complains of the cruelty of certain people. He replied that he +was--stricken, but that my presence caused him so much joy that he +thought he should die of it. He reproached me several times for being +dreamy; I left him to go to supper; he begged me to return: I went back. +Then he told me the story of his illness, and that he wished to make a +will leaving me everything, adding that I was a little the cause of his +trouble, and that he attributed it to my coldness. 'You ask me,' added +he, 'who are the people of whom I complain: it is of you, cruel one, of +you, whom I have never been able to appease by my tears and my +repentance. I know that I have offended you, but not on the matter that +you reproach me with: I have also offended some of your subjects, but +that you have forgiven me. I am young, and you say that I always relapse +into my faults; but cannot a young man like me, destitute of experience, +gain it also, break his promises, repent directly, and in time improve? +If you will forgive me yet once more, I will promise to offend you never +again. All the favour I ask of you is that we should live together like +husband and wife, to have but one bed and one board: if you are +inflexible, I shall never rise again from here. I entreat you, tell me +your decision: God alone knows what I suffer, and that because I occupy +myself with you only, because I love and adore only you. If I have +offended you sometimes, you must bear the reproach; for when someone +offends me, if it were granted me to complain to you, I should not +confide my griefs to others; but when we are on bad terms, I am obliged +to keep them to myself, and that maddens me.' + +"He then urged me strongly to stay with him and lodge in his house; but +I excused myself, and replied that he ought to be purged, and that he +could not be, conveniently, at Glasgow; then he told me that he knew I +had brought a letter for him, but that he would have preferred to make +the journey with me. He believed, I think, that I meant to send him to +some prison: I replied that I should take him to Craigmiller, that he +would find doctors there, that I should remain near him, and that we +should be within reach of seeing my son. He has answered that he will go +where I wish to take him, provided that I grant him what he has asked. +He does not, however, wish to be seen by anyone. + +"He has told me more than a hundred pretty things that I cannot repeat +to you, and at which you yourself would be surprised: he did not want to +let me go; he wanted to make me sit up with him all night. As for me, I +pretended to believe everything, and I seemed to interest myself really +in him. Besides, I have never seen him so small and humble; and if I had +not known how easily his heart overflows, and how mine is impervious to +every other arrow than those with which you have wounded it, I believe +that I should have allowed myself to soften; but lest that should alarm +you, I would die rather than give up what I have promised you. As for +you, be sure to act in the same way towards those traitors who will do +all they can to separate you from me. I believe that all those people +have been cast in the same mould: this one always has a tear in his eye; +he bows down before everyone, from the greatest to the smallest; he +wishes to interest them in his favour, and make himself pitied. His +father threw up blood to-day through the nose and mouth; think what +these symptoms mean. I have not seen him yet, for he keeps to the house. +The king wants me to feed him myself; he won't eat unless I do. But, +whatever I may do, you will be deceived by it no more than I shall be +deceiving myself. We are united, you and I, to two kinds of very +detestable people [Mary means Miss Huntly, Bothwell's wife, whom he +repudiated, at the king's death, to marry the queen.]: that hell may +sever these knots then, and that heaven may form better ones, that +nothing can break, that it may make of us the most tender and faithful +couple that ever was; there is the profession of faith in which I would +die. + +"Excuse my scrawl: you must guess more than the half of it, but I know +no help for this. I am obliged to write to you hastily while everyone is +asleep here: but be easy, I take infinite pleasure in my watch; for I +cannot sleep like the others, not being able to sleep as I would +like--that is to say, in your arms. + +"I am going to get into bed; I shall finish my letter tomorrow: I have +too many things to tell to you, the night is too far advanced: imagine +my despair. It is to you I am writing, it is of myself that I converse +with you, and I am obliged to make an end. + +"I cannot prevent myself, however, from filling up hastily the rest of +my paper. Cursed be the crazy creature who torments me so much! Were it +not for him, I could talk to you of more agreeable things: he is not +greatly changed; and yet he has taken a great deal o f %t. But he has +nearly killed me with the fetid smell of his breath; for now his is +still worse than your cousin's: you guess that this is a fresh reason +for my not approaching him; on the contrary, I go away as far as I can, +and sit on a chair at the foot of his bed. + +"Let us see if I forget anything: + + "His father's messenger on the road; + The question about Joachim; + The-state of my house; + The people of my suite; + Subject of my arrival; + Joseph; + Conversation between him and me; + His desire to please me and his repentance; + The explanation of his letter; + Mr. Livingston. + +"Ah! I was forgetting that. Yesterday Livingston during supper told de +Rere in a low voice to drink to the health of one I knew well, and to +beg me to do him the honour. After supper, as I was leaning on his +shoulder near the fire, he said to me, 'Is it not true that there are +visits very agreeable for those who pay them and those who receive them? +But, however satisfied they seem with your arrival, I challenge their +delight to equal the grief of one whom you have left alone to-day, and +who will never be content till he sees you again.' I asked him of whom +he wished to speak to me. He then answered me by pressing my arm: 'Of +one of those who have not followed you; and among those it is easy for +you to guess of whom I want to speak.' + +"I have worked till two o'clock at the bracelet; I have enclosed a +little key which is attached by two strings: it is not as well worked as +I should like, but I have not had time to make it better; I will make +you a finer one on the first occasion. Take care that it is not seen on +you; for I have worked at it before everyone, and it would be recognised +to a certainty. + +"I always return, in spite of myself, to the frightful attempt that you +advise. You compel me to concealments, and above all to treacheries that +make me shudder; I would rather die, believe me, than do such things; +for it makes my heart bleed. He does not want to follow me unless I +promise him to have the selfsame bed and board with him as before, and +not to abandon him so often. If I consent to it, he says he will do all +I wish, and will follow me everywhere; but he has begged me to put off +my departure for two days. I have pretended to agree to all he wishes; +but I have told him not to speak of our reconciliation to anyone, for +fear it should make some lords uneasy. At last I shall take him +everywhere I wish.... Alas! I have never deceived anyone; but what would +I not do to please you? Command, and whatever happens, I shall obey. But +see yourself if one could not contrive some secret means in the shape of +a remedy. He must purge himself at Craigmiller and take baths there; he +will be some days without going out. So far as I can see, he is very +uneasy; but he has great trust in what I tell him: however, his +confidence does not go so far as to allow him to open his mind to me. If +you like, I will tell him every thing: I can have no pleasure in +deceiving someone who is trusting. However, it will be just as you wish: +do not esteem me the less for that. It is you advised it; never would +vengeance have taken me so far. Sometimes he attacks me in a very +sensitive place, and he touches me to the quick when he tells me that +his crimes are known, but that every day greater ones are committed that +one uselessly attempts to hide, since all crimes, whatsoever they be, +great or small, come to men's knowledge and form the common subject of +their discourse. He adds sometimes, in speaking to me of Madame de Rere, +'I wish her services may do you honour.' He has assured me that many +people thought, and that he thought himself, that I was not my own +mistress; this is doubtless because I had rejected the conditions he +offered me. Finally, it is certain that he is very uneasy about you know +what, and that he even suspects that his life is aimed at. He is in +despair whenever the conversation turns on you, Livingston, and my +brother. However, he says neither good nor ill of absent people; but, on +the contrary, he always avoids speaking of them. His father keeps to the +house: I have not seen him yet. A number of the Hamiltons are here, and +accompany me everywhere; all the friends of the other one follow me each +time I go to see him. He has begged me to be at his rising to-morrow. My +messenger will tell you the rest. + +"Burn my letter: there would be danger in keeping it. Besides, it is +hardly worth the trouble, being filled only with dark thoughts. + +"As for you, do not be offended if I am sad and uneasy to-day, that to +please you I rise above honour, remorse, and dangers. Do not take in bad +part what I tell you, and do not listen to the malicious explanations of +your wife's brother; he is a knave whom you ought not to hear to the +prejudice of the most tender and most faithful mistress that ever was. +Above all, do not allow yourself to be moved by that woman: her sham +tears are nothing in comparison with the real tears that I shed, and +with what love and constancy make me suffer at succeeding her; it is for +that alone that in spite of myself I betray all those who could cross my +love. God have mercy on me, and send you all the prosperity that a +humble and tender friend who awaits from you soon another reward wishes +you. It is very late; but it is always with regret that I lay down my +pen when I write to you; however, I shall not end my letter until I +shall have kissed your hands. Forgive me that it is so ill-written: +perhaps I do so expressly that you may be obliged to re-read it several +times: I have transcribed hastily what I had written down on my tablets, +and my paper has given out. Remember a tender friend, and write to her +often: love me as tenderly as I love you, and remember: + + "Madame de Rere's words; + The English; + His mother; + The Earl of Argyll; + The Earl of Bothwell; + The Edinburgh dwelling." + +SECOND LETTER + +"It seems that you have forgotten me during your absence, so much the +more that you had promised me, at setting out, to let me know in detail +everything fresh that should happen. The hope of receiving your news was +giving me almost as much delight as your return could have brought me: +you have put it off longer than you promised me. As for me, although you +do not write, I play my part always. I shall take him to Craigmiller on +Monday, and he will spend the whole of Wednesday there. On that day I +shall go to Edinburgh to be bled there, unless you arrange otherwise at +least. He is more cheerful than usual, and he is better than ever. + +"He says everything he can to persuade me that he loves me; he has a +thousand attentions for me, and he anticipates me in everything: all +that is so pleasant for me, that I never go to him but the pain in my +side comes on again, his company weighs on me so much. If Paris brought +me what I asked him, I should be soon cured. If you have not yet +returned when I go you know where, write to me, I beg you, and tell me +what you wish me to do; for if you do not manage things prudently, I +foresee that the whole burden will fall on me: look into everything and +weigh the affair maturely. I send you my letter by Beaton, who will set +out the day which has been assigned to Balfour. It only remains for me +to beg you to inform me of your journey. + +"Glasgow, this Saturday morning." + +THIRD LETTER + +"I stayed you know where longer than I should have done, if it had not +been to get from him something that the bearer of these presents will +tell you it was a good opportunity for covering up our designs: I have +promised him to bring the person you know to-morrow. Look after the +rest, if you think fit. Alas! I have failed in our agreement, for you +have forbidden me to write to you, or to despatch a messenger to you. +However, I do not intend to offend you: if you knew with what fears I am +agitated, you would not have yourself so many doubts and suspicions. But +I take them in good part, persuaded as I am that they have no other +cause than love--love that I esteem more than anything on earth. + +"My feelings and my favours are to me sure warrants for that love, and +answer to me for your heart; my trust is entire on this head: but +explain yourself, I entreat you, and open your soul to me; otherwise, I +shall fear lest, by the fatality of my star, and by the too fortunate +influence of the stars on women less tender and less faithful than I, I +may be supplanted in your heart as Medea was in Jason's; not that I wish +to compare you to a lover as unfortunate as Jason, and to parallel +myself with a monster like Medea, although you have enough influence +over me to force me to resemble her each time our love exacts it, and +that it concerns me to keep your heart, which belongs to me, and which +belongs to me only. For I name as belonging to me what I have purchased +with the tender and constant love with which I have burned for you, a +love more alive to-day than ever, and which will end only with my life; +a love, in short, which makes me despise both the dangers and the +remorse which will be perhaps its sad sequel. As the price of this +sacrifice, I ask you but one favour, it is to remember a spot not far +from here: I do not exact that you should keep your promise to-morrow; +but I want to see you to disperse your suspicions. I ask of God only one +thing: it is that He should make you read my heart, which is less mine +than yours, and that He should guard you from every ill, at least during +my life: this life is dear to me only in so far as it pleases you, and +as I please you myself. I am going to bed: adieu; give me your news +to-morrow morning; for I shall be uneasy till I have it. Like a bird +escaped from its cage, or the turtle-dove which has lost her mate, I +shall be alone, weeping your absence, short as it may be. This letter, +happier than I, will go this evening where I cannot go, provided that +the messenger does not find you asleep, as I fear. I have not dared to +write it in the presence of Joseph, of Sebastian, and of Joachim, who +had only just left me when I began it." + +Thus, as one sees, and always supposing these letters to be genuine, +Mary had conceived for Bothwell one of those mad passions, so much the +stronger in the women who are a prey to them, that one the less +understands what could have inspired them. Bothwell was no longer young, +Bothwell was not handsome, and yet Mary sacrificed for him a young +husband, who was considered one of the handsomest men of his century. It +was like a kind of enchantment. Darnley, the sole obstacle to the union, +had been already condemned for a long time, if not by Mary, at least by +Bothwell; then, as his strong constitution had conquered the poison, +another kind of death was sought for. + +The queen, as she announces in her letter to Bothwell, had refused to +bring back Darnley with her, and had returned alone to Edinburgh. +Arrived there, she gave orders for the king to be moved, in his turn, in +a litter; but instead of taking him to Stirling or Holyrood, she decided +to lodge him in the abbey of the Kirk of Field. The king made some +objections when he knew of this arrangement; however, as he had no power +to oppose it, he contented himself with complaining of the solitude of +the dwelling assigned him; but the queen made answer that she could not +receive him at that moment, either at Holyrood or at Stirling, for fear, +if his illness were infectious, lest he might give it to his son: +Darnley was then obliged to make the best of the abode allotted him. + +It was an isolated abbey, and little calculated by its position to +dissipate the fears that the king entertained; for it was situated +between two ruined churches and two cemeteries: the only house, which +was distant about a shot from a cross-bow, belonged to the Hamiltons, +and as they were Darnley's mortal enemies the neighbourhood was none the +more reassuring: further, towards the north, rose some wretched huts, +called the "Thieves' cross-roads". In going round his new residence, +Darnley noticed that three holes, each large enough for a man to get +through, had been made in the walls; he asked that these holes, through +which ill-meaning persons could get in, should be stopped up: it was +promised that masons should be sent; but nothing was done, and the holes +remained open. + +The day after his arrival at Kirk of Field, the king saw a light in that +house near his which lie believed deserted; next day he asked Alexander +Durham whence it came, and he heard that the Archbishop of St. Andrew's +had left his palace in Edinburgh and had housed there since the +preceding evening, one didn't know why: this news still further +increased the king's uneasiness; the Archbishop of St. Andrew's was one +of his most declared enemies. + +The king, little by little abandoned by all his servants lived on the +first floor of an isolated pavilion, having about him only this same +Alexander Durham, whom we have mentioned already, and who was his valet. +Darnley, who had quite a special friendship for him, and who besides, as +we have said, feared some attack on his life at every moment, had made +him move his bed into his own apartment, so that both were sleeping in +the same room. + +On the night of the 8th February, Darnley awoke Durham: he thought he +heard footsteps in the apartment beneath him. Durham rose, took a sword +in one hand, a taper in the other, and went down to the ground floor; +but although Darnley was quite certain he had not been deceived, Durham +came up again a moment after, saying he had seen no one. + +The morning of the next day passed without bringing anything fresh. The +queen was marrying one of her servants named Sebastian: he was an +Auvergnat whom she had brought with her from France, and whom she liked +very much. However, as the king sent word that he had not seen her for +two days, she left the wedding towards six o'clock in the evening, and +came to pay him a visit, accompanied by the Countess of Argyll and the +Countess of Huntly. While she was there, Durham, in preparing his bed, +set fire to his palliasse, which was burned as well as a part of the +mattress; so that, having thrown them out of the window all in flames, +for fear lest the fire should reach the rest of the furniture, he found +himself without a bed, and asked permission to return to the town to +sleep; but Darnley, who remembered his terror the night before, and who +was surprised at the promptness that had made Durham throw all his +bedding out of the window, begged him not to go away, offering him one +of his mattresses, or even to take him into his own bed. However, in +spite of this offer, Durham insisted, saying that he felt unwell, and +that he should like to see a doctor the same evening. So the queen +interceded for Durham, and promised Darnley to send him another valet to +spend the night with him: Darnley was then obliged to yield, and, making +Mary repeat that she would send him someone, he gave Durham leave for +that evening. At that moment Paris; of whom the queen speaks in her +letters, came in: he was a young Frenchman who had been in Scotland for +some years, and who, after having served with Bothwell and Seyton, was +at present with the queen. Seeing him, she got up, and as Darnley still +wished to keep her-- + +"Indeed, my lord, it is impossible," said she, "to come and see you. I +have left this poor Sebastian's wedding, and I must return to it; for I +promised to came masked to his ball." + +The king dared not insist; he only reminded her of the promise that she +had made to send him a servant: Mary renewed it yet once again, and went +away with her attendants. As for Durham, he had set out the moment he +received permission. + +It was nine o'clock in the evening. Darnley, left alone, carefully shut +the doors within, and retired to rest, though in readiness to rise to +let in the servant who should come to spend the night with him. Scarcely +was he in bed than the same noise that he had heard the night before +recommenced; this time Darnley listened with all the attention fear +gives, and soon he had no longer any doubt but that several men were +walking about beneath him. It was useless to call, it was dangerous to +go out; to wait was the only course that remained to the king. He made +sure again that the doors were well fastened, put his sword under his +pillow, extinguished his lamp for fear the light might betray him, and +awaited in silence for his servant's arrival; but the hours passed away, +and the servant did not come. At one o'clock in the morning, Bothwell, +after having talked some while with the queen, in the presence of the +captain of the guard, returned home to change his dress; after some +minutes, he came out wrapped up in the large cloak of a German hussar, +went through the guard-house, and had the castle gate opened. Once +outside, he took his way with all speed to Kirk of Field, which he +entered by the opening in the wall: scarcely had he made a step in the +garden than he met James Balfour, governor of the castle. + +"Well," he said to him, "how far have we got? + +"Everything is ready," replied Balfour, "and we were waiting for you to +set fire to the fuse". "That is well," Bothwell answered--"but first I +want to make sure that he is in his room." + +At these words, Bothwell opened the pavilion door with a false key, and, +having groped his way up the stairs; he went to listen at Darnley's +door. Darnley, hearing no further noise, had ended by going to sleep; +but he slept with a jerky breathing which pointed to his agitation. +Little mattered it to Bothwell what kind of sleep it was, provided that +he was really in his room. He went down again in silence, then, as he +had come up, and taking a lantern from one of the conspirators, he went +himself into the lower room to see if everything was in order: this room +was full of barrels of powder, and a fuse ready prepared wanted but a +spark to set the whole on fire. Bothwell withdrew, then, to the end of +the garden with Balfour, David, Chambers, and three or four others, +leaving one man to ignite the fuse. In a moment this man rejoined them. + +There ensued some minutes of anxiety, during which the five men looked +at one another in silence and as if afraid of themselves; then, seeing +that nothing exploded, Bothwell impatiently turned round to the +engineer, reproaching him for having, no doubt through fear, done his +work badly. He assured his master that he was certain everything was all +right, and as Bothwell, impatient, wanted to return to the house +himself, to make sure, he offered to go back and see how things stood. +In fact, he went back to the pavilion, and, putting his head through a +kind of air-hole, he saw the fuse, which was still burning. Some seconds +afterwards, Bothwell saw him come running back, making a sign that all +was going well; at the same moment a frightful report was heard, the +pavilion was blown to pieces, the town and the firth were lit up with a +clearness exceeding the brightest daylight; then everything fell back +into night, and the silence was broken only by the fall of stones and +joists, which came down as fast as hail in a hurricane. + +Next day the body of the king was found in a garden in the +neighbourhood: it had been saved from the action of the fire by the +mattresses on which he was lying, and as, doubtless, in his terror he +had merely thrown himself on his bed wrapped in his dressing-gown and in +his slippers, and as he was found thus, without his slippers, which were +flung some paces away, it was believed that he had been first strangled, +then carried there; but the most probable version was that the murderers +simply relied upon powder--an auxiliary sufficiently powerful in itself +for them to have no fear it would fail them. + +Was the queen an accomplice or not? No one has ever known save herself, +Bothwell, and God; but, yes or no, her conduct, imprudent this time as +always, gave the charge her enemies brought against her, if not +substance, at least an appearance of truth. Scarcely had she heard the +news than she gave orders that the body should be brought to her, and, +having had it stretched out upon a bench, she looked at it with more +curiosity than sadness; then the corpse, embalmed, was placed the same +evening, without pomp, by the side of Rizzio's. + +Scottish ceremonial prescribes for the widows of kings retirement for +forty days in a room entirely closed to the light of day: on the twelfth +day Mary had the windows opened, and on the fifteenth set out with +Bothwell for Seaton, a country house situated five miles from the +capital, where the French ambassador, Ducroc, went in search of her, and +made her remonstrances which decided her to return to Edinburgh; but +instead of the cheers which usually greeted her coming, she was received +by an icy silence, and a solitary woman in the crowd called out, "God +treat her as she deserves!" + +The names of the murderers were no secret to the people. Bothwell having +brought a splendid coat which was too large for him to a tailor, asking +him to remake it to his measure, the man recognised it as having +belonged to the king. "That's right," said he; "it is the custom for the +executioner to inherit from the-condemned". Meanwhile, the Earl of +Lennox, supported by the people's murmurs, loudly demanded justice for +his son's death, and came forward as the accuser of his murderers. The +queen was then obliged, to appease paternal clamour and public +resentment, to command the Earl of Argyll, the Lord Chief Justice of the +kingdom, to make investigations; the same day that this order was given, +a proclamation was posted up in the streets of Edinburgh, in which the +queen promised two thousand pounds sterling to whoever would make known +the king's murderers. Next day, wherever this letter had been affixed, +another placard was found, worded thus: + +"As it has been proclaimed that those who should make known the king's +murderers should have two thousand pounds sterling, I, who have made a +strict search, affirm that the authors of the murder are the Earl of +Bothwell, James Balfour, the priest of Flisk, David, Chambers, +Blackmester, Jean Spens, and the queen herself." + +This placard was torn down; but, as usually happens, it had already been +read by the entire population. + +The Earl of Lennox accused Bothwell, and public opinion, which also +accused him, seconded the earl with such violence, that Mary was +compelled to bring him to trial: only every precaution was taken to +deprive the prosecutor of the power of convicting the accused. On the +28th March, the Earl of Lennox received notice that the 12th April was +fixed for the trial: he was granted a fortnight to collect decisive +proofs against the most powerful man in all Scotland; but the Earl of +Lennox, judging that this trial was a mere mockery, did not appear. +Bothwell, on the contrary, presented himself at the court, accompanied +by five thousand partisans and two hundred picked fusiliers, who guarded +the doors directly he had entered; so that he seemed to be rather a king +who is about to violate the law than an accused who comes to submit to +it. Of course there happened what was certain to happen--that is to say, +the jury acquitted Bothwell of the crime of which everyone, the judges +included, knew him to be guilty. + +The day of the trial, Bothwell had this written challenge placarded: + +"Although I am sufficiently cleared of the murder of the king, of which +I have been falsely accused, yet, the better to prove my innocence, I +am, ready to engage in combat with whomsoever will dare to maintain that +I have killed the king." + +The day after, this reply appeared: + +"I accept the challenge, provided that you select neutral ground." + +However, judgment had been barely given, when rumours of a marriage +between the queen and the Earl of Bothwell were abroad. However strange +and however mad this marriage, the relations of the two lovers were so +well known that no one doubted but that it was true. But as everyone +submitted to Bothwell, either through fear or through ambition, two men +only dared to protest beforehand against this union: the one was Lord +Herries, and the other James Melville. + +Mary was at Stirling when Lord Herries, taking advantage of Bothwell's +momentary absence, threw himself at her feet, imploring her not to lose +her honour by marrying her husband's murderer, which could not fail to +convince those who still doubted it that she was his accomplice. But the +queen, instead of thanking Herries for this devotion, seemed very much +surprised at his boldness, and scornfully signing to him to rise, she +coldly replied that her heart was silent as regarded the Earl of +Bothwell, and that, if she should ever re-marry, which was not probable, +she would neither forget what she owed to her people nor what she owed +to herself. + +Melville did not allow himself to be discouraged by this experience, and +pretended, to have received a letter that one of his friends, Thomas +Bishop, had written him from England. He showed this letter to the +queen; but at the first lines Mary recognised the style, and above all +the friendship of her ambassador, and giving the letter to the Earl of +Livingston, who was present, "There is a very singular letter," said +she. "Read it. It is quite in Melvine's manner." + +Livingston glanced through the letter, but had scarcely read the half of +it when he took Melville by the hand, and drawing him into the embrasure +of a window, + +"My dear Melville," said he, "you were certainly mad when you just now +imparted this letter to the queen: as soon as the Earl of Bothwell gets +wind of it, and that will not be long, he will have you assassinated. +You have behaved like an honest man, it is true; but at court it is +better to behave as a clever man. Go away, then, as quickly as possible; +it is I who recommend it." + +Melville did not require to be told twice, and stayed away for a week. +Livingston was not mistaken: scarcely had Bothwell returned to the queen +than he knew all that had passed. He burst out into curses against +Melville, and sought for him everywhere; but he could not find him. + +This beginning of opposition, weak as it was, none the less disquieted +Bothwell, who, sure of Mary's love, resolved to make short work of +things. Accordingly, as the queen was returning from Stirling to +Edinburgh some days after the scenes we have just related, Bothwell +suddenly appeared at the Bridge of Grammont with a thousand horsemen, +and, having disarmed the Earl of Huntly, Livingston, and Melville, who +had returned to his mistress, he seized the queen's horse by the bridle, +and with apparent violence he forced Mary to turn back and follow him to +Dunbar; which the queen did without any resistance--a strange thing for +one of Mary's character. + +The day following, the Earls of Huntly, Livingston, Melville, and the +people in their train were set at liberty; then, ten days afterwards, +Bothwell and the queen, perfectly reconciled, returned to Edinburgh +together. + +Two days after this return, Bothwell gave a great dinner to the nobles +his partisans in a tavern. When the meal was ended, on the very same +table, amid half-drained glasses and empty bottles, Lindsay, Ruthven, +Morton, Maitland, and a dozen or fifteen other noblemen signed a bond +which not only set forth that upon their souls and consciences Bothwell +was innocent, but which further denoted him as the most suitable husband +for the queen. This bond concluded with this sufficiently strange +declaration: + +"After all, the queen cannot do otherwise, since the earl has carried +her off and has lain with her." + +Yet two circumstances were still opposed to this marriage: the first, +that Bothwell had already been married three times, and that his three +wives were living; the second, that having carried off the queen, this +violence might cause to be regarded as null the alliance which she +should contract with him: the first of these objections was attended to, +to begin with, as the one most difficult to solve. + +Bothwell's two first wives were of obscure birth, consequently he +scorned to disquiet himself about them; but it was not so with the +third, a daughter of that Earl of Huntly who been trampled beneath the +horses' feet, and a sister of Gordon, who had been decapitated. +Fortunately for Bothwell, his past behaviour made his wife long for a +divorce with an eagerness as great as his own. There was not much +difficulty, then, in persuading her to bring a charge of adultery +against her husband. Bothwell confessed that he had had criminal +intercourse with a relative of his wife, and the Archbishop of St. +Andrews, the same who had taken up his abode in that solitary house at +Kirk of Field to be present at Darnley's death, pronounced the marriage +null. The case was begun, pushed on, and decided in ten days. + +As to the second obstacle, that of the violence used to the queen, Mary +undertook to remove it herself; for, being brought before the court, she +declared that not only did she pardon Bothwell for his conduct as +regarded her, but further that, knowing him to be a good and faithful +subject, she intended raising him immediately to new honours. In fact, +some days afterwards she created him Duke of Orkney, and on the 15th of +the same month--that is to say, scarcely four months after the death of +Darnley--with levity that resembled madness, Mary, who had petitioned +for a dispensation to wed a Catholic prince, her cousin in the third +degree, married Bothwell, a Protestant upstart, who, his divorce +notwithstanding, was still bigamous, and who thus found himself in the +position of having four wives living, including the queen. + +The wedding was dismal, as became a festival under such outrageous +auspices. Morton, Maitland, and some base flatterers of Bothwell alone +were present at it. The French ambassador, although he was a creature of +the House of Guise, to which the queen belonged, refused to attend it. + +Mary's delusion was short-lived: scarcely was she in Bothwell's power +than she saw what a master she had given herself. Gross, unfeeling, and +violent, he seemed chosen by Providence to avenge the faults of which he +had been the instigator or the accomplice. Soon his fits of passion +reached such a point, that one day, no longer able to endure them, Mary +seized a dagger from Erskine, who was present with Melville at one of +these scenes, and would have struck herself, saying that she would +rather die than continue living unhappily as she did; yet, inexplicable +as it seems, in spite of these miseries, renewed without ceasing, Mary, +forgetting that she was wife and queen, tender and submissive as a +child, was always the first to be reconciled with Bothwell. + +Nevertheless, these public scenes gave a pretext to the nobles, who only +sought an opportunity for an outbreak. The Earl of Mar, the young +prince's tutor, Argyll, Athol, Glencairn, Lindley, Boyd, and even Morton +and Maitland themselves, those eternal accomplices of Bothwell, rose, +they said, to avenge the death of the king, and to draw the son from +hands which had killed the father and which were keeping the mother +captive. As to Murray, he had kept completely in the background during +all the last events; he was in the county of Fife when the king was +assassinated, and three days before the trial of Bothwell he had asked +and obtained from his sister permission to take a journey on the +Continent. + +The insurrection took place in such a prompt and instantaneous manner, +that the Confederate lords, whose plan was to surprise and seize both +Mary and Bothwell, thought they would succeed at the first attempt. + +The king and queen were at table with Lord Borthwick, who was +entertaining them, when suddenly it was announced that a large body of +armed men was surrounding the castle: Bothwell and Mary suspected that +they were aimed at, and as they had no means of resistance, Bothwell +dressed himself as a squire, Mary as a page, and both immediately taking +horse, escaped by one door just as the Confederates were coming in by +the other. The fugitives withdrew to Dunbar. + +There they called together all Bothwell's friends, and made them sign a +kind of treaty by which they undertook to defend the queen and her +husband. In the midst of all this, Murray arrived from France, and +Bothwell offered the document to him as to the others; but Murray +refused to put his signature to it, saying that it was insulting him to +think he need be bound by a written agreement when it was a question of +defending his sister and his queen. This refusal having led to an +altercation between him and Bothwell, Murray, true to his system of +neutrality, withdrew into his earldom, and let affairs follow without +him the fatal decline they had taken. + +In the meantime the Confederates, after having failed at Borthwick, not +feeling strong enough to attack Bothwell at Dunbar, marched upon +Edinburgh, where they had an understanding with a man of whom Bothwell +thought himself sure. This man was James Balfour, governor of the +citadel, the same who had presided over the preparation of the mine +which had blown up Darnley, and whom Bothwell had, met on entering the +garden at Kirk of Field. Not only did Balfour deliver Edinburgh Castle +into the hands of the Confederates, but he also gave them a little +silver coffer of which the cipher, an "F" crowned, showed that it had +belonged to Francis II; and in fact it was a gift from her first +husband, which the queen had presented to Bothwell. Balfour stated that +this coffer contained precious papers, which in the present +circumstances might be of great use to Mary's enemies. The Confederate +lords opened it, and found inside the three genuine or spurious letters +that we have quoted, the marriage contract of Mary and Bothwell, and +twelve poems in the queen's handwriting. As Balfour had said, therein +lay, for her enemies, a rich and precious find, which was worth more +than a victory; for a victory would yield them only the queen's life, +while Balfour's treachery yielded them her honour. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +Meanwhile Bothwell had levied some troops, and thought himself in a +position to hold the country: accordingly, he set out with his army, +without even waiting for the Hamiltons, who were assembling their +vassals, and June 15th, 1567, the two opposed forces were face to face. +Mary, who desired to try to avoid bloodshed, immediately sent the French +ambassador to the Confederate lords to exhort them to lay aside their +arms; but they replied "that the queen deceived herself in taking them +for rebels; that they were marching not against her, but against +Bothwell." Then the king's friends did what they could to break off the +negotiations and give battle: it was already too late; the soldiers knew +that they were defending the cause of one man, and that they were going +to fight for a woman's caprice, and not for the good of the country: +they cried aloud, then, that "since Bothwell alone was aimed at, it was +for Bothwell to defend his cause". And he, vain and blustering as usual, +gave out that he was ready to prove his innocence in person against +whomsoever would dare to maintain that he was guilty. Immediately +everyone with any claim to nobility in the rival camp accepted the +challenge; and as the honour was given to the bravest, Kirkcaldy of +Grange, Murray of Tullibardine, and Lord Lindsay of Byres defied him +successively. But, be it that courage failed him, be it that in the +moment of danger he did not himself believe in the justice of his cause, +he, to escape the combat, sought such strange pretexts that the queen +herself was ashamed; and his most devoted friends murmured. + +Then Mary, perceiving the fatal humour of men's minds, decided not to +run the risk of a battle. She sent a herald to Kirkcaldy of Grange, who +was commanding an outpost, and as he was advancing without distrust to +converse with the queen, Bothwell, enraged at his own cowardice, ordered +a soldier to fire upon him; but this time Mary herself interposed, +forbidding him under pain of death to offer the least violence. In the +meanwhile, as the imprudent order given by Bothwell spread through the +army, such murmurs burst forth that he clearly saw that his cause was +for ever lost. + +That is what the queen thought also; for the result of her conference +with Lord Kirkcaldy was that she should abandon Bothwell's cause, and +pass over into the camp of the Confederates, on condition that they +would lay down their arms before her and bring her as queen to +Edinburgh. Kirkcaldy left her to take these conditions to the nobles, +and promised to return next day with a satisfactory answer. But at the +moment of leaving Bothwell, Mary was seized again with that fatal love +for him that she was never able to surmount, and felt herself overcome +with such weakness, that, weeping bitterly, and before everyone, she +wanted Kirkcaldy to be told that she broke off all negotiations; +however, as Bothwell had understood that he was no longer safe in camp, +it was he who insisted that things should remain as they were; and, +leaving Mary in tears, he mounted, and setting off at full speed, he did +not stop till he reached Dunbar. + +Next day, at the time appointed, the arrival of Lord Kirkcaldy of Grange +was announced by the trumpeters preceding him. Mary mounted directly and +went to meet him; them, as he alighted to greet her, "My lord;" said +she, "I surrender to you, on the conditions that you have proposed to me +on the part of the nobles, and here is my hand as a sign of entire +confidence". Kirkcaldy then knelt down, kissed, the queen's hand +respectfully; and, rising, he took her horse by the bridle and led it +towards the Confederates' camp. + +Everyone of any rank in the army received her with such marks of respect +as entirely to satisfy her; but it was not so at all with the soldiers +and common people. Hardly had the queen reached the second line, formed +by them, than great murmurs arose, and several voices cried, "To the +stake, the adulteress! To the stake, the parricide!" However, Mary bore +these outrages stoically enough but a more terrible trial yet was in +store for her. Suddenly she saw rise before her a banner, on which was +depicted on one side the king dead and stretched out in the fatal +garden, and on the other the young prince kneeling, his hands joined and +his eyes raised to heaven, with this inscription, "O Lord! judge and +revenge my cause!" Mary reined in her horse abruptly at this sight, and +wanted to turn back; but she had scarcely moved a few paces when the +accusing banner again blocked her passage. Wherever she went, she met +this dreadful apparition. For two hours she had incessantly under her +eyes the king's corpse asking vengeance, and the young prince her son +praying God to punish the murderers. At last she could endure it no +longer, and, crying out, she threw herself back, having completely lost +consciousness, and would have fallen, if someone had not caught hold of +her. In the evening she entered Edinburgh, always preceded by the cruel +banner, and she already had rather the air of a prisoner than of a +queen; for, not having had a moment during the day to attend to her +toilet, her hair was falling in disorder about her shoulders, her face +was pale and showed traces of tears; and finally, her clothes were +covered with dust and mud. As she proceeded through the town, the +hootings of the people and the curses of the crowd followed her. At +last, half dead with fatigue, worn out with grief, bowed down with +shame, she reached the house of the Lord Provost; but scarcely had she +got there when the entire population of Edinburgh crowded into the +square, with cries that from time to time assumed a tone of terrifying +menace. Several times, then, Mary wished to go to the window, hoping +that the sight of her, of which she had so often proved the influence, +would disarm this multitude; but each time she saw this banner unfurling +itself like a bloody curtain between herself and the people--a terrible +rendering of their feelings. + +However, all this hatred was meant still more for Bothwell than for her: +they were pursuing Bothwell in Darnley's widow. The curses were for +Bothwell: Bothwell was the adulterer, Bothwell was the murderer, +Bothwell was the coward; while Mary was the weak, fascinated woman, who, +that same evening, gave afresh proof of her folly. + +In fact, directly the falling night had scattered the crowd and a little +quiet was regained, Mary, ceasing to be uneasy on her own account, +turned immediately to Bothwell, whom she had been obliged to abandon, +and who was now proscribed and fleeing; while she, as she believed, was +about to reassume her title and station of queen. With that eternal +confidence of the woman in her own love, by which she invariably +measures the love of another, she thought that Bothwell's greatest +distress was to have lost, not wealth and power, but to have lost +herself. So she wrote him a long letter, in which, forgetful of herself, +she promised him with the most tender expressions of love never to +desert him, and to recall him to her directly the breaking up of the +Confederate lords should give her power to do so; then, this letter +written, she called a soldier, gave him a purse of gold, and charged him +to take this letter to Dunbar, where Bothwell ought to be, and if he +were already gone, to follow him until he came up with him. + +Then she went to bed and slept more calmly; for, unhappy as she was, she +believed she had just sweetened misfortunes still greater than hers. + +Next day the queen was awakened by the step of an armed man who entered +her room. Both astonished and frightened at this neglect of propriety, +which could augur nothing good, Mary sat up in bed, and parting the +curtains, saw standing before her Lord Lindsay of Byres: she knew he was +one of her oldest friends, so she asked him in a voice which she vainly +tried to make confident, what he wanted of her at such a time. + +"Do you know this writing, madam?" Lord Lindsay asked in a rough voice, +presenting to the queen the letter she had written to Bothwell at night, +which the soldier had carried to the Confederate lords, instead of +taking to its address. + +"Yes, doubtless, my lord," the queen answered; "but am I already a +prisoner, then, that my correspondence is intercepted? or is it no +longer allowed to a wife to write to her husband?" + +"When the husband is a traitor," replied Lindsay, "no, madam, it is no +longer allowed to a wife to write to her husband--at least, however, if +this wife have a part in his treason; which seems to me, besides, quite +proved by the promise you make to this wretch to recall him to you." + +"My lord," cried Mary, interrupting Lindsay, "do you forget that you are +speaking to your queen." + +"There was a time, madam," Lindsay replied, "when I should have spoken +to you in a more gentle voice, and bending the knee, although it is not +in the nature of us old Scotch to model ourselves on your French +courtiers; but for some time, thanks to your changing loves, you have +kept us so often in the field, in harness, that our voices are hoarse +from the cold night air, and our stiff knees can no longer bend in our +armour: you must then take me just as I am, madam; since to-day, for the +welfare of Scotland, you are no longer at liberty to choose your +favourites." + +Mary grew frightfully pale at this want of respect, to which she was not +yet accustomed; but quickly containing her anger, as far as possible-- + +"But still, my lord," said she, "however disposed I may be to take you +as you are, I must at least know by what right you come here. That +letter which you are holding in your hand would lead me to think it is +as a spy, if the ease with which you enter my room without being asked +did not make me believe it is as a gaoler. Have the goodness, then, to +inform me by which of these two names I must call you." + +"Neither by one nor the other, madam; for I am simply your +fellow-traveller, chef of the escort which is to take you to Lochleven +Castle, your future residence. And yet, scarcely have I arrived there +than I shall be obliged to leave you to go and assist the Confederate +lords choose a regent for the kingdom." + +"So," said Mary, "it was as prisoner and not as queen that I surrendered +to Lord Kirkcaldy. It seems to me that things were agreed upon +otherwise; but I am glad to see how much time Scotch noblemen need to +betray their sworn undertakings". + +"Your Grace forgets that these engagements were made on one condition," +Lindsay answered. + +"On which?" Mary asked. + +"That you should separate for ever from your husband's murderer; and +there is the proof," he added, showing the letter, "that you had +forgotten your promise before we thought of revoking ours." + +"And at what o'clock is my departure fixed?" said Mary, whom this +discussion was beginning to fatigue. + +"At eleven o'clock, madam." + +"It is well, my lord; as I have no desire to make your lordship wait, +you will have the goodness, in withdrawing, to send me someone to help +me dress, unless I am reduced to wait upon myself." + +And, in pronouncing these words, Mary made a gesture so imperious, that +whatever may have been Lindsay's wish to reply, he bowed and went out. +Behind him entered Mary Seyton. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +At the time appointed the queen was ready: she had suffered so much at +Edinburgh that she left it without any regret. Besides, whether to spare +her the humiliations of the day before, or to conceal her departure from +any partisans who might remain to her, a litter had been made ready. +Mary got into it without any resistance, and after two hours' journey +she reached Duddington; there a little vessel was waiting for her, which +set sail directly she was on board, and next day at dawn she disembarked +on the other side of the Firth of Forth in the county of Fife. + +Mary halted at Rosythe Castle only just long enough to breakfast, and +immediately recommenced her journey; for Lord Lindsay had declared that +he wished to reach his destination that same evening. Indeed, as the sun +was setting, Mary perceived gilded with his last rays the high towers of +Lochleven Castle, situated on an islet in the midst of the lake of the +same name. + +No doubt the royal prisoner was already expected at Lochleven Castle, +for, on reaching the lake side, Lord Lindsay's equerry unfurled his +banner, which till then had remained in its case, and waved it from +right to left, while his master blew a little hunting bugle which he +wore hanging from his neck. A boat immediately put off from the island +and came towards the arrivals, set in motion by four vigorous oarsmen, +who had soon propelled it across the space which separated it from the +bank. Mary silently got into it, and sat down at the stern, while Lord +Lindsay and his equerry stood up before her; and as her guide did not +seem any more inclined to speak than she was herself to respond, she had +plenty of time to examine her future dwelling. + +The castle, or rather the fortress of Lochleven, already somewhat gloomy +in its situation and architecture, borrowed fresh mournfulness still +from the hour at which it appeared to the queen's gaze. It was, so far +as she could judge amid the mists rising from the lake, one of those +massive structures of the twelfth century which seem, so fast shut up +are they, the stone armour of a giant. As she drew near, Mary began to +make out the contours of two great round towers, which flanked the +corners and gave it the severe character of a state prison. A clump of +ancient trees enclosed by a high wall, or rather by a rampart, rose at +its north front, and seemed vegetation in stone, and completed the +general effect of this gloomy abode, while, on the contrary, the eye +wandering from it and passing from islands to islands, lost itself in +the west, in the north, and in the south, in the vast plain of Kinross, +or stopped southwards at the jagged summits of Ben Lomond, whose +farthest slopes died down on the shores of the lake. + +Three persons awaited Mary at the castle door: Lady Douglas, William +Douglas her son, and a child of twelve who was called Little Douglas, +and who was neither a son nor a brother of the inhabitants of the +castle, but merely a distant relative. As one can imagine, there were +few compliments between Mary and her hosts; and the queen, conducted to +her apartment, which was on the first floor, and of which the windows +overlooked the lake, was soon left with Mary Seyton, the only one of the +four Marys who had been allowed to accompany her. + +However, rapid as the interview had been, and short and measured the +words exchanged between the prisoner and her gaolers, Mary had had time, +together with what she knew of them beforehand, to construct for herself +a fairly accurate idea of the new personages who had just mingled in her +history. + +Lady Lochleven, wife of Lord William Douglas, of whom we have already +said a few words at the beginning of this history, was a woman of from +fifty-five to sixty years of age, who had been handsome enough in her +youth to fix upon herself the glances of King James V, and who had had a +son by him, who was this same Murray whom we have already seen figuring +so often in Mary's history, and who, although his birth was +illegitimate, had always been treated as a brother by the queen. + +Lady Lochleven had had a momentary hope, so great was the king's love +for her, of becoming his wife, which upon the whole was possible, the +family of Mar, from which she was descended, being the equal of the most +ancient and the noblest families in Scotland. But, unluckily, perhaps +slanderously, certain talk which was circulating among the young +noblemen of the time came to James's ears; it was said that together +with her royal lover the beautiful favourite had another, whom she had +chosen, no doubt from curiosity, from the very lowest class. It was +added that this Porterfeld, or Porterfield, was the real father of the +child who had already received the name of James Stuart, and whom the +king was educating as his son at the monastery of St. Andrews. These +rumours, well founded or not, had therefore stopped James V at the +moment when, in gratitude to her who had given him a son, he was on the +point of raising her to the rank of queen; so that, instead of marrying +her himself, he had invited her to choose among the nobles at court; and +as she was very handsome, and the king's favour went with the marriage, +this choice, which fell on Lord William Douglas of Lochleven, did not +meet with any resistance on his part. However, in spite of this direct +protection, that James V preserved for her all his life, Lady Douglas +could never forget that she had fingered higher fortune; moreover, she +had a hatred for the one who, according to herself, had usurped her +place, and poor Mary had naturally inherited the profound animosity that +Lady Douglas bore to her mother, which had already come to light in the +few words that the two women had exchanged. Besides, in ageing, whether +from repentance for her errors or from hypocrisy, Lady Douglas had +become a prude and a puritan; so that at this time she united with the +natural acrimony of her character all the stiffness of the new religion +she had adopted. + +William Douglas, who was the eldest son of Lord Lochleven, on his +mother's side half-brother of Murray, was a man of from thirty-five to +thirty-six years of age, athletic, with hard and strongly pronounced +features, red-haired like all the younger branch, and who had inherited +that paternal hatred that for a century the Douglases cherished against +the Stuarts, and which was shown by so many plots, rebellions, and +assassinations. According as fortune had favoured or deserted Murray, +William Douglas had seen the rays of the fraternal star draw near or +away from him; he had then felt that he was living in another's life, +and was devoted, body and soul, to him who was his cause of greatness or +of abasement. Mary's fall, which must necessarily raise Murray, was thus +a source of joy for him, and the Confederate lords could not have chosen +better than in confiding the safe-keeping of their prisoner to the +instinctive spite of Lady Douglas and to the intelligent hatred of her +son. + +As to Little Douglas, he was, as we have said, a child of twelve, for +some months an orphan, whom the Lochlevens had taken charge of, and whom +they made buy the bread they gave him by all sorts of harshness. The +result was that the child, proud and spiteful as a Douglas, and knowing, +although his fortune was inferior, that his birth was equal to his proud +relatives, had little by little changed his early gratitude into lasting +and profound hatred: for one used to say that among the Douglases there +was an age for loving, but that there was none for hating. It results +that, feeling his weakness and isolation, the child was self-contained +with strength beyond his years, and, humble and submissive in +appearance, only awaited the moment when, a grown-up young man, he could +leave Lochleven, and perhaps avenge himself for the proud protection of +those who dwelt there. But the feelings that we have just expressed did +not extend to all the members of the family: as much as from the bottom +of his heart the little Douglas detested William and his mother, so much +he loved George, the second of Lady Lochleven's sons, of whom we have +not yet spoken, because, being away from the castle when the queen +arrived, we have not yet found an opportunity to present him to our +readers. + +George, who at this time might have been about twenty-five or twenty-six +years old, was the second son of Lord Lochleven; but by a singular +chance, that his mother's adventurous youth had caused Sir William to +interpret amiss, this second son had none of the characteristic features +of the Douglases' full cheeks, high colour, large ears, and red hair. +The result was that poor George, who, on the contrary, had been given by +nature pale cheeks, dark blue eyes, and black hair, had been since +coming into the world an object of indifference to his father and of +dislike to his elder brother. As to his mother, whether she were indeed +in good faith surprised like Lord Douglas at this difference in race, +whether she knew the cause and inwardly reproached herself, George had +never been, ostensibly at least, the object of a very lively maternal +affection; so the young man, followed from his childhood by a fatality +that he could not explain, had sprung up like a wild shrub, full of sap +and strength, but uncultivated and solitary. Besides, from the time when +he was fifteen, one was accustomed to his motiveless absences, which the +indifference that everyone bore him made moreover perfectly explicable; +from time to time, however, he was seen to reappear at the castle, like +those migratory birds which always return to the same place but only +stay a moment, then take their way again without one's knowing towards +what spot in the world they are directing their flight. + +An instinct of misfortune in common had drawn Little Douglas to George. +George, seeing the child ill-treated by everyone, had conceived an +affection for him, and Little Douglas, feeling himself loved amid the +atmosphere of indifference around him, turned with open arms and heart +to George: it resulted from this mutual liking that one day, when the +child had committed I do not know what fault, and that William Douglas +raised the whip he beat his dogs with to strike him, that George, who +was sitting on a stone, sad and thoughtful, had immediately sprung up, +snatched the whip from his brother's hands and had thrown it far from +him. At this insult William had drawn his sword, and George his, so that +these two brothers, who had hated one another for twenty years like two +enemies, were going to cut one another's throats, when Little Douglas, +who had picked up the whip, coming back and kneeling before William, +offered him the ignominious weapon, saying, + +"Strike, cousin; I have deserved it." + +This behaviour of the child had caused some minutes' reflection to the +two young men, who, terrified at the crime they were about to commit, +had returned their swords to their scabbards and had each gone away in +silence. Since this incident the friendship of George and Little Douglas +had acquired new strength, and on the child's side it had become +veneration. + +We dwell upon all these details somewhat at length, perhaps, but no +doubt our readers will pardon us when they see the use to be made of +them. + +This is the family, less George, who, as we have said, was absent at the +time of her arrival, into the midst of which the queen had fallen, +passing in a moment from the summit of power to the position of a +prisoner; for from the day following her arrival Mary saw that it was by +such a title she was an inmate of Lochleven Castle. In fact, Lady +Douglas presented herself before her as soon as it was morning, and with +an embarrassment and dislike ill disguised beneath an appearance of +respectful indifference, invited Mary to follow her and take stock of +the several parts of the fortress which had been chosen beforehand for +her private use. She then made her go through three rooms, of which one +was to serve as her bedroom, the second as sitting-room, and the third +as ante-chamber; afterwards, leading the way down a spiral staircase, +which looked into the great hall of the castle, its only outlet, she had +crossed this hall, and had taken Mary into the garden whose trees the +queen had seen topping the high walls on her arrival: it was a little +square of ground, forming a flower-bed in the midst of which was an +artificial fountain. It was entered by a very low door, repeated in the +opposite wall; this second door looked on to the lake and, like all the +castle doors, whose keys, however, never left the belt or the pillow of +William Douglas, it was guarded night and day by a sentinel. This was +now the whole domain of her who had possessed the palaces, the plains, +and the mountains of an entire kingdom. + +Mary, on returning to her room, found breakfast ready, and William +Douglas standing near the table he was going to fulfil about the queen +the duties of carver and taster. + +In spite of their hatred for Mary, the Douglases would have considered +it an eternal blemish on their honour if any accident should have +befallen the queen while she was dwelling in their castle; and it was in +order that the queen herself should not entertain any fear in this +respect that William Douglas, in his quality of lord of the manor, had +not only desired to carve before the queen, but even to taste first in +her presence, all the dishes served to her, as well as the water and the +several wines to be brought her. This precaution saddened Mary more than +it reassured her; for she understood that, while she stayed in the +castle, this ceremony would prevent any intimacy at table. However, it +proceeded from too noble an intention for her to impute it as a crime to +her hosts: she resigned herself, then, to this company, insupportable as +it was to her; only, from that day forward, she so cut short her meals +that all the time she was at Lochleven her longest dinners barely lasted +more than a quarter of an hour. + +Two days after her arrival, Mary, on sitting down to table for +breakfast, found on her plate a letter addressed to her which had been +put there by William Douglas. Mary recognised Murray's handwriting, and +her first feeling was one of joy; for if a ray of hope remained to her, +it came from her brother, to whom she had always been perfectly kind, +whom from Prior of St. Andrew's she had made an earl in bestowing on him +the splendid estates which formed part of the old earldom of Murray, and +to whom, which was of more importance, she had since pardoned, or +pretended to pardon, the part he had taken in Rizzio's assassination. + +Her astonishment was great, then, when, having opened the letter, she +found in it bitter reproaches for her conduct, an exhortation to do +penance, and an assurance several times repeated that she should never +leave her prison. He ended his letter in announcing to her that, in +spite of his distaste for public affairs, he had been obliged to accept +the regency, which he had done less for his country than for his sister, +seeing that it was the sole means he had of standing in the way of the +ignominious trial to which the nobles wished to bring her, as author, or +at least as chief accomplice, of Darnley's death. This imprisonment was +then clearly a great good fortune for her, and she ought to thank Heaven +for it, as an alleviation of the fate awaiting her if he had not +interceded for her. + +This letter was a lightning stroke for Mary: only, as she did not wish +to give her enemies the delight of seeing her suffer, she contained her +grief, and, turning to William Douglas-- + +"My lord," said she, "this letter contains news that you doubtless know +already, for although we are not children by the same mother, he who +writes to me is related to us in the same degree, and will not have +desired to write to his sister without writing to his brother at the +same time; besides, as a good son, he will have desired to acquaint his +mother with the unlooked-for greatness that has befallen him." + +"Yes, madam," replied William, "we know since yesterday that, for the +welfare of Scotland, my brother has been named regent; and as he is a +son as respectful to his mother as he is devoted to his country, we hope +that he will repair the evil that for five years favourites of every +sort and kind have done to both." + +"It is like a good son, and at the same time like a courteous host, to +go back no farther into the history of Scotland," replied Mary Stuart, +"and not to make the daughter blush for the father's errors; for I have +heard say that the evil which your lordship laments was prior to the +time to which you assign it, and that King James V. also had formerly +favourites, both male and female. It is true that they add that the ones +as ill rewarded his friendship as the others his love. In this, if you +are ignorant of it, my lord, you can be instructed, if he is still +living, by a certain. Porterfeld or Porterfield, I don't know which, +understanding these names of the lower classes too ill to retain and +pronounce them, but about which, in my stead, your noble mother could +give you information." + +With these words, Mary Stuart rose, and, leaving William Douglas crimson +with rage, she returned into her bedroom, and bolted the door behind +her. + +All that day Mary did not come down, remaining at her window, from which +she at least enjoyed a splendid view over the plains and village of +Kinross; but this vast extent only contracted her heart the more, when, +bringing her gaze back from the horizon to the castle, she beheld its +walls surrounded on all sides by the deep waters of the lake, on whose +wide surface a single boat, where Little Douglas was fishing, was +rocking like a speck. For some moments Mary's eyes mechanically rested +on this child, whom she had already seen upon her arrival, when suddenly +a horn sounded from the Kinross side. At the same moment Little Douglas +threw away his line, and began to row towards the shore whence the +signal had come with skill and strength beyond his years. Mary, who had +let her gaze rest on him absently, continued to follow him with her +eyes, and saw him make for a spot on the shore so distant that the boat +seemed to her at length but an imperceptible speck; but soon it +reappeared, growing larger as it approached, and Mary could then observe +that it was bringing back to the castle a new passenger, who, having in +his turn taken the oars, made the little skiff fly over the tranquil +water of the lake, where it left a furrow gleaming in the last rays of +the sun. Very soon, flying on with the swiftness of a bird, it was near +enough for Mary to see that the skilful and vigorous oarsman was a young +man from twenty-five to twenty-six years of age, with long black hair, +clad in a close coat of green cloth, and wearing a Highlander's cap, +adorned with an eagle's feather; then, as with his back turned to the +window he drew nearer, Little Douglas, who was leaning on his shoulder, +said a few words which made him turn round towards the queen: +immediately Mary, with an instinctive movement rather than with the +dread of being an object of idle curiosity, drew back, but not so +quickly, however, but that she had been able to see the handsome pale +face of the unknown, who, when she returned to the window, had +disappeared behind one of the corners of the castle. + +Everything is a cause of conjecture to a prisoner: it seemed to Mary +that this young man's face was not unknown to her, and that he had seen +her already; but though great the care with which she questioned her +memory, she could not recall any distinct remembrance, so much so that +the queen ended in thinking it the play of her imagination, or that some +vague and distinct resemblance had deceived her. + +However, in spite of Mary, this idea had taken an important place in her +mind: she incessantly saw this little boat skimming the water, and the +young man and the child who were in it drawing near her, as if to bring +her help. It followed that, although there had been nothing real in all +these captive's dreams, she slept that night a calmer sleep than she had +yet done since she had been in Lochleven Castle. + +Next day, on rising, Mary ran to her window: the weather was fine, and +everything seemed to smile on her, the water, the heavens and the earth. +But, without being able to account for the restraining motive, she did +not want to go down into the ga den before breakfast. When the door +opened, 'she turned quickly round: it was, as on the day before, William +Douglas, who came to fulfil his duty as taster. + +The breakfast was a short and silent one; then, as soon as Douglas had +withdrawn, Mary descended in her turn: in crossing the courtyard she saw +two horses ready saddled, which pointed to the near departure of a +master and a squire. Was it the young man with the black hair already +setting out again? This is what Mary did not dare or did not wish to +ask. She consequently went her way, and entered the garden: at the first +glance she took it in in its full extent; it was deserted. + +Mary walked there a moment; then, soon tiring of the promenade, she went +up again to her room: in passing back through the courtyard she had +noticed that the horses were no longer there. Directly she returned into +her apartment, she went then to the window to see if she could discover +anything upon the lake to guide her in her conjectures: a boat was in +fact receding, and in this boat were the two horses and the two +horsemen; one was William Douglas, the other a simple squire from the +house. + +Mary continued watching the boat until it had touched the shore. Arrived +there, the two horsemen got out, disembarked their horses, and went away +at full gallop, taking the same road by which the queen had come; so +that, as the horses were prepared for a long journey, Mary thought that +William Douglas was going to Edinburgh. As to the boat, scarcely had it +landed its two passengers on the opposite shore than it returned towards +the castle. + +At that moment Mary Seyton announced to the queen that Lady Douglas was +asking permission to visit her. + +It was the second time, after long hatred on Lady Douglas's part and +contemptuous indifference on the queen's, that the two women were face +to face; therefore the queen, with that instinctive impulse of coquetry +which urges women, in whatever situation they find themselves, to desire +to be beautiful, above all for women, made a sign to Mary Seyton, and, +going to a little mirror fastened to the wall in a heavy Gothic frame, +she arranged her curls, and readjusted the lace of her collar; then; +having seated herself in the pose most favourable to her, in a great +arm-chair, the only one in her sitting-room, she said smilingly to Mary +Seyton that she might admit Lady Douglas, who was immediately +introduced. + +Mary's expectation was not disappointed: Lady Douglas, in spite of her +hatred for James Vs daughter, and mistress of herself as she thought she +as, could not prevent herself from showing by a movement of surprise the +impression that this marvelous beauty was making on her: she thought she +should find Mary crushed by her unhappiness, pallid from her fatigues, +humbled by captivity, and she saw hers calm, lovely, and haughty as +usual. Mary perceived the effect that she was producing, and addressing +herself with an ironical smile partly to Mary Seyton, who was leaning on +the back of her chair, and partly to her who was paying her this +unforeseen visit. + +"We are fortunate to-day," said she, "for we are going as it seems to +enjoy the society of our good hostess, whom we thank besides for having +kindly maintained with us the empty ceremony of announcing herself--a +ceremony with which, having the keys of our apartment, she could have +dispensed." + +"If my presence is inconvenient to your grace," replied Lady Lochleven, +"I am all the more sorry for it, as circumstances will oblige me to +impose it twice daily, at least during the absence of my son, who is +summoned to Edinburgh by the regent; this is of what I came to inform +your grace, not with the empty ceremonial of the court, but with the +consideration which Lady Lochleven owes to everyone who has received +hospitality in her castle." + +"Our good hostess mistakes our intention," Mary answered, with affected +good-nature; "and the regent himself can bear witness to the pleasure we +have always had in bringing nearer to us the persons who can recall to +us, even indirectly, our well-beloved father, James V. It will be +therefore unjustly that Lady Douglas will interpret in a manner +disagreeable to herself our surprise at seeing her; and the hospitality +that she offers us so obligingly does not promise us, in spite of her +goodwill, sufficient distractions that we should deprive ourselves of +those that her visits cannot fail to procure us." + +"Unfortunately, madam," replied Lady Lochleven, whom Mary was keeping +standing before her, "whatever pleasure I myself derive from these +visits, I shall be obliged to deprive myself of, except at the times I +have mentioned. I am now too old to bear fatigue, and I have, always +been too proud to endure sarcasms." + +"Really, Seyton," cried Mary, seeming to recollect herself, "we had not +dreamed that Lady Lochleven, having won her right to a stool at the +court of the king my father, would have need to preserve it in the +prison of the queen his daughter. Bring forward a seat, Seyton, that we +be not deprived so soon, and by a failure of memory on our part, of our +gracious hostess's company; or even," went on Mary, rising and pointing +out her own seat to Lady Lochleven, who was making a motion to withdraw, +"if a stool does not suit you, my lady, take this easy-chair: you will +not be the first member of your family to sit in my place." + +At this last allusion, which recalled to her Murray's usurpation, Lady +Lochleven was no doubt about to make some exceedingly bitter reply, when +the young man with the dark hair appeared on the threshold, without +being announced, and, advancing towards Lady Lochleven, without saluting +Mary-- + +"Madam," said he, bowing to the former, "the boat which took my brother +has just returned, and one of the men in it is charged with a pressing +charge that Lord William forgot to make to you himself." + +Then, saluting the old lady with the same respect, he immediately went +out of the room, without even glancing at the queen, who, hurt by this +impertinence, turned round to Mary Seyton, and, with her usual calm-- + +"What have they told us, Seyton, of injurious rumours which were spread +about our worthy hostess apropos of a child with a pale face and dark +hair? If this child, as I have every reason to believe, has become the +young man who just went out of the room, I am ready to affirm to all the +incredulous that he is a true Douglas, if not for courage, of which we +cannot judge, then for insolence, of which he has just given us proofs. +Let us return, darling," continued the queen, leaning on Mary Seyton's +arm; "for our good hostess, out of courtesy, might think herself obliged +to keep us company longer, while we know that she is impatiently awaited +elsewhere." + +With these words, Mary went into her bedroom; while the old lady, still +quite stunned with the shower of sarcasms that the queen had rained on +her, withdrew, murmuring, "Yes, yes, he is a Douglas, and with God's +help he will prove it, I hope." + +The queen had had strength as long as she was sustained by her enemy's +presence, but scarcely was she alone than she sank into a chair, and no +longer having any witness of her weakness than Mary Seyton, burst into +tears. Indeed, she had just been cruelly wounded: till then no man had +come near her who had not paid homage either to the majesty of her rank +or to the beauty of her countenance. But precisely he, on whom she had +reckoned, without knowing why, with instinctive hopes, insulted her at +one and the same time in her double pride of queen and woman: thus she +remained shut up till evening. + +At dinner-time, just as Lady Lochleven had informed Mary, she ascended +to the queen's apartment, in her dress of honour, and preceding four +servants who were carrying the several dishes composing the prisoner's +repast, and who, in their turn, were followed by the old castle steward, +having, as on days of great ceremony, his gold chain round his neck and +his ivory stick in his hand. The servants' placed the dishes on the +table, and waited in silence for the moment when it should please the +queen to come out of her room; but at this moment the door opened, and +in place of the queen Mary Seyton appeared. + +"Madam," said she on entering, "her grace was indisposed during the day, +and will take nothing this evening; it will be useless, then, for you to +wait longer." + +"Permit me to hope," replied Lady Lochleven, "that she will change her +decision; in any case, see me perform my office." + +At these words, a servant handed Lady Lochleven bread and salt on a +silver salver, while the old steward, who, in the absence of William +Douglas, fulfilled the duties of carver, served to her on a plate of the +same metal a morsel from each of the dishes that had been brought; then, +this transaction ended. + +"So the queen will not appear to-day?" Lady Lochleven inquired. + +"It is her Majesty's resolve," replied Mary Seyton. + +"Our presence is then needless," said the old lady; "but in any case the +table is served, and if her grace should have need of anything else, she +would have but to name it." + +With these words, Lady Lochleven, with the same stiffness and the same +dignity with which she had come, withdrew, followed by her four servants +and her steward. + +As Lady Lochleven had foreseen, the queen, yielding to the entreaties of +Mary Seyton, came out of her room at last, towards eight o'clock in the +evening, sat down to table, and, served by the only maid of honour left +her, ate a little; then, getting up, she went to the window. + +It was one of those magnificent summer evenings on which the whole of +nature seems making holiday: the sky was studded with stars, which were +reflected in the lake, and in their midst, like a more fiery star, the +flame of the chafing-dish shone, burning at the stern of a little boat: +the queen, by the gleam of the light it shed, perceived George Douglas +and Little Douglas, who were fishing. However great her wish to profit +by this fine evening to breathe the pure night air, the sight of this +young man who had so grossly insulted her this very day made such a keen +impression on her that she shut her window directly, and, retiring into +her room, went to bed, and made her companion in captivity read several +prayers aloud; then, not being able to sleep, so greatly was she +agitated, she rose, and throwing on a mantle went again to the window +the boat had disappeared. + +Mary spent part of the night gazing into the immensity of the heavens, +or into the depths of the lake; but in spite of the nature of the +thoughts agitating her, she none the less found very great physical +alleviation in contact with this pure air and in contemplation of this +peaceful and silent night: thus she awoke next day calmer and more +resigned. Unfortunately, the sight of Lady Lochleven, who presented +herself at breakfast-time, to fulfil her duties as taster, brought back +her irritability. Perhaps, however, things would have gone on smoothly +if Lady Lochleven, instead of remaining standing by the sideboard, had +withdrawn after having tasted the various dishes of the courses; but +this insisting on remaining throughout the meal, which was at bottom a +mark of respect, seemed to the queen unbearable tyranny. + +"Darling," said she, speaking to Mary Seyton, "have you already +forgotten that our good hostess complained yesterday of the fatigue she +felt inn standing? Bring her, then, one of the two stools which compose +our royal furniture, and take care that it is not the one with the leg +broken". "If the furniture of Lochleven Castle is in such bad condition, +madam," the old lady replied, "it is the fault of the kings of Scotland: +the poor Douglases for nearly a century have had such a small part of +their sovereigns' favour, that they have not been able to keep up the +splendour of their ancestors to the level of that of private +individuals, and because there was in Scotland a certain musician, as I +am informed, who spent their income for a whole year in one month." + +"Those who know how to take so well, my lady," the queen answered, "have +no need of being given to: it seems to me the Douglases have lost +nothing by waiting, and there is not a younger son of this noble family +who might not aspire to the highest alliances; it is truly vexatious +that our sister the queen of England has taken a vow of virginity; as is +stated." + +"Or rather," interrupted Lady Lochleven, "that the Queen of Scotland is +not a widow by her third husband. But," continued the old lady, +pretending to recollect herself, "I do not say that to reproach your +grace. Catholics look upon marriage as a sacrament, and on this head +receive it as often as they can." + +"This, then," returned Mary, "is the difference between them and the +Huguenots; for they, not having the same respect for it, think it is +allowed them to dispense with it in certain circumstances." + +At this terrible sarcasm Lady Lochleven took a step towards Mary Stuart, +holding in her hand the knife which she had just been using to cut off a +piece of meat brought her to taste; but the queen rose up with so great +a calm and with such majesty, that either from involuntary respect or +shame of her first impulse, she let fall the weapon she was holding, and +not finding anything sufficiently strong in reply to express her +feelings, she signed to the servants to follow her, and went out of the +apartment with all the dignity that anger permitted her to summon to her +aid. + +Scarcely had Lady Lochleven left the room than the queen sat down again, +joyful and triumphant at the victory she had just gained, and ate with a +better appetite than she had yet done since she was a prisoner, while +Mary Seyton deplored in a low tone and with all possible respect this +fatal gift of repartee that Mary had received, and which, with her +beauty, was one of the causes of all her misfortunes; but the queen did +nothing but laugh at all her observations, saying she was curious to see +the figure her good hostess would cut at dinnertime. + +After breakfast, the queen went down into the garden: her satisfied +pride had restored some of her cheerfulness, so much so that, seeing, +while crossing the hall, a mandolin lying forgotten on a chair, she told +Mary Seyton to take it, to see, she said, if she could recall her old +talent. In reality the queen was one of the best musicians of the time, +and played admirably, says Brantome, on the lute and viol d'amour, an +instrument much resembling the mandolin. + +Mary Seyton obeyed. + +Arrived in the garden, the queen sat down in the deepest shade, and +there, having tuned her instrument, she at first drew from it lively and +light tones, which soon darkened little by little, at the same time that +her countenance assumed a hue of deep melancholy. Mary Seyton looked at +her with uneasiness, although for a long time she had been used to these +sudden changes in her mistress's humour, and she was about to ask the +reason of this gloomy veil suddenly spread over her face, when, +regulating her harmonies, Mary began to sing in a low voice, and as if +for herself alone, the following verses: + + "Caverns, meadows, plains and mounts, + Lands of tree and stone, + Rivers, rivulets and founts, + By which I stray alone, + Bewailing as I go, + With tears that overflow, + Sing will I + The miserable woe + That bids me grieve and sigh. + + Ay, but what is here to lend + Ear to my lament? + What is here can comprehend + My dull discontent? + Neither grass nor reed, + Nor the ripples heed, + Flowing by, + While the stream with speed + Hastens from my eye. + + Vainly does my wounded heart + Hope, alas, to heal; + Seeking, to allay its smart, + Things that cannot feel. + Better should my pain + Bitterly complain, + Crying shrill, + To thee who dost constrain + My spirit to such ill. + + Goddess, who shalt never die, + List to what I say; + Thou who makest me to lie + Weak beneath thy sway, + If my life must know + Ending at thy blow, + Cruellest! + Own it perished so + But at thy behest. + + Lo! my face may all men see + Slowly pine and fade, + E'en as ice doth melt and flee + Near a furnace laid. + Yet the burning ray + Wasting me away + Passion's glow, + Wakens no display + Of pity for my woe. + + Yet does every neighbour tree, + Every rocky wall, + This my sorrow know and see; + So, in brief, doth all + Nature know aright + This my sorry plight; + Thou alone + Takest thy delight + To hear me cry and moan. + + But if it be thy will, + To see tormented still + Wretched me, + Then let my woful ill + Immortal be." + +This last verse died away as if the queen were exhausted, and at the +same time the mandolin slipped from her hands, and would have fallen to +the ground had not Mary Seyton thrown herself on her knees and prevented +it. The young girl remained thus at her mistress's feet for some time, +gazing at her silently, and as she saw that she was losing herself more +and more in gloomy reverie-- + +"Have those lines brought back to your Majesty some sad remembrance?" +she asked hesitatingly. + +"Oh, yes," answered the queen; "they reminded me of the unfortunate +being who composed them." + +"And may I, without indiscretion, inquire of your grace who is their +author?" + +"Alas! he was a noble, brave, and handsome young man, with a faithful +heart and a hot head, who would defend me to-day, if I had defended him +then; but his boldness seemed to me rashness, and his fault a crime. +What was to be done? I did not love him. Poor Chatelard! I was very +cruel to him." + +"But you did not prosecute him, it was your brother; you did not condemn +him, the judges did." + +"Yes, yes; I know that he too was Murray's victim, and that is no doubt +the reason that I am calling him to mind just now. But I was able to +pardon him, Mary, and I was inflexible; I let ascend the scaffold a man +whose only crime was in loving me too well; and now I am astonished and +complain of being abandoned by everyone. Listen, darling, there is one +thing that terrifies me: it is, that when I search within myself I find +that I have not only deserved my fate, but even that God did not punish +me severely enough." + +"What strange thoughts for your grace!" cried Mary; "and see where those +unlucky lines which returned to your mind have led you, the very day +when you were beginning to recover a little of your cheerfulness." + +"Alas!" replied the queen, shaking her head and uttering a deep sigh, +"for six years very few days have passed that I have not repeated those +lines to myself, although it may be for the first time to-day that I +repeat them aloud. He was a Frenchman too, Mary: they have exiled from +me, taken or killed all who came to me from France. Do you remember that +vessel which was swallowed up before our eyes when we came out of Calais +harbour? I exclaimed then that it was a sad omen: you all wanted to +reassure me. Well, who was right, now, you or I?" + +The queen was in one of those fits of sadness for which tears are the +sole remedy; so Mary Seyton, perceiving that not only would every +consolation be vain, but also unreasonable, far from continuing to react +against her mistress's melancholy, fully agreed with her: it followed +that the queen, who was suffocating, began to weep, and that her tears +brought her comfort; then little by little she regained self-control, +and this crisis passed as usual, leaving her firmer and more resolute +than ever, so that when she went up to her room again it was impossible +to read the slightest alteration in her countenance. + +The dinner-hour was approaching, and Mary, who in the morning was +looking forward impatiently to the enjoyment of her triumph over Lady +Lochleven, now saw her advance with uneasiness: the mere idea of again +facing this woman, whose pride one was always obliged to oppose with +insolence, was, after the moral fatigues of the day, a fresh weariness. +So she decided not to appear for dinner, as on the day before: she was +all the more glad she had taken this resolution, that this time it was +not Lady Lochleven who came to fulfil the duties enjoined on a member of +the family to make the queen easy, but George Douglas, whom his mother +in her displeasure at the morning scene sent to replace her. Thus, when +Mary Seyton told the queen that she saw the young man with dark hair +cross the courtyard on his way to her, Mary still further congratulated +herself on her decision; for this young man's insolence had wounded her +more deeply than all his mother's haughty insults. The queen was not a +little astonished, then, when in a few minutes Mary Seyton returned and +informed her that George Douglas, having sent away the servants, desired +the honour of speaking to her on a matter of importance. At first the +queen refused; but Mary Seyton told her that the young man's air and +manner this time were so different from what she had seen two days +before, that she thought her mistress would be wrong to refuse his +request. + +The queen rose then, and with the pride and majesty habitual to her, +entered the adjoining room, and, having taken three steps, stopped with +a disdainful air, waiting for George to address her. + +Mary Seyton had spoken truly: George Douglas was now another man. To-day +he seemed to be as respectful and timid as the preceding day he had +seemed haughty and proud. He, in his turn, made a step towards the +queen; but seeing Mary Seyton standing behind her-- + +"Madam," said he, "I wished to speak with your Majesty alone: shall I +not obtain this favour?" + +"Mary Seyton is not a stranger to me, Sir: she is my sister, my friend; +she is more than all that, she is my companion in captivity." + +"And by all these claims, madam, I have the utmost veneration for her; +but what I have to tell you cannot be heard by other ears than yours. +Thus, madam, as the opportunity furnished now may perhaps never present +itself again, in the name of what is dearest to you, grant me what I +ask." + +There was such a tone of respectful prayer in George's voice that Mary +turned to the young girl, and, making her a friendly sign with her +hand-- + +"Go, then, darling," said she; "but be easy, you will lose nothing by +not hearing. Go." + +Mary Seyton withdrew; the queen smilingly looked after her, till the +door was shut; then, turning to George-- + +"Now, sir," said she, "we are alone, speak." + +But George, instead of replying, advanced to the queen, and, kneeling on +one knee, drew from his breast a paper which he presented to her. Mary +took it with amazement, unfolded it, glancing at Douglas, who remained +in the same posture, and read as follows: + +We, earls, lords, and barons, in consideration that our queen is +detained at Lochleven, and that her faithful subjects cannot have access +to her person; seeing, on the other hand, that our duty pledges us to +provide for her safety, promise and swear to employ all reasonable means +which will depend on us to set her at liberty again on conditions +compatible with the honour of her Majesty, the welfare of the kingdom, +and even with the safety of those who keep her in prison, provided that +they consent to give her up; that if they refuse, we declare that we are +prepared to make use of ourselves, our children, our friends, our +servants, our vassals, our goods, our persons, and our lives, to restore +her to liberty, to procure the safety of the prince, and to co-operate +in punishing the late king's murderers. If we are assailed for this +intent, whether as a body or in private, we promise to defend ourselves, +and to aid one another, under pain of infamy and perjury. So may God +help us. + +"Given with our own hands at Dumbarton, + +"St. Andrews, Argyll, Huntly, Arbroath, Galloway, Ross, Fleming, +Herries, Stirling, Kilwinning, Hamilton, and Saint-Clair, Knight." + +"And Seyton!" cried Mary, "among all these signatures, I do not see that +of my faithful Seyton." + +Douglas, still kneeling, drew from his breast a second paper, and +presented it to the queen with the same marks of respect. It contained +only these few words: + +"Trust George Douglas; for your Majesty has no more devoted friend in +the entire kingdom. "SEYTON." + +Mary lowered her eyes to Douglas with an expression which was hers only; +then, giving him her hand to raise him-- + +"Ah!" said she, with a sigh more of joy than of sadness, "now I see that +God, in spite of my faults, has not yet abandoned me. But how is it, in +this castle, that you, a Douglas.... oh! it is incredible!" + +"Madam," replied George, "seven years have passed since I saw you in +France for the first time, and for seven years I have loved you". Mary +moved; but Douglas put forth his hand and shook his head with an air of +such profound sadness, that she understood that she might hear what the +young man had to say. He continued: "Reassure yourself, madam; I should +never have made this confession if, while explaining my conduct to you, +this confession would not have given you greater confidence in me. Yes, +for seven years I have loved you, but as one loves a star that one can +never reach, a madonna to whom one can only pray; for seven years I have +followed you everywhere without you ever having paid attention to me, +without my saying a word or making a gesture to attract your notice. I +was on the knight of Mevillon's galley when you crossed to Scotland; I +was among the regent's soldiers when you beat Huntly; I was in the +escort which accompanied you when you went to see the sick king at +Glasgow; I reached Edinburgh an hour after you had left it for +Lochleven; and then it seemed to me that my mission was revealed to me +for the first time, and that this love for which till then, I had +reproached myself as a crime, was on the contrary a favour from God. I +learned that the lords were assembled at Dumbarton: I flew thither. I +pledged my name, I pledged my honour, I pledged my life; and I obtained +from them, thanks to the facility I had for coming into this fortress, +the happiness of bringing you the paper they have just signed. Now, +madam, forget all I have told you, except the assurance of my devotion +and respect: forget that I am near you; I am used to not being seen: +only, if you have need of my life, make a sign; for seven years my life +has been yours." + +"Alas!" replied Mary, "I was complaining this morning of no longer being +loved, and I ought to complain, on the contrary, that I am still loved; +for the love that I inspire is fatal and mortal. Look back, Douglas, and +count the tombs that, young as I am, I have already left on my +path--Francis II, Chatelard, Rizzio, Darnley.... Oh to attach one's self +to my fortunes more than love is needed now heroism and devotion are +requisite so much the more that, as you have said, Douglas, it is love +without any possible reward. Do you understand?" + +"Oh, madam, madam," answered Douglas, "is it not reward beyond my +deserts to see you daily, to cherish the hope that liberty will be +restored to you through me, and to have at least, if I do not give it +you, the certainty of dying in your sight?" + +"Poor young man!" murmured Mary, her eyes raised to heaven, as if she +were reading there beforehand the fate awaiting her new defender. + +"Happy Douglas, on the contrary," cried George, seizing the queen's hand +and kissing it with perhaps still more respect than love, "happy +Douglas! for in obtaining a sigh from your Majesty he has already +obtained more than he hoped." + +"And upon what have you decided with my friends?" said the queen, +raising Douglas, who till then had remained on his knees before her. + +"Nothing yet," George replied; "for we scarcely had time to see one +another. Your escape, impossible without me, is difficult even with me; +and your Majesty has seen that I was obliged publicly to fail in +respect, to obtain from my mother the confidence which gives me the good +fortune of seeing you to-day: if this confidence on my mother's or my +brother's part ever extends to giving up to me the castle keys, then you +are saved! Let your Majesty not be surprised at anything, then: in the +presence of others, I shall ever be always a Douglas, that is an enemy; +and except your life be in danger, madam, I shall not utter a word, I +shall not make a gesture which might betray the faith that I have sworn +you; but, on your side, let your grace know well, that present or +absent, whether I am silent or speak, whether I act or remain inert, all +will be in appearance only, save my devotion. Only," continued Douglas, +approaching the window and showing to the queen a little house on +Kinross hill,--"only, look every evening in that direction, madam, and +so long as you see a light shine there, your friends will be keeping +watch for you, and you need not lose hope." + +"Thanks, Douglas, thanks," said the queen; "it does one good to meet +with a heart like yours from time to time--oh! thanks." + +"And now, madam," replied the young man, "I must leave your Majesty; to +remain longer with you would be to raise suspicions, and a single doubt +of me, think of it well, madam, and that light which is your sole beacon +is extinguished, and all returns into night." + +With these words, Douglas bowed more respectfully than he had yet done, +and withdrew, leaving Mary full of hope, and still more full of pride; +for this time the homage that she had just received was certainly for +the woman and not for the queen. + +As the queen had told him, Mary Seyton was informed of everything, even +the love of Douglas, and, the two women impatiently awaited the evening +to see if the promised star would shine on the horizon. Their hope was +not in vain: at the appointed time the beacon was lit. The queen +trembled with joy, for it was the confirmation of her hopes, and her +companion could not tear her from the window, where she remained with +her gaze fastened on the little house in Kinross. At last she yielded to +Mary Seyton's prayers, and consented to go to bed; but twice in the +night she rose noiselessly to go to the window: the light was always +shining, and was not extinguished till dawn, with its sisters the stars. + +Next day, at breakfast, George announced to the queen the return of his +brother, William Douglas: he arrived the same evening; as to himself, +George, he had to leave Lochleven next morning, to confer with the +nobles who had signed the declaration, and who had immediately separated +to raise troops in their several counties. The queen could not attempt +to good purpose any escape but at a time when she would be sure of +gathering round her an army strong enough to hold the country; as to +him, Douglas, one was so used to his silent disappearances and to his +unexpected returns, that there was no reason to fear that his departure +would inspire any suspicion. + +All passed as George had said: in the evening the sound of a bugle +announced the arrival of William Douglas; he had with him Lord Ruthven, +the son of him who had assassinated Rizzio, and who, exiled with Morton +after the murder, died in England of the sickness with which he was +already attacked the day of the terrible catastrophe in which we have +seen him take such a large share. He preceded by one day Lord Lindsay of +Byres and Sir Robert Melville, brother of Mary's former ambassador to +Elizabeth: all three were charged with a mission from the regent to the +queen. + +On the following day everything fell back into the usual routine, and +William Douglas reassumed his duties as carver. Breakfast passed without +Mary's having learned anything of George's departure or Ruthven's +arrival. On rising from the table she went to her window: scarcely was +she there than she heard the sound of a horn echoing on the shores of +the lake, and saw a little troop of horsemen halt, while waiting for the +boat to came and take those who were going to the castle. + +The distance was too great for Mary to recognise any of the visitors; +but it was clear, from the signs of intelligence exchanged between the +little troop and the inhabitants of the fortress, that the newcomers +were her enemies. This was a reason why the queen, in her uneasiness, +should not lose sight for a moment of the boat which was going to fetch +them. She saw only two men get into it; and immediately it put off again +for the castle. + +As the boat drew nearer, Mary's presentiments changed to real fears, for +in one of the men coming towards her she thought she made out Lord +Lindsay of Byres, the same who, a week before, had brought her to her +prison. It was indeed he himself, as usual in a steel helmet without a +visor, which allowed one to see his coarse face designed to express +strong passions, and his long black beard with grey hairs here and +there, which covered his chest: his person was protected, as if it were +in time of war, with his faithful suit of armour, formerly polished and +well gilded, but which, exposed without ceasing to rain and mist, was +now eaten up with rust; he had slung on his back, much as one slings a +quiver, a broadsword, so heavy that it took two hands to manage it, and +so long that while the hilt reached the left shoulder the point reached +the right spur: in a word, he was still the same soldier, brave to +rashness but brutal to insolence, recognising nothing but right and +force, and always ready to use force when he believed himself in the +right. + +The queen was so much taken up with the sight of Lord Lindsay of Byres, +that it was only just as the boat reached the shore that she glanced at +his companion and recognised Robert Melville: this was some consolation, +for, whatever might happen, she knew that she should find in him if not +ostensible at least secret sympathy. Besides, his dress, by which one +could have judged him equally with Lord Lindsay, was a perfect contrast +to his companion's. It consisted of a black velvet doublet, with a cap +and a feather of the same hue fastened to it with a gold clasp; his only +weapon, offensive or defensive, was a little sword, which he seemed to +wear rather as a sign of his rank than for attack or defence. As to his +features and his manners, they were in harmony with this peaceful +appearance: his pale countenance expressed both acuteness and +intelligence; his quick eye was mild, and his voice insinuating; his +figure slight and a little bent by habit rather than by years, since he +was but forty-five at this time, indicated an easy and conciliatory +character. + +However, the presence of this man of peace, who seemed entrusted with +watching over the demon of war, could not reassure the queen, and as to +get to the landing-place, in front of the great door of the castle, the +boat had just disappeared behind the corner of a tower, she told Mary +Seyton to go down that she might try to learn what cause brought Lord +Lindsay to Lochleven, well knowing that with the force of character with +which she was endowed, she need know this cause but a few minutes +beforehand, whatever it might be, to give her countenance that calm and +that majesty which she had always found to influence her enemies. + +Left alone, Mary let her glance stray back to the little house in +Kinross, her sole hope; but the distance was too great to distinguish +anything; besides, its shutters remained closed all day, and seemed to +open only in the evening, like the clouds, which, having covered the sky +for a whole morning, scatter at last to reveal to the lost sailor a +solitary star. She had remained no less motionless, her gaze always +fixed on the same object, when she was drawn from this mute +contemplation by the step of Mary Seyton. + +"Well, darling?" asked the queen, turning round. + +"Your Majesty is not mistaken," replied the messenger: "it really was +Sir Robert Melville and Lord Lindsay; but there came yesterday with Sir +William Douglas a third ambassador, whose name, I am afraid, will be +still more odious to your Majesty than either of the two I have just +pronounced." + +"You deceive yourself, Mary," the queen answered: "neither the name of +Melville nor that of Lindsay is odious to me. Melville's, on the +contrary, is, in my present circumstances, one of those which I have +most pleasure in hearing; as to Lord Lindsay's, it is doubtless not +agreeable to me, but it is none the less an honourable name, always +borne by men rough and wild, it is true, but incapable of treachery. +Tell me, then, what is this name, Mary; for you see I am calm and +prepared." + +"Alas! madam," returned Mary, "calm and prepared as you may be, collect +all your strength, not merely to hear this name uttered, but also to +receive in a few minutes the man who bears it; for this name is that of +Lord Ruthven." + +Mary Seyton had spoken truly, and this name had a terrible influence +upon the queen; for scarcely had it escaped the young girl's lips than +Mary Stuart uttered a cry, and turning pale, as if she were about to +faint, caught hold of the window-ledge. + +Mary Seyton, frightened at the effect produced by this fatal name, +immediately sprang to support the queen; but she, stretching one hand +towards her, while she laid the other on her heart-- + +"It is nothing," said she; "I shall be better in a moment. Yes, Mary, +yes, as you said, it is a fatal name and mingled with one of my most +bloody memories. What such men are coming to ask of me must be dreadful +indeed. But no matter, I shall soon be ready to receive my brother's +ambassadors, for doubtless they are sent in his name. You, darling, +prevent their entering, for I must have some minutes to myself: you know +me; it will not take me long." + +With these words the queen withdrew with a firm step to her bedchamber. + +Mary Seyton was left alone, admiring that strength of character which +made of Mary Stuart, in all other respects so completely woman-like, a +man in the hour of danger. She immediately went to the door to close it +with the wooden bar that one passed between two iron rings, but the bar +had been taken away, so that there was no means of fastening the door +from within. In a moment she heard someone coming up the stairs, and +guessing from the heavy, echoing step that this must be Lord Lindsay, +she looked round her once again to see if she could find something to +replace the bar, and finding nothing within reach, she passed her arm +through the rings, resolved to let it be broken rather than allow anyone +to approach her mistress before it suited her. Indeed, hardly had those +who were coming up reached the landing than someone knocked violently, +and a harsh voice cried: + +"Come, come, open the door; open directly." + +"And by what right," said Mary Seyton, "am I ordered thus insolently to +open the Queen of Scotland's door?" + +"By the right of the ambassador of the regent to enter everywhere in his +name. I am Lord Lindsay, and I am come to speak to Lady Mary Stuart." + +"To be an ambassador," answered Mary Seyton, "is not to be exempted from +having oneself announced in visiting a woman, and much more a queen; and +if this ambassador is, as he says, Lord Lindsay, he will await his +sovereign's leisure, as every Scottish noble would do in his place." + +"By St. Andrew!" cried Lord Lindsay, "open, or I will break in the +door." + +"Do nothing to it, my lord, I entreat you," said another voice, which +Mary recognised as Meville's. "Let us rather wait for Lord Ruthven, who +is not yet ready." + +"Upon my soul," cried Lindsay, shaking the door, "I shall not wait a +second". Then, seeing that it resisted, "Why did you tell me, then, you +scamp," Lindsay went on, speaking to the steward, "that the bar had been +removed? + +"It is true," replied he. + +"Then," returned Lindsay, "with what is this silly wench securing the +door?" + +"With my arm, my lord, which I have passed through the rings, as a +Douglas did for King James I, at a time when Douglases had dark hair +instead of red, and were faithful instead of being traitors." + +"Since you know your history so well," replied Lindsay, in a rage," you +should remember that that weak barrier did not hinder Graham, that +Catherine Douglas's arm was broken like a willow wand, and that James I +was killed like a dog." + +"But you, my lord," responded the courageous young girl, "ought also to +know the ballad that is still sung in our time-- + +"'Now, on Robert Gra'am, The king's destroyer, shame! To Robert Graham +cling Shame, who destroyed our king.'" + +"Mary," cried the queen, who had overheard this altercation from her +bedroom,--"Mary, I command you to open the door directly: do you hear?" + +Mary obeyed, and Lord Lindsay entered, followed by Melville, who walked +behind him, with slow steps and bent head. Arrived in the middle of the +second room, Lord Lindsay stopped, and, looking round him-- + +"Well, where is she, then?" he asked; "and has she not already kept us +waiting long enough outside, without making us wait again inside? Or +does she imagine that, despite these walls and these bars, she is always +queen?" + +"Patience, my lord," murmured Sir Robert: "you see that Lord Ruthven has +not come yet, and since we can do nothing without him, let us wait." + +"Let wait who will," replied Lindsay, inflamed with anger; "but it will +not be I, and wherever she may be, I shall go and seek her." + +With these words, he made some steps towards Mary Stuart's bedroom; but +at the same moment the queen opened the door, without seeming moved +either at the visit or at the insolence of the visitors, and so lovely +and so full of majesty, that each, even Lindsay himself, was silent at +her appearance, and, as if in obedience to a higher power, bowed +respectfully before her. + +"I fear I have kept you waiting, my lord," said the queen, without +replying to the ambassador's salutation otherwise than by a slight +inclination of the head; "but a woman does not like to receive even +enemies without having spent a few minutes over her toilet. It is true +that men are less tenacious of ceremony," added she, throwing a +significant glance at Lord Lindsay's rusty armour and soiled and pierced +doublet. "Good day, Melville," she continued, without paying attention +to some words of excuse stammered by Lindsay; "be welcome in my prison, +as you were in my palace; for I believe you as devoted to the one as to +the other". + +Then, turning to Lindsay, who was looking interrogatively at the door, +impatient as he was for Ruthven to come-- + +"You have there, my lord," said she, pointing to the sword he carried +over his shoulder, "a faithful companion, though it is a little heavy: +did you expect, in coming here, to find enemies against whom to employ +it? In the contrary case, it is a strange ornament for a lady's +presence. But no matter, my lord, I, am too much of a Stuart to fear the +sight of a sword, even if it were naked, I warn you." + +"It is not out of place here, madam," replied Lindsay, bringing it +forward and leaning his elbow on its cross hilt, "for it is an old +acquaintance of your family." + +"Your ancestors, my lord, were brave and loyal enough for me not to +refuse to believe what you tell me. Besides, such a good blade must have +rendered them good service." + +"Yes, madam, yes, surely it has done so, but that kind of service that +kings do not forgive. He for whom it was made was Archibald +Bell-the-Cat, and he girded himself with it the day when, to justify his +name, he went to seize in the very tent of King James III, your +grandfather, his un worthy favourites, Cochran, Hummel, Leonard, and +Torpichen, whom he hanged on Louder Bridge with the halters of his +soldiers' horses. It was also with this sword that he slew at one blow, +in the lists, Spens of Kilspindie, who had insulted him in the presence +of King James IV, counting on the protection his master accorded him, +and which did not guard him against it any more than his shield, which +it split in two. At his master's death, which took place two years after +the defeat of Flodden, on whose battlefield he left his two sons and two +hundred warriors of the name of Douglas, it passed into the hands of the +Earl of Angus, who drew it from the scabbard when he drove the Hamiltons +out of Edinburgh, and that so quickly and completely that the affair was +called the 'sweeping of the streets.' Finally, your father James V saw +it glisten in the fight of the bridge over the Tweed, when Buccleuch, +stirred up by him, wanted to snatch him from the guardianship of the +Douglases, and when eighty warriors of the name of Scott remained on the +battlefield." + +"But," said the queen, "how is it that this weapon, after such exploits, +has not remained as a trophy in the Douglas family? No doubt the Earl of +Angus required a great occasion to decide him to-renounce in your favour +this modern Excalibur". [History of Scotland, by Sir Walter Scott.--"The +Abbott": historical part.] + +"Yes, no doubt, madam, it was upon a great occasion," replied Lindsay, +in spite of the imploring signs made by Melville, "and this will have at +least the advantage of the others, in being sufficiently recent for you +to remember. It was ten days ago, on the battlefield of Carberry Hill, +madam, when the infamous Bothwell had the audacity to make a public +challenge in which he defied to single combat whomsoever would dare to +maintain that he was not innocent of the murder of the king your +husband. I made him answer then, I the third, that he was an assassin. +And as he refused to fight with the two others under the pretext that +they were only barons, I presented myself in my turn, I who am earl and +lord. It was on that occasion that the noble Earl of Morton gave me this +good sword to fight him to the death. So that, if he had been a little +more presumptuous or a little less cowardly, dogs and vultures would be +eating at this moment the pieces that, with the help of this good sword, +I should have carved for them from that traitor's carcass." + +At these words, Mary Seyton and Robert Melville looked at each other in +terror, for the events that they recalled were so recent that they were, +so to speak, still living in the queen's heart; but the queen, with +incredible impassibility and a smile of contempt on her lips-- + +"It is easy, my lord," said she, "to vanquish an enemy who does not +appear in the lists; however, believe me, if Mary had inherited the +Stuarts' sword as she has inherited their sceptre, your sword, long as +it is, would yet have seemed to you too short. But as you have only to +relate to us now, my lord, what you intended doing, and not what you +have done, think it fit that I bring you back to something of more +reality; for I do not suppose you have given yourself the trouble to +come here purely and simply to add a chapter to the little treatise Des +Rodomontades Espagnolles by M. de Brantome." + +"You are right, madam," replied Lindsay, reddening with anger, "and you +would already know the object of our mission if Lord Ruthven did not so +ridiculously keep us waiting. But," added he, "have patience; the matter +will not be long now, for here he is." + +Indeed, at that moment they heard steps mounting the staircase and +approaching the room, and at the sound of these steps, the queen, who +had borne with such firmness Lindsay's insults, grew so perceptibly +paler, that Melville, who did not take his eyes off her,--put out his +hand towards the arm-chair as if to push it towards her; but the queen +made a sign that she had no need of it, and gazed at the door with +apparent calm. Lord Ruthven appeared; it was the first time that she had +seen the son since Rizzio had been assassinated by the father. + +Lord Ruthven was both a warrior and a statesman, and at this moment his +dress savoured of the two professions: it consisted of a close coat of +embroidered buff leather, elegant enough to be worn as a court undress, +and on which, if need were, one could buckle a cuirass, for battle: like +his father, he was pale; like his father, he was to die young, and, even +more than his father, his countenance wore that ill-omened melancholy by +which fortune-tellers recognise those who are to die a violent death. + +Lord Ruthven united in himself the polished dignity of a courtier and +the inflexible character of a minister; but quite resolved as he was to +obtain from Mary Stuart, even if it were by violence, what he had come +to demand in the regent's name, he none the less made her, on entering, +a cold but respectful greeting, to which the queen responded with a +courtesy; then the steward drew up to the empty arm-chair a heavy table +on which had been prepared everything necessary for writing, and at a +sign from the two lords he went out, leaving the queen and her companion +alone with the three ambassadors. Then the queen, seeing that this table +and this arm-chair were put ready for her, sat down; and after a moment, +herself breaking this silence more gloomy than any word could have +been-- + +"My lords," said she, "you see that I wait: can it be that this message +which you have to communicate to me is so terrible that two soldiers as +renowned as Lord Lindsay and Lord Ruthven hesitate at the moment of +transmitting it?" + +"Madam," answered Ruthven, "I am not of a family, as you know, which +ever hesitates to perform a duty, painful as it may be; besides, we hope +that your captivity has prepared you to hear what we have to tell you on +the part of the Secret Council." + +"The Secret Council!" said the queen. "Instituted by me, by what right +does it act without me? No matter, I am waiting for this message: I +suppose it is a petition to implore my mercy for the men who have dared +to reach to a power that I hold only from God." + +"Madam," replied Ruthven, who appeared to have undertaken the painful +role of spokesman, while Lindsay, mute and impatient, fidgeted with the +hilt of his long sword, "it is distressing to me to have to undeceive +you on this point: it is not your mercy that I come to ask; it is, on +the contrary, the pardon of the Secret Council that I come to offer +you." + +"To me, my lord, to me!" cried Mary: "subjects offer pardon to their +queen! Oh! it is such a new and wonderful thing, that my amazement +outweighs my indignation, and that I beg you to continue, instead of +stopping you there, as perhaps I ought to do." + +"And I obey you so much the more willingly, madam," went on Ruthven +imperturbably, "that this pardon is only granted on certain conditions, +stated in these documents, destined to re-establish the tranquillity of +the State, so cruelly compromised by the errors that they are going to +repair." + +"And shall I be permitted, my lord, to read these documents, or must I, +allured by my confidence in those who present them to me, sign them with +my eyes shut?" + +"No, madam," Ruthven returned; "the Secret Council desire, on the +contrary, that you acquaint yourself with them, for you must sign them +freely." + +"Read me these documents, my lord; for such a reading is, I think, +included in the strange duties you have accepted." + +Lord Ruthven took one of the two papers that he had in his hand, and +read with the impassiveness of his usual voice the following: + +"Summoned from my tenderest youth to the government of the kingdom and +to the crown of Scotland, I have carefully attended to the +administration; but I have experienced so much fatigue and trouble that +I no longer find my mind free enough nor my strength great enough to +support the burden of affairs of State: accordingly, and as Divine +favour has granted us a son whom we desire to see during our lifetime +bear the crown which he has acquired by right of birth, we have resolved +to abdicate, and we abdicate in his favour, by these presents, freely +and voluntarily, all our rights to the crown and to the government of +Scotland, desiring that he may immediately ascend the throne, as if he +were called to it by our natural death, and not as the effect of our own +will; and that our present abdication may have a more complete and +solemn effect, and that no one should put forward the claim of +ignorance, we give full powers to our trusty and faithful cousins, the +lords Lindsay of Byres and William Ruthven, to appear in our name before +the nobility, the clergy, and the burgesses of Scotland, of whom they +will convoke an assembly at Stirling, and to there renounce, publicly +and solemnly, on our part, all our claims to the crown and to the +government of Scotland. + +"Signed freely and as the testimony of one of our last royal wishes, in +our castle of Lochleven, the ___ June 1567". (The date was left blank.) + +There was a moment's silence after this reading, then + +"Did you hear, madam?" asked Ruthven. + +"Yes," replied Mary Stuart,--"yes, I have heard rebellious words that I +have not understood, and I thought that my ears, that one has tried to +accustom for some time to a strange language, still deceived me, and +that I have thought for your honour, my lord William Ruthven, and my +lord Lindsay of Byres." + +"Madam," answered Lindsay, out of patience at having kept silence so +long, "our honour has nothing to do with the opinion of a woman who has +so ill known how to watch over her own." + +"My lord!" said Melville, risking a word. + +"Let him speak, Robert," returned the queen. "We have in our conscience +armour as well tempered as that with which Lord Lindsay is so prudently +covered, although, to the shame of justice, we no longer have a sword. +Continue, my lord," the queen went on, turning to Lord Ruthven: "is this +all that my subjects require of me? A date and a signature? Ah! +doubtless it is too little; and this second paper, which you have kept +in order to proceed by degrees, probably contains some demand more +difficult to grant than that of yielding to a child scarcely a year old +a crown which belongs to me by birthright, and to abandon my sceptre to +take a distaff." + +"This other paper," replied Ruthven, without letting himself be +intimidated by the tone of bitter irony adopted by the queen, "is the +deed by which your Grace confirms the decision of the Secret Council +which has named your beloved brother, the Earl of Murray, regent of the +kingdom." + +"Indeed!" said Mary. "The Secret Council thinks it needs my confirmation +to an act of such slight importance? And my beloved brother, to bear it +without remorse, needs that it should be I who add a fresh title to +those of Earl of Mar and of Murray that I have already bestowed upon +him? But one cannot desire anything more respectful and touching than +all this, and I should be very wrong to complain. My lords," continued +the queen, rising and changing her tone, "return to those who have sent +you, and tell them that to such demands Mary Stuart has no answer to +give." + +"Take care, madam," responded Ruthven; "for I have told you it is only +on these conditions that your pardon can be granted you." + +"And if I refuse this generous pardon," asked Mary, "what will happen?" + +"I cannot pronounce beforehand, madam; but your Grace has enough +knowledge of the laws, and above all of the history of Scotland and +England, to know that murder and adultery are crimes for which more than +one queen has been punished with death." + +"And upon what proofs could such a charge be founded, my lord? Pardon my +persistence, which takes up your precious time; but I am sufficiently +interested in the matter to be permitted such a question." + +"The proof, madam?" returned Ruthven. "There is but one, I know; but +that one is unexceptionable: it is the precipitate marriage of the widow +of the assassinated with the chief assassin, and the letters which have +been handed over to us by James Balfour, which prove that the guilty +persons had united their adulterous hearts before it was permitted them +to unite their bloody hands." + +"My lord," cried the queen, "do you forget a certain repast given in an +Edinburgh tavern, by this same Bothwell, to those same noblemen who +treat him to-day as an adulterer and a murderer; do you forget that at +the end of that meal, and on the same table at which it had been given, +a paper was signed to invite that same woman, to whom to-day you make +the haste of her new wedding a crime, to leave off a widow's mourning to +reassume a marriage robe? for if you have forgotten it, my lords, which +would do no more honour to your sobriety than to your memory, I +undertake to show it to you, I who have preserved it; and perhaps if we +search well we shall find among the signatures the names of Lindsay of +Byres and William Ruthven. O noble Lord Herries," cried Mary, "loyal +James Melville, you alone were right then, when you threw yourselves at +my feet, entreating me not to conclude this marriage, which, I see it +clearly to-day, was only a trap set for an ignorant woman by perfidious +advisers or disloyal lords." + +"Madam," cried Ruthven, in spite of his cold impassivity beginning to +lose command of himself, while Lindsay was giving still more noisy and +less equivocal signs of impatience, "madam, all these discussions are +beside our aim: I beg you to return to it, then, and inform us if, your +life and honour guaranteed, you consent to abdicate the crown of +Scotland." + +"And what safeguard should I have that the promises you here make me +will be kept?" + +"Our word, madam," proudly replied Ruthven. + +"Your word, my lord, is a very feeble pledge to offer, when one so +quickly forgets one's signature: have you not some trifle to add to it, +to make me a little easier than I should be with it alone?" + +"Enough, Ruthven, enough," cried Lindsay. "Do you not see that for an +hour this woman answers our proposals only by insults?" + +"Yes, let us go," said Ruthven; "and thank yourself only, madam, for the +day when the thread breaks which holds the sword suspended over your +head." + +"My lords," cried Melville, "my lords, in Heaven's name, a little +patience, and forgive something to her who, accustomed to command, is +today forced to obey." + +"Very well," said Lindsay, turning round, "stay with her, then, and try +to obtain by your smooth words what is refused to our frank and loyal +demand. In a quarter of an hour we shall return: let the answer be ready +in a quarter of an hour!" + +With these words, the two noblemen went out, leaving Melville with the +queen; and one could count their footsteps, from the noise that +Lindsay's great sword made, in resounding on each step of the staircase. + +Scarcely were they alone than Melville threw himself at the queen's +feet. + +"Madam," said he, "you remarked just now that Lord Herries and my +brother had given your Majesty advice that you repented not having +followed; well, madam, reflect on that I in my turn give you; for it is +more important than the other, for you will regret with still more +bitterness not having listened to it. Ah! you do not know what may +happen, you are ignorant of what your brother is capable." + +"It seems to me, however," returned the queen, "that he has just +instructed me on that head: what more will he do than he has done +already? A public trial! Oh! it is all I ask: let me only plead my +cause, and we shall see what judges will dare to condemn me." + +"But that is what they will take good care not to do, madam; for they +would be mad to do it when they keep you here in this isolated castle, +in the care of your enemies, having no witness but God, who avenges +crime, but who does not prevent it. Recollect, madam, what Machiavelli +has said, 'A king's tomb is never far from his prison.' You come of a +family in which one dies young, madam, and almost always of a sudden +death: two of your ancestors perished by steel, and one by poison." + +"Oh, if my death were sudden and easy," cried Mary, "yes, I should +accept it as an expiation for my faults; for if I am proud when I +compare myself with others, Melville, I am humble when I judge myself. I +am unjustly accused of being an accomplice of Darnley's death, but I am +justly condemned for having married Bothwell." + +"Time presses, madam; time presses," cried Melville, looking at the +sand, which, placed on the table, was marking the time. "They are coming +back, they will be here in a minute; and this time you must give them an +answer. Listen, madam, and at least profit by your situation as much as +you can. You are alone here with one woman, without friends, without +protection, without power: an abdication signed at such a juncture will +never appear to your people to have been freely given, but will always +pass as having been torn from you by force; and if need be, madam, if +the day comes when such a solemn declaration is worth something, well, +then you will have two witnesses of the violence done you: the one will +be Mary Seyton, and the other," he added in a low voice and looking +uneasily about him,--"the other will be Robert Melville." + +Hardly had he finished speaking when the footsteps of the two nobles +were again heard on the staircase, returning even before the quarter of +an hour had elapsed; a moment afterwards the door opened, and Ruthven +appeared, while over his shoulder was seen Lindsay's head. + +"Madam," said Ruthven, "we have returned. Has your Grace decided? We +come for your answer." + +"Yes," said Lindsay, pushing aside Ruthven, who stood in his way, and +advancing to the table,--"yes, an answer, clear, precise, positive, and +without dissimulation." + +"You are exacting, my lord," said the queen: "you would scarcely have +the right to expect that from me if I were in full liberty on the other +side of the lake and surrounded with a faithful escort; but between +these walls, behind these bars, in the depths of this fortress, I shall +not tell you that I sign voluntarily, lest you should not believe it. +But no matter, you want my signature; well, I am going to give it to +you. Melville, pass me the pen." + +"But I hope," said Lord Ruthven, "that your Grace is not counting on +using your present position one day in argument to protest against what +you are going to do?" + +The queen had already stooped to write, she had already set her hand to +the paper, when Ruthven spoke to her. But scarcely had he done so, than +she rose up proudly, and letting fall the pen, "My lord," said she, +"what you asked of me just now was but an abdication pure and simple, +and I was going to sign it. But if to this abdication is joined this +marginal note, then I renounce of my own accord, and as judging myself +unworthy, the throne of Scotland. I would not do it for the three united +crowns that I have been robbed of in turn." + +"Take care, madam," cried Lord Lindsay, seizing the queen's wrist with +his steel gauntlet and squeezing it with all his angry strength--"take +care, for our patience is at an end, and we could easily end by breaking +what would not bend." + +The queen remained standing, and although a violent flush had passed +like a flame over her countenance, she did not utter a word, and did not +move: her eyes only were fixed with such a great expression of contempt +on those of the rough baron, that he, ashamed of the passion that had +carried him away, let go the hand he had seized and took a step back. +Then raising her sleeve and showing the violet marks made on her arm by +Lord Lindsay's steel gauntlet. + +"This is what I expected, my lords," said she, "and nothing prevents me +any longer from signing; yes, I freely abdicate the throne and crown of +Scotland, and there is the proof that my will has not been forced." + +With these words, she took the pen and rapidly signed the two documents, +held them out to Lord Ruthven, and bowing with great dignity, withdrew +slowly into her room, accompanied by Mary Seyton. Ruthven looked after +her, and when she had disappeared, "It doesn't matter," he said; "she +has signed, and although the means you employed, Lindsay, may be +obsolete enough in diplomacy, it is not the less efficacious, it seems." + +"No joking, Ruthven," said Lindsay; "for she is a noble creature, and if +I had dared, I should have thrown myself at her feet to ask her +forgiveness." + +"There is still time," replied Ruthven, "and Mary, in her present +situation, will not be severe upon you: perhaps she has resolved to +appeal to the judgment of God to prove her innocence, and in that case a +champion such as you might well change the face of things." + +"Do not joke, Ruthven," Lindsay answered a second time, with more +violence than the first; "for if I were as well convinced of her +innocence as I am of her crime, I tell you that no one should touch a +hair of her head, not even the regent." + +"The devil! my lord," said Ruthven. "I did not know you were so +sensitive to a gentle voice and a tearful eye; you know the story of +Achilles' lance, which healed with its rust the wounds it made with its +edge: do likewise my lord, do likewise." + +"Enough, Ruthven, enough," replied Lindsay; "you are like a corselet of +Milan steel, which is three times as bright as the steel armour of +Glasgow, but which is at the same time thrice as hard: we know one +another, Ruthven, so an end to railleries or threats; enough, believe +me, enough." + +And after these words, Lord Lindsay went out first, followed by Ruthven +and Melville, the first with his head high and affecting an air of +insolent indifference, and the second, sad, his brow bent, and not even +trying to disguise the painful impression which this scene had made on +him.' ["History of Scotland, by Sir Walter Scott.--'The Abbott": +historical part.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +The queen came out of her room only in the evening, to take her place at +the window which looked over the lake: at the usual time she saw the +light which was henceforth her sole hope shine in the little house in +Kinross; for a whole long month she had no other consolation than seeing +it, every night, fixed and faithful. + +At last, at the end of this time, and as she was beginning to despair of +seeing George Douglas again, one morning, on opening the window, she +uttered a cry. Mary Seyton ran to her, and the queen, without having +strength to speak, showed her in the middle of the lake the tiny boat at +anchor, and in the boat Little Douglas and George, who were absorbed in +fishing, their favourite amusement. The young man had arrived the day +before, and as everyone was accustomed to his unexpected returns, the +sentinel had not even blown the horn, and the queen had not known that +at last a friend had come. + +However, she was three days yet without seeing this friend otherwise +than she had just done-that is, on the lake. It is true that from +morning till evening he did not leave that spot, from which he could +view the queen's windows and the queen herself, when, to gaze at a wider +horizon, she leaned her face against the bars. At last, on the morning +of the fourth day, the queen was awakened by a great noise of dogs and +horns: she immediately ran to the window, for to a prisoner everything +is an event, and she saw William Douglas, who was embarking with a pack +of hounds and some huntsmen. In fact, making a truce, for a day, with +his gaoler's duties, to enjoy a pleasure more in harmony with his rank +and birth, he was going to hunt in the woods which cover the last ridge +of Ben Lomond, and which, ever sinking, die down on the banks of the +lake. + +The queen trembled with delight, for she hoped that Lady Lochleven would +maintain her ill-will, and that then George would replace his brother: +this hope was not disappointed. At the usual time the queen heard the +footsteps of those who were bringing her her breakfast; the door opened, +and she saw George Douglas enter, preceded by the servants who were +carrying the dishes. George barely bowed; but the queen, warned by him +not to be surprised at anything, returned him his greeting with a +disdainful air; then the servants performed their task and went out, as +they were accustomed. + +"At last," said the queen, "you are back again, then." + +George motioned with his finger, went to the door to listen if all the +servants had really gone away, and if no one had remained to spy. Then, +returning more at ease, and bowing respectfully-- + +"Yes, madam," returned he; "and, Heaven be thanked, I bring good news." + +"Oh, tell me quickly!" cried the queen; "for staying in this castle is +hell. You knew that they came, did you not, and that they made me sign +an abdication?" + +"Yes, madam," replied Douglas; "but we also knew that your signature had +been obtained from you by violence alone, and our devotion to your +Majesty is increased thereby, if possible." + +"But, after all, what have you done?" + +"The Seytons and the Hamiltons, who are, as your Majesty knows, your +most faithful servants,"--Mary turned round, smiling, and put out her +hand to Mary Seyton,--"have already," continued George, "assembled their +troops, who keep themselves in readiness for the first signal; but as +they alone would not be sufficiently numerous to hold the country, we +shall make our way directly to Dumbarton, whose governor is ours, and +which by its position and its strength can hold out long enough against +all the regent's troops to give to the faithful hearts remaining to you +time to come and join us." + +"Yes, yes," said the queen; "I see clearly what we shall do once we get +out of this; but how are we to get out?" + +"That is the occasion, madam," replied Douglas, "for which your Majesty +must call to your aid that courage of which you have given such great +proofs." + +"If I have need only of courage and coolness," replied the queen, "be +easy; neither the one nor the other will fail me." + +"Here is a file," said George, giving Mary Seyton that instrument which +he judged unworthy to touch the queen's hands, "and this evening I shall +bring your Majesty cords to construct a ladder. You will cut through one +of the bars of this window, it is only at a height of twenty feet; I +shall come up to you, as much to try it as to support you; one of the +garrison is in my pay, he will give us passage by the door it is his +duty to guard, and you will be free." + +"And when will that be?" cried the queen. + +"We must wait for two things, madam," replied Douglas: "the first, to +collect at Kinross an escort sufficient for your Majesty's safety; the +second, that the turn for night watch of Thomas Warden should happen to +be at an isolated door that we can reach without being seen." + +"And how will you know that? Do you stay at the castle, then?" + +"Alas! no, madam," replied George; "at the castle I am a useless and +even a dangerous fried for you, while once beyond the lake I can serve +you in an effectual manner." + +"And how will you know when Warden's turn to mount guard has come?" + +"The weathercock in the north tower, instead of turning in the wind with +the others, will remain fixed against it." + +"But I, how shall I be warned?" + +"Everything is already provided for on that side: the light which shines +each night in the little house in Kinross incessantly tells you that +your friends keep watch for you; but when you would like to know if the +hour of your deliverance approaches or recedes, in your turn place a +light in this window. The other will immediately disappear; then, +placing your hand on your breast, count your heartbeats: if you reach +the number twenty without the light reappearing, nothing is yet settled; +if you only reach ten, the moment approaches; if the light does not +leave you time to count beyond five, your escape is fixed for the +following night; if it reappears no more, it is fixed for the same +evening; then the owl's cry, repeated thrice in the courtyard, will be +the signal; let down the ladder when you hear it". + +"Oh, Douglas," cried the queen, "you alone could foresee and calculate +everything thus. Thank you, thank you a hundred times!" And she gave him +her hand to kiss. + +A vivid red flushed the young man's cheeks; but almost directly +mastering his emotion, he kneeled down, and, restraining the expression +of that love of which he had once spoken to the queen, while promising +her never more to speak of it, he took the hand that Mary extended, and +kissed it with such respect that no one could have seen in this action +anything but the homage of devotion and fidelity. + +Then, having bowed to the queen, he went out, that a longer stay with +her should not give rise to any suspicions. + +At the dinner-hour Douglas brought, as he had said, a parcel of cord. It +was not enough, but when evening came Mary Seyton was to unroll it and +let fall the end from the window, and George would fasten the remainder +to it: the thing was done as arranged, and without any mishap, an hour +after the hunters had returned. + +The following day George left the castle. + +The queen and Mary Seyton lost no time in setting about the rope ladder, +and it was finished on the third day. The same evening, the queen in her +impatience, and rather to assure herself of her partisans' vigilance +than in the hope that the time of her deliverance was so near, brought +her lamp to the window: immediately, and as George Douglas had told her, +the light in the little house at Kinross disappeared: the queen then +laid her hand on her heart and counted up to twenty-two; then the light +reappeared; they were ready for everything, but nothing was yet settled. +For a week the queen thus questioned the light and her heart-beats +without their number changing; at last, on the eighth day, she counted +only as far as ten; at the eleventh the light reappeared. + +The queen believed herself mistaken: she did not dare to hope what this +announced. She withdrew the lamp; then, at the end of a quarter of an +hour, showed it again: her unknown correspondent understood with his +usual intelligence that a fresh trial was required of him, and the light +in the little house disappeared in its turn. Mary again questioned the +pulsations of her heart, and, fast as it leaped, before the twelfth beat +the propitious star was shining on the horizon: there was no longer any +doubt; everything was settled. + +Mary could not sleep all night: this persistency of her partisans +inspired her with gratitude to the point of tears. The day came, and the +queen several times questioned her companion to assure herself that it +was not all a dream; at every sound it seemed to her that the scheme on +which her liberty hung was discovered, and when, at breakfast and at +dinner time, William Douglas entered as usual, she hardly dared look at +him, for fear of reading on his face the announcement that all was lost. + +In the evening the queen again questioned the light: it made the same +answer; nothing had altered; the beacon was always one of hope. + +For four days it thus continued to indicate that the moment of escape +was at hand; on the evening of the fifth, before the queen had counted +five beats, the light reappeared: the queen leaned upon Mary Seyton; she +was nearly fainting, between dread and 'delight. Her escape was fixed +for the next evening. + +The queen tried once more, and obtained the same reply: there was no +longer a doubt; everything was ready except the prisoner's courage, for +it failed her for a moment, and if Mary Seyton had not drawn up a seat +in time, she would have fallen prone; but, the first moment over, she +collected herself as usual, and was stronger and more resolute than +ever. + +Till midnight the queen remained at the window, her eyes fixed on that +star of good omen: at last Mary Seyton persuaded her to go to bed, +offering, if she had no wish to sleep, to read her some verses by M. +Ronsard, or some chapters from the Mer des Histoires; but Mary had no +desire now for any profane reading, and had her Hours read, making the +responses as she would have done if she had been present at a mass said +by a Catholic priest: towards dawn, however, she grew drowsy, and as +Mary Seyton, for her part, was dropping with fatigue, she fell asleep +directly in the arm-chair at the head of the queen's bed. + +Next day she awoke, feeling that someone was tapping her on the +shoulder: it was the queen, who had already arisen. + +"Come and see, darling," said she,--"come and see the fine day that God +is giving us. Oh! how alive is Nature! How happy I shall be to be once +more free among those plains and mountains! Decidedly, Heaven is on our +side." + +"Madam," replied Mary, "I would rather see the weather less fine: it +would promise us a darker night; and consider, what we need is darkness, +not light." + +"Listen," said the queen; "it is by this we are going to see if God is +indeed for us; if the weather remains as it is, yes, you are right, He +abandons us; but if it clouds over, oh! then, darling, this will be a +certain proof of His protection, will it not?" + +Mary Seyton smiled, nodding that she adopted her mistress's +superstition; then the queen, incapable of remaining idle in her great +preoccupation of mind, collected the few jewels that she had preserved, +enclosed them in a casket, got ready for the evening a black dress, in +order to be still better hidden in the darkness: and, these preparations +made, she sat down again at the window, ceaselessly carrying her eyes +from the lake to the little house in Kinross, shut up and dumb as usual. + +The dinner-hour arrived: the queen was so happy that she received +William Douglas with more goodwill than was her wont, and it was with +difficulty she remained seated during the time the meal lasted; but she +restrained herself, and William Douglas withdrew, without seeming to +have noticed her agitation. + +Scarcely had he gone than Mary ran to the window; she had need of air, +and her gaze devoured in advance those wide horizons which she was about +to cross anew; it seemed to her that once at liberty she would never +shut herself up in a palace again, but would wander about the +countryside continually: then, amid all these tremors of delight, from +time to time she felt unexpectedly heavy at heart. She then turned round +to Mary Seyton, trying to fortify her strength with hers, and the young +girl kept up her hopes, but rather from duty than from conviction. + +But slow as they seemed to the queen, the hours yet passed: towards the +afternoon some clouds floated across the blue sky; the queen remarked +upon them joyfully to her companion; Mary Seyton congratulated her upon +them, not on account of the imaginary omen that the queen sought in +them, but because of the real importance that the weather should be +cloudy, that darkness might aid them in their flight. While the two +prisoners were watching the billowy, moving vapours, the hour of dinner +arrived; but it was half an hour of constraint and dissimulation, the +more painful that, no doubt in return for the sort of goodwill shown him +by the queen in the morning, William Douglas thought himself obliged, in +his turn, to accompany his duties with fitting compliments, which +compelled the queen to take a more active part in the conversation than +her preoccupation allowed her; but William Douglas did not seem in any +way to observe this absence of mind, and all passed as at breakfast. + +Directly he had gone the queen ran to the window: the few clouds which +were chasing one another in the sky an hour before had thickened and +spread, and--all the blue was blotted out, to give place to a hue dull +and leaden as pewter. Mary Stuart's presentiments were thus realised: as +to the little house in Kinross, which one could still make out in the +dusk, it remained shut up, and seemed deserted. + +Night fell: the light shone as usual; the queen signalled, it +disappeared. Mary Stuart waited in vain; everything remained in +darkness: the escape was for the same evening. The queen heard eight +o'clock, nine o'clock, and ten o'clock strike successively. At ten +o'clock the sentinels were relieved; Mary Stuart heard the patrols pass +beneath her windows, the steps of the watch recede: then all returned to +silence. Half an hour passed away thus; suddenly the owl's cry resounded +thrice, the queen recognised George Douglas's signal: the supreme moment +had come. + +In these circumstances the queen found all her strength revive: she +signed to Mary Seyton to take away the bar and to fix the rope ladder, +while, putting out the lamp, she felt her way into the bedroom to seek +the casket which contained her few remaining jewels. When she came back, +George Douglas was already in the room. + +"All goes well, madam," said he. "Your friends await you on the other +side of the lake, Thomas Warden watches at the postern, and God has sent +us a dark night." + +The queen, without replying, gave him her hand. George bent his knee and +carried this hand to his lips; but on touching it, he felt it cold and +trembling. + +"Madam," said he, "in Heaven's name summon all your courage, and do not +let yourself be downcast at such a moment." + +"Our Lady-of-Good-Help," murmured Seyton, "come to our aid!" + +"Summon to you the spirit of the kings your ancestors," responded +George, "for at this moment it is not the resignation of a Christian +that you require, but the strength and resolution of a queen" + +"Oh, Douglas! Douglas," cried Mary mournfully, "a fortune-teller +predicted to me that I should die in prison and by a violent death: has +not the hour of the prediction arrived?" + +"Perhaps," George said, "but it is better to die as a queen than to live +in this ancient castle calumniated and a prisoner." + +"You are right, George," the queen answered; "but for a woman the first +step is everything: forgive me". Then, after a moment's pause, "Come," +said she; "I am ready." + +George immediately went to the window, secured the ladder again and more +firmly, then getting up on to the sill and holding to the bars with one +hand, he stretched out the other to the queen, who, as resolute as she +had been timid a moment before, mounted on a stool, and had already set +one foot on the window-ledge, when suddenly the cry, "Who goes there?" +rang out at the foot of the tower. The queen sprang quickly back, partly +instinctively and partly pushed by George, who, on the contrary, leaned +out of the window to see whence came this cry, which, twice again +renewed, remained twice unanswered, and was immediately followed by a +report and the flash of a firearm: at the same moment the sentinel on +duty on the tower blew his bugle, another set going the alarm bell, and +the cries, "To arms, to arms!" and "Treason, treason!" resounded +throughout the castle. + +"Yes, yes, treason, treason!" cried George Douglas, leaping down into +the room. "Yes, the infamous Warden has betrayed us!" Then, advancing to +Mary, cold and motionless as a statue, "Courage, madam," said he, +"courage! Whatever happens, a friend yet remains for you in the castle; +it is Little Douglas." + +Scarcely had he finished speaking when the door of the queen's apartment +opened, and William Douglas and Lady Lochleven, preceded by servants +carrying torches and armed soldiers, appeared on the threshold: the room +was immediately filled with people and light. + +"Mother," said William Douglas, pointing to his brother standing before +Mary Stuart and protecting her with his body, "do you believe me now? +Look!" + +The old lady was for a moment speechless; then finding a word at last, +and taking a step forward-- + +"Speak, George Douglas," cried she, "speak, and clear yourself at once +of the charge which weighs on your honour; say but these words, 'A +Douglas was never faithless to his trust,' and I believe you". + +"Yes, mother," answered William, "a Douglas!... but he--he is not a +Douglas." + +"May God grant my old age the strength needed to bear on the part of one +of my sons such a misfortune, and on the part of the other such an +injury!" exclaimed Lady Lochleven. "O woman born under a fatal star," +she went on, addressing the queen, "when will you cease to be, in the +Devil's hands, an instrument of perdition and death to all who approach +you? O ancient house of Lochleven, cursed be the hour when this +enchantress crossed thy threshold!" + +"Do not say that, mother, do not say that," cried George; "blessed be, +on the contrary, the moment which proves that, if there are Douglases +who no longer remember what they owe to their sovereigns, there are +others who have never forgotten it." + +"Douglas! Douglas!" murmured Mary Stuart, "did I not tell you?" + +"And I, madam," said George, "what did I reply then? That it was an +honour and a duty to every faithful subject of your Majesty to die for +you." + +"Well, die, then!" cried William Douglas, springing on his brother with +raised sword, while he, leaping back, drew his, and with a movement +quick as thought and eager as hatred defended himself. But at the same +moment Mary Stuart darted between the two young people. + +"Not another step, Lord Douglas," said she. "Sheathe your sword, George, +or if you use it, let be to go hence, and against everyone but your b +other. I still have need of your life; take care of it." + +"My life, like my arm and my honour, is at your service, madam, and from +the moment you command it I shall preserve it for you." + +With these words, rushing to the door with a violence and resolve which +prevented anyone's stopping him-- + +"Back!" cried he to the domestics who were barring the passage; "make +way for the young master of Douglas, or woe to you!". + +"Stop him!" cried William. "Seize him, dead or alive! Fire upon him! +Kill him like a dog!" + +Two or three soldiers, not daring to disobey William, pretended to +pursue his brother. Then some gunshots were heard, and a voice crying +that George Douglas had just thrown himself into the lake. + +"And has he then escaped?" cried William. + +Mary Stuart breathed again; the old lady raised her hands to Heaven. + +"Yes, yes," murmured William,--"yes, thank Heaven for your son's flight; +for his flight covers our entire house with shame; counting from this +hour, we shall be looked upon as the accomplices of his treason." + +"Have pity on me, William!" cried Lady Lochleven, wringing her hands. +"Have compassion o your old mother! See you not that I am dying?" + +With these words, she fell backwards, pale and tottering; the steward +and a servant supported er in their arms. + +"I believe, my lord," said Mary Seyton, coming forward, "that your +mother has as much need of attention just now as the queen has need of +repose: do you not consider it is time for you to withdraw?" + +"Yes, yes," said William, "to give you time to spin fresh webs, I +suppose, and to seek what fresh flies you can take in them? It is well, +go on with your work; but you have just seen that it is not easy to +deceive William Douglas. Play your game, I shall play mine". Then +turning to the servants, "Go out, all of you," said he; "and you, +mother, come." + +The servants and the soldiers obeyed; then William Douglas went out +last, supporting Lady Lochleven, and the queen heard him shut behind him +and double-lock the two doors of her prison. + +Scarcely was Mary alone, and certain that she was no longer seen or +heard, than all her strength deserted her, and, sinking into an +arm-chair, she burst out sobbing. + +Indeed, all her courage had been needed to sustain her so far, and the +sight of her enemies alone had given her this courage; but hardly had +they gone than her situation appeared before her in all its fatal +hardship. Dethroned, a prisoner, without another fiend in this +impregnable castle than a child to whom she had scarce given attention, +and who was the sole and last thread attaching her past hopes to her +hopes for the future, what remained to Mary Stuart of her two thrones +and her double power? Her name, that was all; her, name with which, +free, she had doubtless stirred Scotland, but which little by little was +about to be effaced in the hearts of her adherents, and which during her +lifetime oblivion was to cover perhaps as with a shroud. Such an idea +was insupportable to a soul as lofty as Mary Stuart's, and to an +organisation which, like that of the flowers, has need, before +everything, of air, light, and sun. + +Fortunately there remained to her the best beloved of her four Marys, +who, always devoted and consoling, hastened to succour and comfort her; +but this time it was no easy matter, and the queen let her act and speak +without answering her otherwise than with sobs and tears; when suddenly, +looking through the window to which she had drawn up her mistress's +armchair-- + +"The light!" cried she, "madam, the light!" + +At the same time she raised the queen, and with arm outstretched from +the window, she showed her the beacon, the eternal symbol of hope, +relighted in the midst of this dark night on Kinross hill: there was no +mistake possible, not a star was shining in the sky. + +"Lord God, I give Thee thanks," said the queen, falling on her knees and +raising her arms to heaven with a gesture of gratitude: "Douglas has +escaped, and my friends still keep watch." + +Then, after a fervent prayer, which restored to her a little strength, +the queen re-entered her room, and, tired out by her varied successive +emotions, she slept an uneasy, agitated sleep, over which the +indefatigable Mary Seyton kept watch till daybreak. + +As William Douglas had said, from this time forward the queen was a +prisoner indeed, and permission to go down into the garden was no longer +granted but under the surveillance of two soldiers; but this annoyance +seemed to her so unbearable that she preferred to give up the +recreation, which, surrounded with such conditions, became a torture. So +she shut herself up in her apartments, finding a certain bitter and +haughty pleasure in the very excess of her misfortune. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +A week after the events we have related, as nine o'clock in the evening +had just sounded from the castle bell, and the queen and Mary Seyton +were sitting at a table where they were working at their tapestry, a +stone thrown from the courtyard passed through the window bars, broke a +pane of glass, and fell into the room. The queen's first idea was to +believe it accidental or an insult; but Mary Seyton, turning round, +noticed that the stone was wrapped up in a paper: she immediately picked +it up. The paper was a letter from George Douglas, conceived in these +terms: + +"You have commanded me to live, madam: I have obeyed, and your Majesty +has been able to tell, from the Kinross light, that your servants +continue to watch over you. However, not to raise suspicion, the +soldiers collected for that fatal night dispersed at dawn, and will not +gather again till a fresh attempt makes their presence necessary. But, +alas! to renew this attempt now, when your Majesty's gaolers are on +their guard, would be your ruin. Let them take every precaution, then, +madam; let them sleep in security, while we, we, in our devotion, shall +go on watching. + +"Patience and courage!" + +"Brave and loyal heart!" cried Mary, "more constantly devoted to +misfortune than others are to prosperity! Yes, I shall have patience and +courage, and so long as that light shines I shall still believe in +liberty." + +This letter restored to the queen all her former courage: she had means +of communication with George through Little Douglas; for no doubt it was +he who had thrown that stone. She hastened, in her turn, to write a +letter to George, in which she both charged him to express her gratitude +to all the lords who had signed the protestation; and begged them, in +the name of the fidelity they had sworn to her, not to cool in their +devotion, promising them, for her part, to await the result with that +patience and courage they asked of her. + +The queen was not mistaken: next day, as she was at her window, Little +Douglas came to play at the foot of the tower, and, without raising his +head, stopped just beneath her to dig a trap to catch birds. The queen +looked to see if she were observed, and assured that that part of the +courtyard was deserted, she let fall the stone wrapped in her letter: at +first she feared to have made a serious error; for Little Douglas did +not even turn at the noise, and it was only after a moment, during which +the prisoner's heart was torn with frightful anxiety, that +indifferently, and as if he were looking for something else, the child +laid his hand on the stone, and without hurrying, without raising his +head, without indeed giving any sign of intelligence to her who had +thrown it, he put the letter in his pocket, finishing the work he had +begun with the greatest calm, and showing the queen, by this coolness +beyond his years, what reliance she could place in him. + +From that moment the queen regained fresh hope; but days, weeks, months +passed without bringing any change in her situation: winter came; the +prisoner saw snow spread over the plains and mountains, and the lake +afforded her, if she had only been able to pass the door, a firm road to +gain the other bank; but no letter came during all this time to bring +her the consoling news that they were busy about her deliverance; the +faithful light alone announced to her every evening that a friend was +keeping watch. + +Soon nature awoke from her death-sleep: some forward sun-rays broke +through the clouds of this sombre sky of Scotland; the snow melted, the +lake broke its ice-crust, the first buds opened, the green turf +reappeared; everything came out of its prison at the joyous approach of +spring, and it was a great grief to Mary to see that she alone was +condemned to an eternal winter. + +At last; one evening, she thought she observed in the motions of the +light that something fresh was happening: she had so often questioned +this poor flickering star, and she had so often let it count her +heart-beats more than twenty times, that to spare herself the pain of +disappointment, for a long time she had no longer interrogated it; +however, she resolved to make one last attempt, and, almost hopeless, +she put her light near the window, and immediately took it away; still, +faithful to the signal, the other disappeared at the same moment, and +reappeared at the eleventh heart-beat of the queen. At the same time, by +a strange coincidence, a stone passing through the window fell at Mary +Seyton's feet. It was, like the first, wrapped in a letter from George: +the queen took it from her companion's hands, opened it, and read: + +"The moment draws near; your adherents are assembled; summon all your +courage." + +"To-morrow, at eleven o'clock in the evening, drop a cord from your +window, and draw up the packet that will be fastened to it." + +There remained in the queen's apartments the rope over and above what +had served for the ladder taken away by the guards the evening of the +frustrated escape: next day, at the appointed hour, the two prisoners +shut up the lamp in the bedroom, so that no light should betray them, +and Mary Seyton, approaching the window, let down the cord. After a +minute, she felt from its movements that something was being attached to +it. Mary Seyton pulled, and a rather bulky parcel appeared at the bars, +which it could not pass on account of its size. Then the queen came to +her companion's aid. The parcel was untied, and its contents, +separately, got through easily. The two prisoners carried them into the +bedroom, and, barricaded within, commenced an inventory. There were two +complete suits of men's clothes in the Douglas livery. The queen was at +a loss, when she saw a letter fastened to the collar of one of the two +coats. Eager to know the meaning of this enigma, she immediately opened +it, and read as follows: + +"It is only by dint of audacity that her Majesty can recover her +liberty: let her Majesty read this letter, then, and punctually follow, +if she deign to adopt them, the instructions she will find therein. + +"In the daytime the keys of the castle do not leave the belt of the old +steward; when curfew is rung and he has made his rounds to make sure +that all the doors are fast shut, he gives them up to William Douglas, +who, if he stays up, fastens them to his sword-belt, or, if he sleeps, +puts them under his pillow. For five months, Little Douglas, whom +everyone is accustomed to see working at the armourer's forge of the +castle, has been employed in making some keys like enough to the others, +once they are substituted for them, for William to be deceived. +Yesterday Little Douglas finished the last. + +"On the first favourable opportunity that her Majesty will know to be +about to present itself, by carefully questioning the light each day, +Little Douglas will exchange the false keys for the true, will enter the +queen's room, and will find her dressed, as well as Miss Mary Seyton, in +their men's clothing, and he will go before them to lead them, by the +way which offers the best chances for their escape; a boat will be +prepared and will await them. + +"Till then, every evening, as much to accustom themselves to these new +costumes as to give them an appearance of having been worn, her Majesty +and Miss Mary Seyton will dress themselves in the suits, which they must +keep on from nine o'clock till midnight. Besides, it is possible that, +without having had time to warn them, their young guide may suddenly +come to seek them: it is urgent, then, that he find them ready. + +"The garments ought to fit perfectly her Majesty and her companion, the +measure having been taken on Miss Mary Fleming and Miss Mary Livingston, +who are exactly their size. + +"One cannot too strongly recommend her Majesty to summon to her aid on +the supreme occasion the coolness and courage of which she has given +such frequent proofs at other times." + +The two prisoners were astounded at the boldness of this plan: at first +they looked at one another in consternation, for success seemed +impossible. They none the less made trial of their disguise: as George +had said, it fitted each of them as if they had been measured for it. + +Every evening the queen questioned the light, as George had urged, and +that for a whole long month, during which each evening the queen and +Mary Seyton, although the light gave no fresh tidings, arrayed +themselves in their men's clothes, as had been arranged, so that they +both acquired such practice that they became as familiar to them as +those of their own sex. + +At last, the 2nd May, 1568, the queen was awakened by the blowing of a +horn: uneasy as to what it announced, she slipped on a cloak and ran to +the window, where Mary Seyton joined her directly. A rather numerous +band of horsemen had halted on the side of the lake, displaying the +Douglas pennon, and three boats were rowing together and vying with each +other to fetch the new arrivals. + +This event caused the queen dismay: in her situation the least change in +the castle routine was to be feared, for it might upset all the +concerted plans. This apprehension redoubled when, on the boats drawing +near, the queen recognised in the elder Lord Douglas, the husband of +Lady Lochleven, and the father of William and George. The venerable +knight, who was Keeper of the Marches in the north, was coming to visit +his ancient manor, in which he had not set foot for three years. + +It was an event for Lochleven; and, some minutes after the arrival of +the boats, Mary Stuart heard the old steward's footsteps mounting the +stairs: he came to announce his master's arrival to the queen, and, as +it must needs be a time of rejoicing to all the castle inhabitants when +its master returned, he came to invite the queen to the dinner in +celebration of the event: whether instinctively or from distaste, the +queen declined. + +All day long the bell and the bugle resounded: Lord Douglas, like a true +feudal lord, travelled with the retinue of a prince. One saw nothing but +new soldiers and servants passing and repassing beneath the queen's +windows: the footmen and horsemen were wearing, moreover, a livery +similar to that which the queen and Mary Seyton had received. + +Mary awaited the night with impatience. The day before, she had +questioned her light, and it had informed her as usual, in reappearing +at her eleventh or twelfth heart-beat, that the moment of escape was +near; but she greatly feared that Lord Douglas's arrival might have +upset everything, and that this evening's signal could only announce a +postponement. But hardly had she seen the light shine than she placed +her lamp in the window; the other disappeared directly, and Mary Stuart, +with terrible anxiety, began to question it. This anxiety increased when +she had counted more than fifteen beats. Then she stopped, cast down, +her eyes mechanically fixed on the spot where the light had been. But +her astonishment was great when, at the end of a few minutes, she did +not see it reappear, and when, half an hour having elapsed, everything +remained in darkness. The queen then renewed her signal, but obtained no +response: the escape was for the same evening. + +The queen and Mary Seyton were so little expecting this issue, that, +contrary to their custom, they had not put on their men's clothes that +evening. They immediately flew to the queen's bed-chamber, bolted the +door behind them, and began to dress. + +They had hardly finished their hurried toilette when they heard a key +turn in the lock: they immediately blew out the lamp. Light steps +approached the door. The two women leaned one against the other; for +they both were near falling. Someone tapped gently. The queen asked who +was there, and Little Douglas's voice answered in the two first lines of +an old ballad-- + +"Douglas, Douglas, Tender and true." + +Mary opened, directly: it was the watchword agreed upon with George +Douglas. + +The child was without a light. He stretched out his hand and encountered +the queen's: in the starlight, Mary Stuart saw him kneel down; then she +felt the imprint of his lips on her fingers. + +"Is your Majesty ready to follow me?" he asked in a low tone, rising. + +"Yes, my child," the queen answered: "it is for this evening, then?" + +"With your Majesty's permission, yes, it is for this evening." + +"Is everything ready?" + +"Everything." + +"What are we to do?" + +"Follow me everywhere." + +"My God! my God!" cried Mary Stuart, "have pity on us!" Then, having +breathed a short prayer in a low voice, while Mary Seyton was taking the +casket in which were the queen's jewels, "I am ready," said she: "and +you, darling?" + +"I also," replied Mary Seyton. + +"Come, then," said Little Douglas. + +The two prisoners followed the child; the queen going first, and Mary +Seyton after. Their youthful guide carefully shut again the door behind +him, so that if a warder happened to pass he would see nothing; then he +began to descend the winding stair. Half-way down, the noise of the +feast reached them, a mingling of shouts of laughter, the confusion of +voices, and the clinking of glasses. The queen placed her hand on her +young guide's shoulder. + +"Where are you leading us?" she asked him with terror. + +"Out of the castle," replied the child. + +"But we shall have to pass through the great hall?" + +"Without a doubt; and that is exactly what George foresaw. Among the +footmen, whose livery your Majesty is wearing, no one will recognise +you." + +"My God! my God!" the queen murmured, leaning against the wall. + +"Courage, madam," said Mary Seyton in a low voice, "or we are lost." + +"You are right," returned the queen; "let us go". And they started again +still led by their guide. + +At the foot of the stair he stopped, and giving the queen a stone +pitcher full of wine-- + +"Set this jug on your right shoulder, madam," said he; "it will hide +your face from the guests, and your Majesty will give rise to less +suspicion if carrying something. You, Miss Mary, give me that casket, +and put on your head this basket of bread. Now, that's right: do you +feel you have strength?" + +"Yes," said the queen. + +"Yes," said Mary Seyton. + +"Then follow me." + +The child went on his way, and after a few steps the fugitives found +themselves in a kind of antechamber to the great hall, from which +proceeded noise and light. Several servants were occupied there with +different duties; not one paid attention to them, and that a little +reassured the queen. Besides, there was no longer any drawing back: +Little Douglas had just entered the great hall. + +The guests, seated on both sides of a long table ranged according to the +rank of those assembled at it, were beginning dessert, and consequently +had reached the gayest moment of the repast. Moreover, the hall was so +large that the lamps and candles which lighted it, multiplied as they +were, left in the most favourable half-light both sides of the +apartment, in which fifteen or twenty servants were coming and going. +The queen and Mary Seyton mingled with this crowd, which was too much +occupied to notice them, and without stopping, without slackening, +without looking back, they crossed the whole length of the hall, reached +the other door, and found themselves in the vestibule corresponding to +the one they had passed through on coming in. The queen set down her jug +there, Mary Seyton her basket, and both, still led by the child, entered +a corridor at the end of which they found themselves in the courtyard. A +patrol was passing at the moment, but he took no notice of them. + +The child made his way towards the garden, still followed by the two +women. There, for no little while, it was necessary to try which of all +the keys opened the door; it--was a time of inexpressible anxiety. At +last the key turned in the lock, the door opened; the queen and Mary +Seyton rushed into the garden. The child closed the door behind them. + +About two-thirds of the way across, Little Douglas held out his hand as +a sign to them to stop; then, putting down the casket and the keys on +the ground, he placed his hands together, and blowing into them, thrice +imitated the owl's cry so well that it was impossible to believe that a +human voice was uttering the sounds; then, picking up the casket and the +keys, he kept on his way on tiptoe and with an attentive ear. On getting +near the wall, they again stopped, and after a moment's anxious waiting +they heard a groan, then something like the sound of a falling body. +Some seconds later the owl's cry was--answered by a tu-whit-tu-whoo. + +"It is over," Little Douglas said calmly; "come." + +"What is over?" asked the queen; "and what is that groan we heard?" + +"There was a sentry at the door on to the lake," the child answered, +"but he is no longer there." + +The queen felt her heart's blood grow cold, at the same tine that a +chilly sweat broke out to the roots of her hair; for she perfectly +understood: an unfortunate being had just lost his life on her account. +Tottering, she leaned on Mary Seyton, who herself felt her strength +giving way. Meanwhile Little Douglas was trying the keys: the second +opened the door. + +"And the queen?" said in a low voice a man who was waiting on the other +side of the wall. + +"She is following me," replied the child. + +George Douglas, for it was he, sprang into the garden, and, taking the +queen's arm on one side and Mary Seyton's on the other, he hurried them +away quickly to the lake-side. When passing through the doorway Mary +Stuart could not help throwing an uneasy look about her, and it seemed +to her that a shapeless object was lying at the bottom of the wall, and +as she was shuddering all over. + +"Do not pity him," said George in a low voice, "for it is a judgment +from heaven. That man was the infamous Warden who betrayed us." + +"Alas!" said the queen, "guilty as he was, he is none the less dead on +my account." + +"When it concerned your safety, madam, was one to haggle over drops of +that base blood? But silence! This way, William, this way; let us keep +along the wall, whose shadow hides us. The boat is within twenty steps, +and we are saved." + +With these words, George hurried on the two women still more quickly, +and all four, without having been detected, reached the banks of the +lake. 'As Douglas had said, a little boat was waiting; and, on seeing +the fugitives approach, four rowers, couched along its bottom, rose, and +one of them, springing to land, pulled the chain, so that the queen and +Mary Seyton could get in. Douglas seated them at the prow, the child +placed himself at the rudder, and George, with a kick, pushed off the +boat, which began to glide over the lake. + +"And now," said he, "we are really saved; for they might as well pursue +a sea swallow on Solway Firth as try to reach us. Row, children, row; +never mind if they hear us: the main thing is to get into the open." + +"Who goes there?" cried a voice above, from the castle terrace. + +"Row, row," said Douglas, placing himself in front of the queen. + +"The boat! the boat!" cried the same voice; "bring to the boat!" Then, +seeing that it continued to recede, "Treason! treason!" cried the +sentinel. "To arms!" + +At the same moment a flash lit up the lake; the report of a firearm was +heard, and a ball passed, whistling. The queen uttered a little cry, +although she had run no danger, George, as we have said, having placed +himself in front of her, quite protecting her with his body. + +The alarm bell now rang, and all the castle lights were seen moving and +glancing about, as if distracted, in the rooms. + +"Courage, children!" said Douglas. "Row as if your lives depended on +each stroke of the oar; for ere five minutes the skiff will be out after +us." + +"That won't be so easy for them as you think, George," said Little +Douglas; "for I shut all the doors behind me, and some time will elapse +before the keys that I have left there open them. As to these," added +he, showing those he had so skilfully abstracted, "I resign them to the +Kelpie, the genie of the lake, and I nominate him porter of Lochleven +Castle." + +The discharge of a small piece of artillery answered William's joke; but +as the night was too dark for one to aim to such a distance as that +already between the castle and the boat, the ball ricochetted at twenty +paces from the fugitives, while the report died away in echo after echo. +Then Douglas drew his pistol from his belt, and, warning the ladies to +have no fear, he fired in the air, not to answer by idle bravado the +castle cannonade, but to give notice to a troop of faithful friends, who +were waiting for them on the other shore of the lake, that the queen had +escaped. Immediately, in spite of the danger of being so near Kinross, +cries of joy resounded on the bank, and William having turned the +rudder, the boat made for land at the spot whence they had been heard. +Douglas then gave his hand to the queen, who sprang lightly ashore, and +who, falling on her knees, immediately began to give thanks to God for +her happy deliverance. + +On rising, the queen found herself surrounded by her most faithful +servants--Hamilton, Herries, and Seyton, Mary's father. Light-headed +with joy, the queen extended her hands to them, thanking them with +broken words, which expressed her intoxication and her gratitude better +than the choicest phrases could have done, when suddenly, turning round, +she perceived George Douglas, alone and melancholy. Then, going to him +and taking him by the hand-- + +"My lords," said she, presenting George to them, and pointing to +William, "behold my two deliverers: behold those to whom, as long as I +live, I shall preserve gratitude of which nothing will ever acquit me." + +"Madam," said Douglas, "each of us has only done what he ought, and he +who has risked most is the happiest. But if your Majesty will believe +me, you will not lose a moment in needless words." + +"Douglas is right," said Lord Seyton. "To horse! to horse!" + +Immediately, and while four couriers set out in four different +directions to announce to the queen's friends her happy escape, they +brought her a horse saddled for her, which she mounted with her usual +skill; then the little troop, which, composed of about twenty persons, +was escorting the future destiny of Scotland, keeping away from the +village of Kinross, to which the castle firing had doubtless given the +alarm, took at a gallop the road to Seyton's castle, where was already a +garrison large enough to defend the queen from a sudden attack. + +The queen journeyed all night, accompanied on one side by Douglas, on +the other by Lord Seyton; then, at daybreak, they stopped at the gate of +the castle of West Niddrie, belonging to Lord Seyton, as we have said, +and situated in West Lothian. Douglas sprang from his horse to offer his +hand to Mary Stuart; but Lord Seyton claimed his privilege as master of +the house. The queen consoled Douglas with a glance, and entered the +fortress. + +"Madam," said Lord Seyton, leading her into a room prepared for her for +nine months, "your Majesty must have need of repose, after the fatigue +and the emotions you have gone through since yesterday morning; you may +sleep here in peace, and disquiet yourself for nothing: any noise you +may hear will be made by a reinforcement of friends which we are +expecting. As to our enemies, your Majesty has nothing to fear from them +so long as you inhabit the castle of a Seyton." + +The queen again thanked all her deliverers, gave her hand to Douglas to +kiss one last time, kissed Little William on the forehead, and named him +her favourite page for the future; then, profiting by the advice given +her, entered her room where Mary Seyton, to the exclusion of every other +woman, claimed the privilege of performing about her the duties with +which she had been charged during their eleven months' captivity in +Lochleven Castle. + +On opening her eyes, Mary Stuart thought she had had one of those dreams +so gainful to prisoners, when waking they see again the bolts on their +doors and the bars on their windows. So the queen, unable to believe the +evidence of her senses, ran, half dressed, to the window. The courtyard +was filled with soldiers, and these soldiers all friends who had +hastened at the news of her escape; she recognised the banners of her +faithful friends, the Seytons, the Arbroaths, the Herries, and the +Hamiltons, and scarcely had she been seen at the window than all these +banners bent before her, with the shouts a hundred times repeated of +"Long live Mary of Scotland! Long live our queen!" Then, without giving +heed to the disarray of her toilet, lovely and chaste with her emotion +and her happiness, she greeted them in her turn, her eyes full of tears; +but this time they were tears of joy. However, the queen recollected +that she was barely covered, and blushing at having allowed herself to +be thus carried away in her ecstasy, she abruptly drew back, quite rosy +with confusion. + +Then she had an instant's womanly fright: she had fled from Lochleven +Castle in the Douglas livery, and without either the leisure or the +opportunity for taking women's clothes with her. But she could not +remain attired as a man; so she explained her uneasiness to Mary Seyton, +who responded by opening the closets in the queen's room. They were +furnished, not only with robes, the measure for which, like that of the +suit, had been taken from Mary Fleming, but also with all the +necessaries for a woman's toilet. The queen was astonished: it was like +being in a fairy castle. + +"Mignonne," said she, looking one after another at the robes, all the +stuffs of which were chosen with exquisite taste, "I knew your father +was a brave and loyal knight, but I did not think him so learned in the +matter of the toilet. We shall name him groom of the wardrobe." + +"Alas! madam," smilingly replied Mary Seyton, "you are not mistaken: my +father has had everything in the castle furbished up to the last +corselet, sharpened to the last sword, unfurled to the last banner; but +my father, ready as he is to die for your Majesty, would not have +dreamed for an instant of offering you anything but his roof to rest +under, or his cloak to cover you. It is Douglas again who has foreseen +everything, prepared everything--everything even to Rosabelle, your +Majesty's favourite steed, which is impatiently awaiting in the stable +the moment when, mounted on her, your Majesty will make your triumphal +re-entry into Edinburgh." + +"And how has he been able to get her back again?" Mary asked. "I thought +that in the division of my spoils Rosabelle had fallen to the fair +Alice, my brother's favourite sultana?" + +"Yes, yes," said Mary Seyton, "it was so; and as her value was known, +she was kept under lock and key by an army of grooms; but Douglas is the +man of miracles, and, as I have told you, Rosabelle awaits your +Majesty." + +"Noble Douglas!" murmured the queen, with eyes full of tears; then, as +if speaking to herself, "And this is precisely one of those devotions +that we can never repay. The others will be happy with honours, places, +money; but to Douglas what matter all these things?" + +"Come, madam, come," said Mary Seyton, "God takes on Himself the debts +of kings; He will reward Douglas. As to your Majesty, reflect that they +are waiting dinner for you. I hope," added she, smiling, "that you will +not affront my father as you did Lord Douglas yesterday in refusing to +partake of his feast on his fortunate home-coming." + +"And luck has come to me for it, I hope," replied Mary. "But you are +right, darling: no more sad thoughts; we will consider when we have +indeed become queen again what we can do for Douglas." + +The queen dressed and went down. As Mary Seyton had told her, the chief +noblemen of her party, already gathered round her, were waiting for her +in the great hall of the castle. Her arrival was greeted with +acclamations of the liveliest enthusiasm, and she sat down to table, +with Lord Seyton on her right hand, Douglas on her left, and behind her +Little William, who the same day was beginning his duties as page. + +Next morning the queen was awakened by the sound of trumpets and bugles: +it had been decided the day before that she should set out that day for +Hamilton, where reinforcements were looked for. The queen donned an +elegant riding-habit, and soon, mounted on Rosabelle, appeared amid her +defenders. The shouts of joy redoubled: her beauty, her grace, and her +courage were admired by everyone. Mary Stuart became her own self once +more, and she felt spring up in her again the power of fascination she +had always exercised on those who came near her. Everyone was in good +humour, and the happiest of all was perhaps Little William, who for the +first time in his life had such a fine dress and such a fine horse. + +Two or three thousand men were awaiting the queen at Hamilton, which she +reached the same evening; and during the night following her arrival the +troops increased to six thousand. The 2nd of May she was a prisoner, +without another friend but a child in her prison, without other means of +communication with her adherents than the flickering and uncertain light +of a lamp, and three days afterwards--that is to say, between the Sunday +and the Wednesday--she found herself not only free, but also at the head +of a powerful confederacy, which counted at its head nine earls, eight +peers, nine bishops, and a number of barons and nobles renowned among +the bravest of Scotland. + +The advice of the most judicious among those about the queen was to shut +herself up in the strong castle of Dumbarton, which, being impregnable, +would give all her adherents time to assemble together, distant and +scattered as they were: accordingly, the guidance of the troops who were +to conduct the queen to that town was entrusted to the Earl of Argyll, +and the 11th of May she took the road with an army of nearly ten +thousand men. + +Murray was at Glasgow when he heard of the queen's escape: the place was +strong; he decided to hold it, and summoned to him his bravest and most +devoted partisans. Kirkcaldy of Grange, Morton, Lindsay of Byres, Lord +Lochleven, and William Douglas hastened to him, and six thousand of the +best troops in the kingdom gathered round them, while Lord Ruthven in +the counties of Berwick and Angus raised levies with which to join them. + +The 13th May, Morton occupied from daybreak the village of Langside, +through which the queen must pass to get to Dumbarton. The news of the +occupation reached the queen as the two armies were yet seven miles +apart. Mary's first instinct was to escape an engagement: she remembered +her last battle at Carberry Hill, at the end of which she had been +separated from Bothwell and brought to Edinburgh; so she expressed aloud +this opinion, which was supported by George Douglas, who, in black +armour, without other arms, had continued at the queen's side. + +"Avoid an engagement!" cried Lord Seyton, not daring to answer his +sovereign, and replying to George as if this opinion had originated with +him. "We could do it, perhaps, if we were one to ten; but we shall +certainly not do so when we are three to two. You speak a strange +tongue, my young master," continued he, with some contempt; "and you +forget, it seems to me, that you are a Douglas and that you speak to a +Seyton." + +"My lord," returned George calmly, "when we only hazard the lives of +Douglases and Seytons, you will find me, I hope, as ready to fight as +you, be it one to ten, be it three to two; but we are now answerable for +an existence dearer to Scotland than that of all the Seytons and all the +Douglases. My advice is then to avoid battle." + +"Battle! battle!" cried all the chieftains. + +"You hear, madam?" said Lord Seyton to Mary Stuart: "I believe that to +wish to act against such unanimity would be dangerous. In Scotland, +madam, there is an ancient proverb which has it that 'there is most +prudence in courage.'" + +"But have you not heard that the regent has taken up an advantageous +position?" the queen said. + +"The greyhound hunts the hare on the hillside as well as in the plain," +replied Seyton: "we will drive him out, wherever he is." + +"Let it be as you desire, then, my lords. It shall not be said that Mary +Stuart returned to the scabbard the sword her defenders had drawn for +her." + +Then, turning round to Douglas + +"George," she said to him, "choose a guard of twenty men for me, and +take command of them: you will not quit me." + +George bent low in obedience, chose twenty from among the bravest men, +placed the queen in their midst, and put himself at their head; then the +troops, which had halted, received the order to continue their road. In +two hours' time the advance guard was in sight of the enemy; it halted, +and the rest of the army rejoined it. + +The queen's troops then found themselves parallel with the city of +Glasgow, and the heights which rose in front of them were already +occupied by a force above which floated, as above that of Mary, the +royal banners of Scotland, On the other side, and on the opposite slope, +stretched the village of Langside, encircled with enclosures and +gardens. The road which led to it, and which followed all the variations +of the ground, narrowed at one place in such a way that two men could +hardly pass abreast, then, farther on, lost itself in a ravine, beyond +which it reappeared, then branched into two, of which one climbed to the +village of Langside, while the other led to Glasgow. + +On seeing the lie of the ground, the Earl of Argyll immediately +comprehended the importance of occupying this village, and, turning to +Lord Seyton, he ordered him to gallop off and try to arrive there before +the enemy, who doubtless, having made the same observation as the +commander of the royal forces, was setting in motion at that very moment +a considerable body of cavalry. + +Lord Seyton called up his men directly, but while he was ranging them +round his banner, Lord Arbroath drew his sword, and approaching the Earl +of Argyll-- + +"My lord," said he, "you do me a wrong in charging Lord Seyton to seize +that post: as commander of the vanguard, it is to me this honour +belongs. Allow me, then, to use my privilege in claiming it." + +"It is I who received the order to seize it; I will seize it!" cried +Seyton. + +"Perhaps," returned Lord Arbroath, "but not before me!" + +"Before you and before every Hamilton in the world!" exclaimed Seyton, +putting his horse to the gallop and rushing down into the hollow road-- + +"Saint Bennet! and forward!" + +"Come, my faithful kinsmen!" cried Lord Arbroath, dashing forward on his +side with the same object; "come, my men-at-arms! For God and the +queen!" + +The two troops precipitated themselves immediately in disorder and ran +against one another in the narrow way, where, as we have said, two men +could hardly pass abreast. There was a terrible collision there, and the +conflict began among friends who should have been united against the +enemy. Finally, the two troops, leaving behind them some corpses stifled +in the press, or even killed by their companions, passed through the +defile pell-mell and were lost sight of in the ravine. But during this +struggle Seyton and Arbroath had lost precious time, and the detachment +sent by Murray, which had taken the road by Glasgow, had reached the +village beforehand; it was now necessary not to take it, but to retake +it. + +Argyll saw that the whole day's struggle would be concentrated there, +and, understanding more and more the importance of the village, +immediately put himself at the head of the body of his army, commanding +a rearguard of two thousand men to remain there and await further orders +to take part in the fighting. But whether the captain who commanded them +had ill understood, or whether he was eager to distinguish himself in +the eyes of the queen, scarcely had Argyll vanished into the ravine, at +the end of which the struggle had already commenced between Kirkcaldy of +Grange and Morton on the one side, and on the other between Arbroath and +Seyton, than, without regarding the cries of Mary Stuart, he set off in +his turn at a gallop, leaving the queen without other guard than the +little escort of twenty men which Douglas had chosen for her. Douglas +sighed. + +"Alas!" said the queen, hearing him, "I am not a soldier, but there it +seems to me is a battle very badly begun." + +"What is to be done?" replied Douglas. "We are every one of us +infatuated, from first to last, and all these men are behaving to-day +like madmen or children." + +"Victory! victory!" said the queen; "the enemy is retreating, fighting. +I see the banners of Seyton and Arbroath floating near the first houses +in the village. Oh! my brave lords," cried she, clapping her hands. +"Victory! victory!" + +But she stopped suddenly on perceiving a body of the enemy's army +advancing to charge the victors in flank. + +"It is nothing, it is nothing," said Douglas; "so long as there is only +cavalry we have nothing much to fear, and besides the Earl of Argyll +will fall in in time to aid them." + +"George," said Little William. + +"Well?" asked Douglas. + +"Don't you see?" the child went on, stretching out his arms towards the +enemy's force, which was coming on at a gallop. + +"What?" + +"Each horseman carries a footman armed with an arquebuse behind him, so +that the troop is twice as numerous as it appears." + +"That's true; upon my soul, the child has good sight. Let someone go at +once full gallop and take news of this to the Earl or Argyll." + +"I! I!" cried Little William. "I saw them first; it is my right to bear +the tidings." + +"Go, then, my child," said Douglas; "and may God preserve thee!" + +The child flew, quick as lightning, not hearing or feigning not to hear +the queen, who was recalling him. He was seen to cross the gorge and +plunge into the hollow road at the moment when Argyll was debouching at +the end and coming to the aid of Seyton and Arbroath. Meanwhile, the +enemy's detachment had dismounted its infantry, which, immediately +formed up, was scattering on the sides of the ravine by paths +impracticable for horses. + +"William will come too late!" cried Douglas, "or even, should he arrive +in time, the news is now useless to them. Oh madmen, madmen that we are! +This is how we have always lost all our battles!" + +"Is the battle lost, then?" demanded Mary, growing pale. + +"No, madam, no," cried Douglas; "Heaven be thanked, not yet; but through +too great haste we have begun badly." + +"And William?" said Mary Stuart. + +"He is now serving his apprenticeship in arms; for, if I am not +mistaken, he must be at this moment at the very spot where those +marksmen are making such quick firing." + +"Poor child!" cried the queen; "if ill should befall him, I shall never +console myself." + +"Alas! madam," replied Douglas, "I greatly fear that his first battle is +his last, and that everything is already over for him; for, unless I +mistake, there is his horse returning riderless." + +"Oh, my God! my God!" said the queen, weeping, and raising her hands to +heaven, "it is then decreed that I should be fatal to all around me!" + +George was not deceived: it was William's horse coming back without his +young master and covered with blood. + +"Madam," said Douglas, "we are ill placed here; let us gain that hillock +on which is the Castle of Crookstone: from thence we shall survey the +whole battlefield." + +"No, not there! not there!" said the queen in terror: "within that +castle I came to spend the first days of my marriage with Darnley; it +will bring me misfortune." + +"Well, beneath that yew-tree, then," said George, pointing to another +slight rise near the first; "but it is important for us to lose no +detail of this engagement. Everything depends perhaps for your Majesty +on an ill-judged manoeuvre or a lost moment." + +"Guide me, then," the queen said; "for, as for me, I no longer see it. +Each report of that terrible cannonade echoes to the depths of my +heart." + +However well placed as was this eminence for overlooking from its summit +the whole battlefield, the reiterated discharge of cannon and musketry +covered it with such a cloud of smoke that it was impossible to make out +from it anything but masses lost amid a murderous fog. At last, when an +hour had passed in this desperate conflict, through the skirts of this +sea of smoke the fugitives were seen to emerge and disperse in all +directions, followed by the victors. Only, at that distance, it was +impossible to make out who had gained or lost the battle, and the +banners, which on both sides displayed the Scottish arms, could in no +way clear up this confusion. + +At that moment there was seen coming down from the Glasgow hillsides all +the remaining reserve of Murray's army; it was coming at full speed to +engage in the fighting; but this manoeuvre might equally well have for +its object the support of defeated friends as to complete the rout of +the enemy. However, soon there was no longer any doubt; for this reserve +charged the fugitives, amid whom it spread fresh confusion. The queen's +army was beaten. At the same time, three or four horsemen appeared on +the hither side of the ravine, advancing at a gallop. Douglas recognised +them as enemies. + +"Fly, madam," cried George, "fly without loss of a second; for those who +are coming upon us are followed by others. Gain the road, while I go to +check them. And you," added he, addressing the escort, "be killed to the +last man rather than let them take your queen." + +"George! George!" cried the queen, motionless, and as if riveted to the +spot. + +But George had already dashed away with all his horse's speed, and as he +was splendidly mounted, he flew across the space with lightning +rapidity, and reached the gorge before the enemy. There he stopped, put +his lance in rest, and alone against five bravely awaited the encounter. + +As to the queen, she had no desire to go; but, on the contrary, as if +turned to stone, she remained in the same place, her eyes fastened on +this combat which was taking place at scarcely five hundred paces from +her. Suddenly, glancing at her enemies, she saw that one of them bore in +the middle of his shield a bleeding heart, the Douglas arms. Then she +uttered a cry of pain, and drooping her head-- + +"Douglas against Douglas; brother against brother!" she murmured: "it +only wanted this last blow." + +"Madam, madam," cried her escort, "there is not an instant to lose: the +young master of Douglas cannot hold out long thus alone against five; +let us fly! let us fly!" And two of them taking the queen's horse by the +bridle, put it to the gallop, at the moment when George, after having +beaten down two of his enemies and wounded a third, was thrown down in +his turn in the dust, thrust to the heart by a lance-head. The queen +groaned on seeing him fall; then, as if he alone had detained her, and +as if he being killed she had no interest in anything else, she put +Rosabelle to the gallop, and as she and her troop were splendidly +mounted, they had soon lost sight of the battlefield. + +She fled thus for sixty miles, without taking any rest, and without +ceasing to weep or to sigh: at last, having traversed the counties of +Renfrew and Ayr, she reached the Abbey of Dundrennan, in Galloway, and +certain of being, for the time at least, sheltered from every danger, +she gave the order to stop. The prior respectfully received her at the +gate of the convent. + +"I bring you misfortune and ruin, father," said the queen, alighting +from her horse. + +"They are welcome," replied the prior, "since they come accompanied by +duty." + +The queen gave Rosabelle to the care of one of the men-at-arms who had +accompanied her, and leaning on Mary Seyton, who had not left her for a +moment, and on Lord Herries, who had rejoined her on the road, she +entered the convent. + +Lord Herries had not concealed her position from Mary Stuart: the day +had been completely lost, and with the day, at least for the present, +all hope of reascending the throne of Scotland. There remained but three +courses for the queen to take to withdraw into France, Spain or England. +On the advice of Lord Herries, which accorded with her own feeling, she +decided upon the last; and that same night she wrote this double missive +in verse and in prose to Elizabeth: + +"MY DEAR SISTER,--I have often enough begged you to receive my +tempest-tossed vessel into your haven during the storm. If at this pass +she finds a safe harbour there, I shall cast anchor there for ever: +otherwise the bark is in God's keeping, for she is ready and caulked for +defence on her voyage against all storms. I have dealt openly with you, +and still do so: do not take it in bad part if I write thus; it is not +in defiance of you, as it appears, for in everything I rely on your +friendship." + +"This sonnet accompanied the letter:-- + +"One thought alone brings danger and delight; Bitter and sweet change +places in my heart, With doubt, and then with hope, it takes its part, +Till peace and rest alike are put to flight. + +Therefore, dear sister, if this card pursue That keen desire by which I +am oppressed, To see you, 'tis because I live distressed, Unless some +swift and sweet result ensue. + +Beheld I have my ship compelled by fate To seek the open sea, when close +to port, And calmest days break into storm and gale; Wherefore full +grieved and fearful is my state, Not for your sake, but since, in evil +sort, Fortune so oft snaps strongest rope and sail." + +Elizabeth trembled with joy at receiving this double letter; for the +eight years that her enmity had been daily increasing to Mary Stuart, +she had followed her with her eyes continually, as a wolf might a +gazelle; at last the gazelle sought refuge in the wolf's den. Elizabeth +had never hoped as much: she immediately despatched an order to the +Sheriff of Cumberland to make known to Mary that she was ready to +receive her. One morning a bugle was heard blowing on the sea-shore: it +was Queen Elizabeth's envoy come to fetch Queen Mary Stuart. + +Then arose great entreaties to the fugitive not to trust herself thus to +a rival in power, glory, and beauty; but the poor dispossessed queen was +full of confidence in her she called her good sister, and believed +herself going, free and rid of care, to take at Elizabeth's court the +place due to her rank and her misfortunes: thus she persisted, in spite +of all that could be said. In our time, we have seen the same +infatuation seize another royal fugitive, who like Mary Stuart confided +himself to the generosity of his enemy England: like Mary Stuart, he was +cruelly punished for his confidence, and found in the deadly climate of +St. Helena the scaffold of Fotheringay. + +Mary Stuart set out on her journey, then, with her little following. +Arrived at the shore of Solway Firth, she found there the Warden of the +English Marches: he was a gentleman named Lowther, who received the +queen with the greatest respect, but who gave her to understand that he +could not permit more than three of her women to accompany her. Mary +Seyton immediately claimed her privilege: the queen held out to her her +hand. + +"Alas! mignonne," said she, "but it might well be another's turn: you +have already suffered enough for me and with me." + +But Mary, unable to reply, clung to her hand, making a sign with her +head that nothing in the world should part her from her mistress. Then +all who had accompanied the queen renewed their entreaties that she +should not persist in this fatal resolve, and when she was already a +third of the way along the plank placed for her to enter the skiff, the +Prior of Dundrennan, who had offered Mary Stuart such dangerous and +touching hospitality, entered the water up to his knees, to try to +detain her; but all was useless: the queen had made up her mind. + +At that, moment Lowther approached her. "Madam," said he, "accept anew +my regrets that I cannot offer a warm welcome in England to all who +would wish to follow you there; but our queen has given us positive +orders, and we must carry them out. May I be permitted to remind your +Majesty that the tide serves?" + +"Positive orders!" cried the prior. "Do you hear, madam? Oh! you are +lost if you quit this shore! Back, while there is yet time! Back; madam, +in Heaven's name! To me, sir knights, to me!" he cried, turning to Lord +Herries and the other lords who had accompanied Mary Stuart; "do not +allow your queen to abandon you, were it needful to struggle with her +and the English at the same time. Hold her back, my lords, in Heaven's +name! withhold her!" + +"What means this violence, sir priest?" said the Warden of the Marches. +"I came here at your queen's express command; she is free to return to +you, and there is no need to have recourse to force for that". Then, +addressing the queen-- + +"Madam," said he, "do you consent to follow me into England in full +liberty of choice? Answer, I entreat you; for my honour demands that the +whole world should be aware that you have followed me freely." + +"Sir," replied Mary Stuart, "I ask your pardon, in the name of this +worthy servant of God and his queen, for what he may have said of +offence to you. Freely I leave Scotland and place myself in your hands, +trusting that I shall be free either to remain in England with my royal +sister, or to return to France to my worthy relatives". Then, turning to +the priest, "Your blessing, father, and God protect you!" + +"Alas! alas!" murmured the abbot, obeying the queen, "it is not we who +are in need of God's protection, but rather you, my daughter. May the +blessing of a poor priest turn aside from you the misfortunes I foresee! +Go, and may it be with you as the Lord has ordained in His wisdom and in +His mercy!" + +Then the queen gave her hand to the sheriff, who conducted her to the +skiff, followed by Mary Seyton and two other women only. The sails were +immediately unfurled, and the little vessel began to recede from the +shores of Galloway, to make her way towards those of Cumberland. So long +as it could be seen, they who had accompanied the queen lingered on the +beach, waving her signs of adieu, which, standing on the deck of the +shallop which was bearing her, away, she returned with her handkerchief. +Finally, the boat disappeared, and all burst into lamentations or into +sobbing. They were right, for the good Prior of Dundrennan's +presentiments were only too true, and they had seen Mary Stuart for the +last time. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +On landing on the shores of England, the Queen of Scotland found +messengers from Elizabeth empowered to express to her all the regret +their mistress felt in being unable to admit her to her presence, or to +give her the affectionate welcome she bore her in her heart. But it was +essential, they added, that first of all the queen should clear herself +of the death of Darnley, whose family, being subjects of the Queen of +England, had a right to her protection and justice. + +Mary Stuart was so blinded that she did not see the trap, and +immediately offered to prove her innocence to the satisfaction of her +sister Elizabeth; but scarcely had she in her hands Mary Stuart's +letter, than from arbitress she became judge, and, naming commissioners +to hear the parties, summoned Murray to appear and accuse his sister. +Murray, who knew Elizabeth's secret intentions with regard to her rival, +did not hesitate a moment. He came to England, bringing the casket +containing the three letters we have quoted, some verses and some other +papers which proved that the queen had not only been Bothwell's mistress +during the lifetime of Darnley, but had also been aware of the +assassination of her husband. On their side, Lord Herries and the Bishop +of Ross, the queen's advocates, maintained that these letters had been +forged, that the handwriting was counterfeited, and demanded, in +verification, experts whom they could not obtain; so that this great +controversy, remained pending for future ages, and to this hour nothing +is yet affirmatively settled in this matter either by scholars or +historians. + +After a five months' inquiry, the Queen of England made known to the +parties, that not having, in these proceedings, been able to discover +anything to the dishonour of accuser or accused, everything would remain +in statu quo till one or the other could bring forward fresh proofs. + +As a result of this strange decision, Elizabeth should have sent back +the regent to Scotland, and have left Mary Stuart free to go where she +would. But, instead of that, she had her prisoner removed from Bolton +Castle to Carlisle Castle, from whose terrace, to crown her with grief, +poor Mary Stuart saw the blue mountains of her own Scotland. + +However, among the judges named by Elizabeth to examine into Mary +Stuart's conduct was Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk. Be it that he was +convinced of Mary's innocence, be it that he was urged by the ambitious +project which since served as a ground for his prosecution, and which +was nothing else than to wed Mary Stuart, to affiance his daughter to +the young king, and to become regent of Scotland, he resolved to +extricate her from her prison. Several members of the high nobility of +England, among whom were the Earls of Westmoreland and Northumberland, +entered into the plot and under, took to support it with all their +forces. But their scheme had been communicated to the regent: he +denounced it to Elizabeth, who had Norfolk arrested. Warned in time, +Westmoreland and Northumberland crossed the frontiers and took refuge in +the Scottish borders which were favourable to Queen Mary. The former +reached Flanders, where he died in exile; the latter, given up to +Murray, was sent to the castle of Lochleven, which guarded him more +faithfully than it had done its royal prisoner. As to Norfolk, he was +beheaded. As one sees, Mary Stuart's star had lost none of its fatal +influence. + +Meanwhile the regent had returned to Edinburgh, enriched with presents +from Elizabeth, and having gained, in fact, his case with her, since +Mary remained a prisoner. He employed himself immediately in dispersing +the remainder of her adherents, and had hardly shut the gates of +Lochleven Castle upon Westmoreland than, in the name of the young King +James VI, he pursued those who had upheld his mother's cause, and among +them more particularly the Hamiltons, who since the affair of "sweeping +the streets of Edinburgh," had been the mortal enemies of the Douglases +personally; six of the chief members of this family were condemned to +death, and only obtained commutation of the penalty into an eternal +exile on the entreaties of John Knox, at that time so powerful in +Scotland that Murray dared not refuse their pardon. + +One of the amnestied was a certain Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh, a man of +ancient Scottish times, wild and vindictive as the nobles in the time of +James I. He had withdrawn into the highlands, where he had found an +asylum, when he learned that Murray, who in virtue of the confiscation +pronounced against exiles had given his lands to one of his favourites, +had had the cruelty to expel his sick and bedridden wife from her own +house, and that without giving her time to dress, and although it was in +the winter cold. The poor woman, besides, without shelter, without +clothes, and without food, had gone out of her mind, had wandered about +thus for some time, an object of compassion but equally of dread; for +everyone had been afraid of compromising himself by assisting her. At +last, she had returned to expire of misery and cold on the threshold +whence she had been driven. + +On learning this news, Bothwellhaugh, despite the violence of his +character, displayed no anger: he merely responded, with a terrible +smile, "It is well; I shall avenge her." + +Next day, Bothwellhaugh left his highlands, and came down, disguised, +into the plain, furnished with an order of admission from the Archbishop +of St. Andrews to a house which this prelate--who, as one remembers, had +followed the queen's fortunes to the last moment--had at Linlithgow. +This house, situated in the main street, had a wooden balcony looking on +to the square, and a gate which opened out into the country. +Bothwellhaugh entered it at night, installed himself on the first floor, +hung black cloth on the walls so that his shadow should not be seen from +without, covered the floor with mattresses so that his footsteps might +not be heard on the ground floor, fastened a racehorse ready saddled and +bridled in the garden, hollowed out the upper part of the little gate +which led to the open country so that he could pass through it at a +gallop, armed himself with a loaded arquebuse, and shut himself up in +the room. + +All these preparations had been made, one imagines, because Murray was +to spend the following day in Linlithgow. But, secret as they were, they +were to be rendered useless, for the regent's friends warned him that it +would not be safe for him to pass through the town, which belonged +almost wholly to the Hamiltons, and advised him to go by it. However, +Murray was courageous, and, accustomed not to give way before a real +danger, he did nothing but laugh at a peril which he looked upon as +imaginary, and boldly followed his first plan, which was not to go out +of his way. Consequently, as the street into which the Archbishop of St. +Andrews' balcony looked was on his road, he entered upon it, not going +rapidly and preceded by guards who would open up a passage for him, as +his friends still counselled, but advancing at a foot's pace, delayed as +he was by the great crowd which was blocking up the streets to see him. +Arrived in front of the balcony, as if chance had been in tune with the +murderer, the crush became so great that Murray was obliged to halt for +a moment: this rest gave Bothwellhaugh time to adjust himself for a +steady shot. He leaned his arquebuse on the balcony, and, having taken +aim with the necessary leisure and coolness, fired. Bothwellhaugh had +put such a charge into the arquebuse, that the ball, having passed +through the regent's heart, killed the horse of a gentleman on his +right. Murray fell directly, saying, "My God! I am killed." + +As they had seen from which window the shot was fired, the persons in +the regent's train had immediately thrown themselves against the great +door of the house which looked on to the street, and had smashed it in; +but they only arrived in time to see Bothwellhaugh fly through the +little garden gate on the horse he had got ready: they immediately +remounted the horses they had left in the street, and, passing through +the house, pursued him. Bothwellhaugh had a good horse and the lead of +his enemies; and yet, four of them, pistol in hand, were so well mounted +that they were beginning to gain upon him. Then Bothwellhaugh; seeing +that whip and spur were not enough, drew his dagger and used it to goad +on his horse. His horse, under this terrible stimulus, acquired fresh +vigour, and, leaping a gully eighteen feet deep, put between his master +and his pursuers a barrier which they dared not cross. + +The murderer sought an asylum in France, where he retired under the +protection of the Guises. There, as the bold stroke he had attempted had +acquired him a great reputation, some days before the Massacre of St. +Bartholomew, they made him overtures to assassinate Admiral Coligny. But +Bothwellhaugh indignantly repulsed these proposals, saying that he was +the avenger of abuses and not an assassin, and that those who had to +complain of the admiral had only to come and ask him how he had done, +and to do as he. + +As to Murray, he died the night following his wound, leaving the regency +to the Earl of Lennox, the father of Darnley: on learning the news of +his death, Elizabeth wrote that she had lost her best friend. + +While these events were passing in Scotland, Mary Stuart was still a +prisoner, in spite of the pressing and successive protests of Charles IX +and Henry III. Taking fright at the attempt made in her favour, +Elizabeth even had her removed to Sheffield Castle, round which fresh +patrols were incessantly in motion. + +But days, months, years passed, and poor Mary, who had borne so +impatiently her eleven months' captivity in Lochleven Castle, had been +already led from prison to prison for fifteen or sixteen years, in spite +of her protests and those of the French and Spanish ambassadors, when +she was finally taken to Tutbury Castle and placed under the care of Sir +Amyas Paulet, her last gaoler: there she found for her sole lodging two +low and damp rooms, where little by little what strength remained to her +was so exhausted that there were days on which she could not walk, on +account of the pain in all her limbs. Then it was that she who had been +the queen of two kingdoms, who was born in a gilded cradle and brought +up in silk and velvet, was forced to humble herself to ask of her gaoler +a softer bed and warmer coverings. This request, treated as an affair of +state, gave rise to negotiations which lasted a month, after which the +prisoner was at length granted what she asked. And yet the +unhealthiness, cold, and privations of all kinds still did not work +actively enough on that healthy and robust organisation. They tried to +convey to Paulet what a service he would render the Queen of England in +cutting short the existence of her who, already condemned in her rival's +mind, yet delayed to die. But Sir Amyas Paulet, coarse and harsh as he +was to Mary Stuart, declared that, so long as she was with him she would +have nothing to fear from poison or dagger, because he would taste all +the dishes served to his prisoner, and that no one should approach her +but in his presence. In fact, some assassins, sent by Leicester, the +very same who had aspired for a moment to the hand of the lovely Mary +Stuart, were driven from the castle directly its stern keeper had +learned with what intentions they had entered it. Elizabeth had to be +patient, then, in contenting herself with tormenting her whom she could +not kill, and still hoping that a fresh opportunity would occur for +bringing her to trial. That opportunity, so long delayed, the fatal star +of Mary Stuart at length brought. + +A young Catholic gentleman, a last scion of that ancient chivalry which +was already dying out at that time, excited by the excommunication of +Pius V, which pronounced Elizabeth fallen from her kingdom on earth and +her salvation in heaven, resolved to restore liberty to Mary, who +thenceforth was beginning to be looked upon, no longer as a political +prisoner, but as a martyr for her faith. Accordingly, braving the law +which Elizabeth had had made in 1585, and which provided that, if any +attempt on her person was meditated by, or for, a person who thought he +had claims to the crown of England, a commission would be appointed +composed of twenty-five members, which, to the exclusion of every other +tribunal, would be empowered to examine into the offence, and to condemn +the guilty persons, whosoever they might be. Babington, not at all +discouraged by the example of his predecessors, assembled five of his +friends, Catholics as zealous as himself, who engaged their life and +honour in the plot of which he was the head, and which had as its aim to +assassinate Elizabeth, and as a result to place Mary Stuart on the +English throne. But this scheme, well planned as it was, was revealed to +Walsingham, who allowed the conspirators to go as far as he thought he +could without danger, and who, the day before that fixed for the +assassination, had them arrested. + +This imprudent and desperate attempt delighted Elizabeth, for, according +to the letter of the law, it finally gave her rival's life into her +hands. Orders were immediately given to Sir Amyas Paulet to seize the +prisoner's papers and to move her to Fotheringay Castle. The gaoler, +then, hypocritically relaxing his usual severity, suggested to Mary +Stuart that she should go riding, under the pretext that she had need of +an airing. The poor prisoner, who for three years had only seen the +country through her prison bars, joyfully accepted, and left Tutbury +between two guards, mounted, for greater security, on a horse whose feet +were hobbled. These two guards took her to Fotheringay Castle, her new +habitation, where she found the apartment she was to lodge in already +hung in black. Mary Stuart had entered alive into her tomb. As to +Babington and his accomplices, they had been already beheaded. + +Meanwhile, her two secretaries, Curle and Nau, were arrested, and all +her papers were seized and sent to Elizabeth, who, on her part, ordered +the forty commissioners to assemble, and proceed without intermission to +the trial of the prisoner. They arrived at Fotheringay the 14th October +1586; and next day, being assembled in the great hall of the castle, +they began the examination. + +At first Mary refused to appear before them, declaring that she did not +recognise the commissioners as judges, they not being her peers, and not +acknowledging the English law, which had never afforded her protection, +and which had constantly abandoned her to the rule of force. But seeing +that they proceeded none the less, and that every calumny was allowed, +no one being there to refute it, she resolved to appear before the +commissioners. We quote the two interrogatories to which Mary Stuart +submitted as they are set down in the report of M. de Bellievre to M. de +Villeroy. M. de Bellievre, as we shall see later, had been specially +sent by King Henry III to Elizabeth. [Intelligence for M. Villeroy of +what was done in England by M. de Bellievre about the affairs of the +Queen of Scotland, in the months of November and December 1586 and +January 1587.] + +The said lady being seated at the end of the table in the said hall, and +the said commissioners about her-- + +The Queen of Scotland began to speak in these terms: + +"I do not admit that any one of you here assembled is my peer or my +judge to examine me upon any charge. Thus what I do, and now tell you, +is of my own free will, taking God to witness that I am innocent and +pure in conscience of the accusations and slanders of which they wish to +accuse me. For I am a free princess and born a queen, obedient to no +one, save to God, to whom alone I must give an account of my actions. +This is why I protest yet again that my appearance before you be not +prejudicial either to me, or to the kings, princes and potentates, my +allies, nor to my son, and I require that my protest be registered, and +I demand the record of it." + +Then the chancellor, who was one of the commissioners, replied in his +turn, and protested against the protestation; then he ordered that there +should be read over to the Queen of Scotland the commission in virtue of +which they were proceeding--a commission founded on the statutes and law +of the kingdom. + +But to this Mary Stuart made answer that she again protested; that the +said statutes and laws were without force against her, because these +statutes and laws are not made for persons of her condition. + +To this the chancellor replied that the commission intended to proceed +against her, even if she refused to answer, and declared that the trial +should proceed; for she was doubly subject to indictment, the +conspirators having not only plotted in her favour, but also with her +consent: to which the said Queen of Scotland responded that she had +never even thought of it. + +Upon this, the letters it was alleged she had written to Babington and +his answers were read to her. + +Mary Stuart then affirmed that she had never seen Babington, that she +had never had any conference with him, had never in her life received a +single letter from him, and that she defied anyone in the world to +maintain that she had ever done anything to the prejudice of the said +Queen of England; that besides, strictly guarded as she was, away from +all news, withdrawn from and deprived of those nearest her, surrounded +with enemies, deprived finally of all advice, she had been unable to +participate in or to consent to the practices of which she was accused; +that there are, besides, many persons who wrote to her what she had no +knowledge of, and that she had received a number of letters without +knowing whence they came to her. + +Then Babington's confession was read to her; but she replied that she +did not know what was meant; that besides, if Babington and his +accomplices had said such things, they were base men, false and liars. + +"Besides," added she, "show me my handwriting and my signature, since +you say that I wrote to Babington, and not copies counterfeited like +these which you have filled at your leisure with the falsehoods it has +pleased you to insert." + +Then she was shown the letter that Babington, it was said, had written +her. She glanced at it; then said, "I have no knowledge of this letter". +Upon this, she was shown her reply, and she said again, "I have no more +knowledge of this answer. If you will show me my own letter and my own +signature containing what you say, I will acquiesce in all; but up to +the present, as I have already told you, you have produced nothing +worthy of credence, unless it be the copies you have invented and added +to with what seemed good to you." + +With these words, she rose, and with her eyes full of tears-- + +"If I have ever," said she, "consented to such intrigues, having for +object my sister's death, I pray God that He have neither pity nor mercy +on me. I confess that I have written to several persons, that I have +implored them to deliver me from my wretched prisons, where I +languished, a captive and ill-treated princess, for nineteen years and +seven months; but it never occurred to me, even in thought, to write or +even to desire such things against the queen. Yes, I also confess to +having exerted myself for the deliverance of some persecuted Catholics, +and if I had been able, and could yet, with my own blood, protect them +and save them from their pains, I would have done it, and would do it +for them with all my power, in order to save them from destruction." + +Then, turning to the secretary, Walsingham-- + +"But, my lord," said she, "from the moment I see you here, I know whence +comes this blow: you have always been my greatest enemy and my son's, +and you have moved everyone against me and to my prejudice." + +Thus accused to his face, Walsingham rose. + +"Madam," he replied, "I protest before God, who is my witness, that you +deceive yourself, and that I have never done anything against you +unworthy of a good man, either as an individual or as a public +personage." + +This is all that was said and done that day in the proceedings, till the +next day, when the queen was again obliged to appear before the +commissioners. + +And, being seated at the end of the table of the said hall, and the said +commissioners about her, she began to speak in a loud voice. + +"You are not unaware, my lords and gentlemen, that I am a sovereign +queen, anointed and consecrated in the church of God, and cannot, and +ought not, for any reason whatever, be summoned to your courts, or +called to your bar, to be judged by the law and statutes that you lay +down; for I am a princess and free, and I do not owe to any prince more +than he owes to me; and on everything of which I am accused towards my +said sister, I cannot, reply if you do not permit me to be assisted by +counsel. And if you go further, do what you will; but from all your +procedure, in reiterating my protestations, I appeal to God, who is the +only just and true judge, and to the kings and princes, my allies and +confederates." + +This protestation was once more registered, as she had required of the +commissioners. Then she was told that she had further written several +letters to the princes of Christendom, against the queen and the kingdom +of England. + +"As to that," replied Mary Stuart, "it is another matter, and I do not +deny it; and if it was again to do, I should do as I have done, to gain +my liberty; for there is not a man or woman in the world, of less rank +than I, who would not do it, and who would not make use of the help and +succour of their friends to issue from a captivity as harsh as mine was. +You charge me with certain letters from Babington: well, I do not deny +that he has written to me and that I have replied to him; but if you +find in my answers a single word about the queen my sister, well, yes, +there will be good cause to prosecute me. I replied to him who wrote to +me that he would set me at liberty, that I accepted his offer, if he +could do it without compromising the one or the other of us: that is +all. + +"As to my secretaries," added the queen, "not they, but torture spoke by +their mouths: and as to the confessions of Babington and his +accomplices, there is not much to be made of them; for now that they are +dead you can say all that seems good to you; and let who will believe +you." + +With these words, the queen refused to answer further if she were not +given counsel, and, renewing her protestation, she withdrew into her +apartment; but, as the chancellor had threatened, the trial was +continued despite her absence. + +However, M. de Chateauneuf, the French ambassador to London, saw matters +too near at hand to be deceived as to their course: accordingly, at the +first rumour which came to him of bringing Mary Stuart to trial, he +wrote to King Henry III, that he might intervene in the prisoner's +favour. Henry III immediately despatched to Queen Elizabeth an embassy +extraordinary, of which M. de Bellievre was the chief; and at the same +time, having learned that James VI, Mary's son, far from interesting +himself in his mother's fate, had replied to the French minister, +Courcelles, who spoke to him of her, "I can do nothing; let her drink +what she has spilled," he wrote him the following letter, to decide the +young prince to second him in the steps he was going to take: + +"21st November, 1586. + +"COURCELLES, I have received your letter of the 4th October last, in +which I have seen the discourse that the King of Scotland has held with +you concerning what you have witnessed to him of the good affection I +bear him, discourse in which he has given proof of desiring to +reciprocate it entirely; but I wish that that letter had informed me +also that he was better disposed towards the queen his mother, and that +he had the heart and the desire to arrange everything in a way to assist +her in the affliction in which she now is, reflecting that the prison +where she has been unjustly detained for eighteen years and more has +induced her to lend an ear to many things which have been proposed to +her for gaining her liberty, a thing which is naturally greatly desired +by all men, and more still by those who are born sovereigns and rulers, +who bear being kept prisoners thus with less patience. He should also +consider that if the Queen of England, my good sister, allows herself to +be persuaded by the counsels of those who wish that she should stain +herself with Queen Mary's blood, it will be a matter which will bring +him to great dishonour, inasmuch as one will judge that he will have +refused his mother the good offices that he should render her with the +said Queen of England, and which would have perhaps been sufficient to +move her, if he would have employed them, as warmly, and as soon as his +natural duty commanded him. Moreover, it is to be feared for him, that, +his mother dead, his own turn may come, and that one may think of doing +as much for him, by some violent means, to make the English succession +easier to seize for those who are likely to have it after the said Queen +Elizabeth, and not only to defraud the said King of Scotland of the +claim he can put forward, but to render doubtful even that which he has +to his own crown. I do not know in what condition the affairs of my said +sister-in-law will be when you receive this letter; but I will tell you +that in every case I wish you to rouse strongly the said King of +Scotland, with remonstrances, and everything else which may bear on this +subject, to embrace the defence and protection of his said mother, and +to express to him, on my part, that as this will be a matter for which +he will be greatly praised by all the other kings and sovereign princes, +he must be assured that if he fails in it there will be great censure +for him, and perhaps notable injury to himself in particular. +Furthermore, as to the state of my own affairs, you know that the queen, +madam and mother, is about to see very soon the King of Navarre, and to +confer with him on the matter of the pacification of the troubles of +this kingdom, to which, if he bear as much good affection as I do for my +part, I hope that things may come to a good conclusion, and that my +subjects will have some respite from the great evils and calamities that +the war occasions them: supplicating the Creator, Courcelles, that He +may have you in His holy keeping. + +"Written at St. Germain-en-Laye, the 21st day of November 1586.(Signed) +HENRI, + +"And below, BRULART." + +This letter finally decided James VI to make a kind of demonstration in +his mother's favour: he sent Gray, Robert Melville, and Keith to Queen +Elizabeth. But although London was nearer Edinburgh than was Paris, the +French envoys reached it before the Scotch. + +It is true that on reaching Calais, the 27th of November, M. de +Bellievre had found a special messenger there to tell him not to lose an +instant, from M. de Chateauneuf, who, to provide for every difficulty, +had chartered a vessel ready in the harbour. But however great the speed +these noble lords wished to make, they were obliged to await the wind's +good-will, which did not allow them to put to sea till Friday 28th at +midnight; next day also, on reaching Dover at nine o'clock, they were so +shaken by sea-sickness that they were forced to stay a whole day in the +town to recover, so that it was not till Sunday 30th that M. de +Bellievre was able to set out in the coach that M. Chateauneuf sent him +by M. de Brancaleon, and take the road to London, accompanied by the +gentlemen of his suite, who rode on post-horses; but resting only a few +hours on the way to make up for lost time, they at last arrived in +London, Sunday the 1st of December at midday. M. de Bellievre +immediately sent one of the gentlemen of his suite, named M. de +Villiers, to the Queen of England, who was holding her court at Richmond +Castle: the decree had been secretly pronounced already six days, and +submitted to Parliament, which was to deliberate upon it with closed +doors. + +The French ambassadors could not have chosen a worse moment to approach +Elizabeth; and to gain time she declined to receive M. de Villiers, +returning the answer that he would himself know next day the reason for +this refusal. And indeed, next day, the rumour spread in London that the +French Embassy had contagion, and that two of the lords in it having +died of the plague at Calais, the queen, whatever wish she might have to +be agreeable to Henry III, could not endanger her precious existence by +receiving his envoys. Great was the astonishment of M. de Bellievre at +learning this news he protested that the queen was led into error by a +false report, and insisted on being received. Nevertheless, the delays +lasted another six days; but as the ambassadors threatened to depart +without waiting longer, and as, upon the whole, Elizabeth, disquieted by +Spain, had no desire to embroil herself with France, she had M. de +Bellievre informed on the morning of the 7th of December that she was +ready to receive him after dinner at Richmond Castle, together with the +noblemen of his suite. + +At the appointed time the French ambassadors presented themselves at the +castle gates, and, having been brought to the queen, found her seated on +her throne and surrounded by the greatest lords in her kingdom. Then MM. +de Chateauneuf and de Bellievre, the one the ambassador in ordinary and +the other the envoy extraordinary, having greeted her on the part of the +King of France, began to make her the remonstrances with which they were +charged. Elizabeth replied, not only in the same French tongue, but also +in the most beautiful speech in use at that time, and, carried away by +passion, pointed out to the envoys of her brother Henry that the Queen +of Scotland had always proceeded against her, and that this was the +third time that she had wished to attempt her life by an infinity of +ways; which she had already borne too long and with too much patience, +but that never had anything so profoundly cut her to the heart as her +last conspiracy; that event, added she with sadness, having caused her +to sigh more and to shed more tears than the loss of all her relations, +so much the more that the Queen of Scotland was her near relative and +closely connected with the King of France; and as, in their +remonstrances, MM. de Chateauneuf and de Bellievre had brought forward +several examples drawn from history, she assumed, in reply to them on +this occasion, the pedantic style which was usual with her, and told +them that she had seen and read a great many books in her life, and a +thousand more than others of her sex and her rank were wont to, but that +she had never found in them a single example of a deed like that +attempted on her--a deed pursued by a relative, whom the king her +brother could not and ought not to support in her wickedness, when it +was, on the contrary, his duty to hasten the just punishment of it: then +she added, addressing herself specially to M. de Bellievre, and coming +down again from the height of her pride to a gracious countenance, that +she greatly regretted he was not deputed for a better occasion; that in +a few days she would reply to King Henry her brother, concerning whose +health she was solicitous, as well as that of the queen mother, who must +experience such great fatigue from the trouble she took to restore peace +to her son's kingdom; and then, not wishing to hear more, she withdrew +into her room. + +The envoys returned to London, where they awaited the promised reply; +but while they were expecting it unavailingly, they heard quietly the +sentence of death given against Queen Mary, which decided them to return +to Richmond to make fresh remonstrances to Queen Elizabeth. After two or +three fruitless journeys, they were at last, December 15th, admitted for +the second time to the royal presence. + +The queen did not deny that the sentence had been pronounced, and as it +was easy to see that she did not intend in this case to use her right of +pardon, M. de Bellievre, judging that there was nothing to be done, +asked for a safe-conduct to return to his king: Elizabeth promised it to +him within two or three days. + +On the following Tuesday, the 17th of the same month of December, +Parliament as well as the chief lords of the realm were convoked at the +Palace of Westminster, and there, in full court and before all, sentence +of death was proclaimed and pronounced against Mary Stuart: then this +same sentence, with great display and great solemnity, was read in the +squares and at the cross-roads of London, whence it spread throughout +the kingdom; and upon this proclamation the bells rang for twenty-four +hours, while the strictest orders were given to each of the inhabitants +to light bonfires in front of their houses, as is the custom in France +on the Eve of St. John the Baptist. + +Then, amid this sound of bells, by the light of these bonfires, M. de +Bellievre, wishing to make a last effort, in order to have nothing with +which to reproach himself, wrote the following letter to Queen +Elizabeth: + +"MADAM:--We quitted your Majesty yesterday, expecting, as it had pleased +you to inform us, to receive in a few days your reply touching the +prayer that we made you on behalf of our good master, your brother, for +the Queen of Scotland, his sister in-law and confederate; but as this +morning we have been informed that the judgment given against the said +queen has been proclaimed in London, although we had promised ourselves +another issue from your clemency and the friendship your bear to the +said lord king your good brother, nevertheless, to neglect no part of +our duty, and believing in so doing to serve the intentions of the king +our master, we have not wanted to fail to write to you this present +letter, in which we supplicate you once again, very humbly, not to +refuse his Majesty the very pressing and very affectionate prayer that +he has made you, that you will be pleased to preserve the life of the +said lady Queen of Scotland, which the said lord king will receive as +the greatest pleasure your Majesty could do him; while, on the contrary, +he could not imagine anything which would cause him more displeasure, +and which would wound him more, than if he were used harshly with regard +to the said lady queen, being what she is to him: and as, madam, the +said king our master, your good brother, when for this object he +despatched us to your Majesty, had not conceived that it was possible, +in any case, to determine so promptly upon such an execution, we implore +you, madam, very humbly, before permitting it to go further, to grant us +some time in which we can make known to him the state of the affairs of +the said Queen of Scotland, in order that before your Majesty takes a +final resolution, you may know what it may please his very Christian +Majesty to tell you and point out to you on the greatest affair which, +in our memory, has been submitted to men's judgment. Monsieur de +Saint-Cyr, who will give these presents to your Majesty, will bring us, +if it pleases you, your good reply. + +"London, this 16th day of December 1586. + +"(Signed) DE BELLIEVRE, + +"And DE L'AUBESPINE CHATEAUNEUF." + +The same day, M. de Saint-Cyr and the other French lords returned to +Richmond to take this letter; but the queen would not receive them, +alleging indisposition, so that they were obliged to leave the letter +with Walsingham, her first Secretary of State, who promised them to send +the queen's answer the following day. + +In spite of this promise, the French lords waited two days more: at +last, on the second day, towards evening, two English gentlemen sought +out M. de Fellievre in London, and, viva voce, without any letter to +confirm what they were charged to say, announced to him, on behalf of +their queen, that in reply to the letter that they had written her, and +to do justice to the desire they had shown to obtain for the condemned a +reprieve during which they would make known the decision to the King of +France, her Majesty would grant twelve days. As this was Elizabeth's +last word, and it was useless to lose time in pressing her further, M. +de Genlis was immediately despatched to his Majesty the King of France, +to whom, besides the long despatch of M. de Chateauneuf and de Bellievre +which he was charged to remit, he was to say 'viva voce' what he had +seen and heard relative to the affairs of Queen Mary during the whole +time he had been in England. + +Henry III responded immediately with a letter containing fresh +instructions for MM. de Chateauneuf and de Bellievre; but in spite of +all the haste M. de Genlis could make, he did not reach London till the +fourteenth day--that is to say, forty-eight hours after the expiration +of the delay granted; nevertheless, as the sentence had not yet been put +into execution, MM. de Bellievre and de Chateauneuf set out at once for +Greenwich Castle, some miles from London, where the queen was keeping +Christmas, to beg her to grant them an audience, in which they could +transmit to her Majesty their king's reply; but they could obtain +nothing for four or five days; however, as they were not disheartened, +and returned unceasingly to the charge, January 6th, MM. de Bellievre +and de Chateauneuf were at last sent for by the queen. + +As on the first occasion, they were introduced with all the ceremonial +in use at that time, and found Elizabeth in an audience-chamber. The +ambassadors approached her, greeted her, and M. de Bellievre began to +address to her with respect, but at the same time with firmness, his +master's remonstrances. Elizabeth listened to them with an impatient +air, fidgeting in her seat; then at last, unable to control herself, she +burst out, rising and growing red with anger-- + +"M. de Bellievre," said she, "are you really charged by the king, my +brother, to speak to me in such a way?" + +"Yes, madam," replied M. de Bellievre, bowing; "I am expressly commanded +to do so." + +"And have you this command under his hand?" continued Elizabeth. + +"Yes, madam," returned the ambassador with the same calmness; "and the +king, my master, your good brother, has expressly charged me, in letters +signed by his own hand, to make to your Majesty the remonstrances which +I have had the honour to address to you." + +"Well," cried Elizabeth, no longer containing herself, "I demand of you +a copy of that letter, signed by you; and reflect that you will answer +for each word that you take away or add." + +"Madam," answered M. de Bellievre, "it is not the custom of the kings of +France, or of their agents, to forge letters or documents; you will have +the copies you require to-morrow morning, and I pledge their accuracy on +my honour." + +"Enough, sir, enough!" said the queen, and signing to everyone in the +room to go out, she remained nearly an hour with MM. de Chateauneuf and +de Bellievre. No one knows what passed in that interview, except that +the queen promised to send an ambassador to the King of France, who, she +promised, would be in Paris, if not before, at least at the same time as +M. de Bellievre, and would be the bearer of her final resolve as to the +affairs of the Queen of Scotland; Elizabeth then withdrew, giving the +French envoys to understand that any fresh attempt they might make to +see her would be useless. + +On the 13th of January the ambassadors received their passports, and at +the same time notice that a vessel of the queen's was awaiting them at +Dover. + +The very day of their departure a strange incident occurred. A gentleman +named Stafford, a brother of Elizabeth's ambassador to the King of +France, presented himself at M. de Trappes's, one of the officials in +the French chancellery, telling him that he was acquainted with a +prisoner for debt who had a matter of the utmost importance to +communicate to him, and that he might pay the greater attention to it, +he told him that this matter was connected with the service of the King +of France, and concerned the affairs of Queen Mary of Scotland. M. de +Trappes, although mistrusting this overture from the first, did not +want, in case his suspicions deceived him, to have to reproach himself +for any neglect on such a pressing occasion. He repaired, then, with; +Mr. Stafford to the prison, where he who wished to converse with him was +detained. When he was with him, the prisoner told him that he was locked +up for a debt of only twenty crowns, and that his desire to be at +liberty was so great that if M. de Chateauneuf would pay that sum for +him he would undertake to deliver the Queen of Scotland from her danger, +by stabbing Elizabeth: to this proposal, M. de Trappes, who saw the +pitfall laid for the French ambassador, was greatly astonished, and said +that he was certain that M. de Chateauneuf would consider as very evil +every enterprise having as its aim to threaten in any way the life of +Queen Elizabeth or the peace of the realm; then, not desiring to hear +more, he returned to M. de Chateauneuf and related to him what had just +happened. M. de Chateauneuf, who perceived the real cause of this +overture, immediately said to Mr. Stafford that he thought it strange +that a gentleman like himself should undertake with another gentleman +such treachery, and requested him to leave the Embassy at once, and +never to set foot there again. Then Stafford withdrew, and, appearing to +think himself a lost man, he implored M. de Trappes to allow him to +cross the Channel with him and the French envoys. M. de Trappes referred +him to M. de Chateauneuf, who answered Mr. Stafford directly that he had +not only forbidden him his house, but also all relations with any person +from the Embassy, that he must thus very well see that his request could +not be granted; he added that if he were not restrained by the +consideration he desired to keep for his brother, the Earl of Stafford, +his colleague, he would at once denounce his treason to Elizabeth. The +same day Stafford was arrested. + +After this conference, M. de Trappes set out to rejoin his travelling +companions, who were some hours in advance of him, when, on reaching +Dover he was arrested in his turn and brought hack to prison in London. +Interrogated the same day, M. de Trappes frankly related what had +passed, appealing to M. de Chateauneuf as to the truth of what he said. + +The day following there was a second interrogatory, and great was his +amazement when, on requesting that the one of the day before should be +shown him, he was merely shown, according to custom in English law, +counterfeit copies, in which were avowals compromising him as well as M. +de Chateauneuf: he objected and protested, refused to answer or to sign +anything further, and was taken back to the Tower with redoubled +precaution, the object of which was the appearance of an important +accusation. + +Next day, M. de Chateauneuf was summoned before the queen, and there +confronted with Stafford, who impudently maintained that he had treated +of a plot with M. de Trappes and a certain prisoner for debt--a plot +which aimed at nothing less than endangering the Queen's life. M. de +Chateauneuf defended himself with the warmth of indignation, but +Elizabeth had too great an interest in being unconvinced even to attend +to the evidence. She then said to M. de Chateauneuf that his character +of ambassador alone prevented her having him arrested like his +accomplice M. de Trappes; and immediately despatching, as she had +promised, an ambassador to King Henry III, she charged him not to excuse +her for the sentence which had just been pronounced and the death which +must soon follow, but to accuse M. de Chateauneuf of having taken part +in a plot of which the discovery alone had been able to decide her to +consent to the death of the Queen of Scotland, certain as she was by +experience, that so long as her enemy lived her existence would be +hourly threatened. + +On the same day, Elizabeth made haste to spread, not only in London, but +also throughout England, the rumour of the fresh danger from which she +had just escaped, so that, when, two days after the departure of the +French envoys, the Scottish ambassadors, who, as one sees, had not used +much speed, arrived, the queen answered them that their request came +unseasonably, at a time when she had just had proof that, so long as +Mary Stuart existed, her own (Elizabeth's) life was in danger. Robert +Melville wished to reply to this; but Elizabeth flew into a passion, +saying that it was he, Melville, who had given the King of Scotland the +bad advice to intercede for his mother, and that if she had such an +adviser she would have him beheaded. To which Melville answered-- + +"That at the risk of his life he would never spare his master good +advice; and that, on the contrary, he who would counsel a son to let his +mother perish, would deserve to be beheaded." + +Upon this reply, Elizabeth ordered the Scotch envoys to withdrew, +telling them that she would let them have her answer. + +Three or four days passed, and as they heard nothing further, they asked +again for a parting audience to hear the last resolve of her to whom +they were sent: the queen then decided to grant it, and all passed, as +with M. de Bellievre, in recriminations and complaints. Finally, +Elizabeth asked them what guarantee they would give for her life in the +event of her consenting to pardon the Queen of Scotland. The envoys +responded that they were authorised to make pledges in the name of the +King of Scotland, their master, and all the lords of his realm, that +Mary Stuart should renounce in favour of her son all her claims upon the +English crown, and that she should give as security for this undertaking +the King of France, and all the princes and lords, his relations and +friends. + +To this answer, the queen, without her usual presence of mind, cried, +"What are you saying, Melville? That would be to arm my enemy with two +claims, while he has only one". + +"Does your Majesty then regard the king, my master, as your enemy?" +replied Melville. "He believed himself happier, madam, and thought he +was your ally." + +"No, no," Elizabeth said, blushing; "it is a way of speaking: and if you +find a means of reconciling everything, gentlemen, to prove to you, on +the contrary, that I regard King James VI as my good and faithful ally, +I am quite ready to incline to mercy. Seek, then, on your side" added +she, "while I seek on mine." + +With these words, she went out of the room, and the ambassadors retired, +with the light of the hope of which she had just let them catch a +glimpse. + +The same evening, a gentleman at the court sought out the Master of +Gray, the head of the Embassy, as if to pay him a civil visit, and while +conversing said to him, "That it was very difficult to reconcile the +safety of Queen Elizabeth with the life of her prisoner; that besides, +if the Queen of Scotland were pardoned, and she or her son ever came to +the English throne, there would be no security for the lords +commissioners who had voted her death; that there was then only one way +of arranging everything, that the King of Scotland should himself give +up his claims to the kingdom of England; that otherwise, according to +him, there was no security for Elizabeth in saving the life of the +Scottish queen". The Master of Gray then, looking at him fixedly, asked +him if his sovereign had charged him to come to him with this talk. But +the gentleman denied it, saying that all this was on his own account and +in the way of opinion. + +Elizabeth received the envoys from Scotland once more, and then told +them-- + +"That after having well considered, she had found no way of saving the +life of the Queen of Scotland while securing her own, that accordingly +she could not grant it to them". To this declaration, the Master of Gray +replied: "That since it was thus, he was, in this case, ordered by his +master to say that they protested in the name of King James that all +that had been done against his mother was of no account, seeing that +Queen Elizabeth had no authority over a queen, as she was her equal in +rank and birth; that accordingly they declared that immediately after +their return, and when their master should know the result of their +mission, he would assemble his Parliament and send messengers to all the +Christian princes, to take counsel with them as to what could be done to +avenge her whom they could not save." + +Then Elizabeth again flew into a passion, saying that they had certainly +not received from their king a mission to speak to her in such a way; +but they thereupon offered to give her this protest in writing under +their signatures; to which Elizabeth replied that she would send an +ambassador to arrange all that with her good friend and ally, the King +of Scotland. But the envoys then said that their master would not listen +to anyone before their return. Upon which Elizabeth begged them not to +go away at once, because she had not yet come to her final decision upon +this matter. On the evening following this audience, Lord Hingley having +come to see the Master of Gray, and having seemed to notice some +handsome pistols which came from Italy, Gray, directly he had gone, +asked this nobleman's cousin to take them to him as a gift from him. +Delighted with this pleasant commission, the young man wished to perform +it the same evening, and went to the queen's palace, where his relative +was staying, to give him the present which he had been told to take to +him. But hardly had he passed through a few rooms than he was arrested, +searched, and the arms he was taking were found upon him. Although these +were not loaded, he was immediately arrested; only he was not taken to +the Tower, but kept a prisoner in his own room. + +Next day there was a rumour that the Scotch ambassadors had wanted to +assassinate the queen in their turn, and that pistols, given by the +Master of Gray himself, had been found on the assassin. + +This bad faith could not but open the envoys' eyes. Convinced at last +that they could do nothing for poor Mary Stuart, they left her to her +fate, and set out next day for Scotland. + +Scarcely were they gone than Elizabeth sent her secretary, Davison, to +Sir Amyas Paulet. He was instructed to sound him again with regard to +the prisoner; afraid, in spite of herself, of a public execution, the +queen had reverted to her former ideas of poisoning or assassination; +but Sir Amyas Paulet declared that he would let no one have access to +Mary but the executioner, who must in addition be the bearer of a +warrant perfectly in order, Davison reported this answer to Elizabeth, +who, while listening to him, stamped her foot several times, and when he +had finished, unable to control herself, cried, "God's death! there's a +dainty fellow, always talking of his fidelity and not knowing how to +prove it!" + +Elizabeth was then obliged to make up her mind. She asked Davison for +the warrant; he gave it to her, and, forgetting that she was the +daughter of a queen who had died on the scaffold, she signed it without +any trace of emotion; then, having affixed to it the great seal of +England, "Go," said she, laughing, "tell Walsingham that all is ended +for Queen Mary; but tell him with precautions, for, as he is ill, I am +afraid he will die of grief when he hears it." + +The jest was the more atrocious in that Walsingham was known to be the +Queen of Scotland's bitterest enemy. + +Towards evening of that day, Saturday the 14th, Beale, Walsingham's +brother-in-law, was summoned to the palace! The queen gave into his +hands the death warrant, and with it an order addressed to the Earls of +Shrewsbury, Kent, Rutland, and other noblemen in the neighbourhood of +Fotheringay, to be present at the execution. Beale took with him the +London executioner, whom Elizabeth had had dressed in black velvet for +this great occasion; and set out two hours after he had received his +warrant. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +Queen Mary had known the decree of the commissioners these two months. +The very day it had been pronounced she had learned the news through her +chaplain, whom they had allowed her to see this once only. Mary Stuart +had taken advantage of this visit to give him three letters she had just +written-one for Pope Sixtus V, the other to Don Bernard Mendoza, the +third to the Duke of Guise. Here is that last letter:-- + +14th December, 1586 + +"My Good Cousin, whom I hold dearest in the world, I bid you farewell, +being prepared to be put to death by an unjust judgment, and to a death +such as no one of our race, thanks to God, and never a queen, and still +less one of my rank, has ever suffered. But, good cousin, praise the +Lord; for I was useless to the cause of God and of His Church in this +world, prisoner as I was; while, on the contrary, I hope that my death +will bear witness to my constancy in the faith and to my willingness to +suffer for the maintenance and the restoration of the Catholic Church in +this unfortunate island. And though never has executioner dipped his +hand in our blood, have no shame of it, my friend; for the judgment of +heretics who have no authority over me, a free queen, is profitable in +the sight of God to the children of His Church. If I adhered, moreover, +to what they propose to me, I should not suffer this stroke. All of our +house have been persecuted by this sect, witness your good father, +through whose intercession I hope to be received with mercy by the just +judge. I commend to you, then, my poor servants, the discharge of my +debts, and the founding of some annual mass for my soul, not at your +expense, but that you may make the arrangements, as you will be required +when you learn my wishes through my poor and faithful servants, who are +about to witness my last tragedy. God prosper you, your wife, children, +brothers and cousins, and above all our chief, my good brother and +cousin, and all his. The blessing of God and that which I shall give to +my children be on yours, whom I do not commend less to God than my own +son, unfortunate and ill-treated as he is. You will receive some rings +from me, which will remind you to pray God for the soul of your poor +cousin, deprived of all help and counsel except that of the Lord, who +gives me strength and courage to alone to resist so many wolves howling +after me. To God be the glory. + +"Believe particularly what will be told you by a person who will give +you a ruby ring from me; for I take it on my conscience that the truth +will be told you of what I have charged him to tell, and especially in +what concerns my poor servants and the share of any. I commend this +person to you for his simple sincerity and honesty, that he may be +placed in some good place. I have chosen him as the least partial and as +the one who will most simply bring you my commands. Ignore, I beg you, +that he told you anything in particular; for envy might injure him. I +have suffered a great deal for two years and more, and have not been +able to let you know, for an important reason. God be praised for all, +and give you grace to persevere in the service of His Church as long as +you live, and never may this honour pass from our race, while so many +men and women are ready to shed their blood to maintain the fight for +the faith, all other worldly considerations set aside. And as to me, I +esteem myself born on both father's and mother's sides, that I should +offer up my blood for this cause, and I have no intention of +degenerating. Jesus, crucified for us, and all the holy martyrs, make us +by their intercession worthy of the voluntary offering we make of our +bodies to their glory! + +"From Fotheringay, this Thursday, 24th November. + +"They have, thinking to degrade me, pulled down my canopy of state, and +since then my keeper has come to offer to write to their queen, saying +this deed was not done by his order, but by the advice of some of the +Council. I have shown them instead of my arms on the said canopy the +cross of Our Lord. You will hear all this; they have been more gentle +since.--Your affectionate cousin and perfect friend, + +"MARY, Queen of Scotland, Dowager of France" + +From this day forward, when she learned the sentence delivered by the +commissioners, Mary Stuart no longer preserved any hope; for as she knew +Elizabeth's pardon was required to save her, she looked upon herself +thenceforward as lost, and only concerned herself with preparing to die +well. Indeed, as it had happened to her sometimes, from the cold and +damp in her prisons, to become crippled for some time in all her limbs, +she was afraid of being so when they would come to take her, which would +prevent her going resolutely to the scaffold, as she was counting on +doing. So, on Saturday the 14th February, she sent for her doctor, +Bourgoin, and asked him, moved by a presentiment that her death was at +hand, she said, what she must do to prevent the return of the pains +which crippled her. He replied that it would be good for her to medicine +herself with fresh herbs. "Go, then," said the queen, "and ask Sir Amyas +Paulet from me permission to seek them in the fields." + +Bourgoin went to Sir Amyas, who, as he himself was troubled with +sciatica, should have understood better than anyone the need of the +remedies for which the queen asked. But this request, simple as it was, +raised great difficulties. Sir Amyas replied that he could do nothing +without referring to his companion, Drury; but that paper and ink might +be brought, and that he, Master Bourgoin, could then make a list of the +needful plants, which they would try to procure. Bourgoin answered that +he did not know English well enough, and that the village apothecaries +did not know enough Latin, for him to risk the queen's life for some +error by himself or others. Finally, after a thousand hesitations, +Paulet allowed Bourgoin to go out, which he did, accompanied by the +apothecary Gorjon; so that the following day the queen was able to begin +to doctor herself. + +Mary Stuart's presentiments had not deceived her: Tuesday, February +17th, at about two o'clock in the afternoon, the Earls of Kent and +Shrewsbury, and Beale sent word to the queen that they desired to speak +with her. The queen answered that she was ill and in bed, but that if +notwithstanding what they had to tell her was a matter of importance, +and they would give her a little time, she would get up. They made +answer that the communication they had to make admitted of no delay, +that they begged her then to make ready; which the queen immediately +did, and rising from her bed and cloaking herself, she went and seated +herself at a little table, on the same spot where she was wont to be +great part of the day. + +Then the two earls, accompanied by Beale, Arnyas Paulet, and Drue Drury, +entered. Behind them, drawn by curiosity, full of terrible anxiety, came +her dearest ladies and most cherished servants. These were, of +womenkind, the Misses Renee de Really, Gilles Mowbray, Jeanne Kennedy, +Elspeth Curle, Mary Paget, and Susan Kercady; and of men-kind, Dominique +Bourgoin her doctor, Pierre Gorjon her apothecary, Jacques Gervais her +surgeon, Annibal Stewart her footman, Dither Sifflart her butler, Jean +Laudder her baker, and Martin Huet her carver. + +Then the Earl of Shrewsbury, with head bared like all those present, who +remained thus as long as they were in the queen's room, began to say in +English, addressing Mary-- + +"Madam, the Queen of England, my august mistress, has sent me to you, +with the Earl of Kent and Sir Robert Beale, here present, to make known +to you that after having honourably proceeded in the inquiry into the +deed of which you are accused and found guilty, an inquiry which has +already been submitted to your Grace by Lord Buckhurst, and having +delayed as long as it was in her power the execution of the sentence, +she can no longer withstand the importunity of her subjects, who press +her to carry it out, so great and loving is their fear for her. For this +purpose we have come the bearers of a commission, and we beg very +humbly, madam, that it may please you to hear it read." + +"Read, my lord; I am listening," replied Mary Stuart, with the greatest +calmness. Then Robert Beale unrolled the said commission, which was on +parchment, sealed with the Great Seal in yellow wax, and read as +follows: + +"Elizabeth, by the grace of God, Queen of England, France, and Ireland, +etc., to our beloved and faithful cousins, George, Earl of Shrewsbury, +Grand Marshal of England; Henry, Earl of Kent; Henry, Earl of Derby; +George, Earl of Cumberland; Henry, Earl of Pembroke, greeting: [The +Earls of Cumberland, Derby, and Pembroke did not attend to the queen's +orders, and were present neither at the reading of the sentence nor at +the execution.] + +"Considering the sentence by us given, and others of our Council, +nobility, and judges, against the former Queen of Scotland, bearing the +name of Mary, daughter and heiress of James v, King of Scotland, +commonly called Queen of Scotland and Dowager of France, which sentence +all the estates of our realm in our last Parliament assembled not only +concluded, but, after mature deliberation, ratified as being just and +reasonable; considering also the urgent prayer and request of our +subjects, begging us and pressing us to proceed to the publication +thereof, and to carry it into execution against her person, according as +they judge it duly merited, adding in this place that her detention was +and would be daily a certain and evident danger, not only to our life, +but also to themselves and their posterity, and to the public weal of +this realm, as much on account of the Gospel and the true religion of +Christ as of the peace and tranquillity of this State, although the said +sentence has been frequently delayed, so that even until this time we +abstained from issuing the commission to execute it: yet, for the +complete satisfaction of the said demands made by the Estates of our +Parliament, through which daily we hear that all our friends and +subjects, as well as the nobility, the wisest, greatest, and most pious, +nay, even those of inferior condition, with all humility and affection +from the care they have of our life, and consequently from the fear they +have of the destruction of the present divine and happy state of the +realm if we spare the final execution, consenting and desiring the said +execution; though the general and continual demands, prayers, counsels, +and advice were in such things contrary to our natural inclination; yet, +being convinced of the urgent weight of their continual intercessions +tending to the safety of our person, and also to the public and private +state of our realm, we have at last consented and suffered that justice +have its course, and for its execution, considering the singular +confidence we have in your fidelity and loyalty together for the love +and affection that you have toward us, particularly to the safe-guarding +of our person and our country of which you are very noble and chief +members; we summon, and, for the discharge of it we enjoin you, that at +sight of these presents you go to the castle of Fotheringay, where the +former Queen of Scotland is, in the care of our friend and faithful +servant and counsellor, Sir Amyas Paulet, and there take into your +keeping and do that by your command execution be done on her person, in +the presence of yourselves and the said Sir Amyas Paulet, and of all the +other officers of justice whom you command to be there: in the meantime +we have for this end and this execution given warrant in such a way and +manner, and in such a time and place, and by such persons, that you +five, four, three, or two, find expedient in your discretion; +notwithstanding all laws, statutes, and ordinances whatsoever, contrary +to these presents, sealed with our Great Seal of England, which will +serve for each of you, and all those who are present, or will make by +your order anything pertaining to the execution aforesaid full and +sufficient discharge for ever. + +"Done and given in our house at Greenwich, the first day of February +(10th February New Style), in the twenty-ninth year of our reign." + +Mary listened to this reading with great calmness and great dignity; +then, when it was ended, making the sign of the cross-- + +"Welcome," said she, "to all news which comes in the name of God! +Thanks, Lord, for that You deign to put an end to all the ills You have +seen me suffer for nineteen years and more." + +"Madam," said the Earl of Kent, "have no ill-will towards us on account +of your death; it was necessary to the peace of the State and the +progress of the new religion." + +"So," cried Mary with delight, "so I shall have the happiness of dying +for the faith of my fathers; thus God deigns to grant me the glory of +martyrdom. Thanks, God," added she, joining her hands with less +excitement but with more piety, "thanks that You have deigned to destine +for me such an end, of which I was not worthy. That, O my God, is indeed +a proof of Your love, and an assurance that You will receive me in the +number of Your servants; for although this sentence had been notified to +me, I was afraid, from the manner in which they have dealt with me for +nineteen years, of not yet being so near as I am to such a happy end, +thinking that your queen would not dare to lay a hand on me, who, by the +grace of God, am a queen as she is, the daughter of a queen as she is, +crowned as she is, her near relative, granddaughter of King Henry VII, +and who has had the honour of being Queen of France, of which I am still +Dowager; and this fear was so much the greater," added she, laying her +hand on a New Testament which was near her on the little table, "that, I +swear on this holy book, I have never attempted, consented to, or even +desired the death of my sister, the Queen of England." + +"Madam," replied the Earl of Kent, taking a step towards her and +pointing to the New Testament; "this book on which you have sworn is not +genuine, since it is the papist version; consequently, your oath cannot +be considered as any more genuine than the book on which it has been +taken." + +"My lord," answered the queen, "what you say may befit you, but not me, +who well know that this book is the true and faithful version of the +word of the Lord, a version made by a very wise divine, a very good man, +and approved by the Church." + +"Madam," the Earl of Kent returned, "your Grace stopped at what you were +taught in your youth, without inquiry as to whether it was good or bad: +it is not surprising, then, that you have remained in your error, for +want of having heard anyone who could make known the truth to you; this +is why, as your Grace has but a few hours longer to remain in this +world, and consequently has no time to lose, with your permission we +shall send for the Dean of Peterborough, the most learned man there is +on the subject of religion, who, with his word, will prepare you for +your salvation, which you risk to our great grief and that of our august +queen, by all the papistical follies, abominations, and childish +nonsense which keep Catholics away from the holy word of God and the +knowledge of the truth." + +"You mistake, my lord," replied the queen gently, "if you have believed +that I have grown up careless in the faith of my fathers, and without +seriously occupying myself with a matter so important as religion. I +have, on the contrary, spent my life with learned and wise men who +taught me what one must learn on this subject, and I have sustained +myself by reading their works, since the means of hearing them has been +taken from me. Besides, never having doubted in my lifetime, doubt is +not likely to seize me in my death-hour. And there is the Earl of +Shrewsbury, here present, who will tell you that, since my arrival in +England, I have, for an entire Lent, of which I repent, heard your +wisest doctors, without their arguments having made any impression on my +mind. It will be useless, then, my lord," she added, smiling, "to summon +to one so hardened as I the Dean of Peterborough, learned as he is. The +only thing I ask you in exchange, my lord, and for which I shall be +grateful to you beyond expression, is that you will send me my almoner, +whom you keep shut up in this house, to console me and prepare me for +death, or, in his stead, another priest, be he who he may; if only a +poor priest from a poor village, I being no harder to please than God, +and not asking that he have knowledge, provided that he has faith." + +"It is with regret, madam," replied the Earl of Kent, "that I find +myself obliged to refuse your Grace's, request; but it would be contrary +to our religion and our conscience, and we should be culpable in doing +it; this is why we again offer you the venerable Dean of Peterborough, +certain that your Grace will find more consolation and content in him +than in any bishop, priest, or vicar of the Catholic faith." + +"Thank you, my lord," said the queen again, "but I have nothing to-do +with him, and as I have a conscience free of the crime for which I am +about to die, with God's help, martyrdom will take the place of +confession for me. And now, I will remind you, my lord, of what you told +me yourself, that I have but a few hours to live; and these few hours, +to profit me, should be passed in prayer and meditation, and not in idle +disputes." + +With these words, she rose, and, bowing to the earls, Sir Robert Beale, +Amyas, and Drury, she indictated, by a gesture full of dignity, that she +wished to be alone and in peace; then, as they prepared to go out-- + +"Apropos, my lords," said she, "for what o'clock should I make ready to +die?" + +"For eight o'clock to-morrow, madam," answered the Earl of Shrewsbury, +stammering. + +"It is well," said Mary; "but have you not some reply to make me, from +my sister Elizabeth, relative to a letter which I wrote to her about a +month ago?" + +"And of what did this letter treat, if it please you, madam?" asked the +Earl of Kent. + +"Of my burial and my funeral ceremony, my lord: I asked to be interred +in France, in the cathedral church of Rheims, near the late queen my +mother." + +"That may not be, madam," replied the Earl of Kent; "but do not trouble +yourself as to all these details: the queen, my august mistress, will +provide for them as is suitable. Has your grace anything else to ask +us?" + +"I would also like to know," said Mary, "if my servants will be allowed +to return, each to his own country, with the little that I can give him; +which will hardly be enough, in any case, for the long service they have +done me, and the long imprisonment they have borne on my account." + +"We have no instructions on that head, madam," the Earl of Kent said, +"but we think that an order will be given for this as for the other +things, in accordance with your wishes. Is this all that your Grace has +to say to us?" + +"Yes, my lord," replied the queen, bowing a second time, "and now you +may withdraw." + +"One moment, my lords, in Heaven's name, one moment!" cried the old +physician, coming forward and throwing himself on his knees before the +two earls. + +"What do you want?" asked Lord Shrewsbury. + +"To point out to you, my lords," replied the aged Bourgoin, weeping, +"that you have granted the queen but a very short time for such an +important matter as this of her life. Reflect, my lords, what rank and +degree she whom you have condemned has held among the princes of this +earth, and consider if it is well and seemly to treat her as an ordinary +condemned person of middling estate. And if not for the sake of this +noble queen, my lords, do this for the sake of us her poor servants, +who, having had the honour of living near her so long, cannot thus part +from her so quickly and without preparation. Besides, my lords, think of +it, a woman of her state and position ought to have some time in which +to set in order her last affairs. And what will become of her, and of +us, if before dying, our mistress has not time to regulate her jointure +and her accounts and to put in order her papers and her title-deeds? She +has services to reward and offices of piety to perform. She should not +neglect the one or the other. Besides, we know that she will only +concern herself with us, and, through this, my lords, neglect her own +salvation. Grant her, then, a few more days, my lords; and as our +mistress is too proud to ask of you such a favour, I ask you in all our +names, and implore you not to refuse to poor servants a request which +your august queen would certainly not refuse them, if they had the good +fortune to be able to lay it at her feet." + +"Is it then true, madam," Sir Robert Beale asked, "that you have not yet +made a will?" + +"I have not, sir," the queen answered. + +"In that case, my lords," said Sir Robert Beale, turning to the two +earls, "perhaps it would be a good thing to put it off for a day or +two." + +"Impossible, sir," replied the Earl of Shrewsbury: "the time is fixed, +and we cannot change anything, even by a minute, now." + +"Enough, Bourgoin, enough," said the queen; "rise, I command you." + +Bourgoin obeyed, and the Earl of Shrewsbury, turning to Sir Amyas +Paulet, who was behind him-- + +"Sir Amyas," said he, "we entrust this lady to your keeping: you will +charge yourself with her, and keep her safe till our return." + +With these words he went out, followed by the Earl of Kent, Sir Robert +Beale, Amyas Paulet, and Drury, and the queen remained alone with her +servants. + +Then, turning to her women with as serene a countenance as if the event +which had just taken place was of little importance-- + +"Well, Jeanne," said she, speaking to Kennedy, "have I not always told +you, and was I not right, that at the bottom of their hearts they wanted +to do this? and did I not see clearly through all their procedure the +end they had in view, and know well enough that I was too great an +obstacle to their false religion to be allowed to live? Come," continued +she, "hasten supper now, that I may put my affairs in order". Then, +seeing that instead of obeying her, her servants were weeping and +lamenting, "My children," said she, with a sad smile, but without a tear +in her eye, "it is no time for weeping, quite the contrary; for if you +love me, you ought to rejoice that the Lord, in making me die for His +cause, relieves me from the torments I have endured for nineteen years. +As for me, I thank Him for allowing me to die for the glory of His faith +and His Church. Let each have patience, then, and while the men prepare +supper, we women will pray to God." + +The men immediately went out, weeping and sobbing, and the queen and her +women fell on their knees. When they had recited some prayers, Mary +rose, and sending for all the money she had left, she counted it and +divided it into portions, which she put into purses with the name of the +destined recipient, in her handwriting, with the money. + +At that moment, supper being served, she seated herself at table with +her women as usual, the other servants standing or coming and going, her +doctor waiting on her at table as he was accustomed since her steward +had been taken from her. She ate no more nor less than usual, speaking, +throughout supper, of the Earl of Kent, and of the way in which he +betrayed himself with respect to religion, by his insisting on wanting +to give the queen a pastor instead of a priest. "Happily," she added, +laughing, "one more skilful than he was needed to change me". Meanwhile +Bourgoin was weeping behind the queen, for he was thinking that he was +serving her for the last time, and that she who was eating, talking, and +laughing thus, next day at the same hour would be but a cold and +insensible corpse. + +When the meal was over, the queen sent for all her servants; then; +before the table was cleared of anything, she poured out a cup of wine, +rose and drank to their health, asking them if they would not drink to +her salvation. Then she had a glass given to each one: all kneeled down, +and all, says the account from which we borrow these details, drank, +mingling their tears with the wine, and asking pardon of the queen for +any wrongs they had done her. The queen granted it heartily, and asked +them to do as much for her, and to forget her impatient ways, which she +begged them to put down to her imprisonment. Then, having given them a +long discourse, in which she explained to them their duties to God, and +exhorted them to persevere in the Catholic faith, she begged them, after +her death, to live together in peace and charity, forgetting all the +petty quarrels and disputes which they had had among one another in the +past. + +This speech ended, the queen rose from table, and desired to go into her +wardrobe-room, to see the clothes and jewels she wished to dispose of; +but Bourgoin observed that it would be better to have all these separate +objects brought into her chamber; that there would be a double advantage +in this, she would be less tired for one thing, and the English would +not see them for another. This last reason decided her, and while the +servants were supping, she had brought into her ante-room, first of all, +all her robes, and took the inventory from her wardrobe attendant, and +began to write in the margin beside each item the name of the person it +was to be given to. Directly, and as fast as she did it, that person to +whom it was given took it and put it aside. As for the things which were +too personal to her to be thus bestowed, she ordered that they should be +sold, and that the purchase-money should be used for her servants' +travelling expenses, when they returned to their own countries, well +knowing how great the cost would be and that no one would have +sufficient means. This memorandum finished, she signed it, and gave it +as a discharge to her wardrobe attendant. + +Then, that done, she went into her room, where had been brought her +rings, her jewels, and her most valuable belongings; inspected them all, +one after the other, down to the very least; and distributed them as she +had done her robes, so that, present or absent, everyone had something. +Then she furthermore gave, to her most faithful people, the jewels she +intended for the king and queen of France, for the king her son, for the +queen-mother, for Messieurs de Guise and de Lorraine, without forgetting +in this distribution any prince or princess among her relatives. She +desired, besides, that each should keep the things then in his care, +giving her linen to the young lady who looked after it, her silk +embroideries to her who took charge of them, her silver plate to her +butler, and so on with the rest. + +Then, as they were asking her for a discharge, "It is useless," said +she; "you owe an account to me only, and to-morrow, therefore, you will +no longer owe it to anyone"; but, as they pointed out that the king her +son could claim from them, "You are right," said she; and she gave them +what they asked. + +That done, and having no hope left of being visited by her confessor, +she wrote him this letter: + +"I have been tormented all this day on account of my religion, and urged +to receive the consolations of a heretic: you will learn, through +Bourgoin and the others, that everything they could say on this matter +has been useless, that I have faithfully made protestation of the faith +in which I wish to die. I requested that you should be allowed to +receive my confession and to give me the sacrament, which has been +cruelly refused, as well as the removal of my body, and the power to +make my will freely; so that I cannot write anything except through +their hands, and with the good pleasure of their mistress. For want of +seeing you, then, I confess to you my sins in general, as I should have +done in particular, begging you, in God's name, to watch and pray this +night with me, for the remission of my sins, and to send me your +absolution and forgiveness for all the wrongs I have done you. I shall +try to see you in their presence, as they permitted it to my steward; +and if it is allowed, before all, and on my knees, I shall ask your +blessing. Send me the best prayers you know for this night and for +to-morrow morning; for the time is short, and I have not the leisure to +write; but be calm, I shall recommend you like the rest of my servants, +and your benefices above all will be secured to you. Farewell, for I +have not much more time. Send to me in writing everything you can find, +best for my salvation, in prayers and exhortations, I send you my last +little ring." + +Directly she had written this letter the queen began to make her will, +and at a stroke, with her pen running on and almost without lifting it +from the paper, she wrote two large sheets, containing several +paragraphs, in which no one was forgotten, present as absent, +distributing the little she had with scrupulous fairness, and still more +according to need than according to service. The executors she chose +were: the Duke of Guise, her first cousin; the Archbishop of Glasgow, +her ambassador; the Bishop of Ross, her chaplain in chief; and M. du +Ruysseau, her chancellor, all four certainly very worthy of the charge, +the first from his authority; the two bishops by piety and conscience, +and the last by his knowledge of affairs. Her will finished, she wrote +this letter to the King of France: + +SIR MY BROTHER-IN-LAW,--Having, by God's permission and for my sins, I +believe, thrown myself into the arms of this queen, my cousin, where I +have had much to endure for more than twenty years, I am by her and by +her Parliament finally condemned to death; and having asked for my +papers, taken from me, to make my will, I have not been able to obtain +anything to serve me, not even permission to write my last wishes +freely, nor leave that after my death my body should be transported, as +was my dearest desire, into your kingdom, where I had had the honour of +being queen, your sister and your ally. To-day, after dinner, without +more respect, my sentence has been declared to me, to be executed +to-morrow, like a criminal, at eight o'clock in the morning. I have not +the leisure to give you a full account of what has occurred; but if it +please you to believe my doctor and these others my distressed servants, +you will hear the truth, and that, thanks to God, I despise death, which +I protest I receive innocent of every crime, even if I were their +subject, which I never was. But my faith in the Catholic religion and my +claims to the crown of England are the real causes for my condemnation, +and yet they will not allow me to say that it is for religion I die, for +my religion kills theirs; and that is so true, that they have taken my +chaplain from me, who, although a prisoner in the same castle, may not +come either to console me, or to give me the holy sacrament of the +eucharist; but, on the contrary, they have made me urgent entreaties to +receive the consolations of their minister whom they have brought for +this purpose. He who will bring you this letter, and the rest of my +servants, who are your subjects for the most part, will bear you witness +of the way in which I shall have performed my last act. Now it remains +to me to implore you, as a most Christian king, as my brother-in-law, as +my ancient ally, and one who has so often done me the honour to protest +your friendship for me, to give proof of this friendship, in your virtue +and your charity, by helping me in that of which I cannot without you +discharge my conscience--that is to say, in rewarding my good distressed +servants, by giving them their dues; then, in having prayers made to God +for a queen who has been called most Christian, and who dies a Catholic +and deprived of all her goods. As to my son, I commend him to you as +much as he shall deserve, for I cannot answer for him; but as to my +servants, I commend them with clasped hands. I have taken the liberty of +sending you two rare stones good for the health, hoping that yours may +be perfect during a long life; you will receive them as coming from your +very affectionate sister-in-law, at the point of death and giving proof +of her, good disposition towards you. + +"I shall commend my servants to you in a memorandum, and will order you, +for the good of my soul, for whose salvation it will be employed, to pay +me a portion of what you owe me, if it please you, and I conjure you for +the honour of Jesus, to whom I shall pray to-morrow at my death, that +you leave me the wherewithal to found a mass and to perform the +necessary charities. + +"This Wednesday, two hours after midnight--Your affectionate and good +sister, "MARY, R...." + +Of all these recommendations, the will and the letters, the queen at +once had copies made which she signed, so that, if some should be seized +by the English, the others might reach their destination. Bourgoin +pointed out to her that she was wrong to be in such a hurry to close +them, and that perhaps in two or three hours she would remember that she +had left something out. But the queen paid no attention, saying she was +sure she had not forgotten anything, and that if she had, she had only +time now to pray and to look to her conscience. So she shut up all the +several articles in the drawers of a piece of furniture and gave the key +to Bourgoin; then sending for a foot-bath, in which she stayed for about +ten minutes, she lay down in bed, where she was not seen to sleep, but +constantly to repeat prayers or to remain in meditation. + +Towards four o'clock in the morning, the queen, who was accustomed, +after evening prayers, to have the story of some male or female saint +read aloud to her, did not wish to depart from this habit, and, after +having hesitated among several for this solemn occasion, she chose the +greatest sinner of all, the penitent thief, saying humbly-- + +"If, great sinner as he was, he has yet sinned less than I, I desire to +beg of him, in remembrance of the passion of Jesus Christ; to, have pity +on me in the hour of my death, as Our Lord had pity on him." + +Then, when the reading was over, she had all her handkerchiefs brought, +and chose the finest, which was of delicate cambric all embroidered in +gold, to bandage her eyes with. + +At daybreak, reflecting that she had only two hours to live, she rose +and began dressing, but before she had finished, Bourgoin came into her +room, and, afraid lest the absent servants might murmur against the +queen, if by chance they were discontented at the will, and might accuse +those who had been present of having taken away from their share to add +to their own, he begged Mary to send for them all and to read it in +their presence; to which Mary agreed, and consented to do so at once. + +All the servants were then summoned, and the queen read her testament, +saying that it was done of her own free, full and entire will, written +and signed with her own hand, and that accordingly she begged those +present to give all the help in their power in seeing it carried out +without change or omission; then, having read it over, and having +received a promise from all, she gave it to Bourgoin, charging him to +send it to M. de Guise, her chief executor, and at the same time to +forward her letters to the king and her principal papers and +memorandums: after this, she had the casket brought in which she had put +the purses which we mentioned before; she opened them one after another, +and seeing by the ticket within for whom each was intended, she +distributed them with her own hand, none of the recipients being aware +of their contents. These gifts varied from twenty to three hundred +crowns; and to these sums she added seven hundred livres for the poor, +namely, two hundred for the poor of England and five hundred for the +poor of France; then she gave to each man in her suite two rose nobles +to be distributed in alms for her sake, and finally one hundred and +fifty crowns to Bourgoin to be divided among them all when they should +separate; and thus twenty-six or twenty-seven people had money legacies. + +The queen performed all this with great composure and calmness, with no +apparent change of countenance; so that it seemed as if she were only +preparing for a journey or change of dwelling; then she again bade her +servants farewell, consoling them and exhorting them to live in peace, +all this while finishing dressing as well and as elegantly as she could. + +Her toilet ended, the queen went from her reception-room to her +ante-room, where there was an altar set up and arranged, at which, +before he had been taken from her, her chaplain used to say mass; and +kneeling on the steps, surrounded by all her servants, she began the +communion prayers, and when they were ended, drawing from a golden box a +host consecrated by Pius V, which she had always scrupulously preserved +for the occasion of her death, she told Bourgoin to take it, and, as he +was the senior, to take the priest's place, old age being holy and +sacred; and in this manner in spite of all the precautions taken to +deprive her of it, the queen received the holy sacrament of the +eucharist. + +This pious ceremony ended, Bourgoin told the queen that in her will she +had forgotten three people--Mesdemoiselles Beauregard, de Montbrun, and +her chaplain. The queen was greatly astonished at this oversight, which +was quite involuntary, and, taking back her will, she wrote her wishes +with respect to them in the first empty margin; then she kneeled down +again in prayer; but after a moment, as she suffered too much in this +position, she rose, and Bourgoin having had brought her a little bread +and wine, she ate and drank, and when she had finished, gave him her +hand and thanked him for having been present to help her at her last +meal as he was accustomed; and feeling stronger, she kneeled down and +began to pray again. + +Scarcely had she done so, than there was a knocking at the door: the +queen understood what was required of her; but as she had not finished +praying, she begged those who were come to fetch her to wait a moment, +and in a few minutes' she would be ready. + +The Earls of Kent and Shrewsbury, remembering the resistance she had +made when she had had to go down to the commissioners and appear before +the lawyers, mounted some guards in the ante-room where they were +waiting themselves, so that they could take her away by force if +necessary, should she refuse to come willingly, or should her servants +want to defend her; but it is untrue that the two barons entered her +room, as some have said. They only set foot there once, on the occasion +which we have related, when they came to apprise her of her sentence. + +They waited some minutes, nevertheless, as the queen had begged them; +then, about eight o'clock, they knocked again, accompanied by the +guards; but to their great surprise the door was opened immediately, and +they found Mary on her knees in prayer. Upon this, Sir Thomas Andrew, +who was at the time sheriff of the county of Nottingham, entered alone, +a white wand in his hand, and as everyone stayed on their knees praying, +he crossed the room with a slow step and stood behind the queen: he +waited a moment there, and as Mary Stuart did not seem to see him-- + +"Madam," said he, "the earls have sent me to you." + +At these words the queen turned round, and at once rising in the middle +of her prayer, "Let us go," she replied, and she made ready to follow +him; then Bourgoin, taking the cross of black wood with an ivory Christ +which was over the altar, said-- + +"Madam, would you not like to take this little cross?" + +"Thank you for having reminded me," Mary answered; "I had intended to, +but I forgot". Then, giving it to Annibal Stewart, her footman, that he +might present it when she should ask for it, she began to move to the +door, and on account of the great pain in her limbs, leaning on +Bourgoin, who, as they drew near, suddenly let her go, saying-- + +"Madam, your Majesty knows if we love you, and all, such as we are, are +ready to obey you, should you command us to die for you; but I, I have +not the strength to lead you farther; besides, it is not becoming that +we, who should be defending you to the last drop of our blood, should +seem to be betraying you in giving you thus into the hands of these +infamous English." + +"You are right, Bourgoin," said the queen; "moreover, my death would be +a sad sight for you, which I ought to spare your age and your +friendship. Mr. Sheriff," added she, "call someone to support me, for +you see that I cannot walk." + +The sheriff bowed, and signed to two guards whom he had kept hidden +behind the door to lend him assistance in case the queen should resist, +to approach and support her; which they at once did; and Mary Stuart +went on her way, preceded and followed by her servants weeping and +wringing their hands. But at the second door other guards stopped them, +telling them they must go no farther. They all cried out against such a +prohibition: they said that for the nineteen years they had been shut up +with the queen they had always accompanied her wherever she went; that +it was frightful to deprive their mistress of their services at the last +moment, and that such an order had doubtless been given because they +wanted to practise some shocking cruelty on her, of which they desired +no witnesses. Bourgoin, who was at their head, seeing that he could +obtain nothing by threats or entreaties, asked to speak with the earls; +but this claim was not allowed either, and as the servants wanted to +pass by force, the soldiers repulsed them with blows of their +arquebuses; then, raising her voice-- + +"It is wrong of you to prevent my servants following me," said the +queen, "and I begin to think, like them, that you have some ill designs +upon me beyond my death." + +The sheriff replied, "Madam, four of your servants are chosen to follow +you, and no more; when you have come down, they will be fetched, and +will rejoin you." + +"What!" said the queen, "the four chosen persons cannot even follow me +now?" + +"The order is thus given by the earls," answered the sheriff, "and, to +my great regret, madam, I can do nothing." + +Then the queen turned to them, and taking the cross from Annibal +Stewart, and in her other hand her book of Hours and her handkerchief, +"My children," said she, "this is one more grief to add to our other +griefs; let us bear it like Christians, and offer this fresh sacrifice +to God." + +At these words sobs and cries burst forth on all sides: the unhappy +servants fell on their knees, and while some rolled on the ground, +tearing their hair, others kissed her hands, her knees, and the hem of +her gown, begging her forgiveness for every possible fault, calling her +their mother and bidding her farewell. Finding, no doubt, that this +scene was lasting too long, the sheriff made a sign, and the soldiers +pushed the men and women back into the room and shut the door on them; +still, fast as was the door, the queen none the less heard their cries +and lamentations, which seemed, in spite of the guards, as if they would +accompany her to the scaffold. + +At the stair-head, the queen found Andrew Melville awaiting her: he was +the Master of her Household, who had been secluded from her for some +time, and who was at last permitted to see her once more to say +farewell. The queen, hastening her steps, approached him, and kneeling +down to receive his blessing, which he gave her, weeping-- + +"Melville," said she, without rising, and addressing him as "thou" for +the first time, "as thou hast been an honest servant to me, be the same +to my son: seek him out directly after my death, and tell him of it in +every detail; tell him that I wish him well, and that I beseech God to +send him His Holy Spirit." + +"Madam," replied Melville, "this is certainly the saddest message with +which a man can be charged: no matter, I shall faithfully fulfil it, I +swear to you." + +"What sayest thou, Melville?" responded the queen, rising; "and what +better news canst thou bear, on the contrary, than that I am delivered +from all my ills? Tell him that he should rejoice, since the sufferings +of Mary Stuart are at an end; tell him that I die a Catholic, constant +in my religion, faithful to Scotland and France, and that I forgive +those who put me to death. Tell him that I have always desired the union +of England and Scotland; tell him, finally, that I have done nothing +injurious to his kingdom, to his honour, or to his rights. And thus, +good Melville, till we meet again in heaven." + +Then, leaning on the old man, whose face was bathed in tears, she +descended the staircase, at the foot of which she found the two earls, +Sir Henry Talbot, Lord Shrewsbury's son, Amyas Paulet, Drue Drury, +Robert Beale, and many gentlemen of the neighbourhood: the queen, +advancing towards them without pride, but without humility, complained +that her servants had been refused permission to follow her, and asked +that it should be granted. The lords conferred together; and a moment +after the Earl of Kent inquired which ones she desired to have, saying +she might be allowed six. So the queen chose from among the men +Bourgoin, Gordon, Gervais, and Didier; and from the women Jeanne Kennedy +and Elspeth Curle, the ones she preferred to all, though the latter was +sister to the secretary who had betrayed her. But here arose a fresh +difficulty, the earls saying that this permission did not extend to +women, women not being used to be present at such sights, and when they +were, usually upsetting everyone with cries and lamentations, and, as +soon as the decapitation was over, rushing to the scaffold to staunch +the blood with their handkerchiefs--a most unseemly proceeding. + +"My lords," then said the queen, "I answer and promise for my servants, +that they will not do any of the things your honours fear. Alas! poor +people! they would be very glad to bid me farewell; and I hope that your +mistress, being a maiden queen, and accordingly sensitive for the honour +of women, has not given you such strict orders that you are unable to +grant me the little I ask; so much the more," added she in a profoundly +mournful tone, "that my rank should be taken into consideration; for +indeed I am your queen's cousin, granddaughter of Henry VII, Queen +Dowager of France and crowned Queen of Scotland." + +The lords consulted together for another moment, and granted her +demands. Accordingly, two guards went up immediately to fetch the chosen +individuals. + +The queen then moved on to the great hall, leaning on two of Sir Amyas +Paulet's gentlemen, accompanied and followed by the earls and lords, the +sheriff walking before her, and Andrew Melville bearing her train. Her +dress, as carefully chosen as possible, as we have said, consisted of a +coif of fine cambric, trimmed with lace, with a lace veil thrown back +and falling to the ground behind. She wore a cloak of black stamped +satin lined with black taffetas and trimmed in front with sable, with a +long train and sleeves hanging to the ground; the buttons were of jet in +the shape of acorns and surrounded with pearls, her collar in the +Italian style; her doublet was of figured black satin, and underneath +she wore stays, laced behind, in crimson satin, edged with velvet of the +same colour; a gold cross hung by a pomander chain at her neck, and two +rosaries at her girdle: it was thus she entered the great hall where the +scaffold was erected. + +It was a platform twelve feet wide, raised about two feet from the +floor, surrounded with barriers and covered with black serge, and on it +were a little chair, a cushion to kneel on, and a block also covered in +black. Just as, having mounted the steps, she set foot on the fatal +boards, the executioner came forward, and; asking forgiveness for the +duty he was about to perform, kneeled, hiding behind him his axe. Mary +saw it, however, and cried-- + +"Ah! I would rather have been beheaded in the French way, with a +sword!..." + +"It is not my fault, madam," said the executioner, "if this last wish of +your Majesty cannot be fulfilled; but, not having been instructed to +bring a sword, and having found this axe here only, I am obliged to use +it. Will that prevent your pardoning me, then?" + +"I pardon you, my friend," said Mary, "and in proof of it, here is my +hand to kiss." + +The executioner put his lips to the queen's hand, rose and approached +the chair. Mary sat down, and the Earls of Kent and Shrewsbury standing +on her left, the sheriff and his officers before her, Amyas Paulet +behind, and outside the barrier the lords, knights, and gentlemen, +numbering nearly two hundred and fifty, Robert Beale for the second time +read the warrant for execution, and as he was beginning the servants who +had been fetched came into the hall and placed themselves behind the +scaffold, the men mounted upon a bench put back against the wall, and +the women kneeling in front of it; and a little spaniel, of which the +queen was very fond, came quietly, as if he feared to be driven away, +and lay down near his mistress. + +The queen listened to the reading of the warrant without seeming to pay +much attention, as if it had concerned someone else, and with a +countenance as calm and even as joyous as if it had been a pardon and +not a sentence of death; then, when Beale had ended, and having ended, +cried in a loud voice, "God save Queen Elizabeth!" to which no one made +any response, Mary signed herself with the cross, and, rising without +any change of expression, and, on the contrary, lovelier than ever-- + +"My lords," said she, "I am a queen-born sovereign princess, and not +subject to law,--a near relation of the Queen of England, and her +rightful heir; for a long time I have been a prisoner in this country, I +have suffered here much tribulation and many evils that no one had the +right to inflict, and now, to crown all, I am about to lose my life. +Well, my lords, bear witness that I die in the Catholic faith, thanking +God for letting me die for His holy cause, and protesting, to-day as +every day, in public as in private, that I have never plotted, consented +to, nor desired the queen's death, nor any other thing against her +person; but that, on the contrary, I have always loved her, and have +always offered her good and reasonable conditions to put an end to the +troubles of the kingdom and deliver me from my captivity, without my +having ever been honoured with a reply from her; and all this, my lords, +you well know. Finally, my enemies have attained their end, which was to +put me to death: I do not pardon them less for it than I pardon all +those who have attempted anything against me. After my, death, the +authors of it will be known. But I die without accusing anyone, for fear +the Lord should hear me and avenge me." + +Upon this, whether he was afraid that such a speech by so great a queen +should soften the assembly too much, or whether he found that all these +words were making too much delay, the Dean of Peterborough placed +himself before Mary, and, leaning on the barrier-- + +"Madam," he said, "my much honoured mistress has commanded me to come to +you--" But at these words, Mary, turning and interrupting him: + +"Mr. Dean," she answered in a loud voice, "I have nothing to do with +you; I do not wish to hear you, and beg you to withdraw." + +"Madam," said the dean, persisting in spite of this resolve expressed in +such firm and precise terms, "you have but a moment longer: change your +opinions, abjure your errors, and put your faith in Jesus Christ alone, +that you may be saved through Him." + +"Everything you can say is useless," replied the queen, "and you will +gain nothing by it; be silent, then, I beg you, and let me die in +peace." + +And as she saw that he wanted to go on, she sat down on the other side +of the chair and turned her back to him; but the dean immediately walked +round the scaffold till he faced her again; then, as he was going to +speak, the queen turned about once more, and sat as at first. Seeing +which the Earl of Shrewsbury said-- + +"Madam, truly I despair that you are so attached to this folly of +papacy: allow us, if it please you, to pray for you." + +"My lord," the queen answered, "if you desire to pray for me, I thank +you, for the intention is good; but I cannot join in your prayers, for +we are not of the same religion." + +The earls then called the dean, and while the queen, seated in her +little chair, was praying in a low tone, he, kneeling on the scaffold +steps, prayed aloud; and the whole assembly except the queen and her +servants prayed after him; then, in the midst of her orison, which she +said with her Agnus Dei round her neck, a crucifix in one hand, and her +book of Hours in the other, she fell from her seat on to, her knees, +praying aloud in Latin, whilst the others prayed in English, and when +the others were silent, she continued in English in her turn, so that +they could hear her, praying for the afflicted Church of Christ, for an +end to the persecution of Catholics, and for the happiness of her son's +reign; then she said, in accents full of faith and fervour, that she +hoped to be saved by the merits of Jesus Christ, at the foot of whose +cross she was going to shed her blood. + +At these words the Earl of Kent could no longer contain himself, and +without respect for the sanctity of the moment-- + +"Oh, madam," said he, "put Jesus Christ in your heart, and reject all +this rubbish of popish deceptions." + +But she, without listening, went on, praying the saints to intercede +with God for her, and kissing the crucifix, she cried-- + +"Lord! Lord! receive me in Thy arms out stretched on the cross, and +forgive me all my sins!" + +Thereupon,--she being again seated in the chair, the Earl of Kent asked +her if she had any confession to make; to which she replied that, not +being guilty of anything, to confess would be to give herself, the lie. + +"It is well," the earl answered; "then, madam, prepare." + +The queen rose, and as the executioner approached to assist her +disrobe-- + +"Allow me, my friend," said she; "I know how to do it better than you, +and am not accustomed to undress before so many spectators, nor to be +served by such valets." + +And then, calling her two women, she began to unpin her coiffure, and as +Jeanne Kennedy and Elspeth Curle, while performing this last service for +their mistress, could not help weeping bitterly-- + +"Do not weep," she said to them in French; "for I have promised and +answered for you." + +With these words, she made the sign of the cross upon the forehead of +each, kissed them, and recommended them to pray for her. + +Then the queen began to undress, herself assisting, as she was wont to +do when preparing for bed, and taking the gold cross from her neck, she +wished to give it to Jeanne, saying to the executioner-- + +"My friend, I know that all I have upon me belongs to you; but this is +not in your way: let me bestow it, if you please, on this young lady, +and she will give you twice its value in money." + +But the executioner, hardly allowing her to finish, snatched it from her +hands with-- + +"It is my right." + +The queen was not moved much by this brutality, and went on taking off +her garments until she was simply in her petticoat. + +Thus rid of all her garb, she again sat down, and Jeanne Kennedy +approaching her, took from her pocket the handkerchief of +gold-embroidered cambric which she had prepared the night before, and +bound her eyes with it; which the earls, lords; and gentlemen looked +upon with great surprise, it not being customary in England, and as she +thought that she was to be beheaded in the French way--that is to say, +seated in the chair--she held herself upright, motionless, and with her +neck stiffened to make it easier for the executioner, who, for his part, +not knowing how to proceed, was standing, without striking, axe in hand: +at last the man laid his hand on the queen's head, and drawing her +forward, made her fall on her knees: Mary then understood what was +required of her, and feeling for the block with her hands, which were +still holding her book of Hours and her crucifix, she laid her neck on +it, her hands joined beneath her chin, that she might pray till the last +moment: the executioner's assistant drew them away, for fear they should +be cut off with her head; and as the queen was saying, "In manes teas, +Domine," the executioner raised his axe, which was simply an axe far +chopping wood, and struck the first blow, which hit too high, and +piercing the skull, made the crucifix and the book fly from the +condemned's hands by its violence, but which did not sever the head. +However, stunned with the blow, the queen made no movement, which gave +the executioner time to redouble it; but still the head did not fall, +and a third stroke was necessary to detach a shred of flesh which held +it to the shoulders. + +At last, when the head was quite severed, the executioner held it up to +show to the assembly, saying: + +"God save Queen Elizabeth!" + +"So perish all Her Majesty's enemies!" responded the Dean of +Peterborough. + +"Amen," said the Earl of Kent; but he was the only one: no other voice +could respond, for all were choked with sobs. + +At that moment the queen's headdress falling, disclosed her hair, cut +very short, and as white as if she had been aged seventy: as to her +face, it had so changed during her death-agony that no one would have +recognised it had he not known it was hers. The spectators cried out +aloud at this sign; for, frightful to see, the eyes were open, and the +lids went on moving as if they would still pray, and this muscular +movement lasted for more than a quarter of an hour after the head had +been cut off. + +The queen's servants had rushed upon the scaffold, picking up the book +of Hours and the crucifix as relics; and Jeanne Kennedy, remembering the +little dog who had come to his mistress, looked about for him on all +sides, seeking him and calling him, but she sought and called in vain. +He had disappeared. + +At that moment, as one of the executioners was untying the queen's +garters, which were of blue satin embroidered in silver, he saw the poor +little animal, which had hidden in her petticoat, and which he was +obliged to bring out by force; then, having escaped from his hands, it +took refuge between the queen's shoulders and her head, which the +executioner had laid down near the trunk. Jeanne took him then, in spite +of his howls, and carried him away, covered with blood; for everyone had +just been ordered to leave the hall. Bourgoin and Gervais stayed behind, +entreating Sir Amyas Paulet to let them take the queen's heart, that +they might carry it to France, as they had promised her; but they were +harshly refused and pushed out of the hall, of which all the doors were +closed, and there there remained only the executioner and the corpse. + +Brantome relates that something infamous took place there! + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +Two hours after the execution, the body and the head were taken into the +same hall in which Mary Stuart had appeared before the commissioners, +set down on a table round which the judges had sat, and covered over +with a black serge cloth; and there remained till three o'clock in the +afternoon, when Waters the doctor from Stamford and the surgeon from +Fotheringay village came to open and embalm them--an operation which +they carried out under the eyes of Amyas Paulet and his soldiers, +without any respect for the rank and sex of the poor corpse, which was +thus exposed to the view of anyone who wanted to see it: it is true that +this indignity did not fulfil its proposed aim; for a rumour spread +about that the queen had swollen limbs and was dropsical, while, on the +contrary, there was not one of the spectators but was obliged to confess +that he had never seen the body of a young girl in the bloom of health +purer and lovelier than that of Mary Stuart, dead of a violent death +after nineteen years of suffering and captivity. + +When the body was opened, the spleen was in its normal state, with the +veins a little livid only, the lungs yellowish in places, and the brain +one-sixth larger than is usual in persons of the same age and sex; thus +everything promised a long life to her whose end had just been so +cruelly hastened. + +A report having been made of the above, the body was embalmed after a +fashion, put in a leaden coffin and that in another of wood, which was +left on the table till the first day of August--that is, for nearly five +months--before anyone was allowed to come near it; and not only that, +but the English having noticed that Mary Stuart's unhappy servants, who +were still detained as prisoners, went to look at it through the +keyhole, stopped that up in such a way that they could not even gaze at +the coffin enclosing the body of her whom they had so greatly loved. + +However, one hour after Mary Stuart's death, Henry Talbot, who had been +present at it, set out at full speed for London, carrying to Elizabeth +the account of her rival's death; but at the very first lines she read, +Elizabeth, true to her character, cried out in grief and indignation, +saying that her orders had been misunderstood, that there had been too +great haste, and that all this was the fault of Davison the Secretary of +State, to whom she had given the warrant to keep till she had made up +her mind, but not to send to Fotheringay. Accordingly, Davison was sent +to the Tower and condemned to pay a fine of ten thousand pounds +sterling, for having deceived the queen. Meanwhile, amid all this grief, +an embargo was laid on all vessels in all the ports of the realm, so +that the news of the death should not reach abroad, especially France, +except through skilful emissaries who could place the execution in the +least unfavourable light for Elizabeth. At the same time the scandalous +popular festivities which had marked the announcement of the sentence +again celebrated the tidings of the execution. London was illuminated, +bonfires lit, and the enthusiasm was such that the French Embassy was +broken into and wood taken to revive the fires when they began to die +down. + +Crestfallen at this event, M. de Chateauneuf was still shut up at the +Embassy, when, a fortnight later, he received an invitation from +Elizabeth to visit her at the country house of the Archbishop of +Canterbury. M. de Chateauneuf went thither with the firm resolve to say +no word to her on what had happened; but as soon as she saw him, +Elizabeth, dressed in black, rose, went to him, and, overwhelming him +with kind attentions, told him that she was ready to place all the +strength of her kingdom at Henry III's disposal to help him put down the +League. Chateauneuf received all these offers with a cold and severe +expression, without saying, as he had promised himself, a single word +about the event which had put both the queen and himself into mourning. +But, taking him by the hand, she drew him aside, and there, with deep +sighs, said-- + +"Ah! sir, since I saw you the greatest misfortune which could befall me +has happened: I mean the death of my good sister, the Queen of Scotland, +of which I swear by God Himself, my soul and my salvation, that I am +perfectly innocent. I had signed the order, it is true; but my +counsellors have played me a trick for which I cannot calm myself; and I +swear to God that if it were not for their long service I would have +them beheaded. I have a woman's frame, sir, but in this woman's frame +beats a man's heart." + +Chateauneuf bowed without a response; but his letter to Henry III and +Henry's answer prove that neither the one nor the other was the dupe of +this female Tiberius. + +Meanwhile, as we have said, the unfortunate servants were prisoners, and +the poor body was in that great hall waiting for a royal interment. +Things remained thus, Elizabeth said, to give her time to order a +splendid funeral for her good sister Mary, but in reality because the +queen dared not place in juxtaposition the secret and infamous death and +the public and royal burial; then, was not time needed for the first +reports which it pleased Elizabeth to spread to be credited before the +truth should be known by the mouths of the servants? For the queen hoped +that once this careless world had made up its mind about the death of +the Queen of Scots, it would not take any further trouble to change it. +Finally, it was only when the warders were as tired as the prisoners, +that Elizabeth, having received a report stating that the ill-embalmed +body could no longer be kept, at last ordered the funeral to take place. + +Accordingly, after the 1st of August, tailors and dressmakers arrived at +Fotheringay Castle, sent by Elizabeth, with cloth and black silk stuffs, +to clothe in mourning all Mary's servants. But they refused, not having +waited for the Queen of England's bounty, but having made their funeral +garments at their own expense, immediately after their mistress's death. +The tailors and dressmakers, however, none the less set so actively to +work that on the 7th everything was finished. + +Next day, at eight o'clock in the evening, a large chariot, drawn by +four horses in mourning trappings, and covered with black velvet like +the chariot, which was, besides, adorned with little streamers on which +were embroidered the arms of Scotland, those of the queen, and the arms +of Aragon, those of Darnley, stopped at the gate of Fotheringay Castle. +It was followed by the herald king, accompanied by twenty gentlemen on +horseback, with their servants and lackeys, all dressed in mourning, +who, having alighted, mounted with his whole train into the room where +the body lay, and had it brought down and put into the chariot with all +possible respect, each of the spectators standing with bared head and in +profound silence. + +This visit caused a great stir among the prisoners, who debated a while +whether they ought not to implore the favour of being allowed to follow +their mistress's body, which they could not and should not let go alone +thus; but just as they were about to ask permission to speak to the +herald king, he entered the room where they were assembled, and told +them that he was charged by his mistress, the august Queen of England, +to give the Queen of Scotland the most honourable funeral he could; +that, not wishing to fail in such a high undertaking, he had already +made most of the preparations for the ceremony, which was to take place +on the 10th of August, that is to say, two days later,--but that the +leaden shell in which the body was enclosed being very heavy, it was +better to move it beforehand, and that night, to where the grave was +dug, than to await the day of the interment itself; that thus they might +be easy, this burial of the shell being only a preparatory ceremony; but +that if some of them would like to accompany the corpse, to see what was +done with it, they were at liberty, and that those who stayed behind +could follow the funeral pageant, Elizabeth's positive desire being that +all, from first to last, should be present in the funeral procession. +This assurance calmed the unfortunate prisoners, who deputed Bourgoin, +Gervais, and six others to follow their mistress's body: these were +Andrew Melville, Stewart, Gorjon, Howard, Lauder, and Nicholas +Delamarre. + +At ten o'clock at night they set out, walking behind the chariot, +preceded by the herald, accompanied by men on foot, who carried torches +to light the way, and followed by twenty gentlemen and their servants. +In this manner, at two o'clock in the morning, they reached +Peterborough, where there is a splendid cathedral built by an ancient +Saxon king, and in which, on the left of the choir, was already interred +good Queen Catharine of Aragon, wife of Henry VIII, and where was her +tomb, still decked with a canopy bearing her arms. + +On arriving, they found the cathedral all hung with black, with a dome +erected in the middle of the choir, much in the way in which 'chapelles +ardentes' are set up in France, except that there were no lighted +candles round it. This dome was covered with black velvet, and overlaid +with the arms of Scotland and Aragon, with streamers like those on the +chariot yet again repeated. The state coffin was already set up under +this dome: it was a bier, covered like the rest in black velvet fringed +with silver, on which was a pillow of the same supporting a royal crown. + +To the right of this dome, and in front of the burial-place of Queen +Catharine of Aragon, Mary of Scotland's sepulchre had been dug: it was a +grave of brick, arranged to be covered later with a slab or a marble +tomb, and in which was to be deposited the coffin, which the Bishop of +Peterborough, in his episcopal robes, but without his mitre, cross, or +cope, was awaiting at the door, accompanied by his dean and several +other clergy. The body was brought into the cathedral, without chant or +prayer, and was let down into the tomb amid a profound silence. Directly +it was placed there, the masons, who had stayed their hands, set to work +again, closing the grave level with the floor, and only leaving an +opening of about a foot and a half, through which could be seen what was +within, and through which could be thrown on the coffin, as is customary +at the obsequies of kings, the broken staves of the officers and the +ensigns and banners with their arms. This nocturnal ceremony ended, +Melville, Bourgoin, and the other deputies were taken to the bishop's +palace, where the persons appointed to take part in the funeral +procession were to assemble, in number more than three hundred and +fifty, all chosen, with the exception of the servants, from among the +authorities, the nobility, and Protestant clergy. + +The day following, Thursday, August the 9th, they began to hang the +banqueting halls with rich and sumptuous stuffs, and that in the sight +of Melville, Bourgoin, and the others, whom they had brought thither, +less to be present at the interment of Queen Mary than to bear witness +to the magnificence of Queen Elizabeth. But, as one may suppose, the +unhappy prisoners were indifferent to this splendour, great and +extraordinary as it was. + +On Friday, August 10th, all the chosen persons assembled at the bishop's +palace: they ranged themselves in the appointed order, and turned their +steps to the cathedral, which was close by. When they arrived there, +they took the places assigned them in the choir, and the choristers +immediately began to chant a funeral service in English and according to +Protestant rites. At the first words of this service, when he saw it was +not conducted by Catholic priests, Bourgoin left the cathedral, +declaring that he would not be present at such sacrilege, and he was +followed by all Mary's servants, men and women, except Melville and +Barbe Mowbray, who thought that whatever the tongue in which one prayed, +that tongue was heard by the Lord. This exit created great scandal; but +the bishop preached none the less. + +The sermon ended, the herald king went to seek Bourgoin and his +companions, who were walking in the cloisters, and told them that the +almsgiving was about to begin, inviting them to take part in this +ceremony; but they replied that being Catholics they could not make +offerings at an altar of which they disapproved. So the herald king +returned, much put out at the harmony of the assembly being disturbed by +this dissent; but the alms-offering took place no less than the sermon. +Then, as a last attempt, he sent to them again, to tell them that the +service was quite over, and that accordingly they might return for the +royal ceremonies, which belonged only to the religion of the dead; and +this time they consented; but when they arrived, the staves were broken, +and the banners thrown into the grave through the opening that the +workmen had already closed. + +Then, in the same order in which it had come, the procession returned to +the palace, where a splendid funeral repast had been prepared. By a +strange contradiction, Elizabeth, who, having punished the living woman +as a criminal, had just treated the dead woman as a queen, had also +wished that the honours of the funeral banquet should be for the +servants, so long forgotten by her. But, as one can imagine, these ill +accommodated themselves to that intention, did not seem astonished at +this luxury nor rejoiced at this good cheer, but, on the contrary, +drowned their bread and wine in tears, without otherwise responding to +the questions put to them or the honours granted them. And as soon as +the repast was ended, the poor servants left Peterborough and took the +road back to Fotheringay, where they heard that they were free at last +to withdraw whither they would. They did not need to be told twice; for +they lived in perpetual fear, not considering their lives safe so long +as they remained in England. They therefore immediately collected all +their belongings, each taking his own, and thus went out of Fotheringay +Castle on foot, Monday, 13th August, 1587. + +Bourgoin went last: having reached the farther side of the drawbridge, +he turned, and, Christian as he was, unable to forgive Elizabeth, not +for his own sufferings, but for his mistress's, he faced about to those +regicide walls, and, with hands outstretched to them, said in a loud and +threatening voice, those words of David: "Let vengeance for the blood of +Thy servants, which has been shed, O Lord God, be acceptable in Thy +sight". The old man's curse was heard, and inflexible history is +burdened with Elizabeth's punishment. + +We said that the executioner's axe, in striking Mary Stuart's head, had +caused the crucifix and the book of Hours which she was holding to fly +from her hands. We also said that the two relics had been picked up by +people in her following. We are not aware of what became of the +crucifix, but the book of Hours is in the royal library, where those +curious about these kinds of historical souvenirs can see it: two +certificates inscribed on one of the blank leaves of the volume +demonstrate its authenticity. These are they: + + FIRST CERTIFICATE + +"We the undersigned Vicar Superior of the strict observance of the Order +of Cluny, certify that this book has been entrusted to us by order of +the defunct Dom Michel Nardin, a professed religious priest of our said +observance, deceased in our college of Saint-Martial of Avignon, March +28th, 1723, aged about eighty years, of which he has spent about thirty +among us, having lived very religiously: he was a German by birth, and +had served as an officer in the army a long time. + +"He entered Cluny, and made his profession there, much detached from all +this world's goods and honours; he only kept, with his superior's +permission, this book, which he knew had been in use with Mary Stuart, +Queen of England and Scotland, to the end of her life. + +"Before dying and being parted from his brethren, he requested that, to +be safely remitted to us, it should be sent us by mail, sealed. Just as +we have received it, we have begged M. L'abbe Bignon, councillor of +state and king's librarian, to accept this precious relic of the piety +of a Queen of England, and of a German officer of her religion as well +as of ours. + +"(Signed)BROTHER GERARD PONCET, "Vicar-General Superior." + + SECOND CERTIFICATE + +"We, Jean-Paul Bignon, king's librarian, are very happy to have an +opportunity of exhibiting our zeal, in placing the said manuscript in +His Majesty's library. + +"8th July, 1724." + +"(Signed) JEAN-PAUL BIGNAN." + +This manuscript, on which was fixed the last gaze of the Queen of +Scotland, is a duodecimo, written in the Gothic character and containing +Latin prayers; it is adorned with miniatures set off with gold, +representing devotional subjects, stories from sacred history, or from +the lives of saints and martyrs. Every page is encircled with arabesques +mingled with garlands of fruit and flowers, amid which spring up +grotesque figures of men and animals. + +As to the binding, worn now, or perhaps even then, to the woof, it is in +black velvet, of which the flat covers are adorned in the centre with an +enamelled pansy, in a silver setting surrounded by a wreath, to which +are diagonally attached from one corner of the cover to the other, two +twisted silver-gilt knotted cords, finished by a tuft at the two ends. + + + + +*KARL-LUDWIG SAND--1819* + + +On the 22nd of March, 1819, about nine o'clock in the morning, a young +man, some twenty-three or twenty-four years old, wearing the dress of a +German student, which consists of a short frock-coat with silk braiding, +tight trousers, and high boots, paused upon a little eminence that +stands upon the road between Kaiserthal and Mannheim, at about +three-quarters of the distance from the former town, and commands a view +of the latter. Mannheim is seen rising calm and smiling amid gardens +which once were ramparts, and which now surround and embrace it like a +girdle of foliage and flowers. Having reached this spot, he lifted his +cap, above the peak of which were embroidered three interlaced oak +leaves in silver, and uncovering his brow, stood bareheaded for a moment +to feel the fresh air that rose from the valley of the Neckar. At first +sight his irregular features produced a strange impression; but before +long the pallor of his face, deeply marked by smallpox, the infinite +gentleness of his eyes, and the elegant framework of his long and +flowing black hair, which grew in an admirable curve around a broad, +high forehead, attracted towards him that emotion of sad sympathy to +which we yield without inquiring its reason or dreaming of resistance. +Though it was still early, he seemed already to have come some distance, +for his boots were covered with dust; but no doubt he was nearing his +destination, for, letting his cap drop, and hooking into his belt his +long pipe, that inseparable companion of the German Borsch, he drew from +his pocket a little note-book, and wrote in it with a pencil: "Left +Wanheim at five in the morning, came in sight of Mannheim at a +quarter-past nine." Then putting his note-book back into his pocket, he +stood motionless for a moment, his lips moving as though in mental +prayer, picked up his hat, and walked on again with a firm step towards +Mannheim. + +This young Student was Karl-Ludwig Sand, who was coming from Jena, by +way of Frankfort aid Darmstadt, in order to assassinate Kotzebue. + +Now, as we are about to set before our readers one of those terrible +actions for the true appreciation of which the conscience is the sole +judge, they must allow us to make them fully acquainted with him whom +kings regarded as an assassin, judges as a fanatic, and the youth of +Germany as a hero. Charles Louis Sand was born on the 5th of October, +1795, at Wonsiedel, in the Fichtel Wald; he was the youngest son of +Godfrey Christopher Sand, first president and councillor of justice to +the King of Prussia, and of Dorothea Jane Wilheltmina Schapf, his wife. +Besides two elder brothers, George, who entered upon a commercial career +at St, Gall, and Fritz, who was an advocate in the Berlin court of +appeal, he had an elder sister named Caroline, and a younger sister +called Julia. + +While still in the cradle he had been attacked by smallpox of the most +malignant type. The virus having spread through all his body, laid bare +his ribs, and almost ate away his skull. For several months he lay +between life and death; but life at last gained the upper hand. He +remained weak and sickly, however, up to his seventh year, at which time +a brain fever attacked him; and again put his life in danger. As a +compensation, however, this fever, when it left him, seemed to carry +away with it all vestiges of his former illness. From that moment his +health and strength came into existence; but during these two long +illnesses his education had remained very backward, and it was not until +the age of eight that he could begin his elementary studies; moreover, +his physical sufferings having retarded his intellectual development, he +needed to work twice as hard as others to reach the same result. + +Seeing the efforts that young Sand made, even while still quite a child, +to conquer the defects of his organisation, Professor Salfranck, a +learned and distinguished man, rector of the Hof gymnasium [college], +conceived such an affection for him, that when, at a later time, he was +appointed director of the gymnasium at Ratisbon, he could not part from +his pupil, and took him with him. In this town, and at the age of eleven +years, he gave the first proof of his courage and humanity. One day, +when he was walking with some young friends, he heard cries for help, +and ran in that direction: a little boy, eight or nine years old, had +just fallen into a pond. Sand immediately, without regarding his best +clothes, of which, however, he was very proud, sprang into the water, +and, after unheard-of efforts for a child of his age, succeeded in +bringing the drowning boy to land. + +At the age of twelve or thirteen, Sand, who had become more active, +skilful, and determined than many of his elders, often amused himself by +giving battle to the lads of the town and of the neighbouring villages. +The theatre of these childish conflicts, which in their pale innocence +reflected the great battles that were at that time steeping Germany in +blood, was generally a plain extending from the town of Wonsiedel to the +mountain of St. Catherine, which had ruins at its top, and amid the +ruins a tower in excellent preservation. Sand, who was one of the most +eager fighters, seeing that his side had several times been defeated on +account of its numerical inferiority, resolved, in order to make up for +this drawback, to fortify the tower of St. Catherine, and to retire into +it at the next battle if its issue proved unfavourable to him. He +communicated this plan to his companions, who received it with +enthusiasm. A week was spent, accordingly, in collecting all possible +weapons of defence in the tower and in repairing its doors and stairs. +These preparations were made so secretly that the army of the enemy had +no knowledge of them. + +Sunday came: the holidays were the days of battle. Whether because the +boys were ashamed of having been beaten last time, or for some other +reason, the band to which Sand belonged was even weaker than usual. +Sure, however, of a means of retreat, he accepted battle, +notwithstanding. The struggle was not a long one; the one party was too +weak in numbers to make a prolonged resistance, and began to retire in +the best order that could be maintained to St. Catherine's tower, which +was reached before much damage had been felt. Having arrived there, some +of the combatants ascended to the ramparts, and while the others +defended themselves at the foot of the wall, began to shower stones and +pebbles upon the conquerors. The latter, surprised at the new method of +defence which was now for the first time adopted, retreated a little; +the rest of the defenders took advantage of the moment to retire into +the fortress and shut the door. Great was the astonishment an the part +of the besiegers: they had always seen that door broken down, and lo! +all at once it was presenting to them a barrier which preserved the +besieged from their blows. Three or four went off to find instruments +with which to break it down and meanwhile the rest of the attacking +farce kept the garrison blockaded. + +At the end of half an hour the messengers returned not only with levers +and picks, but also with a considerable reinforcement composed of lads +from, the village to which they had been to fetch tools. + +Then began the assault: Sand and his companions defended themselves +desperately; but it was soon evident that, unless help came, the +garrison would be forced to capitulate. It was proposed that they should +draw lots, and that one of the besieged should be chosen, who in spite +of the danger should leave the tower, make his way as best he might +through the enemy's army, and go to summon the other lads of Wonsiedel, +who had faint-heartedly remained at home. The tale of the peril in which +their Comrades actually were, the disgrace of a surrender, which would +fall upon all of them, would no doubt overcome their indolence and +induce them to make a diversion that would allow the garrison to attempt +sortie. This suggestion was adopted; but instead of leaving the decision +to chance, Sand proposed himself as the messenger. As everybody knew his +courage, his skill, and his lightness of foot, the proposition was +unanimously accepted, and the new Decius prepared to execute his act of +devotion. The deed was not free from danger: there were but two means of +egress, one by way of the door, which would lead to the fugitive's +falling immediately into the hands of the enemy; the other by jumping +from a rampart so high that the enemy had not set a guard there. Sand +without a moment's hesitation went to the rampart, where, always +religious, even in his childish pleasures, he made a short prayer; then, +without fear, without hesitation, with a confidence that was almost +superhuman, he sprang to the ground: the distance was twenty-two feet. +Sand flew instantly to Wonsiedel, and reached it, although the enemy had +despatched their best runners in pursuit. Then the garrison, seeing the +success of their enterprise, took fresh courage, and united their +efforts against the besiegers, hoping everything from Sand's eloquence, +which gave him a great influence over his young companions. And, indeed, +in half an hour he was seen reappearing at the head of some thirty boys +of his own age, armed with slings and crossbows. The besiegers, on the +point of being attacked before and behind, recognised the disadvantage +of their position and retreated. The victory remained with Sand's party, +and all the honours of the day were his. + +We have related this anecdote in detail, that our readers may understand +from the character of the child what was that of the man. Besides, we +shall see him develop, always calm and superior amid small events as +amid large ones. + +About the same time Sand escaped almost miraculously from two dangers. +One day a hod full of plaster fell from a scaffold and broke at his +feet. Another day the Price of Coburg, who during the King of Prussia's +stay at the baths of Alexander, was living in the house of Sand's +parents, was galloping home with four horses when he came suddenly upon +young Karl in a gateway; he could not escape either on the right or the +left, without running the risk of being crushed between the wall and the +wheels, and the coachman could not, when going at such a pace, hold in +his horses: Sand flung himself on his face, and the carriage passed over +him without his receiving so much as a single scratch either from the +horses or the wheels. From that moment many people regarded him as +predestined, and said that the hand of God was upon him. + +Meanwhile political events were developing themselves around the boy, +and their seriousness made him a man before the age of manhood. Napoleon +weighed upon Germany like another Sennacherib. Staps had tried to play +the part of Mutius Scaevola, and had died a martyr. Sand was at Hof at +that time, and was a student of the gymnasium of which his good tutor +Salfranck was the head. He learned that the man whom he regarded as the +antichrist was to come and review the troops in that town; he left it at +once and went home to his parents, who asked him for what reason he had +left the gymnasium. + +"Because I could not have been in the same town with Napoleon," he +answered, "without trying to kill him, and I do not feel my hand strong +enough for that yet." + +This happened in 1809; Sand was fourteen years old. Peace, which was +signed an the 15th of October, gave Germany some respite, and allowed +the young fanatic to resume his studies without being distracted by +political considerations; but in 1811 he was occupied by them again, +when he learned that the gymnasium was to be dissolved and its place +taken by a primary school. To this the rector Salfranck was appointed as +a teacher, but instead of the thousand florins which his former +appointment brought him, the new one was worth only five hundred. Karl +could not remain in a primary school where he could not continue his +education; he wrote to his mother to announce this event and to tell her +with what equanimity the old German philosopher had borne it. Here is +the answer of Sand's mother; it will serve to show the character of the +woman whose mighty heart never belied itself in the midst of the +severest suffering; the answer bears the stamp of that German mysticism +of which we have no idea in France:-- + +"MY DEAR KARL,--You could not have given me a more grievous piece of +news than that of the event which has just fallen upon your tutor and +father by adoption; nevertheless, terrible though it may be, do not +doubt that he will resign himself to it, in order to give to the virtue +of his pupils a great example of that submission which every subject +owes to the king wham God has set over him. Furthermore, be well assured +that in this world there is no other upright and well calculated policy +than that which grows out of the old precept, 'Honour God, be just and +fear not.' And reflect also that when injustice against the worthy +becomes crying, the public voice makes itself heard, and uplifts those +who are cast down. + +"But if, contrary to all probability, this did not happen,--if God +should impose this sublime probation upon the virtue of our friend, if +the world were to disown him and Providence were to became to that, +degree his debtor,--yet in that case there are, believe me, supreme +compensations: all the things and all the events that occur around us +and that act upon us are but machines set in motion by a Higher Hand, so +as to complete our education for a higher world, in which alone we shall +take our true place. Apply yourself, therefore, my dear child, to watch +over yourself unceasingly and always, so that you may not take great and +fine isolated actions for real virtue, and may be ready every moment to +do all that your duty may require of you. Fundamentally nothing is +great, you see, and nothing small, when things are, looked at apart from +one another, and it is only the putting of things together that produces +the unity of evil or of good. + +"Moreover, God only sends the trial to the heart where He has put +strength, and the manner in which you tell me that your master has borne +the misfortune that has befallen him is a fresh proof of this great and +eternal truth. You must form yourself upon him, my dear child, and if +you are obliged to leave Hof for Bamberg you must resign yourself to it +courageously. Man has three educations: that which he receives from his +parents, that which circumstances impose upon him, and lastly that which +he gives himself; if that misfortune should occur, pray to God that you +may yourself worthily complete that last education, the most important +of all. + +"I will give you as an example the life and conduct of my father, of +whom you have not heard very much, for he died before you were born, but +whose mind and likeness are reproduced in you only among all your +brothers and sisters. The disastrous fire which reduced his native town +to ashes destroyed his fortune and that of his relatives; grief at +having lost everything--for the fire broke out in the next house to +his--cost his father his life; and while his mother, who for six years +had been stretched an a bed of pain, where horrible convulsions held her +fast, supported her three little girls by the needlework that she did in +the intervals of suffering, he went as a mere clerk into one of the +leading mercantile houses of Augsburg, where his lively and yet even +temper made him welcome; there he learned a calling, for which, however, +he was not naturally adapted, and came back to the home of his birth +with a pure and stainless heart, in order to be the support of his +mother and his sisters. + +"A man can do much when he wishes to do much: join your efforts to my +prayers, and leave the rest in the hands of God." + +The prediction of this Puritan woman was fulfilled: a little time +afterwards rector Salfranck was appointed professor at Richembourg, +whither Sand followed him; it was there that the events of 1813 found +him. In the month of March he wrote to his mother:-- + +"I can scarcely, dear mother, express to you how calm and happy I begin +to feel since I am permitted to believe in the enfranchisement of my +country, of which I hear on every side as being so near at hand,--of +that country which, in my faith in God, I see beforehand free and +mighty, that country for whose happiness I would undergo the greatest +sufferings, and even death. Take strength for this crisis. If by chance +it should reach our good province, lift your eyes to the Almighty, then +carry them back to beautiful rich nature. The goodness of God which +preserved and protected so many men during the disastrous Thirty Years' +War can do and will do now what it could and did then. As for me, I +believe and hope." + +Leipzig came to justify Sand's presentiments; then the year 1814 +arrived, and he thought Germany free. + +On the 10th of December in the same year he left Richembourg with this +certificate from his master:-- + +"Karl Sand belongs to the small number of those elect young men who are +distinguished at once by the gifts of the mind and the faculties of the +soul; in application and work he surpasses all his fellow-students, and +this fact explains his rapid progress in all the philosophical and +philological sciences; in mathematics only there are still some further +studies which he might pursue. The most affectionate wishes of his +teacher follow him on his departure. + +"J. A. KEYN, "Rector, and master of the first class. "Richembourg, Sept. +15, 1814" + +But it was really the parents of Sand, and in particular his mother, who +had prepared the fertile soil in which his teachers had sowed the seeds +of learning; Sand knew this well, for at the moment of setting out for +the university of Tubingen, where he was about to complete the +theological studies necessary for becoming a pastor, as he desired to +do, he wrote to them:-- + +"I confess that, like all my brothers and sisters, I owe to you that +beautiful and great part of my education which I have seen to be lacking +to most of those around me. Heaven alone can reward you by a conviction +of having so nobly and grandly fulfilled your parental duties, amid many +others." + +After having paid a visit to his brother at St. Gall, Sand reached +Tubingen, to which he had been principally attracted by the reputation +of Eschenmayer; he spent that winter quietly, and no other incident +befell than his admission into an association of Burschen, called the +Teutonic; then came tester of 1815, and with it the terrible news that +Napoleon had landed in the Gulf of Juan. Immediately all the youth of +Germany able to bear arms gathered once more around the banners of 1813 +and 1814. Sand followed the general example; but the action, which in +others was an effect of enthusiasm, was in him the result of calm and +deliberate resolution. He wrote to Wonsiedel on this occasion:-- + +"April 22, 1813 + +"MY DEAR PARENTS,--Until now you have found me submissive to your +parental lessons and to the advice of my excellent masters; until now I +have made efforts to render myself worthy of the education that God has +sent me through you, and have applied myself to become capable of +spreading the word of the Lord through my native land; and for this +reason I can to-day declare to you sincerely the decision that I lave +taken, assured that as tender and affectionate parents you will calm +yourselves, and as German parents and patriots you will rather praise my +resolution than seek to turn me from it. + +"The country calls once more for help, and this time the call is +addressed to me, too, for now I have courage and strength. It cast me a +great in ward struggle, believe me, to abstain when in 1813 she gave her +first cry, and only the conviction held me back that thousands of others +were then fighting and conquering for Germany, while I had to live far +the peaceful calling to which I was destined. Now it is a question of +preserving our newly re-established liberty, which in so many places has +already brought in so rich a harvest. The all-powerful and merciful Lord +reserves for us this great trial, which will certainly be the last; it +is for us, therefore, to show that we are worthy of the supreme gift +which He has given us, and capable of upholding it with strength and +firmness. + +"The danger of the country has never been so great as it is now, that is +why, among the youth of Germany, the strong should support the wavering, +that all may rise together. Our brave brothers in the north are already +assembling from all parts under their banners; the State of Wurtemburg +is, proclaiming a general levy, and volunteers are coming in from every +quarter, asking to die for their country. I consider it my duty, too, to +fight for my country and for all the dear ones whom I love. If I were +not profoundly convinced of this truth, I should not communicate my +resolution to you; but my family is one that has a really German heart, +and that would consider me as a coward and an unworthy son if I did not +follow this impulse. I certainly feel the greatness of the sacrifice; it +costs me something, believe me, to leave my beautiful studies and go to +put myself under the orders of vulgar, uneducated people, but this only +increases my courage in going to secure the liberty of my brothers; +moreover, when once that liberty is secured, if God deigns to allow, I +will return to carry them His word. + +"I take leave, therefore, for a time of you, my most worthy parents, of +my brothers, my sisters, and all who are dear to me. As, after mature +deliberation, it seems the most suitable thing for me to serve with the +Bavarians. I shall get myself enrolled, for as long as the war may last, +with a company of that nation. Farewell, then; live happily; far away +from you as I shall be, I shall follow your pious exhortations. In this +new track I shall still I hope, remain pure before God, and I shall +always try to walk in the path that rises above the things of earth and +leads to those of heaven, and perhaps in this career the bliss of saving +some souls from their fall may be reserved for me. + +"Your dear image will always be about me; I will always have the Lord +before my eyes and in my heart, so that I may endure joyfully the pains +and fatigues of this holy war. Include me in your Prayers; God will send +you the hope of better times to help you in bearing the unhappy time in +which we now are. We cannot see one another again soon, unless we +conquer; and if we should be conquered (which God forbid!), then my last +wish, which I pray you, I conjure you, to fulfil, my last and supreme +wish would be that you, my dear and deserving German relatives, should +leave an enslaved country for some other not yet under the yoke. + +"But why should we thus sadden one another's hearts? Is not our cause +just and holy, and is not God just and holy? How then should we not be +victors? You see that sometimes I doubt, so, in your letters, which I am +impatiently expecting, have pity on me and do not alarm my soul, far in +any case we shall meet again in another country, and that one will +always be free and happy. + +"I am, until death, your dutiful and grateful son, "KARL SAND." + +These two lines of Korner's were written as a postscript: + + "Perchance above our foeman lying dead + We may behold the star of liberty." + +With this farewell to his parents, and with Korner's poems on his lips, +Sand gave up his books, and on the 10th of May we find him in arms among +the volunteer chasseurs enrolled under the command of Major +Falkenhausen, who was at that time at Mannheim; here he found his second +brother, who had preceded him, and they underwent all their drill +together. + +Though Sand was not accustomed to great bodily fatigues, he endured +those of the campaign with surprising strength, refusing all the +alleviations that his superiors tried to offer him; for he would allow +no one to outdo him in the trouble that he took for the good of the +country. On the march he invariably shared: anything that he possessed +fraternally with his comrades, helping those who were weaker than +himself to carry their burdens, and, at once priest and soldier, +sustaining them by his words when he was powerless to do anything more. + +On the 18th of June, at eight o'clock in the evening, he arrived upon +the field of battle at Waterloo, On the 14th of July he entered Paris. + +On the 18th of December, 1815, Karl Sand and his brother were back at +Wonsiedel, to the great joy of their family. He spent the Christmas +holidays and the end of the year with them, but his ardour for his new +vacation did not allow him to remain longer, and an the 7th of January +he reached Erlangen. Then, to make up for lost time, he resolved to +subject his day to fixed and uniform rules, and to write down every +evening what he had done since the morning. It is by the help of this +journal that we are able to follow the young enthusiast, not only in all +the actions of his life, but also in all the thoughts of his mind and +all the hesitations of his conscience. In it we find his whole self, +simple to naivete, enthusiastic to madness, gentle even to weakness +towards others, severe even to asceticism towards himself. One of his +great griefs was the expense that his education occasioned to his +parents, and every useless and costly pleasure left a remorse in his +heart. Thus, on the 9th of February 1816, he wrote:-- + +"I meant to go and visit my parents. Accordingly I went to the +'Commers-haus', and there I was much amused. N. and T. began upon me +with the everlasting jokes about Wonsiedel; that went on until eleven +o'clock. But afterwards N. and T. began to torment me to go to the +wine-shop; I refused as long as I could. But as, at last, they seemed to +think that it was from contempt of them that I would not go and drink a +glass of Rhine wine with them, I did not dare resist longer. +Unfortunately, they did not stop at Braunberger; and while my glass was +still half full, N. ordered a bottle of champagne. When the first had +disappeared, T. ordered a second; then, even before this second battle +was drunk, both of them ordered a third in my name and in spite of me. I +returned home quite giddy, and threw myself on the sofa, where I slept +for about an hour, and only went to bed afterwards. + +"Thus passed this shameful day, in which I have not thought enough of my +kind and worthy parents, who are leading a poor and hard life, and in +which I suffered myself to be led away by the example of people who have +money into spending four florins--an expenditure which was useless, and +which would have kept the whole family for two days. Pardon me, my God, +pardon me, I beseech Thee, and receive the vow that I make never to fall +into the same fault again. In future I will live even more abstemiously +than I usually do, so as to repair the fatal traces in my poor cash-box +of my extravagance, and not to be obliged to ask money of my mother +before the day when she thinks of sending me some herself." + +Then, at the very time when the poor young man reproaches himself as if +with a crime with having spent four florins, one of his cousins, a +widow, dies and leaves three orphan children. He runs immediately to +carry the first consolations to the unhappy little creatures, entreats +his mother to take charge of the youngest, and overjoyed at her answer, +thanks her thus:-- + +"Far the very keen joy that you have given me by your letter, and for +the very dear tone in which your soul speaks to me, bless you, O my +mother! As I might have hoped and been sure, you have taken little +Julius, and that fills me afresh with the deepest gratitude towards you, +the rather that, in my constant trust in your goodness, I had already in +her lifetime given our good little cousin the promise that you are +fulfilling for me after her death." + +About March, Sand, though he did not fall ill, had an indisposition that +obliged him to go and take the waters; his mother happened at the time +to be at the ironworks of Redwitz, same twelve or fifteen miles from +Wonsiedel, where the mineral springs are found. Sand established himself +there with his mother, and notwithstanding his desire to avoid +interrupting his work, the time taken up by baths, by invitations to +dinners, and even by the walks which his health required, disturbed the +regularity of his usual existence and awakened his remorse. Thus we find +these lines written in his journal for April 13th: + +"Life, without some high aim towards which all thoughts and actions +tend, is an empty desert: my day yesterday is a proof of this; I spent +it with my own people, and that, of course, was a great pleasure to me; +but how did I spend it? In continual eating, so that when I wanted to +work I could do nothing worth doing. Full of indolence and slackness, I +dragged myself into the company of two or three sets of people, and came +from them in the same state of mind as I went to them." + +Far these expeditions Sand made use of a little chestnut horse which +belonged to his brother, and of which he was very fond. This little +horse had been bought with great difficulty; for, as we have said, the +whole family was poor. The following note, in relation to the animal, +will give an idea of Sand's simplicity of heart:-- + +"19th April "To-day I have been very happy at the ironworks, and very +industrious beside my kind mother. In the evening I came home on the +little chestnut. Since the day before yesterday, when he got a strain +and hurt his foot, he has been very restive and very touchy, and when he +got home he refused his food. I thought at first that he did not fancy +his fodder, and gave him some pieces of sugar and sticks of cinnamon, +which he likes very much; he tasted them, but would not eat them. The +poor little beast seems to have same other internal indisposition +besides his injured foot. If by ill luck he were to become foundered or +ill, everybody, even my parents, would throw the blame on me, and yet I +have been very careful and considerate of him. My God, my Lord, Thou who +canst do things both great and small, remove from me this misfortune, +and let him recover as quickly as possible. If, however, Thou host +willed otherwise, and if this fresh trouble is to fall upon us, I will +try to bear it with courage, and as the expiation of same sin. +Meanwhile, O my Gad, I leave this matter in Thy hands, as I leave my +life and my soul." + +On the 20th of April he wrote:--"The little horse is well; God has +helped me." + +German manners and customs are so different from ours, and contrasts +occur so frequently in the same man, on the other side of the Rhine, +that anything less than all the quotations which we have given would +have been insufficient to place before our readers a true idea of that +character made up of artlessness and reason, childishness and strength, +depression and enthusiasm, material details and poetic ideas, which +renders Sand a man incomprehensible to us. We will now continue the +portrait, which still wants a few finishing touches. + +When he returned to Erlangen, after the completion of his "cure," Sand +read Faust far the first time. At first he was amazed at that work, +which seemed to him an orgy of genius; then, when he had entirely +finished it, he reconsidered his first impression, and wrote:-- + +"4th May + +"Oh, horrible struggle of man and devil! What Mephistopheles is in me I +feel far the first time in this hour, and I feel it, O God, with +consternation! + +"About eleven at night I finished reading the tragedy, and I felt and +saw the fiend in myself, so that by midnight, amid my tears and despair, +I was at last frightened at myself." + +Sand was falling by degrees into a deep melancholy, from which nothing +could rouse him except his desire to purify and preach morality to the +students around him. To anyone who knows university life such a task +will seem superhuman. Sand, however, was not discouraged, and if he +could not gain an influence over everyone, he at least succeeded in +forming around him a considerable circle of the most intelligent and the +best; nevertheless, in the midst of these apostolic labours strange +longings for death would overcome him; he seemed to recall heaven and +want to return to it; he called these temptations "homesickness for the +soul's country." + +His favourite authors were Lessing, Schiller, Herder, and Goethe; after +re-reading the two last for the twentieth time, this is what he wrote: + +"Good and evil touch each other; the woes of the young Werther and +Weisslingen's seduction, are almost the same story; no matter, we must +not judge between what is good and what is evil in others; for that is +what God will do. I have just been spending much time over this thought, +and have become convinced that in no circumstances ought we to allow +ourselves to seek for the devil in others, and that we have no right to +judge; the only creature over wham we have received the power to judge +and condemn is ourself, and that gives us enough constant care, +business, and trouble. + +"I have again to-day felt a profound desire to quit this world and enter +a higher world; but this desire is rather dejection than strength, a +lassitude than an upsoaring." + +The year 1816 was spent by Sand in these pious attempts upon his young +comrades, in this ceaseless self-examination, and in the perpetual +battle which he waged with the desire for death that pursued him; every +day he had deeper doubts of himself; and on the 1st of January, 1817, he +wrote this prayer in his diary:-- + +"Grant to me, O Lord, to me whom Thou halt endowed, in sending me on +earth, with free will, the grace that in this year which we are now +beginning I may never relax this constant attention, and not shamefully +give up the examination of my conscience which I have hitherto made. +Give me strength to increase the attention which I turn upon my own +life, and to diminish that which I turn upon the life of others; +strengthen my will that it may become powerful to command the desires of +the body and the waverings of the soul; give me a pious conscience +entirely devoted to Thy celestial kingdom, that I may always belong to +Thee, or after failing, may be able to return to Thee." + +Sand was right in praying to God for the year 1817, and his fears were a +presentiment: the skies of Germany, lightened by Leipzig and Waterloo, +were once more darkened; to the colossal and universal despotism of +Napoleon succeeded the individual oppression of those little princes who +made up the Germanic Diet, and all that the nations had gained by +overthrowing the giant was to be governed by dwarfs. This was the time +when secret societies were organised throughout Germany; let us say a +few words about them, for the history that we are writing is not only +that of individuals, but also that of nations, and every time that +occasion presents itself we will give our little picture a wide horizon. + +The secret societies of Germany, of which, without knowing them, we have +all heard, seem, when we follow them up, like rivers, to originate in +some sort of affiliation to those famous clubs of the 'illumines' and +the freemasons which made so much stir in France at the close of the +eighteenth century. At the time of the revolution of '89 these different +philosophical, political, and religious sects enthusiastically accepted +the republican doctrines, and the successes of our first generals have +often been attributed to the secret efforts of the members. When +Bonaparte, who was acquainted with these groups, and was even said to +have belonged to them, exchanged his general's uniform for an emperor's +cloak, all of them, considering him as a renegade and traitor, not only +rose against him at home, but tried to raise enemies against him abroad; +as they addressed themselves to noble and generous passions, they found +a response, and princes to whom their results might be profitable seemed +for a moment to encourage them. Among others, Prince Louis of Prussia +was grandmaster of one of these societies. + +The attempted murder by Stops, to which we have already referred, was +one of the thunderclaps of the storm; but its morrow brought the peace +of Vienna, and the degradation of Austria was the death-blow of the old +Germanic organisation. These societies, which had received a mortal +wound in 1806 and were now controlled by the French police, instead of +continuing to meet in public, were forced to seek new members in the +dark. In 1811 several agents of these societies were arrested in Berlin, +but the Prussian authorities, following secret orders of Queen Louisa, +actually protected them, so that they were easily able to deceive the +French police about their intentions. About February 1815 the disasters +of the French army revived the courage of these societies, for it was +seen that God was helping their cause: the students in particular joined +enthusiastically in the new attempts that were now begun; many colleges +enrolled themselves almost entire, anal chose their principals and +professors as captains; the poet, Korner, killed on the 18th of October +at Liegzig, was the hero of this campaign. + +The triumph of this national movement, which twice carried the Prussian +army--largely composed of volunteers--to Paris, was followed, when the +treaties of 1815 and the new Germanic constitution were made known, by a +terrible reaction in Germany. All these young men who, exiled by their +princes, had risen in the name of liberty, soon perceived that they had +been used as tools to establish European despotism; they wished to claim +the promises that had been made, but the policy of Talleyrand and +Metternich weighed on them, and repressing them at the first words they +uttered, compelled them to shelter their discontent and their hopes in +the universities, which, enjoying a kind of constitution of their own, +more easily escaped the investigations made by the spies of the Holy +Alliance; but, repressed as they were, these societies continued +nevertheless to exist, and kept up communications by means of travelling +students, who, bearing verbal messages, traversed Germany under the +pretence of botanising, and, passing from mountain to mountain, sowed +broadcast those luminous and hopeful words of which peoples are always +greedy and kings always fear. + +We have seen that Sand, carried away by the general movement, had gone +through the campaign of 1815 as a volunteer, although he was then only +nineteen years old. On his return, he, like others, had found his golden +hopes deceived, and it is from this period that we find his journal +assuming the tone of mysticism and sadness which our readers must have +remarked in it. He soon entered one of these associations, the Teutonia; +and from that moment, regarding the great cause which he had taken up as +a religious one, he attempted to make the conspirators worthy of their +enterprise, and thus arose his attempts to inculcate moral doctrines, in +which he succeeded with some, but failed with the majority. Sand had +succeeded, however, in forming around him a certain circle of Puritans, +composed of about sixty to eighty students, all belonging to the group +of the 'Burschenschaft' which continued its political and religious +course despite all the jeers of the opposing group--the +'Landmannschaft'. One of his friends called Dittmar and he were pretty +much the chiefs, and although no election had given them their +authority, they exercised so much influence upon what was decided that +in any particular case their fellow-adepts were sure spontaneously to +obey any impulse that they might choose to impart. The meetings of the +Burschen took place upon a little hill crowned by a ruined castle, which +was situated at some distance from Erlangen, and which Sand and Dittmar +had called the Ruttli, in memory of the spot where Walter Furst, +Melchthal, and Stauffacher had made their vow to deliver their country; +there, under the pretence of students' games, while they built up a new +house with the ruined fragments, they passed alternately from symbol to +action and from action to symbol. + +Meanwhile the association was making such advances throughout Germany +that not only the princes and kings of the German confederation, but +also the great European powers, began to be uneasy. France sent agents +to bring home reports, Russia paid agents on the spot, and the +persecutions that touched a professor and exasperated a whole university +often arose from a note sent by the Cabinet of the Tuileries or of St. +Petersburg. + +It was amid the events that began thus that Sand, after commending +himself to the protection of God, began the year 1817, in the sad mood +in which we have just seen him, and in which he was kept rather by a +disgust for things as they were than by a disgust for life. On the 8th +of May, preyed upon by this melancholy, which he cannot conquer, and +which comes from the disappointment of all his political hopes, he +writes in his diary: + +"I shall find it impassible to set seriously to work, and this idle +temper, this humour of hypochondria which casts its black veil over +everything in life,--continues and grows in spite of the moral activity +which I imposed on myself yesterday." + +In the holidays, fearing to burden his parents with any additional +expense, he will not go home, and prefers to make a walking tour with +his friends. No doubt this tour, in addition to its recreative side, had +a political aim. Be that as it may, Sand's diary, during the period of +his journey, shows nothing but the names of the towns through which he +passed. That we may have a notion of Sand's dutifulness to his parents, +it should be said that he did not set out until he had obtained his +mother's permission. On their return, Sand, Dittmar, and their friends +the Burschen, found their Ruttli sacked by their enemies of the +Landmannschaft; the house that they had built was demolished and its +fragments dispersed. Sand took this event for an omen, and was greatly +depressed by it. + +"It seems to me, O my God!" he says in his journal, "that everything +swims and turns around me. My soul grows darker and darker; my moral +strength grows less instead of greater; I work and cannot achieve; walk +towards my aim and do not reach it; exhaust myself, and do nothing +great. The days of life flee one after another; cares and uneasiness +increase; I see no haven anywhere for our sacred German cause. The end +will be that we shall fall, for I myself waver. O Lord and Father! +protect me, save me, and lead me to that land from which we are for ever +driven back by the indifference of wavering spirits." + +About this time a terrible event struck Sand to the heart; his friend +Dittmar was drowned. This is what he wrote in his diary on the very +morning of the occurrence: + +"Oh, almighty God! What is going to become of me? For the last fortnight +I have been drawn into disorder, and have not been able to compel myself +to look fixedly either backward or forward in my life, so that from the +4th of June up to the present hour my journal has remained empty. Yet +every day I might have had occasion to praise Thee, O my God, but my +soul is in anguish. Lord, do not turn from me; the more are the +obstacles the more need is there of strength." + +In the evening he added these few words to the lines that he had written +in the morning:-- + +"Desolation, despair, and death over my friend, over my very deeply +loved Dittmar." + +This letter which he wrote to his family contains the account of the +tragic event:-- + +"You know that when my best friends, A., C., and Z., were gone, I became +particularly intimate with my well-beloved Dittmar of Anspach; Dittmar, +that is to say a true and worthy German, an evangelical Christian, +something more, in short, than a man! An angelic soul, always turned +toward the good, serene, pious, and ready for action; he had come to +live in a room next to mine in Professor Grunler's house; we loved each +other, upheld each other in our efforts, and, well or ill, bare our good +or evil fortune in common. On this last spring evening, after having +worked in his room and having strengthened ourselves anew to resist all +the torments of life and to advance towards the aim that we desired to +attain; we went, about seven in the evening, to the baths of Redwitz. A +very black storm was rising in the sky, but only as yet appeared on the +horizon. E., who was with us, proposed to go home, but Dittmar +persisted, saying that the canal was but a few steps away. God permitted +that it should not be I who replied with these fatal words. So he went +on. The sunset was splendid: I see it still; its violet clouds all +fringed with gold, for I remember the smallest details of that evening. + +"Dittmar went down first; he was the only one of us who knew how to +swim; so he walked before us to show us the depth. The water was about +up to our chests, and he, who preceded us, was up to his shoulders, when +he warned us not to go farther, because he was ceasing to feel the +bottom. He immediately gave up his footing and began to swim, but +scarcely had he made ten strokes when, having reached the place where +the river separates into two branches, he uttered a cry, and as he was +trying to get a foothold, disappeared. We ran at once to the bank, +hoping to be able to help him more easily; but we had neither poles nor +ropes within reach, and, as I have told you, neither of us could swim. +Then we called for help with all our might. At that moment Dittmar +reappeared, and by an unheard-of effort seized the end of a willow +branch that was hanging over the water; but the branch was not strong +enough to resist, and our friend sank again, as though he had been +struck by apoplexy. Can you imagine the state in which we were, we his +friends, bending over the river, our fixed and haggard eyes trying to +pierce its depth? My God, my God! how was it we did not go mad? + +"A great crowd, however, had run at our cries. For two hours they sought +far him with boats and drag-hooks; and at last they succeeded in drawing +his body from the gulf. Yesterday we bore it solemnly to the field of +rest. + +"Thus with the end of this spring has begun the serious summer of my +life. I greeted it in a grave and melancholy mood, and you behold me +now, if not consoled, at least strengthened by religion, which, thanks +to the merits of Christ, gives me the assurance of meeting my friend in +heaven, from the heights of which he will inspire me with strength to +support the trials of this life; and now I do not desire anything more +except to know you free from all anxiety in regard to me." + +Instead of serving to unite the two groups of students in a common +grief, this accident, on the contrary, did but intensify their hatred of +each other. Among the first persons who ran up at the cries of Sand and +his companion was a member of the Landmannschaft who could swim, but +instead of going to Dittmar's assistance he exclaimed, "It seems that we +shall get rid of one of these dogs of Burschen; thank God!" +Notwithstanding this manifestation of hatred, which, indeed, might be +that of an individual and not of the whole body, the Burschen invited +their enemies to be present at Dittmar's funeral. A brutal refusal, and +a threat to disturb the ceremony by insults to the corpse, formed their +sole reply. The Burschen then warned the authorities, who took suitable +measures, and all Dittmar's friends followed his coffin sword in hand. +Beholding this calm but resolute demonstration, the Landmannschaft did +not dare to carry out their threat, and contented themselves with +insulting the procession by laughs and songs. + +Sand wrote in his journal: + +"Dittmar is a great loss to all of us, and particularly to me; he gave +me the overflow of his strength and life; he stopped, as it were, with +an embankment, the part of my character that is irresolute and +undecided. From him it is that I have learned not to dread the +approaching storm, and to know how to fight and die." + +Some days after the funeral Sand had a quarrel about Dittmar with one of +his former friends, who had passed over from the Burschen to the +Landmannschaft, and who had made himself conspicuous at the time of the +funeral by his indecent hilarity. It was decided that they should fight +the next day, and on the same day Sand wrote in his journal. + +"To-morrow I am to fight with P. G.; yet Thou knowest, O my God, what +great friends we formerly were, except for a certain mistrust with which +his coldness always inspired me; but on this occasion his odious conduct +has caused me to descend from the tenderest pity to the profoundest +hatred. + +"My God, do not withdraw Thy hand either from him or from me, since we +are both fighting like men! Judge only by our two causes, and give the +victory to that which is the more just. If Thou shouldst call me before +Thy supreme tribunal, I know very well that I should appear burdened +with an eternal malediction; and indeed it is not upon myself that I +reckon but upon the merits of our Saviour Jesus Christ. + +"Come what may, be praised and blessed, O my God! + +"My dear parents, brothers, and friends, I commend you to the protection +of God." + +Sand waited in vain for two hours next day: his adversary did not come +to the meeting place. + +The loss of Dittmar, however, by no means produced the result upon Sand +that might have been expected, and that he himself seems to indicate in +the regrets he expressed for him. Deprived of that strong soul upon +which he rested, Sand understood that it was his task by redoubled +energy to make the death of Dittmar less fatal to his party. And indeed +he continued singly the work of drawing in recruits which they had been +carrying on together, and the patriotic conspiracy was not for a moment +impeded. + +The holidays came, and Sand left Erlangen to return no more. From +Wonsiedel he was to proceed to Jena, in order to complete his +theological studies there. After some days spent with his family, and +indicated in his journal as happy, Sand went to his new place of abode, +where he arrived some time before the festival of the Wartburg. This +festival, established to celebrate the anniversary of the battle of +Leipzig, was regarded as a solemnity throughout Germany, and although +the princes well knew that it was a centre for the annual renewal of +affiliation to the various societies, they dared not forbid it. Indeed, +the manifesto of the Teutonic Association was exhibited at this festival +and signed by more than two thousand deputies from different +universities in Germany. This was a day of joy for Sand; for he found in +the midst of new friends a great number of old ones. + +The Government, however, which had not 'dared to attack the Association +by force, resolved to undermine it by opinion. M. de Stauren published a +terrible document, attacking the societies, and founded, it was said, +upon information furnished by Kotzebue. This publication made a great +stir, not only at Jena, but throughout all Germany. Here is the trace of +this event that we find in Sand's journal:-- + +24th November "Today, after working with much ease and assiduity, I went +out about four with E. As we crossed the market-place we heard +Kotzebue's new and venomous insult read. By what a fury that man is +possessed against the Burschen and against all who love Germany!" + +Thus far the first time and in these terms Sand's journal presents the +name of the man who, eighteen months later, he was to slay. + +The Government, however, which had not 'dared to attack the Association +by force, resolved to undermine it by opinion. M. de Stauren published a +terrible document, attacking the societies, and founded, it was said, +upon information furnished by Kotzebue. This publication made a great +stir, not only at Jena, but throughout all Germany. Here is the trace of +this event that we find in Sand's journal: + +24th November + +"To-day, after working with much ease and assiduity, I went out about +four with E. As we crossed the market-place we heard Kotzebue's new and +venomous insult read. By what a fury that man is possessed against the +Burschen and against all who love Germany!" + +Thus for the first time and in these terms Sand's journal presents the +name of the man who, eighteen months later, he was to slay. + +On the 29th, in the evening, Sand writes again: + +"To-morrow I shall set out courageously and joyfully from this place for +a pilgrimage to Wonsiedel; there I shall find my large-hearted mother +and my tender sister Julia; there I shall cool my head and warm my +heart. Probably I shall be present at my good Fritz's marriage with +Louisa, and at the baptism of my very dear Durchmith's first-born. God, +O my Father, as Thou hast been with me during my sad course, be with me +still on my happy road." + +This journey did in fact greatly cheer Sand. Since Dittmar's death his +attacks of hypochondria had disappeared. While Dittmar lived he might +die; Dittmar being dead, it was his part to live. + +On the 11th of December he left Wonsiedel, to return to Jena, and on the +31st of the same month he wrote this prayer in his journal. + +"O merciful Saviour! I began this year with prayer, and in these last +days I have been subject to distraction and ill-disposed. When I look +backward, I find, alas! that I have not become better; but I have +entered more profoundly into life, and, should occasion present, I now +feel strength to act. + +"It is because Thou hast always been with me, Lord, even when I was not +with Thee." + +If our readers have followed with some attention the different extracts +from the journal that we have placed before them, they must have seen +Sand's resolution gradually growing stronger and his brain becoming +excited. From the beginning of the year 1818, one feels his view, which +long was timid and wandering, taking in a wider horizon and fixing +itself on a nobler aim. He is no longer ambitious of the pastor's simple +life or of the narrow influence which he might gain in a little +community, and which, in his juvenile modesty, had seemed the height of +good fortune and happiness; it is now his native land, his German +people, nay, all humanity, which he embraces in his gigantic plans of +political regeneration. Thus, on the flyleaf of his journal for the year +1818, he writes: + +"Lord, let me strengthen myself in the idea that I have conceived of the +deliverance of humanity by the holy sacrifice of Thy Son. Grant that I +may be a Christ of Germany, and that, like and through Jesus, I may be +strong and patient in suffering." + +But the anti-republican pamphlets of Kotzebue increased in number and +gained a fatal influence upon the minds of rulers. Nearly all the +persons who were attacked in these pamphlets were known and esteemed at +Jena; and it may easily be comprehended what effects were produced by +such insults upon these young heads and noble hearts, which carried +conviction to the paint of blindness and enthusiasm to that of +fanaticism. + +Thus, here is what Sand wrote in his diary on the 5th of May. + +"Lord, what causes this melancholy anguish which has again taken +possession of me? But a firm and constant will surmounts everything, and +the idea of the country gives joy and courage to the saddest and the +weakest. When I think of that, I am always amazed that there is none +among us found courageous enough to drive a knife into the breast of +Kotzebue or of any other traitor." + +Still dominated by the same thought, he continues thus on the 18th of +May:-- + +"A man is nothing in comparison with a nation; he is a unity compared +with millions, a minute compared with a century. A man, whom nothing +precedes and nothing follows, is born, lives, and dies in a longer or +shorter time, which, relatively to eternity, hardly equals the duration +of a lightning flash. A nation, on the contrary, is immortal." + +From time to time, however, amid these thoughts that bear the impress of +that political fatality which was driving him towards the deed of +bloodshed, the kindly and joyous youth reappears. On the 24th of June he +writes to his mother:-- + +"I have received your long and beautiful letter, accompanied by the very +complete and well-chosen outfit which you send me. The sight of this +fine linen gave me back one of the joys of my childhood. These are fresh +benefits. My prayers never remain unfulfilled, and I have continual +cause to thank you and God. I receive, all at once, shirts, two pairs of +fine sheets, a present of your work, and of Julia's and Caroline's work, +dainties and sweetmeats, so that I am still jumping with joy and I +turned three times on my heels when I opened the little parcel. Receive +the thanks of my heart, and share, as giver, in the joy of him who has +received. + +"Today, however, is a very serious day, the last day of spring and the +anniversary of that on which I lost my noble and good Dittmar. I am a +prey to a thousand different and confused feelings; but I have only two +passions left in me which remain upright and like two pillars of brass +support this whole chaos--the thought of God and the love of my +country." + +During all this time Sand's life remains apparently calm and equal; the +inward storm is calmed; he rejoices in his application to work and his +cheerful temper. However, from time to time, he makes great complaints +to himself of his propensity to love dainty food, which he does not +always find it possible to conquer. Then, in his self-contempt, he calls +himself "fig-stomach" or "cake-stomach." But amid all this the religious +and political exaltation and visits all the battlefields near to the +road that he follows. On the 18th of October he is back at Jena, where +he resumes his studies with more application than ever. It is among such +university studies that the year 1818 closes far him, and we should +hardly suspect the terrible resolution which he has taken, were it not +that we find in his journal this last note, dated the 31st of December: + +"I finish the last day of this year 1818, then, in a serious and solemn +mood, and I have decided that the Christmas feast which has just gone by +will be the last Christmas feast that I shall celebrate. If anything is +to come of our efforts, if the cause of humanity is to assume the upper +hand in our country, if in this faithless epoch any noble feelings can +spring up afresh and make way, it can only happen if the wretch, the +traitor, the seducer of youth, the infamous Kotzebue, falls! I am fully +convinced of this, and until I have accomplished the work upon which I +have resolved, I shall have no rest. Lord, Thou who knowest that I have +devoted my life to this great action, I only need, now that it is fixed +in my mind, to beg of Thee true firmness and courage of soul." + +Here Sand's diary ends; he had begun it to strengthen himself; he had +reached his aim; he needed nothing more. From this moment he was +occupied by nothing but this single idea, and he continued slowly to +mature the plan in his head in order to familiarise himself with its +execution; but all the impressions arising from this thought remained in +his own mind, and none was manifested on the surface. To everyone else +he was the same; but for some little time past, a complete and unaltered +serenity, accompanied by a visible and cheerful return of inclination +towards life, had been noticed in him. He had made no charge in the +hours or the duration of his studies; but he had begun to attend the +anatomical classes very assiduously. One day he was seen to give even +more than his customary attention to a lesson in which the professor was +demonstrating the various functions of the heart; he examined with the +greatest care the place occupied by it in the chest, asking to have some +of the demonstrations repeated two or three times, and when he went out, +questioning some of the young men who were following the medical +courses, about the susceptibility of the organ, which cannot receive +ever so slight a blow without death ensuing from that blow: all this +with so perfect an indifference and calmness that no one about him +conceived any suspicion. + +Another day, A. S., one of his friends, came into his room. Sand, who +had heard him coming up, was standing by the table, with a paper-knife +in his hand, waiting for him; directly the visitor came in, Sand flung +himself upon him, struck him lightly on the forehead; and then, as he +put up his hands to ward off the blow, struck him rather more violently +in the chest; then, satisfied with this experiment, said:-- + +"You see, when you want to kill a man, that is the way to do it; you +threaten the face, he puts up his hands, and while he does so you thrust +a dagger into his heart." + +The two young men laughed heartily over this murderous demonstration, +and A. S. related it that evening at the wine-shop as one of the +peculiarities of character that were common in his friend. After the +event, the pantomime explained itself. + +The month of March arrived. Sand became day by day calmer, more +affectionate, and kinder; it might be thought that in the moment of +leaving his friends for ever he wished to leave them an ineffaceable +remembrance of him. At last he announced that on account of several +family affairs he was about to undertake a little journey, and set about +all his preparations with his usual care, but with a serenity never +previously seen in him. Up to that time he had continued to work as +usual, not relaxing for an instant; for there was a possibility that +Kotzebue might die or be killed by somebody else before the term that +Sand had fixed to himself, and in that case he did not wish to have lost +time. On the 7th of March he invited all his friends to spend the +evening with him, and announced his departure for the next day but one, +the 9th. All of them then proposed to him to escort him for some +leagues, but Sand refused; he feared lest this demonstration, innocent +though it were, might compromise them later on. He set forth alone, +therefore, after having hired his lodgings for another half-year, in +order to obviate any suspicion, and went by way of Erfurt and Eisenach, +in order to visit the Wartburg. From that place he went to Frankfort, +where he slept on the 17th, and on the morrow he continued his journey +by way of Darmstadt. At last, on the 23rd, at nine in the morning, he +arrived at the top of the little hill where we found him at the +beginning of this narrative. Throughout the journey he had been the +amiable and happy young man whom no one could see without liking. + +Having reached Mannheim, he took a room at the Weinberg, and wrote his +name as "Henry" in the visitors' list. He immediately inquired where +Kotzebue lived. The councillor dwelt near the church of the Jesuits; his +house was at the corner of a street, and though Sand's informants could +not tell him exactly the letter, they assured him it was not possible to +mistake the house. [At Mannheim houses are marked by letters, not by +numbers.] + +Sand went at once to Kotzebue's house: it was about ten o'clock; he was +told that the councillor went to walk for an hour or two every morning +in the park of Mannheim. Sand inquired about the path in which he +generally walked, and about the clothes he wore, for never having seen +him he could only recognise him by the description. Kotzebue chanced to +take another path. Sand walked about the park for an hour, but seeing no +one who corresponded to the description given him, went back to the +house. + +Kotzebue had come in, but was at breakfast and could not see him. + +Sand went back to the Weinberg, and sat down to the midday table d'hote, +where he dined with an appearance of such calmness, and even of such +happiness, that his conversation, which was now lively, now simple, and +now dignified, was remarked by everybody. At five in the afternoon he +returned a third time to the house of Kotzebue, who was giving a great +dinner that day; but orders had been given to admit Sand. He was shown +into a little room opening out of the anteroom, and a moment after, +Kotzebue came in. + +Sand then performed the drama which he had rehearsed upon his friend A. +S. Kotzebue, finding his face threatened, put his hands up to it, and +left his breast exposed; Sand at once stabbed him to the heart; Kotzebue +gave one cry, staggered, and fell back into an arm-chair: he was dead. + +At the cry a little girl of six years old ran in, one of those charming +German children, with the faces of cherubs, blue-eyed, with long flowing +hair. She flung herself upon the body of Kotzebue, calling her father +with piercing cries. Sand, standing at the door, could not endure this +sight, and without going farther, he thrust the dagger, still covered +with Kotzebue's blood, up to the hilt into his own breast. Then, seeing +to his surprise that notwithstanding the terrible wound--he had just +given himself he did not feel the approach of death, and not wishing to +fall alive into the hands of the servants who were running in, he rushed +to the staircase. The persons who were invited were just coming in; +they, seeing a young man, pale and bleeding with a knife in his breast, +uttered loud cries, and stood aside, instead of stopping him. Sand +therefore passed down the staircase and reached the street below; ten +paces off, a patrol was passing, on the way to relieve the sentinels at +the castle; Sand thought these men had been summoned by the cries that +followed him; he threw himself on his knees in the middle of the street, +and said, "Father, receive my soul!" + +Then, drawing the knife from the wound, he gave himself a second blow +below the former, and fell insensible. + +Sand was carried to the hospital and guarded with the utmost strictness; +the wounds were serious, but, thanks to the skill of the physicians who +were called in, were not mortal; one of them even healed eventually; but +as to the second, the blade having gone between the costal pleura and +the pulmonary pleura, an effusion of blood occurred between the two +layers, so that, instead of closing the wound, it was kept carefully +open, in order that the blood extravasated during the night might be +drawn off every morning by means of a pump, as is done in the operation +for empyaemia. + +Notwithstanding these cares, Sand was for three months between life and +death. + +When, on the 26th of March, the news of Kotzebue's assassination came +from Mannheim to Jena, the academic senate caused Sand's room to be +opened, and found two letters--one addressed to his friends of the +Burschenschaft, in which he declared that he no longer belonged to their +society, since he did not wish that their brotherhood should include a +man about to die an the scaffold. The other letter, which bore this +superscription, "To my nearest and dearest," was an exact account of +what he meant to do, and the motives which had made him determine upon +this act. Though the letter is a little long, it is so solemn and so +antique in spirit, that we do not hesitate to present it in its entirety +to our readers:-- + +"To all my own "Loyal and eternally cherished souls + +"Why add still further to your sadness? I asked myself, and I hesitated +to write to you; but my silence would have wounded the religion of the +heart; and the deeper a grief the more it needs, before it can be +blotted out, to drain to the dregs its cup of bitterness. Forth from my +agonised breast, then; forth, long and cruel torment of a last +conversation, which alone, however, when sincere, can alleviate the pain +of parting. + +"This letter brings you the last farewell of your son and your brother. + +"The greatest misfortune of life far any generous heart is to see the +cause of God stopped short in its developments by our fault; and the +most dishonouring infamy would be to suffer that the fine things +acquired bravely by thousands of men, and far which thousands of men +have joyfully sacrificed themselves, should be no more than a transient +dream, without real and positive consequences. The resurrection of our +German life was begun in these last twenty years, and particularly in +the sacred year 1813, with a courage inspired by God. But now the house +of our fathers is shaken from the summit to the base. Forward! let us +raise it, new and fair, and such as the true temple of the true God +should be. + +"Small is the number of those who resist, and who wish to oppose +themselves as a dyke against the torrent of the progress of higher +humanity among the German people. Why should vast whole masses bow +beneath the yoke of a perverse minority? And why, scarcely healed, +should we fall back into a worse disease than that which we are leaving +behind? + +"Many of these seducers, and those are the most infamous, are playing +the game of corruption with us; among them is Kotzebue, the most cunning +and the worst of all, a real talking machine emitting all sorts of +detestable speech and pernicious advice. His voice is skillful in +removing from us all anger and bitterness against the most unjust +measures, and is just such as kings require to put us to sleep again in +that old hazy slumber which is the death of nations. Every day he +odiously betrays his country, and nevertheless, despite his treason, +remains an idol for half Germany, which, dazzled by him, accepts +unresisting the poison poured out by him in his periodic pamphlets, +wrapped up and protected as he is by the seductive mantle of a great +poetic reputation. Incited by him, the princes of Germany, who have +forgotten their promises, will allow nothing free or good to be +accomplished; or if anything of the kind is accomplished in spite of +them, they will league themselves with the French to annihilate it. That +the history of our time may not be covered with eternal ignominy, it is +necessary that he should fall. + +"I have always said that if we wish to find a great and supreme remedy +for the state of abasement in which we are, none must shrink from combat +nor from suffering; and the real liberty of the German people will only +be assured when the good citizen sets himself or some other stake upon +the game, and when every true son of the country, prepared for the +struggle for justice, despises the good things of this world, and only +desires those celestial good things which death holds in charge. + +"Who then will strike this miserable hireling, this venal traitor? + +"I have long been waiting in fear, in prayer, and in tears--I who am not +born for murder--for some other to be beforehand with me, to set me +free, and suffer me to continue my way along the sweet and peaceful path +that I had chosen for myself. Well, despite my prayers and my tears, he +who should strike does not present himself; indeed, every man, like +myself, has a right to count upon some other, and everyone thus +counting, every hour's delay, but makes our state worse; far at any +moment--and how deep a shame would that be for us! Kotzebue may leave +Germany, unpunished, and go to devour in Russia the treasures for which +he has exchanged his honour, his conscience, and his German name. Who +can preserve us from this shame, if every man, if I myself, do not feel +strength to make myself the chosen instrument of God's justice? +Therefore, forward! It shall be I who will courageously rush upon him +(do not be alarmed), on him, the loathsome seducer; it shall be I who +will kill the traitor, so that his misguiding voice, being extinguished, +shall cease to lead us astray from the lessons of history and from the +Spirit of God. An irresistible and solemn duty impels me to this deed, +ever since I have recognised to what high destinies the German; nation +may attain during this century, and ever since I have come to know the +dastard and hypocrite who alone prevents it from reaching them; for me, +as for every German who seeks the public good, this desire has became a +strict and binding necessity. May I, by this national vengeance, +indicate to all upright and loyal consciences where the true danger +lies, and save our vilified and calumniated societies from the imminent +danger that threatens them! May I, in short, spread terror among the +cowardly and wicked, and courage and faith among the good! Speeches and +writings lead to nothing; only actions work. + +"I will act, therefore; and though driven violently away from my fair +dreams of the future, I am none the less full of trust in God; I even +experience a celestial joy, now that, like the Hebrews when they sought +the promised land, I see traced before me, through darkness and death, +that road at the end of which I shall have paid my debt to my country. + +"Farewell, then, faithful hearts: true, this early separation is hard; +true, your hopes, like my wishes, are disappointed; but let us be +consoled by the primary thought that we have done what the voice of our +country called upon us to do; that, you knew, is the principle according +to which I have always lived. You will doubtless say among yourselves, +'Yes, thanks to our sacrifices, he had learned to know life and to taste +the joys of earth, and he seemed: deeply to love his native country and +the humble estate to which he was called'. Alas, yes, that is true! +Under your protection, and amid your numberless sacrifices, my native +land and life had become profoundly dear to me. Yes, thanks to you, I +have penetrated into the Eden of knowledge, and have lived the free life +of thought; thanks to you, I have looked into history, and have then +returned to my own conscience to attach myself to the solid pillars of +faith in the Eternal. + +"Yes, I was to pass gently through this life as a preacher of the +gospel; yes, in my constancy to my calling I was to be sheltered from +the storms of this existence. But would that suffice to avert the danger +that threatens Germany? And you yourselves, in your infinite lave, +should you not rather push me on to risk my life for the good of all? So +many modern Greeks have fallen already to free their country from the +yoke of the Turks, and have died almost without any result and without +any hope; and yet thousands of fresh martyrs keep up their courage and +are ready to fall in their turn; and should I, then, hesitate to die? + +"That I do not recognise your love, or that your love is but a trifling +consideration with me, you will not believe. What else should impel me +to die if not my devotion to you and to Germany, and the need of proving +this devotion to my family and my country? + +"You, mother, will say, 'Why have I brought up a son whom I loved and +who loved me, for whom I have undergone a thousand cares and toils, who, +thanks to my prayers and my example, was impressionable to good +influences, and from whom, after my long and weary course, I hoped to +receive attentions like those which I have given him? Why does he now +abandon me?' + +"Oh, my kind and tender mother! Yes, you will perhaps say that; but +could not the mother of anyone else say the same, and everything go off +thus in words when there is need to act for the country? And if no one +would act, what would become of that mother of us all who is called +Germany? + +"But no; such complaints are far from you, you noble woman! I understood +your appeal once before, and at this present hour, if no one came +forward in the German cause, you yourself would urge me to the fight. I +have two brothers and two sisters before me, all noble and loyal. They +will remain to you, mother; and besides you will have for sons all the +children of Germany who love their country. + +"Every man has a destiny which he has to accomplish: mine is devoted to +the action that I am about to undertake; if I were to live another fifty +years, I could not live more happily than I have done lately. Farewell, +mother: I commend you to the protection of God; may He raise you to that +joy which misfortunes can no longer trouble! Take your grandchildren, to +whom I should so much have liked to be a loving friend, to the top of +our beautiful mountains soon. There, on that altar raised by the Lord +Himself in the midst of Germany, let them devote themselves, swearing to +take up the sword as soon as they have strength to lift it, and to lay +it down only when our brethren are all united in liberty, when all +Germans, having a liberal constitution; are great before the Lord, +powerful against their neighbours, and united among themselves. + +"May my country ever raise her happy gaze to Thee, Almighty Father! May +Thy blessing fall abundantly upon her harvests ready to be cut and her +armies ready for battle, and recognising the blessings that Thou host +showered upon us, may the German nation ever be first among nations to +rise and uphold the cause of humanity, which is Thy image upon earth! + +"Your eternally attached son, brother and friend, "KARL-LUDWIG SAND. +"JENA, the beginning of March, 1819." + +Sand, who, as we have said, had at first been taken to the hospital, was +removed at the end of three months to the prison at Mannheim, where the +governor, Mr. G----, had caused a room to be prepared for him. There he +remained two months longer in a state of extreme weakness: his left arm +was completely paralysed; his voice was very weak; every movement gave +him horrible pain, and thus it was not until the 11th of August--that is +to say, five months after the event that we have narrated--that he was +able to write to his family the following letter:-- + +"MY VERY DEAR PARENTS:--The grand-duke's commission of inquiry informed +me yesterday that it might be possible I should have the intense joy of +a visit from you, and that I might perhaps see you here and embrace +you--you, mother, and some of my brothers and sisters. + +"Without being surprised at this fresh proof of your motherly love, I +have felt an ardent remembrance reawaken of the happy life that we spent +gently together. Joy and grief, desire and sacrifice, agitate my heart +violently, and I have had to weigh these various impulses one against +the other, and with the force of reason, in order to resume mastery of +myself and to take a decision in regard to my wishes. + +"The balance has inclined in the direction of sacrifice. + +"You know, mother, how much joy and courage a look from your eyes, daily +intercourse with you, and your pious and high-minded conversation, might +bring me during my very short time. But you also know my position, and +you are too well acquainted with the natural course of all these painful +inquiries, not to feel as I do, that such annoyance, continually +recurring, would greatly trouble the pleasure of our companionship, if +it did not indeed succeed in entirely destroying it. Then, mother, after +the long and fatiguing journey that you would be obliged to make in +order to see me, think of the terrible sorrow of the farewell when the +moment came to part in this world. Let us therefore abide by the +sacrifice, according to God's will, and let us yield ourselves only to +that sweet community of thought which distance cannot interrupt, in +which I find my only joys, and which, in spite of men, will always be +granted us by the Lord, our Father. + +"As for my physical state, I knew nothing about it. You see, however, +since at last I am writing to you myself, that I have come past my first +uncertainties. As for the rest, I know too little of the structure of my +own body to give any opinion as to what my wounds may determine for it. +Except that a little strength has returned to me, its state is still the +same, and I endure it calmly and patiently; for God comes to my help, +and gives me courage and firmness. He will help me, believe me, to find +all the joys of the soul and to be strong in mind. Amen. + +"May you live happy!--Your deeply respectful son, "KARL-LUDWIG SAND." + +A month after this letter came tender answers from all the family. We +will quote only that of Sand's mother, because it completes the idea +which the reader may have formed already of this great-hearted woman, as +her son always calls her. + +"DEAR, INEXPRESSIBLY DEAR KARL,--How Sweet it was to me to see the +writing of your beloved hand after so long a time! No journey would have +been so painful and no road so long as to prevent me from coming to you, +and I would go, in deep and infinite love, to any end of the earth in +the mere hope of catching sight of you. + +"But, as I well know both your tender affection and your profound +anxiety for me, and as you give me, so firmly and upon such manly +reflection, reasons against which I can say nothing, and which I can but +honour, it shall be, my well-beloved Karl, as you have wished and +decided. We will continue, without speech, to communicate our thoughts; +but be satisfied, nothing can separate us; I enfold you in my soul, and +my material thoughts watch over you. + +"May this infinite love which upholds us, strengthens us, and leads us +all to a better life, preserve, dear Karl, your courage and firmness. + +"Farewell, and be invariably assured that I shall never cease to love +you strongly and deeply. + +"Your faithful mother, who loves you to eternity." + +Sand replied:-- + +January 1820, from my isle of Patmos. "MY DEAR PARENTS, BROTHERS, AND +SISTERS,-- + +"In the middle of the month of September last year I received, through +the grand-duke's special commission of inquiry, whose humanity you have +already appreciated, your dear letters of the end of August and the +beginning of September, which had such magical influence that they +inundated me with joy by transporting me into the inmost circle of your +hearts. + +"You, my tender father, you write to me on the sixty-seventh anniversary +of your birth, and you bless me by the outpouring of your most tender +love. + +"You, my well-beloved mother, you deign to promise the continuance of +your maternal affection, in which I have at all times constantly +believed; and thus I have received the blessings of both of you, which, +in my present position, will exercise a more beneficent influence upon +me than any of the things that all the kings of the earth, united +together, could grant me. Yes, you strengthen me abundantly by your +blessed love, and I render thanks to you, my beloved parents, with that +respectful submission that my heart will always inculcate as the first +duty of a son. + +"But the greater your love and the more affectionate your letters, the +more do I suffer, I must acknowledge, from the voluntary sacrifice that +we have imposed upon ourselves in not seeing one another; and the only +reason, my dear parents, why I have delayed to reply to you, was to give +myself time to recover the strength which I have lost. + +"You too, dear brother-in-law and dear sister, assure me of your sincere +and uninterrupted attachment. And yet, after the fright that I have +spread among you all, you seem not to know exactly what to think of me; +but my heart, full of gratitude for your past kindness, comforts itself; +for your actions speak and tell me that, even if you wished no longer to +love me as I love you, you would not be able to do otherwise. These +actions mean more to me at this hour than any possible protestations, +nay, than even the tenderest words. + +"And you also, my kind brother, you would have consented to hurry with +our beloved mother to the shores of the Rhine, to this place where the +real links of the soul were welded between us, where we were doubly +brothers; but tell me, are you not really here, in thought and in +spirit, when I consider the rich fountain of consolation brought me by +your cordial and tender letter? + +"And, you, kind sister-in-law, as you showed yourself from the first, in +your delicate tenderness, a true sister, so I find you again at present. +There are still the same tender relations, still the same sisterly +affection; your consolations, which emanate from a deep and submissive +piety, have fallen refreshingly into the depths of my heart. But, dear +sister-in-law, I must tell you, as well as the others, that you are too +liberal towards me in dispensing your esteem and praises, and your +exaggeration has cast me back face to face with my inmost judge, who has +shown me in the mirror of my conscience the image of my every weakness. + +"You, kind Julia, you desire nothing else but to save me from the fate +that awaits me; and you assure me in your own name and in that of you +all, that you, like the others, would rejoice to endure it in my place; +in that I recognise you fully, and I recognise, too, those sweet and +tender relations in which we have been brought up from childhood. Oh, be +comforted, dear Julia; thanks to the protection of God, I promise you: +that it will be easy for me, much easier than I should have thought, to +bear what falls to my lot. Receive, then, all of you, my warm and +sincere thanks for having thus rejoiced my heart. + +"Now that I know from these strengthening letters that, like the +prodigal son, the love and goodness of my family are greater on my +return than at my departure, I will, as carefully as possible, paint for +you my physical and moral state, and I pray God to supplement my words +by His strength, so that my letter may contain an equivalent of what +yours brought to me, and may help you to reach that state of calm and +serenity to which I have myself attained. + +"Hardened, by having gained power over myself, against the good and ill +of this earth, you knew already that of late years I have lived only for +moral joys, and I must say that, touched by my efforts, doubtless, the +Lord, who is the sacred fount of all that is good, has rendered me apt +in seeking them and in tasting them to the full. God is ever near me, as +formerly, and I find in Him the sovereign principle of the creation of +all things; in Him, our holy Father, not only consolation and strength, +but an unalterable Friend, full of the holiest love, who will accompany +me in all places where I may need His consolations. Assuredly, if He had +turned from me, or if I had turned away my eyes from Him, I should now +find myself very unfortunate and wretched; but by His grace, on the +contrary, lowly and weak creature as I am, He makes me strong and +powerful against whatever can befall me. + +"What I have hitherto revered as sacred, what I have desired as good +what I have aspired to as heavenly, has in no respect changed now. And I +thank God for it, for I should now be in great despair if I were +compelled to recognise that my heart had adored deceptive images and +enwrapped itself in fugitive chimeras. Thus my faith in these ideas and +my pure love far them, guardian angels of my spirit as they are, +increase moment by moment, and will go on increasing to my end, and I +hope that I may pass all the more easily from this world into eternity. +I pass my silent life in Christian exaltation and humility, and I +sometimes have those visions from above through which I have, from my +birth, adored heaven upon earth, and which give me power to raise myself +to the Lord upon the eager wings of my prayers. My illness, though long, +painful, and cruel, has always been sufficiently mastered by my will to +let me busy myself to some result with history, positive sciences, and +the finer parts of religious education, and when my suffering became +more violent and for a time interrupted these occupations, I struggled +successfully, nevertheless, against ennui; for the memories of the past, +my resignation to the present, and my faith in the future were rich +enough and strong enough in me and round me to prevent my falling from +my terrestrial paradise. According to my principles, I would never, in +the position in which I am and in which I have placed myself, have been +willing to ask anything for my own comfort; but so much kindness and +care have been lavished upon me, with so much delicacy and +humanity,--which alas! I am unable to return--by every person with whom +I have been brought into contact, that wishes which I should not have +dared to frame in the mast private recesses of my heart have been more +than exceeded. I have never been so much overcome by bodily pains that I +could not say within myself, while I lifted my thoughts to heaven, 'Come +what may of this ray.' And great as these gains have been, I could not +dream of comparing them with those sufferings of the soul that we feel +so profoundly and poignantly in the recognition of our weaknesses and +faults. + +"Moreover, these pains seldom now cause me to lose consciousness; the +swelling and inflammation never made great headway, and the fever has +always been moderate, though for nearly ten months I have been forced to +remain lying on my back, unable to raise myself, and although more than +forty pints of matter have come from my chest at the place where the +heart is. No, an the contrary, the wound, though still open, is in a +good state; and I owe that not only to the excellent nursing around me, +but also to the pure blood that I received from you, my mother. Thus I +have lacked neither earthly assistance nor heavenly encouragement. Thus, +on the anniversary of my birth, I had every reason--oh, not to curse the +hour in which I was born, but, on the contrary, after serious +contemplation of the world, to thank God and you, my dear parents, for +the life that you have given me! I celebrated it, on the 18th of +October, by a peaceful and ardent submission to the holy will of God. On +Christmas Day I tried to put myself into the temper of children who are +devoted to the Lord; and with God's help the new year will pass like its +predecessor, in bodily pain, perhaps, but certainly in spiritual joy. +And with this wish, the only one that I form, I address myself to you, +my dear parents, and to you and yours, my dear brothers and sisters. + +"I cannot hope to see a twenty-fifth new year; so may the prayer that I +have just made be granted! May this picture of my present state afford +you some tranquillity, and may this letter that I write to you from the +depths of my heart not only prove to you that I am not unworthy of the +inexpressible love that you all display, but, on the contrary, ensure +this love to me for eternity. + +"Within the last few days I have also received your dear letter of the +2nd of December, my kind mother, and the grind-duke's commission has +deigned to let me also read my kind brother's letter which accompanied +yours. You give me the best of news in regard to the health of all of +you, and send me preserved fruits from our dear home. I thank you for +them from the bottom of my heart. What causes me most joy in the matter +is that you have been solicitously busy about me in summer as in winter, +and that you and my dear Julia gathered them and prepared them for me at +home, and I abandon my whole soul to that sweet enjoyment. + +"I rejoice sincerely at my little cousin's coming into the world; I +joyfully congratulate the good parents and the grandparents; I transport +myself, for his baptism, into that beloved parish, where I offer him my +affection as his Christian brother, and call down on him all the +blessings of heaven. + +"We shall be obliged, I think, to give up this correspondence, so as not +to inconvenience the grand-duke's commission. I finish, therefore, by +assuring you, once more, but for the last time, perhaps, of my profound +filial submission and of my fraternal affection.--Your most tenderly +attached "KARL-LUDWIG SAND." + +Indeed, from that moment all correspondence between Karl and his family +ceased, and he only wrote to them, when he knew his fate, one more +letter, which we shall see later on. + +We have seen by what attentions Sand was surrounded; their humanity +never flagged for an instant. It is the truth, too, that no one saw in +him an ordinary murderer, that many pitied him under their breath, and +that some excused him aloud. The very commission appointed by the +grand-duke prolonged the affair as much as possible; for the severity of +Sand's wounds had at first given rise to the belief that there would be +no need of calling in the executioner, and the commission was well +pleased that God should have undertaken the execution of the judgment. +But these expectations were deceived: the skill of the doctor defeated, +not indeed the wound, but death: Sand did not recover, but he remained +alive; and it began to be evident that it would be needful to kill him. + +Indeed, the Emperor Alexander, who had appointed Kotzebue his +councillor, and who was under no misapprehension as to the cause of the +murder, urgently demanded that justice should take its course. The +commission of inquiry was therefore obliged to set to work; but as its +members were sincerely desirous of having some pretext to delay their +proceedings, they ordered that a physician from Heidelberg should visit +Sand and make an exact report upon his case; as Sand was kept lying down +and as he could not be executed in his bed, they hoped that the +physician's report, by declaring it impossible for the prisoner to rise, +would come to their assistance and necessitate a further respite. + +The chosen doctor came accordingly to Mannheim, and introducing himself +to Sand as though attracted by the interest that he inspired, asked him +whether he did not feel somewhat better, and whether it would be +impossible to rise. Sand looked at him for an instant, and then said, +with a smile-- + +"I understand, sir; they wish to know whether I am strong enough to +mount a scaffold: I know nothing about it myself, but we will make the +experiment together." + +With these words he rose, and accomplishing, with superhuman courage, +what he had not attempted for fourteen months, walked twice round the +room, came back to his bed, upon which he seated himself, and said: + +"You see, sir, I am strong enough; it would therefore be wasting +precious time to keep my judges longer about my affair; so let them +deliver their judgment, for nothing now prevents its execution." + +The doctor made his report; there was no way of retreat; Russia was +becoming more and more pressing, and an the 5th of May 1820 the high +court of justice delivered the following judgment, which was confirmed +on the 12th by His Royal Highness the Grand-Duke of Baden: + +"In the matters under investigation and after administration of the +interrogatory and hearing the defences, and considering the united +opinions of the court of justice at Mannheim and the further +consultations of the court of justice which declare the accused, Karl +Sand of Wonsiedel, guilty of murder, even on his own confession, upon +the person of the Russian imperial Councillor of State, Kotzebue; it is +ordered accordingly, for his just punishment and for an example that may +deter other people, that he is to be put from life to death by the +sword. + +"All the costs of these investigations, including these occasioned by +his public execution, will be defrayed from the funds of the law +department, on account of his want of means." + +We see that, though it condemned the accused to death, which indeed +could hardly be avoided, the sentence was both in form and substance as +mild as possible, since, though Sand was convicted, his poor family was +not reduced by the expenses of a long and costly trial to complete ruin. + +Five days were still allowed to elapse, and the verdict was not +announced until the 17th. When Sand was informed that two councillors of +justice were at the door, he guessed that they were coming to read his +sentence to him; he asked a moment to rise, which he had done but once +before, in the instance already narrated, during fourteen months. And +indeed he was so weak that he could not stand to hear the sentence, and +after having greeted the deputation that death sent to him, he asked to +sit down, saying that he did so not from cowardice of soul but from +weakness of body; then he added, "You are welcome, gentlemen; far I have +suffered so much for fourteen months past that you come to me as angels +of deliverance." + +He heard the sentence quite unaffectedly and with a gentle smile upon +his lips; then, when the reading was finished, he said-- + +"I look for no better fate, gentlemen, and when, more than a year ago, I +paused on the little hill that overlooks the town, I saw beforehand the +place where my grave would be; and so I ought to thank God and man far +having prolonged my existence up to to-day." + +The councillors withdrew; Sand stood up a second time to greet them on +their departure, as he had done on their entrance; then he sat down +again pensively in his chair, by which Mr. G, the governor of the +prison, was standing. After a moment of silence, a tear appeared at each +of the condemned man's eyelids, and ran down his cheeks; then, turning +suddenly to Mr. G----, whom he liked very much, he said, "I hope that my +parents would rather see me die by this violent death than of some slow +and shameful disease. As for me, I am glad that I shall soon hear the +hour strike in which my death will satisfy those who hate me, and those +wham, according to my principles, I ought to hate." + +Then he wrote to his family. + +"MANNHEIM + +"17th of the month of spring, 1820 + +"DEAR PARENTS, BROTHERS, AND SISTERS,--You should have received my last +letters through the grand-duke's commission; in them I answered yours, +and tried to console you for my position by describing the state of my +soul as it is, the contempt to which I have attained for everything +fragile and earthly, and by which one must necessarily be overcome when +such matters are weighed against the fulfilment of an idea, or that +intellectual liberty which alone can nourish the soul; in a word, I +tried to console you by the assurance that the feelings, principles, and +convictions of which I formerly spoke are faithfully preserved in me and +have remained exactly the same; but I am sure all this was an +unnecessary precaution on my part, for there was never a time when you +asked anything else of me than to have God before my eyes and in my +heart; and you have seen how, under your guidance, this precept so +passed into my soul that it became my sole object of happiness for this +world and the next; no doubt, as He was in and near me, God will be in +and near you at the moment when this letter brings you the news of my +sentence. I die willingly, and the Lord will give me strength to die as +one ought to die. + +"I write to you perfectly quiet and calm about all things, and I hope +that your lives too will pass calmly and tranquilly until the moment +when our souls meet again full of fresh force to love one another and to +share eternal happiness together. + +"As for me, such as I have lived as long as I have known myself--that is +to say, in a serenity full of celestial desires and a courageous and +indefatigable love of liberty, such I am about to die. + +"May God be with you and with me!--Your son, brother, and friend, +"KARL-LUDWIG SAND." + +From that moment his serenity remained un troubled; during the whole day +he talked more gaily than usual, slept well, did not awake until +half-past seven, said that he felt stronger, and thanked God for +visiting him thus. + +The nature of the verdict had been known since the day before, and it +had been learned that the execution was fixed for the 20th of May--that +is to say, three full days after the sentence had been read to the +accused. + +Henceforward, with Sand's permission, persons who wished to speak to him +and whom he was not reluctant to see, were admitted: three among these +paid him long and noteworthy visits. + +One was Major Holzungen, of the Baden army, who was in command of the +patrol that had arrested him, or rather picked him up, dying, and +carried him to the hospital. He asked him whether he recognised him, and +Sand's head was so clear when he stabbed himself, that although he saw +the major only for a moment and had never seen him again since, he +remembered the minutest details of the costume which he had been wearing +fourteen months previously, and which was the full-dress uniform. When +the talk fell upon the death to which Sand was to submit at so early an +age, the major pitied him; but Sand answered, with a smile, "There is +only one difference between you and me, major; it is that I shall die +far my convictions, and you will die for someone else's convictions." + +After the major came a young student from Jena whom Sand had known at +the university. He happened to be in the duchy of Baden and wished to +visit him. Their recognition was touching, and the student wept much; +but Sand consoled him with his usual calmness and serenity. + +Then a workman asked to be admitted to see Sand, on the plea that he had +been his schoolfellow at Wonsiedel, and although he did not remember his +name, he ordered him to be let in: the workman reminded him that he had +been one of the little army that Sand had commanded on the day of the +assault of St. Catherine's tower. This indication guided Sand, who +recognised him perfectly, and then spoke with tender affection of his +native place and his dear mountains. He further charged him to greet his +family, and to beg his mother, father, brothers, and sisters once more +not to be grieved on his account, since the messenger who undertook to +deliver his last wards could testify in how calm and joyful a temper he +was awaiting death. + +To this workman succeeded one of the guests whom Sand had met on the +staircase directly after Kotzebue's death. He asked him whether he +acknowledged his crime and whether he felt any repentance. Sand replied, +"I had thought about it during a whole year. I have been thinking of it +for fourteen months, and my opinion has never varied in any respect: I +did what I should have done." + +After the departure of this last visitor, Sand sent for Mr. G----, the +governor of the prison, and told him that he should like to talk to the +executioner before the execution, since he wished to ask for +instructions as to how he should hold himself so as to render the +operation most certain and easy. Mr. G----made some objections, but Sand +insisted with his usual gentleness, and Mr. G----at last promised that +the man in question should be asked to call at the prison as soon as he +arrived from Heidelberg, where he lived. + +The rest of the day was spent in seeing more visitors and in +philosophical and moral talks, in which Sand developed his social and +religious theories with a lucidity of expression and an elevation of +thought such as he had, perhaps, never before shown. The governor of the +prison from whom I heard these details, told me that he should all his +life regret that he did not know shorthand, so that he might have noted +all these thoughts, which would have formed a pendant to the Phaedo. + +Night came. Sand spent part of the evening writing; it is thought that +he was composing a poem; but no doubt he burned it, for no trace of it +was found. At eleven he went to bed, and slept until six in the morning. +Next day he bore the dressing of his wound, which was always very +painful, with extraordinary courage, without fainting, as he sometimes +did, and without suffering a single complaint to escape him: he had +spoken the truth; in the presence of death God gave him the grace of +allowing his strength to return. The operation was over; Sand was lying +down as usual, and Mr. G----was sitting on the foot of his bed, when the +door opened and a man came in and bowed to Sand and to Mr. G----. The +governor of the prison immediately stood up, and said to Sand in a voice +the emotion of which he could not conceal, "The person who is bowing to +you is Mr. Widemann of Heidelberg, to whom you wished to speak." + +Then Sand's face was lighted up by a strange joy; he sat up and said, +"Sir, you are welcome." Then, making his visitor sit down by his bed, +and taking his hand, he began to thank him for being so obliging, and +spoke in so intense a tone and so gentle a voice, that Mr. Widemann, +deeply moved, could not answer. Sand encouraged him to speak and to give +him the details for which he wished, and in order to reassure him, said, +"Be firm, sir; for I, on my part, will not fail you: I will not move; +and even if you should need two or three strokes to separate my head +from my body, as I am told is sometimes the case, do not be troubled on +that account." + +Then Sand rose, leaning on Mr. G----, to go through with the executioner +the strange and terrible rehearsal of the drama in which he was to play +the leading part on the morrow. Mr. Widemann made him sit in a chair and +take the required position, and went into all the details of the +execution with him. Then Sand, perfectly instructed, begged him not to +hurry and to take his time. Then he thanked him beforehand; "for," added +he, "afterwards I shall not be able." Then Sand returned to his bed, +leaving the executioner paler and more trembling than himself. All these +details have been preserved by Mr. G----; for as to the executioner, his +emotion was so great that he could remember nothing. + +After Mr. Widemann, three clergymen were introduced, with whom Sand +conversed upon religious matters: one of them stayed six hours with him, +and on leaving him told him that he was commissioned to obtain from him +a promise of not speaking to the people at the place of execution. Sand +gave the promise, and added, "Even if I desired to do so, my voice has +become so weak that people could not hear it." + +Meanwhile the scaffold was being erected in the meadow that extends on +the left of the road to Heidelberg. It was a platform five to six feet +high and ten feet wide each way. As it was expected that, thanks to the +interest inspired by the prisoner and to the nearness to Whitsuntide, +the crowd would be immense, and as some movement from the universities +was apprehended, the prison guards had been trebled, and General +Neustein had been ordered to Mannheim from Carlsruhe, with twelve +hundred infantry, three hundred and fifty cavalry, and a company of +artillery with guns. + +On, the afternoon of the 19th there arrived, as had been foreseen, so +many students, who took up their abode in the neighbouring villages, +that it was decided to put forward the hour of the execution, and to let +it take place at five in the morning instead of at eleven, as had been +arranged. But Sand's consent was necessary for this; for he could not be +executed until three full days after the reading of his sentence, and as +the sentence had not been read to him till half-past ten Sand had a +right to live till eleven o'clock. + +Before four in the morning the officials went into the condemned man's +room; he was sleeping so soundly that they were obliged to awaken him. +He opened his eyes with a smile, as was his custom, and guessing why +they came, asked, "Can I have slept so well that it is already eleven in +the morning?" They told him that it was not, but that they had come to +ask his permission to put forward the time; for, they told him, same +collision between the students and the soldiers was feared, and as the +military preparations were very thorough, such a collision could not be +otherwise than fatal to his friends. Sand answered that he was ready +that very moment, and only asked time enough to take a bath, as the +ancients were accustomed to do before going into battle. But as the +verbal authorisation which he had given was not sufficient, a pen and +paper were given to Sand, and he wrote, with a steady hand and in his +usual writing: + +"I thank the authorities of Mannheim for anticipating my most eager +wishes by making my execution six hours earlier. + +"Sit nomen Domini benedictum. + +"From the prison room, May 20th, day of my deliverance. "KARL-LUDWIG +SAND." + +When Sand had given these two lines to the recorder, the physician came +to him to dress his wound, as usual. Sand looked at him with a smile, +and then asked, "Is it really worth the trouble?" + +"You will be stronger for it," answered the physician. + +"Then do it," said Sand. + +A bath was brought. Sand lay down in it, and had his long and beautiful +hair arranged with the greatest care; then his toilet being completed, +he put on a frock-coat of the German shape--that is to say, short and +with the shirt collar turned back aver the shoulders, close white +trousers, and high boots. Then Sand seated himself on his bed and prayed +some time in a low voice with the clergy; then, when he had finished, he +said these two lines of Korner's: + + "All that is earthly is ended, + And the life of heaven begins." + +He next took leave of the physician and the priests, saying to them, "Do +not attribute the emotion of my voice to weakness but to gratitude." +Then, upon these gentlemen offering to accompany him to the scaffold, he +said, "There is no need; I am perfectly prepared, at peace with God and +with my conscience. Besides, am I not almost a Churchman myself?" And +when one of them asked whether he was not going out of life in a spirit +of hatred, he returned, "Why, good heavens! have I ever felt any?" + +An increasing noise was audible from the street, and Sand said again +that he was at their disposal and that he was ready. At this moment the +executioner came in with his two assistants; he was dressed in a long +wadded black coat, beneath which he hid his sword. Sand offered him his +hand affectionately; and as Mr. Widemann, embarrassed by the sword which +he wished to keep Sand from seeing, did not venture to come forward, +Sand said to him, "Come along and show me your sword; I have never seen +one of the kind, and am curious to know what it is like." + +Mr. Widemann, pale and trembling, presented the weapon to him; Sand +examined it attentively, and tried the edge with his finger. + +"Come," said he, "the blade is good; do not tremble, and all will go +well." Then, turning to Mr. G----, who was weeping, he said to him, "You +will be good enough, will you not, to do me the service of leading me to +the scaffold?" + +Mr. G----made a sign of assent with his head, for he could not answer. +Sand took his arm, and spoke for the third time, saying once more, +"Well, what are you waiting for, gentlemen? I am ready." + +When they reached the courtyard, Sand saw all the prisoners weeping at +their windows. Although he had never seen them, they were old friends of +his; for every time they passed his door, knowing that the student who +had killed Kotzebue lay within, they used to lift their chain, that he +might not be disturbed by the noise. + +All Mannheim was in the streets that led to the place of execution, and +many patrols were passing up and down. On the day when the sentence was +announced the whole town had been sought through for a chaise in which +to convey Sand to the scaffold, but no one, not even the coach-builders, +would either let one out or sell one; and it had been necessary, +therefore, to buy one at Heidelberg without saying for what purpose. + +Sand found this chaise in the courtyard, and got into it with Mr. G----. +Turning to him, he whispered in his ear, "Sir, if you see me turn pale, +speak my name to me, my name only, do you hear? That will be enough." + +The prison gate was opened, and Sand was seen; then every voice cried +with one impulse, "Farewell, Sand, farewell!" + +And at the same time flowers, some of which fell into the carriage, were +thrown by the crowd that thronged the street, and from the windows. At +these friendly cries and at this spectacle, Sand, who until then had +shown no moment of weakness, felt tears rising in spite of himself, and +while he returned the greetings made to him on all sides, he murmured in +a low voice, "O my God, give me courage!" + +This first outburst over, the procession set out amid deep silence; only +now and again same single voice would call out, "Farewell, Sand!" and a +handkerchief waved by some hand that rose out of the crowd would show +from what paint the last call came. On each side of the chaise walked +two of the prison officials, and behind the chaise came a second +conveyance with the municipal authorities. + +The air was very cold: it had rained all night, and the dark and cloudy +sky seemed to share in the general sadness. Sand, too weak to remain +sitting up, was half lying upon the shoulder of Mr. G-----, his +companion; his face was gentle, calm and full of pain; his brow free and +open, his features, interesting though without regular beauty, seemed to +have aged by several years during the fourteen months of suffering that +had just elapsed. The chaise at last reached the place of execution, +which was surrounded by a battalion of infantry; Sand lowered his eyes +from heaven to earth and saw the scaffold. At this sight he smiled +gently, and as he left the carriage he said, "Well, God has given me +strength so far." + +The governor of the prison and the chief officials lifted him that he +might go up the steps. During that short ascent pain kept him bowed, but +when he had reached the top he stood erect again, saying, "Here then is +the place where I am to die!" + +Then before he came to the chair on which he was to be seated for the +execution, he turned his eyes towards Mannheim, and his gaze travelled +over all the throng that surrounded him; at that moment a ray of +sunshine broke through the clouds. Sand greeted it with a smile and sat +down. + +Then, as, according to the orders given, his sentence was to be read to +him a second time, he was asked whether he felt strong enough to hear it +standing. Sand answered that he would try, and that if his physical +strength failed him, his moral strength would uphold him. He rose +immediately from the fatal chair, begging Mr. G----to stand near enough +to support him if he should chance to stagger. The precaution was +unnecessary, Sand did not stagger. + +After the judgment had been read, he sat down again and said in a laud +voice, "I die trusting in God." + +But at these words Mr. G------interrupted him. + +"Sand," said he, "what did you promise?" + +"True," he answered; "I had forgotten." He was silent, therefore, to the +crowd; but, raising his right hand and extending it solemnly in the air, +he said in a low voice, so that he might be heard only by those who were +around him, "I take God to witness that I die for the freedom of +Germany." + +Then, with these words, he did as Conradin did with his glove; he threw +his rolled-up handkerchief over the line of soldiers around him, into +the midst of the people. + +Then the executioner came to cut off his hair; but Sand at first +objected. + +"It is for your mother," said Mr. Widemann. + +"On your honour, sir?" asked Sand. + +"On my honour." + +"Then do it," said Sand, offering his hair to the executioner. + +Only a few curls were cut off, those only which fell at the back, the +others were tied with a ribbon on the top of the head. The executioner +then tied his hands on his breast, but as that position was oppressive +to him and compelled him an account of his wound to bend his head, his +hands were laid flat on his thighs and fixed in that position with +ropes. Then, when his eyes were about to be bound, he begged Mr. +Widemann to place the bandage in such a manner that he could see the +light to his last moment. His wish was fulfilled. + +Then a profound and mortal stillness hovered over the whole crowd and +surrounded the scaffold. The executioner drew his sword, which flashed +like lightning and fell. Instantly a terrible cry rose at once from +twenty thousand bosoms; the head had not fallen, and though it had sunk +towards the breast still held to the neck. The executioner struck a +second time, and struck off at the same blow the head and a part of the +hand. + +In the same moment, notwithstanding the efforts of the soldiers, their +line was broken through; men and women rushed upon the scaffold, the +blood was wiped up to the last drop with handkerchiefs; the chair upon +which Sand had sat was broken and divided into pieces, and those who +could not obtain one, cut fragments of bloodstained wood from the +scaffold itself. + +The head and body were placed in a coffin draped with black, and carried +back, with a large military escort, to the prison. At midnight the body +was borne silently, without torches or lights, to the Protestant +cemetery, in which Kotzebue had been buried fourteen months previously. +A grave had been mysteriously dug; the coffin was lowered into it, and +those who were present at the burial were sworn upon the New Testament +not to reveal the spot where Sand was buried until such time as they +were freed from their oath. Then the grave was covered again with the +turf, that had been skilfully taken off, and that was relaid on the same +spat, so that no new grave could be perceived; then the nocturnal +gravediggers departed, leaving guards at the entrance. + +There, twenty paces apart, Sand and Kotzebue rest: Kotzebue opposite the +gate in the most conspicuous spot of the cemetery, and beneath a tomb +upon which is engraved this inscription: + +"The world persecuted him without pity, Calumny was his sad portion, He +found no happiness save in the arms of his wife, And no repose save in +the bosom of death. Envy dogged him to cover his path with thorns, Love +bade his roses blossom; May Heaven pardon him As he pardons earth!" + +In contrast with this tall and showy monument, standing, as we have +said, in the most conspicuous spot of the cemetery, Sand's grave must be +looked far in the corner to the extreme left of the entrance gate; and a +wild plum tree, some leaves of which every passing traveller carries +away, rises alone upon the grave, which is devoid of any inscription. + +As far the meadow in which Sand was executed, it is still called by the +people "Sand's Himmelsfartsweise," which signifies "The manner of Sand's +ascension." + +Toward the end of September, 1838, we were at Mannheim, where I had +stayed three days in order to collect all the details I could find about +the life and death of Karl-Ludwig Sand. But at the end of these three +days, in spite of my active investigations, these details still remained +extremely incomplete, either because I applied in the wrong quarters, or +because, being a foreigner, I inspired same distrust in those to whom I +applied. I was leaving Mannheim, therefore, somewhat disappointed, and +after having visited the little Protestant cemetery where Sand and +Kotzebue are buried at twenty paces from each other, I had ordered my +driver to take the road to Heidelberg, when, after going a few yards, +he, who knew the object of my inquiries, stopped of himself and asked me +whether I should not like to see the place where Sand was executed. At +the same time he pointed to a little mound situated in the middle of a +meadow and a few steps from a brook. I assented eagerly, and although +the driver remained on the highroad with my travelling companions, I +soon recognised the spot indicated, by means of some relics of cypress +branches, immortelles, and forget-me-nots scattered upon the earth. It +will readily be understood that this sight, instead of diminishing my +desire for information, increased it. I was feeling, then, more than +ever dissatisfied at going away, knowing so little, when I saw a man of +some five-and-forty to fifty years old, who was walking a little +distance from the place where I myself was, and who, guessing the cause +that drew me thither, was looking at me with curiosity. I determined to +make a last effort, and going up to him, I said, "Oh, sir, I am a +stranger; I am travelling to collect all the rich and poetic traditions +of your Germany. By the way in which you look at me, I guess that you +know which of them attracts me to this meadow. Could you give me any +information about the life and death of Sand?" + +"With what object, sir?" the person to whom I spoke asked me in almost +unintelligible French. + +"With a very German object, be assured, sir," I replied. "From the +little I have learned, Sand seems to me to be one of those ghosts that +appear only the greater and the more poetic for being wrapped in a +shroud stained with blood. But he is not known in France; he might be +put on the same level there with a Fieschi or a Meunier, and I wish, to +the best of my ability, to enlighten the minds of my countrymen about +him." + +"It would be a great pleasure to me, sir, to assist in such an +undertaking; but you see that I can scarcely speak French; you do not +speak German at all; so that we shall find it difficult to understand +each other." + +"If that is all," I returned, "I have in my carriage yonder an +interpreter, or rather an interpretress, with whom you will, I hope, be +quite satisfied, who speaks German like Goethe, and to whom, when you +have once begun to speak to her, I defy you not to tell everything." + +"Let us go, then, sir," answered the pedestrian. "I ask no better than +to be agreeable to you." + +We walked toward the carriage, which was still waiting on the highroad, +and I presented to my travelling companion the new recruit whom I had +just gained. The usual greetings were exchanged, and the dialogue began +in the purest Saxon. Though I did not understand a word that was said, +it was easy for me to see, by the rapidity of the questions and the +length of the answers, that the conversation was most interesting. At +last, at the end of half an hours growing desirous of knowing to what +point they had come, I said, "Well?" + +"Well," answered my interpreter, "you are in luck's way, and you could +not have asked a better person." + +"The gentleman knew Sand, then?" + +"The gentleman is the governor of the prison in which Sand was +confined." + +"Indeed?" + +"For nine months--that is to say, from the day he left the hospital-- +this gentleman saw him every day." + +"Excellent!" + +"But that is not all: this gentleman was with him in the carriage that +took him to execution; this gentleman was with him on the scaffold; +there's only one portrait of Sand in all Mannheim, and this gentleman +has it." + +I was devouring every word; a mental alchemist, I was opening my +crucible and finding gold in it. + +"Just ask," I resumed eagerly, "whether the gentleman will allow us to +take down in writing the particulars that he can give me." + +My interpreter put another question, then, turning towards me, said, +"Granted." + +Mr. G----got into the carriage with us, and instead of going on to +Heidelberg, we returned to Mannheim, and alighted at the prison. + +Mr. G---did not once depart from the ready kindness that he had shown. +In the most obliging manner, patient over the minutest trifles, and +remembering most happily, he went over every circumstance, putting +himself at my disposal like a professional guide. At last, when every +particular about Sand had been sucked dry, I began to ask him about the +manner in which executions were performed. "As to that," said he, "I can +offer you an introduction to someone at Heidelberg who can give you all +the information you can wish for upon the subject." + +I accepted gratefully, and as I was taking leave of Mr. G----, after +thanking him a thousand times, he handed me the offered letter. It bore +this superscription: "To Herr-doctor Widemann, No. III High Street, +Heidelberg." + +I turned to Mr. G----once more. + +"Is he, by chance, a relation of the man who executed Sand?" I asked. + +"He is his son, and was standing by when the head fell.". + +"What is his calling, then?" + +"The same as that of his father, whom he succeeded." + +"But you call him 'doctor'?" + +"Certainly; with us, executioners have that title." + +"But, then, doctors of what?" + +"Of surgery." + +"Really?" said I. "With us it is just the contrary; surgeons are called +executioners." + +"You will find him, moreover," added Mr. G----, "a very distinguished +young man, who, although he was very young at that time, has retained a +vivid recollection of that event. As for his poor father, I think he +would as willingly have cut off his own right hand as have executed +Sand; but if he had refused, someone else would have been found. So he +had to do what he was ordered to do, and he did his best." + +I thanked Mr. G----, fully resolving to make use of his letter, and we +left for Heidelberg, where we arrived at eleven in the evening. + +My first visit next day was to Dr. Widernann. It was not without some +emotion, which, moreover, I saw reflected upon, the faces of my +travelling companions, that I rang at the door of the last judge, as the +Germans call him. An old woman opened the door to us, and ushered us +into a pretty little study, on the left of a passage and at the foot of +a staircase, where we waited while Mr. Widemann finished dressing. This +little room was full of curiosities, madrepores, shells, stuffed birds, +and dried plants; a double-barrelled gun, a powder-flask, and a game-bag +showed that Mr. Widemann was a hunter. + +After a moment we heard his footstep, and the door opened. Mr. Widemann +was a very handsome young man, of thirty or thirty-two, with black +whiskers entirely surrounding his manly and expressive face; his morning +dress showed a certain rural elegance. He seemed at first not only +embarrassed but pained by our visit. The aimless curiosity of which he +seemed to be the object was indeed odd. I hastened to give him Mr. +G----'s letter and to tell him what reason brought me. Then he gradually +recovered himself, and at last showed himself no less hospitable and +obliging towards us than he to whom we owed the introduction had been, +the day before. + +Mr. Widemann then gathered together all his remembrances; he, too, had +retained a vivid recollection of Sand, and he told us among other things +that his father, at the risk of bringing himself into ill odour, had +asked leave to have a new scaffold made at his own expense, so that no +other criminal might be executed upon the altar of the martyr's death. +Permission had been given, and Mr. Widemann had used the wood of the +scaffold for the doors and windows of a little country house standing in +a vineyard. Then for three or four years this cottage became a shrine +for pilgrims; but after a time, little by little, the crowd grew less, +and at the present day, when some of those who wiped the blood from the +scaffold with their handkerchiefs have became public functionaries, +receiving salaries from Government, only foreigners ask, now and again, +to see these strange relics. + +Mr. Widemann gave me a guide; for, after hearing everything, I wanted to +see everything. The house stands half a league away from Heidelberg, on +the left of the road to Carlsruhe, and half-way up the mountain-side. It +is perhaps the only monument of the kind that exists in the world. + +Our readers will judge better from this anecdote than from anything more +we could say, what sort of man he was who left such a memory in the +hearts of his gaoler and his executioner. + + + + +*URBAIN GRANDIER--1634* + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +On Sunday, the 26th of November, 1631, there was great excitement in the +little town of Loudun, especially in the narrow streets which led to the +church of Saint-Pierre in the marketplace, from the gate of which the +town was entered by anyone coming from the direction of the abbey of +Saint-Jouin-les-Marmes. This excitement was caused by the expected +arrival of a personage who had been much in people's mouths latterly in +Loudun, and about whom there was such difference of opinion that +discussion on the subject between those who were on his side and those +who were against him was carried on with true provincial acrimony. It +was easy to see, by the varied expressions on the faces of those who +turned the doorsteps into improvised debating clubs, how varied were the +feelings with which the man would be welcomed who had himself formally +announced to friends and enemies alike the exact date of his return. + +About nine o'clock a kind of sympathetic vibration ran through the +crowd, and with the rapidity of a flash of lightning the words, "There +he is! there he is!" passed from group to group. At this cry some +withdrew into their houses and shut their doors and darkened their +windows, as if it were a day of public mourning, while others opened +them wide, as if to let joy enter. In a few moments the uproar and +confusion evoked by the news was succeeded by the deep silence of +breathless curiosity. + +Then, through the silence, a figure advanced, carrying a branch of +laurel in one hand as a token of triumph. It was that of a young man of +from thirty-two to thirty-four years of age, with a graceful and +well-knit frame, an aristocratic air and faultlessly beautiful features +of a somewhat haughty expression. Although he had walked three leagues +to reach the town, the ecclesiastical garb which he wore was not only +elegant but of dainty freshness. His eyes turned to heaven, and singing +in a sweet voice praise to the Lord, he passed through the streets +leading to the church in the market-place with a slow and solemn gait, +without vouchsafing a look, a word, or a gesture to anyone. The entire +crowd, falling into step, marched behind him as he advanced, singing +like him, the singers being the prettiest girls in Loudun, for we have +forgotten to say that the crowd consisted almost entirely of women. + +Meanwhile the object of all this commotion arrived at length at the +porch of the church of Saint-Pierre. Ascending the steps, he knelt at +the top and prayed in a low voice, then rising he touched the church +doors with his laurel branch, and they opened wide as if by magic, +revealing the choir decorated and illuminated as if for one of the four +great feasts of the year, and with all its scholars, choir boys, +singers, beadles, and vergers in their places. Glancing around, he for +whom they were waiting came up the nave, passed through the choir, knelt +for a second time at the foot of the altar, upon which he laid the +branch of laurel, then putting on a robe as white as snow and passing +the stole around his neck, he began the celebration of the mass before a +congregation composed of all those who had followed him. At the end of +the mass a Te Deum was sung. + +He who had just rendered thanks to God for his own victory with all the +solemn ceremonial usually reserved for the triumphs of kings was the +priest Urbain Grandier. Two days before, he had been acquitted, in +virtue of a decision pronounced by M. d'Escoubleau de Sourdis, +Archbishop of Bordeaux, of an accusation brought against him of which he +had been declared guilty by a magistrate, and in punishment of which he +had been condemned to fast on bread and water every Friday for three +months, and forbidden to exercise his priestly functions in the diocese +of Poitiers for five years and in the town of Loudun for ever. + +These are the circumstances under which the sentence had been passed and +the judgment reversed. + +Urbain Grandier was born at Rovere, a village near Sable, a little town +of Bas-Maine. Having studied the sciences with his father Pierre and his +uncle Claude Grandier, who were learned astrologers and alchemists, he +entered, at the age of twelve, the Jesuit college at Bordeaux, having +already received the ordinary education of a young man. The professors +soon found that besides his considerable attainments he had great +natural gifts for languages and oratory; they therefore made of him a +thorough classical scholar, and in order to develop his oratorical +talent encouraged him to practise preaching. They soon grew very fond of +a pupil who was likely to bring them so much credit, and as soon as he +was old enough to take holy orders they gave him the cure of souls in +the parish of Saint-Pierre in Loudun, which was in the gift of the +college. When he had been some months installed there as a +priest-in-charge, he received a prebendal stall, thanks to the same +patrons, in the collegiate church of Sainte-Croix. + +It is easy to understand that the bestowal of these two positions on so +young a man, who did not even belong to the province, made him seem in +some sort a usurper of rights and privileges belonging to the people of +the country, and drew upon him the envy of his brother-ecclesiastics. +There were, in fact, many other reasons why Urbain should be an object +of jealousy to these: first, as we have already said, he was very +handsome, then the instruction which he had received from his father had +opened the world of science to him and given him the key to a thousand +things which were mysteries to the ignorant, but which he fathomed with +the greatest ease. Furthermore, the comprehensive course of study which +he had followed at the Jesuit college had raised him above a crowd of +prejudices, which are sacred to the vulgar, but for which he made no +secret of his contempt; and lastly, the eloquence of his sermons had +drawn to his church the greater part of the regular congregations of the +other religious communities, especially of the mendicant orders, who had +till then, in what concerned preaching, borne away the palm at Loudun. +As we have said, all this was more than enough to excite, first +jealousy, and then hatred. And both were excited in no ordinary degree. + +We all know how easily the ill-natured gossip of a small town can rouse +the angry contempt of the masses for everything which is beyond or above +them. In a wider sphere Urbain would have shone by his many gifts, but, +cooped up as he was within the walls of a little town and deprived of +air and space, all that might have conduced to his success in Paris led +to his destruction at Loudun. + +It was also unfortunate for Urbain that his character, far from winning +pardon for his genius, augmented the hatred which the latter inspired. +Urbain, who in his intercourse with his friends was cordial and +agreeable, was sarcastic, cold, and haughty to his enemies. When he had +once resolved on a course, he pursued it unflinchingly; he jealously +exacted all the honour due to the rank at which he had arrived, +defending it as though it were a conquest; he also insisted on enforcing +all his legal rights, and he resented the opposition and angry words of +casual opponents with a harshness which made them his lifelong enemies. + +The first example which Urbain gave of this inflexibility was in 1620, +when he gained a lawsuit against a priest named Meunier. He caused the +sentence to be carried out with such rigour that he awoke an +inextinguishable hatred in Meunier's mind, which ever after burst forth +on the slightest provocation. + +A second lawsuit, which he likewise gained; was one which he undertook +against the chapter of Sainte-Croix with regard to a house, his claim to +which the chapter, disputed. Here again he displayed the same +determination to exact his strict legal rights to the last iota, and +unfortunately Mignon, the attorney of the unsuccessful chapter, was a +revengeful, vindictive, and ambitious man; too commonplace ever to +arrive at a high position, and yet too much above his surroundings to be +content with the secondary position which he occupied. This man, who was +a canon of the collegiate church of Sainte-Croix and director of the +Ursuline convent, will have an important part to play in the following +narrative. Being as hypocritical as Urbain was straightforward, his +ambition was to gain wherever his name was known a reputation for +exalted piety; he therefore affected in his life the asceticism of an +anchorite and the self-denial of a saint. As he had much experience in +ecclesiastical lawsuits, he looked on the chapter's loss of this one, of +which he had in some sort guaranteed the success, as a personal +humiliation, so that when Urbain gave himself airs of triumph and +exacted the last letter of his bond, as in the case of Meunier, he +turned Mignon into an enemy who was not only more relentless but more +dangerous than the former. + +In the meantime, and in consequence of this lawsuit, a certain Barot, an +uncle of Mignon and his partner as well, got up a dispute with Urbain, +but as he was a man below mediocrity, Urbain required in order to crush +him only to let fall from the height of his superiority a few of those +disdainful words which brand as deeply as a red-hot iron. This man, +though totally wanting in parts, was very rich, and having no children +was always surrounded by a horde of relatives, every one of whom was +absorbed in the attempt to make himself so agreeable that his name would +appear in Barot's will. This being so, the mocking words which were +rained down on Barot spattered not only himself but also all those who +had sided with him in the quarrel, and thus added considerably to the +tale of Urbain's enemies. + +About this epoch a still graver event took place. Amongst the most +assiduous frequenters of the confessional in his church was a young and +pretty girl, Julie by name, the daughter of the king's attorney, +Trinquant--Trinquant being, as well as Barot, an uncle of Mignon. Now it +happened that this young girl fell into such a state of debility that +she was obliged to keep her room. One of her friends, named Marthe +Pelletier, giving up society, of which she was very fond, undertook to +nurse the patient, and carried her devotion so far as to shut herself up +in the same room with her. When Julie Trinquant had recovered and was +able again to take her place in the world, it came out that Marthe +Pelletier, during her weeks of retirement, had given birth to a child, +which had been baptized and then put out to nurse. Now, by one of those +odd whims which so often take possession of the public mind, everyone in +Loudun persisted in asserting that the real mother of the infant was not +she who had acknowledged herself as such--that, in short, Marthe +Pelletier had sold her good name to her friend Julie for a sum of money; +and of course it followed as a matter about which there could be no +possible doubt, that Urbain was the father. + +Trinquant hearing of the reports about his daughter, took upon himself +as king's attorney to have Marthe Pelletier arrested and imprisoned. +Being questioned about the child, she insisted that she was its mother, +and would take its maintenance upon herself. To have brought a child +into the world under such circumstances was a sin, but not a crime; +Trinquant was therefore obliged to set Marthe at liberty, and the abuse +of justice of which he was guilty served only to spread the scandal +farther and to strengthen the public in the belief it had taken up. + +Hitherto, whether through the intervention of the heavenly powers, or by +means of his own cleverness, Urbain Grandier had come out victor in +every struggle in which he had engaged, but each victor had added to the +number of his enemies, and these were now so numerous that any other +than he would have been alarmed, and have tried either to conciliate +them or to take precautions against their malice; but Urbain, wrapped in +his pride, and perhaps conscious of his innocence, paid no attention to +the counsels of his most faithful followers, but went on his way +unheeding. + +All the opponents whom till now Urbain had encountered had been entirely +unconnected with each other, and had each struggled for his own +individual ends. Urbain's enemies, believing that the cause of his +success was to be found in the want of cooperation among themselves, now +determined to unite in order to crush him. In consequence, a conference +was held at Barot's, at which, besides Barot himself, Meunier, +Trinquant, and Mignon took part, and the latter had also brought with +him one Menuau, a king's counsel and his own most intimate friend, who +was, however, influenced by other motives than friendship in joining the +conspiracy. The fact was, that Menuau was in love with a woman who had +steadfastly refused to show him any favour, and he had got firmly fixed +in his head that the reason for her else inexplicable indifference and +disdain was that Urbain had been beforehand with him in finding an +entrance to her heart. The object of the meeting was to agree as to the +best means of driving the common enemy out of Loudon and its +neighbourhood. + +Urbain's life was so well ordered that it presented little which his +enemies could use as a handle for their purpose. His only foible seemed +to be a predilection for female society; while in return all the wives +and daughters of the place, with the unerring instinct of their sex, +seeing, that the new priest was young, handsome, and eloquent, chose +him, whenever it was possible, as their spiritual director. As this +preference had already offended many husbands and fathers, the decision +the conspirators arrived at was that on this side alone was Grandier +vulnerable, and that their only chance of success was to attack him +where he was weakest. Almost at once, therefore, the vague reports which +had been floating about began to attain a certain definiteness: there +were allusions made, though no name was mentioned, to a young girl in +Loudun; who in spite of Grandier's frequent unfaithfulness yet remained +his mistress-in-chief; then it began to be whispered that the young +girl, having had conscientious scruples about her love for Urbain, he +had allayed them by an act of sacrilege--that is to say, he had, as +priest, in the middle of the night, performed the service of marriage +between himself and his mistress. The more absurd the reports, the more +credence did they gain, and it was not long till everyone in Loudun +believed them true, although no one was able to name the mysterious +heroine of the tale who had had the courage to contract a marriage with +a priest; and considering how small Loudun was, this was most +extraordinary. + +Resolute and full of courage as was Grandier, at length he could not +conceal from himself that his path lay over quicksands: he felt that +slander was secretly closing him round, and that as soon as he was well +entangled in her shiny folds, she would reveal herself by raising her +abhorred head, and that then a mortal combat between them would begin. +But it was one of his convictions that to draw back was to acknowledge +one's guilt; besides, as far as he was concerned, it was probably too +late for him to retrace his steps. He therefore went on his way, as +unyielding, as scornful, and as haughty as ever. + +Among those who were supposed to be most active in spreading the +slanders relative to Urbain was a man called Duthibaut, a person of +importance in the province, who was supposed by the townspeople to hold +very advanced views, and who was a "Sir Oracle" to whom the commonplace +and vulgar turned for enlightenment. Some of this man's strictures on +Grandier were reported to the latter, especially some calumnies to which +Duthibaut had given vent at the Marquis de Bellay's; and one day, +Grandier, arrayed in priestly garments, was about to enter the church of +Sainte-Croix to assist in the service, he encountered Duthibaut at the +entrance, and with his usual haughty disdain accused him of slander. +Duthibaut, who had got into the habit of saying and doing whatever came +into his head without fear of being called to account, partly because of +his wealth and partly because of the influence he had gained over the +narrow-minded, who are so numerous in a small provincial town, and who +regarded him as being much above them, was so furious at this public +reprimand, that he raised his cane and struck Urbain. + +The opportunity which this affront afforded Grandier of being revenged +on all his enemies was too precious to be neglected, but, convinced, +with too much reason, that he would never obtain justice from the local +authorities, although the respect due to the Church had been infringed, +in his person he decided to appeal to King Louis XIII, who deigned to +receive him, and deciding that the insult offered to a priest robed in +the sacred vestments should be expiated, sent the cause to the high +court of Parliament, with instructions that the case against Duthibaut +should be tried and decided there. + +Hereupon Urbain's enemies saw they had no time to lose, and took +advantage of his absence to make counter accusations against him. Two +worthies beings, named Cherbonneau and Bugrau, agreed to become +informers, and were brought before the ecclesiastical magistrate at +Poitiers. They accused Grandier of having corrupted women and girls, of +indulging in blasphemy and profanity, of neglecting to read his breviary +daily, and of turning God's sanctuary into a place of debauchery and +prostitution. The information was taken down, and Louis Chauvet, the +civil lieutenant, and the archpriest of Saint-Marcel and the Loudenois, +were appointed to investigate the matter, so that, while Urbain was +instituting proceedings against Duthibaut in Paris, information was laid +against himself in Loudun. This matter thus set going was pushed forward +with all the acrimony so common in religious prosecutions; Trinquant +appeared as a witness, and drew many others after him, and whatever +omissions were found in the depositions were interpolated according to +the needs of the prosecution. The result was that the case when fully +got up appeared to be so serious that it was sent to the Bishop of +Poitiers for trial. Now the bishop was not only surrounded by the +friends of those who were bringing the accusations against Grandier, but +had himself a grudge against him. It had happened some time before that +Urbain, the case being urgent, had dispensed with the usual notice of a +marriage, and the bishop, knowing this, found in the papers laid before +him, superficial as they were, sufficient evidence against Urbain to +justify him in issuing a warrant for his apprehension, which was drawn +up in the following words: + +"Henri-Louis, Chataignier de la Rochepezai, by divine mercy Bishop of +Poitiers, in view of the charges and informations conveyed to us by the +archpriest of Loudun against Urbain Grandier, priest-in-charge of the +Church of Saint-Pierre in the Market-Place at Loudun, in virtue of a +commission appointed by us directed to the said archpriest, or in his +absence to the Prior of Chassaignes, in view also of the opinion given +by our attorney upon the said charges, have ordered and do hereby order +that Urbain Grandier, the accused, be quietly taken to the prison in our +palace in Poitiers, if it so be that he be taken and apprehended, and if +not, that he be summoned to appear at his domicile within three days, by +the first apparitor-priest, or tonsured clerk, and also by the first +royal sergeant, upon this warrant, and we request the aid of the secular +authorities, and to them, or to any one of them, we hereby give power +and authority to carry out this decree notwithstanding any opposition or +appeal, and the said Grandier having been heard, such a decision will be +given by our attorney as the facts may seem to warrant. + +"Given at Dissay the 22nd day of October 1629, and signed in the +original as follows: + +"HENRI-LOUIS, Bishop of Poitiers." + +Grandier was, as we have said, at Paris when these proceedings were +taken against him, conducting before the Parliament his case against +Duthibaut. The latter received a copy of the decision arrived at by the +bishop, before Grandier knew of the charges that had been formulated +against him, and having in the course of his defence drawn a terrible +picture of the immorality of Grandier's life, he produced as a proof of +the truth of his assertions the damning document which had been put into +his hands. The court, not knowing what to think of the turn affairs had +taken, decided that before considering the accusations brought by +Grandier, he must appear before his bishop to clear himself of the +charges, brought against himself. Consequently he left Paris at once, +and arrived at Loudun, where he only stayed long enough to learn what +had happened in his absence, and then went on to Poitiers in order to +draw up his defence. He had, however, no sooner set foot in the place +than he was arrested by a sheriff's officer named Chatry, and confined +in the prison of the episcopal palace. + +It was the middle of November, and the prison was at all times cold and +damp, yet no attention was paid to Grandier's request that he should be +transferred to some other place of confinement. Convinced by this that +his enemies had more influence than he had supposed, he resolved to +possess his soul in patience, and remained a prisoner for two months, +during which even his warmest friends believed him lost, while Duthibaut +openly laughed at the proceedings instituted against himself, which he +now believed would never go any farther, and Barot had already selected +one of his heirs, a certain Ismael Boulieau, as successor to Urbain as +priest and prebendary. + +It was arranged that the costs of the lawsuit should be defrayed out of +a fund raised by the prosecutors, the rich paying for the poor; for as +all the witnesses lived at Loudun and the trial was to take place at +Poitiers, considerable expense would be incurred by the necessity of +bringing so many people such a distance; but the lust of vengeance +proved stronger than the lust of gold; the subscription expected from +each being estimated according to his fortune, each paid without a +murmur, and at the end of two months the case was concluded. + +In spite of the evident pains taken by the prosecution to strain the +evidence against the defendant, the principal charge could not be +sustained, which was that he had led astray many wives and daughters in +Loudun. No one woman came forward to complain of her ruin by Grandier; +the name of no single victim of his alleged immorality was given. The +conduct of the case was the most extraordinary ever seen; it was evident +that the accusations were founded on hearsay and not on fact, and yet a +decision and sentence against Grandier were pronounced on January 3rd, +1630. The sentence was as follows: For three months to fast each Friday +on bread and water by way of penance; to be inhibited from the +performance of clerical functions in the diocese of Poitiers for five +years, and in the town of Loudun for ever. + +Both parties appealed from this decision: Grandier to the Archbishop of +Bordeaux, and his adversaries, on the advice of the attorney to the +diocese, pleading a miscarriage of justice, to the Parliament of Paris; +this last appeal being made in order to overwhelm Grandier and break his +spirit. But Grandier's resolution enabled him to face this attack +boldly: he engaged counsel to defend his case before the Parliament, +while he himself conducted his appeal to the Archbishop of Bordeaux. But +as there were many necessary witnesses, and it was almost impossible to +bring them all such a great distance, the archiepiscopal court sent the +appeal to the presidial court of Poitiers. The public prosecutor of +Poitiers began a fresh investigation, which being conducted with +impartiality was not encouraging to Grandier's accusers. There had been +many conflicting statements made by the witnesses, and these were now +repeated: other witnesses had declared quite openly that they had been +bribed; others again stated that their depositions had been tampered +with; and amongst these latter was a certain priest named Mechin, and +also that Ishmael Boulieau whom Barot had been in such a hurry to select +as candidate for the reversion of Grandier's preferments. Boulieau's +deposition has been lost, but we can lay Mechin's before the reader, for +the original has been preserved, just as it issued from his pen: + +"I, Gervais Mechin, curate-in-charge of the Church of Saint-Pierre in +the Market Place at Loudun, certify by these presents, signed by my +hand, to relieve my conscience as to a certain report which is being +spread abroad, that I had said in support of an accusation brought by +Gilles Robert, archpriest, against Urbain Grandier, priest-in-charge of +Saint-Pierre, that I had found the said Grandier lying with women and +girls in the church of Saint Pierre, the doors being closed. + +"ITEM. that on several different occasions, at unsuitable hours both day +and night, I had seen women and girls disturb the said Grandier by going +into his bedroom, and that some of the said women remained with him from +one o'clock in the after noon till three o'clock the next morning, their +maids bringing them their suppers and going away again at once. + +"ITEM. that I had seen the said Grandier in the church, the doors being +open, but that as soon as some women entered he closed them. + +"As I earnestly desire that such reports should cease, I declare by +these presents that I have never seen the said Grandier with women or +girls in the church, the doors being closed; that I have never found him +there alone with women or girls; that when he spoke to either someone +else was always present, and the doors were open; and as to their +posture, I think I made it sufficiently clear when in the witness-box +that Grandier was seated and the women scattered over the church; +furthermore, I have never seen either women or girls enter Grandier's +bedroom either by day or night, although it is true that I have heard +people in the corridor coming and going late in the evening, who they +were I cannot say, but a brother of the said Grandier sleeps close by; +neither have I any knowledge that either women or girls, had their +suppers brought to the said room. I have also never said that he +neglected the reading of his breviary, because that would be contrary to +the truth, seeing that on several occasions he borrowed mine and read +his hours in it. I also declare that I have never seen him close the +doors of the church, and that whenever I have seen him speaking to women +I have never noticed any impropriety; I have not ever seen him touch +them in any way, they have only spoken together; and if anything is +found in my deposition contrary to the above, it is without my +knowledge, and was never read to me, for I would not have signed it, and +I say and affirm all this in homage to the truth. + +"Done the last day of October 1630, "(Signed) G. MECHIN." + +In the face of such proofs of innocence none of the accusations could be +considered as established and so, according to the decision of the +presidial court of Poitiers, dated the 25th of May 1634, the decision of +the bishop's court was reversed, and Grandier was acquitted of the +charges brought against him. However, he had still to appear before the +Archbishop of Bordeaux, that his acquittal might be ratified. Grandier +took advantage of a visit which the archbishop paid to his abbey at +Saint-Jouin-les-Marmes, which was only three leagues from Loudun, to +make this appearance; his adversaries, who were discouraged by the +result of the proceedings at Poitiers, scarcely made any defence, and +the archbishop, after an examination which brought clearly to light the +innocence of the accused, acquitted and absolved him. + +The rehabilitation of Grandier before his bishop had two important +results: the first was that it clearly established his innocence, and +the second that it brought into prominence his high attainments and +eminent qualities. The archbishop seeing the persecutions to which he +was subjected, felt a kindly interest in him, and advised him to +exchange into some other diocese, leaving a town the principal +inhabitants of which appeared to have vowed him a relentless hate. But +such an abandonment of his rights was foreign to the character of +Urbain, and he declared to his superior that, strong in His Grace's +approbation and the testimony of his own conscience, he would remain in +the place to which God had called him. Monseigneur de Sourdis did not +feel it his duty to urge Urbain any further, but he had enough insight +into his character to perceive that if Urbain should one day fall, it +would be, like Satan, through pride; for he added another sentence to +his decision, recommending him to fulfil the duties of his office with +discretion and modesty, according to the decrees of the Fathers and the +canonical constitutions. The triumphal entry of Urbain into Loudun with +which we began our narrative shows the spirit in which he took his +recommendation. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +Urbain Granadier was not satisfied with the arrogant demonstration by +which he signalised his return, which even his friends had felt to be +ill advised; instead of allowing the hate he had aroused to die away or +at least to fall asleep by letting the past be past, he continued with +more zeal than ever his proceedings against Duthibaut, and succeeded in +obtaining a decree from the Parliament of La Tournelle, by which +Duthibaut was summoned before it, and obliged to listen bareheaded to a +reprimand, to offer apologies, and to pay damages and costs. + +Having thus got the better of one enemy, Urbain turned on the others, +and showed himself more indefatigable in the pursuit of justice than +they had been in the pursuit of vengeance. The decision of the +archbishop had given him a right to a sum of money for compensation, and +interest thereon, as well as to the restitution of the revenues of his +livings, and there being some demur made, he announced publicly that he +intended to exact this reparation to the uttermost farthing, and set +about collecting all the evidence which was necessary for the success of +a new lawsuit for libel and forgery which he intended to begin. It was +in vain that his friends assured him that the vindication of his +innocence had been complete and brilliant, it was in vain that they +tried to convince him of the danger of driving the vanquished to +despair, Urbain replied that he was ready to endure all the persecutions +which his enemies might succeed in inflicting on him, but as long as he +felt that he had right upon his side he was incapable of drawing back. + +Grandier's adversaries soon became conscious of the storm which was +gathering above their heads, and feeling that the struggle between +themselves and this man would be one of life or death, Mignon, Barot, +Meunier, Duthibaut, and Menuau met Trinquant at the village of +Pindadane, in a house belonging to the latter, in order to consult about +the dangers which threatened them. Mignon had, however, already begun to +weave the threads of a new intrigue, which he explained in full to the +others; they lent a favourable ear, and his plan was adopted. We shall +see it unfold itself by degrees, for it is the basis of our narrative. + +We have already said that Mignon was the director of the convent of +Ursulines at Loudun: Now the Ursuline order was quite modern, for the +historic controversies to which the slightest mention of the martyrdom +of St. Ursula and her eleven thousand virgins gave rise, had long +hindered the foundation of an order in the saint's honour. However, in +1560 Madame Angele de Bresse established such an order in Italy, with +the same rules as the Augustinian order. This gained the approbation of +Pope Gregory XIII in 1572. In 1614, Madeleine Lhuillier, with the +approval of Pope Paul V, introduced this order into France, by founding +a convent at Paris, whence it rapidly spread over the whole kingdom, +so-that in 1626, only six years before the time when the events just +related took place, a sisterhood was founded in the little town of +Loudun. + +Although this community at first consisted entirely of ladies of good +family, daughters of nobles, officers, judges, and the better class of +citizens, and numbered amongst its founders Jeanne de Belfield, daughter +of the late Marquis of Cose, and relative of M. de Laubardemont, +Mademoiselle de Fazili, cousin of the cardinal-duke, two ladies of the +house of Barbenis de Nogaret, Madame de Lamothe, daughter of the Marquis +Lamothe-Barace of Anjou, and Madame d'Escoubleau de Sourdis, of the same +family as the Archbishop of Bordeaux, yet as these nuns had almost all +entered the convent because of their want of fortune, the community +found itself at the time of its establishment richer in blood than in +money, and was obliged instead of building to purchase a private house. +The owner of this house was a certain Moussaut du Frene, whose brother +was a priest. This brother, therefore, naturally became the first +director of these godly women. Less than a year after his appointment he +died, and the directorship became vacant. + +The Ursulines had bought the house in which they lived much below its +normal value, for it was regarded as a haunted house by all the town. +The landlord had rightly thought that there was no better way of getting +rid of the ghosts than to confront them with a religious sisterhood, the +members of which, passing their days in fasting and prayer, would be +hardly likely to have their nights disturbed by bad spirits; and in +truth, during the year which they had already passed in the house, no +ghost had ever put in an appearance--a fact which had greatly increased +the reputation of the nuns for sanctity. + +When their director died, it so happened that the boarders took +advantage of the occasion to indulge in some diversion at the expense of +the older nuns, who were held in general detestation by the youth of the +establishment on account of the rigour with which they enforced the +rules of the order. Their plan was to raise once more those spirits +which had been, as everyone supposed, permanently relegated to outer +darkness. So noises began to be heard on the roof of the house, which +resolved themselves into cries and groans; then growing bolder, the +spirits entered the attics and garrets, announcing their presence by +clanking of chains; at last they became so familiar that they invaded +the dormitories, where they dragged the sheets off the sisters and +abstracted their clothes. + +Great was the terror in the convent, and great the talk in the town, so +that the mother superior called her wisest, nuns around her and asked +them what, in their opinion, would be the best course to take in the +delicate circumstances in which they found themselves. Without a +dissentient voice, the conclusion arrived at was, that the late director +should be immediately replaced by a man still holier than he, if such a +man could be found, and whether because he possessed a reputation for +sanctity, or for some other reason, their choice fell on Urbain +Grandier. When the offer of the post was brought to him, he answered +that he was already responsible for two important charges, and that he +therefore had not enough time to watch over the snow-white flock which +they wished to entrust to him, as a good shepherd should, and he +recommended the lady superior to seek out another more worthy and less +occupied than himself. + +This answer, as may be supposed, wounded the self-esteem of the sisters: +they next turned their eyes towards Mignon, priest and canon of the +collegiate church of Sainte-Croix, and he, although he felt deeply hurt +that they had not thought first of him, accepted the position eagerly; +but the recollection that Grandier had been preferred before himself +kept awake in, him one of those bitter hatreds which time, instead of +soothing, intensifies. From the foregoing narrative the reader can see +to what this hate led. + +As soon as the new director was appointed, the mother superior confided +to him the kind of foes which he would be expected to vanquish. Instead +of comforting her by the assurance that no ghosts existing, it could not +be ghosts who ran riot in the house, Mignon saw that by pretending to +lay these phantoms he could acquire the reputation for holiness he so +much desired. So he answered that the Holy Scriptures recognised the +existence of ghosts by relating how the witch of Endor had made the +shade of Samuel appear to Saul. He went on to say that the ritual of the +Church possessed means of driving away all evil spirits, no matter how +persistent they were, provided that he who undertook the task were pure +in thought and deed, and that he hoped soon, by the help of God, to rid +the convent of its nocturnal visitants, whereupon as a preparation for +their expulsion he ordered a three days' fast, to be followed by a +general confession. + +It does not require any great cleverness to understand how easily Mignon +arrived at the truth by questioning the young penitents as they came +before him. The boarders who had played at being ghosts confessed their +folly, saying that they had been helped by a young novice of sixteen +years of age, named Marie Aubin. She acknowledged that this was true; it +was she who used to get up in the middle of the night, and open the +dormitory door, which her more timid room-mates locked most carefully +from within every night, before going to bed--a fact which greatly +increased their terror when, despite their precautions, the ghosts still +got in. Under pretext of not exposing them to the anger of the superior, +whose suspicions would be sure to be awakened if the apparitions were to +disappear immediately after the general confession, Mignon directed them +to renew their nightly frolics from time to time, but at longer and +longer intervals. He then sought an interview with the superior, and +assured her that he had found the minds of all those under her charge so +chaste and pure that he felt sure through his earnest prayers he would +soon clear the convent of the spirits which now pervaded it. + +Everything happened as the director had foretold, and the reputation for +sanctity of the holy man, who by watching and praying had delivered the +worthy Ursulines from their ghostly assailants, increased enormously in +the town of Loudun. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Hardly had tranquillity been restored when Mignon, Duthibaut, Menuau, +Meunier, and Barot, having lost their cause before the Archbishop of +Bordeaux, and finding themselves threatened by Grandier with a +prosecution for libel and forgery, met together to consult as to the +best means of defending themselves before the unbending severity of this +man, who would, they felt, destroy them if they did not destroy him. + +The result of this consultation was that very shortly afterwards queer +reports began to fly about; it was whispered that the ghosts whom the +pious director had expelled had again invaded the convent, under an +invisible and impalpable form, and that several of the nuns had given, +by their words and acts, incontrovertible proofs of being possessed. + +When these reports were mentioned to Mignon, he, instead of denying +their truth, cast up his eyes to heaven and said that God was certainly +a great and merciful God, but it was also certain that Satan was very +clever, especially when he was barked by that false human science called +magic. However, as to the reports, though they were not entirely without +foundation, he would not go so far as to say that any of the sisters +were really possessed by devils, that being a question which time alone +could decide. + +The effect of such an answer on minds already prepared to listen to the +most impossible things, may easily be guessed. Mignon let the gossip go +its rounds for several months without giving it any fresh food, but at +length, when the time was ripe, he called on the priest of Saint-Jacques +at Chinon, and told him that matters had now come to such a pass in the +Ursuline convent that he felt it impossible to bear up alone under the +responsibility of caring for the salvation of the afflicted nuns, and he +begged him to accompany him to the convent. This priest, whose name was +Pierre Barre, was exactly the man whom Mignon needed in such a crisis. +He was of melancholy temperament, and dreamed dreams and saw visions; +his one ambition was to gain a reputation for asceticism and holiness. +Desiring to surround his visit with the solemnity befitting such an +important event, he set out for Loudun at the head of all his +parishioners, the whole procession going on foot, in order to arouse +interest and curiosity; but this measure was quite needless it took less +than that to set the town agog. + +While the faithful filled the churches offering up prayers for the +success of the exorcisms, Mignon and Barre entered upon their task at +the convent, where they remained shut up with the nuns for six hours. At +the end of this time Barre appeared and announced to his parishioners +that they might go back to Chinon without him, for he had made up his +mind to remain for the present at Loudun, in order to aid the venerable +director of the Ursuline convent in the holy work he had undertaken; he +enjoined on them to pray morning and evening, with all possible fervour, +that, in spite of the serious dangers by which it was surrounded, the +good cause might finally triumph. This advice, unaccompanied as it was +by any explanation, redoubled the curiosity of the people, and the +belief gained ground that it was not merely one or two nuns who were +possessed of devils, but the whole sisterhood. It was not very long +before the name of the magician who had worked this wonder began to be +mentioned quite openly: Satan, it was said, had drawn Urbain Grandier +into his power, through his pride. Urbain had entered into a pact with +the Evil Spirit by which he had sold him his soul in return for being +made the most learned man on earth. Now, as Urbain's knowledge was much +greater than that of the inhabitants of Loudun, this story gained +general credence in the town, although here and there was to be found a +man sufficiently enlightened to shrug his shoulders at these +absurdities, and to laugh at the mummeries, of which as yet he saw only +the ridiculous side. + +For the next ten or twelve days Mignon and Barre spent the greater part +of their time at the convent; sometimes remaining there for six hours at +a stretch, sometimes the entire day. At length, on Monday, the 11th of +October, 1632, they wrote to the priest of Venier, to Messire Guillaume +Cerisay de la Gueriniere, bailiff of the Loudenois, and to Messire Louis +Chauvet, civil lieutenant, begging them to visit the Ursuline convent, +in order to examine two nuns who were possessed by evil spirits, and to +verify the strange and almost incredible manifestations of this +possession. Being thus formally appealed to, the two magistrates could +not avoid compliance with the request. It must be confessed that they +were not free from curiosity, and felt far from sorry at being able to +get to the bottom of the mystery of which for some time the whole town +was talking. They repaired, therefore, to the convent, intending to make +a thorough investigation as to the reality of the possession and as to +the efficacy of the exorcisms employed. Should they judge that the nuns +were really possessed, and that those who tried to deliver them were in +earnest, they would authorise the continuation of the efforts at +exorcism; but if they were not satisfied on these two points, they would +soon put an end to the whole thing as a comedy. When they reached the +door, Mignon, wearing alb and stole, came to meet them. He told them +that the feelings of the nuns had for more than two weeks been harrowed +by the apparition of spectres and other blood-curdling visions, that the +mother superior and two nuns had evidently been possessed by evil +spirits for over a week; that owing to the efforts of Barre and same +Carmelite friars who were good enough to assist him against their common +enemies, the devils had been temporarily driven out, but on the previous +Sunday night, the 10th of October, the mother superior, Jeanne de +Belfield, whose conventual name was Jeanne des Anges, and a lay sister +called Jeanne Dumagnoux, had again been entered into by the same +spirits. It had, however, been discovered by means of exorcisms that a +new compact, of which the symbol and token was a bunch of roses, had +been concluded, the symbol and token of the first having been three +black thorns. He added that during the time of the first possession the +demons had refused to give their names, but by the power of his +exorcisms this reluctance had been overcome, the spirit which had +resumed possession of the mother superior having at length revealed that +its name was Ashtaroth, one of the greatest enemies of God, while the +devil which had entered into the lay sister was of a lower order, and +was called Sabulon. Unfortunately, continued Mignon, just now the two +afflicted nuns were resting, and he requested the bailiff and the civil +lieutenant to put off their inspection till a little later. The two +magistrates were just about to go away, when a nun appeared, saying that +the devils were again doing their worst with the two into whom they had +entered. Consequently, they accompanied Mignon and the priest from +Venier to an upper room, in which were seven narrow beds, of which two +only were occupied, one by the mother superior and the other by the lay +sister. The superior, who was the more thoroughly possessed of the two, +was surrounded by the Carmelite monks, the sisters belonging to the +convent, Mathurin Rousseau, priest and canon of Sainte-Croix, and +Mannouri, a surgeon from the town. + +No sooner did the two magistrates join the others than the superior was +seized with violent convulsions, writhing and uttering squeals in exact +imitation of a sucking pig. The two magistrates looked on in profound +astonishment, which was greatly increased when they saw the patient now +bury herself in her bed, now spring right out of it, the whole +performance being accompanied by such diabolical gestures and grimaces +that, if they were not quite convinced that the possession was genuine, +they were at least filled with admiration of the manner in which it was +simulated. Mignon next informed the bailiff and the civil lieutenant, +that although the superior had never learned Latin she would reply in +that language to all the questions addressed to her, if such were their +desire. The magistrates answered that as they were there in order to +examine thoroughly into the facts of the case, they begged the exorcists +to give them every possible proof that the possession was real. Upon +this, Mignon approached the mother superior, and, having ordered +everyone to be silent, placed two of his fingers in her mouth, and, +having gone through the form of exorcism prescribed by the ritual, he +asked the following questions word for word as they are given, + + D. Why have you entered into the body of this young girl? + + R. Causa animositatis. Out of enmity. + + D. Per quod pactum? By what pact? + + R. Per flores. By flowers. + + D. Quales? What flowers? + + R. Rosas. Roses. + + D. Quis misfit? By whom wert thou sent? + +At this question the magistrates remarked that the superior hesitated to +reply; twice she opened her mouth in vain, but the third time she said +in a weak voice-- + + D. Dic cognomen? What is his surname? + + R. Urbanus. Urbain. + +Here there was again the same hesitation, but as if impelled by the will +of the exorcist she answered: + + R. Grandier. Grandier. + D. Dic qualitatem? What is his profession? + R. Sacerdos. A priest. + D. Cujus ecclesiae? Of what church? + R. Sancti Petri. Saint-Pierre. + D. Quae persona attulit + flores? Who brought the flowers? + R. Diabolica. Someone sent by the devil. + +As the patient pronounced the last word she recovered her senses, and +having repeated a prayer, attempted to swallow a morsel of bread which +was offered her; she was, however, obliged to spit it out, saying it was +so dry she could not get it down. + +Something more liquid was then brought, but even of that she could +swallow very little, as she fell into convulsions every few minutes. + +Upon this the two officials, seeing there was nothing more to be got out +of the superior, withdrew to one of the window recesses and began to +converse in a low tone; whereupon Mignon, who feared that they had not +been sufficiently impressed, followed them, and drew their attention to +the fact that there was much in what they had just seen to recall the +case of Gaufredi, who had been put to death a few years before in +consequence of a decree of the Parliament of Aix, in Provence. This +ill-judged remark of Mignon showed so clearly what his aim was that the +magistrates made no reply. The civil lieutenant remarked that he had +been surprised that Mignon had not made any attempt to find out the +cause of the enmity of which the superior had spoken, and which it was +so important to find out; but Mignon excused himself by saying that he +had no right to put questions merely to gratify curiosity. The civil +lieutenant was about to insist on the matter being investigated, when +the lay sister in her turn went into a fit, thus extricating Mignon from +his embarrassment. The magistrates approached the lay sister's bed at +once, and directed Mignon to put the same questions to her as to the +superior: he did so, but all in vain; all she would reply was, "To the +other! To the other!" + +Mignon explained this refusal to answer by saying that the evil spirit +which was in her was of an inferior order, and referred all questioners +to Ashtaroth, who was his superior. As this was the only explanation, +good or bad, offered them by Mignon, the magistrates went away, and drew +up a report of all they had seen and heard without comment, merely +appending their signatures. + +But in the town very few people showed the same discretion and reticence +as the magistrates. The bigoted believed, the hypocrites pretended to +believe; and the worldly-minded, who were numerous, discussed the +doctrine of possession in all its phases, and made no secret of their +own entire incredulity. They wondered, and not without reason it must be +confessed, what had induced the devils to go out of the nuns' bodies for +two days only, and then come back and resume possession, to the +confusion of the exorcists; further, they wanted to know why the mother +superior's devil spoke Latin, while the lay sister's was ignorant of +that tongue; for a mere difference of rank in the hierarchy of hell did +not seem a sufficient explanation of such a difference in education; +Mignon's refusal to go on with his interrogations as to the cause of the +enmity made them, they said, suspect that, knowing he had reached the +end of Ashtaroth's classical knowledge, he felt it useless to try to +continue the dialogue in the Ciceronian idiom. Moreover, it was well +known that only a few days before all Urbain's worst enemies had met in +conclave in the village of Puidardane; and besides, how stupidly Mignon +had shown his hand by mentioning Gaufredi, the priest who had been +executed at Aix: lastly, why had not a desire for impartiality been +shown by calling in other than Carmelite monks to be present at the +exorcism, that order having a private quarrel with Grandier? It must be +admitted that this way of looking at the case was not wanting in +shrewdness. + +On the following day, October 12th, the bailiff and the civil +lieutenant, having heard that exorcisms had been again tried without +their having been informed beforehand, requested a certain Canon +Rousseau to accompany them, and set out with him and their clerk for the +convent. On arriving, they asked for Mignon, and on his appearance they +told him that this matter of exorcism was of such importance that no +further steps were to be taken in it without the authorities being +present, and that in future they were to be given timely notice of every +attempt to get rid of the evil spirits. They added that this was all the +more necessary as Mignon's position as director of the sisterhood and +his well-known hate for Grandier would draw suspicions on him unworthy +of his cloth, suspicions which he ought to be the first to wish to see +dissipated, and that quickly; and that, therefore, the work which he had +so piously begun would be completed by exorcists appointed by the court. + +Mignon replied that, though he had not the slightest objection to the +magistrates being present at all the exorcisms, yet he could not promise +that the spirits would reply to anyone except himself and Barre. Just at +that moment Barre came on the scene, paler and more gloomy than ever, +and speaking with the air of a man whose word no one could help +believing, he announced that before their arrival some most +extraordinary things had taken place. The magistrates asked what things, +and Barre replied that he had learned from the mother superior that she +was possessed, not by one, but by seven devils, of whom Ashtaroth was +the chief; that Grandier had entrusted his pact with the devil, under +the symbol of a bunch of roses, to a certain Jean Pivart, to give to a +girl who had introduced it into the convent garden by throwing it over +the wall; that this took place in the night between Saturday and Sunday +"hora secunda nocturna" (two hours after midnight); that those were the +very words the superior had used, but that while she readily named +Pivart, she absolutely refused to give the name of the girl; that on +asking what Pivart was; she had replied, "Pauper magus" (a poor +magician); that he then had pressed her as to the word magus, and that +she had replied "Magicianus et civis" (magician and citizen); and that +just as she said those words the magistrates had arrived, and he had +asked no more questions. + +The two officials listened to this information with the seriousness +befitting men entrusted with high judicial functions, and announced to +the two priests that they proposed to visit the possessed women and +witness for themselves the miracles that were taking place. The clerics +offered no opposition, but said they feared that the devils were +fatigued and would refuse to reply; and, in fact, when the officials +reached the sickroom the two patients appeared to have regained some +degree of calm. Mignon took advantage of this quiet moment to say mass, +to which the two magistrates listened devoutly and tranquilly, and while +the sacrifice was being offered the demons did not dare to move. It was +expected that they would offer some opposition at the elevation of the +Host, but everything passed off without disturbance, only the lay +sister's hands and feet twitched a great deal; and this was the only +fact which the magistrates thought worthy of mention in their report for +that morning. Barre assured them, however, that if they would return +about three o'clock the devils would probably have recovered +sufficiently from their fatigue to give a second performance. + +As the two gentlemen had determined to see the affair to the end, they +returned to the convent at the hour named, accompanied by Messire Irenee +de Sainte-Marthe, sieur Deshurneaux; and found the room in which the +possessed were lying full of curious spectators; for the exorcists had +been true prophets--the devils were at work again. + +The superior, as always, was the more tormented of the two, as was only +to be expected, she having seven devils in her all at once; she was +terribly convulsed, and was writhing and foaming at the mouth as if she +were mad. No one could long continue in such a condition without serious +injury to health; Barre therefore asked the devil-in-chief how soon he +would come out. "Cras mane" (To-morrow morning), he replied. The +exorcist then tried to hurry him, asking him why he would not come out +at once; whereupon the superior murmured the word "Pactum" (A pact); and +then "Sacerdos" (A priest), and finally "Finis," or "Finit," for even +those nearest could not catch the word distinctly, as the devil, afraid +doubtless of perpetrating a barbarism, spoke through the nun's closely +clenched teeth. This being all decidedly unsatisfying, the magistrates +insisted that the examination should continue, but the devils had again +exhausted themselves, and refused to utter another word. The priest even +tried touching the superior's head with the pyx, while prayers and +litanies were recited, but it was all in vain, except that some of the +spectators thought that the contortions of the patient became more +violent when the intercessions of certain saints were invoked, as for +instance Saints Augustine Jerome, Antony, and Mary Magdalene. Barre next +directed the mother superior to dedicate her heart and soul to God, +which she did without difficulty; but when he commanded her to dedicate +her body also, the chief devil indicated by fresh convulsions that he +was not going to allow himself to be deprived of a domicile without +resistance, and made those who had heard him say that he would leave the +next morning feel that he had only said so under compulsion; and their +curiosity as to the result became heightened. At length, however, +despite the obstinate resistance of the demon, the superior succeeded in +dedicating her body also to God, and thus victorious her features +resumed their usual expression, and smiling as if nothing had happened, +she turned to Barre and said that there was no vestige of Satan left in +her. The civil lieutenant then asked her if she remembered the questions +she had been asked and the answers she had given, but she replied that +she remembered nothing; but afterwards, having taken some refreshment, +she said to those around her that she recollected perfectly how the +first possession, over which Mignon had triumphed, had taken place: one +evening about ten o'clock, while several nuns were still in her room, +although she was already in bed, it seemed to her that someone took her +hand and laid something in it, closing her fingers; at that instant she +felt a sharp pain as if she had been pricked by three pins, and hearing +her scream, the nuns came to her bedside to ask what ailed her. She held +out her hand, and they found three black thorns sticking in it, each +having made a tiny wound. Just as she had told this tale, the lay +sister, as if to prevent all commentary, was seized with convulsions, +and Barre recommenced his prayers and exorcisms, but was soon +interrupted by shrieks; for one of the persons present had seen a black +cat come down the chimney and disappear. Instantly everyone concluded it +must be the devil, and began to seek it out. It was not without great +difficulty that it was caught; for, terrified at the sight of so many +people and at the noise, the poor animal had sought refuge under a +canopy; but at last it was secured and carried to the superior's +bedside, where Barre began his exorcisms once more, covering the cat +with signs of the cross, and adjuring the devil to take his true shape. +Suddenly the 'touriere', (the woman who received the tradespeople,) came +forward, declaring the supposed devil to be only her cat, and she +immediately took possession of it, lest some harm should happen to it. + +The gathering had been just about to separate, but Barry fearing that +the incident of the cat might throw a ridiculous light upon the evil +spirits, resolved to awake once more a salutary terror by announcing +that he was going to burn the flowers through which the second spell had +been made to work. Producing a bunch of white roses, already faded, he +ordered a lighted brazier to be brought. He then threw the flowers on +the glowing charcoal, and to the general astonishment they were consumed +without any visible effect: the heavens still smiled, no peal of thunder +was heard, and no unpleasant odour diffused itself through the room. +Barre feeling that the baldness of this act of destruction had had a bad +effect, predicted that the morrow would bring forth wondrous things; +that the chief devil would speak more distinctly than hitherto; that he +would leave the body of the superior, giving such clear signs of his +passage that no one would dare to doubt any longer that it was a case of +genuine possession. Thereupon the criminal lieutenant, Henri Herve, who +had been present during the exorcism, said they must seize upon the +moment of his exit to ask about Pivart, who was unknown at Loudun, +although everyone who lived there knew everybody else. Barre replied in +Latin, "Et hoc dicet epuellam nominabit" (He will not only tell about +him, but he will also name the young girl). The young girl whom the +devil was to name was, it may be recollected, she who had introduced the +flowers into the convent, and whose name the demon until now had +absolutely refused to give. On the strength of these promises everyone +went home to await the morrow with impatience. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +That evening Grandier asked the bailiff for an audience. At first he had +made fun of the exorcisms, for the story had been so badly concocted, +and the accusations were so glaringly improbable, that he had not felt +the least anxiety. But as the case went on it assumed such an important +aspect, and the hatred displayed by his enemies was so intense, that the +fate of the priest Gaufredi, referred to by Mignon, occurred to Urbain's +mind, and in order to be beforehand with his enemies he determined to +lodge a complaint against them. This complaint was founded on the fact +that Mignon had performed the rite of exorcism in the presence of the +civil lieutenant, the bailiff, and many other persons, and had caused +the nuns who were said to be possessed, in the hearing of all these +people, to name him, Urbain, as the author of their possession. This +being a falsehood and an attack upon his honour, he begged the bailiff, +in whose hands the conduct of the affair had been specially placed, to +order the nuns to be sequestered, apart from the rest of the sisterhood +and from each other, and then to have each separately examined. Should +there appear to be any evidence of possession, he hoped that the bailiff +would be pleased to appoint clerics of well-known rank and upright +character to perform whatever exorcisms were needful; such men having no +bias against him would be more impartial than Mignon and his adherents. +He also called upon the bailiff to have an exact report drawn up of +everything that took place at the exorcisms, in order that, if +necessary, he as petitioner might be able to lay it before anyone to +whose judgment he might appeal. The bailiff gave Grandier a statement of +the conclusions at which he had arrived, and told him that the exorcisms +had been performed that day by Barre, armed with the authority of the +Bishop of Poitiers himself. Being, as we have seen, a man of common +sense and entirely unprejudiced in the matter, the bailiff advised +Grandier to lay his complaint before his bishop; but unfortunately he +was under the authority of the Bishop of Poitiers, who was so prejudiced +against him that he had done everything in his power to induce the +Archbishop of Bordeaux to refuse to ratify the decision in favour of +Grandier, pronounced by the presidial court. Urbain could not hide from +the magistrate that he had nothing to hope for from this quarter, and it +was decided that he should wait and see what the morrow would bring +forth, before taking any further step. + +The impatiently expected day dawned at last, and at eight o'clock in the +morning the bailiff, the king's attorney, the civil lieutenant, the +criminal lieutenant, and the provost's lieutenant, with their respective +clerks, were already at the convent. They found the outer gate open, but +the inner door shut. In a few moments Mignon came to them and brought +them into a waiting-room. There he told them that the nuns were +preparing for communion, and that he would be very much obliged to them +if they would withdraw and wait in a house across the street, just +opposite the convent, and that he would send them word when they could +come back. The magistrates, having first informed Mignon of Urbain's +petition, retired as requested. + +An hour passed, and as Mignon did not summon them, in spite of his +promise, they all went together to the convent chapel, where they were +told the exorcisms were already over. The nuns had quitted the choir, +and Mignon and Barre came to the grating and told them that they had +just completed the rite, and that, thanks to their conjurations, the two +afflicted ones were now quite free from evil spirits. They went on to +say that they had been working together at the exorcism from seven +o'clock in the morning, and that great wonders, of which they had drawn +up an account, had come to pass; but they had considered it would not be +proper to allow any one else to be present during the ceremony besides +the exorcists and the possessed. The bailiff pointed out that their +manner of proceedings was not only illegal, but that it laid them under +suspicion of fraud and collusion, in the eyes of the impartial: +Moreover, as the superior had accused Grandier publicly, she was bound +to renew and prove her accusation also publicly, and not in secret; +furthermore, it was a great piece of insolence on the part of the +exorcists to invite people of their standing and character to come to +the convent, and having kept them waiting an hour, to tell them that +they considered them unworthy to be admitted to the ceremony which they +had been requested to attend; and he wound up by saying that he would +draw up a report, as he had already done on each of the preceding days, +setting forth the extraordinary discrepancy between their promises and +their performance. Mignon replied that he and Barre had had only one +thing in view, viz. the expulsion of the, demons, and that in that they +had succeeded, and that their success would be of great benefit to the +holy Catholic faith, for they had got the demons so thoroughly into +their power that they had been able to command them to produce within a +week miraculous proofs of the spells cast on the nuns by Urbain Grandier +and their wonderful deliverance therefrom; so that in future no one +would be able to doubt as to the reality of the possession. Thereupon +the magistrates drew up a report of all that had happened, and of what +Barre and Mignon had said. This was signed by all the officials present, +except the criminal lieutenant, who declared that, having perfect +confidence in the statements of the exorcists, he was anxious to do +nothing to increase the doubting spirit which was unhappily so prevalent +among the worldly. + +The same day the bailiff secretly warned Urbain of the refusal of the +criminal lieutenant to join with the others in signing the report, and +almost at the same moment he learned that the cause of his adversaries +was strengthened by the adhesion of a certain Messire Rene Memin, +seigneur de Silly, and prefect of the town. This gentleman was held in +great esteem not only on account of his wealth and the many offices +which he filled, but above all on account of his powerful friends, among +whom was the cardinal-duke himself, to whom he had formerly been of use +when the cardinal was only a prior. The character of the conspiracy had +now become so alarming that Grandier felt it was time to oppose it with +all his strength. Recalling his conversation with the bailiff the +preceding day, during which he had advised him to lay his complaint +before the Bishop of Poitiers, he set out, accompanied by a priest of +Loudun, named Jean Buron, for the prelate's country house at Dissay. The +bishop, anticipating his visit, had already given his orders, and +Grandier was met by Dupuis, the intendant of the palace, who, in reply +to Grandier's request to see the bishop, told him that his lordship was +ill. Urbain next addressed himself to the bishop's chaplain, and begged +him to inform the prelate that his object in coming was to lay before +him the official reports which the magistrates had drawn up of the +events which had taken place at the Ursuline convent, and to lodge a +complaint as to the slanders and accusations of which he was the victim. +Grandier spoke so urgently that the chaplain could not refuse to carry +his message; he returned, however, in a few moments, and told Grandier, +in the presence of Dupuis, Buron, and a certain sieur Labrasse, that the +bishop advised him to take his case to the royal judges, and that he +earnestly hoped he would obtain justice from them. Grandier perceived +that the bishop had been warned against him, and felt that he was +becoming more and more entangled in the net of conspiracy around him; +but he was not a man to flinch before any danger. He therefore returned +immediately to Loudun, and went once more to the bailiff, to whom he +related all that had happened at Dissay; he then, a second time, made a +formal complaint as to the slanders circulated with regard to him, and +begged the magistrates to have recourse to the king's courts in the +business. He also said that he desired to be placed under the protection +of the king and his justice, as the accusations made against him were +aimed at his honour and his life. The bailiff hastened to make out a +certificate of Urbain's protest, which forbade at the same time the +repetition of the slanders or the infliction on Urbain of any injury. + +Thanks to this document, a change of parts took place: Mignon, the +accuser, became the accused. Feeling that he had powerful support behind +him, he had the audacity to appear before the bailiff the same day. He +said that he did not acknowledge his jurisdiction, as in what concerned +Grandier and himself, they being both priests, they could only be judged +by their bishop; he nevertheless protested against the complaint lodged +by Grandier, which characterised him as a slanderer, and declared that +he was ready to give himself up as a prisoner, in order to show everyone +that he did not fear the result of any inquiry. Furthermore, he had +taken an oath on the sacred elements the day before, in the presence of +his parishioners who had come to mass, that in all he had hitherto done +he had been moved, not by hatred of Grandier, but by love of the truth, +and by his desire for the triumph of the Catholic faith; and he insisted +that the bailiff should give him a certificate of his declaration, and +served notice of the same on Grandier that very day. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +Since October 13th, the day on which the demons had been expelled, life +at the convent seemed to have returned to its usual quiet; but Grandier +did not let himself be lulled to sleep by the calm: he knew those with +whom he was contending too well to imagine for an instant that he would +hear no more of them; and when the bailiff expressed pleasure at this +interval of repose, Grandier said that it would not last long, as the +nuns were only conning new parts, in order to carry on the drama in a +more effective manner than ever. And in fact, on November 22nd, Rene +Mannouri, surgeon to the convent, was sent to one of his colleagues, +named Gaspard Joubert, to beg him to come, bringing some of the +physicians of the town with him, to visit the two sisters, who were +again tormented by evil spirits. Mannouri, however, had gone to the +wrong man, for Joubert had a frank and loyal character, and hated +everything that was underhand. Being determined to take no part in the +business, except in a public and judicial manner, he applied at once to +the bailiff to know if it was by his orders that he was called in. The +bailiff said it was not, and summoned Mannouri before him to ask him by +whose authority he had sent for Joubert. Mannouri declared that the +'touriere' had run in a fright to his house, saying that the nuns had +never been worse possessed than now, and that the director, Mignon, +begged him to come at once to the convent, bringing with him all the +doctors he could find. + +The bailiff, seeing that fresh plots against Grandier were being formed, +sent for him and warned him that Barre had come over from Chinon the day +before, and had resumed his exorcisms at the convent, adding that it was +currently reported in the town that the mother superior and Sister +Claire were again tormented by devils. The news neither astonished nor +discouraged Grandier, who replied, with his usual smile of disdain, that +it was evident his enemies were hatching new plots against him, and that +as he had instituted proceedings against them for the former ones, he +would take the same course with regard to these. At the same time, +knowing how impartial the bailiff was, he begged him to accompany the +doctors and officials to the convent, and to be present at the +exorcisms, and should any sign of real possession manifest itself, to +sequester the afflicted nuns at once, and cause them to be examined by +other persons than Mignon and Barre, whom he had such good cause to +distrust. + +The bailiff wrote to the king's attorney, who, notwithstanding his bias +against Grandier, was forced to see that the conclusions arrived at were +correct, and having certified this in writing, he at once sent his clerk +to the convent to inquire if the superior were still possessed. In case +of an affirmative reply being given, the clerk had instructions to warn +Mignon and Barre that they were not to undertake exorcisms unless in +presence of the bailiff and of such officials and doctors as he might +choose to bring with him, and that they would disobey at their peril; he +was also to tell them that Grandier's demands to have the nuns +sequestered and other exorcists called in were granted. + +Mignon and Barre listened while the clerk read his instructions, and +then said they refused to recognise the jurisdiction of the bailiff in +this case; that they had been summoned by the mother superior and Sister +Claire when their strange illness returned, an illness which they were +convinced was nothing else than possession by evil spirits; that they +had hitherto carried out their exorcisms under the authority of a +commission given them by the Bishop of Poitiers; and as the time for +which they had permission had not yet expired; they would continue to +exorcise as often as might be necessary. They had, however, given notice +to the worthy prelate of what was going on, in order that he might +either come himself or send other exorcists as best suited him, so that +a valid opinion as to the reality, of the possession might be procured, +for up to the present the worldly and unbelieving had taken upon +themselves to declare in an off-hand manner that the whole affair was a +mixture of fraud and delusion, in contempt of the glory of God and the +Catholic religion. As to the rest of the message, they would not, in any +way prevent the bailiff and the other officials, with as many medical +men as they chose to bring, from seeing the nuns, at least until they +heard from the bishop, from whom they expected a letter next day. But it +was for the nuns themselves to say whether it was convenient for them to +receive visitors; as far as concerned themselves, they desired to renew +their protest, and declared they could not accept the bailiff as their +judge, and did not think that it could be legal for them to refuse to +obey a command from their ecclesiastical superiors, whether with +relation to exorcism or any other thing of which the ecclesiastical +courts properly took cognisance. The clerk brought this answer to the +bailiff, and he, thinking it was better to wait for the arrival of the +bishop or of fresh orders from him, put off his visit to the convent +until the next day. But the next day came without anything being heard +of the prelate himself or of a messenger from him. + +Early in the morning the bailiff went to the convent, but was not +admitted; he then waited patiently until noon, and seeing that no news +had arrived from Dissay, and that the convent gates were still closed +against him, he granted a second petition of Grandier's, to the effect +that Byre and Mignon should be prohibited from questioning the superior +and the other nuns in a manner tending to blacken the character of the +petitioner or any other person. Notice of this prohibition was served +the same day on Barre and on one nun chosen to represent the community. +Barre did not pay the slightest attention to this notice, but kept on +asserting that the bailiff had no right to prevent his obeying the +commands of his bishop, and declaring that henceforward he would perform +all exorcisms solely under ecclesiastical sanction, without any +reference to lay persons, whose unbelief and impatience impaired the +solemnity with which such rites should be conducted. + +The best part of the day having gone over without any sign of either +bishop or messenger, Grandier presented a new petition to the bailiff. +The bailiff at once summoned all the officers of the bailiwick and the +attorneys of the king, in order to lay it before them; but the king's +attorneys refused to consider the matter, declaring upon their honour +that although they did not accuse Grandier of being the cause, yet they +believed that the nuns were veritably possessed, being convinced by the +testimony of the devout ecclesiastics in whose presence the evil spirits +had come out. This was only the ostensible reason for their refusal, the +real one being that the advocate was a relation of Mignon's, and the +attorney a son-in-law of Trinquant's, to whose office he had succeeded. +Thus Grandier, against whom were all the ecclesiastical judges, began to +feel as if he were condemned beforehand by the judges of the royal +courts, for he knew how very short was the interval between the +recognition of the possession as a fact and the recognition of himself +as its author. + +Nevertheless, in spite of the formal declarations of the king's advocate +and attorney, the bailiff ordered the superior and the lay sister to be +removed to houses in town, each to be accompanied by a nun as companion. +During their absence from the convent they were to be looked after by +exorcists, by women of high character and position, as well as by +physicians and attendants, all of whom he himself would appoint, all +others being forbidden access to the nuns without his permission. + +The clerk was again sent to the convent with a copy of this decision, +but the superior having listened to the reading of the document, +answered that in her own name and that of the sisterhood she refused to +recognise the jurisdiction of the bailiff; that she had already received +directions from the Bishop of Poitiers, dated 18th November, explaining +the measures which were to be taken in the matter, and she would gladly +send a copy of these directions to the bailiff, to prevent his pleading +ignorance of them; furthermore, she demurred to the order for her +removal, having vowed to live always secluded in a convent, and that no +one could dispense her from this vow but the bishop. This protest having +been made in the presence of Madame de Charnisay, aunt of two of the +nuns, and Surgeon Mannouri, who was related to another, they both united +in drawing up a protest against violence, in case the bailiff should +insist on having his orders carried out, declaring that, should he make +the attempt, they would resist him, as if he were a mere private +individual. This document being duly signed and witnessed was +immediately sent to the bailiff by the hand of his own clerk, whereupon +the bailiff ordered that preparations should be made with regard to the +sequestration, and announced that the next day, the 24th November, he +would repair to the convent and be present at the exorcisms. + +The next day accordingly, at the appointed hour, the bailiff summoned +Daniel Roger, Vincent de Faux, Gaspard Joubert, and Matthieu Fanson, all +four physicians, to his presence, and acquainting them with his reasons +for having called them, asked them to accompany him to the convent to +examine, with the most scrupulous impartiality, two nuns whom he would +point out, in order to discover if their illness were feigned, or arose +from natural or supernatural causes. Having thus instructed them as to +his wishes, they all set out for the convent. + +They were shown into the chapel and placed close to the altar, being +separated by a grating from the choir, in which the nuns who sang +usually sat. In a few moments the superior was carried in on a small +bed, which was laid down before the grating. Barre then said mass, +during which the superior went into violent convulsions. She threw her +arms about, her fingers were clenched, her cheeks enormously inflated, +and her eyes turned up so that only the whites could be seen. + +The mass finished, Barre approached her to administer the holy communion +and to commence the exorcism. Holding the holy wafer in his hand, he +said-- + +"Adora Deum tuum, creatorem tuum" (Adore God, thy Creator). + +The superior hesitated, as if she found great difficulty in making this +act of love, but at length she said-- + +"Adoro te" (I adore Thee). + +"Quem adoras?" (Whom dost thou adore?) + +"Jesus Christus" (Jesus Christ), answered the nun, quite unconscious +that the verb adorn governs accusative. + +This mistake, which no sixth-form boy would make, gave rise to bursts of +laughter in the church; and Daniel Douin, the provost's assessor, was +constrained to say aloud-- + +"There's a devil for you, who does not know much about transitive +verbs." + +Barre perceiving the bad impression that the superior's nominative had +made, hastened to ask her-- + +"Quis est iste quem adoras?" (Who is it whom thou dost adore?) + +His hope was that she would again reply "Jesus Christus," but he was +disappointed. + +"Jesu Christe," was her answer. + +Renewed shouts of laughter greeted this infraction of one of the most +elementary rules of syntax, and several of those present exclaimed: + +"Oh, your reverence, what very poor Latin!" + +Barre pretended not to hear, and next asked what was the name of the +demon who had taken possession of her. The poor superior, who was +greatly confused by the unexpected effect of her last two answers, could +not speak for a long time; but at length with great trouble she brought +out the name Asmodee, without daring to latinise it. The exorcist then +inquired how many devils the superior had in her body, and to this +question she replied quite fluently: + +"Sex" (Six). + +The bailiff upon this requested Barre to ask the chief devil how many +evil spirits he had with him. But the need for this answer had been +foreseen, and the nun unhesitatingly returned-- + +"Quinque" (Five). + +This answer raised Asmodee somewhat in the opinion of those present; but +when the bailiff adjured the superior to repeat in Greek what she had +just said in Latin she made no reply, and on the adjuration being +renewed she immediately recovered her senses. + +The examination of the superior being thus cut short, a little nun who +appeared for the first time in public was brought forward. She began by +twice pronouncing the name of Grandier with a loud laugh; then turning +to the bystanders, called out-- + +"For all your number, you can do nothing worth while." + +As it was easy to see that nothing of importance was to be expected from +this new patient, she was soon suppressed, and her place taken by the +lay sister Claire who had already made her debut in the mother +superior's room. + +Hardly had she entered the choir than she uttered a groan, but as soon +as they placed her on the little bed on which the other nuns had lain, +she gave way to uncontrollable laughter, and cried out between the +paroxysms-- + +"Grandier, Grandier, you must buy some at the market." + +Barre at once declared that these wild and whirling words were a proof +of possession, and approached to exorcise the demon; but Sister Claire +resisted, and pretending to spit in the face of the exorcist, put out +her tongue at him, making indecent gestures, using a word in harmony +with her actions. This word being in the vernacular was understood by +everyone and required no interpretation. + +The exorcist then conjured her to give the name of the demon who was in +her, and she replied-- + +"Grandier." + +But Barre by repeating his question gave her to understand that she had +made a mistake, whereupon she corrected herself and said-- + +"Elimi." + +Nothing in the world could induce her to reveal the number of evil +spirits by whom Elimi was accompanied, so that Barre, seeing that it was +useless to press her on this point, passed on to the next question. + +"Quo pacto ingressus est daemon"(By what pact did the demon get in?). + +"Duplex" (Double), returned Sister Claire. + +This horror of the ablative, when the ablative was absolutely necessary, +aroused once more the hilarity of the audience, and proved that Sister +Claire's devil was just as poor a Latin scholar as the superior's, and +Barre, fearing some new linguistic eccentricity on the part of the evil +spirit, adjourned the meeting to another day. + +The paucity of learning shown in the answers of the nuns being +sufficient to convince any fairminded person that the whole affair was a +ridiculous comedy, the bailiff felt encouraged to persevere until he had +unravelled the whole plot. Consequently, at three o'clock in the +afternoon, he returned to the convent, accompanied by his clerk, by +several magistrates, and by a considerable number of the best known +people of Loudun, and asked to see the superior. Being admitted, he +announced to Barre that he had come to insist on the superior being +separated from Sister Claire, so that each could be exorcised apart. +Barre dared not refuse before such a great number of witnesses, +therefore the superior was isolated and the exorcisms begun all over +again. Instantly the convulsions returned, just as in the morning, only +that now she twisted her feet into the form of hooks, which was a new +accomplishment. + +Having adjured her several times, the exorcist succeeded in making her +repeat some prayers, and then sounded her as to the name and number of +the demons in possession, whereupon she said three times that there was +one called Achaos. The bailiff then directed Barre to ask if she were +possessed 'ex pacto magi, aut ex Aura voluntate Dei' (by a pact with a +sorcerer or by the pure will of God), to which the superior answered + +"Non est voluutas Dei" (Not by the will of God). + +Upon this, Barre dreading more questions from the bystanders, hastily +resumed his own catechism by asking who was the sorcerer. + +"Urbanus," answered the superior. + +"Est-ne Urbanus papa" (Is it Pope Urban?), asked the exorcist. + +"Grandier," replied the superior. + +"Quare ingressus es in corpus hujus puellae" (Why did you enter the body +of this maiden?), said Barre. + +"Propter praesentiam tuum" (Because of your presence), answered the +superior. + +At this point the bailiff, seeing no reason why the dialogue between +Barre and the superior should ever come to an end, interposed and +demanded that questions suggested by him and the other officials present +should be put to the superior, promising that if she answered three of +four such questions correctly, he, and those with him, would believe in +the reality of the possession, and would certify to that effect. Barre +accepted the challenge, but unluckily just at that moment the superior +regained consciousness, and as it was already late, everyone retired. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +The next day, November 25th, the bailiff and the majority of the +officers of the two jurisdictions came to the convent once more, and +were all conducted to the choir. In a few moments the curtains behind +the grating were drawn back, and the superior, lying on her bed, came to +view. Barre began, as usual, by the celebration of mass, during which +the superior was seized with convulsions, and exclaimed two or three +times, "Grandier! Grandier! false priest!" When the mass was over, the +celebrant went behind the grating, carrying the pyx; then, placing it on +his head and holding it there, he protested that in all he was doing he +was actuated by the purest motives and the highest integrity; that he +had no desire to harm anyone on earth; and he adjured God to strike him +dead if he had been guilty of any bad action or collusion, or had +instigated the nuns to any deceit during the investigation. + +The prior of the Carmelites next advanced and made the same declaration, +taking the oath in the same manner, holding the pyx over his head; and +further calling down on himself and his brethren the curse of Korah, +Dathan, and Abiram if they had sinned during this inquiry. These +protestations did not, however, produce the salutary effect intended, +some of those present saying aloud that such oaths smacked of sacrilege. + +Barre hearing the murmurs, hastened to begin the exorcisms, first +advancing to the superior to offer her the holy sacrament: but as soon +as she caught sight of him she became terribly convulsed, and attempted +to drag the pyx from his hands. Barre, however, by pronouncing the +sacred words, overcame the repulsion of the superior, and succeeded in +placing the wafer in her mouth; she, however, pushed it out again with +her tongue, as if it made her sick; Barge caught it in his fingers and +gave it to her again, at the same time forbidding the demon to make her +vomit, and this time she succeeded in partly swallowing the sacred +morsel, but complained that it stuck in her throat. At last, in order to +get it down, Barge three times gave her water to drink; and then, as +always during his exorcisms, he began by interrogating the demon. + +"Per quod pactum ingressus es in corpus hujus puellae?" (By what pact +didst thou enter the body of this maiden?) + +"Aqua" ( By water), said the superior. + +One of those who had accompanied the bailiff was a Scotchman called +Stracan, the head of the Reformed College of Loudun. Hearing this +answer, he called on the demon to translate aqua into Gaelic, saying if +he gave this proof of having those linguistic attainments which all bad +spirits possess, he and those with him would be convinced that the +possession was genuine and no deception. Barre, without being in the +least taken aback, replied that he would make the demon say it if God +permitted, and ordered the spirit to answer in Gaelic. But though he +repeated his command twice, it was not obeyed; on the third repetition +the superior said-- + +"Nimia curiositas" (Too much curiosity), and on being asked again, +said-- + +"Deus non volo." + +This time the poor devil went astray in his conjugation, and confusing +the first with the third person, said, "God, I do not wish," which in +the context had no meaning. "God does not wish," being the appointed +answer. + +The Scotchman laughed heartily at this nonsense, and proposed to Barre +to let his devil enter into competition with the boys of his seventh +form; but Barre, instead of frankly accepting the challenge in the +devil's name, hemmed and hawed, and opined that the devil was justified +in not satisfying idle curiosity. + +"But, sir, you must be aware," said the civil lieutenant, "and if you +are not, the manual you hold in your hand will teach you, that the gift +of tongues is one of the unfailing symptoms of true possession, and the +power to tell what is happening at a distance another." + +"Sir," returned Barre, "the devil knows the language very well, but, +does not wish to speak it; he also knows all your sins, in proof of +which, if you so desire, I shall order him to give the list." + +"I shall be delighted to hear it," said the civil lieutenant; "be so +good as to try the experiment." + +Barre was about to approach the superior, when he was held back by the +bailiff, who remonstrated with him on the impropriety of his conduct, +whereupon Barre assured the magistrate that he had never really intended +to do as he threatened. + +However, in spite of all Barre's attempts to distract the attention of +the bystanders from the subject, they still persisted in desiring to +discover the extent of the devil's knowledge of foreign languages, and +at their suggestion the bailiff proposed to Barre to try him in Hebrew +instead of Gaelic. Hebrew being, according to Scripture, the most +ancient language of all, ought to be familiar to the demon, unless +indeed he had forgotten it. This idea met with such general applause +that Barre was forced to command the possessed nun to say aqua in +Hebrew. The poor woman, who found it difficult enough to repeat +correctly the few Latin words she had learned by rote, made an impatient +movement, and said-- + +"I can't help it; I retract" (Je renie). + +These words being heard and repeated by those near her produced such an +unfavourable impression that one of the Carmelite monks tried to explain +them away by declaring that the superior had not said "Je renie," but +"Zaquay," a Hebrew word corresponding to the two Latin words, "Effudi +aquam" (I threw water about). But the words "Je renie" had been heard so +distinctly that the monk's assertion was greeted with jeers, and the +sub-prior reprimanded him publicly as a liar. Upon this, the superior +had a fresh attack of convulsions, and as all present knew that these +attacks usually indicated that the performance was about to end, they +withdrew, making very merry over a devil who knew neither Hebrew nor +Gaelic, and whose smattering of Latin was so incorrect. + +However, as the bailiff and civil lieutenant were determined to clear up +every doubt so far as they still felt any, they went once again to the +convent at three o'clock the same afternoon. Barre came out to meet +them, and took them for a stroll in the convent grounds. During their +walk he said to the civil lieutenant that he felt very much surprised +that he, who had on a former occasion, by order of the Bishop of +Poitiers, laid information against Grandier should be now on his side. +The civil lieutenant replied that he would be ready to inform against +him again if there were any justification, but at present his object was +to arrive at the truth, and in this he felt sure he should be +successful. Such an answer was very unsatisfactory to Barre; so, drawing +the bailiff aside, he remarked to him that a man among whose ancestors +were many persons of condition, several of whom had held positions of +much dignity in the Church, and who himself held such an important +judicial position, ought to show less incredulity in regard to the +possibility of a devil entering into a human body, since if it were +proved it would redound to the glory of God and the good of the Church +and of religion. The bailiff received this remonstrance with marked +coldness, and replied that he hoped always to take justice for his +guide, as his duty commanded. Upon this, Barre pursued the subject no +farther, but led the way to the superior's apartment. + +Just as they entered the room, where a large number of people were +already gathered, the superior, catching sight of the pyx which Barre +had brought with him, fell once more into convulsions. Barre went +towards her, and having asked the demon as usual by what pact he had +entered the maiden's body, and received the information that it was by +water, continued his examination as follows: + +"Quis finis pacti" (What is the object of this pact?) + +"Impuritas" (Unchastity). + +At these words the bailiff interrupted the exorcist and ordered him to +make the demon say in Greek the three words, 'finis, pacti, impuritas'. +But the superior, who had once already got out of her difficulties by an +evasive answer, had again recourse to the same convenient phrase, "Nimia +curiositas," with which Barre agreed, saying that they were indeed too +much given to curiosity. So the bailiff had to desist from his attempt +to make the demon speak Greek, as he had before been obliged to give up +trying to make him speak Hebrew and Gaelic. Barre then continued his +examination. + +"Quis attulit pactum?" (Who brought the pact?) + +"Magus" (The sorcerer). + +"Quale nomen magi?" (What is the sorcerer's name?) + +"Urbanus" (Urban). + +"Quis Urbanus? Est-ne Urbanus papa?" + +(What Urban? Pope Urban?) + +"Grandier." + +"Cujus qualitatis?" (What is his profession?) + +"Curcatus." + +The enriching of the Latin language by this new and unknown word +produced a great effect on the audience; however, Barre did not pause +long enough to allow it to be received with all the consideration it +deserved, but went on at once. + +"Quis attulit aquam pacti?" (Who brought the water of the pact?) + +"Magus" (The magician). + +"Qua hora?" (At what o'clock?) + +"Septima" (At seven o'clock). + +"An matutina?" (In the morning?) + +"Sego" (In the evening). + +"Quomodo intravit?" (How did he enter?) + +"Janua" (By the door). + +"Quis vidit?" (Who saw him?) + +"Tres" (Three persons). + +Here Barre stopped, in order to confirm the testimony of the devil, +assuring his hearers that the Sunday after the superior's deliverance +from the second possession he along with Mignon and one of the sisters +was sitting with her at supper, it being about seven o'clock in the +evening, when she showed them drops of water on her arm, and no one +could tell where they came from. He had instantly washed her arm in holy +water and repeated some prayers, and while he was saying them the +breviary of the superior was twice dragged from her hands and thrown at +his feet, and when he stooped to pick it up for the second time he got a +box on the ear without being able to see the hand that administered it. +Then Mignon came up and confirmed what Barre had said in a long +discourse, which he wound up by calling down upon his head the most +terrible penalties if every word he said were not the exact truth. He +then dismissed the assembly, promising to drive out the evil spirit the +next day, and exhorting those present to prepare themselves, by +penitence and receiving the holy communion, for the contemplation of the +wonders which awaited them. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +The last two exorcisms had been so much talked about in the town, that +Grandier, although he had not been present, knew everything that had +happened, down to the smallest detail, so he once more laid a complaint +before the bailiff, in which he represented that the nuns maliciously +continued to name him during the exorcisms as the author of their +pretended possession, being evidently influenced thereto by his enemies, +whereas in fact not only had he had no communication with them, but had +never set eyes on them; that in order to prove that they acted under +influence it was absolutely necessary that they should be sequestered, +it being most unjust that Mignon and Barre, his mortal enemies, should +have constant access to them and be able to stay with them night and +day, their doing so making the collusion evident and undeniable; that +the honour of God was involved, and also that of the petitioner, who had +some right to be respected, seeing that he was first in rank among the +ecclesiastics of the town. + +Taking all this into consideration, he consequently prayed the bailiff +to be pleased to order that the nuns buffering from the so-called +possession should at once be separated from each other and from their +present associates, and placed under the control of clerics assisted by +physicians in whose impartiality the petitioner could have confidence; +and he further prayed that all this should be performed in spite of any +opposition or appeal whatsoever (but without prejudice to the right of +appeal), because of the importance of the matter. And in case the +bailiff were not pleased to order the sequestration, the petitioner +would enter a protest and complaint against his refusal as a withholding +of justice. + +The bailiff wrote at the bottom of the petition that it would be at once +complied with. + +After Urbain Grandier had departed, the physicians who had been present +at the exorcisms presented themselves before the bailiff, bringing their +report with them. In this report they said that they had recognised +convulsive movements of the mother superior's body, but that one visit +was not sufficient to enable them to make a thorough diagnosis, as the +movements above mentioned might arise as well from a natural as from +supernatural causes; they therefore desired to be afforded opportunity +for a thorough examination before being called on to pronounce an +opinion. To this end they required permission to spend several days and +nights uninterruptedly in the same room with the patients, and to treat +them in the presence of other nuns and some of the magistrates. Further, +they required that all the food and medicine should pass through the +doctors' hands, and that no one, should touch the patients except quite +openly, or speak to them except in an audible voice. Under these +conditions they would undertake to find out the true cause of the +convulsions and to make a report of the same. + +It being now nine o'clock in the morning, the hour when the exorcisms +began, the bailiff went over at once to the convent, and found Barre +half way through the mass, and the superior in convulsions. The +magistrate entered the church at the moment of the elevation of the +Host, and noticed among the kneeling Catholics a young man called +Dessentier standing up with his hat on. He ordered him either to uncover +or to go away. At this the convulsive movements of the superior became +more violent, and she cried out that there were Huguenots in the church, +which gave the demon great power over her. Barre asked her how many +there were present, and she replied, "Two," thus proving that the devil +was no stronger in arithmetic than in Latin; for besides Dessentier, +Councillor Abraham Gauthier, one of his brothers, four of his sisters, +Rene Fourneau, a deputy, and an attorney called Angevin, all of the +Reformed faith, were present. + +As Barre saw that those present were greatly struck, by this numerical +inaccuracy, he tried to turn their thoughts in another direction by +asking the superior if it were true that she knew no Latin. On her +replying that she did not know a single word, he held the pyx before her +and ordered her to swear by the holy sacrament. She resisted at first, +saying loud enough for those around her to hear-- + +"My father, you make me take such solemn oaths that I fear God will +punish me." + +To this Barre replied-- + +"My daughter, you must swear for the glory of God." + +And she took the oath. + +Just then one of the bystanders remarked that the mother superior was in +the habit of interpreting the Catechism to her scholars. This she +denied, but acknowledged that she used to translate the Paternoster and +the Creed for them. As the superior felt herself becoming somewhat +confused at this long series of embarrassing questions, she decided on +going into convulsions again, but with only moderate success, for the +bailiff insisted that the exorcists should ask her where Grandier was at +that very moment. Now, as the ritual teaches that one of the proofs of +possession is the faculty of telling, when asked, where people are, +without seeing them, and as the question was propounded in the +prescribed terms, she was bound to answer, so she said that Grandier was +in the great hall of the castle. + +"That is not correct," said the bailiff, "for before coming here I +pointed out a house to Grandier and asked him to stay in it till I came +back. If anybody will go there, they will be sure to find him, for he +wished to help me to discover the truth without my being obliged to +resort to sequestration, which is a difficult measure to take with +regard to nuns." + +Barre was now ordered to send some of the monks present to the castle, +accompanied by a magistrate and a clerk. Barre chose the Carmelite +prior, and the bailiff Charles Chauvet, assessor of the bailiwick, +Ismael Boulieau a priest, and Pierre Thibaut, an articled clerk, who all +set out at once to execute their commission, while the rest of those +present were to await their return. + +Meanwhile the superior, who had not spoken a word since the bailiff's +declaration, remained, in spite of repeated exorcisms, dumb, so Barre +sent for Sister Claire, saying that one devil would encourage the other. +The bailiff entered a formal protest against this step, insisting that +the only result of a double exorcism would be to cause confusion, during +which suggestions might be conveyed to the superior, and that the proper +thing to do was, before beginning new conjurations, to await the return +of the messengers. Although the bailiff's suggestion was most +reasonable, Barre knew better than to adopt it, for he felt that no +matter what it cost he must either get rid of the bailiff and all the +other officials who shared his doubts, or find means with the help of +Sister Claire to delude them into belief. The lay sister was therefore +brought in, in spite of the opposition of the bailiff and the other +magistrates, and as they did not wish to seem to countenance a fraud, +they all withdrew, declaring that they could no longer look on at such a +disgusting comedy. In the courtyard they met their messengers returning, +who told them they had gone first to the castle and had searched the +great hall and all the other rooms without seeing anything of Grandier; +they had then gone to the house mentioned by the bailiff, where they +found him for whom they were looking, in the company of Pere Veret, the +confessor of the nuns, Mathurin Rousseau, and Nicolas Benoit, canons, +and Conte, a doctor, from whom they learned that Grandier had not been +an instant out of their sight for the last two hours. This being all the +magistrates wanted to know, they went home, while their envoys went +upstairs and told their story, which produced the effect which might be +expected. Thereupon a Carmelite brother wishing to weaken the +impression, and thinking that the devil might be more lucky in his, +second guess than the first, asked the superior where Grandier was just +then. She answered without the slightest hesitation that he was walking +with the bailiff in the church of Sainte-Croix. A new deputation was at +once sent off, which finding the church empty, went on to the palace, +and saw the bailiff presiding at a court. He had gone direct from the +convent to the palace, and had not yet seen Grandier. The same day the +nuns sent word that they would not consent to any more exorcisms being +performed in the presence of the bailiff and the officials who usually +accompanied him, and that for the future they were determined to answer +no questions before such witnesses. + +Grandier learning of this piece of insolence, which prevented the only +man on whose impartiality he could reckon from being henceforward +present at the exorcisms, once more handed in a petition to the bailiff, +begging for the sequestration of the two nuns, no matter at what risk. +The bailiff, however, in the interests of the petitioner himself, did +not dare to grant this request, for he was afraid that the +ecclesiastical authorities would nullify his procedure, on the ground +that the convent was not under his jurisdiction. + +He, however, summoned a meeting of the principal inhabitants of the +town, in order to consult with them as to the best course to take for +the public good. The conclusion they arrived at was to write to the +attorney-general and to the Bishop of Poitiers, enclosing copies of the +reports which had been drawn up, and imploring them to use their +authority to put an end to these pernicious intrigues. This was done, +but the attorney-general replied that the matter being entirely +ecclesiastical the Parliament was not competent to take cognisance of +it. As for the bishop, he sent no answer at all. + +He was not, however, so silent towards Grandier's enemies; for the +ill-success of the exorcisms of November 26th having made increased +precautions necessary, they considered it would be well to apply to the +bishop for a new commission, wherein he should appoint certain +ecclesiastics to represent him during the exorcisms to come. Barre +himself went to Poitiers to make this request. It was immediately +granted, and the bishop appointed Bazile, senior-canon of Champigny, and +Demorans, senior canon of Thouars, both of whom were related to some of +Grandier's adversaries. The following is a copy of the new commission: + +"Henri-Louis le Chataignier de la Rochepezai, by the divine will Bishop +of Poitiers, to the senior canons of the Chatelet de Saint-Pierre de +Thouars et de Champigny-sur-Vese, greeting: + +"We by these presents command you to repair to the town of Loudun, to +the convent of the nuns of Sainte-Ursule, to be present at the exorcisms +which will be undertaken by Sieur Barre upon some nuns of the said +convent who are tormented by evil spirits, we having thereto authorised +the said Barre. You are also to draw up a report of all that takes +place, and for this purpose are to take any clerk you may choose with +you. + +"Given and done at Poitiers, November 28th, 1632. + +"(Signed) HENRI LOUIS, Bishop of Poitiers. "(Countersigned) By order of +the said Lord Bishop, "MICHELET" + +These two commissioners having been notified beforehand, went to Loudun, +where Marescot, one of the queen's chaplains, arrived at the same time; +for the pious queen, Anne of Austria, had heard so many conflicting +accounts of the possession of the Ursuline nuns, that she desired, for +her own edification, to get to the bottom of the affair. We can judge +what importance the case was beginning to assume by its being already +discussed at court. + +In spite of the notice which had been sent them that the nuns would not +receive them, the bailiff and the civil lieutenant fearing that the +royal envoy would allow himself to be imposed on, and would draw up an +account which would cast doubt on the facts contained in their reports, +betook themselves to the convent on December 1st, the day on which the +exorcisms were to recommence, in the presence of the new commissioners. +They were accompanied by their assessor, by the provost's lieutenant, +and a clerk. They had to knock repeatedly before anyone seemed to hear +them, but at length a nun opened the door and told them they could not +enter, being suspected of bad faith, as they had publicly declared that +the possession was a fraud and an imposture. The bailiff, without +wasting his time arguing with the sister, asked to see Barre, who soon +appeared arrayed in his priestly vestments, and surrounded by several +persons, among whom was the queen's chaplain. The bailiff complained +that admittance had been refused to him and those with him, although he +had been authorised to visit the convent by the Bishop of Poitiers. +Barre' replied that he would not hinder their coming in, as far as it +concerned him. + +"We are here with the intention of entering," said the bailiff, "and +also for the purpose of requesting you to put one or two questions to +the demon which we have drawn up in terms which are in accordance with +what is prescribed in the ritual. I am sure you will not refuse," he +added, turning with a bow to Marescot, "to make this experiment in the +presence of the queen's chaplain, since by that means all those +suspicions of imposture can be removed which are unfortunately so rife +concerning this business." + +"In that respect I shall do as I please, and not as you order me," was +the insolent reply of the exorcist. + +"It is, however, your duty to follow legal methods in your procedure," +returned the bailiff, "if you sincerely desire the truth; for it would +be an affront to God to perform a spurious miracle in His honour, and a +wrong to the Catholic faith, whose power is in its truth, to attempt to +give adventitious lustre to its doctrines by the aid of fraud and +deception." + +"Sir," said Barre, "I am a man of honour, I know my duty and I shall +discharge it; but as to yourself, I must recall to your recollection +that the last time you were here you left the chapel in anger and +excitement, which is an attitude of mind most unbecoming in one whose +duty it is to administer justice." + +Seeing that these recriminations would have no practical result, the +magistrates cut them short by reiterating their demand for admittance; +and on this being refused, they reminded the exorcists that they were +expressly prohibited from asking any questions tending to cast a slur on +the character of any person or persons whatever, under pain of being +treated as disturbers of the public peace. At this warning Barre, saying +that he did not acknowledge the bailiff's jurisdiction, shut the door in +the faces of the two magistrates. + +As there was no time to lose if the machinations of his enemies were to +be brought to nought, the bailiff and the civil lieutenant advised +Grandier to write to the Archbishop of Bordeaux, who had once already +extricated him from imminent danger, setting forth at length his present +predicament; this letter; accompanied by the reports drawn up by the +bailiff and the civil lieutenant, were sent off at once by a trusty +messenger to His Grace of Escoubleau de Sourdis. As soon as he received +the despatches, the worthy prelate seeing how grave was the crisis, and +that the slightest delay might be fatal to Grandier, set out at once for +his abbey of Saint-Jouinles-Marmes, the place in which he had already +vindicated in so striking a manner the upright character of the poor +persecuted priest by a fearless act of justice. + +It is not difficult to realise what a blow his arrival was to those who +held a brief for the evil spirits in possession; hardly had he reached +Saint-Jouin than he sent his own physician to the convent with orders to +see the afflicted nuns and to test their condition, in order to judge if +the convulsions were real or simulated. The physician arrived, armed +with a letter from the archbishop, ordering Mignon to permit the bearer +to make a thorough examination into the position of affairs. Mignon +received the physician with all the respect due to him who sent him, but +expressed great regret that he had not come a little sooner, as, thanks +to his (Mignon's) exertions and those of Barre, the devils had been +exorcised the preceding day. He nevertheless introduced the archbishop's +envoy to the presence of the superior and Sister Claire, whose demeanour +was as calm as if they had never been disturbed by any agitating' +experiences. Mignon's statement being thus confirmed, the doctor +returned to Saint-Jouin, the only thing to which he could bear testimony +being the tranquillity which reigned at the moment in the convent. + +The imposture being now laid so completely bare, the archbishop was +convinced that the infamous persecutions to which it had led would cease +at once and for ever; but Grandier, better acquainted with the character +of his adversaries, arrived on the 27th of December at the abbey and +laid a petition at the archbishop's feet. In this document he set forth +that his enemies having formerly brought false and slanderous +accusations, against him of which, through the justice of the +archbishop, he had been able to clear himself, had employed themselves +during the last three months in inventing and publishing as a fact that +the petitioner had sent evil spirits into the bodies of nuns in the +Ursuline convent of Loudun, although he had never spoken to any of the +sisterhood there; that the guardianship of the sisters who, it was +alleged, were possessed, and the task of exorcism, had been entrusted to +Jean Mignon and Pierre Barre, who had in the most unmistakable manner +shown themselves to be the mortal enemies of the petitioner; that in the +reports drawn up by the said Jean Mignon and Pierre Barre, which +differed so widely from those made by the bailiff and the civil +lieutenant, it was boastfully alleged that three or four times devils +had been driven out, but that they had succeeded in returning and taking +possession of their victims again and again, in virtue of successive +pacts entered into between the prince of darkness and the petitioner; +that the aim of these reports and allegations was to destroy the +reputation of the petitioner and excite public opinion against him; that +although the demons had been put to flight by the arrival of His Grace, +yet it was too probable that as soon as he was gone they would return to +the charge; that if, such being the case, the powerful support of the +archbishop were not available, the innocence of the petitioner, no +matter how strongly established, would by the cunning tactics of his +inveterate foes be obscured and denied: he, the petitioner, therefore +prayed that, should the foregoing reasons prove on examination to be +cogent, the archbishop would be pleased to prohibit Barre, Mignon, and +their partisans, whether among the secular or the regular clergy, from +taking part in any future exorcisms, should such be necessary, or in the +control of any persons alleged to be possessed; furthermore, petitioner +prayed that His Grace would be pleased to appoint as a precautionary +measure such other clerics and lay persons as seemed to him suitable, to +superintend the administration of food and medicine and the rite of +exorcism to those alleged to be possessed, and that all the treatment +should be carried out in the presence of magistrates. + +The archbishop accepted the petition, and wrote below it: + +"The present petition having been seen by us and the opinion of our +attorney having been taken in the matter, we have sent the petitioner in +advance of our said attorney back to Poitiers, that justice may be done +him, and in the meantime we have appointed Sieur Barre, Pere l'Escaye, a +Jesuit residing in Poitiers, Pere Gaut of the Oratory, residing at +Tours, to conduct the exorcisms, should such be necessary, and have +given them an order to this effect. + +"It is forbidden to all others to meddle with the said exorcisms, on +pain of being punished according to law." + +It will be seen from the above that His Grace the Archbishop of +Bordeaux, in his enlightened and generous exercise of justice, had +foreseen and provided for every possible contingency; so that as soon as +his orders were made known to the exorcists the possession ceased at +once and completely, and was no longer even talked of. Barre withdrew to +Chinon, the senior canons rejoined their chapters, and the nuns, happily +rescued for the time, resumed their life of retirement and tranquillity. +The archbishop nevertheless urged on Grandier the prudence of effecting +an exchange of benefices, but he replied that he would not at that +moment change his simple living of Loudun for a bishopric. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +The exposure of the plot was most prejudicial to the prosperity of the +Ursuline community: spurious possession, far from bringing to their +convent an increase of subscriptions and enhancing their reputation, as +Mignon had promised, had ended for them in open shame, while in private +they suffered from straitened circumstances, for the parents of their +boarders hastened to withdraw their daughters from the convent, and the +nuns in losing their pupils lost their sole source of income. Their, +fall in the estimation of the public filled them with despair, and it +leaked out that they had had several altercations with their director, +during which they reproached him for having, by making them commit such +a great sin, overwhelmed them with infamy and reduced them to misery, +instead of securing for them the great spiritual and temporal advantages +he had promised them. Mignon, although devoured by hate, was obliged to +remain quiet, but he was none the less as determined as ever to have +revenge, and as he was one of those men who never give up while a gleam +of hope remains, and whom no waiting can tire, he bided his time, +avoiding notice, apparently resigned to circumstances, but keeping his +eyes fixed on Grandier, ready to seize on the first chance of recovering +possession of the prey that had escaped his hands. And unluckily the +chance soon presented itself. + +It was now 1633: Richelieu was at the height of his power, carrying out +his work of destruction, making castles fall before him where he could +not make heads fall, in the spirit of John Knox's words, "Destroy the +nests and the crows will disappear." Now one of these nests was the +crenellated castle of Loudun, and Richelieu had therefore ordered its +demolition. + +The person appointed to carry out this order was a man such as those +whom Louis XI. had employed fifty years earlier to destroy the feudal +system, and Robespierre one hundred and fifty years later to destroy the +aristocracy. Every woodman needs an axe, every reaper a sickle, and +Richelieu found the instrument he required in de Laubardemont, +Councillor of State. + +But he was an instrument full of intelligence, detecting by the manner +in which he was wielded the moving passion of the wielder, and adapting +his whole nature with marvellous dexterity to gratify that passion +according to the character of him whom it possessed; now by a rough and +ready impetuosity, now by a deliberate and hidden advance; equally +willing to strike with the sword or to poison by calumny, as the man who +moved him lusted for the blood or sought to accomplish the dishonour of +his victim. + + M. de Laubardemont arrived at Loudun during the month of August 1633, + and in order to carry out his mission addressed himself to Sieur + Memin de Silly, prefect of the town, that old friend of the + cardinal's whom Mignon and Barre, as we have said, had impressed so + favourably. Memin saw in the arrival of Laubardemont a special + intimation that it was the will of Heaven that the seemingly lost + cause of those in whom he took such a warm interest should + ultimately triumph. He presented Mignon and all his friends to M. + Laubardemont, who received them with much cordiality. They talked + of the mother superior, who was a relation, as we have seen, of M. + de Laubardemont, and exaggerated the insult offered her by the + decree of the archbishop, saying it was an affront to the whole + family; and before long the one thing alone which occupied the + thoughts of the conspirators and the councillor was how best to + draw down upon Grandier the anger of the cardinal-duke. A way soon + opened. + +The Queen mother, Marie de Medici, had among her attendants a woman +called Hammon, to whom, having once had occasion to speak, she had taken +a fancy, and given a post near her person. In consequence of this whim, +Hammon came to be regarded as a person of some importance in the queen's +household. Hammon was a native of Loudun, and had passed the greater +part of her youth there with her own people, who belonged to the lower +classes. Grandier had been her confessor, and she attended his church, +and as she was lively and clever he enjoyed talking to her, so that at +length an intimacy sprang up between them. It so happened at a time when +he and the other ministers were in momentary disgrace, that a satire +full of biting wit and raillery appeared, directed especially against +the cardinal, and this satire had been attributed to Hammon, who was +known to share, as was natural, her mistress's hatred of Richelieu. +Protected as she was by the queen's favour, the cardinal had found it +impossible to punish Hammon, but he still cherished a deep resentment +against her. + +It now occurred to the conspirators to accuse Grandier of being the real +author of the satire; and it was asserted that he had learned from +Hammon all the details of the cardinal's private life, the knowledge of +which gave so much point to the attack on him; if they could once +succeed in making Richelieu believe this, Grandier was lost. + +This plan being decided on, M. de Laubardemont was asked to visit the +convent, and the devils knowing what an important personage he was, +flocked thither to give him a worthy welcome. Accordingly, the nuns had +attacks of the most indescribably violent convulsions, and M. de +Laubardemont returned to Paris convinced as to the reality of their +possession. + +The first word the councillor of state said to the cardinal about Urbain +Grandier showed him that he had taken useless trouble in inventing the +story about the satire, for by the bare mention of his name he was able +to arouse the cardinal's anger to any height he wished. The fact was, +that when Richelieu had been Prior of Coussay he and Grandier had had a +quarrel on a question of etiquette, the latter as priest of Loudun +having claimed precedence over the prior, and carried his point. The +cardinal had noted the affront in his bloodstained tablets, and at the +first hint de Laubardemont found him as eager to bring about Grandier's +ruin as was the councillor himself. + +De Laubardemont was at once granted the following commission: + +"Sieur de Laubardemont, Councillor of State and Privy Councillor, will +betake himself to Loudun, and to whatever other places may be necessary, +to institute proceedings against Grandier on all the charges formerly +preferred against him, and on other facts which have since come to +light, touching the possession by evil spirits of the Ursuline nuns of +Loudun, and of other persons, who are said like wise to be tormented of +devils through the evil practices of the said Grandier; he will +diligently investigate everything from the beginning that has any +bearing either on the said possession or on the exorcisms, and will +forward to us his report thereon, and the reports and other documents +sent in by former commissioners and delegates, and will be present at +all future exorcisms, and take proper steps to obtain evidence of the +said facts, that they may be clearly established; and, above all, will +direct, institute, and carry through the said proceedings against +Grandier and all others who have been involved with him in the said +case, until definitive sentence be passed; and in spite of any appeal or +countercharge this cause will not be delayed (but without prejudice to +the right of appeal in other causes), on account of the nature of the +crimes, and no regard will be paid to any request for postponement made +by the said Grandier. His majesty commands all governors, provincial +lieutenant-generals, bailiffs, seneschals, and other municipal +authorities, and all subjects whom it may concern, to give every +assistance in arresting and imprisoning all persons whom it may be +necessary to put under constraint, if they shall be required so to do." + +Furnished with this order, which was equivalent to a condemnation, de +Laubardemont arrived at Laudun, the 5th of December, 1633, at nine +o'clock in the evening; and to avoid being seen he alighted in a suburb +at the house of one maitre Paul Aubin, king's usher, and son-in-law of +Memin de Silly. His arrival was kept so secret that neither Grandier nor +his friends knew of it, but Memin, Herve Menuau, and Mignon were +notified, and immediately called on him. De Laubardemont received them, +commission in hand, but broad as it was, it did not seem to them +sufficient, for it contained no order for Grandier's arrest, and +Grandier might fly. De Laubardemont, smiling at the idea that he could +be so much in fault, drew from his pocket an order in duplicate, in case +one copy should be lost, dated like the commission, November 30th, +signed LOUIS, and countersigned PHILIPPEAUX. It was conceived in the +following terms: + +LOUIS, etc. etc. "We have entrusted these presents to Sieur de +Laubardemont, Privy Councillor, to empower the said Sieur de +Laubardemont to arrest Grandier and his accomplices and imprison them in +a secure place, with orders to all provosts, marshals, and other +officers, and to all our subjects in general, to lend whatever +assistance is necessary to carry out above order; and they are commanded +by these presents to obey all orders given by the said Sieur; and all +governors and lieutenants-general are also hereby commanded to furnish +the said Sieur with whatever aid he may require at their hands." + +This document being the completion of the other, it was immediately +resolved, in order to show that they had the royal authority at their +back, and as a preventive measure, to arrest Grandier at once, without +any preliminary investigation. They hoped by this step to intimidate any +official who might still be inclined to take Grandier's part, and any +witness who might be disposed to testify in his favour. Accordingly, +they immediately sent for Guillaume Aubin, Sieur de Lagrange and +provost's lieutenant. De Laubardemont communicated to him the commission +of the cardinal and the order of the king, and requested him to arrest +Grandier early next morning. M. de Lagrange could not deny the two +signatures, and answered that he would obey; but as he foresaw from +their manner of going to work that the proceedings about to be +instituted would be an assassination and not a fair trial, he sent, in +spite of being a distant connection of Memin, whose daughter was married +to his (Lagrange's) brother, to warn Grandier of the orders he had +received. But Grandier with his usual intrepidity, while thanking +Lagrange for his generous message, sent back word that, secure in his +innocence and relying on the justice of God, he was determined to stand +his ground. + +So Grandier remained, and his brother, who slept beside him, declared +that his sleep that night was as quiet as usual. The next morning he +rose, as was his habit, at six o'clock, took his breviary in his hand, +and went out with the intention of attending matins at the church of +Sainte-Croix. He had hardly put his foot over the threshold before +Lagrange, in the presence of Memin, Mignon, and the other conspirators, +who had come out to gloat over the sight, arrested him in the name of +the king. He was at once placed in the custody of Jean Pouguet, an +archer in His Majesty's guards, and of the archers of the provosts of +Loudun and Chinon, to be taken to the castle at Angers. Meanwhile a +search was instituted, and the royal seal affixed to the doors of his +apartments, to his presses, his other articles of furniture-in fact, to +every thing and place in the house; but nothing was found that tended to +compromise him, except an essay against the celibacy of priests, and two +sheets of paper whereon were written in another hand than his, some +love-poems in the taste of that time. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +For four months Grandier languished in prison, and, according to the +report of Michelon, commandant of Angers, and of Pierre Bacher, his +confessor, he was, during the whole period, a model of patience and +firmness, passing his days in reading good books or in writing prayers +and meditations, which were afterwards produced at his trial. Meanwhile, +in spite of the urgent appeals of Jeanne Esteye, mother of the accused, +who, although seventy years of age, seemed to recover her youthful +strength and activity in the desire to save her son, Laubardemont +continued the examination, which was finished on April 4th. Urbain was +then brought back from Angers to Loudun. + +An extraordinary cell had been prepared for him in a house belonging to +Mignon, and which had formerly been occupied by a sergeant named +Bontems, once clerk to Trinquant, who had been a witness for the +prosecution in the first trial. It was on the topmost story; the windows +had been walled up, leaving only one small slit open, and even this +opening was secured by enormous iron bars; and by an exaggeration of +caution the mouth of the fireplace was furnished with a grating, lest +the devils should arrive through the chimney to free the sorcerer from +his chains. Furthermore, two holes in the corners of the room, so formed +that they were unnoticeable from within, allowed a constant watch to be +kept over Grandier's movements by Bontem's wife, a precaution by which +they hoped to learn something that would help them in the coming +exorcisms. In this room, lying on a little straw, and almost without +light, Grandier wrote the following letter to his mother: + +"MY MOTHER,--I received your letter and everything you sent me except +the woollen stockings. I endure any affliction with patience, and feel +more pity for you than for myself. I am very much inconvenienced for +want of a bed; try and have mine brought to me, for my mind will give +way if my body has no rest: if you can, send me a breviary, a Bible, and +a St. Thomas for my consolation; and above all, do not grieve for me. I +trust that, God will bring my innocence to light. Commend me to my +brother and sister, and all our good friends.--I am, mother, your +dutiful son and servant, "GRANDIER" + +While Grandier had been in prison at Angers the cases of possession at +the convent had miraculously multiplied, for it was no longer only the +superior and Sister Claire who had fallen a prey to the evil spirits, +but also several other sisters, who were divided into three groups as +follows, and separated:-- + +The superior, with Sisters Louise des Anges and Anne de Sainte-Agnes, +were sent to the house of Sieur Delaville, advocate, legal adviser to +the sisterhood; Sisters Claire and Catherine de la Presentation were +placed in the house of Canon Maurat; Sisters Elisabeth de la Croix, +Monique de Sainte-Marthe, Jeanne du Sainte-Esprit, and Seraphique Archer +were in a third house. + +A general supervision was undertaken by Memin's sister, the wife of +Moussant, who was thus closely connected with two of the greatest +enemies of the accused, and to her Bontems' wife told all that the +superior needed to know about Grandier. Such was the manner of the +sequestration! + +The choice of physicians was no less extraordinary. Instead of calling +in the most skilled practitioners of Angers, Tours, Poitiers, or Saumur, +all of them, except Daniel Roger of Loudun, came from the surrounding +villages, and were men of no education: one of them, indeed, had failed +to obtain either degree or licence, and had been obliged to leave Saumur +in consequence; another had been employed in a small shop to take goods +home, a position he had exchanged for the more lucrative one of quack. + +There was just as little sense of fairness and propriety shown in the +choice of the apothecary and surgeon. The apothecary, whose name was +Adam, was Mignon's first cousin, and had been one of the witnesses for +the prosecution at Grandier's first trial; and as on that occasion--he +had libelled a young girl of Loudun, he had been sentenced by a decree +of Parliament to make a public apology. And yet, though his hatred of +Grandier in consequence of this humiliation was so well known,--perhaps +for that very reason, it was to him the duty of dispensing and +administering the prescriptions was entrusted, no one supervising the +work even so far as to see that the proper doses were given, or taking +note whether for sedatives he did not sometimes substitute stimulating +and exciting drugs, capable of producing real convulsions. The surgeon +Mannouri was still more unsuitable, for he was a nephew of Memin de +Silly, and brother of the nun who had offered the most determined +opposition to Grandier's demand for sequestration of the possessed +sisters, during the second series of exorcisms. In vain did the mother +and brother of the accused present petitions setting forth the +incapacity of the doctors and the hatred of Grandier professed by the +apothecary; they could not, even at their own expense, obtain certified +copies of any of these petitions, although they had witnesses ready to +prove that Adam had once in his ignorance dispensed crocus metallorum +for crocus mantis--a mistake which had caused the death of the patient +for whom the prescription was made up. In short, so determined were the +conspirators that this time Grandier should be done to death, that they +had not even the decency to conceal the infamous methods by which they +had arranged to attain this result. + +The examination was carried on with vigour. As one of the first +formalities would be the identification of the accused, Grandier +published a memorial in which he recalled the case of Saint-Anastasius +at the Council of Tyre, who had been accused of immorality by a fallen +woman whom he had never seen before. When this woman entered the hall of +justice in order to swear to her deposition, a priest named Timothy went +up to her and began to talk to her as if he were Anastasius; falling +into the trap, she answered as if she recognised him, and thus the +innocence of the saint was shown forth. Grandier therefore demanded that +two or three persons of his own height and complexion should be dressed +exactly like himself, and with him should be allowed to confront the +nuns. As he had never seen any of them, and was almost certain they had +never seen him, they would not be able, he felt sure, to point him out +with certainty, in spite of the allegations of undue intimacy with +themselves they brought against him. This demand showed such conscious +innocence that it was embarrassing to answer, so no notice was taken of +it. + +Meanwhile the Bishop of Poitiers, who felt much elated at getting the +better of the Archbishop of Bordeaux, who of course was powerless +against an order issued by the cardinal-duke, took exception to Pere +l'Escaye and Pere Gaut, the exorcists appointed by his superior, and +named instead his own chaplain, who had been judge at Grandier's first +trial, and had passed sentence on him, and Pere Lactance, a Franciscan +monk. These two, making no secret of the side with which they +sympathised, put up on their arrival at Nicolas Moussant's, one of +Grandier's most bitter enemies; on the following day they went to the +superior's apartments and began their exorcisms. The first time the +superior opened her lips to reply, Pere Lactance perceived that she knew +almost no Latin, and consequently would not shine during the exorcism, +so he ordered her to answer in French, although he still continued to +exorcise her in Latin; and when someone was bold enough to object, +saying that the devil, according to the ritual, knew all languages +living and dead, and ought to reply in the same language in which he was +addressed, the father declared that the incongruity was caused by the +pact, and that moreover some devils were more ignorant than peasants. + +Following these exorcists, and two Carmelite monks, named Pierre de +Saint-Thomas and Pierre de Saint-Mathurin, who had, from the very +beginning, pushed their way in when anything was going on, came four +Capuchins sent by Pere Joseph, head of the Franciscans, "His grey +Eminence," as he was called, and whose names were Peres Luc, Tranquille, +Potais, and Elisee; so that a much more rapid advance could be made than +hitherto by carrying on the exorcisms in four different places at +once--viz., in the convent, and in the churches of Sainte-Croix, +Saint-Pierre du Martroy, and Notre-Dame du Chateau. Very little of +importance took place, however, on the first two occasions, the 15th and +16th of April; for the declarations of the doctors were most vague and +indefinite, merely saying that the things they had seen were +supernatural, surpassing their knowledge and the rules of medicine. + +The ceremony of the 23rd April presented, however, some points of +interest. The superior, in reply to the interrogations of Pere Lactance, +stated that the demon had entered her body under the forms of a cat, a +dog, a stag, and a buck-goat. + +"Quoties?" (How often?), inquired the exorcist. + +"I didn't notice the day," replied the superior, mistaking the word +quoties for quando (when). + +It was probably to revenge herself for this error that the superior +declared the same day that Grandier had on his body five marks made by +the devil, and that though his body was else insensible to pain, he was +vulnerable at those spots. Mannouri, the surgeon, was therefore ordered +to verify this assertion, and the day appointed for the verification was +the 26th. + +In virtue of this mandate Mannouri presented himself early on that day +at Grandier's prison, caused him to be stripped naked and cleanly +shaven, then ordered him to be laid on a table and his eyes bandaged. +But the devil was wrong again: Grandier had only two marks, instead of +five--one on the shoulder-blade, and the other on the thigh. + +Then took place one of the most abominable performances that can be +imagined. Mannouri held in his hand a probe, with a hollow handle, into +which the needle slipped when a spring was touched: when Mannouri +applied the probe to those parts of Grandier's body which, according to +the superior, were insensible, he touched the spring, and the needle, +while seeming to bury itself in the flesh, really retreated into the +handle, thus causing no pain; but when he touched one of the marks said +to be vulnerable, he left the needle fixed, and drove it in to the depth +of several inches. The first time he did this it drew from poor +Grandier, who was taken unprepared, such a piercing cry that it was +heard in the street by the crowd which had gathered round the door. From +the mark on the shoulder-blade with which he had commenced, Mannouri +passed to that on the thigh, but though he plunged the needle in to its +full depth Grandier uttered neither cry nor groan, but went on quietly +repeating a prayer, and notwithstanding that Mannouri stabbed him twice +more through each of the two marks, he could draw nothing from his +victim but prayers for his tormentors. + + M. de Laubardemont was present at this scene. + +The next day the devil was addressed in such forcible terms that an +acknowledgment was wrung from him that Grandier's body bore, not five, +but two marks only; and also, to the vast admiration of the spectators, +he was able this time to indicate their precise situation. + +Unfortunately for the demon, a joke in which he indulged on this +occasion detracted from the effect of the above proof of cleverness. +Having been asked why he had refused to speak on the preceding Saturday, +he said he had not been at Loudun on that day, as the whole morning he +had been occupied in accompanying the soul of a certain Le Proust, +attorney to the Parliament of Paris, to hell. This answer awoke such +doubts in the breasts of some of the laymen present that they took the +trouble to examine the register of deaths, and found that no one of the +name of Le Proust, belonging to any profession whatever, had died on +that date. This discovery rendered the devil less terrible, and perhaps +less amusing. + +Meantime the progress of the other exorcisms met with like +interruptions. Pere Pierre de Saint Thomas, who conducted the operations +in the Carmelite church, asked one of the possessed sisters where +Grandier's books of magic were; she replied that they were kept at the +house of a certain young girl, whose name she gave, and who was the same +to whom Adam had been forced to apologise. De Laubardemont, Moussant, +Herve, and Meunau hastened at once to the house indicated, searched the +rooms and the presses, opened the chests and the wardrobes and all the +secret places in the house, but in vain. On their return to the church, +they reproached the devil for having deceived them, but he explained +that a niece of the young woman had removed the books. Upon this, they +hurried to the niece's dwelling, but unluckily she was not at home, +having spent the whole day at a certain church making her devotions, and +when they went thither, the priests and attendants averred that she had +not gone out all day; so notwithstanding the desire of the exorcists to +oblige Adam they were forced to let the matter drop. + +These two false statements increased the number of unbelievers; but it +was announced that a most interesting performance would take place on +May 4th; indeed, the programme when issued was varied enough to arouse +general curiosity. Asmodeus was to raise the superior two feet from the +ground, and the fiends Eazas and Cerberus, in emulation of their leader, +would do as much for two other nuns; while a fourth devil, named +Beherit, would go farther still, and, greatly daring, would attack M. de +Laubardemont himself, and, having spirited his councillor's cap from his +head, would hold it suspended in the air for the space of a Misereye. +Furthermore, the exorcists announced that six of the strongest men in +the town would try to prevent the contortions of the, weakest of the +convulsed nuns, and would fail. + +It need hardly be said that the prospect of such an entertainment filled +the church on the appointed day to overflowing. Pere Lactance began by +calling on Asmodeus to fulfil his promise of raising the superior from +the ground. She began, hereupon, to perform various evolutions on her +mattress, and at one moment it seemed as if she were really suspended in +the air; but one of the spectators lifted her dress and showed that she +was only standing on tiptoe, which, though it might be clever, was not +miraculous. Shouts of laughter rent the air, which had such an +intimidating effect on Eazas and Cerberus that not all the adjurations +of the exorcists could extract the slightest response. Beherit was their +last hope, and he replied that he was prepared to lift up M. de +Laubardemont's cap, and would do so before the expiration of a quarter +of an hour. + +We must here remark that this time the exorcisms took place in the +evening, instead of in the morning as hitherto; and it was now growing +dark, and darkness is favourable to illusions. Several of the +unbelieving ones present, therefore, began to call attention to the fact +that the quarter of an hour's delay would necessitate the employment of +artificial light during the next scene. They also noticed that M. de +Laubardemont had seated himself apart and immediately beneath one of the +arches in the vaulted roof, through which a hole had been drilled for +the passage of the bell-rope. They therefore slipped out of the church, +and up into the belfry, where they hid. In a few moments a man appeared +who began to work at something. They sprang on him and seized his +wrists, and found in one of his hands a thin line of horsehair, to one +end of which a hook was attached. The holder being frightened, dropped +the line and fled, and although M. de Laubardemont, the exorcists, and +the spectators waited, expecting every moment that the cap would rise +into the air, it remained quite firm on the owner's head, to the no +small confusion of Pere Lactance, who, all unwitting of the fiasco, +continued to adjure Beherit to keep his word--of course without the +least effect. + +Altogether, this performance of May 4th, went anything but smoothly. +Till now no trick had succeeded; never before had the demons been such +bunglers. But the exorcists were sure that the last trick would go off +without a hitch. This was, that a nun, held by six men chosen for their +strength, would succeed in extricating herself from their grasp, despite +their utmost efforts. Two Carmelites and two Capuchins went through the +audience and selected six giants from among the porters and messengers +of the town. + +This time the devil answered expectations by showing that if he was not +clever he was strong, for although the six men tried to hold her down +upon her mattress, the superior was seized with such terrible +convulsions that she escaped from their hands, throwing down one of +those who tried to detain her. This experiment, thrice renewed, +succeeded thrice, and belief seemed about to return to the assembly, +when a physician of Saumur named Duncan, suspecting trickery, entered +the choir, and, ordering the six men to retire, said he was going to try +and hold the superior down unaided, and if she escaped from his hands he +would make a public apology for his unbelief. M. de Laubardemont tried +to prevent this test, by objecting to Duncan as an atheist, but as +Duncan was greatly respected on account of his skill and probity, there +was such an outcry at this interference from the entire audience that +the commissioner was forced to let him have his way. The six porters +were therefore dismissed, but instead of resuming their places among the +spectators they left the church by the sacristy, while Duncan +approaching the bed on which the superior had again lain down, seized +her by the wrist, and making certain that he had a firm hold, he told +the exorcists to begin. + +Never up to that time had it been so clearly shown that the conflict +going on was between public opinion and the private aims of a few. A +hush fell on the church; everyone stood motionless in silent expectancy. + +The moment Pere Lactance uttered the sacred words the convulsions of the +superior recommenced; but it seemed as if Duncan had more strength than +his six predecessors together, for twist and writhe and struggle as she +would, the superior's wrist remained none the less firmly clasped in +Duncan's hand. At length she fell back on her bed exhausted, +exclaiming!" + +"It's no use, it's no use! He's holding me!" + +"Release her arm!" shouted Pere Lactance in a rage. "How can the +convulsions take place if you hold her that way?" + +"If she is really possessed by a demon," answered Duncan aloud, "he +should be stronger than I; for it is stated in the ritual that among the +symptoms of possession is strength beyond one's years, beyond one's +condition, and beyond what is natural." + +"That is badly argued," said Lactance sharply: "a demon outside the body +is indeed stronger than you, but when enclosed in a weak frame such as +this it cannot show such strength, for its efforts are proportioned to +the strength of the body it possesses." + +"Enough!" said M. de Laubardemont; "we did not come here to argue with +philosophers, but to build up the faith of Christians." + +With that he rose up from his chair amidst a terrible uproar, and the +assembly dispersed in the utmost disorder, as if they were leaving a +theatre rather than a church. + +The ill success of this exhibition caused a cessation of events of +interest for some days. The result was that a great number of noblemen +and other people of quality who had come to Loudun expecting to see +wonders and had been shown only commonplace transparent tricks, began to +think it was not worth while remaining any longer, and went their +several ways--a defection much bewailed by Pere Tranquille in a little +work which he published on this affair. + +"Many," he says, "came to see miracles at Loudun, but finding the devils +did not give them the signs they expected, they went away dissatisfied, +and swelled the numbers of the unbelieving." + +It was determined, therefore, in order to keep the town full, to predict +some great event which would revive curiosity and increase faith. Pere +Lactance therefore announced that on the 20th of May three of the seven +devils dwelling in the superior would come out, leaving three wounds in +her left side, with corresponding holes in her chemise, bodice, and +dress. The three parting devils were Asmodeus, Gresil des Trones, and +Aman des Puissances. He added that the superior's hands would be bound +behind her back at the time the wounds were given. + +On the appointed day the church of Sainte-Croix was filled to +overflowing with sightseers curious to know if the devils would keep +their promises better this time than the last. Physicians were invited +to examine the superior's side and her clothes; and amongst those who +came forward was Duncan, whose presence guaranteed the public against +deception; but none of the exorcists ventured to exclude him, despite +the hatred in which they held him--a hatred which they would have made +him feel if he had not been under the special protection of Marshal +Breze. The physicians having completed their examination, gave the +following certificate:-- + +"We have found no wound in the patient's side, no rent in her vestments, +and our search revealed no sharp instrument hidden in the folds of her +dress." + +These preliminaries having been got through, Pere Lactance questioned +her in French for nearly two hours, her answers being in the same +language. Then he passed from questions to adjurations: on this, Duncan +came forward, and said a promise had been given that the superior's +hands should be tied behind her back, in order that there might be no +room for suspicion of fraud, and that the moment had now arrived to keep +that promise. Pere Lactance admitted the justice of the demand, but said +as there were many present who had never seen the superior in +convulsions such as afflicted the possessed, it would be only fair that +she should be exorcised for their satisfaction before binding her. +Accordingly he began to repeat the form of exorcism, and the superior +was immediately attacked by frightful convulsions, which in a few +minutes produced complete exhaustion, so that she fell on her face to +the ground, and turning on her left arm and side, remained motionless +some instants, after which she uttered a low cry, followed by a groan. +The physicians approached her, and Duncan seeing her take away her hand +from her left side, seized her arm, and found that the tips of her +fingers were stained with blood. They then examined her clothing and +body, and found her dress, bodice, and chemise cut through in three +places, the cuts being less than an inch long. There were also three +scratches beneath the left breast, so slight as to be scarcely more than +skin deep, the middle one being a barleycorn in length; still, from all +three a sufficient quantity of blood had oozed to stain the chemise +above them. + +This time the fraud was so glaring that even de Laubardemont exhibited +some signs of confusion because of the number and quality of the +spectators. He would not, however, allow the doctors to include in their +report their opinion as to the manner in which the wounds were +inflicted; but Grandier protested against this in a Statement of Facts, +which he drew up during the night, and which was distributed next day. + +It was as follows: + +"That if the superior had not groaned the physicians would not have +removed her clothes, and would have suffered her to be bound, without +having the least idea that the wounds were already made; that then the +exorcists would have commanded the devils to come forth, leaving the +traces they had promised; that the superior would then have gone through +the most extraordinary contortions of which she was capable, and have +had a long fit of, convulsions, at the end of which she would have been +delivered from the three demons, and the wounds would have been found in +her body; that her groans, which had betrayed her, had by God's will +thwarted the best-laid plans of men and devils. Why do you suppose," he +went on to ask, "that clean incised wounds, such as a sharp blade would +make, 'were chosen for a token, seeing that the wounds left by devils +resemble burns? Was it not because it was easier for the superior to +conceal a lancet with which to wound herself slightly, than to conceal +any instrument sufficiently heated to burn her? Why do you think the +left side was chosen rather than the forehead and nose, if not because +she could not give herself a wound in either of those places without +being seen by all the spectators? Why was the left side rather than the +right chosen, if it were not that it was easier for the superior to +wound herself with her right hand, which she habitually used, in the +left side than in the right? Why did she turn on her left side and arm +and remain so long in that position, if it were not to hide from the +bystanders the instrument with which she wounded herself? What do you +think caused her to groan, in spite of all her resolution, if it were +not the pain of the wound she gave herself? for the most courageous +cannot repress a shudder when the surgeon opens a vein. Why were her +finger-tips stained with blood, if it were not that the secreted blade +was so small that the fingers which held it could not escape being +reddened by the blood it caused to flow? How came it that the wounds +were so superficial that they barely went deeper than the cuticle, while +devils are known to rend and tear demoniacs when leaving them, if it +were not that the superior did not hate herself enough to inflict deep +and dangerous wounds?" + +Despite this logical protest from Grandier and the barefaced knavery of +the exorcist, M. de Laubardemont prepared a report of the expulsion of +the three devils, Asmodeus, Gresil, and Aman, from the body of sister +Jeanne des Anges, through three wounds below the region of the heart; a +report which was afterwards shamelessly used against Grandier, and of +which the memorandum still exists, a monument, not so much of credulity +and superstition, as of hatred and revenge. Pere Lactance, in order to +allay the suspicions which the pretended miracle had aroused among the +eye-wittnesses, asked Balaam, one of the four demons who still remained +in the superior's body, the following day, why Asmodeus and his two +companions had gone out against their promise, while the superior's face +and hands were hidden from the people. + +"To lengthen the incredulity of certain people," answered Balaam. + +As for Pere Tranquille, he published a little volume describing the +whole affair, in which, with the irresponsible frivolity of a true +Capuchin, he poked fun at those who could not swallow the miracles +wholesale. + +"They had every reason to feel vexed," he said, "at the small courtesy +or civility shown by the demons to persons of their merit and station; +but if they had examined their consciences, perhaps they would have +found the real reason of their discontent, and, turning their anger +against themselves, would have done penance for having come to the +exorcisms led by a depraved moral sense and a prying spirit." + +Nothing remarkable happened from the 20th May till the 13th June, a day +which became noteworthy by reason of the superior's vomiting a quill a +finger long. It was doubtless this last miracle which brought the Bishop +of Poitiers to Loudun, "not," as he said to those who came to pay their +respects to him, "to examine into the genuineness of the possession, but +to force those to believe who still doubted, and to discover the classes +which Urbain had founded to teach the black art to pupils of both +sexes." + +Thereupon the opinion began to prevail among the people that it would be +prudent to believe in the possession, since the king, the cardinal-duke, +and the bishop believed in it, and that continued doubt would lay them +open to the charges of disloyalty to their king and their Church, and of +complicity in the crimes of Grandier, and thus draw down upon them the +ruthless punishment of Laubardemont. + +"The reason we feel so certain that our work is pleasing to God is that +it is also pleasing to the king," wrote Pere Lactance. + +The arrival of the bishop was followed by a new exorcism; and of this an +eye-witness, who was a good Catholic and a firm believer in possession, +has left us a written description, more interesting than any we could +give. We shall present it to our readers, word for word, as it stands:-- + +"On Friday, 23rd June 1634, on the Eve of Saint John, about 3 p.m., the +Lord Bishop of Poitiers and M. de Laubardemont being present in the +church of Sainte-Croix of Loudun, to continue the exorcisms of the +Ursuline nuns, by order of M. de Laubardemont, commissioner, Urbain +Grandier, priest-in-charge, accused and denounced as a magician by the +said possessed nuns, was brought from his prison to the said church. + +"There were produced by the said commissioner to the said Urbain +Grandier four pacts mentioned several times by the said possessed nuns +at the preceding exorcisms, which the devils who possessed the nuns +declared they had made with the said Grandier on several occasions: +there was one in especial which Leviathan gave up on Saturday the 17th +inst., composed of an infant's heart procured at a witches' sabbath, +held in Orleans in 1631; the ashes of a consecrated wafer, blood, etc., +of the said Grandier, whereby Leviathan asserted he had entered the body +of the sister, Jeanne des Anges, the superior of the said nuns, and took +possession of her with his coadjutors Beherit, Eazas, and Balaam, on +December 8th, 1632. Another such pact was composed of the pips of +Grenada oranges, and was given up by Asmodeus and a number of other +devils. It had been made to hinder Beherit from keeping his promise to +lift the commissioner's hat two inches from his head and to hold it +there the length of a Miseyere, as a sign that he had come out of the +nun. On all these pacts being shown to the said Grandier, he said, +without astonishment, but with much firmness and resolution, that he had +no knowledge of them whatever, that he had never made them, and had not +the skill by which to make them, that he had held no communication with +devils, and knew nothing of what they were talking about. A report of +all this being made and shown to him, he signed it. + +"This done, they brought all the possessed nuns, to the number of eleven +or twelve, including three lay sisters, also possessed, into the choir +of the said church, accompanied by a great many monks, Carmelites, +Capuchins, and Franciscans; and by three physicians and a surgeon. The +sisters on entering made some wanton remarks, calling Grandier their +master, and exhibiting great delight at seeing him. + +"Thereupon Pere Lactance and Gabriel, a Franciscan brother, and one of +the exorcists, exhorted all present with great fervour to lift up their +hearts to God and to make an act of contrition for the offences +committed against His divine majesty, and to pray that the number of +their sins might not be an obstacle to the fulfilment of the plans which +He in His providence had formed for the promotion of His glory on that +occasion, and to give outward proof of their heartfelt grief by +repeating the Confiteor as a preparation for the blessing of the Lord +Bishop of Poitiers. This having been done, he went on to say that the +matter in question was of such moment and so important in its relation +to the great truths of the Roman Catholic Church, that this +consideration alone ought to be sufficient to excite their devotion; and +furthermore, that the affliction of these poor sisters was so peculiar +and had lasted so long, that charity impelled all those who had the +right to work for their deliverance and the expulsion of the devils, to +employ the power entrusted to them with their office in accomplishing so +worthy a task by the forms of exorcism prescribed by the Church to its +ministers; then addressing Grandier, he said that he having been +anointed as a priest belonged to this number, and that he ought to help +with all his power and with all his energy, if the bishop were pleased +to allow him to do so, and to remit his suspension from authority. The +bishop having granted permission, the Franciscan friar offered a stole +to Grandier, who, turning towards the prelate, asked him if he might +take it. On receiving a reply in the affirmative, he passed it round his +neck, and on being offered a copy of the ritual, he asked permission to +accept it as before, and received the bishop's blessing, prostrating +himself at his feet to kiss them; whereupon the Veni Creator Spiritus +having been sung, he rose, and addressing the bishop, asked-- + +"'My lord, whom am I to exorcise?'" + +The said bishop having replied-- + +"'These maidens.' + +"Grandier again asked-- + +"'What maidens?' + +"'The possessed maidens,' was the answer. + +"'That is to say, my lord,' said he; 'that I am obliged to believe in +the fact of possession. The Church believes in it, therefore I too +believe; but I cannot believe that a sorcerer can cause a Christian to +be possessed unless the Christian consent.' + +"Upon this, some of those present exclaimed that it was heretical to +profess such a belief; that the contrary was indubitable, believed by +the whole Church and approved by the Sorbonne. To which he replied that +his mind on that point was not yet irrevocably made up, that what he had +said was simply his own idea, and that in any case he submitted to the +opinion of the whole body of which he was only a member; that nobody was +declared a heretic for having doubts, but only for persisting in them, +and that what he had advanced was only for the purpose of drawing an +assurance from the bishop that in doing what he was about to do he would +not be abusing the authority of the Church. Sister Catherine having been +brought to him by the Franciscan as the most ignorant of all the nuns, +and the least open to the suspicion of being acquainted with Latin, he +began the exorcism in the form prescribed by the ritual. But as soon as +he began to question her he was interrupted, for all the other nuns were +attacked by devils, and uttered strange and terrible noises. Amongst the +rest, Sister Claire came near, and reproached him for his blindness and +obstinacy, so that he was forced to leave the nun with whom he had +begun, and address his words to the said Sister Claire, who during the +entire duration of the exorcism continued to talk at random, without +paying any heed to Grandier's words, which were also interrupted by the +mother superior, to whom he of last gave attention, leaving Sister +Claire. But it is to be noted that before beginning to exorcise the +superior, he said, speaking in Latin as heretofore, that knowing she +understood Latin, he would question her in Greek. To which the devil +replied by the mouth of the possessed: + +"'Ah! how clever you are! You know it was one of the first conditions of +our pact that I was not to answer in Greek.' + +"Upon this, he cried, 'O pulchra illusio, egregica evasio!' ( O superb +fraud, outrageous evasion!) + +"He was then told that he was permitted to exorcise in Greek, provided +he first wrote down what he wished to say, and the superior hereupon +said that he should be answered in what language he pleased; but it was +impossible, for as soon as he opened his mouth all the nuns recommenced +their shrieks and paroxysms, showing unexampled despair, and giving way +to convulsions, which in each patient assumed a new form, and persisting +in accusing Grandier of using magic and the black art to torment them; +offering to wring his neck if they were allowed, and trying to outrage +his feelings in every possible way. But this being against the +prohibitions of the Church, the priests and monks present worked with +the utmost zeal to calm the frenzy which had seized on the nuns. +Grandier meanwhile remained calm and unmoved, gazing fixedly at the +maniacs, protesting his innocence, and praying to God for protection. +Then addressing himself to the bishop and M. de Laubardemont, he +implored them by the ecclesiastical and royal authority of which they +were the ministers to command these demons to wring his neck, or at +least to put a mark in his forehead, if he were guilty of the crime of +which they accused him, that the glory of God might be shown forth, the +authority of the Church vindicated, and himself brought to confusion, +provided that the nuns did not touch him with their hands. But to this +the bishop and the commissioner would not consent, because they did not +want to be responsible for what might happen to him, neither would they +expose the authority of the Church to the wiles of the devils, who might +have made some pact on that point with Grandier. Then the exorcists, to +the number of eight, having commanded the devils to be silent and to +cease their tumult, ordered a brazier to be brought, and into this they +threw the pacts one by one, whereupon the convulsions returned with such +awful violence and confused cries, rising into frenzied shrieks, and +accompanied by such horrible contortions, that the scene might have been +taken for an orgy of witches, were it not for the sanctity of the place +and the character of those present, of whom Grandier, in outward seeming +at least, was the least amazed of any, although he had the most reason. +The devils continued their accusations, citing the places, the days, and +the hours of their intercourse with him; the first spell he cast on +them, his scandalous behaviour, his insensibility, his abjurations of +God and the faith. To all this he calmly returned that these accusations +were calumnies, and all the more unjust considering his profession; that +he renounced Satan and all his fiends, having neither knowledge nor +comprehension of them; that in spite of all he was a Christian, and what +was more, an anointed priest; that though he knew himself to be a sinful +man, yet his trust was in God and in His Christ; that he had never +indulged in such abominations, end that it would be impossible to +furnish any pertinent and convincing proof of his guilt. + +"At this point no words could express what the senses perceived; eyes +and ears received an impression of being surrounded by furies such as +had never been gathered together before; and unless accustomed to such +ghastly scenes as those who sacrifice to demons, no one could keep his +mind free from astonishment and horror in the midst of such a spectacle. +Grandier alone remained unchanged through it all, seemingly insensible +to the monstrous exhibitions, singing hymns to the Lord with the rest of +the people, as confident as if he were guarded by legions of angels. One +of the demons cried out that Beelzebub was standing between him and Pere +Tranquille the Capuchin, upon which Grandier said to the demon-- + +"'Obmutescas!' (Hold thy peace). + +"Upon this the demon began to curse, and said that was their watchword; +but they could not hold their peace, because God was infinitely +powerful, and the powers of hell could not prevail against Him. +Thereupon they all struggled to get at Grandier, threatening to tear him +limb from limb, to point out his marks, to strangle him although he was +their master; whereupon he seized a chance to say he was neither their +master nor their servant, and that it was incredible that they should in +the same breath acknowledge him for their master and express a desire to +strangle him: on hearing this, the frenzy of the nuns reached its +height, and they kicked their slippers into his face. + +"'Just look!' said he; 'the shoes drop from the hoofs of their own +accord.' + +"At length, had it not been for the help and interposition of people in +the choir, the nuns in their frenzy would have taken the life of the +chief personage in this spectacle; so there was no choice but to take +him away from the church and the furies who threatened his life. He was +therefore brought back to prison about six o'clock in the evening, and +the rest of the day the exorcists were employed in calming the poor +sisters--a task of no small difficulty." + +Everyone did not regard the possessed sisters with the indulgent eye of +the author of the above narrative, and many saw in this terrible +exhibition of hysteria and convulsions an infamous and sacrilegious +orgy, at which revenge ran riot. There was such difference of opinion +about it that it was considered necessary to publish the following +proclamation by means of placards on July 2nd: + +"All persons, of whatever rank or profession, are hereby expressly +forbidden to traduce, or in any way malign, the nuns and other persons +at Loudun possessed by evil spirits; or their exorcists; or those who +accompany them either to the places appointed for exorcism or elsewhere; +in any form or manner whatever, on pain of a fine of ten thousand +livres, or a larger sum and corporal punishment should the case so +require; and in order that no one may plead ignorance hereof, this +proclamation will be read and published to-day from the pulpits of all +the churches, and copies affixed to the church doors and in other +suitable public places. + +"Done at Loudun, July 2nd, 1634." + +This order had great influence with worldly folk, and from that moment, +whether their belief was strengthened or not, they no longer dared to +express any incredulity. But in spite of that, the judges were put to +shame, for the nuns themselves began to repent; and on the day following +the impious scene above described, just as Pere Lactanee began to +exorcise Sister Claire in the castle chapel, she rose, and turning +towards the congregation, while tears ran down her cheeks, said in a +voice that could be heard by all present, that she was going to speak +the truth at last in the sight of Heaven. Thereupon she confessed that +all that she had said during the last fortnight against Grandier was +calumnious and false, and that all her actions had been done at the +instigation of the Franciscan Pere Lactance, the director, Mignon, and +the Carmelite brothers. Pere Lactance, not in the least taken aback, +declared that her confession was a fresh wile of the devil to save her +master Grandier. She then made an urgent appeal to the bishop and to M. +de Laubardemont, asking to be sequestered and placed in charge of other +priests than those who had destroyed her soul, by making her bear false +witness against an innocent man; but they only laughed at the pranks the +devil was playing, and ordered her to be at once taken back to the house +in which she was then living. When she heard this order, she darted out +of the choir, trying to escape through the church door, imploring those +present to come to her assistance and save her from everlasting +damnation. But such terrible fruit had the proclamation borne that noon +dared respond, so she was recaptured and taken back to the house in +which she was sequestered, never to leave it again. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +The next day a still more extraordinary scene took place. While M. de +Laubardemont was questioning one of the nuns, the superior came down +into the court, barefooted; in her chemise, and a cord round her neck; +and there she remained for two hours, in the midst of a fearful storm, +not shrinking before lightning, thunder, or rain, but waiting till M. de +Laubardemont and the other exorcists should come out. At length the door +opened and the royal commissioner appeared, whereupon Sister Jeanne des +Anges, throwing herself at his feet, declared she had not sufficient +strength to play the horrible part they had made her learn any longer, +and that before God and man she declared Urbain Grandier innocent, +saying that all the hatred which she and her companions had felt against +him arose from the baffled desires which his comeliness awoke--desires +which the seclusion of conventional life made still more ardent. M. de +Laubardemont threatened her with the full weight of his displeasure, but +she answered, weeping bitterly, that all she now dreaded was her sin, +for though the mercy of the Saviour was great, she felt that the crime +she had committed could never be pardoned. M. de Laubardemont exclaimed +that it was the demon who dwelt in her who was speaking, but she replied +that the only demon by whom she had even been possessed was the spirit +of vengeance, and that it was indulgence in her own evil thoughts, and +not a pact with the devil, which had admitted him into her heart. + +With these words she withdrew slowly, still weeping, and going into the +garden, attached one end of the cord round her neck to the branch of a +tree, and hanged herself. But some of the sisters who had followed her +cut her down before life was extinct. + +The same day an order for her strict seclusion was issued for her as for +Sister Claire, and the circumstances that she was a relation of M. de +Laubardemont did not avail to lessen her punishment in view of the +gravity of her fault. + +It was impossible to continue the exorcisms other nuns might be tempted +to follow the example, of the superior and Sister Claire, and in that +case all would be lost. And besides, was not Urbain Grandier well and +duly convicted? It was announced, therefore, that the examination had +proceeded far enough, and that the judges would consider the evidence +and deliver judgment. + +This long succession of violent and irregular breaches of law procedure, +the repeated denials of his claim to justice, the refusal to let his +witnesses appear, or to listen to his defence, all combined to convince +Grandier that his ruin was determined on; for the case had gone so far +and had attained such publicity that it was necessary either to punish +him as a sorcerer and magician or to render a royal commissioner, a +bishop, an entire community of nuns, several monks of various orders, +many judges of high reputation, and laymen of birth and standing, liable +to the penalties incurred by calumniators. But although, as this +conviction grew, he confronted it with resignation, his courage did not +fail,--and holding it to be his duty as a man and a Christian to defend +his life and honour to the end, he drew up and published another +memorandum, headed Reasons for Acquittal, and had copies laid before his +judges. It was a weighty and, impartial summing up of the whole case, +such as a stranger might have written, and began, with these words. + +"I entreat you in all humility to consider deliberately and with +attention what the Psalmist says in Psalm 82, where he exhorts judges to +fulfil their charge with absolute rectitude; they being themselves mere +mortals who will one day have to appear before God, the sovereign judge +of the universe, to give an account of their administration. The Lord's +Anointed speaks to you to-day who are sitting in judgment, and says-- + +"'God standeth in the congregation of the mighty: He judgeth among the +gods. + +"'How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? + +"'Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. + +"'Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked. + +"'I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the Most +High. + +"'But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.'" + +But this appeal, although convincing and dignified, had no influence +upon the commission; and on the 18th of August the following verdict and +sentence was pronounced:-- + +"We have declared, and do hereby declare, Urbain Grandier duly accused +and convicted of the crimes of magic and witchcraft, and of causing the +persons of certain Ursuline nuns of this town and of other females to +become possessed of evil spirits, wherefrom other crimes and offences +have resulted. By way of reparation therefor, we have sentenced, and do +hereby sentence, the said Grandier to make public apology, bareheaded, +with a cord around his neck, holding a lighted torch of two pounds +weight in his hand, before the west door of the church of Saint-Pierre +in the Market Place and before--that of Sainte-Ursule, both of this +town, and there on bended knee to ask pardon of God and the king and the +law, and this done, to be taken to the public square of Sainte-Croix and +there to be attached to a stake, set in the midst of a pile of wood, +both of which to be prepared there for this purpose, and to be burnt +alive, along with the pacts and spells which remain in the hands of the +clerk and the manuscript of the book written by the said Grandier +against a celibate priesthood, and his ashes, to be scattered to the +four winds of heaven. And we have declared, and do hereby declare, all +and every part of his property confiscate to the king, the sum of one +hundred and fifty livres being first taken therefrom to be employed in +the purchase of a copper plate whereon the substance of the present +decree shall be engraved, the same to be exposed in a conspicuous place +in the said church of Sainte-Ursule, there to remain in perpetuity; and +before this sentence is carried out, we order the said Grandier to be +put to the question ordinary and extraordinary, so that his accomplices +may become known. + +"Pronounced at Loudun against the said Grandier this 18th day of August +1634." + +On the morning of the day on which this sentence was passed, M. de +Laubardemont ordered the surgeon Francois Fourneau to be arrested at his +own house and taken to Grandier's cell, although he was ready to go +there of his own free will. In passing through the adjoining room he +heard the voice of the accused saying:-- + +"What do you want with me, wretched executioner? Have you come to kill +me? You know how cruelly you have already tortured my body. Well I am +ready to die." + +On entering the room, Fourneau saw that these words had been addressed +to the surgeon Mannouri. + +One of the officers of the 'grand privot de l'hotel', to whom M. de +Laubardemont lent for the occasion the title of officer of the king's +guard, ordered the new arrival to shave Grandier, and not leave a single +hair on his whole body. This was a formality employed in cases of +witchcraft, so that the devil should have no place to hide in; for it +was the common belief that if a single hair were left, the devil could +render the accused insensible to the pains of torture. From this Urbain +understood that the verdict had gone against him and that he was +condemned to death. + +Fourneau having saluted Grandier, proceeded to carry out his orders, +whereupon a judge said it was not sufficient to shave the body of the +prisoner, but that his nails must also be torn out, lest the devil +should hide beneath them. Grandier looked at the speaker with an +expression of unutterable pity, and held out his hands to Fourneau; but +Forneau put them gently aside, and said he would do nothing of the kind, +even were the order given by the cardinal-duke himself, and at the same +time begged Grandier's pardon for shaving him. At, these words Grandier, +who had for so long met with nothing but barbarous treatment from those +with whom he came in contact, turned towards the surgeon with tears in +his eyes, saying-- + +"So you are the only one who has any pity for me." + +"Ah, sir," replied Fourneau, "you don't see everybody." + +Grandier was then shaved, but only two marks found on him, one as we +have said on the shoulder blade, and the other on the thigh. Both marks +were very sensitive, the wounds which Mannouri had made not having yet +healed. This point having been certified by Fourneau, Grandier was +handed, not his own clothes, but some wretched garments which had +probably belonged to some other condemned man. + +Then, although his sentence had been pronounced at the Carmelite +convent, he was taken by the grand provost's officer, with two of his +archers, accompanied by the provosts of Loudun and Chinon, to the town +hall, where several ladies of quality, among them Madame de +Laubardemont, led by curiosity, were sitting beside the judges, waiting +to hear the sentence read. M. de Laubardemont was in the seat usually +occupied by the clerk, and the clerk was standing before him. All the +approaches were lined with soldiers. + +Before the accused was brought in, Pere Lactance and another Franciscan +who had come with him exorcised him to oblige the devils to leave him; +then entering the judgment hall, they exorcised the earth, the air, "and +the other elements." Not till that was done was Grandier led in. + +At first he was kept at the far end of the hall, to allow time for the +exorcisms to have their full effect, then he was brought forward to the +bar and ordered to kneel down. Grandier obeyed, but could remove neither +his hat nor his skull-cap, as his hands were bound behind his back, +whereupon the clerk seized on the one and the provost's officer on the +other, and flung them at de Laubardemont's feet. Seeing that the accused +fixed his eyes on the commissioner as if waiting to see what he was +about to do, the clerk said: + +"Turn your head, unhappy man, and adore the crucifix above the bench." + +Grandier obeyed without a murmur and with great humility, and remained +sunk in silent prayer for about ten minutes; he then resumed his former +attitude. + +The clerk then began to read the sentence in a trembling voice, while +Grandier listened with unshaken firmness and wonderful tranquillity, +although it was the most terrible sentence that could be passed, +condemning the accused to be burnt alive the same day, after the +infliction of ordinary and extraordinary torture. When the clerk had +ended, Grandier said, with a voice unmoved from its usual calm-- + +"Messeigneurs, I aver in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy +Ghost, and the Blessed Virgin, my only hope, that I have never been a +magician, that I have never committed sacrilege, that I know no other +magic than that of the Holy Scriptures, which I have always preached, +and that I have never held any other belief than that of our Holy Mother +the Catholic Apostolic Church of Rome; I renounce the devil and all his +works; I confess my Redeemer, and I pray to be saved through the blood +of the Cross; and I beseech you, messeigneurs, to mitigate the rigour of +my sentence, and not to drive my soul to despair." + +The concluding words led de Laubardemont to believe that he could obtain +some admission from Grandier through fear of suffering, so he ordered +the court to be cleared, and, being left alone with Maitre Houmain, +criminal lieutenant of Orleans, and the Franciscans, he addressed +Grandier in a stern voice, saying there was only one way to obtain any +mitigation of his sentence, and that was to confess the names of his +accomplices and to sign the confession. Grandier replied that having +committed no crime he could have no accomplices, whereupon Laubardemont +ordered the prisoner to be taken to the torture chamber, which adjoined +the judgment hall--an order which was instantly obeyed. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +The mode of torture employed at Loudun was a variety of the boot, and +one of the most painful of all. Each of the victim's legs below the knee +was placed between two boards, the two pairs were then laid one above +the other and bound together firmly at the ends; wedges were then driven +in with a mallet between the two middle boards; four such wedges +constituted ordinary and eight extraordinary torture; and this latter +was seldom inflicted, except on those condemned to death, as almost no +one ever survived it, the sufferer's legs being crushed to a pulp before +he left the torturer's bands. In this case M. de Laubardemont on his own +initiative, for it had never been done before, added two wedges to those +of the extraordinary torture, so that instead of eight, ten were to be +driven in. + +Nor was this all: the commissioner royal and the two Franciscans +undertook to inflict the torture themselves. + +Laubardemont ordered Grandier to be bound in the usual manner, I and +then saw his legs placed between the boards. He then dismissed the +executioner and his assistants, and directed the keeper of the +instruments to bring the wedges, which he complained of as being too +small. Unluckily, there were no larger ones in stock, and in spite of +threats the keeper persisted in saying he did not know where to procure +others. M. de Laubardemont then asked how long it would take to make +some, and was told two hours; finding that too long to wait, he was +obliged to put up with those he had. + +Thereupon the torture began. Pere Lactance having exorcised the +instruments, drove in the first wedge, but could not draw a murmur from +Grandier, who was reciting a prayer in a low voice; a second was driven +home, and this time the victim, despite his resolution, could not avoid +interrupting his devotions by two groans, at each of which Pere Lactance +struck harder, crying, "Dicas! dicas!" (Confess, confess!), a word which +he repeated so often and so furiously, till all was over, that he was +ever after popularly called "Pere Dicas." + +When the second wedge was in, de Laubardemont showed Grandier his +manuscript against the celibacy of the priests, and asked if he +acknowledged it to be in his own handwriting. Grandier answered in the +affirmative. Asked what motive he had in writing it, he said it was an +attempt to restore peace of mind to a poor girl whom he had loved, as +was proved by the two lines written at the end: + + "Si ton gentil esprit prend bien cette science, + Tu mettras en repos ta bonne conscience." + + [If thy sensitive mind imbibe this teaching, + It will give ease to thy tender conscience] + +Upon this, M. de Laubardemont demanded the girl's name; but Grandier +assured him it should never pass his lips, none knowing it but himself +and God. Thereupon M. de Laubardemont ordered Pere Lactance to insert +the third wedge. While it was being driven in by the monk's lusty arm, +each blow being accompanied by the word "'Dicas'!" Grandier exclaimed-- + +"My God! they are killing me, and yet I am neither a sorcerer nor +sacrilegious!" + +At the fourth wedge Grandier fainted, muttering-- + +"Oh, Pere Lactance, is this charity?" + +Although his victim was unconscious, Pere Lactance continued to strike; +so that, having lost consciousness through pain, pain soon brought him +back to life. + +De Laubardemont took advantage of this revival to take his turn at +demanding a confession of his crimes; but Grandier said-- + +"I have committed no crimes, sir, only errors. Being a man, I have often +gone astray; but I have confessed and done penance, and believe that my +prayers for pardon have been heard; but if not, I trust that God will +grant me pardon now, for the sake of my sufferings." + +At the fifth wedge Grandier fainted once more, but they restored him to +consciousness by dashing cold water in his face, whereupon he moaned, +turning to M. de Laubardemont-- + +"In pity, sir, put me to death at once! I am only a man, and I cannot +answer for myself that if you continue to torture me so I shall not give +way to despair." + +"Then sign this, and the torture shall cease," answered the commissioner +royal, offering him a paper. + +"My father," said Urbain, turning towards the Franciscan, "can you +assure me on your conscience that it is permissible for a man, in order +to escape suffering, to confess a crime he has never committed?" + +"No," replied the monk; "for if he die with a lie on his lips he dies in +mortal sin." + +"Go on, then," said Grandier; "for having suffered so much in my body, I +desire to save my soul." + +As Pere Lactance drove in the sixth wedge Grandier fainted anew. + +When he had been revived, Laubardemont called upon him to confess that a +certain Elisabeth Blanchard had been his mistress, as well as the girl +for whom he had written the treatise against celibacy; but Grandier +replied that not only had no improper relations ever existed between +them, but that the day he had been confronted with her at his trial was +the first time he had ever seen her. + +At the seventh wedge Grandier's legs burst open, and the blood spurted +into Pere Lactance's face; but he wiped it away with the sleeve of his +gown. + +"O Lord my God, have mercy on me! I die!" cried Grandier, and fainted +for the fourth time. Pere Lactance seized the opportunity to take a +short rest, and sat down. + +When Grandier had once more come to himself, he began slowly to utter a +prayer, so beautiful and so moving that the provost's lieutenant wrote +it down; but de Laubardemont noticing this, forbade him ever to show it +to anyone. + +At the eighth wedge the bones gave way, and the marrow oozed out of the +wounds, and it became useless to drive in any more wedges, the legs +being now as flat as the boards that compressed them, and moreover Pere +Lactance was quite worn out. + +Grandier was unbound and laid upon the flagged floor, and while his eyes +shone with fever and agony he prayed again a second prayer--a veritable +martyr's prayer, overflowing with faith and enthusiasm; but as he ended +his strength failed, and he again became unconscious. The provost's +lieutenant forced a little wine between his lips, which brought him to; +then he made an act of contrition, renounced Satan and all his works +once again, and commended his soul to God. + +Four men entered, his legs were freed from the boards, and the crushed +parts were found to be a mere inert mass, only attached to the knees by +the sinews. He was then carried to the council chamber, and laid on a +little straw before the fire. + +In a corner of the fireplace an Augustinian monk was seated. Urbain +asked leave to confess to him, which de Laubardemont refused, holding +out the paper he desired to have signed once more, at which Grandier +said-- + +"If I would not sign to spare myself before, am I likely to give way now +that only death remains?" + +"True," replied Laubardemont; "but the mode of your death is in our +hands: it rests with us to make it slow or quick, painless or agonising; +so take this paper and sign?" + +Grandier pushed the paper gently away, shaking his head in sign of +refusal, whereupon de Laubardemont left the room in a fury, and ordered +Peres Tranquille and Claude to be admitted, they being the confessors he +had chosen for Urbain. When they came near to fulfil their office, +Urbain recognised in them two of his torturers, so he said that, as it +was only four days since he had confessed to Pere Grillau, and he did +not believe he had committed any mortal sin since then, he would not +trouble them, upon which they cried out at him as a heretic and infidel, +but without any effect. + +At four o'clock the executioner's assistants came to fetch him; he was +placed lying on a bier and carried out in that position. On the way he +met the criminal lieutenant of Orleans, who once more exhorted him to +confess his crimes openly; but Grandier replied-- + +"Alas, sir, I have avowed them all; I have kept nothing back." + +"Do you desire me to have masses said for you?" continued the +lieutenant. + +"I not only desire it, but I beg for it as a great favour," said Urbain. + +A lighted torch was then placed in his hand: as the procession started +he pressed the torch to his lips; he looked on all whom he met with +modest confidence, and begged those whom he knew to intercede with God +for him. On the threshold of the door his sentence was read to him, and +he was then placed in a small cart and driven to the church of St. +Pierre in the market-place. There he was awaited by M. de Laubardemont, +who ordered him to alight. As he could not stand on his mangled limbs, +he was pushed out, and fell first on his knees and then on his face. In +this position he remained patiently waiting to be lifted. He was carried +to the top of the steps and laid down, while his sentence was read to +him once more, and just as it was finished, his confessor, who had not +been allowed to see him for four days, forced a way through the crowd +and threw himself into Grandier's arms. At first tears choked Pere +Grillau's voice, but at last he said, "Remember, sir, that our Saviour +Jesus Christ ascended to His Father through the agony of the Cross: you +are a wise man, do not give way now and lose everything. I bring you +your mother's blessing; she and I never cease to pray that God may have +mercy on you and receive you into Paradise." + +These words seemed to inspire Grandier with new strength; he lifted his +head, which pain had bowed, and raising his eyes to heaven, murmured a +short prayer. Then turning towards the worthy, friar, he said-- + +"Be a son to my mother; pray to God for me constantly; ask all our good +friars to pray for my soul; my one consolation is that I die innocent. I +trust that God in His mercy may receive me into Paradise." + +"Is there nothing else I can do for you?" asked Pere Grillau. + +"Alas, my father!" replied Grandier, "I am condemned to die a most cruel +death; ask the executioner if there is no way of shortening what I must +undergo." + +"I go at once," said the friar; and giving him absolution in 'articulo +mortis', he went down the steps, and while Grandier was making his +confession aloud the good monk drew the executioner aside and asked if +there were no possibility of alleviating the death-agony by means of a +shirt dipped in brimstone. The executioner answered that as the sentence +expressly stated that Grandier was to be burnt alive, he could not +employ an expedient so sure to be discovered as that; but that if the +friar would give him thirty crowns he would undertake to strangle +Grandier while he was kindling the pile. Pere Grillau gave him the +money, and the executioner provided himself with a rope. The Franciscan +then placed himself where he could speak to his penitent as he passed, +and as he embraced him for the last time, whispered to him what he had +arranged with the executioner, whereupon Grandier turned towards the +latter and said in a tone of deep gratitude-- + +"Thanks, my brother." + +At that moment, the archers having driven away Pere Grillau, by order of +M. de Laubardemont, by beating him with their halberts, the procession +resumed its march, to go through the same ceremony at the Ursuline +church, and from there to proceed to the square of Sainte-Croix. On the +way Urbain met and recognised Moussant, who was accompanied by his wife, +and turning towards him, said-- + +"I die your debtor, and if I have ever said a word that could offend you +I ask you to forgive me." + +When the place of execution was reached, the provost's lieutenant +approached Grandier and asked his forgiveness. + +"You have not offended me," was the reply; "you have only done what your +duty obliged you to do." + +The executioner then came forward and removed the back board of the +cart, and ordered his assistants to carry Grandier to where the pile was +prepared. As he was unable to stand, he was attached to the stake by an +iron hoop passed round his body. At that moment a flock of pigeons +seemed to fall from the sky, and, fearless of the crowd, which was so +great that the archers could not succeed even by blows of their weapons +in clearing a way for the magistrates, began to fly around Grandier, +while one, as white as the driven snow, alighted on the summit of the +stake, just above his head. Those who believed in possession exclaimed +that they were only a band of devils come to seek their master, but +there were many who muttered that devils were not wont to assume such a +form, and who persisted in believing that the doves had come in default +of men to bear witness to Grandier's innocence. + +In trying next day to combat this impression, a monk asserted that he +had seen a huge fly buzzing round Grandier's head, and as Beelzebub +meant in Hebrew, as he said, the god of flies, it was quite evident that +it was that demon himself who, taking upon him the form of one of his +subjects, had come to carry off the magician's soul. + +When everything was prepared, the executioner passed the rope by which +he meant to strangle him round Grandier's neck; then the priests +exorcised the earth, air, and wood, and again demanded of their victim +if he would not publicly confess his crimes. Urbain replied that he had +nothing to say, but that he hoped through the martyr's death he was +about to die to be that day with Christ in Paradise. + +The clerk then read his sentence to him for the fourth time, and asked +if he persisted in what he said under torture. + +"Most certainly I do," said Urbain; "for it was the exact truth." + +Upon this, the clerk withdrew, first informing Grandier that if he had +anything to say to the people he was at liberty to speak. + +But this was just what the exorcists did not want: they knew Grandier's +eloquence and courage, and a firm, unshaken denial at the moment of +death would be most prejudicial to their interests. As soon, therefore, +as Grandier opened his lips to speak, they dashed such a quantity of +holy water in his face that it took away his breath. It was but for a +moment, however, and he recovered himself, and again endeavoured to +speak, a monk stooped down and stifled the words by kissing him on the +lips. Grandier, guessing his intention, said loud enough for those next +the pile to hear, "That was the kiss of Judas!" + +At these words the monks become so enraged that one of them struck +Grandier three times in the face with a crucifix, while he appeared to +be giving it him to kiss; but by the blood that flowed from his nose and +lips at the third blow those standing near perceived the truth: all +Grandier could do was to call out that he asked for a Salve Regina and +an Ave Maria, which many began at once to repeat, whilst he with clasped +hands and eyes raised to heaven commended himself to God and the Virgin. +The exorcists then made one more effort to get him to confess publicly, +but he exclaimed-- + +"My fathers, I have said all I had to say; I hope in God and in His +mercy." + +At this refusal the anger of the exorcists surpassed all bounds, and +Pere Lactance, taking a twist of straw, dipped it in a bucket of pitch +which was standing beside the pile, and lighting it at a torch, thrust +it into his face, crying-- + +"Miserable wretch! will nothing force you to confess your crimes and +renounce the devil?" + +"I do not belong to the devil," said Grandier, pushing away the straw +with his hands; "I have renounced the devil, I now renounce him and all +his works again, and I pray that God may have mercy on me." + +At this, without waiting for the signal from the provost's lieutenant, +Pere Lactance poured the bucket of pitch on one corner of the pile of +wood and set fire to it, upon which Grandier called the executioner to +his aid, who, hastening up, tried in vain to strangle him, while the +flames spread apace. + +"Ah! my brother," said the sufferer, "is this the way you keep your +promise?" + +"It's not my fault," answered the executioner; "the monks have knotted +the cord, so that the noose cannot slip." + +"Oh, Father Lactance! Father Lactance! have you no charity?" cried +Grandier. + +The executioner by this time was forced by the increasing heat to jump +down from the pile, being indeed almost overcome; and seeing this, +Grandier stretched forth a hand into the flames, and said-- + +"Pere Lactance, God in heaven will judge between thee and me; I summon +thee to appear before Him in thirty days." + +Grandier was then seen to make attempts to strangle himself, but either +because it was impossible, or because he felt it would be wrong to end +his life by his own hands, he desisted, and clasping his hands, prayed +aloud-- + +"Deus meus, ad te vigilo, miserere me." + +A Capuchin fearing that he would have time to say more, approached the +pile from the side which had not yet caught fire, and dashed the +remainder of the holy water in his face. This caused such smoke that +Grandier was hidden for a moment from the eyes of the spectators; when +it cleared away, it was seen that his clothes were now alight; his voice +could still be heard from the midst of the flames raised in prayer; then +three times, each time in a weaker voice, he pronounced the name of +Jesus, and giving one cry, his head fell forward on his breast. + +At that moment the pigeons which had till then never ceased to circle +round the stake, flew away, and were lost in the clouds. + +Urbain Grandier had given up the ghost. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +This time it was not the man who was executed who was guilty, but the +executioners; consequently we feel sure that our readers will be anxious +to learn something of their fate. + +Pere Lactance died in the most terrible agony on September 18th, 1634, +exactly a month from the date of Grandier's death. His brother-monks +considered that this was due to the vengeance of Satan; but others were +not wanting who said, remembering the summons uttered by Grandier, that +it was rather due to the justice of God. Several attendant circumstances +seemed to favour the latter opinion. The author of the History of the +Devils of Loudzin gives an account of one of these circumstances, for +the authenticity of which he vouches, and from which we extract the +following: + +"Some days after the execution of Grandier, Pere Lactance fell ill of +the disease of which he died. Feeling that it was of supernatural +origin, he determined to take a pilgrimage to Notre Dame des Andilliers +de Saumur, where many miracles were wrought, and which was held in high +estimation in the neighbourhood. A place in the carriage of the Sieur de +Canaye was offered him for the journey; for this gentleman, accompanied +by a large party on pleasure bent, was just then setting out for his +estate of Grand Fonds, which lay in the same direction. The reason for +the offer was that Canaye and his friends, having heard that the last +words of Grandier had affected Pere Lactance's mind, expected to find a +great deal of amusement in exciting the terrors of their +travelling-companion. And in truth, for a day or two, the boon +companions sharpened their wits at the expense of the worthy monk, when +all at once, on a good road and without apparent cause, the carriage +overturned. Though no one was hurt, the accident appeared so strange to +the pleasure-seekers that it put an end to the jokes of even the boldest +among them. Pere Lactance himself appeared melancholy and preoccupied, +and that evening at supper refused to eat, repeating over and over +again-- + +"'It was wrong of me to deny Grandier the confessor he asked for; God is +punishing me, God is punishing me!' + +"On the following morning the journey was resumed, but the evident +distress of mind under which Pere Lactance laboured had so damped the +spirits of the party that all their gaiety had disappeared. Suddenly, +just outside Fenet, where the road was in excellent condition and no +obstacle to their progress apparent, the carriage upset for the second +time. Although again no one was hurt, the travellers felt that there was +among them someone against whom God's anger was turned, and their +suspicions pointing to Pere Lactance, they went on their way, leaving +him behind, and feeling very uncomfortable at the thought that they had +spent two or three days in his society. + +"Pere Lactance at last reached Notre-Dame des Andilliers; but however +numerous were the miracles there performed, the remission of the doom +pronounced by the martyr on Pere Lactance was not added to their number; +and at a quarter-past six on September 18th, exactly a month to the very +minute after Grandier's death, Pere Lactance expired in excruciating +agony." + +Pere Tranquille's turn came four years later. The malady which attacked +him was so extraordinary that the physicians were quite at a loss, and +forced to declare their ignorance of any remedy. His shrieks and +blasphemies were so distinctly heard in the streets, that his brother +Franciscans, fearing the effect they would have on his after-reputation, +especially in the minds of those who had seen Grandier die with words of +prayer on his lips, spread abroad the report that the devils whom he had +expelled from the bodies of the nuns had entered into the body of the +exorcist. He died shrieking-- + +"My God! how I suffer! Not all the devils and all the damned together +endure what I endure!" His panegyrist, in whose book we find all the +horrible details of his death employed to much purpose to illustrate the +advantages of belonging to the true faith, remarks-- + +"Truly big generous heart must have been a hot hell for those fiends who +entered his body to torment it." + +The following epitaph which was placed over his grave was interpreted, +according to the prepossessions of those who read it, either as a +testimony to his sanctity or as a proof of his punishment:-- + +"Here lies Pere Tranquille, of Saint-Remi; a humble Capuchin preacher. +The demons no longer able to endure his fearlessly exercised power as an +exorcist, and encouraged by sorcerers, tortured him to death, on May +31st, 1638." + +But a death about which there could be no doubt as to the cause was that +of the surgeon Mannouri, the same who had, as the reader may recollect, +been the first to torture Grandier. One evening about ten o'clock he was +returning from a visit to a patient who lived on the outskirts of the +town, accompanied by a colleague and preceded by his surgery attendant +carrying a lantern. When they reached the centre of the town in the rue +Grand-Pave, which passes between the walls of the castle grounds and the +gardens of the Franciscan monastery, Mannouri suddenly stopped, and, +staring fixedly at some object which was invisible to his companions, +exclaimed with a start-- + +"Oh! there is Grandier! + +"Where? where?" cried the others. + +He pointed in the direction towards which his eyes were turned, and +beginning to tremble violently, asked-- + +"What do you want with me, Grandier? What do you want?" + +A moment later he added + +"Yes-yes, I am coming." + +Immediately it seemed as if the vision vanished from before his eyes, +but the effect remained. His brother-surgeon and the servant brought him +home, but neither candles nor the light of day could allay his fears; +his disordered brain showed him Grandier ever standing at the foot of +his bed. A whole week he continued, as was known all over the town, in +this condition of abject terror; then the spectre seemed to move from +its place and gradually to draw nearer, for he kept on repeating, "He is +coming! he is coming!" and at length, towards evening, at about the same +hour at which Grandier expired, Surgeon Mannouri drew his last breath. + +We have still to tell of M. de Laubardemont. All we know is thus related +in the letters of M. de Patin:-- + +"On the 9th inst., at nine o'clock in the evening, a carriage was +attacked by robbers; on hearing the noise the townspeople ran to the +spot, drawn thither as much by curiosity as by humanity. A few shots +were exchanged and the robbers put to flight, with the exception of one +man belonging to their band who was taken prisoner, and another who lay +wounded on the paving-stones. This latter died next day without having +spoken, and left no clue behind as to who he was. His identity was, +however, at length made clear. He was the son of a high dignitary named +de Laubardemont, who in 1634, as royal commissioner, condemned Urbain +Grandier, a poor, priest of Loudun, to be burnt alive, under the +pretence that he had caused several nuns of Loudun to be possessed by +devils. These nuns he had so tutored as to their behaviour that many +people foolishly believed them to be demoniacs. May we not regard the +fate of his son as a chastisement inflicted by Heaven on this unjust +judge--an expiation exacted for the pitilessly cruel death inflicted on +his victim, whose blood still cries unto the Lord from the ground?" + +Naturally the persecution of Urbain Grandier attracted the attention not +only of journalists but of poets. Among the many poems which were +inspired by it, the following is one of the best. Urbain speaks: + + "From hell came the tidings that by horrible sanctions + I had made a pact with the devil to have power over women: + Though not one could be found to accuse me. + In the trial which delivered me to torture and the stake, + The demon who accused me invented and suggested the crime, + And his testimony was the only proof against me. + + The English in their rage burnt the Maid alive; + Like her, I too fell a victim to revenge; + We were both accused falsely of the same crime; + In Paris she is adored, in London abhorred; + In Loudun some hold me guilty of witchcraft, + Some believe me innocent; some halt between two minds. + + Like Hercules, I loved passionately; + Like him, I was consumed by fire; + But he by death became a god. + The injustice of my death was so well concealed + That no one can judge whether the flames saved or destroyed me; + Whether they blackened me for hell, or purified me for heaven. + + In vain did I suffer torments with unshaken resolution; + They said that I felt no pain, being a sorcerer died unrepentant; + That the prayers I uttered were impious words; + That in kissing the image on the cross I spat in its face; + That casting my eyes to heaven I mocked the saints; + That when I seemed to call on God, I invoked the devil + + Others, more charitable, say, in spite of their hatred of my crime, + That my death may be admired although my life was not blameless; + That my resignation showed that I died in hope and faith; + That to forgive, to suffer without complaint or murmur, + Is perfect love; and that the soul is purified + From the sins of life by a death like mine." + + + + +*NISIDA--1825* + + +If our readers, tempted by the Italian proverb about seeing Naples and +then dying, were to ask us what is the most favourable moment for +visiting the enchanted city, we should advise them to land at the mole, +or at Mergellina, on a fine summer day and at the hour when some solemn +procession is moving out of the cathedral. Nothing can give an idea of +the profound and simple-hearted emotion of this populace, which has +enough poetry in its soul to believe in its own happiness. The whole +town adorns herself and attires herself like a bride for her wedding; +the dark facades of marble and granite disappear beneath hangings of +silk and festoons of flowers; the wealthy display their dazzling luxury, +the poor drape themselves proudly in their rags. Everything is light, +harmony, and perfume; the sound is like the hum of an immense hive, +interrupted by a thousandfold outcry of joy impossible to describe. The +bells repeat their sonorous sequences in every key; the arcades echo +afar with the triumphal marches of military bands; the sellers of +sherbet and water-melons sing out their deafening flourish from throats +of copper. People form into groups; they meet, question, gesticulate; +there are gleaming looks, eloquent gestures, picturesque attitudes; +there is a general animation, an unknown charm, an indefinable +intoxication. Earth is very near to heaven, and it is easy to understand +that, if God were to banish death from this delightful spot, the +Neapolitans would desire no other paradise. + +The story that we are about to tell opens with one of these magical +pictures. It was the Day of the Assumption in the year 1825; the sun had +been up some four or five hours, and the long Via da Forcella, lighted +from end to end by its slanting rays, cut the town in two, like a ribbon +of watered silk. The lava pavement, carefully cleaned, shone like any +mosaic, and the royal troops, with their proudly waving plumes, made a +double living hedge on each side of the street. The balconies, windows, +and terraces, the stands with their unsubstantial balustrades, and the +wooden galleries set up during the night, were loaded with spectators, +and looked not unlike the boxes of a theatre. An immense crowd, forming +a medley of the brightest colours, invaded the reserved space and broke +through the military barriers, here and there, like an overflowing +torrent. These intrepid sightseers, nailed to their places, would have +waited half their lives without giving the least sign of impatience. + +At last, about noon, a cannon-shot was heard, and a cry of general +satisfaction followed it. It was the signal that the procession had +crossed the threshold of the church. In the same moment a charge of +carabineers swept off the people who were obstructing the middle of the +street, the regiments of the line opened floodgates for the overflowing +crowd, and soon nothing remained on the causeway but some scared dog, +shouted at by the people, hunted off by the soldiers, and fleeing at +full speed. The procession came out through the Via di Vescovato. First +came the guilds of merchants and craftsmen, the hatters, weavers, +bakers, butchers, cutlers, and goldsmiths. They wore the prescribed +dress: black coats, knee breeches, low shoes and silver buckles. As the +countenances of these gentlemen offered nothing very interesting to the +multitude, whisperings arose, little by little, among the spectators, +then some bold spirits ventured a jest or two upon the fattest or the +baldest of the townsmen, and at last the boldest of the lazzaroni +slipped between the soldiers' legs to collect the wax that was running +down from the lighted tapers. + +After the craftsmen, the religious orders marched past, from the +Dominicans to the Carthusians, from the Carmelites to the Capuchins. +They advanced slowly, their eyes cast down, their step austere, their +hands on their hearts; some faces were rubicund and shining, with large +cheek-hones and rounded chins, herculean heads upon bullnecks; some, +thin and livid, with cheeks hollowed by suffering and penitence, and +with the look of living ghosts; in short, here were the two sides of +monastic life. + +At this moment, Nunziata and Gelsomina, two charming damsels, taking +advantage of an old corporal's politeness, pushed forward their pretty +heads into the first rank. The break in the line was conspicuous; but +the sly warrior seemed just a little lax in the matter of discipline. + +"Oh, there is Father Bruno!" said Gelsomina suddenly. "Good-day, Father +Bruno." + +"Hush, cousin! People do not talk to the procession." + +"How absurd! He is my confessor. May I not say good-morning to my +confessor?" + +"Silence, chatterboxes!" + +"Who was that spoke?" + +"Oh, my dear, it was Brother Cucuzza, the begging friar." + +"Where is he? Where is he?" + +"There he is, along there, laughing into his beard. How bold he is!" + +"Ah, God in heaven! If we were to dream of him---" + +While the two cousins were pouring out endless comments upon the +Capuchins and their beards, the capes of the canons and the surplices of +the seminarists, the 'feroci' came running across from the other side to +re-establish order with the help of their gun-stocks. + +"By the blood of my patron saint," cried a stentorian voice, "if I catch +you between my finger and thumb, I will straighten your back for the +rest of your days." + +"Who are you falling out with, Gennaro?" + +"With this accursed hunchback, who has been worrying my back for the +last hour, as though he could see through it." + +"It is a shame," returned the hunchback in a tone of lamentation; "I +have been here since last night, I slept out of doors to keep my place, +and here is this abominable giant comes to stick himself in front of me +like an obelisk." + +The hunchback was lying like a Jew, but the crowd rose unanimously +against the obelisk. He was, in one way, their superior, and majorities +are always made up of pigmies. + +"Hi! Come down from your stand!" + +"Hi! get off your pedestal!" + +"Off with your hat!" + +"Down with your head!" + +"Sit down!" + +"Lie down!" + +This revival of curiosity expressing itself in invectives evidently +betokened the crisis of the show. And indeed the chapters of canons, the +clergy and bishops, the pages and chamberlains, the representatives of +the city, and the gentlemen of the king's chamber now appeared, and +finally the king himself, who, bare-headed and carrying a taper, +followed the magnificent statue of the Virgin. The contrast was +striking: after the grey-headed monks and pale novices came brilliant +young captains, affronting heaven with the points of their moustaches, +riddling the latticed windows with killing glances, following the +procession in an absent-minded way, and interrupting the holy hymns with +scraps of most unorthodox conversation. + +"Did you notice, my dear Doria, how like a monkey the old Marchesa +d'Acquasparta takes her raspberry ice?" + +"Her nose takes the colour of the ice. What fine bird is showing off to +her?" + +"It is the Cyrenian." + +"I beg your pardon! I have not seen that name in the Golden Book." + +"He helps the poor marquis to bear his cross." + +The officer's profane allusion was lost in the prolonged murmur of +admiration that suddenly rose from the crowd, and every gaze was turned +upon one of the young girls who was strewing flowers before the holy +Madonna. She was an exquisite creature. Her head glowing in the sun +shine, her feet hidden amid roses and broom-blossom, she rose, tall and +fair, from a pale cloud of incense, like some seraphic apparition. Her +hair, of velvet blackness, fell in curls half-way down her shoulders; +her brow, white as alabaster and polished as a mirror, reflected the +rays of the sun; her beautiful and finely arched black eye-brows melted +into the opal of her temples; her eyelids were fast down, and the curled +black fringe of lashes veiled a glowing and liquid glance of divine +emotion; the nose, straight, slender, and cut by two easy nostrils, gave +to her profile that character of antique beauty which is vanishing day +by day from the earth. A calm and serene smile, one of those smiles that +have already left the soul and not yet reached the lips, lifted the +corners of her mouth with a pure expression of infinite beatitude and +gentleness. Nothing could be more perfect than the chin that completed +the faultless oval of this radiant countenance; her neck of a dead +white, joined her bosom in a delicious curve, and supported her head +gracefully like the stalk of a flower moved by a gentle breeze. A bodice +of crimson velvet spotted with gold outlined her delicate and finely +curved figure, and held in by means of a handsome gold lace the +countless folds of a full and flowing skirt, that fell to her feet like +those severe robes in which the Byzantine painters preferred to drape +their angels. She was indeed a marvel, and so rare and modest of beauty +had not been seen within the memory of man. + +Among those who had gazed most persistently at her was observed the +young Prince of Brancaleone, one of the foremost nobles of the kingdom. +Handsome, rich, and brave, he had, at five-and-twenty, outdone the lists +of all known Don Juans. Fashionable young women spoke very ill of him +and adored him in secret; the most virtuous made it their rule to fly +from him, so impossible did resistance appear. All the young madcaps had +chosen him for their model; for his triumphs robbed many a Miltiades of +sleep, and with better cause. In short, to get an idea of this lucky +individual, it will be enough to know that as a seducer he was the most +perfect thing that the devil had succeeded in inventing in this +progressive century. The prince was dressed out for the occasion in a +sufficiently grotesque costume, which he wore with ironic gravity and +cavalier ease. A black satin doublet, knee breeches, embroidered +stockings, and shoes with gold buckles, formed the main portions of his +dress, over which trailed a long brocaded open-sleeved robe lined with +ermine, and a magnificent diamond-hilted sword. On account of his rank +he enjoyed the rare distinction of carrying one of the six gilded staves +that supported the plumed and embroidered canopy. + +As soon as the procession moved on again, Eligi of Brancaleone gave a +side glance to a little man as red as a lobster, who was walking almost +at his side, and carrying in his right hand, with all the solemnity that +he could muster, his excellency's hat. He was a footman in gold-laced +livery, and we beg leave to give a brief sketch of his history. Trespolo +was the child of poor but thieving parents, and on that account was +early left an orphan. Being at leisure, he studied life from an +eminently social aspect. If we are to believe a certain ancient sage, we +are all in the world to solve a problem: as to Trespolo, he desired to +live without doing anything; that was his problem. He was, in turn, a +sacristan, a juggler, an apothecary's assistant, and a cicerone, and he +got tired of all these callings. Begging was, to his mind, too hard +work, and it was more trouble to be a thief than to be an honest man. +Finally he decided in favour of contemplative philosophy. He had a +passionate preference for the horizontal position, and found the +greatest pleasure in the world in watching the shooting of stars. +Unfortunately, in the course of his meditations this deserving man came +near to dying of hunger; which would have been a great pity, for he was +beginning to accustom himself not to eat anything. But as he was +predestined by nature to play a small part in our story, God showed him +grace for that time, and sent to his assistance--not one of His angels, +the rogue was not worthy of that, but--one of Brancaleone's hunting +dogs. The noble animal sniffed round the philosopher, and uttered a +little charitable growl that would have done credit to one of the +brethren of Mount St. Bernard. The prince, who was returning in triumph +from hunting, and who, by good luck, had that day killed a bear and +ruined a countess, had an odd inclination to do a good deed. He +approached the plebeian who was about to pass into the condition of a +corpse, stirred the thing with his foot, and seeing that there was still +a little hope, bade his people bring him along. + +From that day onward, Trespolo saw the dream of his life nearly +realised. Something rather above a footman and rather below a house +steward, he became the confidant of his master, who found his talents +most useful; for this Trespolo was as sharp as a demon and almost as +artful as a woman. The prince, who, like an intelligent man as he was, +had divined that genius is naturally indolent, asked nothing of him but +advice; when tiresome people wanted thrashing, he saw to that matter +himself, and, indeed, he was the equal of any two at such work. As +nothing in this lower world, however, is complete, Trespolo had strange +moments amid this life of delights; from time to time his happiness was +disturbed by panics that greatly diverted his master; he would mutter +incoherent words, stifle violent sighs, and lose his appetite. The root +of the matter was that the poor fellow was afraid of going to hell. The +matter was very simple: he was afraid of everything; and, besides, it +had often been preached to him that the Devil never allowed a moment's +rest to those who were ill-advised enough to fall into his clutches. +Trespolo was in one of his good moods of repentance, when the prince, +after gazing on the young girl with the fierce eagerness of a vulture +about to swoop upon its prey, turned to speak to his intimate adviser. +The poor servant understood his master's abominable design, and not +wishing to share the guilt of a sacrilegious conversation, opened his +eyes very wide and turned them up to heaven in ecstatic contemplation. +The prince coughed, stamped his foot, moved his sword so as to hit +Trespolo's legs, but could not get from him any sign of attention, so +absorbed did he appear in celestial thoughts. Brancaleone would have +liked to wring his neck, but both his hands were occupied by the staff +of the canopy; and besides, the king was present. + +At last they were drawing nearer to the church of St. Clara, where the +Neapolitan kings were buried, and where several princesses of the blood, +exchanging the crown for the veil, have gone to bury themselves alive. +The nuns, novices, and abbess, hidden behind shutters, were throwing +flowers upon the procession. A bunch fell at the feet of the Prince of +Brancaleone. + +"Trespolo, pick up that nosegay," said the prince, so audibly that his +servant had no further excuse. "It is from Sister Theresa," he added, in +a low voice; "constancy is only to be found, nowadays, in a convent." + +Trespolo picked up the nosegay and came towards his master, looking like +a man who was being strangled. + +"Who is that girl?" the latter asked him shortly. + +"Which one?" stammered the servant. + +"Forsooth! The one walking in front of us." + +"I don't know her, my lord." + +"You must find out something about her before this evening." + +"I shall have to go rather far afield." + +"Then you do know her, you intolerable rascal! I have half a mind to +have you hanged like a dog." + +"For pity's sake, my lord, think of the salvation of your soul, of your +eternal life." + +"I advise you to think of your temporal life. What is her name?" + +"She is called Nisida, and is the prettiest girl in the island that she +is named after. She is innocence itself. Her father is only a poor +fisherman, but I can assure your excellency that in his island he is +respected like a king." + +"Indeed!" replied the prince, with an ironical smile. "I must own, to my +great shame, that I have never visited the little island of Nisida. You +will have a boat ready for me to-morrow, and then we will see." + +He interrupted himself suddenly, for the king was looking at him; and +calling up the most sonorous bass notes that he could find in the depths +of his throat, he continued with an inspired air, "Genitori genitoque +laus et jubilatio." + +"Amen," replied the serving-man in a ringing voice. + +Nisida, the beloved daughter of Solomon, the fisherman, was, as we have +said, the loveliest flower of the island from which she derived her +name. That island is the most charming spot, the most delicious nook +with which we are acquainted; it is a basket of greenery set delicately +amid the pure and transparent waters of the gulf, a hill wooded with +orange trees and oleanders, and crowned at the summit by a marble +castle. All around extends the fairy-like prospect of that immense +amphitheatre, one of the mightiest wonders of creation. There lies +Naples, the voluptuous syren, reclining carelessly on the seashore; +there, Portici, Castellamare, and Sorrento, the very names of which +awaken in the imagination a thousand thoughts of poetry and love; there +are Pausilippo, Baiae, Puozzoli, and those vast plains, where the +ancients fancied their Elysium, sacred solitudes which one might suppose +peopled by the men of former days, where the earth echoes under foot +like an empty grave, and the air has unknown sounds and strange +melodies. + +Solomon's hut stood in that part of the island which, turning its back +to the capital, beholds afar the blue crests of Capri. Nothing could be +simpler or brighter. The brick walls were hung with ivy greener than +emeralds, and enamelled with white bell-flowers; on the ground floor was +a fairly spacious apartment, in which the men slept and the family took +their meals; on the floor above was Nisida's little maidenly room, full +of coolness, shadows, and mystery, and lighted by a single casement that +looked over the gulf; above this room was a terrace of the Italian kind, +the four pillars of which were wreathed with vine branches, while its +vine-clad arbour and wide parapet were overgrown with moss and wild +flowers. A little hedge of hawthorn, which had been respected for ages, +made a kind of rampart around the fisherman's premises, and defended his +house better than deep moats and castellated walls could have done. The +boldest roisterers of the place would have preferred to fight before the +parsonage and in the precincts of the church rather than in front of +Solomon's little enclosure. Otherwise, this was the meeting place of the +whole island. Every evening, precisely at the same hour, the good women +of the neighbourhood came to knit their woollen caps and tell the news. +Groups of little children, naked, brown, and as mischievous as little +imps, sported about, rolling on the grass and throwing handfuls of sand +into the other's eyes, heedless of the risk of blinding, while their +mothers were engrossed in that grave gossip which marks the dwellers in +villages. These gatherings occurred daily before the fisherman's house; +they formed a tacit and almost involuntary homage, consecrated by +custom, and of which no one had ever taken special account; the envy +that rules in small communities would soon have suppressed them. The +influence which old Solomon had over his equals had grown so simply and +naturally, that no one found any fault with it, and it had only +attracted notice when everyone was benefiting by it, like those fine +trees whose growth is only observed when we profit by their shade. If +any dispute arose in the island, the two opponents preferred to abide by +the judgment of the fisherman instead of going before the court; he was +fortunate enough or clever enough to send away both parties satisfied. +He knew what remedies to prescribe better than any physician, for it +seldom happened that he or his had not felt the same ailments, and his +knowledge, founded on personal experience, produced the most excellent +results. Moreover, he had no interest, as ordinary doctors have, in +prolonging illnesses. For many years past the only formality recognised +as a guarantee for the inviolability of a contract had been the +intervention of the fisherman. Each party shook hands with Solomon, and +the thing was done. They would rather have thrown themselves into +Vesuvius at the moment of its most violent eruption than have broken so +solemn an agreement. At the period when our story opens, it was +impossible to find any person in the island who had not felt the effects +of the fisherman's generosity, and that without needing to confess to +him any necessities. As it was the custom for the little populace of +Nisida to spend its leisure hours before Solomon's cottage, the old man, +while he walked slowly among the different groups, humming his favourite +song, discovered moral and physical weaknesses as he passed; and the +same evening he or his daughter would certainly be seen coming +mysteriously to bestow a benefit upon every sufferer, to lay a balm upon +every wound. In short, he united in his person all those occupations +whose business is to help mankind. Lawyers, doctors, and the notary, all +the vultures of civilisation, had beaten a retreat before the +patriarchal benevolence of the fisherman. Even the priest had +capitulated. + +On the morrow of the Feast of the Assumption, Solomon was sitting, as +his habit was, on a stone bench in front of his house, his legs crossed +and his arms carelessly stretched out. At the first glance you would +have taken him for sixty at the outside, though he was really over +eighty. He had all his teeth, which were as white as pearls, and showed +them proudly. His brow, calm and restful beneath its crown of abundant +white hair, was as firm and polished as marble; not a wrinkle ruffled +the corner of his eye, and the gem-like lustre of his blue orbs revealed +a freshness of soul and an eternal youth such as fable grants to the +sea-gods. He displayed his bare arms and muscular neck with an old man's +vanity. Never had a gloomy idea, an evil prepossession, or a keen +remorse, arisen to disturb his long and peaceful life. He had never seen +a tear flow near him without hurrying to wipe it; poor though he was, he +had succeeded in pouring out benefits that all the kings of the earth +could not have bought with their gold; ignorant though he was, he had +spoken to his fellows the only language that they could understand, the +language of the heart. One single drop of bitterness had mingled with +his inexhaustible stream of happiness; one grief only had clouded his +sunny life--the death of his wife--and moreover he had forgotten that. + +All the affections of his soul were turned upon Nisida, whose birth had +caused her mother's death; he loved her with that immoderate love that +old people have for the youngest of their children. At the present +moment he was gazing upon her with an air of profound rapture, and +watching her come and go, as she now joined the groups of children and +scolded them for games too dangerous or too noisy; now seated herself on +the grass beside their mothers and took part with grave and thoughtful +interest in their talk. Nisida was more beautiful thus than she had been +the day before; with the vaporous cloud of perfume that had folded her +round from head to foot had disappeared all that mystic poetry which put +a sort of constraint upon her admirers and obliged them to lower their +glances. She had become a daughter of Eve again without losing anything +of her charm. Simply dressed, as she usually was on work-days, she was +distinguishable among her companions only by her amazing beauty and by +the dazzling whiteness of her skin. Her beautiful black hair was twisted +in plaits around the little dagger of chased silver, that has lately +been imported into Paris by that right of conquest which the pretty +women of Paris have over the fashions of all countries, like the English +over the sea. + +Nisida was adored by her young friends, all the mothers had adopted her +with pride; she was the glory of the island. The opinion of her +superiority was shared by everyone to such a degree, that if some bold +young man, forgetting the distance which divided him from the maiden, +dared speak a little too loudly of his pretensions, he became the +laughing-stock of his companions. Even the past masters of tarentella +dancing were out of countenance before the daughter of Solomon, and did +not dare to seek her as a partner. Only a few singers from Amalfi or +Sorrento, attracted by the rare beauty of this angelic creature, +ventured to sigh out their passion, carefully veiled beneath the most +delicate allusions. But they seldom reached the last verse of their +song; at every sound they stopped short, threw down their triangles and +their mandolines, and took flight like scared nightingales. + +One only had courage enough or passion enough to brave the mockery; this +was Bastiano, the most formidable diver of that coast. He also sang, but +with a deep and hollow voice; his chant was mournful and his melodies +full of sadness. He never accompanied himself upon any instrument, and +never retired without concluding his song. That day he was gloomier than +usual; he was standing upright, as though by enchantment, upon a bare +and slippery rock, and he cast scornful glances upon the women who were +looking at him and laughing. The sun, which was plunging into the sea +like a globe of fire, shed its light full upon his stern features, and +the evening breeze, as it lightly rippled the billows, set the +fluttering reeds waving at his feet. Absorbed by dark thoughts, he sang, +in the musical language of his country, these sad words:-- + +"O window, that wert used to shine in the night like an open eye, how +dark thou art! Alas, alas! my poor sister is ill. + +"Her mother, all in tears, stoops towards me and says, 'Thy poor sister +is dead and buried.' + +"Jesus! Jesus! Have pity on me! You stab me to the heart. + +"Tell me, good neighbours, how it happened; repeat to me her last words. + +"She had a burning thirst, and refused to drink because thou wast not +there to give her water from thy hand. + +"Oh, my sister! Oh, my sister! + +"She refused her mother's kiss, because thou wast not there to embrace +her. + +"Oh, my sister! Oh, my sister! + +"She wept until her last breath, because thou wast not there to dry her +tears. + +"Oh, my sister! Oh, my sister! + +"We placed on her brow her wreath of orangeflowers, we covered her with +a veil as white as snow; we laid her gently in her coffin. + +"Thanks, good neighbours. I will go and be with her. + +"Two angels came down from heaven and bore her away on their wings. Mary +Magdalene came to meet her at the gate of heaven. + +"Thanks, good neighbours. I will go and be with her. + +"There, she was seated in a place of glory, a chaplet of rubies was +given to her, and she is singing her rosary with the Virgin. + +"Thanks, good neighbours. I will go and be with her." + +As he finished the last words of his melancholy refrain, he flung +himself from the top of his rock into the sea, as though he really +desired to engulf himself. Nisida and the other women gave a cry of +terror, for during some minutes the diver failed to reappear upon the +surface. + +"Are you out of your senses?" cried a young man who had suddenly +appeared, unobserved among the women. "Why, what are you afraid of? You +know very well that Bastiano is always doing things of this sort. But do +not be alarmed: all the fishes in the Mediterranean will be drowned +before any harm comes to him. Water is his natural element. Good-day, +sister; good-day, father." + +The young fisherman kissed Nisida on the forehead, drew near to his +father, and, bowing his handsome head before him, took off his red cap +and respectfully kissed the old man's hand. He came thus to ask his +blessing every evening before putting out to sea, where he often spent +the night fishing from his boat. + +"May God bless thee, my Gabriel!" said the old man in a tone of emotion, +as he slowly passed his hand over his son's black curls, and a tear came +into his eye. Then, rising solemnly and addressing the groups around +him, he added in a voice full of dignity and of gentleness. "Come, my +children, it is time to separate. The young to work, the old to rest. +There is the angelus ringing." + +Everybody knelt, and after a short prayer each went on his way. Nisida, +after having given her father the last daily attentions, went up to her +room, replenished the oil in the lamp that burned day and night before +the Virgin, and, leaning her elbow on the window ledge, divided the +branches of jasmine which hung like perfumed curtains, began to gaze out +at the sea, and seemed lost in a deep, sweet reverie. + +At this very time, a little boat, rowed silently by two oarsmen, touched +shore on the other side of the island. It had become quite dark. A +little man first landed cautiously, and respectfully offered his hand to +another individual, who, scorning that feeble support, leapt easily +ashore. + +"Well, knave," he cried, "are my looks to your taste?" + +"Your lordship is perfect." + +"I flatter myself I am. It is true that, in order to make the +transformation complete, I chose the very oldest coat that displayed its +rags in a Jew's shop." + +"Your lordship looks like a heathen god engaged in a love affair. +Jupiter has sheathed his thunderbolts and Apollo has pocketed his rays." + +"A truce to your mythology. And, to begin with, I forbid you to call me +'your lordship.'" + +"Yes, your lordship." + +"If my information that I have procured during the day is correct, the +house must be on the other side of the island, in a most remote and +lonely spot. Walk at a certain distance, and do not trouble yourself +about me, for I know my part by heart." + +The young Prince of Brancaleone, whom, in spite of the darkness of the +night, our readers will already have recognised, advanced towards the +fisherman's house, with as little noise as possible, walked up and down +several times upon the shore, and, after having briefly reconnoitred the +place that he wished to attack, waited quietly for the moon to rise and +light up the scene that he had prepared. He was not obliged to exercise +his patience very long, for the darkness gradually disappeared, and +Solomon's little house was bathed in silvery light. Then he approached +with timid steps, lifted towards the casement a look of entreaty, and +began to sigh with all the power of his lungs. The young girl, called +suddenly from her meditations by the appearance of this strange person, +raised herself sharply and prepared to close the shutters. + +"Stay, charming Nisida!" cried the prince, in the manner of a man +overcome by irresistible passion. + +"What do you want with me, signor?" answered the maiden, amazed to hear +herself called by name. + +"To adore you as a Madonna is adored, and to make you aware of my +sighs." + +Nisida looked at him steadily, and, after a moment or two of reflection, +asked suddenly, as though in response to some secret thought, "Do you +belong to this country, or are you a foreigner?" + +"I arrived in this island," replied the prince without hesitation, "at +the moment when the sun was writing his farewell to the earth and +dipping the rays that serves as his pen into the shadow that serves as +his inkstand." + +"And who are you?" returned the young girl, not at all understanding +these strange words. + +"Alas! I am but a poor student, but I may become a great poet like +Tasso, whose verses you often hear sung by a departing fisherman who +sends his thrilling music as a last farewell that returns to die on the +beach." + +"I do not know whether I am doing wrong to speak to you, but at least I +will be frank with you," said Nisida, blushing; "I have the misfortune +to be the richest girl on the island." + +"Your father will not be inexorable," returned the prince ardently; "one +word from you, light of my eyes, goddess of my heart, and I will work +night and day, never pausing nor slackening, and will render myself +worthy to possess the treasure that God has revealed to my dazzled eyes, +and, from being poor and obscure as you see me, I will become rich and +powerful." + +"I have stayed too long listening to talk that a maiden should not hear; +permit me, signor, to withdraw." + +"Have pity on me, my cruel enemy! What have I done to you that you +should thus leave me with death in my soul? You do not know that, for +months past, I have been following you everywhere like a shadow, that I +prowl round your home at night, stifling my sighs lest they should +disturb your peaceful slumber. You are afraid, perhaps, to let yourself +be touched, at a first meeting, by a poor wretch who adores you. Alas! +Juliet was young and beautiful like you, and she did not need many +entreaties to take pity on Romeo." + +Nisida suffered a sad and thoughtful look to fall upon this handsome +young man who spoke to her in so gentle a voice, and withdrew without +further reply, that she might not humiliate his poverty. + +The prince made great efforts to suppress a strong inclination towards +laughter, and, very well satisfied with this opening, turned his steps +towards the spot where he had left his servant. Trespolo, after having +emptied a bottle of lacryma with which he had provided himself for any +emergency, had looked long around him to choose a spot where the grass +was especially high and thick, and had laid himself down to a sound +sleep, murmuring as he did so, this sublime observation, "O laziness, +but for the sin of Adam you would be a virtue!" + +The young girl could not close her eyes during the whole night after the +conversation that she had held with the stranger. His sudden appearance, +his strange dress and odd speech, had awakened in her an uncertain +feeling that had been lying asleep in the bottom of her heart. She was +at this time in all the vigour of her youth and of her resplendent +beauty. Nisida was not one of the weak and timid natures that are broken +by suffering or domineered over by tyranny. Far otherwise: everything +around her had contributed towards shaping for her a calm and serene +destiny; her simple, tender soul had unfolded in an atmosphere of peace +and happiness. If she had not hitherto loved, it was the fault, not of +her coldness but of the extreme timidity shown by the inhabitants of her +island. The blind depth of respect that surrounded the old fisherman had +drawn around his daughter a barrier of esteem and submission that no one +dared to cross. By means of thrift and labour Solomon had succeeded in +creating for himself a prosperity that put the poverty of the other +fishermen to the blush. No one had asked for Nisida because no one +thought he deserved her. The only admirer who had dared to show his +passion openly was Bastiano, the most devoted and dearest friend of +Gabriel; but Bastiano did not please her. So, trusting in her beauty, +upheld by the mysterious hope that never deserts youth, she had resigned +herself to wait, like some princess who knows that her betrothed will +come from a far country. + +On the day of the Assumption she had left her island for the first time +in her life, chance having chosen her among the maidens of the kingdom +vowed by their mothers to the special protection of the Virgin. But, +overwhelmed by the weight of a position so new to her, blushing and +confused under the eyes of an immense crowd, she had scarcely dared to +raise her wondering looks, and the splendours of the town had passed +before her like a dream, leaving but a vague remembrance. + +When she perceived the presence of this handsome young man, so slenderly +and elegantly built, whose noble and calm demeanour contrasted with the +timidity and awkwardness of her other admirers, she felt herself +inwardly disturbed, and no doubt she would have believed that her prince +had come, if she had been unpleasantly struck by the poverty of his +dress. She had, nevertheless, allowed herself to listen to him longer +than she ought to have done, and she drew back with her bosom heavy, her +cheek on fire, and her heart rent by an ache that was both dull and +sharp. + +"If my father does not wish me to marry him," she said to herself, +tormented by the first remorseful feeling of her life. "I shall have +done wrong to speak to him. And yet he is so handsome!" + +Then she knelt before the Virgin, who was her only confidante, the poor +child having never known her mother, and tried to tell her the torments +of her soul; but she could not achieve her prayer. The thoughts became +entangled within her brain, and she surprised herself uttering strange +words. But, assuredly, the Holy Virgin must have taken pity upon her +lovely devotee, for she rose with the impression of a consoling thought, +resolved to confide everything to her father. + +"I cannot have a moment's doubt," she said to herself, as she unlaced +her bodice, "of my father's affection. Well, then, if he forbids me to +speak to him, it will be for my good. And indeed, I have seen him but +this once," she added, as she threw herself upon the bed, "and now I +think of it, I consider him very bold to dare to speak to me. I am +almost inclined to laugh at him. How confidently he brought out his +nonsense, how absurdly he rolled his eyes! They are really very fine, +those eyes of his, and so is his mouth, and his forehead and his hair. +He does not suspect that I noticed his hands, which are really very +white, when he raised them to heaven, like a madman, as he walked up and +down by the sea. Come, come, is he going to prevent my sleeping? I will +not see him again!" she cried, drawing the sheet over her head like an +angry child. Then she began to laugh to herself over her lover's dress, +and meditated long upon what her companions would say to it. Suddenly +her brow contracted painfully, a frightful thought had stolen into her +mind, she shuddered from head to foot. "Suppose he were to think someone +else prettier than me? Men are so foolish! Certainly, it is too hot, and +I shall not sleep to-night." + +Then she sat up in her bed, and continued her monologue--which we will +spare the reader--till the morning. Scarcely had the first rays of light +filtered through the interlacing branches of jasmine and wavered into +the room, when Nisida dressed herself hurriedly, and went as usual to +present her forehead to her father's kiss. The old man at once observed +the depression and weariness left by a sleepless night upon his +daughter's face, and parting with an eager and anxious hand the +beautiful black hair that fell over her cheeks, he asked her, "What is +the matter, my child? Thou hast not slept well?" + +"I have not slept at all," answered Nisida, smiling, to reassure her +father; "I am perfectly well, but I have something to confess to you." + +"Speak quickly, child; I am dying with impatience." + +"Perhaps I have done wrong; but I want you to promise beforehand not to +scold me." + +"You know very well that I spoil you," said the old man, with a caress; +"I shall not begin to be stern to-day." + +"A young man who does not belong to this island, and whose name I do not +know, spoke to me yesterday evening when I was taking the air at my +window." + +"And what was he so eager to say to you, my dear Nisida?" + +"He begged me to speak to you in his favour." + +"I am listening. What can I do for him?" + +"Order me to marry him." + +"And should you obey willingly?" + +"I think so, father," the girl candidly replied. "As to other things, +you yourself must judge in your wisdom; for I wanted to speak to you +before coming to know him, so as not to go on with a conversation that +you might not approve. But there is a hindrance." + +"You know that I do not recognise any when it is a question of making my +daughter happy." + +"He is poor, father." + +"Well, all the more reason for me to like him. There is work here for +everybody, and my table can spare a place for another son. He is young, +he has arms; no doubt he has some calling." + +"He is a poet." + +"No matter; tell him to come and speak to me, and if he is an honest +lad, I promise you, my child, that I will do anything in the world to +promote your happiness." + +Nisida embraced her father effusively, and was beside herself with joy +all day, waiting impatiently for the evening in order to give the young +man such splendid news. Eligi Brancaleone was but moderately flattered, +as you will easily believe, by the fisherman's magnanimous intentions +towards him; but like the finished seducer that he was, he appeared +enchanted at them. Recollecting his character as a fantastical student +and an out-at-elbows poet, he fell upon his knees and shouted a +thanksgiving to the planet Venus; then, addressing the young girl, he +added, in a calmer voice, that he was going to write immediately to his +own father, who in a week's time would come to make his formal proposal; +until then, he begged, as a favour, that he might not present himself to +Solomon nor to any person at all in the island, and assigned as a +pretext a certain degree of shame which he felt on account of his old +clothes, assuring his beloved that his father would bring him a complete +outfit for the wedding-day. + +While the ill-starred girl was thus walking in terrifying security at +the edge of the precipice, Trespolo, following his master's wishes, had +established himself in the island as a pilgrim from Jerusalem. Playing +his part and sprinkling his conversation with biblical phrases, which +came to him readily, in his character of ex-sacristan, he distributed +abundance of charms, wood of the true Cross and milk of the Blessed +Virgin, and all those other inexhaustible treasures on which the eager +devotion of worthy people daily feeds. His relics were the more +evidently authentic in that he did not sell any of them, and, bearing +his poverty in a holy manner, thanked the faithful and declined their +alms. Only, out of regard for the established virtue of Solomon, he had +consented to break bread with the fisherman, and went to take meals with +him with the regularity of a cenobite. His abstinence aroused universal +surprise: a crust dipped in water, a few nuts or figs sufficed to keep +this holy man alive--to prevent him, that is to say, from dying. +Furthermore, he entertained Nisida by his tales of his travels and by +his mysterious predictions. Unfortunately, he only appeared towards +evening; for he spent the rest of the day in austerities and in +prayers--in other words, in drinking like a Turk and snoring like a +buffalo. + +On the morning of the seventh day, after the promise given by the prince +to the fisherman's daughter, Brancaleone came into his servant's room, +and, shaking hint roughly, cried in his ear, "Up, odious marmot!" + +Trespolo, awakened suddenly, rubbed his eyes in alarm. The dead, +sleeping peacefully at the bottom of their coffins, will be less annoyed +at the last day when the trump of Judgment comes to drag them from their +slumbers. Fear having, however, immediately dispersed the dark clouds +that overspread his countenance, he sat up, and asked with an appearance +of bewilderment-- + +"What is the matter, your excellency?" + +"The matter is that I will have you flayed alive a little if you do not +leave off that execrable habit of sleeping twenty hours in the day." + +"I was not asleep, prince!" cried the servant boldly, as he sprang out +of bed; "I was reflecting---" + +"Listen to me," said the prince in a severe tone; "you were once +employed, I believe, in a chemist's shop?" + +"Yes, my lord, and I left because my employer had the scandalous +barbarity to make me pound drugs, which tired my arms horribly." + +"Here is a phial containing a solution of opium." + +"Mercy!" cried Trespolo, falling on his knees. + +"Get up, idiot, and pay great attention to what I am going to say to +you. This little fool of a Nisida persists in wanting me to speak to her +father. I made her believe that I was going away this evening to fetch +my papers. There is no time to lose. They know you very well at the +fisherman's. You will pour this liquid into their wine; your life will +answer for your not giving them a larger dose than enough to produce a +deep sleep. You will take care to prepare me a good ladder for to-night; +after which you will go and wait for me in my boat, where you will find +Numa and Bonaroux. They have my orders. I shall not want you in scaling +the fortress; I have my Campo Basso dagger." + +"But, my lord---" stammered Trespolo, astounded. + +"No difficulties!" cried the prince, stamping his foot furiously, "or, +by my father's death, I will cure you, once for all, of your scruples." +And he turned on his heel with the air of a man who is certain that +people will be very careful not to disobey his orders. + +The unhappy Trespolo fulfilled his master's injunctions punctually. With +him fear was the guiding principle. That evening the fisherman's supper +table was hopelessly dull, and the sham pilgrim tried in vain to enliven +it by factitious cheerfulness. Nisida was preoccupied by her lover's +departure, and Solomon, sharing unconsciously in his daughter's grief, +swallowed but a drop or two of wine, to avoid resisting the repeated +urgency of his guest. Gabriel had set out in the morning for Sorrento +and was not to return for two or three days; his absence tended to +increase the old man's melancholy. As soon as Trespolo had retired, the +fisherman yielded to his fatigue. Nisida, with her arms hanging by her +sides, her head heavy and her heart oppressed by a sad presentiment, had +scarcely strength to go up to her room, and after having mechanically +trimmed the lamp, sank on her bed as pale and stiff as a corpse. + +The storm was breaking out with violence; one of those terrible storms +seen only in the South, when the congregated clouds, parting suddenly, +shed torrents of rain and of hail, and threaten another deluge. The roar +of the thunder drew nearer and was like the noise of a cannonade. The +gulf, lately so calm and smooth that the island was reflected as in a +mirror, had suddenly darkened; the furiously leaping waves flung +themselves together like wild horses; the island quaked, shaken by +terrible shocks. Even the boldest fishermen had drawn their boats +ashore, and, shut within their cabins, encouraged as best they could +their frightened wives and children. + +Amid the deep darkness that overspread the sea Nisida's lamp could be +seen gleaming clear and limpid, as it burned before the Madonna. Two +boats, without rudders, sails, or oars, tossed by the waves, beaten by +the winds, were whirling above the abyss; two men were in these two +boats, their muscles tense, their breasts bare, their hair flying. They +gazed haughtily on the sea, and braved the tempest. + +"Once more, I beg you," cried one of these men, "fear not for me, +Gabriel; I promise you that with my two broken oars and a little +perseverance I shall get to Torre before daybreak." + +"You are mad, Bastiano; we have not been able ever since the morning to +get near Vico, and have been obliged to keep tacking about; your skill +and strength have been able to do nothing against this frightful +hurricane which has driven us back to this point." + +"It is the first time you have ever refused to go with me," remarked the +young man. + +"Well, yes, my dear Bastiano, I do not know how it is, but to-night I +feel drawn to the island by an irresistible power. The winds have been +unchained to bring me back to it in spite of myself, and I will own to +you, even though it should make me seem like a madman in your eyes, that +this simple and ordinary event appears to me like an order from heaven. +Do you see that lamp shining over there?" + +"I know it," answered Bastiano, suppressing a sigh. + +"It was lighted before the Virgin one the day when my sister was born, +and for eighteen year it has never ceased to burn, night and day. It was +my mother's vow. You do not know, my dear Bastiano, you cannot know how +many torturing thoughts that vow recalls to me. My poor mother called me +to her deathbed and told me a frightful tale, a horrible secret, which +weighs on my soul like a cloak of lead, and of which I can only relieve +myself by confiding it to a friend. When her painful story was ended she +asked to see and to embrace my sister, who was just born; then with her +trembling hand, already chilled by the approach of death, she desired to +light the lamp herself. 'Remember,' these were her last words, +'remember, Gabriel, that your sister is vowed to the Madonna. As long as +this light shines before the blessed image of the Virgin, your sister +will be in no danger.' You can understand now why, at night, when we are +crossing the gulf, my eyes are always fixed on that lamp. I have a +belief that nothing could shake, which is that on the day that light +goes out my sister's soul will have taken flight to heaven." + +"Well," cried Bastiano in an abrupt tone that betrayed the emotion of +his heart, "if you prefer to stay, I will go alone." + +"Farewell," said Gabriel, without turning aside his eyes from the window +towards which he felt himself drawn by a fascination for which he could +not account. Bastiano disappeared, and Nisida's brother, assisted by the +waves, was drawing nearer and nearer to the shore, when, at all once, he +uttered a terrible cry which sounded above the noise of the tempest. + +The star had just been extinguished; the lamp had been blown out. + +"My sister is dead!" cried Gabriel and, leaping into the sea, he cleft +the waves with the rapidity of lightning. + +The storm had redoubled its intensity; long lines of lightning, rending +the sides of the clouds, bathed everything in their tawny and +intermittent light. The fisherman perceived a ladder leaning against the +front of his home, seized it with a convulsive hand, and in three bounds +flung himself into the room. The prince felt himself strangely moved on +making his way into this pure and silent retreat. The calm and gentle +gaze of the Virgin who seemed to be protecting the rest of the sleeping +girl, that perfume of innocence shed around the maidenly couch, that +lamp, open-eyed amid the shadows, like a soul in prayer, had inspired +the seducer with an unknown distress. Irritated by what he called an +absurd cowardice, he had extinguished the obtrusive light, and was +advancing towards the bed, and addressing unspoken reproaches to +himself, when Gabriel swooped upon him with a wounded tiger's fierce +gnashing of the teeth. + +Brancaleone, by a bold and rapid movement that showed no common degree +of skill and bravery, while struggling in the grasp of his powerful +adversary, drew forth in his right hand a long dagger with a fine barbed +blade. Gabriel smiled scornfully, snatched the weapon from him, and even +as he stooped to break it across his knee, gave the prince a furious +blow with his head that made him stagger and sent him rolling on the +floor, three paces away; then, leaning over his poor sister and gazing +on her with hungry eyes, by the passing gleam of a flash, "Dead!" he +repeated, wringing his arms in despair,--"dead!" + +In the fearful paroxysm that compressed his throat he could find no +other words to assuage his rage or to pour forth his woe. His hair, +which the storm had flattened, rose on his head, the marrow of his bones +was chilled, and he felt his tears rush back upon his heart. It was a +terrible moment; he forgot that the murderer still lived. + +The prince, however, whose admirable composure did not for a moment +desert him, had risen, bruised and bleeding. Pale and trembling with +rage, he sought everywhere for a weapon with which to avenge himself. +Gabriel returned towards him gloomier and more ominous than ever, and +grasping his neck with an iron hand, dragged him into the room where the +old man was sleeping. + +"Father! father! father!" he cried in a piercing voice, "here is the +Bastard who Has just murdered Nisida!" + +The old man, who had drunk but a few drops of the narcotic potion, was +awakened by this cry which echoed through his soul; he arose as though +moved by a spring, flung off his coverings, and with that promptitude of +action that God has bestowed upon mothers in moments of danger, event up +to his daughter's room, found a light, knelt on the edge of the bed, and +began to test his child's pulse and watch her breathing with mortal +anxiety. + +All! this had passed in less time than we have taken in telling it. +Brancaleone by an unheard-of effort had freed himself from the hands of +the young fisherman, and suddenly resuming his princely pride, said in a +loud voice, "You shall not kill me without listening to me." + +Gabriel would have overwhelmed him with Bitter reproaches, but, unable +to utter a single word, he burst into tears. + +"Your sifter is not dead," said the prince, with cold dignity; "she is +merely asleep. You can assure yourself of it, and meanwhile I undertake, +upon my Honour, not to move a single step away." + +These words were pronounced with such an accent of truth that the +fisherman was struck by them. An unexpected gleam of hope suddenly +dawned in his thoughts; he cast upon the stranger a glance of hate and +distrust, and muttered in a muffled voice, "Do not flatter yourself, in +any case, that you will be able to escape me." + +Then he went up to his sister's room, and approaching the old man, asked +tremblingly, "Well, father?" + +Solomon thrust him gently aside with the solicitude of a mother removing +some buzzing insect from her child's cradle, and, making a sign to +enjoin silence, added in a low voice, "She is neither dead nor poisoned. +Some philtre has been given to her for a bad purpose. Her breathing is +even, and she cannot fail to recover from her lethargy." + +Gabriel, reassured about Nisida's life, returned silently to the ground +floor where he had left the seducer. His manner was grave and gloomy; he +was coming now not to rend the murderer of his sister with his hands, +but to elucidate a treacherous and infamous mystery, and to avenge his +honour which had been basely attacked. He opened wide the double +entrance door that admitted daylight to the apartment in which, on the +few nights that he spent at home, he was accustomed to sleep with his +father. The rain had just stopped, a ray of moonlight pierced the +clouds, and all at once made its way into the room. The fisherman +adjusted his dripping garments, walked towards the stranger, who awaited +him without stirring, and after having gazed upon him haughtily, said, +"Now you are going to explain your presence in our house." + +"I confess," said the prince, in an easy tone and with the most insolent +assurance, "that appearances are against me. It is the fate of lovers to +be treated as thieves. But although I have not the advantage of being +known to you, I am betrothed to the fair Nisida--with your father's +approval, of course. Now, as I have the misfortune to possess very +hardhearted parents, they have had the cruelty to refuse me their +consent. Love led me astray, and I was about to be guilty of a fault for +which a young man like you ought to have some indulgence. Furthermore, +it was nothing but a mere attempt at an abduction, with the best +intentions in the world, I swear, and I am ready to atone for everything +if you will agree to give me your hand and call me your brother." + +"I will agree to call you a coward and a betrayer!" replied Gabriel, +whose face had begun to glow, as he heard his sister spoken of with such +impudent levity. "If it is thus that insults are avenged in towns, we +fishers have a different plan. Ah! so you flattered yourself with the +thought of bringing desolation aid disgrace into our home, and of paying +infamous assassins to come and share an old man's bread so as to poison +his daughter, of stealing by night, like a brigand, armed with a dagger, +into my sister's room, and of being let off by marrying the most +beautiful woman in the kingdom!" + +The prince made a movement. + +"Listen," continued Gabriel: "I could break you as I broke your dagger +just now; but I have pity on you. I see that you can do nothing with +your hands, neither defend yourself nor work. Go, I begin to understand; +you are a braggart, my fine sir; your poverty is usurped; you have +decked yourself in these poor clothes, but you are unworthy of them." + +He suffered a glance of crushing contempt to fall upon the prince, then +going to a cupboard hidden in the wall, he drew out a rifle and an axe. + +"Here," said he, "are all the weapons in the house; choose." + +A flash of joy illuminated the countenance of the prince, who had +hitherto suppressed his rage. He seized the rifle eagerly, drew three +steps backward, and drawing himself up to his full height, said, "You +would have done better to lend me this weapon at the beginning; for then +I would have been spared from witnessing your silly vapourings and +frantic convulsions. Thanks, young-man; one of my servants will bring +you back your gun. Farewell." + +And he threw him his purse, which fell heavily at the fisherman's feet. + +"I lent you that rifle to fight with me," cried Gabriel, whom surprise +had rooted to the spot. + +"Move aside, my lad; you are out of your senses," said the prince, +taking a step towards the door. + +"So you refuse to defend yourself?" asked Gabriel in a determined voice. + +"I have told you already that I cannot fight with you." + +"Why not?" + +"Because such is the will of God; because you were born to crawl and I +to trample you under my feet; because all the blood that I could shed in +this island would not purchase one drop of my blood; because a thousand +lives of wretches like you are not equal to one hour of mine; because +you will kneel at my name that I, am now going to utter; because, in +short, you are but a poor fisherman and my name is Prince of +Brancaleone." + +At this dreaded name, which the young nobleman flung, like a +thunderbolt, at his head, the fisherman bounded like a lion. He drew a +deep breath, as though he had lifted a weight that had long rested on +his heart. + +"Ah!" he cried, "you have given yourself into my hands, my lord! Between +the poor fisherman and the all-powerful prince there is a debt of blood. +You shall pay for yourself and for your father. We are going to settle +our accounts, your excellency," he added, rising his axe over the head +of the prince, who was aiming at him. "Oh! you were in too great haste +to choose: the rifle is not loaded." The prince turned pale. + +"Between our two families," Gabriel continued, "there exists a horrible +secret which my mother confided to me on the brink of the grave, of +which my father himself is unaware, and that no man in the world must +learn. You are different, you are going to die." + +He dragged him into the space outside the house. + +"Do you know why my sister, whom you wished to dishonour, was vowed to +the Madonna? Because your father, like you, wished to dishonour my +mother. In your accursed house there is a tradition of infamy. You do +not know what slow and terrible torments my poor mother endured-torments +that broke her strength and caused her to die in early youth, and that +her angelic soul dared confide to none but her son in that supreme hour +and in order to bid me watch over my sister." + +The fisherman wiped away a burning tear. "One day, before we were born, +a fine lady, richly dressed, landed in our island from a splendid boat; +she asked to see my mother, who was as young and beautiful as my Nisida +is to-day. She could not cease from admiring her; she blamed the +blindness of fate which had buried this lovely jewel in the bosom of an +obscure island; she showered praises, caresses, and gifts upon my +mother, and after many indirect speeches, finally asked her parents for +her, that she might make her her lady-in-waiting. The poor people, +foreseeing in the protection of so great a lady a brilliant future for +their daughter, were weak enough to yield. That lady was your mother; +and do you know why she came thus to seek that poor innocent maiden? +Because your mother had a lover, and because she wished to make sure, in +this infamous manner, of the prince's indulgence." + +"Silence, wretch!" + +"Oh, your excellency will hear me out. At the beginning, my poor mother +found herself surrounded by the tenderest care: the princess could not +be parted from her for a moment; the most flattering words, the finest +clothes, the richest ornaments were hers; the servants paid her as much +respect as though she were a daughter of the house. When her parents +went to see her and to inquire whether she did not at all regret having +left them, they found her so lovely and so happy, that they blessed the +princess as a good angel sent them from God. Then the prince conceived a +remarkable affection for my mother; little by little his manners became +more familiar and affectionate. At last the princess went away for a few +days, regretting that she could not take with her her dear child, as she +called her. Then the prince's brutality knew no further barriers; he no +longer concealed his shameful plans of seduction; he spread before the +poor girl's eyes pearl necklaces and caskets of diamonds; he passed from +the most glowing passion to the blackest fury, from the humblest prayers +to the most horrible threats. The poor child was shut up in a cellar +where there was hardly a gleam of daylight, and every morning a +frightful gaoler came and threw her a bit of black bread, repeating with +oaths that it only depended upon herself to alter all this by becoming +the prince's mistress. This cruelty continued for two years. The +princess had gone on a long journey, and my mother's poor parents +believed that their daughter was still happy with her protectress. On +her return, having; no doubt fresh sins for which she needed +forgiveness, she took my mother from her dungeon, assumed the liveliest +indignation at this horrible treatment, about which she appeared to have +known nothing, wiped her tears, and by an abominable refinement of +perfidy received the thanks of the victim whom she was about to +sacrifice. + +"One evening--I have just finished, my lord--the princess chose to sup +alone with her lady-in-waiting: the rarest fruits, the most exquisite +dishes, and the most delicate wines were served to my poor mother, whose +prolonged privations had injured her health and weakened her reason; she +gave way to a morbid gaiety. Diabolical philtres were poured into her +cup; that is another tradition in your family. My mother felt uplifted, +her eyes shone with feverish brilliance, her cheeks were on fire. Then +the prince came in--oh! your excellency will see that God protects the +poor. My darling mother, like a frightened dove, sheltered herself in +the bosom of the princess, who pushed her away, laughing. The poor +distraught girl, trembling, weeping, knelt down in the midst of that +infamous room. It was St. Anne's Day; all at once the house shook, the +walls cracked, cries of distress rang out in the streets. My mother was +saved. It was the earthquake that destroyed half Naples. You know all +about it, my lord, since your old palace is no longer habitable." + +"What are you driving at?" cried Brancaleone in terrible agitation. + +"Oh, I merely wish to persuade you that you must fight with me," +answered the fisherman coldly, as he offered him a cartridge. "And now," +he added, in an excited tone, "say your prayers, my lord; for I warn +you, you will die by my hand; justice must be done." + +The prince carefully examined the powder and shot, made sure that his +rifle was in good condition; loaded it, and, eager to make an end, took +aim at the fisherman; but, either because he had been so much disturbed +by his opponent's terrible tale, or, because the grass was wet from the +storm, at the moment when he put forward his left foot to steady his +shot, he slipped, lost his balance and fell on one knee. He fired into +the air. + +"That does not count, my lord," cried Gabriel instantly, and handed him +a second charge. + +At the noise of the report Solomon had appeared at the window, and, +understanding what was going on, had lifted his hands to heaven, in +order to address to God a dumb and fervent prayer. Eligi uttered a +frightful inprecation, and hastily reloaded his rifle; but, struck by +the calm confidence of the young man, who stood motionless before him, +and by the old man, who, impassive and undisturbed, seemed to be +conjuring God in the name of a father's authority, disconcerted by his +fall, his knees shaking and his arm jarred, he felt the chills of death +running in his veins. Attempting, nevertheless, to master his emotion, +he took aim a second time; the bullet whistled by the fisherman's ear +and buried itself in the stem of a poplar. + +The prince, with the energy of despair, seized the barrel of his weapon +in both hands; but Gabriel was coming forward with his axe, a terrible +foe, and his first stroke carried away the butt of the rifle. He was +still hesitating, however, to kill a defenceless man, when two armed +servants appeared at the end of the pathway. Gabriel did not see them +coming; but at the moment when they would have seized him by the +shoulders, Solomon uttered a cry and rushed to his son's assistance. + +"Help, Numa! help, Bonaroux! Death to the ruffians! They want to murder +me." + +"You lie, Prince of Brancaleone!" cried Gabriel, and with one blow of +the axe he cleft his skull. + +The two bravoes who were coming to their master's assistance, when they +saw him fall, took flight; Solomon and his son went up to Nisida's room. +The young girl had just shaken off her heavy slumber; a slight +perspiration moistened her brow, and she opened her eyes slowly to the +dawning day. + +"Why are you looking at me in that way, father?" she said, her mind +still wandering a littler and she passed her hand over her forehead. + +The old man embraced her tenderly. + +"You have just passed through a great danger, my poor Nisida," said he; +"arise, and let us give thanks to the Madonna." + +Then all three, kneeling before the sacred image of the Virgin, began to +recite litanies. But at that very instant a noise of arms sounded in the +enclosure, the house was surrounded by soldiers, and a lieutenant of +gendarmes, seizing Gabriel, said in a loud voice, "In the name of the +law, I arrest you for the murder that you have just committed upon the +person of his excellency and illustrious lordship, the Prince of +Brancaleone." + +Nisida, struck by these words, remained pale and motionless like a +marble statue kneeling on a tomb; Gabriel was already preparing to make +an unreasoning resistance, when a gesture from his father stopped him. + +"Signor tenente," said the old man, addressing himself to the officer, +"my son killed the prince in lawful defence, for the latter had scaled +our house and made his way in at night and with arms in his hand. The +proofs are before your eyes. Here is a ladder set up against the window; +and here," he proceeded, picking up the two pieces of the broken blade, +"is a dagger with the Brancaleone arms. However, we do not refuse to +follow you." + +The last words of the fisherman were drowned by cries of "Down with the +sbirri! down with the gendarmes!" which were repeated in every +direction. The whole island was up in arms, and the fisher-folk would +have suffered themselves to be cut up to the last man before allowing a +single hair of Solomon or of his son to be touched; but the old man +appeared upon his threshold, and, stretching out his arm with a calm and +grave movement that quieted the anger of the crowd, he said, "Thanks, my +children; the law must be respected. I shall be able, alone, to defend +the innocence of my son before the judges." + +Hardly three months have elapsed since the day upon which we first +beheld the old fisherman of Nisida sitting before the door of his +dwelling, irradiated by all the happiness that he had succeeded in +creating around him, reigning like a king, on his throne of rock, and +blessing his two children, the most beautiful creatures in the island. +Now the whole existence of this man, who was once so happy and so much +envied, is changed. The smiling cottage, that hung over the gulf like a +swan over a transparent lake, is sad and desolate; the little enclosure, +with its hedges of lilac and hawthorn, where joyous groups used to come +and sit at the close of day, is silent and deserted. No human sound +dares to trouble the mourning of this saddened solitude. Only towards +evening the waves of the sea, compassionating such great misfortunes, +come to murmur plaintive notes upon the beach. + +Gabriel has been condemned. The news of the high-born Prince of +Brancaleone's death, so young, so handsome, and so universally adored, +not only fluttered the aristocracy of Naples, but excited profound +indignation in all classes of people. He was mourned by everybody, and a +unanimous cry for vengeance was raised against the murderer. + +The authorities opened the inquiry with alarming promptness. The +magistrates whom their office called to judge this deplorable affair +displayed, however, the most irreproachable integrity. No consideration +outside their duty, no deference due to so noble and powerful a family, +could shake the convictions of their conscience. History has kept a +record of this memorable trial; and has, no reproach to make to men +which does not apply equally to the imperfection of human laws. The +appearance of things, that fatal contradiction which the genius of evil +so often here on earth gives to truth, overwhelmed the poor fisherman +with the most evident proofs. + +Trespolo, in whom fear had destroyed all scruples, being first examined, +as having been the young prince's confidant, declared with cool +impudence that, his master having shown a wish to escape for a few days +from the importunities of a young married lady whose passion was +beginning to tire him, had followed him to the island with three or four +of his most faithful servants, and that he himself had adopted the +disguise of a pilgrim, not wishing to betray his excellency's incognito +to the fisher-people, who would certainly have tormented so powerful a +person by all sorts of petitions. Two local watch men, who had happened +to be on the hillside at the moment of the crime, gave evidence that +confirmed the valet's lengthy statement; hidden by some under wood, they +had seen Gabriel rush upon the prince, and had distinctly heard the last +words of the dying man; calling "Murder!" All the witnesses, even those +summoned at the request of the prisoner, made his case worse by their +statements, which they tried to make favourable. Thus the court, with +its usual perspicacity and its infallible certainty, succeeded in +establishing the fact that Prince Eligi of Brancaleone, having taken a +temporary dislike to town life, had retired to the little island of +Nisida, there to give himself up peaceably to the pleasure of fishing, +for which he had at all times had a particular predilection (a proof +appeared among the documents of the case that the prince had regularly +been present every other year at the tunny-fishing on his property at +Palermo); that when once he was thus hidden in the island, Gabriel might +have recognised him, having gone with his sister to the procession, a +few days before, and had, no doubt, planned to murder him. On the day +before the night of the crime, the absence of Gabriel and the +discomposure of his father and sister had been remarked. Towards evening +the prince had dismissed his servant, and gone out alone, as his custom +was, to walk by the seashore. Surprised by the storm and not knowing the +byways of the island, he had wandered round the fisherman's house, +seeking a shelter; then Gabriel, encouraged by the darkness and by the +noise of the tempest, which seemed likely to cover the cries of his +victim, had, after prolonged hesitation, resolved to commit his crime, +and having fired two shots at the unfortunate young man without +succeeding in wounding him, had put an end to him by blows of the axe; +lastly, at the moment when, with Solomon's assistance, he was about to +throw the body into the sea, the prince's servants having appeared, they +had gone up to the girl's room, and, inventing their absurd tale, had +cast themselves on their knees before the Virgin, in order to mislead +the authorities. All the circumstances that poor Solomon cited in his +son's favour turned against him: the ladder at Nisida's window belonged +to the fisherman; the dagger which young Brancaleone always carried upon +him to defend himself had evidently been taken from him after his death, +and Gabriel had hastened to break it, so as to destroy, to the best of +his power, the traces of his crime. Bastiano's evidence did not receive +a minute's consideration: he, to destroy the idea of premeditation, +declared that the young fisherman had left him only at the moment when +the storm broke over the island; but, in the first place, the young +diver was known to be Gabriel's most devoted friend and his sister's +warmest admirer, and, in the second, he had been seen to land at Torre +during the same hour in which he had affirmed that he was near to +Nisida. As for the prince's passion for the poor peasant girl, the +magistrates simply shrugged their shoulders at the ridiculous assertion +of that, and especially at the young girl's alleged resistance and the +extreme measures to which the prince was supposed to have resorted to +conquer the virtue of Nisida. Eligi of Brancaleone was so young, so +handsome, so seductive, and at the same time so cool amid his successes, +that he had never been suspected of violence, except in getting rid of +his mistresses. Finally, an overwhelming and unanswerable proof +overthrew all the arguments for the defence: under the fisherman's bed +had been found a purse with the Brancaleone arms, full of gold, the +purse which, if our readers remember, the prince had flung as a last +insult at Gabriel's feet. + +The old man did not lose heart at this fabric of lies; after the +pleadings of the advocates whose ruinous eloquence he had bought with +heavy gold, he defended his son himself, and put so much truth, so much +passion, and so many tears into his speech, that the whole audience was +moved, and three of the judges voted for an acquittal; but the majority +was against it, and the fatal verdict was pronounced. + +The news at once spread throughout the little island, and caused the +deepest dejection there. The fishers who, at the first irruption of +force, had risen as one man to defend their comrade's cause, bowed their +heads without a murmur before the unquestioned authority of a legal +judgment. Solomon received unflinchingly the stab that pierced his +heart. No sigh escaped his breast; no tear came to his eyes; his wound +did not bleed. Since his son's arrest he had sold all he possessed in +the world, even the little silver cross left by his wife at her death, +even the pearl necklace that flattered his fatherly pride by losing its +whiteness against his dear Nisida's throat; the pieces of gold gained by +the sale of these things he had sewn into his coarse woollen cap, and +had established himself in the city. He ate nothing but the bread thrown +to him by the pity of passers-by, and slept on the steps of churches or +at the magistrates' door. + +To estimate at its full value the heroic courage of this unhappy father, +one must take a general view of the whole extent of his misfortune. +Overwhelmed by age and grief, he looked forward with solemn calmness to +the terrible moment which would bear his son, a few days before him, to +the grave. His sharpest agony was the thought of the shame that would +envelop his family. The first scaffold erected in that gently mannered +island would arise for Gabriel, and that ignominious punishment tarnish +the whole population and imprint upon it the first brand of disgrace. By +a sad transition, which yet comes so easily in the destiny of man, the +poor father grew to long for those moments of danger at which he had +formerly trembled, those moments in which his son might have died nobly. +And now all was lost: a long life of work, of abnegation, and of good +deeds, a pure and stainless reputation that had extended beyond the gulf +into distant countries, and the traditional admiration, rising almost to +worship, of several generations; all these things only served to deepen +the pit into which the fisherman had fallen, at one blow, from his +kingly height. Good fame, that divine halo without which nothing here on +earth is sacred, had disappeared. Men no longer dared to defend the poor +wretch, they pitied him. His name would soon carry horror with it, and +Nisida, poor orphan, would be nothing to anyone but the sister of a man +who had been condemned to death. Even Bastiano turned away his face and +wept. Thus, when every respite was over, when poor Solomon's every +attempt had failed, people in the town who saw him smile strangely, as +though under the obsession of some fixed idea, said to one another that +the old man had lost his reason. + +Gabriel saw his last day dawn, serenely and calmly. His sleep had been +deep; he awoke full of unknown joy; a cheerful ray of sunlight, falling +through the loophole, wavered over the fine golden straw in his cell; an +autumn breeze playing around him, brought an agreeable coolness to his +brow, and stirred in his long hair. The gaoler, who while he had had him +in his charge had always behaved humanely, struck by his happy looks, +hesitated to announce the priest's visit, in fear of calling the poor +prisoner from his dream. Gabriel received the news with pleasure; he +conversed for two hours with the good priest, and shed sweet tears on +receiving the last absolution. The priest left the prison with tears in +his eyes, declaring aloud that he had never in his life met with a more +beautiful, pure, resigned, and courageous spirit. + +The fisherman was still under the influence of this consoling emotion +when his sister entered. Since the day when she had been carried, +fainting, from the room where her brother had just been arrested, the +poor girl, sheltered under the roof of an aunt, and accusing herself of +all the evil that had befallen, had done nothing but weep at the feet of +her holy protectress. Bowed by grief like a young lily before the storm, +she would spend whole hours, pale, motionless, detached from earthly +things, her tears flowing silently upon her beautiful clasped hands. +When the moment came to go and embrace her brother for the last time, +Nisida arose with the courage of a saint. She wiped away the traces of +her tears, smoothed her beautiful black hair, and put on her best white +dress. Poor child, she tried to hide her grief by an angelic deception. +She had the strength to smile! At the sight of her alarming pallor +Gabriel felt his heart wrung, a cloud passed over his eyes; he would +have run to meet her, but, held back by the chain which fettered him to +a pillar of his prison, stepped back sharply and stumbled. Nisida flew +to her brother and upheld him in her arms. The young girl had understood +him; she assured him that she was well. Fearing to remind him of his +terrible position, she spoke volubly of all manner of things--her aunt, +the weather, the Madonna. Then she stopped suddenly, frightened at her +own words, frightened at her own silence; she fixed her burning gaze +upon her brother's brow as though to fascinate him. Little by little +animation returned to her; a faint colour tinted her hollowed cheeks, +and Gabriel, deceived by the maiden's super human efforts, thought her +still beautiful, and thanked God in his heart for having spared this +tender creature. Nisida, as though she had followed her brother's secret +thoughts, came close to him, pressed his hand with an air of +understanding, and murmured low in his ear, "Fortunately our father has +been away for two days; he sent me word that he would be detained in +town. For us, it is different; we are young, we have courage!" + +The poor young girl was trembling like a leaf. + +"What will become of you, my poor Nisida?" + +"Bah! I will pray to the Madonna. Does she not watch over us?" The girl +stopped, struck by the sound of her own words, which the circumstances +so cruelly contradicted. But looking at her brother, she went on in a +low tone: "Assuredly she does watch over us. She appeared to me last +night in a dream. She held her child Jesus on her arm, and looked at me +with a mother's tenderness. She wishes to make saints of us, for she +loves us; and to be a saint, you see, Gabriel, one must suffer." + +"Well, go and pray for me, my kind sister; go away from the view of this +sad place, which will eventually shake your firmness, and perhaps mine. +Go; we shall see each other again in heaven above, where our mother is +waiting for us--our mother whom you have not known, and to whom I shall +often speak of you. Farewell, my sister, until we meet again!" + +And he kissed her on the forehead. + +The young girl called up all her strength into her heart for this +supreme moment; she walked with a firm step; having reached the +threshold, she turned round and waved him a farewell, preventing herself +by a nervous contraction from bursting into tears, but as soon as she +was in the corridor, a sob broke from her bosom, and Gabriel, who heard +it echo from the vaulted roof, thought that his heart would break. + +Then he threw himself on his knees, and, lifting his hands to heaven, +cried, "I have finished suffering; I have nothing more that holds me to +life. I thank Thee, my God! Thou hast kept my father away, and hast been +willing to spare the poor old man a grief that would have been beyond +his strength." + +It was at the hour of noon, after having exhausted every possible means, +poured out his gold to the last piece, and embraced the knees of the +lowest serving man, that Solomon the fisherman took his way to his son's +prison. His brow was so woebegone that the guards drew back, seized with +pity, and the gaoler wept as he closed the door of the cell upon him. +The old man remained some moments without advancing a step, absorbed in +contemplation of his son. By the tawny gleam of his eye might be divined +that the soul of the man was moved at that instant by some dark project. +He seemed nevertheless struck by the-beauty of Gabriel's face. Three +months in prison had restored to his skin the whiteness that the sun had +turned brown; his fine dark hair fell in curls around his neck, his eyes +rested on his father with a liquid and brilliant gaze. Never had this +head been so beautiful as now, when it was to fall. + +"Alas, my poor son!" said the old man, "there is no hope left; you must +die." + +"I know it," answered Gabriel in a tone of tender reproach, "and it is +not that which most afflicts me at this moment. But you, too, why do you +wish to give me pain, at your age? Why did you not stay in the town?" + +"In the town," the old man returned, "they have no pity; I cast myself +at the king's feet, at everybody's feet; there is no pardon, no mercy +for us." + +"Well, in God's name, what is death to me? I meet it daily on the sea. +My greatest, my only torment is the pain that they are causing you." + +"And I, do you think, my Gabriel, that I only suffer in seeing you die? +Oh, it is but a parting for a few days; I shall soon go to join you. But +a darker sorrow weighs upon me. I am strong, I am a man". He stopped, +fearing that he had said too much; then drawing near to his son, he said +in a tearful voice, "Forgive me, my Gabriel; I am the cause of your +death. I ought to have killed the prince with my own hand. In our +country, children and old men are not condemned to death. I am over +eighty years old; I should have been pardoned; they told me that when, +with tears, I asked pardon for you; once more, forgive me, Gabriel; I +thought my daughter was dead; I thought of nothing else; and besides, I +did not know the law." + +"Father, father!" cried Gabriel, touched, "what are you saying? I would +have given my life a thousand times over to purchase one day of yours. +Since you are strong enough to be present at my last hour, fear not; you +will not see me turn pale; your son will be worthy of you." + +"And he is to die, to die!" cried Solomon, striking his forehead in +despair, and casting on the walls of the dungeon a look of fire that +would fain have pierced them. + +"I am resigned, father," said Gabriel gently; did not Christ ascend the +cross?" + +"Yes," murmured the old man in a muffled voice, "but He did not leave +behind a sister dishonoured by His death." + +These words, which escaped the old fisherman in spite of himself, threw +a sudden and terrible light into the soul of Gabriel. For the first time +he perceived all the infamous manner of his death: the shameless +populace crowding round the scaffold, the hateful hand of the +executioner taking him by the Hair, and the drops of his blood +besprinkling the white raiment of his sister and covering her with +shame. + +"Oh, if I could get a weapon!" cried Gabriel, his haggard eyes roaming +around. + +"It is not the weapon that is lacking," answered Solomon, carrying his +hand to the hilt of a dagger that he had hidden in his breast. + +"Then kill me, father," said Gabriel in a low tone, but with an +irresistible accent of persuasion and entreaty; "oh yes, I confess it +now, the executioner's hand frightens me. My Nisida, my poor Nisida, I +have seen her; she was here just now, as beautiful and as pale as the +Madonna Dolorosa; she smiled to hide from me her sufferings. She was +happy, poor girl, because she believed you away. Oh, how sweet it will +be to me to die by your hand! You gave me life; take it back, father, +since God will have it so. And Nisida will be saved. Oh, do not +hesitate! It would be a cowardice on the part of both of us; she is my +sister, she is your daughter." + +And seeing that his powerful will had subjugated the old man, he said, +"Help! help, father!" and offered his breast to the blow. The poor +father lifted his hand to strike; but a mortal convulsion ran through +all his limbs; he fell into his son's arms, and both burst into tears. + +"Poor father!" said Gabriel. "I ought to have foreseen that. Give me +that dagger and turn away; I am young and my arm will not tremble." + +"Oh no!" returned Solomon solemnly, "no, my son, for then you would be a +suicide! Let your soul ascend to heaven pure! God will give me His +strength. Moreover, we have time yet." + +And a last ray of hope shone in the eyes of the fisherman. + +Then there passed in that dungeon one of those scenes that words can +never reproduce. The poor father sat down on the straw at his son's side +and laid his head gently upon his knees. He smiled to him through his +tears, as one smiles to a sick child; he passed his hand slowly through +the silky curls of his hair, and asked him countless questions, +intermingled with caresses. In order to give him a distaste for this +world he kept on talking to him of the other. Then, with a sudden +change, he questioned him minutely about all sorts of past matters. +Sometimes he stopped in alarm, and counted the beatings of his heart, +which were hurriedly marking the passage of time. + +"Tell me everything, my child; have you any desire, any wish that could +be satisfied before you die? Are you leaving any woman whom you loved +secretly? Everything we have left shall be hers." + +"I regret nothing on earth but you and my sister. You are the only +persons whom I have loved since my mother's death." + +"Well, be comforted. Your sister will be saved." + +"Oh, yes! I shall die happy." + +"Do you forgive our enemies?" + +"With all the strength of my heart. I pray God to have mercy on the +witnesses who accused me. May He forgive me my sins!" + +"How old is it that you will soon be?" the old man asked suddenly, for +his reason was beginning to totter, and his memory had failed him. + +"I was twenty-five on All Hallows' Day." + +"True; it was a sad day, this year; you were in prison." + +"Do you remember how, five years ago, on that same day I got the prize +in the regatta at Venice?" + +"Tell me about that, my child." + +And he listened, his neck stretched forward, his mouth half open, his +hands in his son's. A sound of steps came in from the corridor, and a +dull knock was struck upon the door. It was the fatal hour. The poor +father had forgotten it. + +The priests had already begun to sing the death hymn; the executioner +was ready, the procession had set out, when Solomon the fisherman +appeared suddenly on the threshold of the prison, his eyes aflame and +his brow radiant with the halo of the patriarchs. The old man drew +himself up to his full height, and raising in one hand the reddened +knife, said in a sublime voice, "The sacrifice is fulfilled. God did not +send His angel to stay the hand of Abraham." + +The crowd carried him in triumph! + +[The details of this case are recorded in the archives of the Criminal +Court at Naples. We have changed nothing in the age or position of the +persons who appear in this narrative. One of the most celebrated +advocates at the Neapolitan bar secured the acquittal of the old man.] + + + + +*DERUES* + + +One September afternoon in 1751, towards half-past five, about a score +of small boys, chattering, pushing, and tumbling over one another like a +covey of partridges, issued from one of the religious schools of +Chartres. The joy of the little troop just escaped from a long and +wearisome captivity was doubly great: a slight accident to one of the +teachers had caused the class to be dismissed half an hour earlier than +usual, and in consequence of the extra work thrown on the teaching staff +the brother whose duty it was to see all the scholars safe home was +compelled to omit that part of his daily task. Therefore not only thirty +or forty minutes were stolen from work, but there was also unexpected, +uncontrolled liberty, free from the surveillance of that black-cassocked +overseer who kept order in their ranks. Thirty minutes! at that age it +is a century, of laughter and prospective games! Each had promised +solemnly, under pain of severe punishment, to return straight to his +paternal nest without delay, but the air was so fresh and pure, the +country smiled all around! The school, or preferably the cage, which had +just opened, lay at the extreme edge of one of the suburbs, and it only +required a few steps to slip under a cluster of trees by a sparkling +brook beyond which rose undulating ground, breaking the monotony of a +vast and fertile plain. Was it possible to be obedient, to refrain from +the desire to spread one's wings? The scent of the meadows mounted to +the heads of the steadiest among them, and intoxicated even the most +timid. It was resolved to betray the confidence of the reverend fathers, +even at the risk of disgrace and punishment next morning, supposing the +escapade were discovered. + +A flock of sparrows suddenly released from a cage could not have flown +more wildly into the little wood. They were all about the same age, the +eldest might be nine. They flung off coats and waistcoats, and the grass +became strewn with baskets, copy-books, dictionaries, and catechisms. +While the crowd of fair-haired heads, of fresh and smiling faces, +noisily consulted as to which game should be chosen, a boy who had taken +no part in the general gaiety, and who had been carried away by the rush +without being able to escape sooner, glided slyly away among the trees, +and, thinking himself unseen, was beating a hasty retreat, when one of +his comrades cried out-- + +"Antoine is running away!" + +Two of the best runners immediately started in pursuit, and the +fugitive, notwithstanding his start, was speedily overtaken, seized by +his collar, and brought back as a deserter. + +"Where were you going?" the others demanded. + +"Home to my cousins," replied the boy; "there is no harm in that." + +"You canting sneak!" said another boy, putting his fist under the +captive's chin; "you were going to the master to tell of us." + +"Pierre," responded Antoine, "you know quite well I never tell lies." + +"Indeed!--only this morning you pretended I had taken a book you had +lost, and you did it because I kicked you yesterday, and you didn't dare +to kick me back again." + +Antoine lifted his eyes to heaven, and folding his arms on his breast-- + +"Dear Buttel," he said, "you are mistaken; I have always been taught to +forgive injuries." + +"Listen, listen! he might be saying his prayers!" cried the other boys; +and a volley of offensive epithets, enforced by cuffs, was hurled at the +culprit. + +Pierre Buttel, whose influence was great, put a stop to this onslaught. + +"Look here, Antoine, you are a bad lot, that we all know; you are a +sneak and a hypocrite. It's time we put a stop to it. Take off your coat +and fight it out. If you like, we will fight every morning and evening +till the end of the month." + +The proposition was loudly applauded, and Pierre, turning up his sleeves +as far as his elbows, prepared to suit actions to words. + +The challenger assuredly did not realise the full meaning, of his words; +had he done so, this chivalrous defiance would simply have been an act +of cowardice on his part, for there could be no doubt as to the victor +in such a conflict. The one was a boy of alert and gallant bearing, +strong upon his legs, supple and muscular, a vigorous man in embryo; +while the other, not quite so old, small, thin, of a sickly leaden +complexion, seemed as if he might be blown away by a strong puff of +wind. His skinny arms and legs hung on to his body like the claws of a +spider, his fair hair inclined to red, his white skin appeared nearly +bloodless, and the consciousness of weakness made him timid, and gave a +shifty, uneasy look to his eyes. His whole expression was uncertain, and +looking only at his face it was difficult at first sight to decide to +which sex he belonged. This confusion of two natures, this indefinable +mixture of feminine weakness without grace, and of abortive boyhood, +seemed to stamp him as something exceptional, unclassable, and once +observed, it was difficult to take one's eyes from him. Had he been +endowed with physical strength he would have been a terror to his +comrades, exercising by fear the ascendancy which Pierre owed to his +joyous temper and unwearied gaiety, for this mean exterior concealed +extraordinary powers of will and dissimulation. Guided by instinct, the +other children hung about Pierre and willingly accepted his leadership; +by instinct also they avoided Antoine, repelled by a feeling of chill, +as if from the neighbourhood of a reptile, and shunning him unless to +profit in some way by their superior strength. Never would he join their +games without compulsion; his thin, colourless lips seldom parted for a +laugh, and even at that tender age his smile had an unpleasantly +sinister expression. + +"Will you fight?" again demanded Pierre. + +Antoine glanced hastily round; there was no chance of escape, a double +ring enclosed him. To accept or refuse seemed about equally risky; he +ran a good chance of a thrashing whichever way he decided. Although his +heart beat loudly, no trace of emotion appeared on his pallid cheek; an +unforeseen danger would have made him shriek, but he had had time to +collect himself, time to shelter behind hypocrisy. As soon as he could +lie and cheat he recovered courage, and the instinct of cunning, once +roused, prevailed over everything else. Instead of answering this second +challenge, he knelt down and said to Pierre-- + +"You are much stronger than I am." + +This submission disarmed his antagonist. "Get up," he replied; "I won't +touch you, if you can't defend yourself. + +"Pierre," continued Antoine, still on his knees, "I assure you, by God +and the Holy Virgin, I was not going to tell. I was going home to my +cousins to learn my lessons for to-morrow; you know how slow I am. If +you think I have done you any harm, I ask your forgiveness." + +Pierre held out his hand and made him get up. + +"Will you be a good fellow, Antoine, and play with us?" + +"Yes, I will." + +"All right, then; let us forget all about it." + +"What are we to play at?" asked Antoine, taking off his coat. + +"Thieves and archers," cried one of the boys.... + +"Splendid!" said Pierre; and using his acknowledged authority, he +divided them into two sides--ten highwaymen, whom he was to command, and +ten archers of the guard, who were to pursue them; Antoine was among the +latter. + +The highwaymen, armed with swords and guns obtained from the willows +which grew along the brook, moved off first, and gained the valleys +between the little hills beyond the wood. The fight was to be serious, +and any prisoner on either side was to be tried immediately. The robbers +divided into twos and threes, and hid themselves in the ravines. + +A few minutes later the archers started in pursuit. There were +encounters, surprises, skirmishes; but whenever it came to close +quarters, Pierre's men, skilfully distributed, united on hearing his +whistle, and the Army of justice had to retreat. But there came a time +when this magic signal was no longer heard, and the robbers became +uneasy, and remained crouching in their hiding-places. Pierre, +over-daring, had undertaken to defend alone the entrance of a dangerous +passage and to stop the whole hostile troop there. Whilst he kept them +engaged, half of his men, concealed on the left, were to come round the +foot of the hill and make a rush on hearing his whistle; the other half, +also stationed at some, little distance, were to execute the same +manoeuvre from above. The archers would be caught in a trap, and +attacked both in front and rear, would be obliged to surrender at +discretion. Chance, which not unfrequently decides the fate of a battle, +defeated this excellent stratagem. Watching intently; Pierre failed to +perceive that while his whole attention was given to the ground in +front, the archers had taken an entirely different road from the one +they ought to have followed if his combination were to succeed. They +suddenly fell upon him from behind, and before he could blow his +whistle, they gagged him with a handkerchief and tied his hands. Six +remained to keep the field of battle and disperse the hostile band, now +deprived of its chief; the remaining four conveyed Pierre to the little +wood, while the robbers, hearing no signal, did not venture to stir. +According to agreement, Pierre Buttel was tried by the archers, who +promptly transformed themselves into a court of justice, and as he had +been taken red-handed, and did not condescend to defend himself, the +trial was not a long affair. He was unanimously sentenced to be hung, +and the execution was then and there carried out, at the request of the +criminal himself, who wanted the game to be properly played to the end, +and who actually selected a suitable tree for his own execution. + +"But, Pierre," said one of the judges, "how can you be held up there?" + +"How stupid you are!" returned the captive. "I shall only pretend to be +hung, of course. See here!" and he fastened together several pieces +strong string which had tied some of the other boys' books, piled the +latter together, and standing on tiptoe on this very insecure basis, +fastened one end of the cord to a horizontal bough, and put his neck +into a running knot at the other end, endeavouring to imitate the +contortions of an actual sufferer. Shouts of laughter greeted him, and +the victim laughed loudest of all. Three archers went to call the rest +to behold this amusing spectacle; one, tired out, remained with the +prisoner. + +"Ah, Hangman," said Pierre, putting out his tongue at him, "are the +books firm? I thought I felt them give way." + +"No," replied Antoine; it was he who remained. "Don't be afraid, +Pierre." + +"It is a good thing; for if they fell I don't think the cord is long +enough." + +"Don't you really think so?" + +A horrible thought showed itself like a flash on the child's face. He +resembled a young hyena scenting blood for the first time. He glanced at +the pile of books Pierre was standing on, and compared it with the +length of the cord between the branch and his neck. It was already +nearly dark, the shadows were deepening in the wood, gleams of pale +light penetrated between the trees, the leaves had become black and +rustled in the wind. Antoine stood silent and motionless, listening if +any sound could be heard near them. + +It would be a curious study for the moralist to observe how the first +thought of crime develops itself in the recesses of the human heart, and +how this poisoned germ grows and stifles all other sentiments; an +impressive lesson might be gathered from this struggle of two opposing +principles, however weak it may be, in perverted natures. In cases where +judgment can discern, where there is power to choose between good and +evil, the guilty person has only himself to blame, and the most heinous +crime is only the action of its perpetrator. It is a human action, the +result of passions which might have been controlled, and one's mind is +not uncertain, nor one's conscience doubtful, as to the guilt. But how +can one conceive this taste for murder in a young child, how imagine it, +without being tempted to exchange the idea of eternal sovereign justice +for that of blind-fatality? How can one judge without hesitation between +the moral sense which has given way and the instinct which displays +itself? how not exclaim that the designs of a Creator who retains the +one and impels the other are sometimes mysterious and inexplicable, and +that one must submit without understanding? + +"Do you hear them coming?" asked Pierre. + +"I hear nothing," replied Antoine, and a nervous shiver ran through all +his members. + +"So much the worse. I am tired of being dead; I shall come to life and +run after them. Hold the books, and I will undo the noose." + +"If you move, the books will separate; wait, I will hold them." + +And he knelt down, and collecting all his strength, gave the pile a +violent push. + +Pierre endeavoured to raise his hands to his throat. "What are you +doing?" he cried in a suffocating voice. + +"I am paying you out;" replied Antoine, folding his arms. + +Pierre's feet were only a few inches from the ground, and the weight of +his body at first bent the bough for a moment; but it rose again, and +the unfortunate boy exhausted himself in useless efforts. At every +movement the knot grew tighter, his legs struggled, his arms sought +vainly something to lay hold of; then his movements slackened, his limbs +stiffened, and his hands sank down. Of so much life and vigour nothing +remained but the movement of an inert mass turning round and round upon +itself. + +Not till then did Antoine cry for help, and when the other boys hastened +up they found him crying and tearing his hair. So violent indeed were +his sobs and his despair that he could hardly be understood as he tried +to explain how the books had given way under Pierre, and how he had +vainly endeavoured to support him in his arms. + +This boy, left an orphan at three years old, had been brought up at +first by a relation who turned him out for theft; afterwards by two +sisters, his cousins, who were already beginning to take alarm at his +abnormal perversity. This pale and fragile being, an incorrigible thief, +a consummate hypocrite, and a cold-blooded assassin, was predestined to +an immortality of crime, and was to find a place among the most +execrable monsters for whom humanity has ever had to blush; his name was +Antoine-Francois Derues. + +Twenty years had gone by since this horrible and mysterious event, which +no one sought to unravel at the time it occurred. One June evening, +1771, four persons were sitting in one of the rooms of a modestly +furnished, dwelling on the third floor of a house in the rue +Saint-Victor. The party consisted of three women and an ecclesiastic, +who boarded, for meals only, with the woman who tenanted the dwelling; +the other two were near neighbours. They were all friends, and often met +thus in the evening to play cards. They were sitting round the +card-table, but although it was nearly ten o'clock the cards had not yet +been touched. They spoke in low tones, and a half-interrupted confidence +had, this evening, put a check on the usual gaiety. + +Someone knocked gently at the door, although no sound of steps on the +creaking wooden staircase had been heard, and a wheedling voice asked +for admittance. The occupier of the room, Madame Legrand, rose, and +admitted a man of about six-and-twenty, at whose appearance the four +friends exchanged glances, at once observed by the new-comer, who +affected, however, not to see them. He bowed successively to the three +women, and several times with the utmost respect to the abbe, making +signs of apology for the interruption caused by his appearance; then, +coughing several times, he turned to Madame Legrand, and said in a +feeble voice, which seemed to betoken much suffering-- + +"My kind mistress, will you and these other ladies excuse my presenting +myself at such an hour and in such a costume? I am ill, and I was +obliged to get up." + +His costume was certainly singular enough: he was wrapped in a large +dressing-gown of flowered chintz; his head was adorned by a nightcap +drawn up at the top and surmounted by a muslin frill. His appearance did +not contradict his complaint of illness; he was barely four feet six in +height, his limbs were bony, his face sharp, thin, and pale. Thus +attired, coughing incessantly, dragging his feet as if he had no +strength to lift them, holding a lighted candle in one hand and an egg +in the other, he suggested a caricature-some imaginary invalid just +escaped from M. Purgon. Nevertheless, no one ventured to smile, +notwithstanding his valetudinarian appearance and his air of affected +humility. The perpetual blinking of the yellow eyelids which fell over +the round and hollow eyes, shining with a sombre fire which he could +never entirely suppress, reminded one of a bird of prey unable to face +the light, and the lines of his face, the hooked nose, and the thin, +constantly quivering, drawn-in lips suggested a mixture of boldness and +baseness, of cunning and sincerity. But there is no book which can +instruct one to read the human countenance correctly; and some special +circumstance must have roused the suspicions of these four persons so +much as to cause them to make these observations, and they were not as +usual deceived by the humbug of this skilled actor, a past master in the +art of deception. + +He continued after a moment's silence, as if he did not wish to +interrupt their mute observation-- + +"Will you oblige me by a neighbourly kindness?" + +"What is it, Derues?" asked Madame Legrand. A violent cough, which +appeared to rend his chest, prevented him from answering immediately. +When it ceased, he looked at the abbe, and said, with a melancholy +smile-- + +"What I ought to ask in my present state of health is your blessing, my +father, and your intercession for the pardon of my sins. But everyone +clings to the life which God has given him. We do not easily abandon +hope; moreover, I have always considered it wrong to neglect such means +of preserving our lives as are in our power, since life is for us only a +time of trial, and the longer and harder the trial the greater our +recompense in a better world. Whatever befalls us, our answer should be +that of the Virgin Mary to the angel who announced the mystery of the +Incarnation: 'Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according +to Thy word.'" + +"You are right," said the abbe, with a severe and inquisitorial look, +under which Derues remained quite untroubled; "it is an attribute of God +to reward and to punish, and the Almighty is not deceived by him who +deceives men. The Psalmist has said, 'Righteous art Thou, O Lord, and +upright are Thy judgments.'" + +"He has said also, 'The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous +altogether,'" Derues promptly replied. This exchange of quotations from +Scripture might have lasted for hours without his being at a loss, had +the abbe thought fit to continue in this strain; but such a style of +conversation, garnished with grave and solemn words, seemed almost +sacrilegious in the mouth of a man of such ridiculous appearance--a +profanation at once sad and grotesque. Derues seemed to comprehend the +impression it produced, and tuning again to Madame Legrand, he said-- + +"We have got a long way from what I came to ask you, my kind friend. I +was so ill that I went early to bed, but I cannot sleep, and I have no +fire. Would you have the kindness to have this egg mulled for me?" + +"Cannot your servant do that for you?" asked Madame Legrand. + +"I gave her leave to go out this evening, and though it is late she has +not yet returned. If I had a fire, I would not give you so much trouble, +but I do not care to light one at this hour. You know I am always afraid +of accidents, and they so easily happen!" + +"Very well, then," replied Madame Legrand; "go back to your room, and my +servant will bring it to you." + +"Thank you," said Derues, bowing,--"many thanks." + +As he turned to depart, Madame Legrand spoke again. + +"This day week, Derues, you have to pay me half the twelve hundred +livres due for the purchase of my business." + +"So soon as that?" + +"Certainly, and I want the money. Have you forgotten the date, then?" + +"Oh dear, I have never looked at the agreement since it was drawn up. I +did not think the time was so near, it is the fault of my bad memory; +but I will contrive to pay you, although trade is very bad, and in three +days I shall have to pay more than fifteen thousand livres to different +people." + +He bowed again and departed, apparently exhausted by the effort of +sustaining so long a conversation. + +As soon as they were alone, the abbe exclaimed-- + +"That man is assuredly an utter rascal! May God forgive him his +hypocrisy! How is it possible we could allow him to deceive us for so +long?" + +"But, my father," interposed one of the visitors, "are you really sure +of what you have just said?" + +"I am not now speaking of the seventy-nine Louis d'or which have been +stolen from me, although I never mentioned to anyone but you, and he was +then present, that I possessed such a sum, and although that very day he +made a false excuse for coming to my rooms when I was out. Theft is +indeed infamous, but slander is not less so, and he has slandered you +disgracefully. Yes, he has spread a report that you, Madame Legrand, +you, his former mistress and benefactress, have put temptation in his +way, and desired to commit carnal sin with him. This is now whispered +the neighbourhood all round us, it will soon be said aloud, and we have +been so completely his dupes, we have helped him so much to acquire a +reputation for uprightness, that it would now be impossible to destroy +our own work; if I were to accuse him of theft, and you charged him with +lying, probably neither of us would be believed. Beware, these odious +tales have not been spread without a reason. Now that your eyes are +open, beware of him." + +"Yes," replied Madame Legrand, "my brother-in-law warned me three years +ago. One day Derues said to my sister-in-law,--I remember the words +perfectly,--'I should like to be a druggist, because one would always be +able to punish an enemy; and if one has a quarrel with anyone it would +be easy to get rid of him by means of a poisoned draught.' I neglected +these warnings. I surmounted the feeling of repugnance I first felt at +the sight of him; I have responded to his advances, and I greatly fear I +may have cause to repent it. But you know him as well as I do, who would +not have thought his piety sincere?--who would not still think so? And +notwithstanding all you have said, I still hesitate to feel serious +alarm; I am unwilling to believe in such utter depravity." + +The conversation continued in this strain for some time, and then, as it +was getting late, the party separated. + +Next morning early, a large and noisy crowd was assembled in the rue +Saint-Victor before Derues' shop of drugs and groceries. There was a +confusion of cross questions, of inquiries which obtained no answer, of +answers not addressed to the inquiry, a medley of sound, a pell-mell of +unconnected words, of affirmations, contradictions, and interrupted +narrations. Here, a group listened to an orator who held forth in his +shirt sleeves, a little farther there were disputes, quarrels, +exclamations of "Poor man!" "Such a good fellow!" "My poor gossip +Derues!" "Good heavens! what will he do now?" "Alas! he is quite done +for; it is to be hoped his creditors will give him time!" Above all this +uproar was heard a voice, sharp and piercing like a cat's, lamenting, +and relating with sobs the terrible misfortune of last night. At about +three in the morning the inhabitants of the rue St. Victor had been +startled out of their sleep by the cry of "Fire, fire!" A conflagration +had burst forth in Derues' cellar, and though its progress had been +arrested and the house saved from destruction, all the goods stored +therein had perished. It apparently meant a considerable loss in barrels +of oil, casks of brandy, boxes of soap, etc., which Derues estimated at +not less than nine thousand livres. + +By what unlucky chance the fire had been caused he had no idea. He +recounted his visit to Madame Legrand, and pale, trembling, hardly able +to sustain himself, he cried-- + +"I shall die of grief! A poor man as ill as I am! I am lost! I am +ruined!" + +A harsh voice interrupted his lamentations, and drew the attention of +the crowd to a woman carrying printed broadsides, and who forced a +passage through the crowd up to the shop door. She unfolded one of her +sheets, and cried as loudly and distinctly as her husky voice +permitted-- + +"Sentence pronounced by the Parliament of Paris against John Robert +Cassel, accused and convicted of Fraudulent Bankruptcy!" + +Derues looked up and saw a street-hawker who used to come to his shop +for a drink, and with whom he had had a violent quarrel about a month +previously, she having detected him in a piece of knavery, and abused +him roundly in her own style, which was not lacking in energy. He had +not seen her since. The crowd generally, and all the gossips of the +quarter, who held Derues in great veneration, thought that the woman's +cry was intended as an indirect insult, and threatened to punish her for +this irreverence. But, placing one hand on her hip, and with the other +warning off the most pressing by a significant gesture-- + +"Are you still befooled by his tricks, fools that you are? Yes, no doubt +there was a fire in the cellar last night, no doubt his creditors will +be geese enough to let him off paying his debts! But what you don't know +is, that he didn't really lose by it at all!" + +"He lost all his goods!" the crowd cried on all sides. "More than nine +thousand livres! Oil and brandy, do you think those won't burn? The old +witch, she drinks enough to know! If one put a candle near her she would +take fire, fast enough!" + +"Perhaps," replied the woman, with renewed gesticulations, "perhaps; but +I don't advise any of you to try. Anyhow, this fellow here is a rogue; +he has been emptying his cellar for the last three nights; there were +only old empty casks in it and empty packing-cases! Oh yes! I have +swallowed his daily lies like everybody else, but I know the truth by +now. He got his liquor taken away by Michael Lambourne's son, the +cobbler in the rue de la Parcheminerie. How do I know? Why, because the +young man came and told me!" + +"I turned that woman out of my shop a month ago, for stealing," said +Derues. + +Notwithstanding this retaliatory accusation, the woman's bold assertion +might have changed the attitude of the crowd and chilled the enthusiasm, +but at that moment a stout man pressed forward, and seizing the hawker +by the arm, said-- + +"Go, and hold your tongue, backbiting woman!" + +To this man, the honour of Derues was an article of faith; he had not +yet ceased to wonder at the probity of this sainted person, and to doubt +it in the least was as good as suspecting his own. + +"My dear friend," he said, "we all know what to think of you. I know you +well. Send to me tomorrow, and you shall have what goods you want, on +credit, for as long as is necessary. Now, evil tongue, what do you say +to that?" + +"I say that you are as great a fool as the rest. Adieu, friend Derues; +go on as you have begun, and I shall be selling your 'sentence' some +day"; and dispersing the crowd with a few twirls of her right arm, she +passed on, crying-- + +"Sentence pronounced by the Parliament of Paris against John Robert +Cassel, accused and convicted of Fraudulent Bankruptcy!" + +This accusation emanated from too insignificant a quarter to have any +effect on Derues' reputation. However resentful he may have been at the +time, he got over it in consequence of the reiterated marks of interest +shown by his neighbours and all the quarter on account of his supposed +ruin, and the hawker's attack passed out of his mind, or probably she +might have paid for her boldness with her life. + +But this drunken woman had none the less uttered a prophetic word; it +was the grain of sand on which, later, he was to be shipwrecked. + +"All passions," says La Bruyere,--"all passions are deceitful; they +disguise themselves as much as possible from the public eye; they hide +from themselves. There is no vice which has not a counterfeit +resemblance to some virtue, and which does not profit by it." + +The whole life of Derues bears testimony to the truth of this +observation. An avaricious poisoner, he attracted his victims by the +pretence of fervent and devoted piety, and drew them into the snare +where he silently destroyed them. His terrible celebrity only began in +1777, caused by the double murder of Madame de Lamotte and her son, and +his name, unlike those of some other great criminals, does not at first +recall a long series of crimes, but when one examines this low, crooked, +and obscure life, one finds a fresh stain at every step, and perhaps no +one has ever surpassed him in dissimulation, in profound hypocrisy, in +indefatigable depravity. Derues was executed at thirty-two, and his +whole life was steeped in vice; though happily so short, it is full of +horror, and is only a tissue of criminal thoughts and deeds, a very +essence of evil. He had no hesitation, no remorse, no repose, no +relaxation; he seemed compelled to lie, to steal, to poison! +Occasionally suspicion is aroused, the public has its doubts, and vague +rumours hover round him; but he burrows under new impostures, and +punishment passes by. When he falls into the hands of human justice his +reputation protects him, and for a few days more the legal sword is +turned aside. Hypocrisy is so completely a part of his nature, that even +when there is no longer any hope, when he is irrevocably sentenced, and +he knows that he can no longer deceive anyone, neither mankind nor Him +whose name he profanes by this last sacrilege, he yet exclaims, "O +Christ! I shall suffer even as Thou." It is only by the light of his +funeral pyre that the dark places of his life can be examined, that this +bloody plot is unravelled, and that other victims, forgotten and lost in +the shadows, arise like spectres at the foot of the scaffold, and escort +the assassin to his doom. + +Let us trace rapidly the history of Derues' early years, effaced and +forgotten in the notoriety of his death. These few pages are not written +for the glorification of crime, and if in our own days, as a result of +the corruption of our manners, and of a deplorable confusion of all +notions of right and wrong, it has been sought to make him an object; of +public interest, we, on our part, only wish to bring him into notice, +and place him momentarily on a pedestal, in order to cast him still +lower, that his fall may be yet greater. What has been permitted by God +may be related by man. Decaying and satiated communities need not be +treated as children; they require neither diplomatic handling nor +precaution, and it may be good that they should see and touch the +putrescent sores which canker them. Why fear to mention that which +everyone knows? Why dread to sound the abyss which can be measured by +everyone? Why fear to bring into the light of day unmasked wickedness, +even though it confronts the public gaze unblushingly? Extreme turpitude +and extreme excellence are both in the schemes of Providence; and the +poet has summed up eternal morality for all ages and nations in this +sublime exclamation: + + "Abstulit hunc tandem Rufini poem tumultum." + +Besides, and we cannot insist too earnestly that our intention must not +be mistaken, if we had wished to inspire any other sentiment than that +of horror, we should have chosen a more imposing personage from the +annals of crime. There have been deeds which required audacity, a sort +of grandeur, a false heroism; there have been criminals who held in +check all the regular and legitimate forces of society, and whom one +regarded with a mixture of terror and pity. There is nothing of that in +Derues, not even a trace of courage; nothing but a shameless cupidity, +exercising itself at first in the theft of a few pence filched from the +poor; nothing but the illicit gains and rascalities of a cheating +shopkeeper and vile money-lender, a depraved cowardice which dared not +strike openly, but slew in the dark. It is the story of an unclean +reptile which drags itself underground, leaving everywhere the trail of +its poisonous saliva. + +Such was the man whose life we have undertaken to narrate, a man who +represents a complete type of wickedness, and who corresponds to the +most hideous sketch ever devised by poet or romance-writer: Facts +without importance of their own, which would be childish if recorded of +anyone else, obtain a sombre reflection from other facts which precede +them, and thenceforth cannot be passed over in silence. The historian is +obliged to collect and note them, as showing the logical development of +this degraded being: he unites them in sequence, and counts the +successive steps of the ladder mounted by the criminal. + +We have seen the early exploit of this assassin by instinct; we find +him, twenty years later, an incendiary and a fraudulent bankrupt. What +had happened in the interval? With how much treachery and crime had he +filled this space of twenty years? Let us return to his infancy. + +His unconquerable taste for theft caused him to be expelled by the +relations who had taken charge of him. An anecdote is told which shows +his impudence and incurable perversity. One day he was caught taking +some money, and was soundly whipped by his cousins. When this was over, +the child, instead of showing any sorrow or asking forgiveness, ran away +with a sneer, and seeing they were out of breath, exclaimed-- + +"You are tired, are you? Well, I am not!" + +Despairing of any control over this evil disposition, the relations +refused to keep him, and sent him to Chartres, where two other cousins +agreed to have him, out of charity. They were simpleminded women, of +great and sincere piety, who imagined that good example and religious +teaching might have a happy influence on their young relation. The +result was contrary to their expectation: the sole fruit of their +teaching was that Derues learnt to be a cheat and a hypocrite, and to +assume the mask of respectability. + +Here also repeated thefts insured him sound corrections. Knowing his +cousins' extreme economy, not to say avarice, he mocked them when they +broke a lath over his shoulders: "There now, I am so glad; that will +cost you two farthings!" + +His benefactresses' patience becoming exhausted, he left their house, +and was apprenticed to a tinman at Chartres. His master died, and an +ironmonger of the same town took him as shop-boy, and from this he +passed on to a druggist and grocer. Until now, although fifteen years +old, he had shown no preference for one trade more than another, but it +was now necessary he should choose some profession, and his share in the +family property amounted to the modest sum of three thousand five +hundred livres. His residence with this last master revealed a decided +taste, but it was only another evil instinct developing itself: the +poisoner had scented poison, being always surrounded with drugs which +were health-giving or hurtful, according to the use made of them. Derues +would probably have settled at Chartres, but repeated thefts obliged him +to leave the town. The profession of druggist and grocer being one which +presented most chances of fortune, and being, moreover, adapted to his +tastes, his family apprenticed him to a grocer in the rue Comtesse +d'Artois, paying a specified premium for him. + +Derues arrived in Paris in 1760. It was a new horizon, where he was +unknown; no suspicion attached to him, and he felt much at his ease. +Lost in the noise and the crowd of this immense receptacle for every +vice, he had time to found on hypocrisy his reputation as an honest man. +When his apprenticeship expired, his master proposed to place him with +his sister-in-law, who kept a similar establishment in the rue St. +Victor, and who had been a widow for several years. He recommended +Derues as a young man whose zeal and intelligence might be useful in her +business, being ignorant of various embezzlements committed by his late +apprentice, who was always clever enough to cast suspicion on others. +But the negotiation nearly fell through, because, one day, Derues so far +forgot his usual prudence and dissimulation as to allow himself to make +the observation recorded above to his mistress. She, horrified, ordered +him to be silent, and threatened to ask her husband to dismiss him. It +required a double amount of hypocrisy to remove this unfavourable +impression; but he spared no pains to obtain the confidence of the +sister-in-law, who was much influenced in his favour. Every day he +inquired what could be done for her, every evening he took a basket-load +of the goods she required from the rue Comtesse d'Artois; and it excited +the pity of all beholders to see this weakly young man, panting and +sweating under his heavy burden, refusing any reward, and labouring +merely for the pleasure of obliging, and from natural kindness of heart! +The poor widow, whose spoils he was already coveting, was completely +duped. She rejected the advice of her brother-in-law, and only listened +to the concert of praises sung by neighbours much edified by Derues' +conduct, and touched by the interest he appeared to show her. Often he +found occasion to speak of her, always with the liveliest expressions of +boundless devotion. These remarks were repeated to the good woman, and +seemed all the more sincere to her as they appeared to have been made +quite casually, and she never suspected they were carefully calculated +and thought out long before. + +Derues carried dishonesty as far as possible, but he knew how to stop +when suspicion was likely to be aroused, and though always planning +either to deceive or to hurt, he was never taken by surprise. Like the +spider which spreads the threads of her web all round her, he concealed +himself in a net of falsehood which one had to traverse before arriving +at his real nature. The evil destiny of this poor woman, mother of four +children, caused her to engage him as her shopman in the year 1767, +thereby signing the warrant for her own ruin. + +Derues began life under his new mistress with a master-stroke. His +exemplary piety was the talk of the whole quarter, and his first care +had been to request Madame Legrand to recommend him a confessor. She +sent him to the director of her late husband, Pere Cartault, of the +Carmelite order, who, astonished at the devotion of his penitent, never +failed, if he passed the shop, to enter and congratulate Madame Legrand +on the excellent acquisition she had made in securing this young man, +who would certainly bring her a blessing along with him. Derues affected +the greatest modesty, and blushed at these praises, and often, when he +saw the good father approaching, appeared not to see him, and found +something to do elsewhere; whereby the field was left clear for his too +credulous panegyrists. + +But Pere Cartault appeared too indulgent, and Derues feared that his +sins were too easily pardoned; and he dared not find peace in an +absolution which was never refused. Therefore, before the year was out, +he chose a second confessor, Pere Denys, a Franciscan, consulting both +alternately, and confiding his conscientious scruples to them. Every +penance appeared too easy, and he added to those enjoined by his +directors continual mortifications of his own devising, so that even +Tartufe himself would have owned his superiority. + +He wore about him two shrouds, to which were fastened relics of Madame +de Chantal, also a medal of St. Francois de Saps, and occasionally +scourged himself. His mistress related that he had begged her to take a +sitting at the church of St. Nicholas, in order that he might more +easily attend service when he had a day out, and had brought her a small +sum which he had saved, to pay half the expense. + +Moreover, he had slept upon straw during the whole of Lent, and took +care that Madame Legrand heard of this through the servant, pretending +at first to hide it as if it were something wrong. He tried to prevent +the maid from going into his room, and when she found out the straw he +forbade her to mention it--which naturally made her more anxious to +relate her discovery. Such a piece of piety, combined with such +meritorious humility, such dread of publicity, could only increase the +excellent opinion which everyone already had of him. + +Every day was marked by some fresh hypocrisy. One of his sisters, a +novice in the convent of the Ladies of the Visitation of the Virgin, was +to take the veil at Easter. Derues obtained permission to be present at +the ceremony, and was to start on foot on Good Friday. When he departed, +the shop happened to be full of people, and the gossips of the +neighbourhood inquired where he was going. Madame Legrand desired him to +have a glass of liqueur (wine he never touched) and something to eat +before starting. + +"Oh, madame!" he exclaimed, "do you think I could eat on a day like +this, the day on which Christ was crucified! I will take a piece of +bread with me, but I shall only eat it at the inn where I intend to +sleep: I mean to fast the whole way." + +But this kind of thing was not sufficient. He wanted an opportunity to +establish a reputation for honesty on a firm basis. Chance provided one, +and he seized it immediately, although at the expense of a member of his +own family. + +One of his brothers, who kept a public-house at Chartres, came to see +him. Derues, under pretence of showing him the sights of Paris, which he +did not know, asked his mistress to allow him to take in the brother for +a few days, which she granted. The last evening of his stay, Derues went +up to his room, broke open the box which contained his clothes, turned +over everything it contained, examined the clothes, and discovering two +new cotton nightcaps, raised a cry which brought up the household. His +brother just then returned, and Derues called him an infamous thief, +declaring that he had stolen the money for these new articles out of the +shop the evening before. His brother defended himself, protesting his +innocence, and, indignant at such incomprehensible treachery, +endeavoured to turn the tables by relating some of Antoine's early +misdeeds. The latter, however, stopped him, by declaring on his honour +that he had seen his brother the evening before go to the till, slip his +hand in, and take out some money. The brother was confounded and +silenced by so audacious a lie; he hesitated, stammered, and was turned +out of the house. Derues worthily crowned this piece of iniquity by +obliging his mistress to accept the restitution of the stolen money. It +cost him three livres, twelve sons, but the interest it brought him was +the power of stealing unsuspected. That evening he spent in prayer for +the pardon of his brother's supposed guilt. + +All these schemes had succeeded, and brought him nearer to the desired +goal, for not a soul in the quarter ventured to doubt the word of this +saintly individual. His fawning manners and insinuating language varied +according to the people addressed. He adapted himself to all, +contradicting no one, and, while austere himself, he flattered the +tastes of others. In the various houses where he visited his +conversation was serious, grave, and sententious; and, as we have seen, +he could quote Scripture with the readiness of a theologian. In the +shop, when he had to deal with the lower classes, he showed himself +acquainted with their modes of expression, and spoke the Billingsgate of +the market-women, which he had acquired in the rue Comtesse d'Artois, +treating them familiarly, and they generally addressed him as "gossip +Denies." By his own account he easily judged the characters of the +various people with whom he came in contact. + +However, Pere Cartault's prophecy was not fulfilled: the blessing of +Heaven did not descend on the Legrand establishment. There seemed to be +a succession of misfortunes which all Derues' zeal and care as shopman +could neither prevent nor repair. He by no means contented himself with +parading an idle and fruitless hypocrisy, and his most abominable +deceptions were not those displayed in the light of day. He watched by +night: his singular organisation, outside the ordinary laws of nature, +appeared able to dispense with sleep. Gliding about on tiptoe, opening +doors noiselessly, with all the skill of an accomplished thief, he +pillaged shop and cellar, and sold his plunder in remote parts of the +town under assumed names. It is difficult to understand how his strength +supported the fatigue of this double existence; he had barely arrived at +puberty, and art had been obliged to assist the retarded development of +nature. But he lived only for evil, and the Spirit of Evil supplied the +physical vigour which was wanting. An insane love of money (the only +passion he knew) brought him by degrees back to his starting-point of +crime; he concealed it in hiding-places wrought in the thick walls, in +holes dug out by his nails. As soon as he got any, he brought it exactly +as a wild beast brings a piece of bleeding flesh to his lair; and often, +by the glimmer of a dark lantern, kneeling in adoration before this +shameful idol, his eyes sparkling with ferocious joy, with a smile which +suggested a hyena's delight over its prey, he would contemplate his +money, counting and kissing it. + +These continual thefts brought trouble into the Legrand affairs, +cancelled all profits, and slowly brought on ruin. The widow had no +suspicion of Derues' disgraceful dealings, and he carefully referred the +damage to other causes, quite worthy of himself. Sometimes it was a +bottle of oil, or of brandy, or some other commodity, which was found +spilt, broken, or damaged, which accidents he attributed to the enormous +quantity of rats which infested the cellar and the house. At length, +unable to meet her engagements, Madame Legrand made the business over to +him in February, 1770. He was then twenty-five years and six months old, +and was accepted as a merchant grocer in August the same year. By an +agreement drawn up between them, Derues undertook to pay twelve hundred +livres for the goodwill, and to lodge her rent free during the remainder +of her lease, which had still nine years to run. Being thus obliged to +give up business to escape bankruptcy, Madame Legrand surrendered to her +creditors any goods remaining in her warehouse; and Derues easily made +arrangements to take them over very cheaply. The first step thus made, +he was now able to enrich himself safely and to defraud with impunity +under the cover of his stolen reputation. + +One of his uncles, a flour merchant at Chartres, came habitually twice a +year to Paris to settle accounts with his correspondents. A sum of +twelve hundred francs, locked up in a drawer, was stolen from him, and, +accompanied by his nephew, he went to inform the police. On +investigation being made, it was found that the chest of drawers had +been broken at the top. As at the time of the theft of the seventy-nine +Louis from the abbe, Derues was the only person known to have entered +his uncle's room. The innkeeper swore to this, but the uncle took pains +to justify his nephew, and showed his confidence shortly after by +becoming surety for him to the extent of five thousand livres. Derues +failed to pay when the time expired, and the holder of the note was +obliged to sue the surety for it. + +He made use of any means, even the most impudent, which enabled him to +appropriate other people's property. A provincial grocer on one occasion +sent him a thousand-weight of honey in barrels to be sold on commission. +Two or three months passed, and he asked for an account of the sale. +Derues replied that he had not yet been able to dispose of it +advantageously, and there ensued a fresh delay, followed by the same +question and the same reply. At length, when more than a year had +passed, the grocer came to Paris, examined his barrels, and found that +five hundred pounds were missing. He claimed damages from Derues, who +declared he had never received any more, and as the honey had been sent +in confidence, and there was no contract and no receipt to show, the +provincial tradesman could not obtain compensation. + +As though having risen by the ruin of Madame Legrand and her four +children was not enough, Derues grudged even the morsel of bread he had +been obliged to leave her. A few days after the fire in the cellar, +which enabled him to go through a second bankruptcy, Madame Legrand, now +undeceived and not believing his lamentations, demanded the money due to +her, according to their agreement. Derues pretended to look for his copy +of the contract, and could not find it. "Give me yours, madame," said +he; "we will write the receipt upon it. Here is the money." + +The widow opened her purse and took out her copy; Derues snatched it, +and tore it up. "Now," he exclaimed, "you are paid; I owe you nothing +now. If you like, I will declare it on oath in court, and no one will +disbelieve my word." + +"Wretched man," said the unfortunate widow, "may God forgive your soul; +but your body will assuredly end on the gallows!" + +It was in vain that she complained, and told of this abominable swindle; +Derues had been beforehand with her, and the slander he had disseminated +bore its fruits. It was said that his old mistress was endeavouring by +an odious falsehood to destroy the reputation of a man who had refused +to be her lover. Although reduced to poverty, she left the house where +she had a right to remain rent free, preferring the hardest and +dreariest life to the torture of remaining under the same roof with the +man who had caused her ruin. + +We might relate a hundred other pieces of knavery, but it must not be +supposed that having begun by murder, Derues would draw back and remain +contented with theft. Two fraudulent bankruptcies would have sufficed +for most people; for him they were merely a harmless pastime. Here we +must place two dark and obscure stories, two crimes of which he is +accused, two victims whose death groans no one heard. + +The hypocrite's excellent reputation had crossed the Parisian bounds. A +young man from the country, intending to start as a grocer in the +capital, applied to Derues for the necessary information and begged for +advice. He arrived at the latter's house with a sum of eight thousand +livres, which he placed in Derues' hands, asking him for assistance in +finding a business. The sight of gold was enough to rouse the instinct +of crime in Derues, and the witches who hailed Macbeth with the promise +of royalty did not rouse the latter's ambitious desires to a greater +height than the chance of wealth did the greed of the assassin; whose +hands, once closed over the eight thousand livres, were never again +relaxed. He received them as a deposit, and hid them along with his +previous plunder, vowing never to return them. Several days had elapsed, +when one afternoon Derues returned home with an air of such unusual +cheerfulness that the young man questioned him. "Have you heard some +good news for me?" he asked, "or have you had some luck yourself?" + +"My young friend," answered Derues, "as for me, success depends on my +own efforts, and fortune smiles on me. But I have promised to be useful +to you, your parents have trusted me, and I must prove that their +confidence is well founded. I have heard to-day of a business for +disposal in one of the best parts of Paris. You can have it for twelve +thousand livres, and I wish I could lend you the amount you want. But +you must write to your father, persuade him, reason with him; do not +lose so good a chance. He must make a little sacrifice, and he will be +grateful to me later." + +In accordance with their son's request, the young man's parents +despatched a sum of four thousand livres, requesting Derues to lose no +time in concluding the purchase. + +Three weeks later, the father, very uneasy, arrived in Paris. He came to +inquire about his son, having heard nothing from him. Derues received +him with the utmost astonishment, appearing convinced that the young man +had returned home. One day, he said, the youth informed him that he had +heard from his father, who had given up all idea of establishing him in +Paris, having arranged an advantageous marriage for him near home; and +he had taken his twelve thousand livres, for which Derues produced a +receipt, and started on his return journey. + +One evening, when nearly dark, Derues had gone out with his guest, who +complained of headache and internal pains. Where did they go? No one +knew; but Denies only returned at daybreak, alone, weary and exhausted, +and the young man was never again heard of. + +One of his apprentices was the constant object of reproof. The boy was +accused of negligence, wasting his time, of spending three hours over a +task which might have been done in less than one. When Derues had +convinced the father, a Parisian bourgeois, that his son was a bad boy +and a good-for-nothing, he came to this man one day in a state of wild +excitement. + +"Your son," he said, "ran away yesterday with six hundred livres, with +which I had to meet a bill to-day. He knew where I kept this money, and +has taken it." + +He threatened to go before a magistrate and denounce the thief, and was +only appeased by being paid the sum he claimed to have lost. But he had +gone out with the lad the evening before, and returned alone in the +early hours of the morning. + +However, the veil which concealed the truth was becoming more and more +transparent every day. Three bankruptcies had diminished the +consideration he enjoyed, and people began to listen to complaints and +accusations which till now had been considered mere inventions designed +to injure him. Another attempt at trickery made him feel it desirable to +leave the neighbourhood. + +He had rented a house close to his own, the shop of which had been +tenanted for seven or eight years by a wine merchant. He required from +this man, if he wished to remain where he was, a sum of six hundred +livres as a payment for goodwill. Although the wine merchant considered +it an exorbitant charge, yet on reflection he decided to pay it rather +than go, having established a good business on these premises, as was +well known. Before long a still mare arrant piece of dishonesty gave him +an opportunity for revenge. A young man of good family, who was boarding +with him in order to gain some business experience, having gone into +Derues' shop to make some purchases, amused himself while waiting by +idly writing his name on a piece of blank paper lying on the counter; +which he left there without thinking more about it. Derues, knowing the +young man had means, as soon as he had gone, converted the signed paper +into a promissory note for two thousand livres, to his order, payable at +the majority of the signer. The bill, negotiated in trade, arrived when +due at the wine merchant's, who, much surprised, called his young +boarder and showed him the paper adorned with his signature. The youth +was utterly confounded, having no knowledge of the bill whatever, but +nevertheless could not deny his signature. On examining the paper +carefully, the handwriting was recognised as Derues'. The wine merchant +sent for him, and when he arrived, made him enter a room, and having +locked the door, produced the promissory note. Derues acknowledged +having written it, and tried various falsehoods to excuse himself. No +one listened to him, and the merchant threatened to place the matter in +the hands of the police. Then Derues wept, implored, fell on his knees, +acknowledged his guilt, and begged for mercy. He agreed to restore the +six hundred livres exacted from the wine merchant, on condition that he +should see the note destroyed and that the matter should end there. He +was then about to be married, and dreaded a scandal. + +Shortly after, he married Marie-Louise Nicolais; daughter of a +harness-maker at Melun. + +One's first impression in considering this marriage is one of profound +sorrow and utmost pity for the young girl whose destiny was linked with +that of this monster. One thinks of the horrible future; of youth and +innocence blighted by the tainting breath of the homicide; of candour +united to hypocrisy; of virtue to wickedness; of legitimate desires +linked to disgraceful passions; of purity mixed with corruption. The +thought of these contrasts is revolting, and one pities such a dreadful +fate. But we must not decide hastily. Madame Denies has not been +convicted of any active part in her husband's later crimes, but her +history, combined with his, shows no trace of suffering, nor of any +revolt against a terrible complicity. In her case the evidence is +doubtful, and public opinion must decide later. + +In 1773, Derues relinquished retail business, and left the Saint Victor +neighbourhood, having taken an apartment in the rue des Deux Boules, +near the rue Bertin-Poiree, in the parish of St. Germain l'Auxerrois, +where he had been married. He first acted on commission for the +Benedictine-Camalduian fathers of the forest of Senart, who had heard of +him as a man wholly given to piety; then, giving himself up to usury, he +undertook what is known as "business affairs," a profession which, in +such hands, could not fail to be lucrative, being aided by his exemplary +morals and honest appearance. It was the more easy for him to impose on +others, as he could not be accused of any of the deadly vices which so +often end in ruin--gaming, wine, and women. Until now he had displayed +only one passion, that of avarice, but now another developed itself, +that of ambition. He bought houses and land, and when the money was due, +allowed himself to be sued for it; he bought even lawsuits, which he +muddled with all the skill of a rascally attorney. Experienced in +bankruptcy, he undertook the management of failures, contriving to make +dishonesty appear in the light of unfortunate virtue. When this demon +was not occupied with poison, his hands were busy with every social +iniquity; he could only live and breathe in an atmosphere of corruption. + +His wife, who had already presented him with a daughter, gave birth to a +son in February 1774. Derues, in order to better support the airs of +grandeur and the territorial title which he had assumed, invited persons +of distinction to act as sponsors. The child was baptized Tuesday, +February 15th. We give the text of the baptismal register, as a +curiosity:-- + +"Antoine-Maximilian-Joseph, son of Antoine-Francois Derues, gentleman, +seigneur of Gendeville, Herchies, Viquemont, and other places, formerly +merchant grocer; and of Madame Marie-Louise Nicolais, his wife. +Godfathers, T. H. and T. P., lords of, etc. etc. Godmothers, Madame M. +Fr. C. D. V., etc. etc. + +"(Signed) + + A. F. DERUES, Senior." + +But all this dignity did not exclude the sheriff's officers, whom, as +befitted so great a man, he treated with the utmost insolence, +overwhelming them with abuse when they came to enforce an execution. +Such scandals had several times aroused the curiosity of his neighbours, +and did not redound to his credit. His landlord, wearied of all this +clamour, and most especially weary of never getting any rent without a +fight for it, gave him notice to quit. Derues removed to the rue +Beaubourg, where he continued to act as commission agent under the name +of Cyrano Derues de Bury. + +And now we will concern ourselves no more with the unravelling of this +tissue of imposition; we will wander no longer in this labyrinth of +fraud, of low and vile intrigue, of dark crime of which the clue +disappears in the night, and of which the trace is lost in a doubtful +mixture of blood and mire; we will listen no longer to the cry of the +widow and her four children reduced to beggary, to the groans of obscure +victims, to the cries of terror and the death-groan which echoed one +night through the vaults of a country house near Beauvais. Behold other +victims whose cries are yet louder, behold yet other crimes and a +punishment which equals them in terror! Let these nameless ghosts, these +silent spectres, lose themselves in the clear daylight which now +appears, and make room for other phantoms which rend their shrouds and +issue from the tomb demanding vengeance. + +Derues was now soon to have a chance of obtaining immortality. Hitherto +his blows had been struck by chance, henceforth he uses all the +resources of his infernal imagination; he concentrates all his strength +on one point--conceives and executes his crowning piece of wickedness. +He employs for two years all his science as cheat, forger, and poisoner +in extending the net which was to entangle a whole family; and, taken in +his own snare, he struggles in vain; in vain does he seek to gnaw +through the meshes which confine him. The foot placed on the last rung +of this ladder of crime, stands also on the first step by which he +mounts the scaffold. + +About a mile from Villeneuve-le-Roi-les-Sens, there stood in 1775 a +handsome house, overlooking the windings of the Yonne on one side, and +on the other a garden and park belonging to the estate of Buisson-Souef. +It was a large property, admirably situated, and containing productive +fields, wood, and water; but not everywhere kept in good order, and +showing something of the embarrassed fortune of its owner. During some +years the only repairs had been those necessary in the house itself and +its immediate vicinity. Here and there pieces of dilapidated wall +threatened to fall altogether, and enormous stems of ivy had invaded and +stifled vigorous trees; in the remoter portions of the park briers +barred the road and made walking almost impossible. This disorder was +not destitute of charm, and at an epoch when landscape gardening +consisted chiefly in straight alleys, and in giving to nature a cold and +monotonous symmetry, one's eye rested with pleasure on these neglected +clumps, on these waters which had taken a different course to that which +art had assigned to them, on these unexpected and picturesque scenes. + +A wide terrace, overlooking the winding river, extended along the front +of the house. Three men were walking on it-two priests, and the owner of +Buisson-Souef, Monsieur de Saint-Faust de Lamotte. One priest was the +cure of Villeneuve-le-Roi-lez-Sens, the other was a Camaldulian monk, +who had come to see the cure about a clerical matter, and who was +spending some days at the presbytery. The conversation did not appear to +be lively. Every now and then Monsieur de Lamotte stood still, and, +shading his eyes with his hand from the brilliant sunlight which flooded +the plain, and was strongly reflected from the water, endeavoured to see +if some new object had not appeared on the horizon, then slowly resumed +his walk with a movement of uneasy impatience. The tower clock struck +with a noisy resonance. + +"Six o'clock already!" he exclaimed. "They will assuredly not arrive +to-day." + +"Why despair?" said the cure. "Your servant has gone to meet them; we +might see their boat any moment." + +"But, my father," returned Monsieur de Lamotte, "the long days are +already past. In another hour the mist will rise, and then they would +not venture on the river." + +"Well, if that happens, we shall have to be patient; they will stay all +night at some little distance, and you will see them to-morrow morning." + +"My brother is right," said the other priest. "Come, monsieur; do not be +anxious." + +"You both speak with the indifference of persons to whom family troubles +are unknown." + +"What!" said the cure, "do you really think that because our sacred +profession condemns us both to celibacy, we are therefore unable to +comprehend an affection such as yours, on which I myself pronounced the +hallowing benediction of the Church--if you remember--nearly fifteen +years ago?" + +"Is it perhaps intentionally, my father, that you recall the date of my +marriage? I readily admit that the love of one's neighbour may enlighten +you as to another love to which you have yourself been a stranger. I +daresay it seems odd to you that a man of my age should be anxious about +so little, as though he were a love-sick youth; but for some time past I +have had presentiments of evil, and I am really becoming superstitious!" + +He again stood still, gazing up the river, and, seeing nothing, resumed +his place between the two priests, who had continued their walk. + +"Yes," he continued, "I have presentiments which refuse to be shaken +off. I am not so old that age can have weakened my powers and reduced me +to childishness, I cannot even say what I am afraid of, but separation +is painful and causes an involuntary terror. Strange, is it not? +Formerly, I used to leave my wife for months together, when she was +young and my son only, an infant; I loved her passionately, yet I could +go with pleasure. Why, I wonder, is it so different now? Why should a +journey to Paris on business, and a few hours' delay, make, me so +terribly uneasy? Do you remember, my father," he resumed, after a pause, +turning to the cure, "do you remember how lovely Marie looked on our +wedding-day? Do you remember her dazzling complexion and the innocent +candour of her expression?--the sure token of the most truthful and +purest of minds! That is why I love her so much now; we do not now sigh +for one another, but the second love is stronger than the first, for it +is founded on recollection, and is tranquil and confident in friendship +. . . . It is strange that they have not returned; something must have +happened! If they do not return this evening, and I do not now think it +possible, I shall go to Paris myself to-morrow." + +"I think;" said the other priest, "that at twenty you must indeed have +been excitable, a veritable tinder-box, to have retained so much energy! +Come, monsieur, try to calm yourself and have patience: you yourself +admit it can only be a few hours' delay." + +"But my son accompanied his mother, and he is our only one, and so +delicate! He alone remains of our three children, and you do not realise +how the affection of parents who feel age approaching is concentrated on +an only child! If I lost Edouard I should die!" + +"I suppose, then, as you let him go, his presence at Paris was +necessary?" + +"No; his mother went to obtain a loan which is needed for the +improvements required on the estate." + +"Why, then, did you let him go?" + +"I would willingly have kept him here, but his mother wished to take +him. A separation is as trying to her as to me, and we all but +quarrelled over it. I gave way." + +"There was one way of satisfying all three--you might have gone also." + +"Yes, but Monsieur le cure will tell you that a fortnight ago I was +chained to my arm-chair, swearing under my breath like a pagan, and +cursing the follies of my youth!--Forgive me, my father; I mean that I +had the gout, and I forgot that I am not the only sufferer, and that it +racks the old age of the philosopher quite as much as that of the +courtier." + +The fresh wind which often rises just at sunset was already rustling in +the leaves; long shadows darkened the course of the Yonne and stretched +across the plain; the water, slightly troubled, reflected a confused +outline of its banks and the clouded blue of the sky. The three +gentlemen stopped at the end of the terrace and gazed into the already +fading distance. A black spot, which they had just observed in the +middle of the river, caught a gleam of light in passing a low meadow +between two hills, and for a moment took shape as a barge, then was lost +again, and could not be distinguished from the water. Another moment, +and it reappeared more distinctly; it was indeed a barge, and now the +horse could be seen towing it against the current. Again it was lost at +a bend of the river shaded by willows, and they had to resign themselves +to incertitude for several minutes. Then a white handkerchief was waved +on the prow of the boat, and Monsieur de Lamotte uttered a joyful +exclamation. + +"It is indeed they!" he cried. "Do you see them, Monsieur le cure? I see +my boy; he is waving the handkerchief, and his mother is with him. But I +think there is a third person--yes, there is a man, is there not? Look +well." + +"Indeed," said the cure, "if my bad sight does not deceive me, I should +say there was someone seated near the rudder; but it looks like a +child." + +"Probably someone from the neighbourhood, who has profited by the chance +of a lift home." + +The boat was advancing rapidly; they could now hear the cracking of the +whip with which the servant urged on the tow-horse. And now it stopped, +at an easy landing-place, barely fifty paces from the terrace. Madame de +Lamotte landed with her son and the stranger, and her husband descended +from the terrace to meet her. Long before he arrived at the garden gate, +his son's arms were around his neck. + +"Are you quite well, Edouard ?" + +"Oh yes, perfectly." + +"And your mother?" + +"Quite well too. She is behind, in as great a hurry to meet you as I am. +But she can't run as I do, and you must go half-way." + +"Whom have you brought with you?" + +"A gentleman from Paris." + +"From Paris?" + +"Yes, a Monsieur Derues. But mamma will tell you all about that. Here +she is." + +The cure and the monk arrived just as Monsieur de Lamotte folded his +wife in his arms. Although she had passed her fortieth year, she was +still beautiful enough to justify her husband's eulogism. A moderate +plumpness had preserved the freshness and softness of her skin; her +smile was charming, and her large blue eyes expressed both gentleness +and goodness. Seen beside this smiling and serene countenance, the +appearance of the stranger was downright repulsive, and Monsieur de +Lamotte could hardly repress a start of disagreeable surprise at the +pitiful and sordid aspect of this diminutive person, who stood apart, +looking overwhelmed by conscious inferiority. He was still more +astonished when he saw his son take him by the hand with friendly +kindness, and heard him say-- + +"Will you come with me, my friend? We will follow my father and mother." + +Madame de Lamotte, having greeted the cure, looked at the monk, who was +a stranger to her. A word or two explained matters, and she took her +husband's arm, declining to answer any questions until she reached the +louse, and laughing at his curiosity. + +Pierre-Etienne de Saint-Faust de Lamotte, one of the king's equerries, +seigneur of Grange-Flandre, Valperfond, etc., had married +Marie-Francoise Perier in 1760. Their fortune resembled many others of +that period: it was more nominal than actual, more showy than solid. Not +that the husband and wife had any cause for self-reproach, or that their +estates had suffered from dissipation; unstained by the corrupt manners +of the period, their union had been a model of sincere affection, of +domestic virtue and mutual confidence. Marie-Francoise was quite +beautiful enough to have made a sensation in society, but she renounced +it of her own accord, in order to devote herself to the duties of a wife +and mother. The only serious grief she and her husband had experienced +was the loss of two young children. Edouard, though delicate from his +birth, had nevertheless passed the trying years of infancy and early +adolescence; he was them nearly fourteen. With a sweet and rather +effeminate expression, blue eyes and a pleasant smile, he was a striking +likeness of his mother. His father's affection exaggerated the dangers +which threatened the boy, and in his eyes the slightest indisposition +became a serious malady; his mother shared these fears, and in +consequence of this anxiety Edouard's education had been much neglected. +He had been brought up at Buisson-Souef, and allowed to run wild from +morning till night, like a young fawn, exercising the vigour and +activity of its limbs. He had still the simplicity and general ignorance +of a child of nine or ten. + +The necessity of appearing at court and suitably defraying the expenses +of his office had made great inroads on Monsieur de Lamotte's fortune. +He had of late lived at Buisson-Souef in the most complete retirement; +but notwithstanding this too long deferred attention to his affairs, his +property was ruining him, for the place required a large expenditure, +and absorbed a large amount of his income without making any tangible +return. He had always hesitated to dispose of the estate on account of +its associations; it was there he had met, courted, and married his +beloved wife; there that the happy days of their youth had been spent; +there that they both wished to grow old together. + +Such was the family to which accident had now introduced Derues. The +unfavourable impression made on Monsieur de Lamotte had not passed +unperceived by him; but, being quite accustomed to the instinctive +repugnance which his first appearance generally inspired, Derues had +made a successful study of how to combat and efface this antagonistic +feeling, and replace it by confidence, using different means according +to the persons he had to deal with. He understood at once that vulgar +methods would be useless with Monsieur de Lamotte, whose appearance and +manners indicated both the man of the world and the man of intelligence, +and also he had to consider the two priests, who were both observing him +attentively. Fearing a false step, he assumed the most simple and +insignificant deportment he could, knowing that sooner or later a third +person would rehabilitate him in the opinion of those present. Nor did +he wait long. + +Arrived at the drawing-room, Monsieur de Lamotte requested the company +to be seated. Derues acknowledged the courtesy by a bow, and there was a +moment of silence, while Edouard and his mother looked at each other and +smiled. The silence was broken by Madame de Lamotte. + +"Dear Pierre," she said, "you are surprised to see us accompanied by a +stranger, but when you hear what he has done for us you will thank me +for having induced him to return here with us." + +"Allow me," interrupted Derues, "allow me to tell you what happened. The +gratitude which madame imagines she owes me causes her to exaggerate a +small service which anybody would have been delighted to render." + +"No, monsieur; let me tell it." + +"Let mamma tell the story," said Edouard. + +"What is it, then? What happened?" said Monsieur de Lamotte. + +"I am quite ashamed," answered Derues; "but I obey your wishes, madame." + +"Yes," replied Madame de Lamotte, "keep your seat, I wish it. Imagine, +Pierre, just six days ago, an accident happened to Edouard and me which +might have had serious consequences." + +"And you never wrote to me, Marie?" + +"I should only have made you anxious, and to no purpose. I had some +business in one of the most crowded parts of Paris; I took a chair, and +Edouard walked beside me. In the rue Beaubourg we were suddenly +surrounded by a mob of low people, who were quarrelling. Carriages +stopped the way, and the horses of one of these took fright in the +confusion and uproar, and bolted, in spite of the coachman's endeavours +to keep them in hand. It was a horrible tumult, and I tried to get out +of the chair, but at that moment the chairmen were both knocked down, +and I fell. It is a miracle I was not crushed. I was dragged insensible +from under the horses' feet and carried into the house before which all +this took place. There, sheltered in a shop and safe from the crowd +which encumbered the doorway, I recovered my senses, thanks to the +assistance of Monsieur Derues, who lives there. But that is not all: +when I recovered I could not walk, I had been so shaken by the fright, +the fall, and the danger I had incurred, and I had to accept his offer +of finding me another chair when the crowd should disperse, and +meanwhile to take shelter in his rooms with his wife, who showed me the +kindest attention." + +"Monsieur--" said Monsieur de Lamotte, rising. But his wife stopped him. + +"Wait a moment; I have not finished yet. Monsieur Derues came back in an +hour, and I was then feeling better; but before, I left I was stupid +enough to say that I had been robbed in the confusion; my diamond +earrings, which had belonged to my mother, were gone. You cannot imagine +the trouble Monsieur Derues took to discover the thief, and all the +appeals he made to the police--I was really ashamed!" + +Although Monsieur de Lamotte did not yet understand what motive, other +than gratitude, had induced his wife to bring this stranger home with +her, he again rose from his seat, and going to Derues, held out his +hand. + +"I understand now the attachment my son shows for you. You are wrong in +trying to lessen your good deed in order to escape from our gratitude, +Monsieur Derues." + +"Monsieur Derues?" inquired the monk. + +"Do you know the name, my father?" asked Madame de Lamotte eagerly. + +"Edouard had already told me," said the monk, approaching Derues. + +"You live in the, rue Beaubourg, and you are Monsieur Derues, formerly a +retail grocer?" + +"The same, my brother." + +"Should you require a reference, I can give it. Chance, madame, has made +you acquainted with a man whose, reputation for piety and honour is well +established; he will permit me to add my praises to yours." + +"Indeed, I do not know how I deserve so much honour." + +"I am, Brother Marchois, of the Camaldulian order. You see that I know +you well." + +The monk then proceeded to explain that his community had confided their +affairs to Derues' honesty, he undertaking to dispose of the articles +manufactured by the monks in their retreat. He then recounted a number +of good actions and of marks of piety, which were heard with pleasure +and admiration by those present. Derues received this cloud of incense +with an appearance of sincere modesty and humility, which would have +deceived the most skilful physiognomist. + +When the eulogistic warmth of the good brother began to slacken it was +already nearly dark, and the two priests had barely time to regain the +presbytery without incurring the risk of breaking their necks in the +rough road which led to it. They departed at once, and a room was got +ready for Derues. + +"To-morrow," said Madame de Lamotte as they separated, "you can discuss +with my husband the business on which you came: to-morrow, or another +day, for I beg that you will make yourself at home here, and the longer +you will stay the better it will please us." + +The night was a sleepless one for Derues, whose brain was occupied by a +confusion of criminal plans. The chance which had caused his +acquaintance with Madame de Lamotte, and even more the accident of +Brother Marchois appearing in the nick of time, to enlarge upon the +praises which gave him so excellent a character, seemed like favourable +omens not to be neglected. He began to imagine fresh villanies, to +outline an unheard-of crime, which as yet he could not definitely trace +out; but anyhow there would be plunder to seize and blood to spill, and +the spirit of murder excited and kept him awake, just as remorse might +have troubled the repose of another. + +Meanwhile Madame de Lamotte, having retired with her husband, was saying +to the latter-- + +"Well, now! what do you think of my protege, or rather, of the protector +which Heaven sent me?" + +"I think that physiognomy is often very deceptive, for I should have +been quite willing to hang him on the strength of his." + +"It is true that his appearance is not attractive, and it led me into a +foolish mistake which I quickly regretted. When I recovered +consciousness, and saw him attending on me, much worse and more +carelessly dressed than he is to-day." + +"You were frightened?" + +"No, not exactly; but I thought I must be indebted to a man of the +lowest class, to some poor fellow who was really starving, and my first +effort at gratitude was to offer him a piece of gold." + +"Did he refuse it?" + +"No; he accepted it for the poor of the parish. Then he told me his +name, Cyrano Derues de Bury, and told me that the shop and the goods it +contained were his own property, and that he occupied an apartment in +the house. I floundered in excuses, but he replied that he blessed the +mistake, inasmuch as it would enable him to relieve some unfortunate +people. I was so touched with his goodness that I offered him a second +piece of gold." + +"You were quite right, my dear; but what induced you to bring him to +Buisson? I should have gone to see and thank him the first time I went +to Paris, and meanwhile a letter would have been sufficient. Did he +carry his complaisance and interest so far as to offer you his escort?" + +"Ah! I see you cannot get over your first impression--honestly, is it +not so?" + +"Indeed," exclaimed Monsieur de Lamotte, laughing heartily, "it is truly +unlucky for a decent man to have such a face as that! He ought to give +Providence no rest until he obtains the gift of another countenance." + +"Always these prejudices! It is not the poor man's fault that he was +born like that." + +"Well, you said something about business we were to discuss together +--what is it?" + +"I believe he can help us to obtain the money we are in want of." + +"And who told him that we wanted any?" + +"I did." + +"You! Come, it certainly seems that this gentleman is to be a family +friend. And pray what induced you to confide in him to this extent?" + +"You would have known by now, if you did not interrupt. Let me tell you +all in order. The day after my accident I went out with Edouard about +midday, and I went to again express my gratitude for his kindness. I was +received by Madame Derues, who told me her husband was out, and that he +had gone to my hotel to inquire after me and my son, and also to see if +anything had been heard of my stolen earrings. She appeared a simple and +very ordinary sort of person, and she begged me to sit down and wait for +her husband. I thought it would be uncivil not to do so, and Monsieur +Derues appeared in about two hours. The first thing he did, after having +saluted me and inquired most particularly after my health, was to ask +for his children, two charming little things, fresh and rosy, whom he +covered with kisses. We talked about indifferent matters, then he +offered me his services, placed himself at my disposal, and begged me to +spare neither his time nor his trouble. I then told him what had brought +me to Paris, and also the disappointments I had encountered, for of all +the people I had seen not one had given me a favourable answer. He said +that he might possibly be of some use to me, and the very next day told +'me that he had seen a capitalist, but could do nothing without more +precise information. Then I thought it might be better to bring him +here, so that he might talk matters over with you. When I first asked +him, he refused altogether, and only yielded to my earnest entreaties +and Edouard's. This is the history, dear, of the circumstances under +which I made Monsieur Derues' acquaintance. I hope you do not think I +have acted foolishly?" + +"Very well," said Monsieur de Lamotte, "I will talk to him to-morrow, +and in any case I promise you I will be civil to him. I will not forget +that he has been useful to you." With which promise the conversation +came to a close. + +Skilled in assuming any kind of mask and in playing every sort of part, +Derues did not find it difficult to overcome Monsieur de Lamotte's +prejudices, and in order to obtain the goodwill of the father he made a +skilful use of the friendship which the, son had formed with him. One +can hardly think that he already meditated the crime which he carried +out later; one prefers to believe that these atrocious plots were not +invented so long beforehand. But he was already a prey to the idea, and +nothing henceforth could turn him from it. By what route he should +arrive at the distant goal which his greed foresaw, he knew not as yet, +but he had said to himself, "One day this property shall be mine." It +was the death-warrant of those who owned it. + +We have no details, no information as to Derues' first visit to +Buisson-Souef, but when he departed he had obtained the complete +confidence of the family, and a regular correspondence was carried on +between him and the Lamottes. It was thus that he was able to exercise +his talent of forgery, and succeeded in imitating the writing of this +unfortunate lady so as to be able even to deceive her husband. Several +months passed, and none of the hopes which Derues had inspired were +realised; a loan was always on the point of being arranged, and +regularly failed because of some unforeseen circumstance. These +pretended negotiations were managed by Derues with so much skill and +cunning that instead of being suspected, he was pitied for having so +much useless trouble. Meanwhile, Monsieur de Lamotte's money +difficulties increased, and the sale of Buisson-Souef became inevitable. +Derues offered himself as a purchaser, and actually acquired the +property by private contract, dated December, 1775. It was agreed +between the parties that the purchase-money of one hundred and thirty +thousand livres should not be paid until 1776, in order to allow Derues +to collect the various sums at his disposal. It was an important +purchase, which, he said, he only made on account of his interest in +Monsieur de Lamotte, and his wish to put an end to the latter's +difficulties. + +But when the period agreed on arrived, towards the middle of 1776, +Derues found it impossible to pay. It is certain that he never meant to +do so; and a special peculiarity of this dismal story is the avarice of +the man, the passion for money which overruled all his actions, and +occasionally caused him to neglect necessary prudence. Enriched by three +bankruptcies, by continual thefts, by usury, the gold he acquired +promptly seemed to disappear. He stuck at nothing to obtain it, and once +in his grasp, he never let it go again. Frequently he risked the loss of +his character for honest dealing rather than relinquish a fraction of +his wealth. According to many credible people, it was generally believed +by his contemporaries that this monster possessed treasures which he had +buried in the ground, the hiding-place of which no one knew, not even +his wife. Perhaps it is only a vague and unfounded rumour, which should +be rejected; or is it; perhaps, a truth which failed to reveal itself? +It would be strange if after the lapse of half a century the +hiding-place were to open and give up the fruit of his rapine. Who knows +whether some of this treasure, accidentally discovered, may not have +founded fortunes whose origin is unknown, even to their possessors? + +Although it was of the utmost importance not to arouse Monsieur de +Lamotte's suspicions just at the moment when he ought to be paying him +so large a sum, Derues was actually at this time being sued by his +creditors. But in those days ordinary lawsuits had no publicity; they +struggled and died between the magistrates and advocates without causing +any sound. In order to escape the arrest and detention with which he was +threatened, he took refuge at Buisson-Souef with his family, and +remained there from Whitsuntide till the end of November. After being +treated all this time as a friend, Derues departed for Paris, in order, +he said, to receive an inheritance which would enable him to pay the +required purchase-money. + +This pretended inheritance was that of one of his wife's relations, +Monsieur Despeignes-Duplessis, who had been murdered in his country +house, near Beauvais. It has been strongly suspected that Derues was +guilty of this crime. There are, however, no positive proofs, and we +prefer only to class it as a simple possibility. + +Derues had made formal promises to Monsieur de Lamotte, and it was no +longer possible for him to elude them. Either the payment must now be +made, or the contract annulled. A new correspondence began between the +creditors and the debtor; friendly letters were exchanged, full of +protestations on one side and confidence on the other. But all Derues' +skill could only obtain a delay of a few months. At length Monsieur de +Lamotte, unable to leave Buisson-Souef himself, on account of important +business which required his presence, gave his wife a power of attorney, +consented to another separation, and sent her to Paris, accompanied by +Edouard, and as if to hasten their misfortunes, sent notice of their +coming to the expectant murderer. + +We have passed quickly over the interval between the first meeting of +Monsieur de Lamotte and Derues, and the moment when the victims fell +into the trap: we might easily have invented long conversations, and +episodes which would have brought Derues' profound hypocrisy into +greater relief; but the reader now knows all that we care to show him. +We have purposely lingered in our narration in the endeavour to explain +the perversities of this mysterious organisation; we have over-loaded it +with all the facts which seem to throw any light upon this sombre +character. But now, after these long preparations, the drama opens, the +scenes become rapid and lifelike; events, long impeded, accumulate and +pass quickly before us, the action is connected and hastens to an end. +We shall see Derues like an unwearied Proteus, changing names, costumes, +language, multiplying himself in many forms, scattering deceptions and +lies from one end of France to the other; and finally, after so many +efforts, such prodigies of calculation and activity, end by wrecking +himself against a corpse. + +The letter written at Buisson-Souef arrived at Paris the morning of the +14th of December. In the course of the day an unknown man presented +himself at the hotel where Madame de Lamotte and her son had stayed +before, and inquired what rooms were vacant. There were four, and he +engaged them for a certain Dumoulin, who had arrived that morning from +Bordeaux, and who had passed through Paris in order to meet, at some +little distance, relations who would return with him. A part of the rent +was paid in advance, and it was expressly stipulated that until his +return the rooms should not be let to anyone, as the aforesaid Dumoulin +might return with his family and require them at any moment. The same +person went to other hotels in the neighbourhood and engaged vacant +rooms, sometimes for a stranger he expected, sometimes for friends whom +he could not accommodate himself. + +At about three o'clock, the Place de Greve was full of people, thousands +of heads crowded the windows of the surrounding houses. A parricide was +to pay the penalty of his crime--a crime committed under atrocious +circumstances, with an unheard-of refinement of barbarity. The +punishment corresponded to the crime: the wretched man was broken on the +wheel. The most complete and terrible silence prevailed in the multitude +eager for ghastly emotions. Three times already had been heard the heavy +thud of the instrument which broke the victim's limbs, and a loud cry +escaped the sufferer which made all who heard it shudder with horror, +One man only, who, in spite of all his efforts, could not get through +the crowd and cross the square, remained unmoved, and looking +contemptuously towards the criminal, muttered, "Idiot! he was unable to +deceive anyone!" + +A few moments later the flames began to rise from the funeral pile, the +crowd began to move, and the than was able to make his way through and +reach one of the streets leading out of the square. + +The sky was overcast, and the grey daylight hardly penetrated the narrow +lane, hideous and gloomy as the name it bore, and which; only a few +years ago, still wound like a long serpent through the mire of this +quarter. Just then it was deserted, owing to the attraction of the +execution close by. The man who had just left the square proceeded +slowly, attentively reading all the inscriptions on the doors. He +stopped at Number 75, where on the threshold of a shop sat a stout woman +busily knitting, over whom one read in big yellow letters, "Widow +Masson." He saluted the woman, and asked-- + +"Is there not a cellar to let in this house?" + +"There is, master," answered the widow. + +"Can I speak to the owner?" + +"And that is myself, by your leave." + +"Will you show me the cellar? I am a provincial wine merchant, my +business often brings me to Paris, and I want a cellar where I could +deposit wine which I sell on commission." + +They went down together. After examining the place, and ascertaining +that it was not too damp for the expensive wine which he wished to leave +there, the man agreed about the rent, paid the first term in advance, +and was entered on the widow Masson's books under the name of Ducoudray. +It is hardly necessary to remark that it should have been Derues. + +When he returned home in the evening, his wife told him that a large box +had arrived. + +"It is all right," he said, "the carpenter from whom I ordered it is a +man of his word." Then he supped, and caressed his children. The next +day being Sunday, he received the communion, to the great edification of +the devout people of the neighbourhood. + +On Monday the 16th Madame de Lamotte and Edouard, descending from the +Montereau stagecoach, were met by Derues and his wife. + +"Did my husband write to you, Monsieur Derues?" inquired Madame de +Lamotte. + +"Yes, madame, two days ago; and I have arranged our dwelling for your +reception." + +"What! but did not Monsieur de Lamotte ask you to engage the rooms I +have had before at the Hotel de France?" + +"He did not say so, and if that was your idea I trust you will change +it. Do not deprive me of the pleasure of offering you the hospitality +which for so long I have accepted from you. Your room is quite ready, +also one for this dear boy," and so saying he took Edouard's hand; "and +I am sure if you ask his opinion, he will say you had better be content +to stay with me." + +"Undoubtedly," said the boy; "and I do not see why there need be any +hesitation between friends." + +Whether by accident, or secret presentiment, or because she foresaw a +possibility of business discussions between them, Madame de Lamotte +objected to this arrangement. Derues having a business appointment which +he was bound to keep, desired his wife to accompany the Lamottes to the +Hotel de France, and in case of their not being able to find rooms +there, mentioned three others as the only ones in the quarter where they +could be comfortably accommodated. Two hours later Madame de Lamotte and +her son returned to his house in the rue Beaubourg. + +The house which Derues occupied stood opposite the rue des Menoriers, +and was pulled down quite lately to make way for the rue Rambuteau. In +1776 it was one of the finest houses of the rue Beaubourg, and it +required a certain income to be able to live there, the rents being +tolerably high. A large arched doorway gave admittance to a passage, +lighted at the other end by a small court, on the far side of which was +the shop into which Madame de Lamotte had been taken on the occasion of +the accident. The house staircase was to the right of the passage; and +the Derues' dwelling on the entresol. The first room, lighted by a +window looking into the court, was used as a dining room, and led into a +simply furnished sitting-room, such as was generally found among the +bourgeois and tradespeople of this period. To the right of the +sitting-room was a large closet, which could serve as a small study or +could hold a bed; to the left was a door opening into the Derues' +bedroom, which had been prepared for Madame de Lamotte. Madame Derues +would occupy one of the two beds which stood in the alcove. Derues had a +bed made up in the sitting-room, and Edouard was accommodated in the +little study. + +Nothing particular happened during the first few days which followed the +Lamottes' arrival. They had not come to Paris only on account of the +Buisson-Souef affairs. Edouard was nearly sixteen, and after much +hesitation his parents had decided on placing him in some school where +his hitherto neglected education might receive more attention. Derues +undertook to find a capable tutor, in whose house the boy would be +brought up in the religious feeling which the cure of Buisson and his +own exhortations had already tended to develop. These proceedings, added +to Madame de Lamotte's endeavours to collect various sums due to her +husband, took some time. Perhaps, when on the point of executing a +terrible crime, Derues tried to postpone the fatal moment, although, +considering his character, this seems unlikely, for one cannot do him +the honour of crediting him with a single moment of remorse, doubt, or +pity. Far from it, it appears from all the information which can be +gathered, that Derues, faithful to his own traditions, was simply +experimenting on his unfortunate guests, for no sooner were they in his +house than both began to complain of constant nausea, which they had +never suffered from before. While he thus ascertained the strength of +their constitution, he was able, knowing the cause of the malady, to +give them relief, so that Madame de Lamotte, although she grew daily +weaker, had so much confidence in him as to think it unnecessary to call +in a doctor. Fearing to alarm her husband, she never mentioned her +sufferings, and her letters only spoke of the care and kind attention +which she received. + +On the 15th of January, 1777, Edouard was placed in a school in the rue +de l'Homme Arme. His mother never saw him again. She went out once more +to place her husband's power of attorney with a lawyer in the rue de +Paon. On her return she felt so weak and broken-down that she was +obliged to go to bed and remain there for several days. On January 29th +the unfortunate lady had risen, and was sitting near the window which +overlooked the deserted rue des Menetriers, where clouds of snow were +drifting before the wind. Who can guess the sad thoughts which may have +possessed her?--all around dark, cold, and silent, tending to produce +painful depression and involuntary dread. To escape the gloomy ideas +which besieged her, her mind went back to the smiling times of her youth +and marriage. She recalled the time when, alone at Buisson during her +husband's enforced absences, she wandered with her child in the cool and +shaded walks of the park, and sat out in the evening, inhaling the scent +of the flowers, and listening to the murmur of the water, or the sound +of the whispering breeze in the leaves. Then, coming back from these +sweet recollections to reality, she shed tears, and called on her +husband and son. So deep was her reverie that she did not hear the room +door open, did not perceive that darkness had come on. The light of a +candle, dispersing the shadows, made her start; she turned her head, and +saw Derues coming towards her. He smiled, and she made an effort to keep +back the tears which were shining in her eyes, and to appear calm. + +"I am afraid I disturb you," he said. "I came to ask a favour, madame." + +"What is it, Monsieur Derues?" she inquired. + +"Will you allow me to have a large chest brought into this room? I ought +to pack some valuable things in it which are in my charge, and are now +in this cupboard. I am afraid it will be in your way." + +"Is it not your own house, and is it not rather I who am in the way and +a cause of trouble? Pray have it brought in, and try to forget that I am +here. You are most kind to me, but I wish I could spare you all this +trouble and that I were fit to go back to Buisson. I had a letter from +my husband yesterday----" + +"We will talk about that presently, if you wish it," said Derues. "I +will go and fetch the servant to help me to carry in this chest. I have +put it off hitherto, but it really must be sent in three days." + +He went away, and returned in a few minutes. The chest was carried in, +and placed before the cupboard at the foot of the bed. Alas! the poor +lady little thought it was her own coffin which stood before her! + +The maid withdrew, and Derues assisted Madame de Lamotte to a seat near +the fire, which he revived with more fuel. He sat down opposite to her, +and by the feeble light of the candle placed on a small table between +them could contemplate at leisure the ravages wrought by poison on her +wasted features. + +"I saw your son to-day," he said: "he complains that you neglect him, +and have not seen him for twelve days. He does not know you have been +ill, nor did I tell him. The dear boy! he loves you so tenderly." + +"And I also long to see him. My friend, I cannot tell you what terrible +presentiments beset me; it seems as if I were threatened with some great +misfortune; and just now, when you came in, I could think only of death. +What is the cause of this languor and weakness? It is surely no +temporary ailment. Tell me the truth: am I not dreadfully altered? and +do you not think my husband will be shocked when he sees me like this?" + +"You are unnecessarily anxious," replied Derues; "it is rather a failing +of yours. Did I not see you last year tormenting yourself about +Edouard's health, when he was not even thinking of being ill? I am not +so soon alarmed. My own old profession, and that of chemistry, which I +studied in my youth, have given me some acquaintance with medicine. I +have frequently been consulted, and have prescribed for patients whose +condition was supposed to be desperate, and I can assure you I have +never seen a better and stronger constitution than yours. Try to calm +yourself, and do not call up chimeras; because a mind at ease is the +greatest enemy of illness. This depression will pass, and then you will +regain your strength." + +"May God grant it! for I feel weaker every day." + +"We have still some business to transact together. The notary at +Beauvais writes that the difficulties which prevented his paying over +the inheritance of my wife's relation, Monsieur Duplessis, have mostly +disappeared. I have a hundred thousand livres at my disposal,--that is +to say, at yours,--and in a month at latest I shall be able to pay off +my debt. You ask me to be sincere," he continued, with a tinge of +reproachful irony; "be sincere in your turn, madame, and acknowledge +that you and your husband have both felt uneasy, and that the delays I +have been obliged to ask for have not seemed very encouraging to you?" + +"It is true," she replied; "but we never questioned your good faith." + +"And you were right. One is not always able to carry out one's +intentions; events can always upset our calculations; but what really is +in our power is the desire to do right--to be honest; and I can say that +I never intentionally wronged anyone. And now. I am happy in being able +to fulfil my promises to you. I trust when I am the owner of +Buisson-Souef you will not feel obliged to leave it." + +"Thank you; I should like to come occasionally, for all my happy +recollections are connected with it. Is it necessary for me to accompany +you to Beauvais?" + +"Why should you not? The change would do you good." + +She looked up at him and smiled sadly. "I am not in a fit state to +undertake it." + +"Not if you imagine that you are unable, certainly. Come, have you any +confidence in me?" + +"The most complete confidence, as you know." + +"Very well, then: trust to my care. This very evening I will prepare a +draught for you to take to-morrow morning, and I will even now fix the +duration of this terrible malady which frightens you so much. In two +days I shall fetch Edouard from his school to celebrate the beginning of +your convalescence, and we will start, at latest, on February 1st. You +are astonished at what I say, but you shall see if I am not a good +doctor, and much cleverer than many who pass for such merely because the +have obtained a diploma." + +"Then, doctor, I will place myself in your hands." + +"Remember what I say. You will leave this on February 1st." + +"To begin this cure, can you ensure my sleeping to-night?" + +"Certainly. I will go now, and send my wife to you. She will bring a +draught, which you must promise to take." + +"I will exactly follow your prescriptions. Goodnight, my friend." + +"Good-night, madame; and take courage"; and bowing low, he left the +room. + +The rest of the evening was spent in preparing the fatal medicine. The +next morning, an hour or two after Madame de Lamotte had swallowed it, +the maid who had given it to her came and told Derues the invalid was +sleeping very heavily and snoring, and asked if she ought to be awoke. +He went into the room, and, opening the curtains, approached the bed. He +listened for some time, and recognised that the supposed snoring was +really he death-rattle. He sent the servant off into the country with a +letter to one of his friends, telling her not to return until the Monday +following, February 3rd. He also sent away his wife, on some unknown +pretext, and remained alone with his victim. + +So terrible a situation ought to have troubled the mind of the most +hardened criminal. A man familiar with murder and accustomed to shed +blood might have felt his heart sink, and, in the absence of pity, might +have experienced disgust at the sight of this prolonged and useless +torture; but Derues, calm and easy, as if unconscious of evil, sat +coolly beside the bed, as any doctor might have done. From time to time +he felt the slackening pulse, and looked at the glassy and sightless +eyes which turned in their orbits, and he saw without terror the +approach of night, which rendered this awful 'tete-a-tete' even more +horrible. The most profound silence reigned in the house, the street was +deserted, and the only sound heard was caused by an icy rain mixed with +snow driven against the glass, and occasionally the howl of the wind, +which penetrated the chimney and scattered the ashes. A single candle +placed behind the curtains lighted this dismal scene, and the irregular +flicker of its flame cast weird reflections and dancing shadows an the +walls of the alcove. There came a lull in the wind, the rain ceased, and +during this instant of calm someone knocked, at first gently, and then +sharply, at the outer door. Derues dropped the dying woman's hand and +bent forward to listen. The knock was repeated, and he grew pale. He +threw the sheet, as if it were a shroud, over his victim's head drew the +curtains of the alcove, and went to the door. "Who is there?" he +inquired. + +"Open, Monsieur Derues," said a voice which he recognised as that of a +woman of Chartres whose affairs he managed, and who had entrusted him +with sundry deeds in order that he might receive the money due to her. +This woman had begun to entertain doubts as to Derues' honesty, and as +she was leaving Paris the next day, had resolved to get the papers out +of his hands. + +"Open the door," she repeated. "Don't you know my voice?" + +"I am sorry I cannot let you in. My servant is out: she has taken the +key and locked the door outside." + +"You must let me in," the woman continued; "it is absolutely necessary I +should speak to you." + +"Come to-morrow." + +"I leave Paris to-morrow, and I must have those papers to-night." + +He again refused, but she spoke firmly and decidedly. "I must come in. +The porter said you were all out, but, from the rue des Menetriers I +could see the light in your room. My brother is with me, and I left him +below. I shall call him if you don't open the door." + +"Come in, then," said Derues; "your papers are in the sitting-room. Wait +here, and I will fetch them." The woman looked at him and took his hand. +"Heavens! how pale you are! What is the matter?" + +"Nothing is the matter: will you wait here? "But she would not release +his arm, and followed him into the sitting-room, where Derues began to +seek hurriedly among the various papers which covered a table. "Here +they are," he said; "now you can go." + +"Really," said the woman, examining her deeds carefully, "never yet did +I see you in such a hurry to give up things which don't belong to you. +But do hold that candle steadily; your hand is shaking so that I cannot +see to read." + +At that moment the silence which prevailed all round was broken by a cry +of anguish, a long groan proceeding from the chamber to the right of the +sitting-room. + +"What is that?" cried the woman. "Surely it is a dying person!" + +The sense of the danger which threatened made Derues pull himself +together. "Do not be alarmed," he said. "My wife has been seized with a +violent fever; she is quite delirious now, and that is why I told the +porter to let no one come up." + +But the groans in the next room continued, and the unwelcome visitor, +overcome by terror which she could neither surmount nor explain, took a +hasty leave, and descended the staircase with all possible rapidity. As +soon as he could close the door, Derues returned to the bedroom. + +Nature frequently collects all her expiring strength at the last moment +of existence. The unhappy lady struggled beneath her coverings; the +agony she suffered had given her a convulsive energy, and inarticulate +sounds proceeded from her mouth. Derues approached and held her on the +bed. She sank back on the pillow, shuddering convulsively, her hands +plucking and twisting the sheets, her teeth chattering and biting the +loose hair which fell over her face and shoulders. "Water! water!" she +cried; and then, "Edouard,--my husband!--Edouard!--is it you?" Then +rising with a last effort, she seized her murderer by the arm, +repeating, "Edouard!--oh!" and then fell heavily, dragging Derues down +with her. His face was against hers; he raised his head, but the dying +hand, clenched in agony, had closed upon him like a vise. The icy +fingers seemed made of iron and could not be opened, as though the +victim had seized on her assassin as a prey, and clung to the proof of +his crime. + +Derues at last freed himself, and putting his hand on her heart, "It is +over," he remarked; "she has been a long time about it. What o'clock is +it? Nine! She has struggled against death for twelve hours!" + +While the limbs still retained a little warmth, he drew the feet +together, crossed the hands on the breast, and placed the body in the +chest. When he had locked it up, he remade the bed, undressed himself, +and slept comfortably in the other one. + +The next day, February 1st, the day he had fixed for the "going out" of +Madame de Lamotte, he caused the chest to be placed on a hand-cart and +carried at about ten o'clock in the morning to the workshop of a +carpenter of his acquaintance called Mouchy, who dwelt near the Louvre. +The two commissionaires employed had been selected in distant quarters, +and did not know each other. They were well paid, and each presented +with a bottle of wine. These men could never be traced. Derues requested +the carpenter's wife to allow the chest to remain in the large workshop, +saying he had forgotten something at his own house, and would return to +fetch it in three hours. But, instead of a few hours, he left it for two +whole days--why, one does not know, but it may be supposed that he +wanted the time to dig a trench in a sort of vault under the staircase +leading to the cellar in the rue de la Mortellerie. Whatever the cause, +the delay might have been fatal, and did occasion an unforeseen +encounter which nearly betrayed him. But of all the actors in this scene +he alone knew the real danger he incurred, and his coolness never +deserted him for a moment. + +The third day, as he walked alongside the handcart on which the chest +was being conveyed, he was accosted at Saint Germain l'Auxerrois by a +creditor who had obtained a writ of execution against him, and at the +imperative sign made by this man the porter stopped. The creditor +attacked Derues violently, reproaching him for his bad faith in language +which was both energetic and uncomplimentary; to which the latter +replied in as conciliatory a manner as he could assume. But it was +impossible to silence the enemy, and an increasing crowd of idlers began +to assemble round them. + +"When will you pay me?" demanded the creditor. "I have an execution +against you. What is there in that box? Valuables which you cart away +secretly, in order to laugh at my just claims, as you did two years +ago?" + +Derues shuddered all over; he exhausted himself in protestations; but +the other, almost beside himself, continued to shout. + +"Oh!" he said, turning to the crowd, "all these tricks and grimaces and +signs of the cross are no good. I must have my money, and as I know what +his promises are worth, I will pay myself! Come, you knave, make haste. +Tell me what there is in that box; open it, or I will fetch the police." + +The crowd was divided between the creditor and debtor, and possibly a +free fight would have begun, but the general attention was distracted by +the arrival of another spectator. A voice heard above all the tumult +caused a score of heads to turn, it was the voice of a woman crying: + +"The abominable history of Leroi de Valine, condemned to death at the +age of sixteen for having poisoned his entire family!" + +Continually crying her wares, the drunken, staggering woman approached +the crowd, and striking out right and left with fists and elbows, forced +her way to Derues. + +"Ah! ah!" said she, after looking him well over, "is it you, my gossip +Derues! Have you again a little affair on hand like the one when you set +fire to your shop in the rue Saint-Victor?" + +Derues recognised the hawker who had abused him on the threshold of his +shop some years previously, and whom he had never seen since. "Yes, +yes," she continued, "you had better look at me with your little round +cat's eyes. Are you going to say you don't know me?" + +Derues appealed to his creditor. "You see," he said, "to what insults +you are exposing me. I do not know this woman who abuses me." + +"What!--you don't know me! You who accused me of being a thief! But +luckily the Maniffets have been known in Paris as honest people for +generations, while as for you----" + +"Sir," said Derues, "this case contains valuable wine which I am +commissioned to sell. To-morrow I shall receive the money for it; +to-morrow, in the course of the day, I will pay what I owe you. But I am +waited for now, do not in Heaven's name detain me longer, and thus +deprive me of the means of paying at all." + +"Don't believe him, my good man," said the hawker; "lying comes natural +to him always." + +"Sir, I promise on my oath you shall be paid tomorrow; you had better +trust the word of an honest man rather than the ravings of a drunken +woman." + +The creditor still hesitated, but, another person now spoke in Derues' +favour; it was the carpenter Mouchy, who had inquired the cause of the +quarrel. + +"For God's sake," he exclaimed, "let the gentleman go on. That chest +came from my workshop, and I know there is wine inside it; he told my +wife so two days ago." + +"Will you be surety for me, my friend?" asked Derues. + +"Certainly I will; I have not known you for ten years in order to leave +you in trouble and refuse to answer for you. What the devil are +respectable people to be stopped like this in a public place? Come, sir, +believe his word, as I do." + +After some more discussion, the porter was at last allowed to proceed +with his hand-cart. The hawker wanted to interfere, but Mouchy warned +her off and ordered her to be silent. "Ah! ah!" she cried, "what does it +matter to me? Let him sell his wine if he can; I shall not drink any on +his premises. This is the second time he has found a surety to my +knowledge; the beggar must have some special secret for encouraging the +growth of fools. Good-bye, gossip Derues; you know I shall be selling +your history some day. Meanwhile---- + +"The abominable history of Leroi de Valine, condemned to death at the +age of sixteen for having poisoned his entire family!" + +Whilst she amused the people by her grimaces and grotesque gestures, and +while Mouchy held forth to some of them, Derues made his escape. Several +times between Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois and the rue de la Mortellerie he +nearly fainted, and was obliged to stop. While the danger lasted, he had +had sufficient self-control to confront it coolly, but now that he +calculated the depth of the abyss which for a moment had opened beneath +his feet, dizziness laid hold on him. + +Other precautions now became necessary. His real name had been mentioned +before the commissionaire, and the widow Masson, who owned the cellar, +only knew him as Ducoudray. He went on in front, asked for the keys, +which till then had been left with her, and the chest was got downstairs +without any awkward questions. Only the porter seemed astonished that +this supposed wine, which was to be sold immediately, should be put in +such a place, and asked if he might come the next day and move it again. +Derues replied that someone was coming for it that very day. This +question, and the disgraceful scene which the man had witnessed, made it +necessary to get rid of him without letting him see the pit dug under +the staircase. Derues tried to drag the chest towards the hole, but all +his strength was insufficient to move it. He uttered terrible +imprecations when he recognised his own weakness, and saw that he would +be obliged to bring another stranger, an informer perhaps, into this +charnel-house, where; as yet, nothing betrayed his crimes. No sooner +escaped from one peril than he encountered another, and already he had +to struggle against his own deeds. He measured the length of the trench, +it was too short. Derues went out and repaired to the place where he had +hired the labourer who had dug it out, but he could not find the man, +whom he had only seen once, and whose name he did not know. Two whole +days were spent in this fruitless search, but on the third, as he was +wandering on one of the quays at the time labourers were to be found +there, a mason, thinking he was looking for someone, inquired what he +wanted. Derues looked well at the man, and concluding from his +appearance that he was probably rather simpleminded, asked-- + +"Would you like to earn a crown of three livres by an easy job?" + +"What a question, master!" answered the mason. "Work is so scarce that I +am going back into the country this very evening." + +"Very well! Bring your tools, spade, and pickaxe, and follow me." + +They both went down to the cellar, and the mason was ordered to dig out +the pit till it was five and a half feet deep. While the man worked, +Derues sat beside the chest and read. When it was half done, the mason +stopped for breath, and leaning on his spade, inquired why he wanted a +trench of such a depth. Derues, who had probably foreseen the question, +answered at once, without being disconcerted-- + +"I want to bury some bottled wine which is contained in this case." + +"Wine!" said the other. "Ah! you are laughing at me, because you think I +look a fool! I never yet heard of such a recipe for improving wine." + +"Where do you come from?" + +"D'Alencon." + +"Cider drinker! You were brought up in Normandy, that is clear. Well, +you can learn from me, Jean-Baptiste Ducoudray, a wine grower of Tours, +and a wine merchant for the last ten years, that new wine thus buried +for a year acquires the quality and characteristics of the oldest +brands." + +"It is possible," said the mason, again taking his spade, "but all the +same it seems a little odd to me." + +When he had finished, Derues asked him to help to drag the chest +alongside the trench, so that it might be easier to take out the bottles +and arrange them: The mason agreed, but when he moved the chest the +foetid odour which proceeded from it made him draw back, declaring that +a smell such as that could not possibly proceed from wine. Derues tried +to persuade him that the smell came from drains under the cellar, the +pipe of which could be seen. It appeared to satisfy him, and he again +took hold of the chest, but immediately let it go again, and said +positively that he could not execute Derues' orders, being convinced +that the chest must contain a decomposing corpse. Then Derues threw +himself at the man's feet and acknowledged that it was the dead body of +a woman who had unfortunately lodged in his house, and who had died +there suddenly from an unknown malady, and that, dreading lest he should +be accused of having murdered her, he had decided to conceal the death +and bury her here. + +The mason listened, alarmed at this confidence, and not knowing whether +to believe it or not. Derues sobbed and wept at his feet, beat his +breast and tore out his hair, calling on God and the saints as witnesses +of his good faith and his innocence. He showed the book he was reading +while the mason excavated: it was the Seven Penitential Psalms. "How +unfortunate I am!" he cried. "This woman died in my house, I assure +you--died suddenly, before I could call a doctor. I was alone; I might +have been accused, imprisoned, perhaps condemned for a crime I did not +commit. Do not ruin me! You leave Paris to-night, you need not be +uneasy; no one would know that I employed you, if this unhappy affair +should ever be discovered. I do not know your name, I do not wish to +know it, and I tell you mine, it is Ducoudray. I give myself up to you, +but have some pity!--if not for me, yet for my wife and my two little +children--for these poor creatures whose only support I am!" + +Seeing that the mason was touched, Derues opened the chest. + +"Look," he said, "examine the body of this woman, does it show any mark +of violent death? My God!" he continued, joining his hands and in tones +of despairing agony,--"my God, Thou who readest all hearts, and who +knowest my innocence, canst Thou not ordain a miracle to save an honest +man? Wilt Thou not command this dead body to bear witness for me?" + +The mason was stupefied by this flow of language. Unable to restrain his +tears, he promised to keep silence, persuaded that Derues was innocent, +and that appearances only were against him. The latter, moreover, did +not neglect other means of persuasion; he handed the mason two gold +pieces, and between them they buried the body of Madame de Lamotte. + +However extraordinary this fact, which might easily be supposed +imaginary, may appear, it certainly happened. In the examination at his +trial. Derues himself revealed it, repeating the story which had +satisfied the mason. He believed that this man had denounced him: he was +mistaken, for this confidant of his crime, who might have been the first +to put justice on his track, never reappeared, and but for Derues' +acknowledgment his existence would have remained unknown. + +This first deed accomplished, another victim was already appointed. +Trembling at first as to the consequences of his forced confession, +Derues waited some days, paying, however, his creditor as promised. He +redoubles his demonstrations of piety, he casts a furtive glance on +everyone he meets, seeking for some expression of distrust. But no one +avoids him, or points him out with a raised finger, or whispers on +seeing him; everywhere he encounters the customary expression of +goodwill. Nothing has changed; suspicion passes over his head without +alighting there. He is reassured, and resumes his work. Moreover, had he +wished to remain passive, he could not have done so; he was now +compelled to follow that fatal law of crime which demands that blood +must be effaced with blood, and which is compelled to appeal again to +death in order to stifle the accusing voice already issuing from the +tomb. + +Edouard de Lamotte, loving his mother as much as she loved him, became +uneasy at receiving no visits, and was astonished at this sudden +indifference. Derues wrote to him as follows: + +"I have at length some good news for you, my dear boy, but you must not +tell your mother I have betrayed her secret; she would scold me, because +she is planning a surprise for you, and the various steps and care +necessary in arranging this important matter have caused her absence. +You were to know nothing until the 11th or 12th of this month, but now +that all is settled, I should blame myself if I prolonged the +uncertainty in which you have been left, only you must promise me to +look as much astonished as possible. Your mother, who only lives for +you, is going to present you with the greatest gift a youth of your age +can receive--that of liberty. Yes, dear boy, we thought we had +discovered that you have no very keen taste for study, and that a +secluded life will suit neither your character nor your health. In +saying this I utter no reproach, for every man is born with his own +decided tastes, and the way to success and happiness is-often-to allow +him to follow these instincts. We have had long discussions on this +subject--your mother and I--and we have thought much about your future; +she has at last come to a decision, and for the last ten days has been +at Versailles, endeavouring to obtain your admission as a royal page. +Here is the mystery, this is the reason which has kept her from you, and +as she knew you would hear it with delight, she wished to have the +pleasure of telling you herself. Therefore, once again, when you see +her, which will be very soon, do not let her see I have told you; appear +to be greatly surprised. It is true that I am asking you to tell a lie, +but it is a very innocent one, and its good intention will counteract +its sinfulness--may God grant we never have worse upon our consciences! +Thus, instead of lessons and the solemn precepts of your tutors, instead +of a monotonous school-life, you are going to enjoy your liberty; also +the pleasures of the court and the world. All that rather alarms me, and +I ought to confess that I at first opposed this plan. I begged your +mother to reflect, to consider that in this new existence you would run +great risk of losing the religious feeling which inspires you, and which +I have had the happiness, during my sojourn at Buisson-Souef, of further +developing in your mind. I still recall with emotion your fervid and +sincere aspirations towards the Creator when you approached the Sacred +Table for the first time, and when, kneeling beside you, and envying the +purity of heart and innocence of soul which appeared to animate your +countenance as with a divine radiance, I besought God that, in default +of my own virtue, the love for heavenly Truth with which I have inspired +you might be reckoned to my account. Your piety is my work, Edouard, and +I defended it against your mother's plans; but she replied that in every +career a man is master of his own good or evil actions; and as I have no +authority over you, and friendship only gives me the right to advise, I +must give way. If this be your vocation, then follow it. + +"My occupations are so numerous (I have to collect from different +sources this hundred thousand livres intended to defray the greater part +of the Buisson purchase) that I have not a moment in which to come and +see you this week. Spend the time in reflection, and write to me fully +what you think about this plan. If, like me, you feel any scruples, you +must tell them to your mother, who decidedly wants only to make you +happy. Speak to me freely, openly. It is arranged that I am to fetch you +on the 11th of this month, and escort you to Versailles, where Madame de +Lamotte will be waiting to receive you with the utmost tenderness. +Adieu, dear boy; write to me. Your father knows nothing as yet; his +consent will be asked after your decision." + +The answer to this letter did not have to be waited for: it was such as +Derues expected; the lad accepted joyfully. The answer was, for the +murderer, an arranged plea of defence, a proof which, in a given case, +might link the present with the past. + +On the morning of February 11th, Shrove Tuesday, he went to fetch the +young de Lamotte from his school, telling the master that he was desired +by the youth's mother to conduct him to Versailles. But, instead, he +took him to his own house, saying that he had a letter from Madame de +Lamotte asking them not to come till the next day; so they started on +Ash Wednesday, Edouard having breakfasted on chocolate. Arrived at +Versailles, they stopped at the Fleur-de-lys inn, but there the sickness +which the boy had complained of during the journey became very serious, +and the innkeeper, having young children, and believing that he +recognised symptoms of smallpox, which just then was ravaging +Versailles, refused to receive them, saying he had no vacant room. This +might have disconcerted anyone but Derues, but his audacity, activity, +and resource seemed to increase with each fresh obstacle. Leaving +Edouard in a room on the ground floor which had no communication with +the rest of the inn, he went at once to look for lodgings, and hastily +explored the town. After a fruitless search, he found at last, at the +junction of the rue Saint-Honore with that of the Orangerie, a cooper +named Martin, who had a furnished room to spare. This he hired at thirty +sous per day for himself and his nephew, who had been taken suddenly +ill, under the name of Beaupre. To avoid being questioned later, he +informed the cooper in a few words that he was a doctor; that he had +come to Versailles in order to place his nephew in one of the offices of +the town; that in a few days the latter's mother would arrive to join +him in seeing and making application to influential persons about the +court, to whom he had letters of introduction. As soon as he had +delivered this fable with all the appearance of truth with which he knew +so well how to disguise his falsehoods, he went back to the young de +Lamotte, who was already so exhausted that he was hardly able to drag +himself as far as the cooper's house. He fainted on arrival, and was +carried into the hired room, where Derues begged to be left alone with +him, and only asked for certain beverages which he told the people how +to prepare. + +Whether it was that the strength of youth fought against the poison, or +that Derues took pleasure in watching the sufferings of his victim, the +agony of the poor lad was prolonged until the fourth day. The sickness +continuing incessantly, he sent the cooper's wife for a medicine which +he prepared and administered himself. It produced terrible pain, and +Edouard's cries brought the cooper and his wife upstairs. They +represented to Derues that he ought to call in a doctor and consult with +him, but he refused decidedly, saying that a doctor hastily fetched +might prove to be an ignorant person with whom he could not agree, and +that he could not allow one so dear to him to be prescribed for and +nursed by anyone but himself. + +"I know what the malady is," he continued, raising his eyes to heaven; +"it is one that has to be concealed rather than acknowledged. Poor +youth! whom I love as my own son, if God, touched by my tears and thy +suffering, permits me to save thee, thy whole life will be too short for +thy blessings and thy gratitude!" And as Madame Martin asked what this +malady might be, he answered with hypocritical blushes-- + +"Do not ask, madame; there are things of which you do not know even the +name." + +At another time, Martin expressed his surprise that the young man's +mother had not yet appeared, who, according to Derues, was to have met +him at Versailles. He asked how she could know that they were lodging in +his house, and if he should send to meet her at any place where she was +likely to arrive. + +"His mother," said Derues, looking compassionately at Edouard, who lay +pale, motionless, and as if insensible,--"his mother! He calls for her +incessantly. Ah! monsieur, some families are greatly to be pitied! My +entreaties prevailed on her to decide on coming hither, but will she +keep her promise? Do not ask me to tell you more; it is too painful to +have to accuse a mother of having forgotten her duties in the presence +of her son . . . there are secrets which ought not to be told--unhappy +woman!" + +Edouard moved, extended his arms, and repeated, "Mother! . . . mother!" + +Derues hastened to his side and took his hands in his, as if to warm +them. + +"My mother!" the youth repeated. "Why have I not seen her? She was to +have met me." + +You shall soon see her, dear boy; only keep quiet." + +"But just now I thought she was dead." + +"Dead!" cried Derues. "Drive away these sad thoughts. They are caused by +the fever only." + +"No! oh no! . . . I heard a secret voice which said, 'Thy mother is +dead!' . . . And then I beheld a livid corpse before me . . . It was +she! . . . I knew her well! and she seemed to have suffered so much----" + +"Dear boy, your mother is not dead . . . . My God! what terrible +chimeras you conjure up! You will see her again, I assure you; she has +arrived already. Is it not so, madame?" he asked, turning towards the +Martins, who were both leaning against the foot of the bed, and signing +to them to support this pious falsehood, in order to calm the young man. +"Did she not arrive and come to his bedside and kiss him while he slept, +and she will soon come again?" + +"Yes, yes," said Madame Martin, wiping her eyes; "and she begged my +husband and me to help your uncle to take great care of you--" + +The youth moved again, and looking round him with a dazed expression, +said, "My uncle--?" + +"You had better go," said Derues in a whisper to the Martins. "I am +afraid he is delirious again; I will prepare a draught, which will give +him a little rest and sleep." + +"Adieu, then, adieu," answered Madame Martin; "and may Heaven bless you +for the care you bestow on this poor young man!" + +On Friday evening violent vomiting appeared to have benefited the +sufferer. He had rejected most of the poison, and had a fairly quiet +night. But on the Saturday morning Derues sent the cooper's little girl +to buy more medicine, which he prepared, himself, like the first. The +day was horrible, and about six in the evening, seeing his victim was at +the last gasp, he opened a little window overlooking the shop and +summoned the cooper, requesting him to go at once for a priest. When the +latter arrived he found Derues in tears, kneeling at the dying boy's +bedside. And now, by the light of two tapers placed on a table, flanking +the holy water-stoup, there began what on one side was an abominable and +sacrilegious comedy, a disgraceful parody of that which Christians +consider most sacred and most dear; on the other, a pious and consoling +ceremony. The cooper and his wife, their eyes bathed in tears, knelt in +the middle of the room, murmuring such prayers as they could remember. + +Derues gave up his place to the priest, but as Edouard did not answer +the latter's questions, he approached the bed, and bending over the +sufferer, exhorted him to confession. + +"Dear boy," he said, "take courage; your sufferings here will be counted +to you above: God will weigh ahem in the scales of His infinite mercy. +Listen to the words of His holy minister, cast your sins into His bosom, +and obtain from Him forgiveness for your faults." + +"I am in such terrible pain!" cried Edouard. "Water! water! Extinguish +the fire which consumes me!" + +A violent fit came on, succeeded by exhaustion and the death-rattle. +Derues fell on his knees, and the priest administered extreme unction. +There was then a moment of absolute silence, more impressive than cries +and sobs. The priest collected himself for a moment, crossed himself, +and began to pray. Derues also crossed himself, and repeated in a low +voice, apparently choked by grief + +"Go forth, O Christian soul, from this world, in the name of God the +Father Almighty, who created thee; in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son +of the living God, who suffered for thee; in the name of the Holy Ghost, +who was poured out upon thee." + +The youth struggled in his bed, and a convulsive movement agitated his +limbs. Derues continued-- + +"When thy soul departs from this body may it be admitted to the holy +Mountain of Sion, to the Heavenly Jerusalem, to the numerous company of +Angels, and to the Church of the First-born, whose names are written in +Heaven----" + +"Mother! . . . My mother!" cried Edouard. Derues resumed-- + +"Let God arise, and let the Powers of Darkness be dispersed! let the +Spirits of Evil, who reign over the air, be put to flight; let them not +dare to attack a soul redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ." + +"Amen," responded the priest and the Martins. + +There was another silence, broken only by the stifled sobs of Derues. +The priest again crossed himself and took up the prayer. + +"We beseech Thee, O beloved and only Son of God, by the merits of Thy +sacred Passion, Thy Cross and Thy Death, to deliver this Thy servant +from the pains of Hell, and to lead him to that happy place whither Thou +didst vouchsafe to lead the thief, who, with Thee, was bound upon the +Cross: Thou, who art God, living and reigning with the Father and the +Holy Ghost." + +"Amen," repeated those present. Derues now took up the prayer, and his +voice mingled with the dying gasps of the sufferer. + +"And there was a darkness over all the earth---- + +"To Thee, O Lord, we commend the soul of this Thy servant, that, being +dead to the world, he may, live to Thee: and the sins he hath committed +through the frailty of his mortal nature, do Thou in Thy most merciful +goodness, forgive and wash away. Amen." + +After which all present sprinkled holy water on the body.... + +When the priest had retired, shown out by Madame Martin, Derues said to +her husband-- + +"This unfortunate young man has died without the consolation of +beholding his mother.... His last thought was for her.... There now +remains the last duty, a very painful one to accomplish, but my poor +nephew imposed it on me. A few hours ago, feeling that his end was near, +he asked me, as a last mark of friendship, not to entrust these final +duties to the hands of strangers." + +While he applied himself to the necessary work in presence of the +cooper, who was much affected by the sight of such sincere and profound +affliction, Derues added, sighing-- + +"I shall always grieve for this dear boy. Alas! that evil living should +have caused his early death!" + +When he had finished laying out the body, he threw some little packets +into the fire which he professed to have found in the youth's pockets, +telling Martin, in order to support this assertion, that they contained +drugs suitable to this disgraceful malady. + +He spent the night in the room with the corpse, as he had done in the +case of Madame de Lamotte, and the next day, Sunday, he sent Martin to +the parish church of St. Louis, to arrange for a funeral of the simplest +kind; telling him to fill up the certificate in the name of Beaupre, +born at Commercy, in Lorraine. He declined himself either to go to the +church or to appear at the funeral, saying that his grief was too great. +Martin, returning from the funeral, found him engaged in prayer. Derues +gave him the dead youth's clothes and departed, leaving some money to be +given to the poor of the parish, and for masses to be said for the +repose of the soul of the dead. + +He arrived at home in the evening, found his wife entertaining some +friends; and told them he had just come from Chartres, where he had been +summoned on business. Everyone noticed his unusual air of satisfaction, +and he sang several songs during supper. + +Having accomplished these two crimes, Derues did not remain idle. When +the murderer's part of his nature was at rest, the thief reappeared. His +extreme avarice now made him regret the expense' caused by the deaths of +Madame de Lamotte and her son, and he wished to recoup himself. Two days +after his return from Versailles, he ventured to present himself at +Edouard's school. He told the master that he had received a letter from +Madame de Lamotte, saying that she wished to keep her son, and asking +him to obtain Edouard's belongings. The schoolmaster's wife, who was +present, replied that that could not be; that Monsieur de Lamotte would +have known of his wife's intention; that she would not have taken such a +step without consulting him; and that only the evening before, they had +received a present of game from Buisson-Souef, with a letter in which +Monsieur de Lamotte entreated them to take great, care of his son. + +"If what you say is true," she continued, "Madame de Lamotte is no doubt +acting on your advice in taking away her son. But I will write to +Buisson." + +"You had better not do anything in the matter;" said Derues, turning to +the schoolmaster. "It is quite possible that Monsieur de Lamotte does +not know. I am aware that his wife does not always consult him. She is +at Versailles, where I took Edouard to her, and I will inform her of +your objection." + +To insure impunity for these murders, Derues had resolved on the death +of Monsieur de Lamotte; but before executing this last crime, he wished +for some proof of the recent pretended agreements between himself and +Madame de Lamotte. He would not wait for the disappearance of the whole +family before presenting himself as the lawful proprietor, of +Buisson-Souef. Prudence required him to shelter himself behind a deed +which should have been executed by that lady. On February 27th he +appeared at the office of Madame de Lamotte's lawyer in the rue du Paon, +and, with all the persuasion of an artful tongue, demanded the power of +attorney on that lady's behalf, saying that he had, by private contract, +just paid a hundred thousand livres on the total amount of purchase, +which money was now deposited with a notary. The lawyer, much astonished +that an affair of such importance should have been arranged without any +reference to himself, refused to give up the deed to anyone but Monsieur +or Madame de Lamotte, and inquired why the latter did not appear +herself. Derues replied that she was at Versailles, and that he was to +send the deed to her there. He repeated his request and the lawyer his +refusal, until Derues retired, saying he would find means to compel him +to give up the deed. He actually did, the same day, present a petition +to the civil authority, in which Cyrano Derues de Bury sets forth +arrangements, made with Madame de Lamotte, founded on the deed given by +her husband, and requires permission to seize and withdraw said deed +from the custody in which it remains at present. The petition is +granted. The lawyer objects that he can only give up the deed to either +Monsieur or Madame de Lamotte, unless he be otherwise ordered. Derues +has the effrontery to again appeal to the civil authority, but, for the +reasons given by that public officer, the affair is adjourned. + +These two futile efforts might have compromised Derues had they been +heard of at Buisson-Souef; but everything seemed to conspire in the +criminal's favour: neither the schoolmaster's wife nor the lawyer +thought of writing to Monsieur de Lamotte. The latter, as yet +unsuspecting, was tormented by other anxieties, and kept at home by +illness. + +In these days, distance is shortened, and one can travel from +Villeneuve-le-Roi-les-Sens to Paris in a few hours. This was not the +case in 1777, when private industry and activity, stifled by routine and +privilege, had not yet experienced the need of providing the means for +rapid communication. Half a day was required to go from the capital to +Versailles; a journey of twenty leagues required at least two days and a +night, and bristled with obstacles ind delays of all kinds. These +difficulties of transport, still greater during bad weather, and a long +and serious attack of gout, explain why Monsieur ale Lamotte, who was so +ready to take alarm, had remained separated from his wife from the +middle of December to the end of February. He had received reassuring +letters from her, written at first with freedom and simplicity; but he +thought he noticed a gradual change in the later ones, which appeared to +proceed more from the mind than the heart. A style which aimed at being +natural was interspersed with unnecessary expressions of affection, +unusual between married people well assured of their mutual love. +Monsieur de Lamotte observed and exaggerated these peculiarities, and +though endeavouring to persuade himself that he was mistaken, he could +not forget them, or regain his usual tranquility. Being somewhat ashamed +of his anxiety, he kept his fears to himself. + +One morning, as he was sunk in a large armchair by the fire, his +sitting-room door opened, and the cure entered, who was surprised by his +despondent, sad, and pale appearance. "What is the matter?" he inquired, +"Have you had an extra bad night?" + +"Yes," answered Monsieur de Lamotte. + +"Well, have you any news from Paris?" + +"Nothing for a whole week: it is odd, is it not?" + +"I am always hoping that this sale may fall through; it drags on for so +very long; and I believe that Monsieur Derues, in spite of what your +wife wrote a month ago, has not as much money as he pretends to have. Do +you know that it is said that Monsieur Despeignes-Duplessis, Madame +Derues' relative, whose money they inherited, was assassinated?" + +"Where did you hear that?" + +"It is a common report in the country, and was brought here by a man who +came recently from Beauvais." + +"Have the murderers been discovered?" + +"Apparently not; justice seems unable to discover anything at all." + +Monsieur de Lamotte hung his head, and his countenance assumed an +expression of painful thought, as though this news affected him +personally. + +"Frankly," resumed the cure, "I believe you will remain Seigneur du +Buisson-Souef, and that I shall be spared the pain of writing another +name over your seat in the church of Villeneuve." + +"The affair must be settled in a few days, for I can wait no longer; if +the purchaser be not Monsieur Derues, it will have to be someone else. +What makes you think he is short of money?" + +"Oh! oh!" said the cure, "a man who has money either pays his debts, or +is a cheat. Now Heaven preserve me from suspecting Monsieur Derues' +honesty!" + +"What do you know about him?" + +"Do you remember Brother Marchois of the Camaldulians, who came to see +me last spring, and who was here the day Monsieur Derues arrived, with +your wife and Edouard?" + +"Perfectly. Well?" + +"Well, I happened to tell him in one of my letters that Monsieur Derues +had become the purchaser of Buisson-Souef, and that I believed the +arrangements were concluded. Thereupon Brother Marchois wrote asking me +to remind him that he owes them a sum of eight hundred livres, and that, +so far, they have not seen a penny of it." + +"Ah!" said Monsieur de Lamotte, "perhaps I should have done better not +to let myself be deluded by his fine promises. He certainly has money on +his tongue, and when once one begins to listen to him, one can't help +doing what he wants. All the same, I had rather have had to deal with +someone else." + +"And is it this which worries you, and makes you seem so anxious?" + +"This and other things." + +"What, then?" + +"I am really ashamed to own it, but I am a credulous and timid as any +old woman. Now do not laugh at me too much. Do you believe in dreams?" + +"Monsieur," said the cure, smiling, "you should never ask a coward +whether he is afraid, you only risk his telling a lie. He will say 'No,' +but he means 'Yes.'" + +"And are you a coward, my father?" + +"A little. I don't precisely believe all the nursery, tales, or in the +favourable or unfavourable meaning of some object seen during our sleep, +but--" + +A sound of steps interrupted them, a servant entered, announcing +Monsieur Derues. + +On hearing the name, Monsieur de Lamotte felt troubled in spite of +himself, but, overcoming the impression, he rose to meet the visitor. + +"You had better stay," he said to the cure, who was also rising to take +leave. "Stay; we have probably nothing to say which cannot be said +before you." + +Derues entered the room, and, after the usual compliments, sat down by +the fire, opposite Monsieur de Lamotte. + +"You did not expect me," he said, "and I ought to apologise for +surprising you thus." + +"Give me some news of my wife," asked Monsieur de Lamotte anxiously. + +"She has never been better. Your son is also to perfect health." + +"But why are you alone? Why does not Marie accompany you? It is ten +weeks since she went to Paris." + +"She has not yet quite finished the business with which you entrusted +her. Perhaps I am partly the cause of this long absence, but one cannot +transact business as quickly as one would wish. But, you have no doubt +heard from her, that all is finished, or nearly so, between us. We have +drawn up a second private contract, which annuls the former agreement, +and I have paid over a sum of one hundred thousand livres." + +"I do not comprehend," said Monsieur de Lamotte. "What can induce my +wife not to inform me of this?" + +"You did not know?" + +"I know nothing. I was wondering just now with Monsieur le cure why I +did not hear from her." + +"Madame de Lamotte was going to write to you, and I do not know what can +have hindered her." + +"When did you leave her?" + +"Several days ago. I have not been at Paris; I am returning from +Chartres. I believed you were informed of everything." + +Monsieur de Lamotte remained silent for some moments. Then, fixing his +eyes upon Derues' immovable countenance, he said, with some emotion-- + +"You are a husband and father, sir; in the name of this double and +sacred affection which is, not unknown to you, do not hide anything from +me: I fear some misfortune has happened to my wife which you are +concealing." + +Derues' physiognomy expressed nothing but a perfectly natural +astonishment. + +"What can have suggested such ideas to you; dear sir?" In saying this he +glanced at the cure; wishing to ascertain if this distrust was Monsieur +de Lamotte's own idea, or had been suggested to him. The movement was so +rapid that neither of the others observed it. Like all knaves, obliged +by their actions to be continually on the watch, Derues possessed to a +remarkable extent the art of seeing all round him without appearing to +observe anything in particular. He decided that as yet he had only to +combat a suspicion unfounded on proof, and he waited till he should be +attacked more seriously. + +"I do not know," he said, "what may have happened during my absence; +pray explain yourself, for you are making me share your disquietude." + +"Yes, I am exceedingly anxious; I entreat you, tell me the whole truth. +Explain this silence, and this absence prolonged beyond all expectation. +You finished your business with Madame de Lamotte several days ago: once +again, why did she not write? There is no letter, either from her or my +son! To-morrow I shall send someone to Paris." + +"Good heavens!" answered Derues, "is there nothing but an accident which +could cause this delay? . . . Well, then," he continued, with the +embarrassed look of a man compelled to betray a confidence,--"well, +then, I see that in order to reassure you, I shall have to give up a +secret entrusted to me." + +He then told Monsieur de Lamotte that his wife was no longer at Paris, +but at Versailles, where she was endeavouring to obtain an important and +lucrative appointment, and that, if she had left him in ignorance of her +efforts in this direction; it was only to give him an agreeable +surprise. He added that she had removed her son from the school, and +hoped to place him either in the riding school or amongst the royal +pages. To prove his words, he opened his paper-case, and produced the +letter written by Edouard in answer to the one quoted above. + +All this was related so simply, and with such an appearance of good +faith, that the cure was quite convinced. And to Monsieur de Lamotte the +plans attributed to his wife were not entirely improbably. Derues had +learnt indirectly that such a career for Edouard had been actually under +consideration. However, though Monsieur de Lamotte's entire ignorance +prevented him from making any serious objection, his fears were not +entirely at rest, but for the present he appeared satisfied with the +explanation. + +The cure resumed the conversation. "What you tell us ought to drive away +gloomy ideas. Just now, when you were announced, Monsieur de Lamotte was +confiding his troubles to me. I was as concerned as he was, and I could +say nothing to help him; never did visitor arrive more apropos. Well, my +friend, what now remains of your vain terrors? What was it you were +saying just as Monsieur Derues arrived? . . . Ah! we were discussing +dreams, you asked if I believed in them." + +Monsieur, de Lamotte, who had sunk back in his easy-chair and seemed +lost in his reflections, started on hearing these words. He raised his +head and looked again at Derues. But the latter had had time to note the +impression produced by the cure's remark, and this renewed examination +did not disturb him. + +"Yes," said Monsieur de Lamotte, "I had asked that question." + +"And I was going to answer that there are certain secret warnings which +can be received by the soul long before they are intelligible to the +bodily senses-revelations not understood at first, but which later +connect themselves with realities of which they are in some way the +precursors. Do you agree with me, Monsieur Derues?" + +"I have no opinion on such a subject, and must leave the discussion to +more learned people than myself. I do not know whether such apparitions +really mean anything or not, and I have not sought to fathom these +mysteries, thinking them outside the realm of human intelligence." + +"Nevertheless," said the cure, "we are obliged to recognise their +existence." + +"Yes, but without either understanding or explaining them, like many +other eternal truths. I follow the rule given in the Imitation o f Jesus +Christ: 'Beware, my son, of considering too curiously the things beyond +thine intelligence.'" + +"And I also submit, and avoid too curious consideration. But has not the +soul knowledge of many wondrous things which we can yet neither see nor +touch? I repeat, there are things which cannot be denied." + +Derues listened attentively, continually on his guard; and afraid, he +knew not why, of becoming entangled in this conversation, as in a trap. +He carefully watched Monsieur de Lamotte, whose eyes never left him. The +cure resumed-- + +"Here is an instance which I was bound to accept, seeing it happened to +myself. I was then twenty, and my mother lived in the neighbourhood of +Tours, whilst I was at the seminary of Montpellier. After several years +of separation, I had obtained permission to go and see her. I wrote, +telling her of this good news, and I received her answer--full of joy +and tenderness. My brother and sister were to be informed, it was to be +a family meeting, a real festivity; and I started with a light and +joyous heart. My impatience was so great, that, having stopped for +supper at a village inn some ten leagues from Tours, I would not wait +till the next morning for the coach which went that way, but continued +the journey on foot and walked all night. It was a long and difficult +road, but happiness redoubled my strength. About an hour after sunrise I +saw distinctly the smoke and the village roofs, and I hurried on to +surprise my family a little sooner. I never felt more active, more +light-hearted and gay; everything seemed to smile before and around me. +Turning a corner of the hedge, I met a peasant whom I recognised. All at +once it seemed as if a veil spread over my sight, all my hopes and joy +suddenly vanished, a funereal idea took possession of me, and I said, +taking the hand of the man, who had not yet spoken-- + +"'My mother is dead, I am convinced my mother is dead!' + +"He hung down his head and answered-- + +"'She is to be buried this morning!' + +"Now whence came this revelation? I had seen no one, spoken to no one; a +moment before I had no idea of it!" + +Derues made a gesture of surprise. Monsieur de Lamotte put his hand to +his eyes, and said to the cure-- + +"Your presentiments were true; mine, happily, are unfounded. But listen, +and tell me if in the state of anxiety which oppressed me I had not good +reason for alarm and for fearing some fatal misfortune." + +His eyes again sought Derues. "Towards the middle of last night I at +length fell asleep, but, interrupted every moment, this sleep was more a +fatigue than a rest; I seemed to hear confused noises all round me. I +saw brilliant lights which dazzled me, and then sank back into silence +and darkness. Sometimes I heard someone weeping near my bed; again +plaintive voices called to me out of the darkness. I stretched out my +arms, but nothing met them, I fought with phantoms; at length a cold +hand grasped mine and led me rapidly forward. Under a dark and damp +vault a woman lay on the ground, bleeding, inanimate--it was my wife! At +the same moment, a groan made me look round, and I beheld a man striking +my son with a dagger. I cried out and awoke, bathed in cold +perspiration, panting under this terrible vision. I was obliged to get +up, walk about, and speak aloud, in order to convince myself it was only +a dream. I tried to go to sleep again, but the same visions still +pursued me. I saw always the same man armed with two daggers streaming +with blood; I heard always the cries of his two victims. When day came, +I felt utterly broken, worn-out; and this morning, you, my father, could +see by my despondency what an impression this awful night had made upon +me." + +During this recital Derues' calmness never gave way for a single moment, +and the most skilful physiognomist could only have discovered an +expression of incredulous curiosity on his countenance. + +"Monsieur le cure's story," said he, "impressed me much; yours only +brings back my uncertainty. It is less possible than ever to deliver any +opinion on this serious question of dreams, since the second instance +contradicts the first." + +"It is true," answered the cure, "no possible conclusion can be drawn +from two facts which contradict each other, and the best thing we can do +is to choose a less dismal subject of conversation." + +"Monsieur Derues;" asked Monsieur de Lamatte, "if you are not too tired +with your journey, shall we go and look at the last improvements I have +made? It is now your affair to decide upon them, since I shall shortly +be only your guest here." + +"Just as I have been yours for long enough, and I trust you will often +give me the opportunity of exercising hospitality in my turn. But you +are ill, the day is cold and damp; if you do not care to go out, do not +let me disturb you. Had you not better stay by the fire with Monsieur le +cure? For me, Heaven be thanked! I require no assistance. I will look +round the park, and come back presently to tell you what I think. +Besides, we shall have plenty of time to talk about it. With your +permission, I should like to stay two or three days." + +"I shall be pleased if you will do so." + +Derues went out, sufficiently uneasy in his mind, both on account of his +reception of Monsieur de Lamotte's fears and of the manner in which the +latter had watched him during the conversation. He walked quickly up and +down the park-- + +"I have been foolish, perhaps; I have lost twelve or fifteen days, and +delayed stupidly from fear of not foreseeing everything. But then, how +was I to imagine that this simple, easily deceived man would all at once +become suspicious? What a strange dream! If I had not been on my guard, +I might have been disconcerted. Come, come, I must try to disperse these +ideas and give him something else to think about." + +He stopped, and after a few minutes consideration turned back towards +the house. + +As soon as he had left the room, Monsieur de Lamotte had bent over +towards the cure, and had said-- + +"He did not show any emotion, did--he?" + +"None whatever." + +"He did not start when I spoke of the man armed with those two daggers?" + +"No. But put aside these ideas; you must see they are mistaken." + +"I did not tell everything, my father: this murderer whom I saw in my +dream--was Derues himself! I know as well as you that it must be a +delusion, I saw as well as you did that he remained quite calm, but, in +spite of myself, this terrible dream haunts me . . . .There, do not +listen to me, do not let me talk about it; it only makes me blush for +myself." + +Whilst Derues remained at Buisson-Souef, Monsieur de Lamotte received +several letters from his wife, some from Paris, some from Versailles. +She remarked that her son and herself were perfectly well.... The +writing was so well imitated that no one could doubt their genuineness. +However, Monsieur de Lamotte's suspicions continually increased and he +ended by making the cure share his fears. He also refused to go with +Derues to Paris, in spite of the latter's entreaties. Derues, alarmed at +the coldness shown him, left Buisson-Souef, saying that he intended to +take possession about the middle of spring. + +Monsieur de Lamotte was, in spite of himself, still detained by +ill-health. But a new and inexplicable circumstance made him resolve to +go to Paris and endeavour to clear up the mystery which appeared to +surround his wife and son. He received an unsigned letter in unknown +handwriting, and in which Madame de Lamotte's reputation was attacked +with a kind of would-be reticence, which hinted that she was an +unfaithful wife and that in this lay the cause of her long absence. Her +husband did not believe this anonymous denunciation, but the fate of the +two beings dearest to him seemed shrouded in so much obscurity that he +could delay no longer, and started for Paris. + +His resolution not to accompany Derues had saved his life. The latter +could not carry out his culminating crime at Buisson-Souef; it was only +in Paris that his victims would disappear without his being called to +account. Obliged to leave hold of his prey, he endeavoured to bewilder +him in a labyrinth where all trace of truth might be lost. Already, as +he had arranged beforehand, he had called calumny to his help, and +prepared the audacious lie which was to vindicate himself should an +accusation fall upon his head. He had hoped that Monsieur de Lamotte +would fall defenceless into his hands; but now a careful examination of +his position, showing the impossibility of avoiding an explanation had +become inevitable, made him change all his plans, and compelled him to +devise an infernal plot, so skilfully laid that it bid fair to defeat +all human sagacity. + +Monsieur de Lamotte arrived in Paris early in March. Chance decided that +he should lodge in the rue de la Mortellerie, in a house not far from +the one where his wife's body lay buried. He went to see Derues, hoping +to surprise him, and determined to make him speak, but found he was not +at home. Madame Derues, whether acting with the discretion of an +accomplice or really ignorant of her husband's proceedings, could not +say where he was likely to be found. She said that he told her nothing +about his actions, and that Monsieur de Lamotte must have observed +during their stay at Buisson (which was true) that she never questioned +him, but obeyed his wishes in everything; and that he had now gone away +without saying where he was going. She acknowledged that Madame de +Lamotte had lodged with them for six weeks, and that she knew that lady +had been at Versailles, but since then she had heard nothing. All +Monsieur de Lamotte's questions, his entreaties, prayers, or threats, +obtained no other answer. He went to the lawyer in the rue de Paon, to +the schoolmaster, and found the same uncertainty, the same ignorance. +His wife and his son had gone to Versailles, there the clue ended which +ought to guide his investigations. He went to this town; no one could +give him any information, the very name of Lamotte was unknown. He +returned to Paris, questioned and examined the people of the quarter, +the proprietor of the Hotel de France, where his wife had stayed on her +former visit; at length, wearied with useless efforts, he implored help +from justice. Then his complaints ceased; he was advised to maintain a +prudent silence, and to await Derues' return. + +The latter thoroughly understood that, having failed to dissipate +Monsieur de Lamotte's fears, there was no longer an instant to lose, and +that the pretended private contract of February 12th would not of itself +prove the existence of Madame de Lamotte. This is how he employed the +time spent by the unhappy husband in fruitless investigation. + +On March 12th, a woman, her face hidden in the hood of her cloak, or +"Therese," as it was then called, appeared in the office of Maitre +N-----, a notary at Lyons. She gave her name as Marie Francoise +Perffier, wife of Monsieur Saint-Faust de Lamotte, but separated, as to +goods and estate, from him. She caused a deed to be drawn up, +authorising her husband to receive the arrears of thirty thousand livres +remaining from the price of the estate of Buisson-Souef, situated near +Villeneuve-le-Roi-lez-Sens. The deed was drawn up and signed by Madame +de Lamotte, by the notary, and one of his colleagues. + +This woman was Derues. If we remember that he only arrived at Buisson +February 28th, and remained there for some days, it becomes difficult to +understand how at that period so long a journey as that from Paris to +Lyons could have been accomplished with such rapidity. Fear must have +given him wings. We will now explain what use he intended to make of it, +and what fable, a masterpiece of cunning and of lies, he had invented. + +On his arrival in Paris he found a summons to appear before the +magistrate of police. He expected this, and appeared quite tranquil, +ready to answer any questions. Monsieur de Lamotte was present. It was a +formal examination, and the magistrate first asked why he had left +Paris. + +"Monsieur," replied Derues, "I have nothing to hide, and none of my +actions need fear the daylight, but before replying, I should like to +understand my position. As a domiciled citizen I have a right to require +this. Will you kindly inform me why I have been summoned to appear +before you, whether on account of anything personal to myself, or simply +to give information as to something which may be within my knowledge?" + +"You are acquainted with this gentleman, and cannot therefore be +ignorant of the cause of the present inquiry." + +"I am, nevertheless, quite in ignorance of it." + +"Be good enough to answer my question. Why did you leave Paris? And +where have you been?" + +"I was absent for business reasons." + +"What business?" + +"I shall say no more." + +"Take care! you have incurred serious suspicions, and silence will not +tend to clear you." + +Derues hung down his head with an air of resignation; and Monsieur de +Lamotte, seeing in this attitude a silent confession of crime, +exclaimed, "Wretched man! what have you done with my wife and my son?" + +"Your son!--" said Derues slowly and with peculiar emphasis. He again +cast down his eyes. + +The magistrate conducting the inquiry was struck by the expression of +Derues' countenance and by this half answer, which appeared to hide a +mystery and to aim at diverting attention by offering a bait to +curiosity. He might have stopped Derues at the moment when he sought to +plunge into a tortuous argument, and compelled him to answer with the +same clearness and decision which distinguished Monsieur de Lamotte's +question; but he reflected that the latter's inquiries, unforeseen, +hasty, and passionate, were perhaps more likely to disconcert a prepared +defence than cooler and more skilful tactics. He therefore changed his +plans, contenting "himself for the moment with the part of an observer +only, and watching a duel between two fairly matched antagonists. + +"I require: you to tell me what has become of them," repeated Monsieur +de Lamotte. "I have been to Versailles, you assured me they were there." + +"And I told you the truth, monsieur." + +"No one has seen them, no one knows them; every trace is lost. Your +Honour, this man must be compelled to answer, he must say what has +become of my wife and son!" + +"I excuse your anxiety, I understand your trouble, but why appeal to me? +Why am I supposed to know what may have happened to them?" + +"Because I confided them to your care." + +"As a friend, yes, I agree. Yes, it is quite true that last December I +received a letter from you informing me of the impending arrival of your +wife and son. I received them in my own house, and showed them the same +hospitality which I had received from you. I saw them both, your son +often, your wife every day, until the day she left me to go to +Versailles. Yes, I also took Edouard to his mother, who was negotiating +an appointment for him. I have already told you all this, and I repeat +it because it is the truth. You believed me then: why do you not believe +me now? Why has what I say become strange and incredible? If your wife +and your son have disappeared, am I responsible? Did you transmit your +authority to me? And now, in what manner are you thus calling me to +account? Is it to the friend who might have pitied, who might have aided +your search, that you thus address yourself? Have you come to confide in +me, to ask for advice, for consolation? No, you accuse me; very well! +then I refuse to speak, because, having no proofs, you yet accuse an +honest man; because your fears, whether real or imaginary, do not excuse +you for casting, I know not what odious suspicions, on a blameless +reputation, because I have the right to be offended. Monsieur" he +continued, turning to the magistrate, "I believe you will appreciate my +moderation, and will allow me to retire. If charges are brought against +me, I am quite ready to meet them, and to show what they are really +worth. I shall remain in Paris, I have now no business which requires my +presence elsewhere." + +He emphasised these last words, evidently intending to draw attention to +them. It did not escape the magistrate, who inquired-- + +"What do you mean by that?" + +"Nothing beyond my words, your Honour, Have I your permission to +retire?" + +"No, remain; you are pretending not to understand." + +"I do not understand these insinuations so covertly made." + +Monsieur de Lamotte rose, exclaiming-- + +"Insinuations! What more can I say to compel you to answer? My wife and +son have disappeared. It is untrue that, as you pretend, they have been +at Versailles. You deceived me at Buisson-Souef, just as you are +deceiving me now, as you are endeavouring to deceive justice by +inventing fresh lies. Where are they? What has become of them? I am +tormented by all the fears possible to a husband and father; I imagine +all the most terrible misfortunes, and I accuse you to your face of +having caused their death! Is this sufficient, or do you still accuse me +of covert insinuations?" + +Derues turned to the magistrate. "Is this charge enough to place me in +the position of a criminal if I do not give a satisfactory explanation?" + +"Certainly; you should have thought of that sooner." + +"Then," he continued, addressing Monsieur de Lamotte, "I understand you +persist in this odious accusation?" + +"I certainly persist in it." + +"You have forgotten our friendship, broken all bonds between us: I am in +your eyes only a miserable assassin? You consider my silence as guilty, +you will ruin me if I do not speak?" + +"It is true." + +"There is still time for reflection; consider what you are doing; I will +forget your insults and your anger. Your trouble is great enough without +my reproaches being added to it. But you desire that I should speak, you +desire it absolutely?" + +"I do desire it." + +"Very well, then; it shall be as you wish." + +Derues surveyed Monsieur de Lamotte with a look which seemed to say, "I +pity you." He then added, with a sigh-- + +"I am now ready to answer. Your Honour, will you have the kindness to +resume my examination?" + +Derues had succeeded in taking up an advantageous position. If he had +begun narrating the extraordinary romance he had invented, the least +penetrating eye must have perceived its improbability, and one would +have felt it required some support at every turn. But since he had +resisted being forced to tell it, and apparently only ceded to Monsieur +de Lamotte's violent persistency, the situation was changed; and this +refusal to speak, coming from a man who thereby compromised his personal +safety, took the semblance of generosity, and was likely to arouse the +magistrate's curiosity and prepare his mind for unusual and mysterious +revelations. This was exactly what Derues wanted, and he awaited the +interrogation with calm and tranquillity. + +"Why did you leave Paris?" the magistrate demanded a second time. + +"I have already had the honour to inform you that important business +necessitated my absence." + +"But you refused to explain the nature of this business. Do you still +persist in this refusal?" + +"For the moment, yes. I will explain it later." + +"Where have you been? Whence do you return?" + +"I have been to Lyons, and have returned thence." + +"What took you there? + +"I will tell you later." + +"In the month of December last, Madame de Lamotte and her son came to +Paris? + +"That is so." + +"They both lodged in your house?" + +"I have no reason to deny it." + +"But neither she herself, nor Monsieur de Lamotte, had at first intended +that she should accept a lodging in the house which you occupied." + +"That is quite true. We had important accounts to settle, and Madame de +Lamotte told me afterwards that she feared some dispute on the question +of money might arise between us--at least, that is the reason she gave +me. She was mistaken, as the event proved, since I always intended to +pay, and I have paid. But she may have had another reason which she +preferred not to give." + +"It was the distrust of this man which she felt," exclaimed Monsieur de +Lamotte. Derues answered only with a melancholy smile. + +"Silence, monsieur," said the magistrate, "silence; do not interrupt." +Then addressing Derues-- + +"Another motive? What motive do you suppose?" + +"Possibly she preferred to be more free, and able to receive any visitor +she wished." + +"What do you mean?" + +"It is only supposition on my part, I do not insist upon it." + +"But the supposition appears to contain a hint injurious to Madame de +Lamotte's reputation?" + +"No, oh no!" replied Derues, after a moment's silence. + +This sort of insinuation appeared strange to the magistrate, who +resolved to try and force Derues to abandon these treacherous reticences +behind which he sheltered himself. Again recommending silence to +Monsieur de Lamotte, he continued to question Derues, not perceiving +that he was only following the lead skilfully given by the latter, who +drew him gradually on by withdrawing himself, and that all the time thus +gained was an advantage to the accused. + +"Well," said the magistrate, "whatever Madame de Lamotte's motives may +have been, it ended in her coming to stay with you. How did you persuade +her to take this step?" + +"My wife accompanied her first to the Hotel de France, and then to other +hotels. I said no more than might be deemed allowable in a friend; I +could not presume to persuade her against her will. When I returned +home, I was surprised to find her there with her son. She could not find +a disengaged room in any of the hotels she tried, and she then accepted +my offer." + +"What date was this?" + +"Monday, the 16th of last December." + +"And when did she leave your house?" + +"On the 1st of February." + +"The porter cannot remember having seen her go out on that day." + +"That is possible. Madame de Lamotte went and came as her affairs +required. She was known, and no more attention would be paid to her than +to any other inmate." + +"The porter also says that for several days before this date she was +ill, and obliged to keep her room?" + +"Yes, it was a slight indisposition, which had no results, so slight +that it seemed unnecessary to call in a doctor. Madame de Lamotte +appeared preoccupied and anxious. I think her mental attitude influenced +her health." + +"Did you escort her to Versailles?" + +"No; I went there to see her later." + +"What proof can you give of her having actually stayed there?" + +"None whatever, unless it be a letter which I received from her." + +"You told Monsieur de, Lamotte that she was exerting herself to procure +her son's admission either as a king's page or into the riding school. +Now, no one at Versailles has seen this lady, or even heard of her." + +"I only repeated what she told me." + +"Where was she staying?" + +"I do not know." + +"What! she wrote to you, you went to see her, and yet you do not know +where she was lodging?" + +"That is so." + +"But it is impossible." + +"There are many things which would appear impossible if I were to relate +them, but which are true, nevertheless." + +"Explain yourself." + +"I only received one letter from Madame de Lamotte, in which she spoke +of her plans for Edouard, requesting me to send her her son on a day she +fixed, and I told Edouard of her projects. Not being able to go to the +school to see him, I wrote, asking if he would like to give up his +studies and become a royal page. When I was last at Buisson-Souef, I +showed his answer to Monsieur de Lamotte; it is here." + +And he handed over a letter to the magistrate, who read it, and passing +it on to Monsieur de Lamotte, inquired-- + +"Did you then, and do you now, recognise your son's handwriting?" + +"Perfectly, monsieur." + +"You took Edouard to Versailles?" + +"I did." + +"On what day?" + +"February 11th, Shrove Tuesday. It is the only time I have been to +Versailles. The contrary might be supposed; for I have allowed it to be +understood that I have often seen Madame de Lamotte since she left my +house, and was acquainted with all her actions, and that the former +confidence and friendship still existed between us. In allowing this, I +have acted a lie, and transgressed the habitual sincerity of my whole +life." + +This assertion produced a bad impression on the magistrate. Derues +perceived it, and to avert evil consequences, hastened to add-- + +"My conduct can only be appreciated when it is known in entirety. I +misunderstood the meaning of Madame de Lamotte's letter. She asked me to +send her her son, I thought to oblige her by accompanying him, and not +leaving him to go alone. So we travelled together, and arrived at +Versailles about midday. As I got down from the coach I saw Madame de +Lamotte at the palace gate, and observed, to my astonishment, that my +presence displeased her. She was not alone." + +He stopped, although he had evidently reached the most interesting point +of his story. + +"Go on," said the magistrate; "why do you stop now?" + +"Because what I have to say is so painful--not to me, who have to +justify myself, but for others, that I hesitate." + +"Go on." + +"Will you then interrogate me, please?" + +"Well, what happened in this interview?" + +Derues appeared to collect himself for a moment, and then said with the +air of a man who has decide on speaking out at last-- + +"Madame de Lamotte was not alone; she was attended by a gentleman whom I +did not know, whom I never saw either at Buisson-Souef or in Paris, and +whom I have never seen again since. I will ask you to allow me to +recount everything; even to the smallest details. This man's face struck +me at once, on account of a singular resemblance; he paid no attention +to me at first, and I was able to examine him at leisure. His manners +were those of a man belonging to the highest classes of society, and his +dress indicated wealth. On seeing Edouard, he said to Madame de +Lamotte-- + +"'So this is he?' and he then kissed him tenderly. This and the marks of +undisguised pleasure which he evinced surprised me, and I looked at +Madame de Lamotte, who then remarked with some asperity-- + +"'I did not expect to see you, Monsieur Derues. I had not asked you to +accompany my son.' + +"Edouard seemed quite as much surprised as I was. The stranger gave me a +look of haughty annoyance, but seeing I did not avoid his glance his +countenance assumed a more gentle expression, and Madame de Lamotte +introduced him as a person who took great interest in Edouard." + +"It is a whole tissue of imposture!" exclaimed Monsieur de Lamotte. + +"Allow me to finish," answered Derues. "I understand your doubts, and +that you are not anxious to believe what I say, but I have been brought +here by legal summons to tell the truth, and I am going to tell it. You +can then weigh the two accusations in the balance, and choose between +them. The reputation of an honourable man is as sacred, as important, as +worthy of credit as the reputation of a woman, and I never heard that +the virtue of the one was more fragile than that of the other." + +Monsieur de Lamotte, thunderstruck by such a revelation, could not +contain his impatience and indignation. + +"This, then," he said, "is the explanation of an anonymous letter which +I received, and of the injurious suggestions' concerning my wife's +honour which it contained; it was written to give an appearance of +probability to this infamous legend. The whole thing is a disgraceful +plot, and no doubt Monsieur Derues wrote the letter himself." + +"I know nothing about it," said Derues unconcernedly, "and the +explanation which you profess to find in it I should rather refer to +something else I am going to mention. I did not know a secret warning +had been sent to you: I now learn it from you, and I understand +perfectly that such a letter, may have been written. But that you have +received such a warning ought surely to be a reason for listening +patiently and not denouncing all I say as imposture." + +While saying this Derues mentally constructed the fresh falsehood +necessitated by the interruption, but no variation of countenance +betrayed his thought. He had an air of dignity natural to his position. +He saw that, in spite of clear-headedness and long practice in studying +the most deceptive countenances, the magistrate so far had not scented +any of his falsehoods, and was getting bewildered in the windings of +this long narrative, through which Derues led him as he chose; and he +resumed with confidence-- + +"You know that I made Monsieur de Lamotte's acquaintance more than a +year ago, and I had reason to believe his friendship as sincere as my +own. As a friend, I could not calmly accept the suspicion which then +entered my mind, nor could I conceal my surprise. Madame de Lamotte saw +this, and understood from my looks that I was not satisfied with the +explanation she wished me to accept. A glance of intelligence passed +between her and her friend, who was still holding Edouard's hand. The +day, though cold, was fine, and she proposed a walk in the park. I +offered her my arm, and the stranger walked in front with Edouard. We +had a short conversation, which has remained indelibly fixed in my +memory. + +"'Why did you come?' she inquired. + +"I did not answer, but looked sternly at her, in order to discompose +her. At length I said-- + +"'You should have written, madame, and warned me that my coming would be +indiscreet.' + +"She seemed much disconcerted, and exclaimed-- + +"'I am lost! I see you guess everything, and will tell my husband. I am +an unhappy woman, and a sin once committed can never be erased from the +pages of a woman's life! Listen, Monsieur Derues, listen, I implore you! +You see this man, I shall not tell you who he is, I shall not give his +name . . . but I loved him long ago; I should have been his wife, and +had he not been compelled to leave France, I should have married no one +else.'" + +Monsieur de Lamotte started, and grew pale. + +"What is the matter?" the magistrate inquired. + +"Oh! this dastardly wretch is profiting by his knowledge of secrets +which a long intimacy has enabled him to discover. Do not believe him, I +entreat you, do not believe him!" + +Derues resumed. "Madame de Lamotte continued: 'I saw him again sixteen +years ago, always in hiding, always proscribed. To-day he reappears +under a name which is not his own: he wishes to link my fate with his; +he has insisted on seeing Edouard. But I shall escape him. I have +invented this fiction of placing my son among the, royal pages to +account for my stay here. Do not contradict me, but help me; for a +little time ago I met one of Monsieur de Lamotte's friends, I am afraid +he suspected something. Say you have seen me several times; as you have +come, let it be known that you brought Edouard here. I shall return to +Buisson as soon as possible, but will you go first, see my husband, +satisfy him if he is anxious? I am in your hands; my honour, my +reputation, my very life, are at your mercy; you can either ruin or help +to save me. I may be guilty, but I am not corrupt. I have wept for my +sin day after day, and I have already cruelly expiated it.'" + +This execrable calumny was not related without frequent interruptions on +the part of Monsieur de Lamotte. He was, however, obliged to own to +himself that it was quite true that Marie Perier had really been +promised to a man whom an unlucky affair had driven into exile, and whom +he had supposed to be dead. This revelation, coming from Derues, who had +the strongest interest in lying, by no means convinced him of his wife's +dishonour, nor destroyed the feelings of a husband and father; but +Derues was not speaking for him lone, and what appeared incredible to +Monsieur de Lamotte might easily seem less improbable to the colder and +less interested judgment of the magistrate. + +"I was wrong," Derues continued, "in allowing myself to be touched by +her tears, wrong in believing in her repentance, more wrong still in +going to Buisson to satisfy her husband. But I only consented on +conditions: Madame de Lamotte promised me to return shortly to Paris, +vowing that her son should never know the truth, and that the rest of +her life should be devoted to atoning for her sin by a boundless +devotion. She then begged me to leave her, and told me she would write +to me at Paris to fix the day of her return. This is what happened, and +this is why I went to Buissan and gave my support to a lying fiction. +With one word I might have destroyed the happiness of seventeen years. I +did not wish to do so. I believed in the remorse; I believe in it still, +in spite of all appearances; I have refused to speak this very day, and +made every effort to prolong an illusion which I know it will be +terrible to lose." + +There was a moment of silence. This fable, so atrociously ingenious, was +simply and impressively narrated, and with an air of candour well +contrived to impose on the magistrate, or, at least, to suggest grave +doubts to his mind. Derues, with his usual cunning, had conformed his +language to the quality of his listener. Any tricks, profession of +piety, quotations from sacred books, so largely indulged in when he +wished to bamboozle people of a lower class, would here have told +against him. He knew when to abstain, and carried the art of deception +far enough to be able to lay aside the appearance of hypocrisy. He had +described all the circumstances without affectation, and if this +unexpected accusation was wholly unproved, it yet rested on a possible +fact, and did not appear absolutely incredible. The magistrate went +through it all again, and made him repeat every detail, without being +able to make him contradict himself or show the smallest embarrassment. +While interrogating Derues, he kept his eyes fixed upon him; and this +double examination being quite fruitless, only increased his perplexity. +However, he never relaxed the incredulous severity of his demeanour, nor +the imperative and threatening tone of his voice. + +"You acknowledge having been at Lyons?" he asked. + +"I have been there." + +"At the beginning of this examination you said you would explain the +reason of this journey later." + +"I am ready to do so, for the journey is connected with the facts I have +just narrated; it was caused by them." + +"Explain it." + +"I again ask permission to relate fully. I did not hear from Versailles: +I began to fear Monsieur de Lamotte's anxiety would bring him to Paris. +Bound by the promise I had made to his wife to avert all suspicion and +to satisfy any doubts he might conceive, and, must I add, also +remembering that it was important for me to inform him of our new +arrangements, and of this payment of a hundred thousand livres." + +"That payment is assuredly fictitious," interrupted Monsieur de Lamotte; +"we must have some proof of it." + +"I will prove it presently," answered Derues. "So I went to Buisson, as +I have already told you. On my return I found a letter from Madame de +Lamotte, a letter with a Paris stamp, which had arrived that morning. I +was surprised that she should write, when actually in Paris; I opened +the letter, and was still more surprised. I have not the letter with me, +but I recollect the sense of it perfectly, if not the wording, and I can +produce it if necessary. Madame de Lamotte was at Lyons with her son and +this person whose name I do not know, and whom I do not care to mention +before her husband. She had confided this letter to a person who was +coming to Paris, and who was to bring it me; but this individual, whose +name was Marquis, regretted that having to start again immediately, he +was obliged to entrust it to the post. This is the sense of its +contents. Madame de Lamotte wrote that she found herself obliged to +follow this nameless person to Lyons; and she begged me to send her news +of her husband and of the state of his affairs, but said not one single +word of any probable return. I became very uneasy at the news of this +clandestine departure. I had no security except a private contract +annulling our first agreement on the payment of one hundred thousand +livres, and that this was not a sufficient and regular receipt I knew, +because the lawyer had already refused to surrender Monsieur de +Lamotte's power of attorney. I thought over all the difficulties which +this flight, which would have to be kept secret, was likely to produce, +and I started for Lyons without writing or giving any notice of my +intention. I had no information, I did not even know whether Madame de +Lamotte was passing by another name, as at Versailles, but chance +decreed that I met her the very day of my arrival. She was alone, and +complained bitterly of her fate, saying she had been compelled to follow +this individual to Lyons, but that very soon she would be free and would +return to Paris. But I was struck by the uncertainty of her manner, and +said I should not leave her without obtaining a deed in proof of our +recent arrangements. She refused at first, saying it was unnecessary, as +she would so soon return; but I insisted strongly. I told her I had +already com promised myself by telling Monsieur de Lamotte that she was +at Versailles, endeavouring to procure an appointment for her son; that +since she had been compelled to come to Lyons, the same person might +take her elsewhere, so that she might disappear any day, might leave +France without leaving any trace, without any written acknowledgment of +her own dishonour; and that when all these falsehoods were discovered, I +should appear in the light of an accomplice. I said also that, as she +had unfortunately lodged in my house in Paris, and had requested me to +remove her son from his school, explanations would be required from me, +and perhaps I should be accused of this double disappearance. Finally, I +declared that if she did not give me some proofs of her existence, +willingly or unwillingly, I would go at once to a magistrate. My +firmness made her reflect. 'My good Monsieur Derues,' she said, 'I ask +your forgiveness for all the trouble I have caused you. I will give you +this deed to-morrow, to-day it is too late; but come to this same place +to-morrow, and you shall see me again.' I hesitated, I confess, to let +her go. 'Ah,' she said, grasping my hands, 'do not suspect me of +intending to deceive you! I swear that I will meet you here at four +o'clock. It is enough that I have ruined myself, and perhaps my son, +without also entangling you in my unhappy fate. Yes, you are right; this +deed is important, necessary for you, and you shall have it. But do not +show yourself here; if you were seen, I might not be able to do what I +ought to do. To-morrow you shall see me again, I swear it.' She then +left me. The next day, the 12th, of March, I was exact at the +rendezvous, and Madame de Lamotte arrived a moment later. She gave me a +deed, authorising her husband to receive the arrears of thirty thousand +livres remaining from the purchase-money of Buisson-Souef. I endeavoured +again to express my opinion of her conduct; she listened in silence, as +if my words affected her deeply. We were walking together, when she told +me she had some business in a house we were passing, and asked me to +wait for her. I waited more than an hour, and then discovered that this +house, like many others in Lyons, had an exit in another street; and I +understood that Madame de Lamotte had escaped by this passage, and that +I might wait in vain. Concluding that trying to follow her would be +useless, and seeing also that any remonstrance would be made in vain, I +returned to Paris, deciding to say nothing as yet, and to conceal the +truth as long as possible. I still had hopes, and I did not count on +being so soon called on to defend myself: I thought that when I had to +speak, it would be as a friend, and not as an accused person. This, sir, +is the explanation of my conduct, and I regret that this justification, +so easy for myself, should be so cruelly painful for another. You have +seen the efforts which I made to defer it." + +Monsieur de Lamotte had heard this second part of Derues' recital with a +more silent indignation, not that he admitted its probability, but he +was confounded by this monstrous imposture, and, as it were, +terror-stricken by such profound hypocrisy. His mind revolted at the +idea of his wife being accused of adultery; but while he repelled this +charge with decision, he saw the confirmation of his secret terrors and +presentiments, and his heart sank within him at the prospect of +exploring this abyss of iniquity. He was pale, gasping for breath, as +though he himself had been the criminal, while scorching tears furrowed +his cheeks. He tried to speak, but his voice failed; he wanted to fling +back at Derues the names of traitor and assassin, and he was obliged to +bear in silence the look of mingled grief and pity which the latter +bestowed upon him. + +The magistrate, calmer, and master of his emotions, but tolerably +bewildered in this labyrinth of cleverly connected lies, thought it +desirable to ask some further questions. + +"How," said he, "did you obtain this sum of a hundred thousand livres +which you say you paid over to Madame de Lamotte?" + +"I have been engaged in business for several years, and have acquired +some fortune." + +"Nevertheless, you have postponed the obligation of making this payment +several times, so that Monsieur de Lamotte had begun to feel uneasiness +on the subject. This was the chief reason of his wife's coming to +Paris." + +"One sometimes experiences momentary difficulties, which presently +disappear." + +"You say you have a deed given you at Lyons by Madame de Lamotte, which +you were to give to her husband?" + +"It is here." + +The magistrate examined the deed carefully, and noted the name of the +lawyer in whose office it had been drawn up. + +"You may go," he said at last. + +"What!" exclaimed Monsieur de Lamotte. + +Derues stopped, but the magistrate signed to him to go, intimating, +however, that he was on no account to leave Paris. + +"But," said Monsieur de Lamotte, when they were alone, "this man is +indeed guilty. My wife has not betrayed me! She!--forget her duties as a +wife! she was virtue incarnate! Ah! I assure you these terrible +calumnies are invented to conceal double crime! I throw myself at your +feet,--I implore your justice!" + +"Rise, monsieur. This is only a preliminary examination, and I confess +that, so far, he comes well out of it, for imagination can hardly +understand such a depth of deceit. I watched him closely the whole time, +and I could discover no sign of alarm, no contradiction, in either face +or language; if guilty, he must be the greatest hypocrite that ever +existed. But I shall neglect nothing: if a criminal is allowed to +flatter himself with impunity, he frequently forgets to be prudent, and +I have seen many betray themselves when they thought they had nothing to +fear. Patience, and trust to the justice of both God and man." + +Several days passed, and Derues flattered him self the danger was over: +his every action mean while was most carefully watched, but so that he +remained unaware of the surveillance. A police officer named Mutel, +distinguished for activity and intelligence beyond his fellows, was +charged with collecting information and following any trail. All his +bloodhounds were in action, and hunted Paris thoroughly, but could trace +nothing bearing on the fate of Madame de Lamotte and her son. Mutel, +however, soon discovered that in the rue Saint Victor, Derues had +failed--three successive times, that he had been pursued by numerous +creditors, and been often near imprisonment for debt, and that in 1771 +he had been publicly accused of incendiarism. He reported on these +various circumstances, and then went himself to Derues' abode, where he +obtained no results. Madame Derues declared that she knew nothing +whatever, and the police, having vainly searched the whole house, had to +retire. Derues himself was absent; when he returned he found another +order to appear before the magistrate. + +His first success had encouraged him. He appeared before the magistrate +accompanied by a lawyer and full of confidence, complaining loudly that +the police, in searching during his absence, had offended against the +rights of a domiciled burgess, and ought to have awaited his return. +Affecting a just indignation at Monsieur de Lamotte's conduct towards +him, he presented a demand that the latter should be declared a +calumniator, and should pay damages for the injury caused to his +reputation. But this time his effrontery and audacity were of little +avail, the magistrate easily detected him in flagrant lies. He declared +at first that he had paid the hundred thousand livres with his own money +but when reminded of his various bankruptcies, the claims of his +creditors, and the judgments obtained against him as an insolvent +debtor, he made a complete volte-face, and declared he had borrowed the +money from an advocate named Duclos, to whom he had given a bond in +presence of a notary. In spite of all his protestations, the magistrate +committed him to solitary confinement at Fort l'Eveque. + +As yet, nothing was publicly known; but vague reports and gossip, +carried from shop to shop, circulated among the people, and began to +reach the higher classes of society. The infallible instinct which is +aroused among the masses is truly marvellous; a great crime is +committed, which seems at first likely to defeat justice, and the public +conscience is aroused. Long before the tortuous folds which envelop the +mystery can be penetrated, while it is still sunk in profound obscurity, +the voice of the nation, like an excited hive, buzzes around the secret; +though the magistrates doubt, the public curiosity fixes itself, and +never leaves go; if the criminal's hiding-place is changed, it follows +the track, points it out, descries it in the gloom. This is what +happened on the news of Derues' arrest. The affair was everywhere +discussed, although the information was incomplete, reports inexact, and +no real publicity to be obtained. The romance which Derues had invented +by way of defence, and which became known as well as Monsieur de +Lamotte's accusation, obtained no credence whatever; on the contrary, +all the reports to his discredit were eagerly adopted. As yet, no crime +could be traced, but the public presentiment divined an atrocious one. +Have we not often seen similar agitations? The names of Bastide, of +Castaing, of Papavoine, had hardly been pronounced before they +completely absorbed all the public attention, and this had to be +satisfied, light had to be thrown on the darkness: society demanded +vengeance. + +Derues felt some alarm in his dungeon, but his presence of mind and his +dissimulation in no wise deserted him, and he swore afresh every day to +the truth of his statements. But his last false assertion turned against +him: the bond for a hundred thousand livres which he professed to have +given to Duclos was a counterfeit which Duclos had annulled by a sort of +counter declaration made the same day. Another circumstance, intended to +ensure his safety, only redoubled suspicion. On April 8th, notes payable +to order to the amount of seventy-eight thousand livres, were received +by Monsieur de Lamotte's lawyer, as if coming from Madame de Lamotte. It +appeared extraordinary that these notes, which arrived in an ordinary +stamped envelope, should not be accompanied by any letter of advice, and +suspicion attached to Madame Derues, who hitherto had remained +unnoticed. An inquiry as to where the packet had been posted soon +revealed the office, distinguished by a letter of the alphabet, and the +postmaster described a servant-maid who had brought the letter and paid +for it. The description resembled the Derues' servant; and this girl, +much alarmed, acknowledged, after a great deal of hesitation, that she +had posted the letter in obedience to her mistress's orders. Whereupon +Madame Derues was sent as a prisoner to Fort l'Eveque, and her husband +transferred to the Grand-Chatelet. On being interrogated, she at length +owned that she had sent these notes to Monsieur de Lamotte's lawyer, and +that her husband had given them her in an envelope hidden in the soiled +linen for which she had brought him clean in exchange. + +All this certainly amounted to serious presumptive evidence of guilt, +and if Derues had shown himself to the multitude, which followed every +phase of the investigation with increasing anxiety, a thousand arms +would have willingly usurped the office of the executioner; but the +distance thence to actual proof of murder was enormous for the +magistracy. Derues maintained his tranquillity, always asserting that +Madame de Lamotte and her son were alive, and would clear him by their +reappearance. Neither threats nor stratagems succeeded in making him +contradict himself, and his assurance shook the strongest conviction. A +new difficulty was added to so much uncertainty. + +A messenger had been sent off secretly with all haste to Lyons; his +return was awaited for a test which it was thought would be decisive. + +One morning Derues was fetched from his prison and taken to a lower hall +of the Conciergerie. He received no answers to the questions addressed +to his escort, and this silence showed him the necessity of being on his +guard and preserving his imperturbable demeanour whatever might happen. +On arriving, he found the commissioner of police, Mutel, and some other +persons. The hall being very dark, had been illuminated with several +torches, and Derues was so placed that the light fell strongly on his +face, and was then ordered to look towards a particular part of the +hall. As he did so, a door opened, and a man entered. Derues beheld him +with indifference, and seeing that the stranger was observing him +attentively, he bowed to him as one might bow to an unknown person whose +curiosity seems rather unusual. + +It was impossible to detect the slightest trace of emotion, a hand +placed on his heart would not have felt an increased pulsation, yet this +stranger's recognition would be fatal! + +Mutel approached the new-comer and whispered-- + +"Do you recognise him?" + +"No, I do not." + +"Have the kindness to leave the room for a moment; we will ask you to +return immediately." + +This individual was the lawyer in whose office at Lyons the deed had +been drawn up which Derues had signed, disguised as a woman, and under +the name of Marie-Francoise Perier, wife of the Sieur de Lamotte. + +A woman's garments were brought in, and Derues was ordered to put them +on, which he did readily, affecting much amusement. As he was assisted +to disguise himself, he laughed, stroked his chin and assumed mincing +airs, carrying effrontery so far as to ask for a mirror. + +"I should like to see if it is becoming," he said; "perhaps I might make +some conquests." + +The lawyer returned: Derues was made to pass before him, to sit at a +table, sign a paper, in fact to repeat everything it was imagined he +might have said or done in the lawyer's office. This second attempt at +identification succeeded no better than the first. The lawyer hesitated; +then, understanding all the importance of his deposition, he refused to +swear to anything, and finally declared that this was not the person who +had come to him at Lyons. + +"I am sorry, sir," said Derues, as they removed him, "that you should +have been troubled by having to witness this absurd comedy. Do not blame +me for it; but ask Heaven to enlighten those who do not fear to accuse +me. As for me, knowing that my innocence will shortly be made clear, I +pardon them henceforth." + +Although justice at this period was generally expeditious, and the lives +of accused persons were by no means safe-guarded as they now are, it was +impossible to condemn Derues in the absence of any positive proofs of +guilt. He knew this, and waited patiently in his prison for the moment +when he should triumph over the capital accusation which weighed against +him. The storm no longer thundered over his head, the most terrible +trials were passed, the examinations became less frequent, and there +were no more surprises to dread. The lamentations of Monsieur de Lamotte +went to the hearts of the magistrates, but his certainty could not +establish theirs, and they pitied, but could not avenge him. In certain +minds a sort of reaction favourable to the prisoner began to set in. +Among the dupes of Derues' seeming piety, many who at first held their +peace under these crushing accusations returned to their former opinion. +The bigots and devotees, all who made a profession of kneeling in the +churches, of publicly crossing themselves and dipping their fingers in +the holy water, and who lived on cant and repetitions of "Amen" and +"Alleluia," talked of persecution, of martyrdom, until Derues nearly +became a saint destined by the Almighty to find canonisation in a +dungeon. Hence arose quarrels and arguments; and this abortive trial, +this unproved accusation, kept the public imagination in a constant +ferment. + +To the greater part of those who talk of the "Supreme Being," and who +expect His intervention in human affairs, "Providence" is only a word, +solemn and sonorous, a sort of theatrical machine which sets all right +in the end, and which they glorify with a few banalities proceeding from +the lips, but not from the heart. It is true that this unknown and +mysterious Cause which we call "God" or "Chance" often appears so +exceedingly blind and deaf that one may be permitted to wonder whether +certain crimes are really set apart for punishment, when so many others +apparently go scot-free. How many murders remain buried in the night of +the tomb! how many outrageous and avowed crimes have slept peacefully in +an insolent and audacious prosperity! We know the names of many +criminals, but who can tell the number of unknown and forgotten victims? +The history of humanity is twofold, and like that of the invisible +world, which contains marvels unexplored by the science of the visible +one, the history recounted in books is by no means the most curious and +strange. But without delaying over questions such as these, without +protesting here against sophistries which cloud the conscience and hide +the presence of an avenging Deity, we leave the facts to the general +judgment, and have now to relate the last episode in this long and +terrible drama. + +Of all the populous quarters of Paris which commented on the "affaire +Derues," none showed more excitement than that of the Greve, and amongst +all the surrounding streets none could boast more numerous crowds than +the rue de la Mortellerie. Not that a secret instinct magnetised the +crowd in the very place where the proof lay buried, but that each day +its attention was aroused by a painful spectacle. A pale and +grief-stricken man, whose eyes seemed quenched in tears, passed often +down the street, hardly able to drag himself along; it was Monsieur de +Lamotte, who lodged, as we have said, in the rue de la Mortellerie, and +who seemed like a spectre wandering round a tomb. The crowd made way and +uncovered before him, everybody respected such terrible misfortune, and +when he had passed, the groups formed up again, and continued discussing +the mystery until nightfall. + +On April 17th, about four in the afternoon, a score of workmen and +gossiping women had collected in front of a shop. A stout woman, +standing on the lowest step, like an orator in the tribune, held forth +and related for the twentieth time what she knew, or rather, did not +know. There were listening ears and gaping mouths, even a slight shudder +ran through the group; for the widow Masson, discovering a gift of +eloquence at the age of sixty, contrived to mingle great warmth and much +indignation in her recital. All at once silence fell on the crowd, and a +passage was made for Monsieur de Lamotte. One man ventured to ask-- + +"Is there anything fresh to-day?" + +A sad shake of the head was the only answer, and the unhappy man +continued his way. + +"Is that Monsieur de Lamotte?" inquired a particularly dirty woman, +whose cap, stuck on the side of her, head, allowed locks of grey hair to +straggle from under it. "Ah! is that Monsieur de Lamotte?" + +"Dear me!" said a neighbour, "don't you know him by this time? He passes +every day." + +"Excuse me! I don't belong to this quarter, and--no offence--but it is +not so beautiful as to bring one out of curiosity! Nothing personal--but +it is rather dirty." + +Madame is probably accustomed to use a carriage." + +"That would suit you better than me, my dear, and would save your having +to buy shoes to keep your feet off the ground!" + +The crowd seemed inclined to hustle the speaker,-- + +"Wait a moment!" she continued, "I didn't mean to offend anyone. I am a +poor woman, but there's no disgrace in that, and I can afford a glass of +liqueur. Eh, good gossip, you understand, don't you? A drop of the best +for Mother Maniffret, and if my fine friend there will drink with me to +settle our difference, I will stand her a glass." + +The example set by the old hawker was contagious, and instead of filling +two little glasses only, widow Masson dispensed a bottleful. + +"Come, you have done well," cried Mother Maniffret; "my idea has brought +you luck." + +"Faith! not before it was wanted, either!" + +"What! are you complaining of trade too?" + +"Ah! don't mention it; it is miserable!" + +"There's no trade at all. I scream myself hoarse all day, and choke +myself for twopence halfpenny. I don't know what's to come of it all. +But you seem to have a nice little custom." + +"What's the good of that, with a whole house on one's hands? It's just +my luck; the old tenants go, and the new ones don't come." + +"What's the matter, then?" + +"I think the devil's in it. There was a nice man on the first +floor-gone; a decent family on the third, all right except that the man +beat his wife every night, and made such a row that no one could +sleep--gone also. I put up notices--no one even looks at them! A few +months ago--it was the middle of December, the day of the last +execution--" + +"The 15th, then," said the hawker. "I cried it, so I know; it's my +trade, that." + +"Very well, then, the 15th," resumed widow Masson. "On that day, then, I +let the cellar to a man who said he was a wine merchant, and who paid a +term in advance, seeing that I didn't know him, and wouldn't have lent +him a farthing on the strength of his good looks. He was a little bit of +a man, no taller than that,"--contemptuously holding out her hand,--"and +he had two round eyes which I didn't like at, all. He certainly paid, he +did that, but we are more than half through the second term and I have +no news of my tenant." + +"And have you never seen him since?" + +"Yes, once--no, twice. Let's see--three times, I am sure. He came with a +hand-cart and a commissionaire, and had a big chest taken downstairs--a +case which he said contained wine in bottles.... + +"No, he came before that, with a workman I think. + +"Really, I don't know if it was before or after--doesn't matter. Anyhow, +it was bottled wine. The third time he brought a mason, and I am sure +they quarreled. I heard their voices. He carried off the key, and I have +seen neither him nor his wine again. I have another key, and I went down +one day; perhaps the rats have drunk the wine and eaten the chest, for +there certainly is nothing there any more than there is in my hand now. +Nevertheless, I saw what I saw. A big chest, very big, quite new, and +corded all round with strong rope." + +"Now, what day was that?" asked the hawker. + +"What day? Well, it was--no, I can't remember." + +"Nor I either; I am getting stupid. Let's have another little +glass-shall we? just to clear our memories!" + +The expedient was not crowned with success, the memories failed to +recover themselves. The crowd waited, attentive, as may be supposed. +Suddenly the hawker exclaimed: + +"What a fool I am! I am going to find that, if only I have still got +it." + +She felt eagerly in the pocket of her underskirt, and produced several +pieces of dirty, crumpled paper. As she unfolded one after another, she +asked: + +"A big chest, wasn't it?" + +"Yes, very big." + +"And quite new?" + +"Quite new." + +"And corded?" + +"Yes, I can see it now." + +"So can I, good gracious! It was the day when I sold the history of +Leroi de Valines, the 1st of February." + +"Yes, it was a Saturday; the next day was Sunday." + +"That's it, that's it!--Saturday, February 1st. Well, I know that chest +too! I met your wine merchant on the Place du Louvre, and he wasn't +precisely enjoying himself: one of his creditors wanted to seize the +chest, the wine, the whole kettle of fish! A little man, isn't he?--a +scarecrow?" + +"Just SO." + +"And has red hair?" + +"That's the man." + +"And looks a hypocrite?" + +"You've hit it exactly." + +"And he is a hypocrite! enough to make one shudder! No doubt he can't +pay his rent! A thief, my dears, a beggarly thief, who set fire to his +own cellar, and who accused me of trying to steal from him, while it was +he who cheated me, the villain, out of a piece of twenty-four sous. It's +lucky I turned up here! Well, well, we shall have some fun! Here's +another little business on your hands, and you will have to say where +that wine has got to, my dear gossip Derues." + +"Derues!" cried twenty voices all at once. + +"What! Derues who is in Prison?" + +"Why, that's Monsieur de Lamotte's man." + +"The man who killed Madame de Lamotte?" + +"The man who made away with her son?" + +"A scoundrel, my dears, who accused me of stealing, an absolute +monster!" + +"It is just a little unfortunate," said widow Masson, "that it isn't the +man. My tenant calls himself Ducoudray. There's his name on the +register." + +"Confound it, that doesn't look like it at all," said the hawker: "now +that's a bore! Oh yes, I have a grudge against that thief, who accused +me of stealing. I told him I should sell his history some day. When that +happens, I'll treat you all round." + +As a foretaste of the fulfilment of this promise, the company disposed +of a second bottle of liqueur, and, becoming excited, they chattered at +random for some time, but at length slowly dispersed, and the street +relapsed into the silence of night. But, a few hours later, the +inhabitants were surprised to see the two ends occupied by unknown +people, while other sinister-looking persons patrolled it all night, as +if keeping guard. The next morning a carriage escorted by police stopped +at the widow Masson's door. An officer of police got out and entered a +neighbouring house, whence he emerged a quarter of an hour later with +Monsieur de Lamotte leaning on his arm. The officer demanded the key of +the cellar which last December had been hired from the widow Masson by a +person named Ducoudray, and went down to it with Monsieur de Lamotte and +one of his subordinates. + +The carriage standing at the door, the presence of the commissioner +Mutel, the chatter of the previous evening, had naturally roused +everybody's imagination. But this excitement had to be kept for home +use: the whole street was under arrest, and its inhabitants were +forbidden to leave their houses. The windows, crammed with anxious +faces, questioning each other, in the expectation of something +wonderful, were a curious sight; and the ignorance in which they +remained, these mysterious preparations, these orders silently executed, +doubled the curiosity, and added a sort of terror: no one could see the +persons who had accompanied the police officer; three men remained in +the carriage, one guarded by the two others. When the heavy coach turned +into the rue de la Mortellerie, this man had bent towards the closed +window and asked-- + +"Where are we?" + +And when they answered him, he said-- + +"I do not know this street; I was never in it." + +After saying this quite quietly, he asked-- + +"Why am I brought here?" + +As no one replied, he resumed his look of indifference, and betrayed no +emotion, neither when the carriage stopped nor when he saw Monsieur de +Lamotte enter the widow Masson's house. + +The officer reappeared on the threshold, and ordered Derues to be +brought in. + +The previous evening, detectives, mingling with the crowd, had listened +to the hawker's story of having met Derues near the Louvre escorting a +large chest. The police magistrate was informed in the course of the +evening. It was an indication, a ray of light, perhaps the actual truth, +detached from obscurity by chance gossip; and measures were instantly +taken to prevent anyone either entering or leaving the street without +being followed and examined. Mutel thought he was on the track, but the +criminal might have accomplices also on the watch, who, warned in time, +might be able to remove the proofs of the crime, if any existed. + +Derues was placed between two men who each held an arm. A third went +before, holding a torch. The commissioner, followed by men also carrying +torches, and provided with spades and pickaxes, came behind, and in this +order they descended to the vault. It was a dismal and terrifying +procession; anyone beholding these dark and sad countenances, this pale +and resigned man, passing thus into these damp vaults illuminated by the +flickering glare of torches, might well have thought himself the victim +of illusion and watching some gloomy execution in a dream. But all was +real and when light penetrated this dismal charnel-house it seemed at +once to illuminate its secret depths, so that the light of truth might +at length penetrate these dark shadows, and that the voice of the dead +would speak from the earth and the walls. + +"Wretch!" exclaimed Monsieur de Lamotte, when he saw Derues appear, "is +it here that you murdered my wife and my son?" + +Derues looked calmly at him, and replied-- + +"I beg you, sir, not to add insult to the misfortunes you have already +caused. If you stood in my place and I were in yours, I should feel some +pity and respect for so terrible a position. What do you want me? and +why am I brought here?" + +He did not know the events of last evening, and could only mentally +accuse the mason who had helped to bury the chest. He felt that he was +lost, but his audacity never forsook him. + +"You are here, in the first place, to be confronted with this woman," +said the officer, causing the widow Masson to stand opposite to him. + +"I do not know her." + +"But I know you, and know you well. It was you who hired this cellar +under the name of Ducoudray." + +Derues shrugged his shoulders and answered bitterly-- + +"I can understand a man being condemned to the torture if he is guilty, +but that in order to accomplish one's mission as accuser, and to +discover a criminal, false witnesses who can give no evidence should be +brought a hundred leagues, that the rabble should be roused up, that +divers faces and imaginary names should be bestowed on an innocent man, +in order to turn a movement of surprise or an indignant gesture to his +disadvantage, all this is iniquitous, and goes beyond the right of +judgment bestowed upon men by God. I do not know this woman, and no +matter what she says or does, I shall say no more." + +Neither the skill nor threats of the police officer could shake this +resolution. It was to no purpose that the widow Masson repeated and +asseverated that she recognised him as her tenant Ducoudray, and that he +had had a large case of wine taken down into the cellar; Derues folded +his arms, and remained as motionless as if he had been blind and deaf. + +The walls were sounded, the stones composing them carefully examined, +the floor pierced in several places, but nothing unusual was discovered. + +Would they have to give it up? Already the officer was making signs to +this effect, when the man who had remained at first below with Monsieur +de Lamotte, and who, standing in shadow, had carefully watched Derues +when he was brought down, came forward, and pointing to the recess under +the stairs, said-- + +"Examine this corner. The prisoner glanced involuntarily in this +direction when he came down; I have watched him, and it is the only sign +he has given. I was the only person who could see him, and he did not +see me. He is very clever, but one can't be for ever on one's guard, and +may the devil take me if I haven't scented the hiding-place." + +"Wretch!" said Derues to himself, "then you have had your hand on me for +a whole hour, and amused yourself by prolonging my agony! Oh! I ought to +have known it; I have found my master. Never mind, you shall learn +nothing from my face, nor yet from the decaying body you will find; +worms and poison can only have left an unrecognisable corpse." + +An iron rod sunk into the ground, encountered a hard substance some four +feet below. Two men set to work, and dug with energy. Every eye was +fixed upon this trench increasing in depth with every shovelful of earth +which the two labourers cast aside. Monsieur de Lamotte was nearly +fainting, and his emotion impressed everyone except Derues. At length +the silence was broken by the spades striking heavily on wood, and the +noise made everyone shudder. The chest was uncovered and hoisted out of +the trench; it was opened, and the body of a woman was seen, clad only +in a chemise, with a red and white headband, face downwards. The body +was turned over, and Monsieur de Lamotte recognised his wife, not yet +disfigured. + +The feeling of horror was so great that no one spoke or uttered a sound. +Derues, occupied in considering the few chances which remained to him, +had not observed that, by the officer's order, one of the guards had +left the cellar before the men began to dig. Everybody had drawn back +both from the corpse and the murderer, who alone had not moved, and who +was repeating prayers. The flame of the torches placed on the ground +cast a reddish light on this silent and terrible scene. + +Derues started and turned round on hearing a terrified cry behind him. +His wife had just been brought to the cellar. The commissioner seized +her with one hand, and taking a torch in the other, compelled her to +look down on the body. + +"It is Madame de Lamotte!" she exclaimed. + +"Yes, yes," she answered, overwhelmed with terror,--"yes, I recognise +her!" + +Unable to support the sight any longer, she grew pale and fainted away. +She and her husband were removed separately. One would have supposed the +discovery was already known outside, for the people showered curses and +cries of "Assassin!" and "Poisoner!" on the carriage which conveyed +Derues. He remained silent during the drive, but before re-entering his +dungeon, he said-- + +"I must have been mad when I sought to hide the death and burial of +Madame de Lamotte from public knowledge. It is the only sin I have +committed, and, innocent of aught else, I resign myself as a Christian +to the judgment of God." + +It was the only line of defence which remained open to him, and he clung +to it, with the hope of imposing on the magistrates by redoubled +hypocrisy and pious observances. But all this laboriously constructed +scaffolding of lies was shaken to its base and fell away piece by piece. +Every moment brought fresh and overwhelming revelations. He professed +that Madame de Lamotte had died suddenly in his house, and that, fearing +suspicion, he had buried her secretly. But the doctors called on to +examine the body declared that she had been poisoned with corrosive +sublimate and opium. The pretended payment was clearly an odious +imposture, the receipt a forgery! Then, like a threatening spectre, +arose another question, to which he found no reply, and his own +invention turned against him. + +Why, knowing his mother was no more, had he taken young de Lamotte to +Versailles? What had become of the youth? What had befallen, him? Once +on the track, the cooper with whom he had lodged on the 12th of February +was soon discovered, and an Act of Parliament ordered the exhumation of +the corpse buried under the name of Beaupre, which the cooper identified +by a shirt which he had given for the burial. Derues, confounded by the +evidence, asserted that the youth died of indigestion and venereal +disease. But the doctors again declared the presence of corrosive +sublimate and opium. All this evidence of guilt he met with assumed +resignation, lamenting incessantly for Edouard, whom he declared he had +loved as his own son. "Alas!" he said, "I see that poor boy every night! +But it softens my grief to know that he was not deprived of the last +consolations of religion! God, who sees me, and who knows my innocence, +will enlighten the magistrates, and my honour will be vindicated." + +The evidence being complete, Derues was condemned by sentence of the +Chatelet, pronounced April 30th, and confirmed by Parliament, May 5th. +We give the decree as it is found in the archives: + +"This Court having considered the trial held before the Provost of +Paris, or his Deputy-Lieutenant at the Chatelet, for the satisfaction of +the aforesaid Deputy at the aforesaid Chatelet, at the request of the +Deputy of the King's Attorney General at the aforesaid Court, summoner +and plaintiff, against Antoine-Francois Derues, and Marie-Louise +Nicolais, his wife, defendants and accused, prisoners in the prisons of +the Conciergerie of the Palace at Paris, who have appealed from the +sentence given at the aforesaid trial, the thirtieth day of April 1777, +by which the aforesaid Antoine-Francois Derues has been declared duly +attainted and convicted of attempting unlawfully to appropriate without +payment, the estate of Buissony Souef, belonging to the Sieur and Dame +de Saint Faust de Lamotte, from whom he had bought the said estate by +private contract on the twenty-second day of December 1775, and also of +having unworthily abused the hospitality shown by him since the +sixteenth day of December last towards the aforesaid Dame de Lamotte, +who arrived in Paris on the aforesaid day in order to conclude with him +the bargain agreed on in December 1775, and who, for this purpose, and +at his request, lodged with her son in the house of the said Derues, who +of premeditated design poisoned the said Dame de Lamotte, whether by a +medicine composed and prepared by him on the thirtieth day of January +last, or by the beverages and drinks administered by him after the +aforesaid medicine (he having taken the precaution to send his servant +into the country for two or three days), and to keep away strangers from +the room where the said Dame de Lamotte was lying), from the effects of +which poison the said Dame de Lamotte died on the night of the said +thirty-first day of January last; also of having kept her demise secret, +and of having himself enclosed in a chest the body of the said Dame de +Lamotte, which he then caused to be secretly transported to a cellar in +the rue de la Mortellerie hired by him for this purpose, under the +assumed name of Ducoudray, wherein he buried it himself, or caused it to +be buried; also of having persuaded the son of the above Dame de Lamotte +(who, with his mother, had lodged in his house from the time of their +arrival in Paris until the fifteenth day of January, last,--and who had +then been placed in a school that the aforesaid Dame de Lamotte was at +Versailles and desired him to join her there, and, under this pretence, +of having conducted the said younger Sieur de Lamotte, the twelfth day +of February (after having given him some chocolate), to the aforesaid +town of Versailles, to a lodging hired at a cooper's, and of having +there wilfully poisoned him, either in the chocolate taken by the said +younger Sieur de Lamotte before starting, or in beverages and +medicaments which the said Derues himself prepared, mixed, and +administered to the aforesaid Sieur de Lamotte the younger, during the +eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth days of February last, +having kept him lying ill in the aforesaid hired room, and having +refused to call in physicians or surgeons, notwithstanding the progress +of the malady, and the representations made to him on the subject, +saying that he himself was a physician and surgeon; from which poison +the said Sieur de Lamotte the younger died on the fifteenth day of +February last, at nine o'clock in the evening, in the arms of the +aforesaid Derues, who, affecting the deepest grief, and shedding tears, +actually exhorted the aforesaid Sieur de Lamotte to confession, and +repeated the prayers for the dying; after which he himself laid out the +body for burial, saying that the deceased had begged him to do so, and +telling the people of the house that he had died of venereal disease; +also of having caused him to be buried the next day in the churchyard of +the parish church of Saint Louis at the aforesaid Versailles, and of +having entered the deceased in the register of the said parish under a +false birthplace, and the false name of Beaupre, which name the said +Derues had himself assumed on arriving at the said lodging, and had +given to the said Sieur de Lamotte the younger, whom he declared to be +his nephew. Also, to cover these atrocities, and in order to appropriate +to himself the aforesaid estate of Buisson-Souef, he is convicted of +having calumniated the aforesaid Dame de Lamotte, and of having used +various manoeuvres and practised several deceptions, to wit-- + +"First, in signing, or causing to be signed, the names of the above Dame +de Lamotte to a deed of private contract between the said Derues and his +wife on one side and the aforesaid Dame de Lamotte by right of a power +of attorney given by her husband on the other (the which deed is dated +the twelfth day of February, and was therefore written after the decease +of the said Dame de Lamotte); by which deed the said Dame de Lamotte +appears to change the previous conventions agreed on in the first deed +of the twenty-second of December in the year 1775, and acknowledges +receipt from the said Derues of a sum of one hundred thousand livres, as +being the price of the estate of Buisson; + +"Secondly, in signing before a notary, the ninth day of February last, a +feigned acknowledgment for a third part of a hundred thousand livres, in +order to give credence to the pretended payment made by him; + +"Thirdly, in announcing and publishing, and attesting even by oath at +the time of an examination before the commissioner Mutel, that he had +really paid in cash to the aforesaid Dame de Lamotte the aforesaid +hundred thousand livres, and that she, being provided with this money, +had fled with her son and a certain person unknown; + +"Fourthly, in depositing with a notary the deed of private contract +bearing the pretended receipt for the above sum of one hundred thousand +livres, end pursuing at law the execution of this deed and of his claim +to the possession of the said estate; + +"Fifthly, in signing or causing to be signed by another person, before +the notaries of the town of Lyons, whither he had gone for this purpose, +a deed dated the twelfth day of March, by which the supposed Dame de +Lamotte appeared to accept the payment of the hundred thousand livres, +and to give authority to the Sieur de Lamotte, her husband, to receive +the arrears of the remainder of the price of the said estate, the which +deed he produced as a proof of the existence of the said Dame de +Lamotte; + +"Sixthly, in causing to be sent, by other hands, under the name of the +aforesaid Dame de Lamotte, to a lawyer, on the eighth day o f April 1777 +(at a time when he was in prison, and had been compelled to abandon the +fable that he had paid the aforesaid sum of one hundred thousand livres +in hard cash, and had substituted a pretended payment made in notes), +the notes pretended to have been given by him in payment to the said +Dame de Lamotte; + +"Seventh, and finally, in maintaining constantly, until the discovery of +the body of the aforesaid Dame de Lamotte, that the said Dame was still +alive, and that he had seen her at the town of Lyons, as has been stated +above. + +"In atonement has been condemned, etc. etc. etc. + +"His goods are hereby declared acquired and confiscated to the King, or +to whomsoever His Majesty shall appoint, first deducting the sum of two +hundred livres as fine for the King, in case the confiscation is not to +the sole profit of His Majesty; and also the sum of six hundred livres +for masses to be said for the repose of the souls of the aforesaid Dame +de Lamotte and her son. And, before being executed, the said +Antoine-Francois Derues shall suffer the question ordinary and +extraordinary, in order that from his mouth may be learned the truth of +these facts, and also the names of his accomplices. And the decision of +the judges in the proceedings with regard to the above-mentioned +Marie-Louise Nicolais, wife of Derues, is delayed until after the +execution of the above sentence. It is also decreed that the mortuary +act of the aforesaid de Lamotte the younger, dated the sixteenth day of +February last, in the register of deaths belonging to the parish church +of Saint-Louis at Versailles, be amended, and his correct names be +substituted, in order that the said Sieur de Lamotte, the father, and +other persons interested, may produce said names before the magistrates +if required. And it is also decreed that this sentence be printed and +published by the deputy of the Attorney-General at the Chatelet, and +affixed to the walls in the usual places and cross roads of the town, +provostship and viscounty of Paris, and wherever else requisite. + +"With regard to the petition of Pierre-Etienne de Saint-Faust de +Lamotte, a Royal Equerry, Sieur de Grange-Flandre, Buisson-Souef, +Valperfond, and other places, widower and inheritor of Marie Francois +Perier, his wife, according to their marriage contract signed before +Baron and partner, notaries at Paris, the fifth day of September 1762, +whereby he desires to intervene in the action brought against Derues and +his accomplices, concerning the assassination and poisoning committed on +the persons of the wife and son of the said Sieur de Saint-Faust de +Lamotte, on the accusation made by him to the Deputy Attorney-General of +the King at the Chatelet at present pending in the Court, on the report +of the final judgment given in the said action the 30th of April last, +and which allowed the intervention; it is decreed that there shall be +levied on the goods left by the condemned, before the rights of the +Treasury, and separate from them, the sum of six thousand livres, or +such other sum as it shall please the Court to award; from which sum the +said Saint-Faust de Lamotte shall consent to deduct the sum of two +thousand seven hundred and forty-eight livres, which he acknowledges has +been sent or remitted to him by the said Derues and his wife at +different times; which first sum of six thousand livres, or such other, +shall be employed by the said Sieur de Saint-Faust de Lamotte, who is +authorised to found therewith, in the parish church of Saint Nicholas de +Villeneuve-le-Roy, in which parish the estate of Buisson-Souef is +situate, and which is mentioned in the action, an annual and perpetual +service for the repose of the souls of the wife and son of the said +Sieur de Saint-Faust de Lamotte, of which an act shall be inserted in +the decree of intervention, and a copy of this act or decree shall be +inscribed upon a stone which shall be set in the wall of the said church +of Saint Nicholas de Villeneuve-le-Roy, in such place as is expedient. +And the deed of contract for private sale, made between the late spouse +of the said Sieur de Saint-Faust de Lamotte and the above-named Derues +and his wife, is hereby declared null and void, as having had no value +in absence of any payment or realisation of contract before a notary; +and the pretended agreement of the twelfth day of February last, as also +all other deeds fabricated by the said Derues or others, named in the +above action, as also any which may hereafter be presented, are hereby +declared to be null and void. + +"The Court declares the judgment pronounced by the magistrates of the +Chatelet against the above named Derues to be good and right, and his +appeal against the same to be bad and ill-founded. + +"It is decreed that the sentence shall lose its full and entire effect +with regard to Marie-Louise Nicolais, who is condemned to the ordinary +fine of twelve livres. The necessary relief granted on the petition of +Pierre-Etienne de Saint-Faust de Lamotte, the second day of May this +present month, and delay accorded until after the suspended judgment +pronounced with regard to the said Marie-Louise Nicolais. + +"(Signed) De Gourgues, President. + +"OUTREMONT, Councillor." + +Derues' assurance and calmness never deserted him for one moment. For +three-quarters of an hour he harangued the Parliament, and his defence +was remarkable both for its presence of mind and the art with which he +made the most of any circumstances likely to suggest doubts to the +magistrates and soften the severity of the first sentence. Found guilty +on every point, he yet protested that he was innocent of poisoning. +Remorse, which often merely means fear of punishment, had no place in +his soul, and torture he seemed not to dread. As strong in will as he +was weak in body, he desired to die like a martyr in the faith of his +religion, which was hypocrisy, and the God whom he gloried on the +scaffold was the god of lies. + +On May 6th, at seven in the morning, the sentence of execution was read +to him. He listened calmly, and when it was finished, remarked: + +"I had not anticipated so severe a sentence." + +A few hours later the instruments of torture were got ready. He was told +that this part of his punishment would be remitted if he would confess +his crimes and the names of his accomplices. He replied: + +"I have no more to say. I know what terrible torture awaits me, I know I +must die to-day, but I have nothing to confess." + +He made no resistance when his knees and legs were bound, and endured +the torture courageously. Only, in a moment of agony, he exclaimed: + +"Accursed money! has thou reduced me to this?" + +Thinking that pain would overcome his resolution, the presiding +magistrate bent towards him, and said: + +"Unhappy man! confess thy crime, since death is near at hand." + +He recovered his firmness, and, looking at the magistrate, replied: + +"I know it, monseigneur; I have perhaps not three hours to live." + +Thinking that his apparently feeble frame could not endure the last +wedges, the executioner was ordered to stop. He was unbound and laid on +a mattress, and a glass of wine was brought, of which he only drank a +few drops; after this, he made his confession to the priest. For, +dinner, they brought him soup and stew, which he ate eagerly, and +inquiring of the gaoler if he could have something more, an entree was +brought in addition. One might have thought that this final repast +heralded, not death but deliverance. At length three o'clock struck the +hour appointed for leaving the prison. + +According to the report of credible persons whom we have consulted, +Paris on this occasion presented a remarkable appearance, which those +who saw it were never able to forget. The great anthill was troubled to +its very lowest depth. Whether by accident or design, the same day had +been fixed for a function which ought to have proved a considerable +counter attraction. A great festival in honour of a German prince was +given on the Plaine de Grenelle, at which all the court was present; and +probably more than one great lady regretted missing the emotions of the +Place de Greve, abandoned to the rabble and the bourgeoisie. The rest of +the city was deserted, the streets silent, the houses closed. A stranger +transported suddenly into such a solitude might have reasonably thought +that during the night the town had been smitten by the Angel of Death, +and that only a labyrinth of vacant buildings remained, testifying to +the life and turmoil of the preceding day. A dark and dense atmosphere +hung over the abandoned town; lightning furrowed the heavy motionless +clouds; in the distance the occasional rumble of thunder was heard, +answered by the cannon of the royal fete. The crowd was divided between +the powers of heaven and earth: the terrible majesty of the Eternal on +one side, on the other the frivolous pomp of royalty--eternal punishment +and transient grandeur in opposition. Like the waters of a flood leaving +dry the fields which they have covered, so the waves of the multitude +forsook their usual course. Thousands of men and women crowded together +along the route which the death-cart would take; an ocean of heads +undulated like the ears in a wheatfield. The old houses, hired at high +rates, quivered under the weight of eager spectators, and the window +sashes had been removed to afford a better view. + +Attired in the shirt worn by condemned criminals, and bearing a placard +both in front and behind, with the words "Wilful Poisoner," Derues +descended the great staircase of the Chatelet with a firm step. It was +at this moment, on seeing the crucifix, that he exclaimed, "O Christ, I +shall suffer like Thee!" He mounted the tumbril, looking right and left +amongst the crowd. During the progress he recognised and bowed to +several of his old associates, and bade adieu in a clear voice to the +former mistress of his 'prentice days, who has recorded that she never +saw him look so pleasant. Arrived at the door of Notre Dame, where the +clerk was awaiting him, he descended from the tumbril without +assistance, took a lighted wax taper weighing two pounds in his hand, +and did penance, kneeling, bareheaded and barefooted, a rope round his +neck, repeating the words of the death-warrant. He then reascended the +cart in the midst of the cries and execrations of the populace, to which +he appeared quite insensible. One voice only, endeavouring to dominate +the tumult, caused him to turn his head: it was that of the hawker who +was crying his sentence, and who broke off now and then to say-- + +"Well! my poor gossip Derues, how do you like that fine carriage you're +in? Oh yes, mutter your prayers and look up to heaven as much as you +like, you won't take us in now. Ah! thief who said I stole from you! +Wasn't I right when I said I should be selling your sentence some day?" + +Then, adding her own wrongs to the list of crimes, she declared that the +Parliament had condemned him as much for having falsely accused her of +theft as for having poisoned Madame de Lamotte and her son! + +When arrived at the scaffold, he gazed around him, and a sort of shiver +of impatience ran through the crowd. He smiled, and as if anxious to +trick mankind for the last time, asked to be taken to the Hotel de +Ville, which was granted, in the hope that he would at last make some +confession; but he only persisted in saying that he was guiltless of +poisoning. He had an interview with his wife, who nearly fainted on +seeing him, and remained for more than a quarter of an hour unable to +say a word. He lavished tender names upon her, and professed much +affliction at seeing her in so miserable a condition. + +When she was taken away, he asked permission to embrace her, and took a +most touching farewell. His last words have been preserved. + +"My dear wife," he said, "I recommend our beloved children to your care: +bring them up in the fear of God. You must go to Chartres, you will +there see the bishop, on whom I had the honour of waiting when I was +there last, and who has always been kind to me; I believe he has thought +well of me, and that I may hope he will take pity on you and on our +children." + +It was now seven in the evening, and the crowd began to murmur at the +long delay. At length the criminal reappeared. An onlooker who saw him +go to the Hotel de Ville, and who was carried by the movement of the +crowd to the foot of the scaffold, says that when handed over to the +executioner he took off his clothes himself. He kissed the instrument of +punishment with devotion, then extended himself on the St. Andrew's +cross, asking with a resigned smile that they would make his sufferings +as short as possible. As soon as his head was covered, the executioner +gave the signal. One would have thought a very few blows would have +finished so frail a being, but he seemed as hard to kill as the venomous +reptiles which must be crushed and cut to pieces before life is extinct, +and the coup de grace was found necessary. The executioner uncovered his +head and showed the confessor that the eyes were closed and that the +heart had ceased to beat. The body was then removed from the cross, the +hands and feet fastened together, and it was thrown on the funeral pile. + +While the execution was proceeding the people applauded. On the morrow +they bought up the fragments of bone, and hastened to buy lottery +tickets, in the firm conviction that these precious relics would bring +luck to the fortunate possessors! + +In 1777, Madame Derues was sentenced to perpetual imprisonment, and +confined at the Salpetriere. She was one of the first victims who +perished in the prison massacres. + + + + +*LA CONSTANTIN--1660* + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +Before beginning our story, we must warn the reader that it will not be +worth his while to make researches among contemporary or other records +as to the personage whose name it bears. For in truth neither Marie +Leroux, widow of Jacques Constantin, nor her accomplice, Claude +Perregaud, was of sufficient importance to find a place on any list of +great criminals, although it is certain that they were guilty of the +crimes with which they were charged. It may seem strange that what +follows is more a history of the retribution which overtook the +criminals than a circumstantial description of the deeds for which they +were punished; but the crimes were so revolting, and so unsuitable for +discussion, that it was impossible for us to enter into any details on +the subject, so that what we offer in these pages is, we confess quite +openly, not a full, true, and particular account of a certain series of +events leading up to a certain result; it is not even a picture wherein +that result is depicted with artistic completeness, it is only an +imperfect narrative imperfectly rounded off. We feel sure, however, that +the healthy-minded reader will be grateful for our reticence and total +disregard of proportion. In spite of the disadvantage which such a theme +imposes on any writer with a deep sense of responsibility, we have +resolved to let in some light on these obscure figures; for we can +imagine no more effective way of throwing into high relief the low +morals and deep corruption into which all classes of society had sunk at +the termination of the factious dissensions of the Fronde, which formed +such a fitting prelude to the licence of the reign of the grand roi. + +After this explanation, we shall, without further preamble, introduce +the reader to a little tavern in Paris, situated in the rue +Saint-Andre-des-Arts, on an evening in November 1658. + +It was about seven o'clock. Three gentlemen were seated at one of the +tables in a low, smoky room. They had already emptied several bottles, +and one of them seemed to have just suggested some madcap scheme to the +others, the thought of which sent them off into shouts of laughter. + +"Pardu!" said one of them, who was the first to recover his breath, "I +must say it would be an excellent trick." + +"Splendid!" said another; "and if you like, Commander de Jars, we can +try it this very evening." + +"All right, my worthy king's treasurer, provided my pretty nephew here +won't be too much shocked," and as he spoke de Jars gave to the youngest +of the three a caressing touch on the cheek with the back of his hand. + +"That reminds me, de Jars!" said the treasurer, "that word you have just +said piques my curiosity. For some months now this little fellow here, +Chevalier de Moranges, follows you about everywhere like your shadow. +You never told us you had a nephew. Where the devil did you get him?" + +The commander touched the chevalier's knee under the table, and he, as +if to avoid speaking, slowly filled and emptied his glass. + +"Look here," said the treasurer, "do you want to hear a few plain words, +such as I shall rap out when God takes me to task about the peccadilloes +of my past life? I don't believe a word about the relationship. A nephew +must be the son of either a brother or a sister. Now, your only sister +is an abbess, and your late brother's marriage was childless. There is +only one way of proving the relationship, and that is to confess that +when your brother was young and wild he and Love met, or else Madame +l'Abbesse----." + +"Take care, Treasurer Jeannin! no slander against my sister!" + +"Well, then, explain; you can't fool me! May I be hanged if I leave this +place before I have dragged the secret out of you! Either we are friends +or we are not. What you tell no one else you ought to tell me. What! +would you make use of my purse and my sword on occasion and yet have +secrets from me? It's too bad: speak, or our friendship is at an end! I +give you fair warning that I shall find out everything and publish it +abroad to court and city: when I strike a trail there's no turning me +aside. It will be best for you to whisper your secret voluntarily into +my ear, where it will be as safe as in the grave." + +"How full of curiosity you are, my good friend!" said de Jars, leaning +one elbow on the table, and twirling the points of his moustache with +his hand; "but if I were to wrap my secret round the point of a dagger +would you not be too much afraid of pricking your fingers to pull it +off?" + +"Not I," said the king's treasurer, beginning to twirl his moustache +also: "the doctors have always told me that I am of too full a +complexion and that it would do me all the good in the world to be bled +now and then. But what would be an advantage to me would be dangerous to +you. It's easy to see from your jaundiced phiz that for you +blood-letting is no cure." + +"And you would really go that length? You would risk a duel if I refused +to let you get to the bottom of my mystery?" + +"Yes, on my honour! Well, how is it to be?" + +"My dear boy," said de Jars to the youth, "we are caught, and may as +well yield gracefully. You don't know this big fellow as well as I do. +He's obstinacy itself. You can make the most obstinate donkey go on by +pulling its tail hard enough, but when Jeannin gets a notion into his +pate, not all the legions of hell can get it out again. Besides that, +he's a skilful fencer, so there's nothing for it but to trust him." + +"Just as you like," said the young man; "you know all my circumstances +and how important it is that my secret should be kept." + +"Oh! among Jeannin's many vices there are a few virtues, and of these +discretion is the greatest, so that his curiosity is harmless. A quarter +of an hour hence he will let himself be killed rather than reveal what +just now he is ready to risk his skin to find out, whether we will or +no." + +Jeannin nodded approvingly, refilled the glasses, and raising his to his +lips, said in a tone of triumph-- + +"I am listening, commander." + +"Well, if it must be, it must. First of all, learn that my nephew is not +my nephew at all." + +"Go on." + +"That his name is not Moranges." + +"And the next?" + +"I am not going to reveal his real name to you." + +"Why not?" + +"Because I don't know it myself, and no more does the chevalier." + +"What' nonsense!" + +"No nonsense at all, but the sober truth. A few months ago the chevalier +came to Paris, bringing me a letter of introduction from a German whom I +used to know years ago. This letter requested me to look after the +bearer and help him in his investigations. As you said just now, Love +and someone once met somewhere, and that was about all was known as to +his origin. Naturally the young man wants to cut a figure in the world, +and would like to discover the author of his existence, that he may have +someone at hand to pay the debts he is going to incur. We have brought +together every scrap of information we could collect as to this person, +hoping to find therein a clue that we could follow up. To be quite open +with you, and convince you at the same time how extremely prudent and +discreet we must be, I must tell you that we think we have found one, +and that it leads to no less a dignitary than a Prince of the Church. +But if he should get wind of our researches too soon everything would be +at an end, don't you see? So keep your tongue between your teeth." + +"Never fear," said Jeannin. + +"Now, that's what I call speaking out as a friend should. I wish you +luck, my gallant Chevalier de Moranges, and until you unearth your +father, if you want a little money, my purse is at your service. On my +word, de Jars, you must have been born with a caul. There never was your +equal for wonderful adventures. This one promises well-spicy intrigues, +scandalous revelations, and you'll be in the thick of it all. You're a +lucky fellow! It's only a few months since you had the most splendid +piece of good fortune sent you straight from heaven. A fair lady falls +in love with you and makes you carry her off from the convent of La +Raquette. But why do you never let anyone catch a glimpse of her? Are +you jealous? Or is it that she is no such beauty, after all, but old and +wrinkled, like that knave of a Mazarin?" + +"I know what I'm about," answered de Jars, smiling; "I have my very good +reasons. The elopement caused a great deal of indignation, and it's not +easy to get fanatics to listen to common sense. No, I am not in the +least jealous; she is madly in love with me. Ask my nephew." + +"Does he know her?" + +"We have no secrets from each other; the confidence between us is +without a flaw. The fair one, believe me, is good to look on, and is +worth all the ogling, fan-flirting baggages put together that one sees +at court or on the balconies of the Palais Roy: ah! I'll answer for +that. Isn't she, Moranges?" + +"I'm quite of your opinion," said the youth; exchanging with de jars a +singularly significant look; "and you had better treat her well, uncle, +or I shall play you some trick." + +"Ah! ah!" cried Jeannin. "You poor fellow! I very much fear that you are +warming a little serpent in your bosom. Have an eye to this dandy with +the beardless chin! But joking apart, my boy, are you really on good +terms with the fair lady?" + +"Certainly I am." + +"And you are not uneasy, commander?" + +"Not the least little bit." + +"He is quite right. I answer for her as for my self, you know; as long +as he loves her she will love him; as long as he is faithful she will be +faithful. Do you imagine that a woman who insists on her lover carrying +her off can so easily turn away from the man of her choice? I know her +well; I have had long talks with her, she and I alone: she is +feather-brained, given to pleasure, entirely without prejudices and +those stupid scruples which spoil the lives of other women; but a good +sort on the whole; devoted to my uncle, with no deception about her; but +at the same time extremely jealous, and has no notion of letting herself +be sacrificed to a rival. If ever she finds herself deceived, good-bye +to prudence and reserve, and then--" + +A look and a touch of the commander's knee cut this panegyric short, to +which the treasurer was listening with open-eyed astonishment. + +"What enthusiasm!" he exclaimed. "Well, and then----" + +"Why, then," went on the young man, with a laugh, "if my uncle behaves +badly, I, his nephew, will try to make up for his wrong-doing: he can't +blame me then. But until then he may be quite easy, as he well knows." + +"Oh yes, and in proof of that I am going to take Moranges with me +to-night. He is young and inexperienced, and it will be a good lesson +for him to see how a gallant whose amorous intrigues did not begin +yesterday sets about getting even with a coquette. He can turn it to +account later on. + +"On my word," said Jeannin, "my notion is that he is in no great need of +a teacher; however, that's your business, not mine. Let us return to +what we were talking about just now. Are we agreed; and shall we amuse +ourselves by paying out the lady in, her own coin?" + +"If you like." + +"Which of us is to begin?" + +De Jars struck the table with the handle of his dagger. + +"More wine, gentlemen?" said the drawer, running up. + +"No, dice; and be quick about it." + +"Three casts each and the highest wins," said Jeannin. "You begin." + +"I throw for myself and nephew." The dice rolled on the table. + +"Ace and three." + +"It's my turn now. Six and five." + +"Pass it over. Five and two." + +"We're equal. Four and two." + +"Now let me. Ace and blank." + +"Double six." + +"You have won." + +"And I'm off at once," said Jeannin, rising, and muffling himself in his +mantle, "It's now half-past seven. We shall see each other again at +eight, so I won't say good-bye." + +"Good luck to you!" + +Leaving the tavern and turning into the rue Pavee, he took the direction +of the river. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +In 1658, at the corner of the streets Git-le-Coeur and Le Hurepoix (the +site of the latter being now occupied by the Quai des Augustins as far +as Pont Saint-Michel), stood the great mansion which Francis I had +bought and fitted up for the Duchesse d'Etampes. It was at this period +if not in ruins at least beginning to show the ravages of time. Its rich +interior decorations had lost their splendour and become antiquated. +Fashion had taken up its abode in the Marais, near the Place Royale, and +it was thither that profligate women and celebrated beauties now enticed +the humming swarm of old rakes and young libertines. Not one of them all +would have thought of residing in the mansion, or even in the quarter, +wherein the king's mistress had once dwelt. It would have been a step +downward in the social scale, and equivalent to a confession that their +charms were falling in the public estimation. Still, the old palace was +not empty; it had, on the contrary, several tenants. Like the provinces +of Alexander's empire, its vast suites of rooms had been subdivided; and +so neglected was it by the gay world that people of the commonest +description strutted about with impunity where once the proudest nobles +had been glad to gain admittance. There in semi-isolation and despoiled +of her greatness lived Angelique-Louise de Guerchi, formerly companion +to Mademoiselle de Pons and then maid of honour to Anne of Austria. Her +love intrigues and the scandals they gave rise to had led to her +dismissal from court. Not that she was a greater sinner than many who +remained behind, only she was unlucky enough or stupid enough to be +found out. Her admirers were so indiscreet that they had not left her a +shred of reputation, and in a court where a cardinal is the lover of a +queen, a hypocritical appearance of decorum is indispensable to success. +So Angelique had to suffer for the faults she was not clever enough to +hide. Unfortunately for her, her income went up and down with the number +and wealth of her admirers, so when she left the court all her +possessions consisted of a few articles she had gathered together out of +the wreck of her former luxury, and these she was now selling one by one +to procure the necessaries of life, while she looked back from afar with +an envious eye at the brilliant world from which she had been exiled, +and longed for better days. All hope was not at an end for her. By a +strange law which does not speak well for human nature, vice finds +success easier to attain than virtue. There is no courtesan, no matter +how low she has fallen, who cannot find a dupe ready to defend against +the world an honour of which no vestige remains. A man who doubts the +virtue of the most virtuous woman, who shows himself inexorably severe +when he discovers the lightest inclination to falter in one whose +conduct has hitherto been above reproach, will stoop and pick up out of +the gutter a blighted and tarnished reputation and protect and defend it +against all slights, and devote his life to the attempt to restore +lustre to the unclean thing dulled by the touch of many fingers. In her +days of prosperity Commander de Jars and the king's treasurer had both +fluttered round Mademoiselle de Guerchi, and neither had fluttered in +vain. Short as was the period necessary to overcome her scruples, in as +short a period it dawned on the two candidates for her favour that each +had a successful rival in the other, and that however potent as a reason +for surrender the doubloons of the treasurer had been, the personal +appearance of the commander had proved equally cogent. As both had felt +for her only a passing fancy and not a serious passion, their +explanations with each other led to no quarrel between them; silently +and simultaneously they withdrew from her circle, without even letting +her know they had found her out, but quite determined to revenge, +themselves on her should a chance ever offer. However, other affairs of +a similar nature had intervened to prevent their carrying out this +laudable intention; Jeannin had laid siege to a more inaccessible +beauty, who had refused to listen to his sighs for less than 30 crowns, +paid in advance, and de Jars had become quite absorbed by his adventure +with the convent boarder at La Raquette, and the business of that young +stranger whom he passed off as his nephew. Mademoiselle de Guerchi had +never seen them again; and with her it was out of sight out of mind. At +the moment when she comes into our story she was weaving her toils round +a certain Duc de Vitry, whom she had seen at court, but whose +acquaintance she had never made, and who had been absent when the +scandalous occurrence which led to her disgrace came to light. He was a +man of from twenty-five to twenty-six years of age, who idled his life +away: his courage was undoubted, and being as credulous as an old +libertine, he was ready to draw his sword at any moment to defend the +lady whose cause he had espoused, should any insolent slanderer dare to +hint there was a smirch on her virtue. Being deaf to all reports, he +seemed one of those men expressly framed by heaven to be the consolation +of fallen women; such a man as in our times a retired opera-dancer or a +superannuated professional beauty would welcome with open arms. He had +only one fault--he was married. It is true he neglected his wife, +according to the custom of the time, and it is probably also true that +his wife cared very little about his infidelities. But still she was an +insurmountable obstacle to the fulfilment of Mademoiselle de Guerchi's +hopes, who but for her might have looked forward to one day becoming a +duchess. + +For about three weeks, however, at the time we are speaking of, the duke +had neither crossed her threshold nor written. He had told her he was +going for a few days to Normandy, where he had large estates, but had +remained absent so long after the date he had fixed for his return that +she began to feel uneasy. What could be keeping him? Some new flame, +perhaps. The anxiety of the lady was all the more keen, that until now +nothing had passed between them but looks of languor and words of love. +The duke had laid himself and all he possessed at the feet of Angelique, +and Angelique had refused his offer. A too prompt surrender would have +justified the reports so wickedly spread against her; and, made wise by +experience, she was resolved not to compromise her future as she had +compromised her past. But while playing at virtue she had also to play +at disinterestedness, and her pecuniary resources were consequently +almost exhausted. She had proportioned the length of her resistance to +the length of her purse, and now the prolonged absence of her lover +threatened to disturb the equilibrium which she had established between +her virtue and her money. So it happened that the cause of the lovelorn +Duc de Vitry was in great peril just at the moment when de Jars and +Jeannin resolved to approach the fair one anew. She was sitting lost in +thought, pondering in all good faith on the small profit it was to a +woman to be virtuous, when she heard voices in the antechamber. Then her +door opened, and the king's treasurer walked in. + +As this interview and those which follow took place in the presence of +witnesses, we are obliged to ask the reader to accompany us for a time +to another part of the same house. + +We have said there were several tenants: now the person who occupied the +rooms next to those in which Mademoiselle de Guerchi lived was a +shopkeeper's widow called Rapally, who was owner of one of the +thirty-two houses which then occupied the bridge Saint-Michel. They had +all been constructed at the owner's cost, in return for a lease for +ever. The widow Rapally's avowed age was forty, but those who knew her +longest added another ten years to that: so, to avoid error, let us say +she was forty-five. She was a solid little body, rather stouter than was +necessary for beauty; her hair was black, her complexion brown, her eyes +prominent and always moving; lively, active, and if one once yielded to +her whims, exacting beyond measure; but until then buxom and soft, and +inclined to pet and spoil whoever, for the moment, had arrested her +volatile fancy. Just as we make her acquaintance this happy individual +was a certain Maitre Quennebert, a notary of Saint Denis, and the comedy +played between him and the widow was an exact counterpart of the one +going on in the rooms of Mademoiselle de Guerchi, except that the roles +were inverted; for while the lady was as much in love as the Duc de +Vitry, the answering devotion professed by the notary was as insincere +as the disinterested attachment to her lover displayed by the whilom +maid of honour. + +Maitre Quennebert was still young and of attractive appearance, but his +business affairs were in a bad way. For long he had been pretending not +to understand the marked advances of the widow, and he treated her with +a reserve and respect she would fain have dispensed with, and which +sometimes made her doubt of his love. But it was impossible for her as a +woman to complain, so she was forced to accept with resignation the +persistent and unwelcome consideration with which he surrounded her. +Maitre Quennebert was a man of common sense and much experience, and had +formed a scheme which he was prevented from carrying out by an obstacle +which he had no power to remove. He wanted, therefore, to gain time, for +he knew that the day he gave the susceptible widow a legal right over +him he would lose his independence. A lover to whose prayers the adored +one remains deaf too long is apt to draw back in discouragement, but a +woman whose part is restricted to awaiting those prayers, and answering +with a yes or no, necessarily learns patience. Maitre Quennebert would +therefore have felt no anxiety as to the effect of his dilatoriness on +the widow, were it not for the existence of a distant cousin of the late +Monsieur Rapally, who was also paying court to her, and that with a +warmth much greater than had hitherto been displayed by himself. This +fact, in view of the state of the notary's affairs, forced him at last +to display more energy. To make up lost ground and to outdistance his +rival once more, he now began to dazzle the widow with fine phrases and +delight her with compliments; but to tell the truth all this trouble was +superfluous; he was beloved, and with one fond look he might have won +pardon for far greater neglect. + +An hour before the treasurer's arrival there had been a knock at the +door of the old house, and Maitre Quennebert, curled, pomaded, and +prepared for conquest, had presented himself at the widow's. She +received him with a more languishing air than usual, and shot such +arrows at him froth her eyes that to escape a fatal wound he pretended +to give way by degrees to deep sadness. The widow, becoming alarmed, +asked with tenderness-- + +"What ails you this evening?" + +He rose, feeling he had nothing to fear from his rival, and, being +master of the field, might henceforth advance or recede as seemed best +for his interests. + +"What ails me?" he repeated, with a deep sigh. "I might deceive you, +might give you a misleading answer, but to you I cannot lie. I am in +great trouble, and how to get out of it I don't know." + +"But tell me what it is," said the widow, standing up in her turn. + +Maitre Quennebert took three long strides, which brought him to the far +end of the room, and asked-- + +"Why do you want to know? You can't help me. My trouble is of a kind a +man does not generally confide to women." + +"What is it? An affair of honour? + +"Yes." + +"Good God! You are going to fight!" she exclaimed, trying to seize him +by the arm. "You are going to fight!" + +"Ah! if it were nothing worse than that!" said Quennebert, pacing up and +down the room: "but you need not be alarmed; it is only a money trouble. +I lent a large sum, a few months ago, to a friend, but the knave has run +away and left me in the lurch. It was trust money, and must be replaced +within three days. But where am I to get two thousand francs?" + +"Yes, that is a large sum, and not easy to raise at such short notice." + +"I shall be obliged to have recourse to some Jew, who will drain me dry. +But I must save my good name at all costs." + +Madame Rapally gazed at him in consternation. Maitre Quennebert, +divining her thought, hastened to add-- + +"I have just one-third of what is needed." + +"Only one-third?" + +"With great care, and by scraping together all I possess, I can make up +eight hundred livres. But may I be damned in the next world, or punished +as a swindler in this, and one's as bad as the other to me, if I can +raise one farthing more." + +"But suppose someone should lend you the twelve hundred francs, what +then?" + +"Pardieu! I should accept them," cried the notary as if he had not the +least suspicion whom she could mean. "Do you happen to know anyone, my +dear Madame Rapally?" + +The widow nodded affirmatively, at the same time giving him a passionate +glance. + +"Tell me quick the name of this delightful person, and I shall go to him +to-morrow morning. You don't know what a service you are rendering me. +And I was so near not telling you of the fix I was in, lest you should +torment yourself uselessly. Tell me his name." + +"Can you not guess it?" + +"How should I guess it?" + +"Think well. Does no one occur to you?" + +"No, no one," said Quennebert, with the utmost innocence. + +"Have you no friends?" + +"One or two." + +"Would they not be glad to help you?" + +"They might. But I have mentioned the matter to no one." + +"To no one?" + +"Except you." + +"Well?" + +"Well, Madame Rapally--I hope I don't understand you; it's not possible; +you would not humiliate me. Come, come, it's a riddle, and I am too +stupid to solve it. I give it up. Don't tantalise me any longer; tell me +the name." + +The widow, somewhat abashed by this exhibition of delicacy on the part +of Maitre Quennebert, blushed, cast down her eyes, and did not venture +to speak. + +As the silence lasted some time, it occurred to the notary that he had +been perhaps too hasty in his supposition, and he began to cast round +for the best means of retrieving his blunder. + +"You do not speak," he said; "I see it was all a joke." + +"No," said the widow at last in a timid voice, "it was no joke; I was +quite in earnest. But the way you take things is not very encouraging." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Pray, do you imagine that I can go on while you glare at me with that +angry frown puckering your forehead, as if you had someone before you +who had tried to insult you?" + +A sweet smile chased the frown from the notary's brow. Encouraged by the +suspension of hostilities, Madame Rapally with sudden boldness +approached him, and, pressing one of his hands in both her own, +whispered-- + +"It is I who am going to lend you the money." + +He repulsed her gently, but with an air of great dignity, and said-- + +"Madame, I thank you, but I cannot accept." + +"Why can't you?" + +At this he began to walk round and round the room, while the widow, who +stood in the middle, turned as upon a pivot, keeping him always in view. +This circus-ring performance lasted some minutes before Quennebert stood +still and said-- + +"I cannot be angry with you, Madame Rapally, I know your offer was made +out of the kindness of your heart,--but I must repeat that it is +impossible for me to accept it." + +"There you go again! I don't understand you at all! Why can't you +accept? What harm would it do?" + +"If there were no other reason, because people might suspect that I +confided my difficulties to you in the hope of help." + +"And supposing you did, what then? People speak hoping to be understood. +You wouldn't have minded asking anyone else." + +"So you really think I did come in that hope?" + +"Mon Dieu! I don't think anything at all that you don't want. It was I +who dragged the confidence from you by my questions, I know that very +well. But now that you have told me your secret, how can you hinder me +from sympathising with you, from desiring to aid you? When I learned +your difficulty, ought I to have been amused, and gone into fits of +laughter? What! it's an insult to be in a position to render you a +service! That's a strange kind of delicacy!" + +"Are you astonished that I should feel so strongly about it?" + +"Nonsense! Do you still think I meant to offend you? I look on you as +the most honourable man in the world. If anyone were to tell me that he +had seen you commit a base action, I should reply that it was a lie. +Does that satisfy you?" + +"But suppose they got hold of it in the city, suppose it were reported +that Maitre Quennebert had taken money from Madame de Rapally, would it +be the same as if they said Maitre Quennebert had borrowed twelve +hundred livres from Monsieur Robert or some other business man?" + +"I don't see what difference it could make." + +"But I do." + +"What then?" + +"It's not easy to express, but----" + +"But you exaggerate both the service and the gratitude you ought to +feel. I think I know why you refuse. You're ashamed to take it as a +gift, aren't you." + +"Yes, I am." + +"Well, I'm not going to make you a gift. Borrow twelve hundred livres +from me. For how long do you want the money?" + +"I really don't know how soon I can repay you." + +"Let's say a year, and reckon the interest. Sit down there, you baby, +and write out a promissory note." + +Maitre Quennebert made some further show of resistance, but at last +yielded to the widow's importunity. It is needless to say that the whole +thing was a comedy on his part, except that he really needed the money. +But he did not need it to replace a sum of which a faithless friend had +robbed him, but to satisfy his own creditors, who, out of all patience +with him, were threatening to sue him, and his only reason for seeking +out Madame de Rapally was to take advantage of her generous disposition +towards himself. His feigned delicacy was intended to induce her to +insist so urgently, that in accepting he should not fall too much in her +esteem, but should seem to yield to force. And his plan met with +complete success, for at the end of the transaction he stood higher than +ever in the opinion of his fair creditor, on account of the noble +sentiments he had expressed. The note was written out in legal form and +the money counted down on the spot. + +"How glad I am!" said she then, while Quennebert still kept up some +pretence of delicate embarrassment, although he could not resist casting +a stolen look at the bag of crowns lying on the table beside his cloak. +"Do you intend to go back to Saint Denis to-night?" + +Even had such been his intention, the notary would have taken very good +care not to say so; for he foresaw the accusations of imprudence that +would follow, the enumeration of the dangers by the way; and it was +quite on the cards even that, having thus aroused his fears, his fair +hostess should in deference to them offer him hospitality for the night, +and he did not feel inclined for an indefinitely prolonged tete-a-tete. + +"No;" he said, "I am going to sleep at Maitre Terrasson's, rue des +Poitevins; I have sent him word to expect me. But although his house is +only a few yards distant, I must leave you earlier than I could have +wished, on account of this money." + +"Will you think of me?" + +"How can you ask?" replied Quennebert, with a sentimental expression. +"You have compelled me to accept the money, but--I shall not be happy +till I have repaid you. Suppose this loan should make us fall out?" + +"You may be quite sure that if you don't pay when the bill falls due, I +shall have recourse to the law." + +"Oh, I know that very well." + +"I shall enforce all my rights as a creditor." + +"I expect nothing else." + +"I shall show no pity." + +And the widow gave a saucy laugh and shook her finger at him. + +"Madame Rapally," said the notary, who was most anxious to bring this +conversation to an end, dreading every moment that it would take a +languishing tone,-"Madame Rapally, will you add to your goodness by +granting me one more favour?" + +"What is it?" + +"The gratitude that is simulated is not difficult to bear, but genuine, +sincere gratitude, such as I feel, is a heavy burden, as I can assure +you. It is much easier to give than to receive. Promise me, then, that +from now till the year is up there shall be no more reference between us +to this money, and that we shall go on being good friends as before. +Leave it to me to make arrangements to acquit myself honourably of my +obligations towards you. I need say no more; till a year's up, mum's the +word." + +"It shall be as you desire, Maitre Quennebert," answered Madame Rapally, +her eyes shining with delight. "It was never my intention to lay you +under embarrassing obligations, and I leave it all to you. Do you know +that I am beginning to believe in presentiments?" + +"You becoming superstitious! Why, may I ask?" + +"I refused to do a nice little piece of ready-money business this +morning." + +"Did you?" + +"Yes, because I had a sort of feeling that made me resist all temptation +to leave myself without cash. Imagine! I received a visit to-day from a +great lady who lives in this house--in the suite of apartments next to +mine." + +"What is her name?" + +"Mademoiselle de Guerchi." + +"And what did she want with you?" + +"She called in order to ask me to buy, for four hundred livres, some of +her jewels which are well worth six hundred, for I understand such +things; or should I prefer it to lend her that sum and keep the jewels +as security? It appears that mademoiselle is in great straits. De +Guerchi--do you know the name?" + +"I think I have heard it." + +"They say she has had a stormy past, and has been greatly talked of; but +then half of what one hears is lies. Since she came to live here she has +been very quiet. No visitors except one--a nobleman, a duke--wait a +moment! What's his name? The Duc-Duc de Vitry; and for over three weeks +even he hasn't been near her. I imagine from this absence that they have +fallen out, and that she is beginning to feel the want of money." + +"You seem to be intimately acquainted with this young woman's affairs." + +"Indeed I am, and yet I never spoke to her till this morning." + +"How did you get your information, then?" + +"By chance. The room adjoining this and one of those she occupies were +formerly one large room, which is now divided into two by a partition +wall covered with tapestry; but in the two corners the plaster has +crumbled away with time, and one can see into the room through slits in +the tapestry without being seen oneself. Are you inquisitive?" + +"Not more than you, Madame Rapally." + +"Come with me. Someone knocked at the street door a few moments ago; +there's no one else in the douse likely to have visitors at this hour. +Perhaps her admirer has come back." + +"If so, we are going to witness a scene of recrimination or +reconciliation. How delightful!" + +Although he was not leaving the widow's lodgings, Maitre Quennebert took +up his hat and cloak and the blessed bag of crown pieces, and followed +Madame Rapally on tiptoe, who on her side moved as slowly as a tortoise +and as lightly as she could. They succeeded in turning the handle of the +door into the next room without making much noise. + +"'Sh!" breathed the widow softly; "listen, they are speaking." + +She pointed to the place where he would find a peep-hole in one corner +of the room, and crept herself towards the corresponding corner. +Quennebert, who was by no means anxious to have her at his side, +motioned to her to blow out the light. This being done, he felt secure, +for he knew that in the intense darkness which now enveloped them she +could not move from her place without knocking against the furniture +between them, so he glued his face to the partition. An opening just +large enough for one eye allowed him to see everything that was going on +in the next room. Just as he began his observations, the treasurer at +Mademoiselle de Guerchi's invitation was about to take a seat near her, +but not too near for perfect respect. Both of them were silent, and +appeared to labour under great embarrassment at finding themselves +together, and explanations did not readily begin. The lady had not an +idea of the motive of the visit, and her quondam lover feigned the +emotion necessary to the success of his undertaking. Thus Maitre +Quennebert had full time to examine both, and especially Angelique. The +reader will doubtless desire to know what was the result of the notary's +observation. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +ANGELIQUE-LOUISE DE GUERCHI was a woman of about twenty-eight years of +age, tall, dark, and well made. The loose life she had led had, it is +true, somewhat staled her beauty, marred the delicacy of her complexion, +and coarsened the naturally elegant curves of her figure; but it is such +women who from time immemorial have had the strongest attraction for +profligate men. It seems as if dissipation destroyed the power to +perceive true beauty, and the man of pleasure must be aroused to +admiration by a bold glance and a meaning smile, and will only seek +satisfaction along the trail left by vice. Louise-Angelique was +admirably adapted for her way of life; not that her features wore an +expression of shameless effrontery, or that the words that passed her +lips bore habitual testimony to the disorders of her existence, but that +under a calm and sedate demeanour there lurked a secret and indefinable +charm. Many other women possessed more regular features, but none of +them had a greater power of seduction. We must add that she owed that +power entirely to her physical perfections, for except in regard to the +devices necessary to her calling, she showed no cleverness, being +ignorant, dull and without inner resources of any kind. As her +temperament led her to share the desires she excited, she was really +incapable of resisting an attack conducted with skill and ardour, and if +the Duc de Vitry had not been so madly in love, which is the same as +saying that he was hopelessly blind, silly, and dense to everything +around him, he might have found a score of opportunities to overcome her +resistance. We have already seen that she was so straitened in money +matters that she had been driven to try to sell her jewels that very, +morning. + +Jeannin was the first to 'break silence. + +"You are astonished at my visit, I know, my charming Angelique. But you +must excuse my thus appearing so unexpectedly before you. The truth is, +I found it impossible to leave Paris without seeing you once more." + +"Thank you for your kind remembrance," said she, "but I did not at all +expect it." + +"Come, come, you are offended with me." + +She gave him a glance of mingled disdain and resentment; but he went on, +in a timid, wistful tone-- + +"I know that my conduct must have seemed strange to you, and I +acknowledge that nothing can justify a man for suddenly leaving the +woman he loves--I do not dare to say the woman who loves him--without a +word of explanation. But, dear Angelique, I was jealous." + +"Jealous!" she repeated incredulously. + +"I tried my best to overcome the feeling, and I hid my suspicions from +you. Twenty times I came to see you bursting with anger and determined +to overwhelm you with reproaches, but at the sight of your beauty I +forgot everything but that I loved you. My suspicions dissolved before a +smile; one word from your lips charmed me into happiness. But when I was +again alone my terrors revived, I saw my rivals at your feet, and rage +possessed me once more. Ah! you never knew how devotedly I loved you." + +She let him speak without interruption; perhaps the same thought was in +her mind as in Quennebert's, who, himself a past master in the art of +lying; was thinking-- + +"The man does not believe a word of what he is saying." + +But the treasurer went on-- + +"I can see that even now you doubt my sincerity." + +"Does my lord desire that his handmaiden should be blunt? Well, I know +that there is no truth in what you say." + +"Oh! I can see that you imagine that among the distractions of the world +I have kept no memory of you, and have found consolation in the love of +less obdurate fair ones. I have not broken in on your retirement; I have +not shadowed your steps; I have not kept watch on your actions; I have +not surrounded you with spies who would perhaps have brought me the +assurance, 'If she quitted the world which outraged her, she was not +driven forth by an impulse of wounded pride or noble indignation; she +did not even seek to punish those who misunderstood her by her absence; +she buried herself where she was unknown, that she might indulge in +stolen loves.' Such were the thoughts that came to me, and yet I +respected your hiding-place; and to-day I am ready to believe you true, +if you will merely say, 'I love no one else!'" + +Jeannin, who was as fat as a stage financier, paused here to gasp; for +the utterance of this string of banalities, this rigmarole of +commonplaces, had left him breathless. He was very much dissatisfied +with his performance; and ready to curse his barren imagination. He +longed to hit upon swelling phrases and natural and touching gestures, +but in vain. He could only look at Mademoiselle de Guerchi with a +miserable, heart-broken air. She remained quietly seated, with the same +expression of incredulity on her features. + +So there was nothing for it but to go on once more. + +"But this one assurance that I ask you will not give. So what I +have--been told is true: you have given your love to him." + +She could not check a startled movement. + +"You see it is only when I speak of him that I can overcome in you the +insensibility which is killing me. My suspicions were true after all: +you deceived me for his sake. Oh! the instinctive feeling of jealousy +was right which forced me to quarrel with that man, to reject the +perfidious friendship which he tried to force upon me. He has returned +to town, and we shall meet! But why do I say 'returned'? Perhaps he only +pretended to go away, and safe in this retreat has flouted with +impunity, my despair and braved my vengeance!" + +Up to this the lady had played a waiting game, but now she grew quite +confused, trying to discover the thread of the treasurer's thoughts. To +whom did he refer? The Duc de Vitry? That had been her first impression. +But the duke had only been acquainted with her for a few months--since +she had--left Court. He could not therefore have excited the jealousy of +her whilom lover; and if it were not he, to whom did the words about +rejecting "perfidious friendship," and "returned to town," and so on, +apply? Jeannin divined her embarrassment, and was not a little proud of +the tactics which would, he was almost sure; force her to expose +herself. For there are certain women who can be thrown into cruel +perplexity by speaking to them of their love-passages without affixing a +proper name label to each. They are placed as it were on the edge of an +abyss, and forced to feel their way in darkness. To say "You have loved" +almost obliges them to ask "Whom?" + +Nevertheless, this was not the word uttered by Mademoiselle de Guerchi +while she ran through in her head a list of possibilities. Her answer +was-- + +"Your language astonishes me; I don't understand what you mean." + +The ice was broken, and the treasurer made a plunge. Seizing one of +Angelique's hands, he asked-- + +"Have you never seen Commander de Jars since then?" + +"Commander de Jars!" exclaimed Angelique. + +"Can you swear to me, Angelique, that you love him not?" + +"Mon Dieu! What put it into your head that I ever cared for him? It's +over four months since I saw him last, and I hadn't an idea whether he +was alive or dead. So he has been out of town? That's the first I heard +of it." + +"My fortune is yours, Angelique! Oh! assure me once again that you do +not love him--that you never loved him!" he pleaded in a faltering +voice, fixing a look of painful anxiety upon her. + +He had no intention of putting her out of countenance by the course he +took; he knew quite well that a woman like Angelique is never more at +her ease than when she has a chance of telling an untruth of this +nature. Besides, he had prefaced this appeal by the magic words, "My +fortune' is yours!" and the hope thus aroused was well worth a perjury. +So she answered boldly and in a steady voice, while she looked straight +into his eyes-- + +"Never!" + +"I believe you!" exclaimed Jeannin, going down on his knees and covering +with his kisses the hand he still held. "I can taste happiness again. +Listen, Angelique. I am leaving Paris; my mother is dead, and I am going +back to Spain. Will you follow me thither?" + +"I---follow you?" + +"I hesitated long before finding you out, so much did I fear a repulse. +I set out to-morrow. Quit Paris, leave the world which has slandered +you, and come with me. In a fortnight we shall be man and wife." + +"You are not in earnest!" + +"May I expire at your feet if I am not! Do you want me to sign the oath +with my blood?" + +"Rise," she said in a broken voice. "Have I at last found a man to love +me and compensate me for all the abuse that has been showered on my +head? A thousand times I thank you, not for what you are doing for me, +but for the balm you pour on my wounded spirit. Even if you were to say +to me now, 'After all, I am obliged to give you up' the pleasure of +knowing you esteem me would make up for all the rest. It would be +another happy memory to treasure along with my memory of our love, which +was ineffaceable, although you so ungratefully suspected me of having +deceived you." + +The treasurer appeared fairly intoxicated with joy. He indulged in a +thousand ridiculous extravagances and exaggerations, and declared +himself the happiest of men. Mademoiselle de Guerchi, who was desirous +of being prepared for every peril, asked him in a coaxing tone-- + +"Who can have put it into your head to be jealous of the commander? Has +he been base enough to boast that I ever gave him my love?" + +"No, he never said anything about you; but someway I was afraid." + +She renewed her assurances. The conversation continued some time in a +sentimental tone. A thousand oaths, a thousand protestations of love +were, exchanged. Jeannin feared that the suddenness of their journey +would inconvenience his mistress, and offered to put it off for some +days; but to this she would not consent, and it was arranged that the +next day at noon a carriage should call at the house and take Angelique +out of town to an appointed place at which the treasurer was to join +her. + +Maitre Quennebert, eye and ear on the alert, had not lost a word of this +conversation, and the last proposition of the treasurer changed his +ideas. + +"Pardieu!" he said to himself, "it looks as if this good man were really +going to let himself be taken in and done for. It is singular how very +clear-sighted we can be about things that don't touch us. This poor fly +is going to let himself be caught by a very clever spider, or I'm much +mistaken. Very likely my widow is quite of my opinion, and yet in what +concerns herself she will remain stone-blind. Well, such is life! We +have only two parts to choose between: we must be either knave or fool. +What's Madame Rapally doing, I wonder?" + +At this moment he heard a stifled whisper from the opposite corner of +the room, but, protected by the distance and the darkness, he let the +widow murmur on, and applied his eye once more to his peephole. What he +saw confirmed his opinion. The damsel was springing up and down, +laughing, gesticulating, and congratulating herself on her unexpected +good fortune. + +"Just imagine! He loves me like that!" she was saying to herself. "Poor +Jeannin! When I remember how I used to hesitate. How fortunate that +Commander de Jars, one of the most vain and indiscreet of men, never +babbled about me! Yes, we must leave town to-morrow without fail. I must +not give him time to be enlightened by a chance word. But the Duc de +Vitry? I am really sorry for him. However, why did he go away, and send +no word? And then, he's a married man. Ah! if I could only get back +again to court some day!... Who would ever have expected such a thing? +Good God! I must keep talking to myself, to be sure I'm not dreaming. +Yes, he was there, just now, at my feet, saying to me, 'Angelique, you +are going to become my wife.' One thing is sure, he may safely entrust +his honour to my care. It would be infamous to betray a man who loves me +as he does, who will give me his name. Never, no, never will I give him +cause to reproach me! I would rather----" + +A loud and confused noise on the stairs interrupted this soliloquy. At +one moment bursts of laughter were heard, and the next angry voices. +Then a loud exclamation, followed by a short silence. Being alarmed at +this disturbance in a house which was usually so quiet, Mademoiselle de +Guerchi approached the door of her room, intending either to call for +protection or to lock herself in, when suddenly it was violently pushed +open. She recoiled with fright, exclaiming-- + +"Commander de Jars!" + +"On my word!" said Quennebert behind the arras, "'tis as amusing as a +play! Is the commander also going to offer to make an honest woman of +her? But what do I see?" + +He had just caught sight of the young man on whom de Jars had bestowed +the title and name of Chevalier de Moranges, and whose acquaintance the +reader has already made at the tavern in the rue Saint-Andre-des-Arts. +His appearance had as great an effect on the notary as a thunderbolt. He +stood motionless, trembling, breathless; his knees ready to give way +beneath him; everything black before his eyes. However, he soon pulled +himself together, and succeeded in overcoming the effects of his +surprise and terror. He looked once more through the hole in the +partition, and became so absorbed that no one in the whole world could +have got a word from him just then; the devil himself might have +shrieked into his ears unheeded, and a naked sword suspended over his +head would not have induced him to change his place. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +Before Mademoiselle de Guerchi had recovered from her fright the +commander spoke. + +"As I am a gentleman, my beauty, if you were the Abbess of Montmartre, +you could not be more difficult of access. I met a blackguard on the +stairs who tried to stop me, and whom I was obliged to thrash soundly. +Is what they told me on my return true? Are you really doing penance, +and do you intend to take the veil?" + +"Sir," answered Angelique, with great dignity, "whatever may be my +plans, I have a right to be surprised at your violence and at your +intrusion at such an hour." + +"Before we go any farther," said de Jars, twirling round on his heels, +"allow me to present to you my nephew, the Chevalier de Moranges." + +"Chevalier de Moranges!" muttered Quennebert, on whose memory in that +instant the name became indelibly engraven. + +"A young man," continued the commander, "who has come back with me from +abroad. Good style, as you see, charming appearance. Now, you young +innocent, lift up your great black eyes and kiss madame's hand; I allow +it." + +"Monsieur le commandeur, leave my room; begone, or I shall call----" + +"Whom, then? Your lackeys? But I have beaten the only one you keep, as I +told you, and it will be some time before he'll be in a condition to +light me downstairs: 'Begone,' indeed! Is that the way you receive an +old friend? Pray be seated, chevalier." + +He approached Mademoiselle de Guerchi, and, despite her resistance, +seized hold of one of her hands, and forcing her to sit down, seated +himself beside her. + +"That's right, my girl," said he; "now let us talk sense. I understand +that before a stranger you consider yourself obliged to appear +astonished at my ways of going on. But he knows all about us, and +nothing he may see or hear will surprise him. So a truce to prudery! I +came back yesterday, but I could not make out your hiding-place till +to-day. Now I'm not going to ask you to tell me how you have gone on in +my absence. God and you alone know, and while He will tell me nothing, +you would only tell me fibs, and I want to save you from that venial sin +at least. But here I am, in as good spirits as ever, more in love than +ever, and quite ready to resume my old habits." + +Meantime the lady, quite subdued by his noisy entrance and ruffianly +conduct, and seeing that an assumption of dignity would only draw down +on her some fresh impertinence, appeared to resign herself to her +position. All this time Quennebert never took his eyes from the +chevalier, who sat with his face towards the partition. His elegantly +cut costume accentuated his personal advantages. His jet black hair +brought into relief the whiteness of his forehead; his large dark eyes +with their veined lids and silky lashes had a penetrating and peculiar +expression--a mixture of audacity and weakness; his thin and somewhat +pale lips were apt to curl in an ironical smile; his hands were of +perfect beauty, his feet of dainty smallness, and he showed with an +affectation of complaisance a well-turned leg above his ample boots, the +turned down tops of which, garnished with lace, fell in irregular folds +aver his ankles in the latest fashion. He did not appear to be more than +eighteen years of age, and nature had denied his charming face the +distinctive sign of his sex for not the slightest down was visible on +his chin, though a little delicate pencilling darkened his upper lip: +His slightly effeminate style of beauty, the graceful curves of his +figure, his expression, sometimes coaxing, sometimes saucy, reminding +one of a page, gave him the appearance of a charming young scapegrace +destined to inspire sudden passions and wayward fancies. While his +pretended uncle was making himself at home most unceremoniously, +Quennebert remarked that the chevalier at once began to lay siege to his +fair hostess, bestowing tender and love-laden glances on her behind that +uncle's back. This redoubled his curiosity. + +"My dear girl," said the commander, "since I saw you last I have come +into a fortune of one hundred thousand livres, neither more nor less. +One of my dear aunts took it into her head to depart this life, and her +temper being crotchety and spiteful she made me her sole heir, in order +to enrage those of her relatives who had nursed her in her illness. One +hundred thousand livres! It's a round sum--enough to cut a great figure +with for two years. If you like, we shall squander it together, capital +and interest. Why do you not speak? Has anyone else robbed me by any +chance of your heart? If that were so, I should be in despair, upon my +word-for the sake of the fortunate individual who had won your favour; +for I will brook no rivals, I give you fair warning." + +"Monsieur le commandeur," answered Angelique, "you forget, in speaking +to me in that manner, I have never given you any right to control my +actions." + +"Have we severed our connection?" + +At this singular question Angelique started, but de Jars continued-- + +"When last we parted we were on the best of terms, were we not? I know +that some months have elapsed since then, but I have explained to you +the reason of my absence. Before filling up the blank left by the +departed we must give ourselves space to mourn. Well, was I right in my +guess? Have you given me a successor?" + +Mademoiselle de Guerchi had hitherto succeeded in controlling her +indignation, and had tried to force herself to drink the bitter cup of +humiliation to the dregs; but now she could bear it no longer. Having +thrown a look expressive of her suffering at the young chevalier, who +continued to ogle her with great pertinacity, she decided on bursting +into tears, and in a voice broken by sobs she exclaimed that she was +miserable at being treated in this manner, that she did not deserve it, +and that Heaven was punishing her for her error in yielding to the +entreaties of the commander. One would have sworn she was sincere and +that the words came from her heart. If Maitre Quennebert had not +witnessed the scene with Jeannin, if he had not known how frail was the +virtue of the weeping damsel, he might have been affected by her +touching plaint. The chevalier appeared to be deeply moved by +Angelique's grief, and while his, uncle was striding up and down the +room and swearing like a trooper, he gradually approached her and +expressed by signs the compassion he felt. + +Meantime the notary was in a strange state of mind. He had not yet made +up his mind whether the whole thing was a joke arranged between de Jars +and Jeannin or not, but of one thing he was quite convinced, the +sympathy which Chevalier de Moranges was expressing by passionate sighs +and glances was the merest hypocrisy. Had he been alone, nothing would +have prevented his dashing head foremost into this imbroglio, in scorn +of consequence, convinced that his appearance would be as terrible in +its effect as the head of Medusa. But the presence of the widow +restrained him. Why ruin his future and dry up the golden spring which +had just begun to gush before his eyes, for the sake of taking part in a +melodrama? Prudence and self-interest kept him in the side scenes. + +The tears of the fair one and the glances of the chevalier awoke no +repentance in the breast of the commander; on the contrary, he began to +vent his anger in terms still more energetic. He strode up and down the +oaken floor till it shook under his spurred heels; he stuck his plumed +hat on the side of his head, and displayed the manners of a bully in a +Spanish comedy. Suddenly he seemed to have come to a swift resolution: +the expression of his face changed from rage to icy coldness, and +walking up to Angelique, he said, with a composure more terrible than +the wildest fury-- + +"My rival's name?" + +"You shall never learn it from me!" + +"Madame, his name?" + +"Never! I have borne your insults too long. I am not responsible to you +for my actions." + +"Well, I shall learn it, in spite of you, and I know to whom to apply. +Do you think you can play fast and loose with me and my love? No, no! I +used to believe in you; I turned, a deaf ear to your traducers. My mad +passion for you became known; I was the jest and the butt of the town. +But you have opened my eyes, and at last I see clearly on whom my +vengeance ought to fall. He was formerly my friend, and I would believe +nothing against him; although I was often warned, I took no notice. But +now I will seek him out, and say to him, 'You have stolen what was mine; +you are a scoundrel! It must be your life, or mine!' And if, there is +justice in heaven, I shall kill him! Well, madame, you don't ask me the +name of this man! You well know whom I mean!" + +This threat brought home to Mademoiselle de Guerchi how imminent was her +danger. At first she had thought the commander's visit might be a snare +laid to test her, but the coarseness of his expressions, the cynicism of +his overtures in the presence of a third person, had convinced her she +was wrong. No man could have imagined that the revolting method of +seduction employed could meet with success, and if the commander had +desired to convict her of perfidy he would have come alone and made use +of more persuasive weapons. No, he believed he still had claims on her, +but even if he had, by his manner of enforcing them he had rendered them +void. However, the moment he threatened to seek out a rival whose +identity he designated quite clearly, and reveal to him the secret it +was so necessary to her interests to keep hidden, the poor girl lost her +head. She looked at de Jars with a frightened expression, and said in a +trembling voice-- + +"I don't know whom you mean." + +"You don't know? Well, I shall commission the king's treasurer, Jeannin +de Castille, to come here to-morrow and tell you, an hour before our +duel." + +"Oh no! no! Promise me you will not do that!" cried she, clasping her +hands. + +"Adieu, madame." + +"Do not leave me thus! I cannot let you go till you give me your +promise!" + +She threw herself on her knees and clung with both her hands to de Jars' +cloak, and appealing to Chevalier de Moranges, said-- + +"You are young, monsieur; I have never done you any harm; protect me, +have pity on me, help me to soften him!" + +"Uncle," said the chevalier in a pleading tone, "be generous, and don't +drive this woman to despair." + +"Prayers are useless!" answered the commander. + +"What do you want me to do?" said Angelique. "Shall I go into a convent +to atone? I am ready to go. Shall I promise never to see him again? For +God's sake, give me a little time; put off your vengeance for one single +day! To-morrow evening, I swear to you, you will have nothing more to +fear from me. I thought myself forgotten by you and abandoned; and how +should I think otherwise? You left me without a word of farewell, you +stayed away and never sent me a line! And how do you know that I did not +weep when you deserted me, leaving me to pass my days in monotonous +solitude? How do you know that I did not make every effort to find out +why you were so long absent from my side? You say you had left town but +how was I to know that? Oh! promise me, if you love me, to give up this +duel! Promise me not to seek that man out to-morrow!" + +The poor creature hoped to work wonders with her eloquence, her tears, +her pleading glances. On hearing her prayer for a reprieve of +twenty-four hours, swearing that after that she would never see Jeannin +again, the commander and the chevalier were obliged to bite their lips +to keep from laughing outright. But the former soon regained his +self-possession, and while Angelique, still on her knees before him, +pressed his hands to her bosom, he forced her to raise her head, and +looking straight into her eyes, said-- + +"To-morrow, madame, if not this evening, he shall know everything, and a +meeting shall take place." + +Then pushing her away, he strode towards the door. + +"Oh! how unhappy I am!" exclaimed Angelique. + +She tried to rise and rush after him, but whether she was really +overcome by her feelings, or whether she felt the one chance of +prevailing left her was to faint, she uttered a heartrending cry, and +the chevalier had no choice but to support her sinking form. + +De Jars, on seeing his nephew staggering under this burden, gave a loud +laugh, and hurried away. Two minutes later he was once more at the +tavern in the rue Saint-Andre-des-Arts. + +"How's this? Alone?" said Jeannin. + +"Alone." + +"What have you done with the chevalier?" + +"I left him with our charmer, who was unconscious, overcome with grief, +exhausted Ha! ha! ha! She fell fainting into his arms! Ha! ha! ha!" + +"It's quite possible that the young rogue, being left with her in such a +condition, may cut me out." + +"Do you think so?--Ha! ha! ha!" + +And de Jars laughed so heartily and so infectiously that his worthy +friend was obliged to join in, and laughed till he choked. + +In the short silence which followed the departure of the commander, +Maitre Quennebert could hear the widow still murmuring something, but he +was less disposed than ever to attend to her. + +"On my word," said he, "the scene now going on is more curious than all +that went before. I don't think that a man has ever found himself in +such a position as mine. Although my interests demand that I remain here +and listen, yet my fingers are itching to box the ears of that Chevalier +de Moranges. If there were only some way of getting at a proof of all +this! Ah! now we shall hear something; the hussy is coming to herself." + +And indeed Angelique had opened her eyes and was casting wild looks +around her; she put her hand to her brow several times, as if trying to +recall clearly what had happened. + +"Is he gone?" she exclaimed at last. "Oh, why did you let him go? You +should not have minded me, but kept him here." + +"Be calm," answered the chevalier, "be calm, for heaven's sake. I shall +speak to my uncle and prevent his ruining your prospects. Only don't +weep any more, your tears break my heart. Ah, my God! how cruel it is to +distress you so! I should never be able to withstand your tears; no +matter what reason I had for anger, a look from you would make me +forgive you everything." + +"Noble young man!" said Angelique. + +"Idiot!" muttered Maitre Quennebert; "swallow the honey of his words, do +But how the deuce is it going to end? Not Satan himself ever invented +such a situation." + +"But then I could never believe you guilty without proof, irrefutable +proof; and even then a word from you would fill my mind with doubt and +uncertainty again. Yes, were the whole world to accuse you and swear to +your guilt, I should still believe your simple word. I am young, madam, +I have never known love as yet--until an instant ago I had no idea that +more quickly than an image can excite the admiration of the eye, a +thought can enter the heart and stir it to its depths, and features that +one may never again behold leave a lifelong memory behind. But even if a +woman of whom I knew absolutely nothing were to appeal to me, +exclaiming, 'I implore your help, your protection!' I should, without +stopping to consider, place my sword and my arm at her disposal, and +devote myself to her service. How much more eagerly would I die for you, +madam, whose beauty has ravished my heart! What do you demand of me? +Tell me what you desire me to do." + +"Prevent this duel; don't allow an interview to take place between your +uncle and the man whom he mentioned. Tell me you will do this, and I +shall be safe; for you have never learned to lie; I know." + +"Of course he hasn't, you may be sure of that, you simpleton!" muttered +Maitre Quennebert in his corner. "If you only knew what a mere novice +you are at that game compared with the chevalier! If you only knew whom +you had before you!" + +"At your age," went on Angelique, "one cannot feign--the heart is not +yet hardened, and is capable of compassion. But a dreadful idea occurs +to me--a horrible suspicion! Is it all a devilish trick--a snare +arranged in joke? Tell me that it is not all a pretence! A poor woman +encounters so much perfidy. Men amuse themselves by troubling her heart +and confusing her mind; they excite her vanity, they compass her round +with homage, with flattery, with temptation, and when they grow tired of +fooling her, they despise and insult her. Tell me, was this all a +preconcerted plan? This love, this jealousy, were they only acted?" + +"Oh, madame," broke in the chevalier, with an expression of the deepest +indignation, "how can you for an instant imagine that a human heart +could be so perverted? I am not acquainted with the man whom the +commander accused you of loving, but whoever he may be I feel sure that +he is worthy of your love, and that he would never have consented to +such a dastardly joke. Neither would my uncle; his jealousy mastered him +and drove him mad-- + +"But I am not dependent on him; I am my own master, and can do as I +please. I will hinder this duel; I will not allow the illusion and +ignorance of him who loves you and, alas that I must say it, whom you +love, to be dispelled, for it is in them he finds his happiness. Be +happy with him! As for me, I shall never see you again; but the +recollection of this meeting, the joy of having served you, will be my +consolation." + +Angelique raised her beautiful eyes, and gave the chevalier a long look +which expressed her gratitude more eloquently than words. + +"May I be hanged!" thought Maitre Quennebert, "if the baggage isn't +making eyes at him already! But one who is drowning clutches at a +straw." + +"Enough, madam," said the chevalier; "I understand all you would say. +You thank me in his name, and ask me to leave you: I obey-yes, madame, I +am going; at the risk of my life I will prevent this meeting, I will +stifle this fatal revelation. But grant me one last prayer-permit me to +look forward to seeing you once more before I leave this city, to which +I wish I had never come. But I shall quit it in a day or two, to-morrow +perhaps--as soon as I know that your happiness is assured. Oh! do not +refuse my last request; let the light of your eyes shine on me for the +last time; after that I shall depart--I shall fly far away for ever. But +if perchance, in spite of every effort, I fail, if the commander's +jealousy should make him impervious to my entreaties--to my tears, if he +whom you love should come and overwhelm you with reproaches and then +abandon you, would you drive me from your presence if I should then say, +'I love you'? Answer me, I beseech you." + +"Go!" said she, "and prove worthy of my gratitude--or my love." + +Seizing one of her hands, the chevalier covered it with passionate +kisses. + +"Such barefaced impudence surpasses everything I could have imagined!" +murmured Quennebert: "fortunately, the play is over for to-night; if it +had gone on any longer, I should have done something foolish. The lady +hardly imagines what the end of the comedy will be." + +Neither did Quennebert. It was an evening of adventures. It was written +that in the space of two hours Angelique was to run the gamut of all the +emotions, experience all the vicissitudes to which a life such as she +led is exposed: hope, fear, happiness, mortification, falsehood, love +that was no love, intrigue within intrigue, and, to crown all, a totally +unexpected conclusion. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +The chevalier was still holding Angelique's hand when a step resounded +outside, and a voice was heard. + +"Can it be that he has come back?" exclaimed the damsel, hastily freeing +herself from the passionate embrace of the chevalier. "It's not +possible! Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu! it's his voice!" + +She grew pale to the lips, and stood staring at the door with +outstretched arms, unable to advance or recede. + +The chevalier listened, but felt sure the approaching voice belonged +neither to the commander nor to the treasurer. + +"'His voice'?" thought Quennebert to himself. "Can this be yet another +aspirant to her favour?" + +The sound came nearer. + +"Hide yourself!" said Angelique, pointing to a door opposite to the +partition behind which the widow and the notary were ensconced. "Hide +yourself there!--there's a secret staircase--you can get out that way." + +"I hide myself!" exclaimed Moranges, with a swaggering air. "What are +you thinking of? I remain." + +It would have been better for him to have followed her advice, as may +very well have occurred to the youth two minutes later, as a tall, +muscular young man entered in a state of intense excitement. Angelique +rushed to meet him, crying-- + +"Ah! Monsieur le duc, is it you?" + +"What is this I hear, Angelique?" said the Duc de Vitry. "I was told +below that three men had visited you this evening; but only two have +gone out--where is the third? Ha! I do not need long to find him," he +added, as he caught sight of the chevalier, who stood his ground bravely +enough. + +"In Heaven's name!" cried Angelique,--"in Heaven's name, listen to me!" + +"No, no, not a word. Just now I am not questioning you. Who are you, +sir?" + +The chevalier's teasing and bantering disposition made him even at that +critical moment insensible to fear, so he retorted insolently-- + +"Whoever I please to be, sir; and on my word I find the tone in which +you put your question delightfully amusing." + +The duke sprang forward in a rage, laying his hand on his sword. +Angelique tried in vain to restrain him. + +"You want to screen him from my vengeance, you false one!" said he, +retreating a few steps, so as to guard the door. "Defend your life, +sir!" + +"Do you defend yours!" + +Both drew at the same moment. + +Two shrieks followed, one in the room, the other behind the tapestry, +for neither Angelique nor the widow had been able to restrain her alarm +as the two swords flashed in air. In fact the latter had been so +frightened that she fell heavily to the floor in a faint. + +This incident probably saved the young man's life; his blood had already +begun to run cold at the sight of his adversary foaming with rage and +standing between him and the door, when the noise of the fall distracted +the duke's attention. + +"What was that?" he cried. "Are there other enemies concealed here too?" +And forgetting that he was leaving a way of escape free, he rushed in +the direction from which the sound came, and lunged at the +tapestry-covered partition with his sword. Meantime the chevalier, +dropping all his airs of bravado, sprang from one end of the room to the +other like a cat pursued by a dog; but rapid as were his movements, the +duke perceived his flight, and dashed after him at the risk of breaking +both his own neck and the chevalier's by a chase through unfamiliar +rooms and down stairs which were plunged in darkness. + +All this took place in a few seconds, like a flash of lightning. Twice, +with hardly any interval, the street door opened and shut noisily, and +the two enemies were in the street, one pursued and the other pursuing. + +"My God! Just to think of all that has happened is enough to make one +die of fright!" said Mademoiselle de Guerchi. "What will come next, I +should like to know? And what shall I say to the duke when he comes +back?" + +Just at this instant a loud cracking sound was heard in the room. +Angelique stood still, once more struck with terror, and recollecting +the cry she had heard. Her hair, which was already loosened, escaped +entirely from its bonds, and she felt it rise on her head as the figures +on the tapestry moved and bent towards her. Falling on her knees and +closing her eyes, she began to invoke the aid of God and all the saints. +But she soon felt herself raised by strong arms, and looking round, she +found herself in the presence of an unknown man, who seemed to have +issued from the ground or the walls, and who, seizing the only light +left unextinguished in the scuffle, dragged her more dead than alive +into the next room. + +This man was, as the reader will have already guessed, Maitre +Quennebert. As soon as the chevalier and the duke had disappeared, the +notary had run towards the corner where the widow lay, and having made +sure that she was really unconscious, and unable to see or hear +anything, so that it would be quite safe to tell her any story he +pleased next day, he returned to his former position, and applying his +shoulder to the partition, easily succeeded in freeing the ends of the +rotten laths from the nails which held there, and, pushing them before +him, made an aperture large enough to allow of his passing through into +the next apartment. He applied himself to this task with such vigour, +and became so absorbed in its accomplishment, that he entirely forgot +the bag of twelve hundred livres which the widow had given him. + +"Who are you? What do you want with me?" cried Mademoiselle de Guerchi, +struggling to free herself. + +"Silence!" was Quennebert's answer. + +"Don't kill me, for pity's sake!" + +"Who wants to kill you? But be silent; I don't want your shrieks to call +people here. I must be alone with you for a few moments. Once more I +tell you to be quiet, unless you want me to use violence. If you do what +I tell you, no harm shall happen to you." + +"But who are you, monsieur?" + +"I am neither a burglar nor a murderer; that's all you need to know; the +rest is no concern of yours. Have you writing materials at hand?" + +"Yes, monsieur; there they are, on that table." + +"Very well. Now sit down at the table." + +"Why?" + +"Sit down, and answer my questions." + +"The first man who visited you this evening was M. Jeannin, was he not?" + +"Yes, M. Jeannin de Castille." + +"The king's treasurer?" + +"Yes." + +"All right. The second was Commander de Jars, and the young man he +brought with him was his nephew, the Chevalier de Moranges. The last +comer was a duke; am I not right?" + +"The Duc de Vitry." + +"Now write from my dictation." + +He spoke very slowly, and Mademoiselle de Guerchi, obeying his commands, +took up her pen. + +"'To-day,'" dictated Quennebert,--"'to-day, this twentieth day of the +month of November, in the year of the Lord 1658, I-- + +"What is your full name?" + +"Angelique-Louise de Guerchi." + +"Go on! 'I, Angelique-Louise de Guerchi, was visited, in the rooms +which--I occupy, in the mansion of the Duchesse d'Etampes, corner of the +streets Git-le-Coeur and du Hurepoix, about half-past seven o'clock in +the evening, in the first place, by Messire Jeannin de Castille, King's +Treasurer; in the second place, by Commander de Jars, who was +accompanied by a young man, his nephew, the Chevalier de Moranges; in +the third place, after the departure of Commander de Jars, and while I +was alone with the Chevalier de Moranges, by the Duc de Vitry, who drew +his sword upon the said chevalier and forced him to take flight.' + +"Now put in a line by itself, and use capitals "'DESCRIPTION OF THE +CHEVALIER DE MORANGES." + +"But I only saw him for an instant," said Angelique, "and I can't +recall---- + +"Write, and don't talk. I can recall everything, and that is all that is +wanted." + +"'Height about five feet.' The chevalier," said Quennebert, interrupting +himself, "is four feet eleven inches three lines and a half, but I don't +need absolute exactness." Angelique gazed at him in utter stupefaction. + +"Do you know him, then?" she asked. + +"I saw him this evening for the first time, but my eye is very accurate. + +"'Height about five feet; hair black, eyes ditto, nose aquiline, mouth +large, lips compressed, forehead high, face oval, complexion pale, no +beard.' + +"Now another line, and in capitals: "'SPECIAL MARKS.' + +"'A small mole on the neck behind the right ear, a smaller mole on the +left hand.' + +"Have you written that? Now sign it with your full name." + +"What use are you going to make of this paper?" + +"I should have told you before, if I had desired you to know. Any +questions are quite useless. I don't enjoin secrecy on you, however," +added the notary, as he folded the paper and put it into his doublet +pocket. "You are quite free to tell anyone you like that you have +written the description of the Chevalier de Moranges at the dictation of +an unknown man, who got into your room you don't know how, by the +chimney or through the ceiling perhaps, but who was determined to leave +it by a more convenient road. Is there not a secret staircase? Show me +where it is. I don't want to meet anyone on my way out." + +Angelique pointed out a door to him hidden by a damask curtain, and +Quennebert saluting her, opened it and disappeared, leaving Angelique +convinced that she had seen the devil in person. Not until the next day +did the sight of the displaced partition explain the apparition, but +even then so great was her fright, so deep was the terror which the +recollection of the mysterious man inspired, that despite the permission +to tell what had happened she mentioned her adventure to no one, and did +not even complain to her neighbour, Madame Rapally, of the +inquisitiveness which had led the widow to spy on her actions. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +We left de Jars and Jeannin, roaring with laughter, in the tavern in the +rue Saint Andre-des-Arts. + +"What!" said the treasurer, "do you really think that Angelique thought +I was in earnest in my offer?--that she believes in all good faith I +intend to marry her?" + +"You may take my word for it. If it were not so, do you imagine she +would have been in such desperation? Would she have fainted at my threat +to tell you that I had claims on her as well as you? To get married! +Why, that is the goal of all such creatures, and there is not one of +them who can understand why a man of honour should blush to give her his +name. If you had only seen her terror, her tears! They would have either +broken your heart or killed you with laughter." + +"Well," said Jeannin, "it is getting late. Are we going to wait for the +chevalier?" + +"Let us call, for him." + +"Very well. Perhaps he has made up his mind to stay. If so, we shall +make a horrible scene, cry treachery and perjury, and trounce your +nephew well. Let's settle our score and be off." + +They left the wine-shop, both rather the worse for the wine they had so +largely indulged in. They felt the need of the cool night air, so +instead of going down the rue Pavee they resolved to follow the rue +Saint-Andre-des-Arts as far as the Pont Saint-Michel, so as to reach the +mansion by a longer route. + +At the very moment the commander got up to leave the tavern the +chevalier had run out of the mansion at the top of his speed. It was not +that he had entirely lost his courage, for had he found it impossible to +avoid his assailant it is probable that he would have regained the +audacity which had led him to draw his sword. But he was a novice in the +use of arms, had not reached full physical development, and felt that +the chances were so much against him that he would only have faced the +encounter if there were no possible way of escape. On leaving the house +he had turned quickly into the rue Git-le-Coeur; but on hearing the door +close behind his pursuer he disappeared down the narrow and crooked rue +de l'Hirondelle, hoping to throw the Duc de Vitry off the scent. The +duke, however, though for a moment in doubt, was guided by the sound of +the flying footsteps. The chevalier, still trying to send him off on a +false trail, turned to the right, and so regained the upper end of the +rue Saint-Andre, and ran along it as far as the church, the site of +which is occupied by the square of the same name to-day. Here he thought +he would be safe, for, as the church was being restored and enlarged, +heaps of stone stood all round the old pile. He glided in among these, +and twice heard Vitry searching quite close to him, and each time stood +on guard expecting an onslaught. This marching and counter-marching +lasted for some minutes; the chevalier began to hope he had escaped the +danger, and eagerly waited for the moment when the moon which had broken +through the clouds should again withdraw behind them, in order to steal +into some of the adjacent streets under cover of the darkness. Suddenly +a shadow rose before him and a threatening voice cried-- + +"Have I caught you at last, you coward?" + +The danger in which the chevalier stood awoke in him a flickering +energy, a feverish courage, and he crossed blades with his assailant. A +strange combat ensued, of which the result was quite uncertain, +depending entirely on chance; for no science was of any avail on a +ground so rough that the combatants stumbled at every step, or struck +against immovable masses, which were one moment clearly lit up, and the +next in shadow. Steel clashed on steel, the feet of the adversaries +touched each other, several times the cloak of one was pierced by the +sword of the other, more than once the words "Die then!" rang out. But +each time the seemingly vanquished combatant sprang up unwounded, as +agile and as lithe and as quick as ever, while he in his turn pressed +the enemy home. There was neither truce nor pause, no clever feints nor +fencer's tricks could be employed on either side; it was a mortal +combat, but chance, not skill, would deal the death-blow. Sometimes a +rapid pass encountered only empty air; sometimes blade crossed blade +above the wielders' heads; sometimes the fencers lunged at each other's +breast, and yet the blows glanced aside at the last moment and the +blades met in air once more. At last, however, one of the two, making a +pass to the right which left his breast unguarded, received a deep +wound. Uttering a loud cry, he recoiled a step or two, but, exhausted by +the effort, tripped and fell backward over a large stone, and lay there +motionless, his arms extended in the form of a cross. + +The other turned and fled. + +"Hark, de Jars!" said Jeannin, stopping, "There's fighting going on +hereabouts; I hear the clash of swords." + +Both listened intently. + +"I hear nothing now." + +"Hush! there it goes again. It's by the church." + +"What a dreadful cry!" + +They ran at full speed towards the place whence it seemed to come, but +found only solitude, darkness, and silence. They looked in every +direction. + +"I can't see a living soul," said Jeannin, "and I very much fear that +the poor devil who gave that yell has mumbled his last prayer." + +"I don't know why I tremble so," replied de Jars; "that heart-rending +cry made me shiver from head to foot. Was it not something like the +chevalier's voice?" + +"The chevalier is with La Guerchi, and even if he had left her this +would not have been his way to rejoin us. Let us go on and leave the +dead in peace." + +"Look, Jeannin! what is that in front of us?" + +"On that stone? A man who has fallen!" + +"Yes, and bathed in blood," exclaimed de Jars, who had darted to his +side. "Ah! it's he! it's he! Look, his eyes are closed, his hands cold! +My child he does not hear me! Oh, who has murdered him?" + +He fell on his knees, and threw himself on the body with every mark of +the most violent despair. + +"Come, come," said Jeannin, surprised at such an explosion of grief from +a man accustomed to duels, and who on several similar occasions had been +far from displaying much tenderness of heart, "collect yourself, and +don't give way like a woman. Perhaps the wound is not mortal. Let us try +to stop the bleeding and call for help." + +"No, no--" + +"Are you mad?" + +"Don't call, for Heaven's sake! The wound is here, near the heart. Your +handkerchief, Jeannin, to arrest the flow of blood. There--now help me +to lift him." + +"What does that mean?" cried Jeannin, who had just laid his hand on the +chevalier. "I don't know whether I'm awake or asleep! Why, it's a---" + +"Be silent, on your life! I shall explain everything--but now be silent; +there is someone looking at us." + +There was indeed a man wrapped in a mantle standing motionless some +steps away. + +"What are you doing here?" asked de Jars. + +"May I ask what you are doing, gentlemen?" retorted Maitre Quennebert, +in a calm and steady voice. + +"Your curiosity may cost you dear, monsieur; we are not in the habit of +allowing our actions to be spied on." + +"And I am not in the habit of running useless risks, most noble +cavaliers. You are, it is true, two against one; but," he added, +throwing back his cloak and grasping the hilts of a pair of pistols +tucked in his belt, "these will make us equal. You are mistaken as to my +intentions. I had no thought of playing the spy; it was chance alone +that led me here; and you must acknowledge that finding you in this +lonely spot, engaged as you are at this hour of the night, was quite +enough to awake the curiosity of a man as little disposed to provoke a +quarrel as to submit to threats." + +"It was chance also that brought us here. We were crossing the square, +my friend and I, when we heard groans. We followed the sound, and found +this young gallant, who is a stranger to us, lying here, with a wound in +his breast." + +As the moon at that moment gleamed doubtfully forth, Maitre Quennebert +bent for an instant over the body of the wounded man, and said: + +"I know him more than you. But supposing someone were to come upon us +here, we might easily be taken for three assassins holding a +consultation over the corpse of our victim. What were you going to do?" + +"Take him to a doctor. It would be inhuman to leave him here, and while +we are talking precious time is being lost." + +"Do you belong to this neighbourhood?" + +"No," said the treasurer. + +"Neither do I," said Quennebert. "but I believe I have heard the name of +a surgeon who lives close by, in the rue Hauteville." + +"I also know of one," interposed de Jars, "a very skilful man." + +"You may command me." + +"Gladly, monsieur; for he lives some distance from here." + +"I am at your service." + +De Jars and Jeannin raised the chevalier's shoulders, and the stranger +supported his legs, and carrying their burden in this order, they set +off. + +They walked slowly, looking about them carefully, a precaution rendered +necessary by the fact that the moon now rode in a cloudless sky. They +glided over the Pont Saint-Michel between the houses that lined both +sides, and, turning to the right, entered one of the narrow streets of +the Cite, and after many turnings, during which they met no one, they +stopped at the door of a house situated behind the Hotel-de-Ville. + +"Many thanks, monsieur," said de Jars,--"many thanks; we need no further +help." + +As the commander spoke, Maitre Quennebert let the feet of the chevalier +fall abruptly on the pavement, while de Jars and the treasurer still +supported his body, and, stepping back two paces, he drew his pistols +from his belt, and placing a finger on each trigger, said-- + +"Do not stir, messieurs, or you are dead men." Both, although encumbered +by their burden, laid their hands upon their swords. + +"Not a movement, not a sound, or I shoot." + +There was no reply to this argument, it being a convincing one even for +two duellists. The bravest man turns pale when he finds himself face to +face with sudden inevitable death, and he who threatened seemed to be +one who would, without hesitation, carry out his threats. There was +nothing for it but obedience, or a ball through them as they stood. + +"What do you want with us, sir?" asked Jeannin. + +Quennebert, without changing his attitude, replied-- + +"Commander de Jars, and you, Messire Jeannin de Castille, king's +treasurer,--you see, my gentles, that besides the advantage of arms +which strike swiftly and surely, I have the further advantage of knowing +who you are, whilst I am myself unknown,--you will carry the wounded man +into this house, into which I will not enter, for I have nothing to do +within; but I shall remain here; to await your return. After you have +handed over the patient to the doctor, you will procure paper and +write---now pay great attention--that on November 20th, 1658, about +midnight, you, aided by an unknown man, carried to this house, the +address of which you will give, a young man whom you call the Chevalier +de Moranges, and pass off as your nephew--" + +"As he really is." + +"Very well." + +"But who told you--?" + +"Let me go on: who had been wounded in a fight with swords on the same +night behind the church of Saint-Andre-des-Arts by the Duc de Vitry." + +"The Duc de Vitry!--How do you know that?" + +"No matter how, I know it for a fact. Having made this declaration, you +will add that the said Chevalier de Moranges is no other than +Josephine-Charlotte Boullenois, whom you, commander, abducted four +months ago from the convent of La Raquette, whom you have made your +mistress, and whom you conceal disguised as a man; then you will add +your signature. Is my information correct?" + +De Jars and Jeannin were speechless with surprise for a few instants; +then the former stammered-- + +"Will you tell us who you are?" + +"The devil in person, if you like. Well, will you do as I order? +Supposing that I am awkward enough not to kill you at two paces, do you +want me to ask you in broad daylight and aloud what I now ask at night +and in a whisper? And don't think to put me off with a false +declaration, relying on my not being able to read it by the light of the +moon; don't think either that you can take me by surprise when you hand +it me: you will bring it to me with your swords sheathed as now. If this +condition is not observed, I shall fire, and the noise will bring a +crowd about us. To-morrow I shall speak differently from to-day: I shall +proclaim the truth at all the street corners, in the squares, and under +the windows of the Louvre. It is hard, I know, for men of spirit to +yield to threats, but recollect that you are in my power and that there +is no disgrace in paying a ransom for a life that one cannot defend. +What do you say?" + +In spite of his natural courage, Jeannin, who found himself involved in +an affair from which he had nothing to gain, and who was not at all +desirous of being suspected of having helped in an abduction, whispered +to the commander-- + +"Faith! I think our wisest course is to consent." + +De Jars, however, before replying, wished to try if he could by any +chance throw his enemy off his guard for an instant, so as to take him +unawares. His hand still rested on the hilt of his sword, motionless, +but ready to draw. + +"There is someone coming over yonder," he cried,--"do you hear?" + +"You can't catch me in that way," said Quennebert. "Even were there +anyone coming, I should not look round, and if you move your hand all is +over with you." + +"Well," said Jeannin, "I surrender at discretion--not on my own account, +but out of regard for my friend and this woman. However, we are entitle +to some pledge of your silence. This statement that you demand, once +written,--you can ruin us tomorrow by its means." + +"I don't yet know what use I shall make of it, gentlemen. Make up your +minds, or you will have nothing but a dead body to place--in the +doctor's hands. There is no escape for you." + +For the first time the wounded man faintly groaned. + +"I must save her!" cried de Jars,--"I yield." + +"And I swear upon my honour that I will never try to get this woman out +of your hands, and that I will never interfere with your conquest. +Knock, gentlemen, and remain as long as may be necessary. I am patient. +Pray to God, if you will, that she may recover; my one desire is that +she may die." + +They entered the house, and Quennebert, wrapping himself once more in +his mantle, walked up and down before it, stopping to listen from time +to time. In about two hours the commander and the treasurer came out +again, and handed him a written paper in the manner agreed on. + +"I greatly fear that it will be a certificate of death," said de Jars. + +"Heaven grant it, commander! Adieu, messieurs." + +He then withdrew, walking backwards, keeping the two friends covered +with his pistols until he had placed a sufficient distance between +himself and them to be out of danger of an attack. + +The two gentlemen on their part walked rapidly away, looking round from +time to time, and keeping their ears open. They were very much mortified +at having been forced to let a mere boor dictate to them, and anxious, +especially de Jars, as to the result of the wound. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +On the day following this extraordinary series of adventures, +explanations between those who were mixed up in them, whether as actors +or spectators, were the order of the day. It was not till Maitre +Quennebert reached the house of the friend who had offered to put him up +for the night that it first dawned on him, that the interest which the +Chevalier de Moranges had awakened in his mind had made him utterly +forget the bag containing the twelve hundred livres which he owed to the +generosity of the widow. This money being necessary to him, he went back +to her early next morning. He found her hardly recovered from her +terrible fright. Her swoon had lasted far beyond the time when the +notary had left the house; and as Angelique, not daring to enter the +bewitched room, had taken refuge in the most distant corner of her +apartments, the feeble call of the widow was heard by no one. Receiving +no answer, Madame Rapally groped her way into the next room, and finding +that empty, buried herself beneath the bedclothes, and passed the rest +of the night dreaming of drawn swords, duels, and murders. As soon as it +was light she ventured into the mysterious room once more; without +calling her servants, and found the bag of crowns lying open on the +floor, with the coins scattered all around, the partition broken, and +the tapestry hanging from it in shreds. The widow was near fainting +again: she imagined at first she saw stains of blood everywhere, but a +closer inspection having somewhat reassured her, she began to pick up +the coins that had rolled to right and left, and was agreeably surprised +to find the tale complete. But how and why had Maitre Quennebert +abandoned them? What had become of him? She had got lost in the most +absurd suppositions and conjectures when the notary appeared. +Discovering from the first words she uttered that she was in complete +ignorance of all that had taken place, he explained to her that when the +interview between the chevalier and Mademoiselle de Guerchi had just at +the most interesting moment been so unceremoniously interrupted by the +arrival of the duke, he had become so absorbed in watching them that he +had not noticed that the partition was bending before the pressure of +his body, and that just as the duke drew his sword it suddenly gave way, +and he, Quennebert, being thus left without support, tumbled head +foremost into the next room, among a perfect chaos of overturned +furniture and lamps; that almost before he could rise he was forced to +draw in self-defence, and had to make his escape, defending himself +against both the duke and the chevalier; that they had pursued him so +hotly, that when he found himself free he was too far from the house and +the hour was too advanced to admit of his returning, Quennebert added +innumerable protestations of friendship, devotion, and gratitude, and, +furnished with his twelve hundred crowns, went away, leaving the widow +reassured as to his safety, but still shaken from her fright. + +While the notary was thus soothing the widow, Angelique was exhausting +all the expedients her trade had taught her in the attempt to remove the +duke's suspicions. She asserted she was the victim of an unforeseen +attack which nothing in her conduct had ever authorised. The young +Chevalier de Moranges had, gained admittance, she declared, under the +pretext that he brought her news from the duke, the one man who occupied +her thoughts, the sole object of her love. The chevalier had seen her +lover, he said, a few days before, and by cleverly appealing to things +back, he had led her to fear that the duke had grown tired of her, and +that a new conquest was the cause of his absence. She had not believed +these insinuations, although his long silence would have justified the +most mortifying suppositions, the most cruel doubts. At length the +chevalier had grown bolder, and had declared his passion for her; +whereupon she had risen and ordered him to leave her. Just at that +moment the duke had entered, and had taken the natural agitation and +confusion of the chevalier as signs of her guilt. Some explanation was +also necessary to account for the presence of the two other visitors of +whom he had been told below stairs. As he knew nothing at all about +them, the servant who admitted them never having seen either of them +before, she acknowledged that two gentlemen had called earlier in the +evening; that they had refused to send in their names, but as they had +said they had come to inquire about the duke, she suspected them of +having been in league with the chevalier in the attempt to ruin her +reputation, perhaps they had even promised to help him to carry her off, +but she knew nothing positive about them or their plans. The duke, +contrary to his wont, did not allow himself to be easily convinced by +these lame explanations, but unfortunately for him the lady knew how to +assume an attitude favourable to her purpose. She had been induced, she +said, with the simple confidence born of love, to listen to people who +had led her to suppose they could give her news of one so dear to her as +the duke. From this falsehood she proceeded to bitter reproaches: +instead of defending herself, she accused him of having left her a prey +to anxiety; she went so far as to imply that there must be some +foundation for the hints of the chevalier, until at last the duke, +although he was not guilty of the slightest infidelity, and had +excellent reasons to give in justification of his silence, was soon +reduced to a penitent mood, and changed his threats into entreaties for +forgiveness. As to the shriek he had heard, and which he was sure had +been uttered by the stranger who had forced his way into her room after +the departure of the others, she asserted that his ears must have +deceived him. Feeling that therein lay her best chance of making things +smooth, she exerted herself to convince him that there was no need for +other information than she could give, and did all she could to blot the +whole affair from his memory; and her success was such that at the end +of the interview the duke was more enamoured and more credulous than +ever, and believing he had done her wrong, he delivered himself up to +her, bound hand and foot. Two days later he installed his mistress in +another dwelling.... + +Madame Rapally also resolved to give up her rooms, and removed to a +house that belonged to her, on the Pont Saint-Michel. + +The commander took the condition of Charlotte Boullenois very much to +heart. The physician under whose care he had placed her, after examining +her wounds, had not given much hope of her recovery. It was not that de +Jars was capable of a lasting love, but Charlotte was young and +possessed great beauty, and the romance and mystery surrounding their +connection gave it piquancy. Charlotte's disguise, too, which enabled de +Jars to conceal his success and yet flaunt it in the face, as it were, +of public morality and curiosity, charmed him by its audacity, and above +all he was carried away by the bold and uncommon character of the girl, +who, not content with a prosaic intrigue, had trampled underfoot all +social prejudices and proprieties, and plunged at once into unmeasured +and unrestrained dissipation; the singular mingling in her nature of the +vices of both sexes; the unbridled licentiousness of the courtesan +coupled with the devotion of a man for horses, wine, and fencing; in +short, her eccentric character, as it would now be called, kept a +passion alive which would else have quickly died away in his blase +heart. Nothing would induce him to follow Jeannin's advice to leave +Paris for at least a few weeks, although he shared Jeannin's fear that +the statement they had been forced to give the stranger would bring them +into trouble. The treasurer, who had no love affair on hand, went off; +but the commander bravely held his ground, and at the end of five or six +days, during which no one disturbed him, began to think the only result +of the incident would be the anxiety it had caused him. + +Every evening as soon as it was dark he betook himself to the doctor's, +wrapped in his cloak, armed to the teeth, and his hat pulled down over +his eyes. For two days and nights, Charlotte, whom to avoid confusion we +shall continue to call the Chevalier de Moranges, hovered between life +and death. Her youth and the strength of her constitution enabled her at +last to overcome the fever, in spite of the want of skill of the surgeon +Perregaud. + +Although de Jars was the only person who visited the chevalier, he was +not the only one who was anxious about the patient's health. Maitre +Quennebert, or men engaged by him to watch, for he did not want to +attract attention, were always prowling about the neighbourhood, so that +he was kept well informed of everything that went on: The instructions +he gave to these agents were, that if a funeral should leave the house, +they were to find out the name of the deceased, and then to let him know +without delay. But all these precautions seemed quite useless: he always +received the same answer to all his questions, "We know nothing." So at +last he determined to address himself directly to the man who could give +him information on which he could rely. + +One night the commander left the surgeon's feeling more cheerful than +usual, for the chevalier had passed a good day, and there was every hope +that he was on the road to complete recovery. Hardly had de Jars gone +twenty paces when someone laid a hand on his shoulder. He turned and saw +a man whom, in the darkness, he did not recognise. + +"Excuse me for detaining you, Commander de Jars," said Quennebert, "but +I have a word to say to you." + +"Ali! so it's you, sir," replied the commander. "Are you going at last +to give me the opportunity I was so anxious for?" + +"I don't understand." + +"We are on more equal terms this time; to-day you don't catch me +unprepared, almost without weapons, and if you are a man of honour you +will measure swords with me." + +"Fight a duel with you! why, may I ask? You have never insulted me." + +"A truce to pleasantry, sir; don't make me regret that I have shown +myself more generous than you. I might have killed you just now had I +wished. I could have put my pistol to your breast and fired, or said to +you, 'Surrender at discretion!' as you so lately said to me." + +"And what use would that have been?" + +"It would have made a secret safe that you ought never to have known." + +"It would have been the most unfortunate thing for you that could have +happened, for if you had killed me the paper would have spoken. So! you +think that if you were to assassinate me you would only have to stoop +over my dead body and search my pockets, and, having found the +incriminating document, destroy it. You seem to have formed no very high +opinion of my intelligence and common sense. You of the upper classes +don't need these qualities, the law is on, your side. But when a humble +individual like myself, a mere nobody, undertakes to investigate a piece +of business about which those in authority are not anxious to be +enlightened, precautions are necessary. It's not enough for him to have +right on his side, he must, in order to secure his own safety, make good +use of his skill, courage, and knowledge. I have no desire to humiliate +you a second time, so I will say no more. The paper is in the hands of +my notary, and if a single day passes without his seeing me he has +orders to break the seal and make the contents public. So you see chance +is still on my side. But now that you are warned there is no need for me +to bluster. I am quite prepared to acknowledge your superior rank, and +if you insist upon it, to speak to you uncovered." + +"What do you desire to know, sir?" + +"How is the Chevalier de Moranges getting on?" + +"Very badly, very badly." + +"Take care, commander; don't deceive me. One is so easily tempted to +believe what one hopes, and I hope so strongly that I dare not believe +what you say. I saw you coming out of the house, not at all with the air +of a man who had just heard bad news, (quite the contrary) you looked at +the sky, and rubbed your hands, and walked with a light, quick step, +that did not speak of grief." + +"You're a sharp observer, sir." + +"I have already explained to you, sir, that when one of us belonging to +a class hardly better than serfs succeeds by chance or force of +character in getting out of the narrow bounds in which he was born, he +must keep both eyes and ears open. If I had doubted your word as you +have doubted mine on the merest suspicion, you would have said to your +servants, 'Chastise this rascal.' But I am obliged to prove to you that +you did not tell me the truth. Now I am sure that the chevalier is out +of danger." + +"If you were so well informed why did you ask me?" + +"I only knew it by your asserting the contrary." + +"What do you mean?" cried de Jars, who was growing restive under this +cold, satirical politeness. + +"Do me justice, commander. The bit chafes, but yet you must acknowledge +that I have a light hand. For a full week you have been in my power. +Have I disturbed your quiet? Have I betrayed your secret? You know I +have not. And I shall continue to act in the same manner. I hope with +all my heart, however great would be your grief; that the chevalier may +die of his wound. I have not the same reasons for loving him that you +have, so much you can readily understand, even if I do not explain the +cause of my interest in his fate. But in such a matter hopes count for +nothing; they cannot make his temperature either rise or fall. I have +told you I have no wish to force the chevalier to resume his real name. +I may make use of the document and I may not, but if I am obliged to use +it I shall give you warning. Will you, in return, swear to me upon your +honour that you will keep me informed as to the fate of the chevalier, +whether you remain in Paris or whether you leave? But let this agreement +be a secret between us, and do not mention it to the so-called +Moranges." + +"I have your oath, monsieur, that you will give me notice before you use +the document I have given you against me, have I? But what guarantee +have I that you will keep your word?" + +"My course of action till to-day, and the fact that I have pledged you +my word of my own free will." + +"I see, you hope not to have long to wait for the end." + +"I hope not; but meantime a premature disclosure would do me as much +harm as you. I have not the slightest rancour against you, commander; +you have robbed me of no treasure; I have therefore no compensation to +demand. What you place such value on would be only a burden to me, as it +will be to you later on. All I want is, to know as soon as it is no +longer in your possession, whether it has been removed by the will of +God or by your own, I am right in thinking that to-day there is some +hope of the chevalier's recovery, am I not?" + +"Yes, Sir." + +"Do you give me your promise that if ever he leave this house safe and +sound you will let me know?" + +"I give you my promise." + +"And if the result should be different, you will also send me word?" + +"Certainly. But to whom shall I address my message?" + +"I should have thought that since our first meeting you would have found +out all about me, and that to tell you my name would be superfluous. But +I have no reason to hide it: Maitre Quennebert, notary, Saint-Denis. I +will not detain you any longer now, commander; excuse a simple citizen +for dictating conditions to a noble such as you. For once chance has +been on my side although a score of times it has gone against me." + +De Jars made no reply except a nod, and walked away quickly, muttering +words of suppressed anger between his teeth at all the--humiliations to +which he had been obliged to submit so meekly. + +"He's as insolent as a varlet who has no fear of a larruping before his +eyes: how the rapscallion gloried in taking advantage of his position! +Taking-off his hat while putting his foot on my neck! If ever I can be +even with you, my worthy scrivener, you'll pass a very bad quarter of an +hour, I can tell you." + +Everyone has his own idea of what constitutes perfect honour. De Jars, +for instance, would have allowed himself to be cut up into little pieces +rather than have broken the promise he had given Quennebert a week ago, +because it was given in exchange for his life, and the slightest +paltering with his word under those circumstances would have been +dastardly. But the engagement into which he had just entered had in his +eyes no such moral sanction; he had not been forced into it by threats, +he had escaped by its means no serious danger, and therefore in regard +to it his conscience was much more accommodating. What he should best +have liked to do, would have been to have sought out the notary and +provoked him by insults to send him a challenge. + +That a clown such as that could have any chance of leaving the ground +alive never entered his head. But willingly as he would have encompassed +his death in this manner, the knowledge that his secret would not die +with Quennebert restrained him, for when everything came out he felt +that the notary's death would be regarded as an aggravation of his +original offence, and in spite of his rank he was not at all certain +that if he were put on his trial even now he would escape scot free, +much less if a new offence were added to the indictment. So, however +much he might chafe against the bit, he felt he must submit to the +bridle. + +"By God!" said he, "I know what the clodhopper is after; and even if I +must suffer in consequence, I shall take good care that he cannot shake +off his bonds. Wait a bit! I can play the detective too, and be down on +him without letting him see the hand that deals the blows. It'll be a +wonder if I can't find a naked sword to suspend above his head." + +However, while thus brooding over projects of vengeance, Commander de +Jars kept his word, and about a month after the interview above related +he sent word to Quennebert that the Chevalier de Moranges had left +Perregaud's completely recovered from his wound. But the nearly fatal +result of the chevalier's last prank seemed to have subdued his +adventurous spirit; he was no longer seen in public, and was soon +forgotten by all his acquaintances with the exception of Mademoiselle de +Guerchi. She faithfully treasured up the memory of his words of passion, +his looks of love, the warmth of his caresses, although at first she +struggled hard to chase his image from her heart. But as the Due de +Vitry assured her that he had killed him on the spot, she considered it +no breach of faith to think lovingly of the dead, and while she took the +goods so bounteously provided by her living lover, her gentlest +thoughts, her most enduring regrets, were given to one whom she never +hoped to see again. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +With the reader's permission, we must now jump over an interval of +rather more than a year, and bring upon the stage a person who, though +only of secondary importance, can no longer be left behind the scenes. + +We have already said that the loves of Quennebert and Madame Rapally +were regarded with a jealous eye by a distant cousin of the lady's late +husband. The love of this rejected suitor, whose name was Trumeau, was +no more sincere than the notary's, nor were his motives more honourable. +Although his personal appearance was not such as to lead him to expect +that his path would be strewn with conquests, he considered that his +charms at least equalled those of his defunct relative; and it may be +said that in thus estimating them he did not lay himself--open to the +charge of overweening vanity. But however persistently he preened him +self before the widow, she vouchsafed him not one glance. Her heart was +filled with the love of his rival, and it is no easy thing to tear a +rooted passion out of a widow's heart when that widow's age is +forty-six, and she is silly enough to believe that the admiration she +feels is equalled by the admiration she inspires, as the unfortunate +Trumeau found to his cost. All his carefully prepared declarations of +love, all his skilful insinuations against Quennebert, brought him +nothing but scornful rebuffs. But Trumeau was nothing if not +persevering, and he could not habituate himself to the idea of seeing +the widow's fortune pass into other hands than his own, so that every +baffled move only increased his determination to spoil his competitor's +game. He was always on the watch for a chance to carry tales to the +widow, and so absorbed did he become in this fruitless pursuit, that he +grew yellower and more dried up from day to day, and to his jaundiced +eye the man who was at first simply his rival became his mortal enemy +and the object of his implacable hate, so that at length merely to get +the better of him, to outwit him, would, after so long-continued and +obstinate a struggle and so many defeats, have seemed to him too mild a +vengeance, too incomplete a victory. + +Quennebert was well aware of the zeal with which the indefatigable +Trumeau sought to injure him. But he regarded the manoeuvres of his +rival with supreme unconcern, for he knew that he could at any time +sweep away the network of cunning machinations, underhand insinuations, +and malicious hints, which was spread around him, by allowing the widow +to confer on him the advantages she was so anxious to bestow. The goal, +he knew, was within his reach, but the problem he had to solve was how +to linger on the way thither, how to defer the triumphal moment, how to +keep hope alive in the fair one's breast and yet delay its fruition. His +affairs were in a bad way. Day by day full possession of the fortune +thus dangled before his eyes, and fragments of which came to him +occasionally by way of loan, was becoming more and more indispensable, +and tantalising though it was, yet he dared not put out his hand to +seize it. His creditors dunned him relentlessly: one final reprieve had +been granted him, but that at an end, if he could not meet their +demands, it was all up with his career and reputation. + +One morning in the beginning of February 1660, Trumeau called to see his +cousin. He had not been there for nearly a month, and Quennebert and the +widow had begun to think that, hopeless of success, he had retired from +the contest. But, far from that, his hatred had grown more intense than +ever, and having come upon the traces of an event in the past life of +his rival which if proved would be the ruin of that rival's hopes, he +set himself to gather evidence. He now made his appearance with beaming +looks, which expressed a joy too great for words. He held in one hand a +small scroll tied with a ribbon. He found the widow alone, sitting in a +large easy-chair before the fire. She was reading for the twentieth time +a letter which Quenriebert had written her the evening before. To judge +by the happy and contented expression of the widow's face, it must have +been couched in glowing terms. Trumeau guessed at once from whom the +missive came, but the sight of it, instead of irritating him, called +forth a smile. + +"Ah! so it's you, cousin?" said the widow, folding the precious paper +and slipping it into the bosom of her dress. "How do you do? It's a long +time since I saw you, more than a fortnight, I think. Have you been +ill?" + +"So you remarked my absence! That is very flattering, my dear cousin; +you do not often spoil me by such attentions. No, I have not been ill, +thank God, but I thought it better not to intrude upon you so often. A +friendly call now and then such as to-day's is what you like, is it not? +By the way, tell me about your handsome suitor, Maitre Quennebert; how +is he getting along?" + +"You look very knowing, Trumeau: have you heard of anything happening to +him?" + +"No, and I should be exceedingly sorry to hear that anything unpleasant +had happened to him." + +Now you are not saying what you think, you know you can't bear him." + +"Well, to speak the truth, I have no great reason to like him. If it +were not for him, I should perhaps have been happy to-day; my love might +have moved your heart. However, I have become resigned to my loss, and +since your choice has fallen on him,"--and here he sighed,--"well, all I +can say is, I hope you may never regret it." + +"Many thanks for your goodwill, cousin; I am delighted to find you in +such a benevolent mood. You must not be vexed because I could not give +you the kind of love you wanted; the heart, you know, is not amenable to +reason." + +"There is only one thing I should like to ask." + +"What is it?" + +"I mention it for your good more than for my own. If you want to be +happy, don't let this handsome quill-driver get you entirely into his +hands. You are saying to yourself that because of my ill-success with +you I am trying to injure him; but what if I could prove that he does +not love you as much as he pretends--?" + +"Come, come, control your naughty tongue! Are you going to begin +backbiting again? You are playing a mean part, Trumeau. I have never +hinted to Maitre Quennebert all the nasty little ways in which you have +tried to put a spoke in his wheel, for if he knew he would ask you to +prove your words, and then you would look very foolish.". + +"Not at all, I swear to you. On the contrary, if I were to tell all I +know in his presence, it is not I who would be disconcerted. Oh! I am +weary of meeting with nothing from you but snubs, scorn, and abuse. You +think me a slanderer when I say, 'This gallant wooer of widows does not +love you for yourself but for your money-bags. He fools you by fine +promises, but as to marrying you--never, never!'" + +"May I ask you to repeat that?" broke in Madame Rapally + +"Oh! I know what I am saying. You will never be Madame Quennebert." + +"Really?" + +"Really." + +"Jealousy has eaten away whatever brains you used to possess, Trumeau. +Since I saw you last, cousin, important changes have taken place: I was +just going to send you to-day an invitation to my wedding." + +"To your wedding?" + +"Yes; I am to be married to-morrow." + +"To-morrow? To Quennebert?" stammered Trumeau. + +"To Quennebert," repeated the widow in a tone of triumph. + +"It's not possible!" exclaimed Trumeau. + +"It is so possible that you will see us united tomorrow. And for the +future I must beg of you to regard Quennebert no longer as a rival but +as my husband, whom to offend will be to offend me." + +The tone in which these words were spoken no longer left room for doubt +as to the truth of the news. Trumeau looked down for a few moments, as +if reflecting deeply before definitely making up his mind. He twisted +the little roll of papers between his fingers, and seemed to be in doubt +whether to open it and give it to Madame Rapally to read or not. In the +end, however, he put it in his pocket, rose, and approaching his cousin, +said-- + +"I beg your pardon, this news completely changes my opinion. From the +moment Maitre Quennebert becomes your husband I shall not have a word to +say against him. My suspicions were unjust, I confess it frankly, and I +hope that in consideration of the motives which prompted me you will +forget the warmth of my attacks. I shall make no protestations, but +shall let the future show how sincere is my devotion to your interests." + +Madame Rapally was too happy, too certain of being loved, not to pardon +easily. With the self-complacency and factitious generosity of a woman +who feels herself the object of two violent passions, she was so good as +to feel pity for the lover who was left out in the cold, and offered him +her hand. Trumeau kissed it with every outward mark of respect, while +his lips curled unseen in a smite of mockery. The cousins parted, +apparently the best of friends, and on the understanding that Trumeau +would be present at the nuptial benediction, which was to be given in a +church beyond the town hall, near the house in which the newly-married +couple were to live; the house on the Pont Saint-Michel having lately +been sold to great advantage. + +"On my word," said Trumeau, as he went off, "it would have been a great +mistake to have spoken. I have got that wretch of a Quennebert into my +clutches at last; and there is nobody but himself to blame. He is taking +the plunge of his own free will, there is no need for me to shove him +off the precipice." + +The ceremony took place next day. Quennebert conducted his interesting +bride to the altar, she hung with ornaments like the shrine of a saint, +and, beaming all over with smiles, looked so ridiculous that the +handsome bridegroom reddened to the roots of his hair with shame. Just +as they entered the church, a coffin, on which lay a sword, and which +was followed by a single mourner, who from his manners and dress seemed +to belong to the class of nobles, was carried in by the same door. The +wedding guests drew back to let the funeral pass on, the living giving +precedence to the dead. The solitary mourner glanced by chance at +Quennebert, and started as if the sight of him was painful. + +"What an unlucky meeting!" murmured Madame Rapally; "it is sure to be a +bad omen." + +"It's sure to be the exact opposite," said Quennebert smiling. + +The two ceremonies took place simultaneously in two adjoining chapels; +the funeral dirges which fell on the widow's ear full of sinister +prediction seemed to have quite another meaning for Quennebert, for his +features lost their look of care, his wrinkles smoothed themselves out, +till the guests, among whom was Trumeau, who did not suspect the secret +of his relief from suspense, began to believe, despite their surprise, +that he was really rejoiced at obtaining legal possession of the +charming Madame Rapally. + +As for her, she fleeted the daylight hours by anticipating the joyful +moment when she would have her husband all to herself. When night came, +hardly had she entered the nuptial chamber than she uttered a piercing +shriek. She had just found and read a paper left on the bed by Trumeau, +who before leaving had contrived to glide into the room unseen. Its +contents were of terrible import, so terrible that the new-made wife +fell unconscious to the ground. + +Quennebert, who, without a smile, was absorbed in reflections on the +happiness at last within his grasp, heard the noise from the next room, +and rushing in, picked up his wife. Catching sight of the paper, he also +uttered a cry of anger and astonishment, but in whatever circumstances +he found himself he was never long uncertain how to act. Placing Madame +Quennebert, still unconscious, on the bed, he called her maid, and, +having impressed on her that she was to take every care of her mistress, +and above all to tell her from him as soon as she came to herself that +there was no cause for alarm, he left the house at once. An hour later, +in spite of the efforts of the servants, he forced his way into the +presence of Commander de Jars. Holding out the fateful document to him, +he said: + +"Speak openly, commander! Is it you who in revenge for your long +constraint have done this? I can hardly think so, for after what has +happened you know that I have nothing to fear any longer. Still, knowing +my secret and unable to do it in any other way, have you perchance taken +your revenge by an attempt to destroy my future happiness by sowing +dissension and disunion between me and my wife?" + +The commander solemnly assured him that he had had no hand in bringing +about the discovery. + +'Then if it's not you, it must be a worthless being called Trumeau, who, +with the unerring instinct of jealousy, has run the truth to earth. But +he knows only half: I have never been either so much in love or so +stupid as to allow myself to be trapped. I have given you my promise to +be discreet and not to misuse my power, and as long as was compatible +with my own safety I have kept my word. But now you must see that I am +bound to defend myself, and to do that I shall be obliged to summon you +as a witness. So leave Paris tonight and seek out some safe retreat +where no one can find you, for to-morrow I shall speak. Of course if I +am quit for a woman's tears, if no more difficult task lies before me +than to soothe a weeping wife, you can return immediately; but if, as is +too probable, the blow has been struck by the hand of a rival furious at +having been defeated, the matter will not so easily be cut short; the +arm of the law will be invoked, and then I must get my head out of the +noose which some fingers I know of are itching to draw tight." + +"You are quite right, sir," answered the commander; "I fear that my +influence at court is not strong enough to enable me to brave the matter +out. Well, my success has cost me dear, but it has cured me for ever of +seeking out similar adventures. My preparations will not take long, and +to-morrow's dawn will find me far from Paris." + +Quennebert bowed and withdrew, returning home to console his Ariadne. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +The accusation hanging over the head of Maitre Quennebert was a very +serious one, threatening his life, if proved. But he was not uneasy; he +knew himself in possession of facts which would enable him to refute it +triumphantly. + +The platonic love of Angelique de Guerchi for the handsome Chevalier de +Moranges had resulted, as we have seen, in no practical wrong to the Duc +de Vitry. After her reconciliation with her lover, brought about by the +eminently satisfactory explanations she was able to give of her conduct, +which we have already laid before our readers, she did not consider it +advisable to shut her heart to his pleadings much longer, and the +consequence was that at the end of a year she found herself in a +condition which it was necessary to conceal from everyone. To Angelique +herself, it is true, the position was not new, and she felt neither +grief nor shame, regarding the coming event as a means of making her +future more secure by forging a new link in the chain which bound the +duke to her. But he, sure that but for himself Angelique would never +have strayed from virtue's path, could not endure the thought of her +losing her reputation and becoming an object for scandal to point her +finger at; so that Angelique, who could not well seem less careful of +her good name than he, was obliged to turn his song of woe into a duet, +and consent to certain measures being taken. + +One evening, therefore, shortly before Maitre Quennebert's marriage, the +fair lady set out, ostensibly on a journey which was to last a fortnight +or three weeks. In reality she only made a circle in a post-chaise round +Paris, which she re-entered at one of the barriers, where the duke +awaited her with a sedan-chair. In this she was carried to the very +house to which de Jars had brought his pretended nephew after the duel. +Angelique, who had to pay dearly for her errors, remained there only +twenty-four hours, and then left in her coffin, which was hidden in a +cellar under the palace of the Prince de Conde, the body being covered +with quicklime. Two days after this dreadful death, Commander de Jars +presented himself at the fatal house, and engaged a room in which he +installed the chevalier. + +This house, which we are about to ask the reader to enter with us, stood +at the corner of the rue de la Tixeranderie and the rue Deux-Portes. +There was nothing in the exterior of it to distinguish it from any +other, unless perhaps two brass plates, one of which bore the words +MARIE LEROUX-CONSTANTIN, WIDOW, CERTIFIED MIDWIFE, and the other CLAUDE +PERREGAUD, SURGEON. These plates were affixed to the blank wall in the +rue de la Tixeranderie, the windows of the rooms on that side looking +into the courtyard. The house door, which opened directly on the first +steps of a narrow winding stair, was on the other side, just beyond the +low arcade under whose vaulted roof access was gained to that end of the +rue des Deux-Portes. This house, though dirty, mean, and out of repair, +received many wealthy visitors, whose brilliant equipages waited for +them in the neighbouring streets. Often in the night great ladies +crossed its threshold under assumed names and remained there for several +days, during which La Constantin and Claude Perregaud, by an infamous +use of their professional knowledge, restored their clients to an +outward appearance of honour, and enabled them to maintain their +reputation for virtue. The first and second floors contained a dozen +rooms in which these abominable mysteries were practised. The large +apartment, which served as waiting and consultation room, was oddly +furnished, being crowded with objects of strange and unfamiliar form. It +resembled at once the operating-room of a surgeon, the laboratory of a +chemist and alchemist, and the den of a sorcerer. There, mixed up +together in the greatest confusion, lay instruments of all sorts, +caldrons and retorts, as well as books containing the most absurd +ravings of the human mind. There were the twenty folio volumes of +Albertus Magnus; the works of his disciple, Thomas de Cantopre, of +Alchindus, of Averroes, of Avicenna, of Alchabitius, of David de +Plaine-Campy, called L'Edelphe, surgeon to Louis XIII and author of the +celebrated book The Morbific Hydra Exterminated by the Chemical +Hercules. Beside a bronze head, such as the monk Roger Bacon possessed, +which answered all the questions that were addressed to it and foretold +the future by means of a magic mirror and the combination of the rules +of perspective, lay an eggshell, the same which had been used by Caret, +as d'Aubigne tells us, when making men out of germs, mandrakes, and +crimson silk, over a slow fire. In the presses, which had sliding-doors +fastening with secret springs, stood Jars filled with noxious drugs, the +power of which was but too efficacious; in prominent positions, facing +each other, hung two portraits, one representing Hierophilos, a Greek +physician, and the other Agnodice his pupil, the first Athenian midwife. + +For several years already La Constantin and Claude Perregaud had carried +on their criminal practices without interference. A number of persons +were of course in the secret, but their interests kept them silent, and +the two accomplices had at last persuaded themselves that they were +perfectly safe. One evening, however, Perregaud came home, his face +distorted by terror and trembling in every limb. He had been warned +while out that the suspicions of the authorities had been aroused in +regard to him and La Constantin. It seemed that some little time ago, +the Vicars-General had sent a deputation to the president of the chief +court of justice, having heard from their priests that in one year alone +six hundred women had avowed in the confessional that they had taken +drugs to prevent their having children. This had been sufficient to +arouse the vigilance of the police, who had set a watch on Perregaud's +house, with the result that that very night a raid was to be made on it. +The two criminals took hasty counsel together, but, as usual under such +circumstances, arrived at no practical conclusions. It was only when the +danger was upon them that they recovered their presence of mind. In the +dead of night loud knocking at the street door was heard, followed by +the command to open in the name of the king. + +"We can yet save ourselves!" exclaimed surgeon, with a sudden flash of +inspiration. + +Rushing into the room where the pretended chevalier was lying, he called +out-- + +"The police are coming up! If they discover your sex you are lost, and +so am I. Do as I tell you." + +At a sign from him, La Constantin went down and opened the door. While +the rooms on the first floor were being searched, Perregaud made with a +lancet a superficial incision in the chevalier's right arm, which gave +very little pain, and bore a close resemblance to a sword-cut. Surgery +and medicine were at that time so inextricably involved, required such +apparatus, and bristled with such scientific absurdities, that no +astonishment was excited by the extraordinary collection of instruments +which loaded the tables and covered the floors below: even the titles of +certain treatises which there had been no time to destroy, awoke no +suspicion. + +Fortunately for the surgeon and his accomplice, they had only one +patient--the chevalier--in their house when the descent was made. When +the chevalier's room was reached, the first thing which the officers of +the law remarked were the hat, spurred boots, and sword of the patient. +Claude Perregaud hardly looked up as the room was invaded; he only made +a sign to those--who came in to be quiet, and went on dressing the +wound. Completely taken in, the officer in command merely asked the name +of the patient and the cause of the wound. La Constantin replied that +it' was the young Chevalier de Moranges, nephew of Commander de Jars, +who had had an affair of honour that same night, and being sightly +wounded had been brought thither by his uncle hardly an hour before. +These questions and the apparently trustworthy replies elicited by them +being duly taken down, the uninvited visitors retired, having discovered +nothing to justify their visit. + +All might have been well had there been nothing the matter but the wound +on the chevalier's sword-arm. But at the moment when Perregaud gave it +to him the poisonous nostrums employed by La Constantin were already +working in his blood. Violent fever ensued, and in three days the +chevalier was dead. It was his funeral which had met Quennebert's +wedding party at the church door. + +Everything turned out as Quennebert had anticipated. Madame Quennebert, +furious at the deceit which had been practised on her, refused to listen +to her husband's justification, and Trumeau, not letting the grass grow +under his feet, hastened the next day to launch an accusation of bigamy +against the notary; for the paper which had been found in the nuptial +camber was nothing less than an attested copy of a contract of marriage +concluded between Quennebert and Josephine-Charlotte Boullenois. It was +by the merest chance that Trumeau had come on the record of the +marriage, and he now challenged his rival to produce a certificate of +the death of his first wife. Charlotte Boullenois, after two years of +marriage, had demanded a deed of separation, which demand Quennebert had +opposed. While the case was going on she had retired to the convent of +La Raquette, where her intrigue with de Jars began. The commander easily +induced her to let herself be carried off by force. He then concealed +his conquest by causing her to adopt male attire, a mode of dress which +accorded marvellously well with her peculiar tastes and rather masculine +frame. At first Quennebert had instituted an active but fruitless search +for his missing wife, but soon became habituated to his state of +enforced single blessedness, enjoying to the full the liberty it brought +with it. But his business had thereby suffered, and once having made the +acquaintance of Madame Rapally, he cultivated it assiduously, knowing +her fortune would be sufficient to set him straight again with the +world, though he was obliged to exercise the utmost caution and reserve +in has intercourse with her, as she on her side displayed none of these +qualities. At last, however, matters came to such a pass that he must +either go to prison or run the risk of a second marriage. So he +reluctantly named a day for the ceremony, resolving to leave Paris with +Madame Rapally as soon as he had settled with his creditors. + +In the short interval which ensued, and while Trumeau was hugging the +knowledge of the discovery he had made, a stroke of luck had brought the +pretended chevalier to La Constantin. As Quennebert had kept an eye on +de Jars and was acquainted with all his movements, he was aware of +everything that happened at Perregaud's, and as Charlotte's death +preceded his second marriage by one day, he knew that no serious +consequences would ensue from the legal proceedings taken against him. +He produced the declarations made by Mademoiselle de Guerchi and the +commander, and had the body exhumed. Extraordinary and improbable as his +defence appeared at first to be, the exhumation proved the truth of his +assertions. These revelations, however, drew the eye of justice again on +Perregaud and his partner in crime, and this time their guilt was +brought home to them. They were condemned by parliamentary decree to "be +hanged by the neck till they were dead, on a gallows erected for that +purpose at the cross roads of the Croix-du-Trahoir; their bodies to +remain there for twenty-four hours, then to be cut down and brought back +to Paris, where they were to be exposed an a gibbet," etc., etc. + +It was proved that they had amassed immense fortunes in the exercise of +their infamous calling. The entries in the books seized at their house, +though sparse, would have led, if made public, to scandals, involving +many in high places; it was therefore judged best to limit the +accusation to the two deaths by blood-poisoning of Angelique de Querchi +and Charlotte Boullenois. + + + + +*JOAN OF NAPLES--1343-1382* + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +In the night of the 15th of January 1343, while the inhabitants of +Naples lay wrapped in peaceful slumber, they were suddenly awakened by +the bells of the three hundred churches that this thrice blessed capital +contains. In the midst of the disturbance caused by so rude a call the +first thought in the mind of all was that the town was on fire, or that +the army of some enemy had mysteriously landed under cover of night and +could put the citizens to the edge of the sword. But the doleful, +intermittent sounds of all these fills, which disturbed the silence at +regular and distant intervals, were an invitation to the faithful to +pray for a passing soul, and it was soon evident that no disaster +threatened the town, but that the king alone was in danger. + +Indeed, it had been plain for several days past that the greatest +uneasiness prevailed in Castel Nuovo; the officers of the crown were +assembled regularly twice a day, and persons of importance, whose right +it was to make their way into the king's apartments, came out evidently +bowed down with grief. But although the king's death was regarded as a +misfortune that nothing could avert, yet the whole town, on learning for +certain of the approach of his last hour, was affected with a sincere +grief, easily understood when one learns that the man about to die, +after a reign of thirty-three years, eight months, and a few days, was +Robert of Anjou, the most wise, just, and glorious king who had ever sat +on the throne of Sicily. And so he carried with him to the tomb the +eulogies and regrets of all his subjects. + +Soldiers would speak with enthusiasm of the long wars he had waged with +Frederic and Peter of Aragon, against Henry VII and Louis of Bavaria; +and felt their hearts beat high, remembering the glories of campaigns in +Lombardy and Tuscany; priests would gratefully extol his constant +defence of the papacy against Ghibelline attacks, and the founding of +convents, hospitals, and churches throughout his kingdom; in the world +of letters he was regarded as the most learned king in Christendom; +Petrarch, indeed, would receive the poet's crown from no other hand, and +had spent three consecutive days answering all the questions that Robert +had deigned to ask him on every topic of human knowledge. The men of +law, astonished by the wisdom of those laws which now enriched the +Neapolitan code, had dubbed him the Solomon of their day; the nobles +applauded him for protecting their ancient privileges, and the people +were eloquent of his clemency, piety, and mildness. In a word, priests +and soldiers, philosophers and poets, nobles and peasants, trembled when +they thought that the government was to fall into the hands of a +foreigner and of a young girl, recalling those words of Robert, who, as +he followed in the funeral train of Charles, his only son, turned as he +reached the threshold of the church and sobbingly exclaimed to his +barons about him, "This day the crown has fallen from my head: alas for +me! alas for you!" + +Now that the bells were ringing for the dying moments of the good king, +every mind was full of these prophetic words: women prayed fervently to +God; men from all parts of the town bent their steps towards the royal +palace to get the earliest and most authentic news, and after waiting +some moments, passed in exchanging sad reflections, were obliged to +return as they had come, since nothing that went on in the privacy of +the family found its way outside--the castle was plunged in complete +darkness, the drawbridge was raised as usual, and the guards were at +their post. + +Yet if our readers care to be present at the death of the nephew of +Saint Louis and the grandson of Charles of Anjou, we may conduct them +into the chamber of the dying man. An alabaster lamp suspended from the +ceiling serves to light the vast and sombre room, with walls draped in +black velvet sewn with golden fleur-de-lys. Near the wall which faces +the two entrance doors that at this moment are both shut close, there +stands beneath a brocaded canopy an ebony bed, supported on four twisted +columns carved with symbolic figures. The king, after a struggle with a +violent paroxysm, has fallen swooning in the arms of his confessor and +his doctor, who each hold one of his dying hands, feeling his pulse +anxiously and exchanging looks of intelligence. At the foot of the bed +stands a woman about fifty years of age, her hands clasped, her eyes +raised to heaven, in an attitude of resigned grief: this woman is the +queen, No tears dim her eyes: her sunken cheek has that waxen yellow +tinge that one sees on the bodies of saints preserved by miracle. In her +look is that mingling of calm and suffering that points to a soul at +once tried by sorrow and imbued with religion. After the lapse of an +hour, while no movement had disturbed the profound silence which reigned +about the bed of death, the king trembled slightly; opened his eyes, and +endeavoured feebly to raise his head. They thanking the physician and +priest with a smile, who had both hastened to arrange his pillows, he +begged the queen to come near, and told her in a low voice that he would +speak with her a moment alone. The doctor and confessor retired, deeply +bowing, and the king followed them with his eyes up to the moment when +one of the doors closed behind them. He passed his hand across his brow, +as though seeking to collect his thoughts, and rallying all his forces +for the supreme effort, pronounced these words: + +"What I must say to you, Sancha, has no concern with those two good +persons who were here a moment ago: their task is ended. One has done +all for my body that human science could teach him, and all that has +come of it is that my death is yet a little deferred; the other has now +absolved me of all my sins, and assured me of God's forgiveness, yet +cannot keep from me those dread apparitions which in this terrible hour +arise before me. Twice have you seen me battling with a superhuman +horror. My brow has been bathed in sweat, my limbs rigid, my cries have +been stifled by a hand of iron. Has God permitted the Evil Spirit to +tempt me? Is this remorse in phantom shape? These two conflicts I have +suffered have so subdued my strength that I can never endure a third. +Listen then, my Sandra, for I have instructions to give you on which +perhaps the safety of my soul depends." + +"My lord and my master," said the queen in the most gentle accents of +submission, "I am ready to listen to your orders; and should it be that +God, in the hidden designs of His providence, has willed to call you to +His glory while we are plunged in grief, your last wishes shall be +fulfilled here on earth most scrupulously and exactly. But," she added, +with all the solicitude of a timid soul, "pray suffer me to sprinkle +drops of holy water and banish the accursed one from this chamber, and +let me offer up some part of that service of prayer that you composed in +honour of your sainted brother to implore God's protection in this hour +when we can ill afford to lose it." + +Then opening a richly bound book, she read with fervent devotion certain +verses of the office that Robert had written in a very pure Latin for +his brother Louis, Bishop of Toulouse, which was in use in the Church as +late as the time of the Council of Trent. + +Soothed by the charm of the prayers he had himself composed, the king +was near forgetting the object of the interview he had so solemnly and +eagerly demanded and letting himself lapse into a state of vague +melancholy, he murmured in a subdued voice, "Yes, yes, you are right; +pray for me, for you too are a saint, and I am but a poor sinful man." + +"Say not so, my lord," interrupted Dona Sancha; "you are the greatest, +wisest, and most just king who has ever sat upon the throne of Naples." + +"But the throne is usurped," replied Robert in a voice of gloom; "you +know that the kingdom belonged to my elder brother, Charles Martel; and +since Charles was on the throne of Hungary, which he inherited from his +mother, the kingdom of Naples devolved by right upon his eldest son, +Carobert, and not on me, who am the third in rank of the family. And I +have suffered myself to be crowned in my nephew's stead, though he was +the only lawful-king; I have put the younger branch in the place of the +elder, and for thirty-three years I have stifled the reproaches of my +conscience. True, I have won battles, made laws, founded churches; but a +single word serves to give the lie to all the pompous titles showered +upon me by the people's admiration, and this one word rings out clearer +in my ears than all the flattery of courtiers, all the songs of poets, +all the orations of the crowd:--I am an usurper!" + +"Be not unjust towards yourself, my lord, and bear in mind that if you +did not abdicate in favour of the rightful heir, it was because you +wished to save the people from the worst misfortunes. Moreover," +continued the queen, with that air of profound conviction that an +unanswerable argument inspires, "you have remained king by the consent +and authority of our Holy Father the sovereign pontiff, who disposes of +the throne as a fief belonging to the Church." + +"I have long quieted my scruples thus," replied the dying man, "and the +pope's authority has kept me silent; but whatever security one may +pretend to feel in one's lifetime, there yet comes a dreadful solemn +hour when all illusions needs must vanish: this hour for me has come, +and now I must appear before God, the one unfailing judge." + +"If His justice cannot fail, is not His mercy infinite?" pursued the +queen, with the glow of sacred inspiration. "Even if there were good +reason for the fear that has shaken your soul, what fault could not be +effaced by a repentance so noble? Have you not repaired the wrong you +may have done your nephew Carobert, by bringing his younger son Andre to +your kingdom and marrying him to Joan, your poor Charles's elder +daughter? Will not they inherit your crown?" + +"Alas!" cried Robert, with a deep sigh, "God is punishing me perhaps for +thinking too late of this just reparation. O my good and noble Sandra, +you touch a chord which vibrates sadly in my heart, and you anticipate +the unhappy confidence I was about to make. I feel a gloomy +presentiment--and in the hour of death presentiment is prophecy--that +the two sons of my nephew, Louis, who has been King of Hungary since his +father died, and Andre, whom I desired to make King of Naples, will +prove the scourge of my family. Ever since Andre set foot in our castle, +a strange fatality has pursued and overturned my projects. I had hoped +that if Andre and Joan were brought up together a tender intimacy would +arise between the two children; and that the beauty of our skies, our +civilisation, and the attractions of our court would end by softening +whatever rudeness there might be in the young Hungarian's character; but +in spite of my efforts all has tended to cause coldness, and even +aversion, between the bridal pair. Joan, scarcely fifteen, is far ahead +of her age. Gifted with a brilliant and mobile mind, a noble and lofty +character, a lively and glowing fancy, now free and frolicsome as a +child, now grave and proud as a queen, trustful and simple as a young +girl, passionate and sensitive as a woman, she presents the most +striking contrast to Andre, who, after a stay of ten years at our court, +is wilder, more gloomy, more intractable than ever. His cold, regular +features, impassive countenance, and indifference to every pleasure that +his wife appears to love, all this has raised between him and Joan a +barrier of indifference, even of antipathy. To the tenderest effusion +his reply is no more than a scornful smile or a frown, and he never +seems happier than when on a pretext of the chase he can escape from the +court. These, then, are the two, man and wife, on whose heads my crown +shall rest, who in a short space will find themselves exposed to every +passion whose dull growl is now heard below a deceptive calm, but which +only awaits the moment when I breathe my last, to burst forth upon +them." + +"O my God, my God!" the queen kept repeating in her grief: her arms fell +by her side, like the arms of a statue weeping by a tomb. + +"Listen, Dona Sandra. I know that your heart has never clung to earthly +vanities, and that you only wait till God has called me to Himself to +withdraw to the convent of Santa Maria delta Croce, founded by yourself +in the hope that you might there end your days. Far be it from me to +dissuade you from your sacred vocation, when I am myself descending into +the tomb and am conscious of the nothingness of all human greatness. +Only grant me one year of widowhood before you pass on to your bridal +with the Lord, one year in which you will watch over Joan and her +husband, to keep from them all the dangers that threaten. Already the +woman who was the seneschal's wife and her son have too much influence +over our grand-daughter; be specially careful, and amid the many +interests, intrigues, and temptations that will surround the young +queen, distrust particularly the affection of Bertrand d'Artois, the +beauty of Louis of Tarentum; and the ambition of Charles of Durazzo." + +The king paused, exhausted by the effort of speaking; then turning on +his wife a supplicating glance and extending his thin wasted hand, he +added in a scarcely audible voice: + +"Once again I entreat you, leave not the court before a year has passed. +Do you promise me?" + +"I promise, my lord." + +"And now," said Robert, whose face at these words took on a new +animation, "call my confessor and the physician and summon the family, +for the hour is at hand, and soon I shall not have the strength to speak +my last words." + +A few moments later the priest and the doctor re-entered the room, their +faces bathed, in tears. The king thanked them warmly for their care of +him in his last illness, and begged them help to dress him in the coarse +garb of a Franciscan monk, that God, as he said, seeing him die in +poverty, humility, and penitence, might the more easily grant him +pardon. The confessor and doctor placed upon his naked feet the sandals +worn by mendicant friars, robed him in a Franciscan frock, and tied the +rope about his waist. Stretched thus upon his bed, his brow surmounted +by his scanty locks, with his long white beard, and his hands crossed +upon his breast, the King of Naples looked like one of those aged +anchorites who spend their lives in mortifying the flesh, and whose +souls, absorbed in heavenly contemplation, glide insensibly from out +their last ecstasy into eternal bliss. Some time he lay thus with closed +eyes, putting up a silent prayer to God; then he bade them light the +spacious room as for a great solemnity, and gave a sign to the two +persons who stood, one at the head, the other at the foot of the bed. +The two folding doors opened, and the whole of the royal family, with +the queen at their head and the chief barons following, took their +places in silence around the dying king to hear his last wishes. + +His eyes turned toward Joan, who stood next him on his right hand, with +an indescribable look of tenderness and grief. She was of a beauty so +unusual and so marvellous, that her grandfather was fascinated by the +dazzling sight, and mistook her for an angel that God had sent to +console him on his deathbed. The pure lines of her fine profile, her +great black liquid eyes, her noble brow uncovered, her hair shining like +the raven's wing, her delicate mouth, the whole effect of this beautiful +face on the mind of those who beheld her was that of a deep melancholy +and sweetness, impressing itself once and for ever. Tall and slender, +but without the excessive thinness of some young girls, her movements +had that careless supple grace that recall the waving of a flower stalk +in the breeze. But in spite of all these smiling and innocent graces one +could yet discern in Robert's heiress a will firm and resolute to brave +every obstacle, and the dark rings that circled her fine eyes plainly +showed that her heart was already agitated by passions beyond her years. + +Beside Joan stood her younger sister, Marie, who was twelve or thirteen +years of age, the second daughter of Charles, Duke of Calabria, who had +died before her birth, and whose mother, Marie of Valois, had unhappily +been lost to her from her cradle. Exceedingly pretty and shy, she seemed +distressed by such an assembly of great personages, and quietly drew +near to the widow of the grand seneschal, Philippa, surnamed the +Catanese, the princesses' governess, whom they honoured as a mother. +Behind the princesses and beside this lady stood her son, Robert of +Cabane, a handsome young man, proud and upright, who with his left hand +played with his slight moustache while he secretly cast on Joan a glance +of audacious boldness. The group was completed by Dona Cancha, the young +chamberwoman to the princesses, and by the Count of Terlizzi, who +exchanged with her many a furtive look and many an open smile. The +second group was composed of Andre, Joan's husband, and Friar Robert, +tutor to the young prince, who had come with him from Budapesth, and +never left him for a minute. Andre was at this time perhaps eighteen +years old: at first sight one was struck by the extreme regularity of +his features, his handsome, noble face, and abundant fair hair; but +among all these Italian faces, with their vivid animation, his +countenance lacked expression, his eyes seemed dull, and something hard +and icy in his looks revealed his wild character and foreign extraction. +His tutor's portrait Petrarch has drawn for us: crimson face, hair and +beard red, figure short and crooked; proud in poverty, rich and miserly; +like a second Diogenes, with hideous and deformed limbs barely concealed +beneath his friar's frock. + +In the third group stood the widow of Philip, Prince of Tarentum, the +king's brother, honoured at the court of Naples with the title of +Empress of Constantinople, a style inherited by her as the granddaughter +of Baldwin II. Anyone accustomed to sound the depths of the human heart +would at one glance have perceived that this woman under her ghastly +pallor concealed an implacable hatred, a venomous jealousy, and an +all-devouring ambition. She had her three sons about her--Robert, +Philip, and Louis, the youngest. Had the king chosen out from among his +nephews the handsomest, bravest, and most generous, there can be no +doubt that Louis of Tarentum would have obtained the crown. At the age +of twenty-three he had already excelled the cavaliers of most renown in +feats of arms; honest, loyal, and brave, he no sooner conceived a +project than he promptly carried it out. His brow shone in that clear +light which seems to serve as a halo of success to natures so privileged +as his; his fine eyes, of a soft and velvety black, subdued the hearts +of men who could not resist their charm, and his caressing smile made +conquest sweet. A child of destiny, he had but to use his will; some +power unknown, some beneficent fairy had watched over his birth, and +undertaken to smooth away all obstacles, gratify all desires. + +Near to him, but in the fourth group, his cousin Charles of Duras stood +and scowled. His mother, Agnes, the widow of the Duke of Durazzo and +Albania, another of the king's brothers, looked upon him affrighted, +clutching to her breast her two younger sons, Ludovico, Count of +Gravina, and Robert, Prince of Morea. Charles, pale-faced, with short +hair and thick beard, was glancing with suspicion first at his dying +uncle and then at Joan and the little Marie, then again at his cousins, +apparently so excited by tumultuous thoughts that he could not stand +still. His feverish uneasiness presented a marked contrast with the +calm, dreamy face of Bertrand d'Artois, who, giving precedence to his +father Charles, approached the queen at the foot of the bed, and so +found himself face to face with Joan. The young man was so absorbed by +the beauty of the princess that he seemed to see nothing else in the +room. + +As soon as Joan and Andre, the Princes of Tarentum and Durazzo, the +Counts of Artois, and Queen Sancha had taken their places round the bed +of death, forming a semicircle, as we have just described, the +vice-chancellor passed through the rows of barons, who according to +their rank were following closely after the princes of the blood; and +bowing low before the king, unfolded a parchment sealed with the royal +seal, and read in a solemn voice, amid a profound silence: + +"Robert, by the grace of God King of Sicily and Jerusalem, Count of +Provence, Forcalquier, and Piedmont, Vicar of the Holy Roman Church, +hereby nominates and declares his sole heiress in the kingdom of Sicily +on this side and the other side of the strait, as also in the counties +of Provence, Forcalquier, and Piedmont, and in all his other +territories, Joan, Duchess of Calabria, elder daughter of the excellent +lord Charles, Duke of Calabria, of illustrious memory. + +"Moreover, he nominates and declares the honourable lady Marie, younger +daughter of the late Duke of Calabria, his heiress in the county of Alba +and in the jurisdiction of the valley of Grati and the territory of +Giordano, with all their castles and dependencies; and orders that the +lady thus named receive them in fief direct from the aforesaid duchess +and her heirs; on this condition, however, that if the duchess give and +grant to her illustrious sister or to her assigns the sum of 10,000 +ounces of gold by way of compensation, the county and jurisdiction +aforesaid--shall remain in the possession of the duchess and her heirs. + +"Moreover, he wills and commands, for private and secret reasons, that +the aforesaid lady Marie shall contract a marriage with the very +illustrious prince, Louis, reigning King of Hungary. And in case any +impediment should appear to this marriage by reason of the union said to +be already arranged and signed between the King of Hungary and the King +of Bohemia and his daughter, our lord the king commands that the +illustrious lady Marie shall contract a marriage with the elder son of +the mighty lord Don Juan, Duke of Normandy, himself the elder son of the +reigning King of France." + +At this point Charles of Durazzo gave Marie a singularly meaning look, +which escaped the notice of all present, their attention being absorbed +by the reading of Robert's will. The young girl herself, from the moment +when she first heard her own name, had stood confused and thunderstruck, +with scarlet cheeks, not daring to raise her eyes. + +The vice-chancellor continued: + +"Moreover, he has willed and commanded that the counties of Forcalquier +and Provence shall in all perpetuity be united to his kingdom, and shall +form one sole and inseparable dominion, whether or not there be several +sons or daughters or any other reason of any kind for its partition, +seeing that this union is of the utmost importance for the security and +common prosperity of the kingdom and counties aforesaid. + +"Moreover, he has decided and commanded that in case of the death of the +Duchess Joan--which God avert!--without lawful issue of her body, the +most illustrious lord Andre, Duke of Calabria, her husband, shall have +the principality of Salerno, with the title, fruits, revenues, and all +the rights thereof, together with the revenue of 2000 ounces of gold for +maintenance. + +"Moreover, he has decided and ordered that the Queen above all, and also +the venerable father Don Philip of Cabassole, Bishop of Cavaillon, +vice-chancellor of the kingdom of Sicily, and the magnificent lords +Philip of Sanguineto, seneschal of Provence, Godfrey of Marsan, Count of +Squillace, admiral of the kingdom, and Charles of Artois, Count of Aire, +shall be governors, regents, and administrators of the aforesaid lord +Andre and the aforesaid ladies Joan and Marie, until such time as the +duke, the duchess, and the very illustrious lady Marie shall have +attained their twenty-fifth year," etc. etc. + +When the vice-chancellor had finished reading, the king sat up, and +glancing round upon his fair and numerous family, thus spoke: + +"My children, you have heard my last wishes. I have bidden you all to my +deathbed, that you may see how the glory of the world passes away. Those +whom men name the great ones of the earth have more duties to perform, +and after death more accounts to render: it is in this that their +greatness lies. I have reigned thirty-three years, and God before whom I +am about to appear, God to whom my sighs have often arisen during my +long and painful life, God alone knows the thoughts that rend my heart +in the hour of death. Soon shall I be lying in the tomb, and all that +remains of me in this world will live in the memory of those who pray +for me. But before I leave you for ever, you, oh, you who are twice my +daughters, whom I have loved with a double love, and you my nephews who +have had from me all the care and affection of a father, promise me to +be ever united in heart and in wish, as indeed you are in my love. I +have lived longer than your fathers, I the eldest of all, and thus no +doubt God has wished to tighten the bonds of your affection, to accustom +you to live in one family and to pay honour to one head. I have loved +you all alike, as a father should, without exception or preference. I +have disposed of my throne according to the law of nature and the +inspiration of my conscience: Here are the heirs of the crown of Naples; +you, Joan, and you, Andre, will never forget the love and respect that +are due between husband and wife, and mutually sworn by you at the foot +of the altar; and you, my nephews all; my barons, my officers, render +homage to your lawful sovereigns; Andre of Hungary, Louis of Tarentum, +Charles of Durazzo, remember that you are brothers; woe to him who shall +imitate the perfidy of Cain! May his blood fall upon his own head, and +may he be accursed by Heaven as he is by the mouth of a dying man; and +may the blessing of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit descend +upon that man whose heart is good, when the Lord of mercy shall call to +my soul Himself!" + +The king remained motionless, his arms raised, his eyes fixed on heaven, +his cheeks extraordinarily bright, while the princes, barons, and +officers of the court proffered to Joan and her husband the oath of +fidelity and allegiance. When it was the turn of the Princes of Duras to +advance, Charles disdainfully stalked past Andre, and bending his knee +before the princess, said in a loud voice, as he kissed her hand-- + +"To you, my queen, I pay my homage." + +All looks were turned fearfully towards the dying man, but the good king +no longer heard. Seeing him fall back rigid and motionless, Dona Sancha +burst into sobs, and cried in a voice choked with tears-- + +"The king is dead; let us pray for his soul." + +At the very same moment all the princes hurried from the room, and every +passion hitherto suppressed in the presence of the king now found its +vent like a mighty torrent breaking through its banks. + +"Long live Joan!" Robert of Cabane, Louis of Tarentum, and Bertrand of +Artois were the first to exclaim, while the prince's tutor, furiously +breaking through the crowd and apostrophising the various members of the +council of regency, cried aloud in varying tones of passion, "Gentlemen, +you have forgotten the king's wish already; you must cry, 'Long live +Andre!' too;" then, wedding example to precept, and himself making more +noise than all the barons together, he cried in a voice of thunder-- + +"Long live the King of Naples!" + +But there was no echo to his cry, and Charles of Durazzo, measuring the +Dominican with a terrible look, approached the queen, and taking her by +the hand, slid back the curtains of the balcony, from which was seen the +square and the town of Naples. So far as the eye could reach there +stretched an immense crowd, illuminated by streams of light, and +thousands of heads were turned upward towards Castel Nuovo to gather any +news that might be announced. Charles respectfully drawing back and +indicating his fair cousin with his hand, cried out-- + +"People of Naples, the King is dead: long live the Queen!" + +"Long live Joan, Queen of Naples!" replied the people, with a single +mighty cry that resounded through every quarter of the town. + +The events that on this night had followed each other with the rapidity +of a dream had produced so deep an impression on Joan's mind, that, +agitated by a thousand different feelings, she retired to her own rooms, +and shutting herself up in her chamber, gave free vent to her grief. So +long as the conflict of so many ambitions waged about the tomb, the +young queen, refusing every consolation that was offered her, wept +bitterly for the death of her grandfather, who had loved her to the +point of weakness. The king was buried with all solemnity in the church +of Santa Chiara, which he had himself founded and dedicated to the Holy +Sacrament, enriching it with magnificent frescoes by Giotto and other +precious relics, among which is shown still, behind the tribune of the +high altar, two columns of white marble taken from Solomon's temple. +There still lies Robert, represented on his tomb in the dress of a king +and in a monk's frock, on the right of the monument to his son Charles, +the Duke of Calabria. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +As soon as the obsequies were over, Andre's tutor hastily assembled the +chief Hungarian lords, and it was decided in a council held in the +presence of the prince and with his consent, to send letters to his +mother, Elizabeth of Poland, and his brother, Louis of Hungary, to make +known to them the purport of Robert's will, and at the same time to +lodge a complaint at the court of Avignon against the conduct of the +princes and people of Naples in that they had proclaimed Joan alone +Queen of Naples, thus overlooking the rights of her husband, and further +to demand for him the pope's order for Andre's coronation. Friar Robert, +who had not only a profound knowledge of the court intrigues, but also +the experience of a philosopher and all a monk's cunning, told his pupil +that he ought to profit by the depression of spirit the king's death had +produced in Joan, and ought not to suffer her favourites to use this +time in influencing her by their seductive counsels. + +But Joan's ability to receive consolation was quite as ready as her +grief had at first been impetuous; the sobs which seemed to be breaking +her heart ceased all at once; new thoughts, more gentle, less +lugubrious, took possession of the young queen's mind; the trace of +tears vanished, and a smile lit up her liquid eyes like the sun's ray +following on rain. This change, anxiously awaited, was soon observed by +Joan's chamberwoman: she stole to the queen's room, and falling on her +knees, in accents of flattery and affection, she offered her first +congratulations to her lovely mistress. Joan opened her arms and held +her in a long embrace, for Dona Cancha was far more to her than a +lady-in-waiting; she was the companion of infancy, the depositary of all +her secrets, the confidante of her most private thoughts. One had but to +glance at this young girl to understand the fascination she could +scarcely fail to exercise over the queen's mind. She had a frank and +smiling countenance, such as inspires confidence and captivates the mind +at first sight. Her face had an irresistible charm, with clear blue +eyes, warm golden hair, mouth bewitchingly turned up at the corners, and +delicate little chin. Wild, happy, light of heart, pleasure and love +were the breath of her being; her dainty refinement, her charming +inconstancies, all made her at sixteen as lovely as an angel, though at +heart she was corrupt. The whole court was at her feet, and Joan felt +more affection for her than for her own sister. + +"Well, my dear Cancha," she murmured, with a sigh, "you find me very sad +and very unhappy!" + +"And you find me, fair queen," replied the confidante, fixing an +admiring look on Joan,--"you find me just the opposite, very happy that +I can lay at your feet before anyone else the proof of the joy that the +people of Naples are at this moment feeling. Others perhaps may envy you +the crown that shines upon your brow, the throne which is one of the +noblest in the world, the shouts of this entire town that sound rather +like worship than homage; but I, madam, I envy you your lovely black +hair, your dazzling eyes, your more than mortal grace, which make every +man adore you." + +"And yet you know, my Cancha, I am much to be pitied both as a queen and +as a woman: when one is fifteen a crown is heavy to wear, and I have not +the liberty of the meanest of my subjects--I mean in my affections; for +before I reached an age when I could think I was sacrificed to a man +whom I can never love." + +"Yet, madam," replied Cancha in a more insinuating voice, "in this court +there is a young cavalier who might by virtue of respect, love, and +devotion have made you forget the claims of this foreigner, alike +unworthy to be our king and to be your husband." + +The queen heaved a heavy sigh. + +"When did you lose your skill to read my heart?" she cried. "Must I +actually tell you that this love is making me wretched? True, at the +very first this unsanctioned love was a keen joy: a new life seemed to +wake within my heart; I was drawn on, fascinated by the prayers, the +tears, and the despair of this man, by the opportunities that his mother +so easily granted, she whom I had always looked upon as my own mother; I +have loved him.... O my God, I am still so young, and my past is so +unhappy. At times strange thoughts come into my mind: I fancy he no +longer loves me, that he never did love me; I fancy he has been led on +by ambition, by self-interest, by some ignoble motive, and has only +feigned a feeling that he has never really felt. I feel myself a +coldness I cannot account for; in his presence I am constrained, I am +troubled by his look, his voice makes me tremble: I fear him; I would +sacrifice a year of my life could I never have listened to him." + +These words seemed to touch the young confidante to the very depths of +her soul; a shade of sadness crossed her brow, her eyelids dropped, and +for some time she answered nothing, showing sorrow rather than surprise. +Then, lifting her head gently, she said, with visible embarrassment-- + +"I should never have dared to pass so severe a judgment upon a man whom +my sovereign lady has raised above other men by casting upon him a look +of kindness; but if Robert of Cabane has deserved the reproach of +inconstancy and ingratitude, if he has perjured himself like a coward, +he must indeed be the basest of all miserable beings, despising a +happiness which other men might have entreated of God the whole time of +their life and paid for through eternity. One man I know, who weeps both +night and day without hope or consolation, consumed by a slow and +painful malady, when one word might yet avail to save him, did it come +from the lips of my noble mistress." + +"I will not hear another word," cried Joan, suddenly rising; "there +shall be no new cause for remorse in my life. Trouble has come upon me +through my loves, both lawful and criminal; alas! no longer will I try +to control my awful fate, I will bow my head without a murmur. I am the +queen, and I must yield myself up for the good of my subjects." + +"Will you forbid me, madam," replied Dona Cancha in a kind, affectionate +tone--"will you forbid me to name Bertrand of Artois in your presence, +that unhappy man, with the beauty of an angel and the modesty of a girl? +Now that you are queen and have the life and death of your subjects in +your own keeping, will you feel no kindness towards an unfortunate one +whose only fault is to adore you, who strives with all his mind and +strength to bear a chance look of yours without dying of his joy?" + +"I have struggled hard never to look on him," cried the queen, urged by +an impulse she was not strong enough to conquer: then, to efface the +impression that might well have been made on her friend's mind, she +added severely, "I forbid you to pronounce his name before me; and if he +should ever venture to complain, I bid you tell him from me that the +first time I even suspect the cause of his distress he will be banished +for ever from my presence." + +"Ah, madam, dismiss me also; for I shall never be strong enough to do so +hard a bidding: the unhappy man who cannot awake in your heart so much +as a feeling of pity may now be struck down by yourself in your wrath, +for here he stands; he has heard your sentence, and come to die at your +feet." + +The last words were spoken in a louder voice, so that they might be +heard from outside, and Bertrand of Artois came hurriedly into the room +and fell on his knees before the queen. For a long time past the young +lady-in-waiting had perceived that Robert of Cabane had, through his own +fault, lost the love of Joan; for his tyranny had indeed become more +unendurable to her than her husband's. + +Dona Cancha had been quick enough to perceive that the eyes of her young +mistress were wont to rest with a kind of melancholy gentleness on +Bertrand, a young man of handsome appearance but with a sad and dreamy +expression; so when she made up her mind to speak in his interests, she +was persuaded that the queen already loved him. Still, a bright colour +overspread Joan's face, and her anger would have fallen on both culprits +alike, when in the next room a sound of steps was heard, and the voice +of the grand seneschal's widow in conversation with her son fell on the +ears of the three young people like a clap of thunder. Dona Cancha, pale +as death, stood trembling; Bertrand felt that he was lost--all the more +because his presence compromised the queen; Joan only, with that +wonderful presence of mind she was destined to preserve in the most +difficult crises of her future life, thrust the young man against the +carved back of her bed, and concealed him completely beneath the ample +curtain: she then signed to Cancha to go forward and meet the governess +and her son. + +But before we conduct into the queen's room these two persons, whom our +readers may remember in Joan's train about the bed of King Robert, we +must relate the circumstances which had caused the family of the +Catanese to rise with incredible rapidity from the lowest class of the +people to the highest rank at court. When Dona Violante of Aragon, first +wife of Robert of Anjou, became the mother of Charles, who was later on +the Duke of Calabria, a nurse was sought for the infant among the most +handsome women of the people. After inspecting many women of equal merit +as regards beauty, youth and health, the princess's choice lighted on +Philippa, a young Catanese woman, the wife of a fisherman of Trapani, +and by condition a laundress. This young woman, as she washed her linen +on the bank of a stream, had dreamed strange dreams: she had fancied +herself summoned to court, wedded to a great personage, and receiving +the honours of a great lady. Thus when she was called to Castel Nuovo +her joy was great, for she felt that her dreams now began to be +realised. Philippa was installed at the court, and a few months after +she began to nurse the child the fisherman was dead and she was a widow. +Meanwhile Raymond of Cabane, the major-domo of King Charles II's house, +had bought a negro from some corsairs, and having had him baptized by +his own name, had given him his liberty; afterwards observing that he +was able and intelligent, he had appointed him head cook in the king's +kitchen; and then he had gone away to the war. During the absence of his +patron the negro managed his own affairs at the court so cleverly, that +in a short time he was able to buy land, houses, farms, silver plate, +and horses, and could vie in riches with the best in the kingdom; and as +he constantly won higher favour in the royal family, he passed on from +the kitchen to the wardrobe. The Catanese had also deserved very well of +her employers, and as a reward for the care she had bestowed on the +child, the princess married her to the negro, and he, as a wedding gift, +was granted the title of knight. + +From this day forward, Raymond of Cabane and Philippa the laundress rose +in the world so rapidly that they had no equal in influence at court. +After the death of Dona Violante, the Catanese became the intimate +friend of Dona Sandra, Robert's second wife, whom we introduced to our +readers at the beginning of this narrative. Charles, her foster son, +loved her as a mother, and she was the confidante of his two wives in +turn, especially of the second wife, Marie of Valois. And as the quondam +laundress had in the end learned all the manners and customs of the +court, she was chosen at the birth of Joan and her sister to be +governess and mistress over the young girls, and at this juncture +Raymond was created major-domo. Finally, Marie of Valois on her deathbed +commended the two young princesses to her care, begging her to look on +them as her own-daughters. Thus Philippa the Catanese, honoured in +future as foster mother of the heiress to the throne of Naples, had +power to nominate her husband grand seneschal, one of the seven most +important offices in the kingdom, and to obtain knighthood for her sons. +Raymond of Cabane was buried like a king in a marble tomb in the church +of the Holy Sacrament, and there was speedily joined by two of his sons. +The third, Robert, a youth of extraordinary strength and beauty, gave up +an ecclesiastical career, and was himself made major-domo, his two +sisters being married to the Count of Merlizzi and the Count of Morcone +respectively. This was now the state of affairs, and the influence of +the grand seneschal's widow seemed for ever established, when an +unexpected event suddenly occurred, causing such injury as might well +suffice to upset the edifice of her fortunes that had been raised stone +by stone patiently and slowly: this edifice was now undermined and +threatened to fall in a single day. It was the sudden apparition of +Friar Robert, who followed to the court of Rome his young pupil, who +from infancy had been Joan's destined husband, which thus shattered all +the designs of the Catanese and seriously menaced her future. The monk +had not been slow to understand that so long as she remained at the +court, Andre would be no more than the slave, possibly even the victim, +of his wife. Thus all Friar Robert's thoughts were obstinately +concentrated on a single end, that of getting rid of the Catanese or +neutralising her influence. The prince's tutor and the governess of the +heiress had but to exchange one glance, icy, penetrating, plain to read: +their looks met like lightning flashes of hatred and of vengeance. The +Catanese, who felt she was detected, lacked courage to fight this man in +the open, and so conceived the hope of strengthening her tottering +empire by the arts of corruption and debauchery. She instilled by +degrees into her pupil's mind the poison of vice, inflamed her youthful +imagination with precocious desires, sowed in her heart the seeds of an +unconquerable aversion for her husband, surrounded the poor child with +abandoned women, and especially attached to her the beautiful and +attractive Dona Cancha, who is branded by contemporary authors with the +name of a courtesan; then summed up all these lessons in infamy by +prostituting Joan to her own son. The poor girl, polluted by sin before +she knew what life was, threw her whole self into this first passion +with all the ardour of youth, and loved Robert of Cabane so violently, +so madly, that the Catanese congratulated herself on the success of her +infamy, believing that she held her prey so fast in her toils that her +victim would never attempt to escape them. + +A year passed by before Joan, conquered by her infatuation, conceived +the smallest suspicion of her lover's sincerity. He, more ambitious than +affectionate, found it easy to conceal his coldness under the cloak of a +brotherly intimacy, of blind submission, and of unswerving devotion; +perhaps he would have deceived his mistress for a longer time had not +Bertrand of Artois fallen madly in love with Joan. Suddenly the bandage +fell from the young girl's eyes; comparing the two with the natural +instinct of a woman beloved which never goes astray, she perceived that +Robert of Cabane loved her for his own sake, while Bertrand of Artois +would give his life to make her happy. A light fell upon her past: she +mentally recalled the circumstances that preceded and accompanied her +earliest love; and a shudder went through her at the thought that she +had been sacrificed to a cowardly seducer by the very woman she had +loved most in the world, whom she had called by the name of mother. + +Joan drew back into herself, and wept bitterly. Wounded by a single blow +in all her affections, at first her grief absorbed her; then, roused to +sudden anger, she proudly raised her head, for now her love was changed +to scorn. Robert, amazed at her cold and haughty reception of him, +following on so great a love, was stung by jealousy and wounded pride. +He broke out into bitter reproach and violent recrimination, and, +letting fall the mask, once for all lost his place in Joan's heart. + +His mother at last saw that it was time to interfere: she rebuked her +son, accusing him of upsetting all her plans by his clumsiness. + +"As you have failed to conquer her by love," she said, "you must now +subdue her by fear. The secret of her honour is in our hands, and she +will never dare to rebel. She plainly loves Bertrand of Artois, whose +languishing eyes and humble sighs contrast in a striking manner with +your haughty indifference and your masterful ways. The mother of the +Princes of Tarentum, the Empress of Constantinople, will easily seize an +occasion of helping on the princess's love so as to alienate her more +and more from her husband: Cancha will be the go between, and sooner or +later we shall find Bertrand at Joan's feet. Then she will be able to +refuse us nothing." + +While all this was going on, the old king died, and the Catanese, who +had unceasingly kept on the watch for the moment she had so plainly +foreseen, loudly called to her son, when she saw Bertrand slip into +Joan's apartment, saying as she drew him after her-- + +"Follow me, the queen is ours." + +It was thus that she and her son came to be there. Joan, standing in the +middle of the chamber, pallid, her eyes fixed on the curtains of the +bed, concealed her agitation with a smile, and took one step forward +towards her governess, stooping to receive the kiss which the latter +bestowed upon her every morning. The Catanese embraced her with affected +cordiality, and turning, to her son, who had knelt upon one knee, said, +pointing to Robert-- + +"My fair queen, allow the humblest of your subjects to offer his sincere +congratulations and to lay his homage at your feet." + +"Rise, Robert," said Joan, extending her hand kindly, and with no show +of bitterness. "We were brought up together, and I shall never forget +that in our childhood--I mean those happy days when we were both +innocent--I called you my brother." + +"As you allow me, madam," said Robert, with an ironical smile, "I too +shall always remember the names you formerly gave me." + +"And I," said the Catanese, "shall forget that I speak to the Queen of +Naples, in embracing once more my beloved daughter. Come, madam, away +with care: you have wept long enough; we have long respected your grief. +It is now time to show yourself to these good Neapolitans who bless +Heaven continually for granting them a queen so beautiful and good; it +is time that your favours fall upon the heads of your faithful subjects, +and my son, who surpasses all in his fidelity, comes first to ask a +favour of you, in order that he may serve you yet more zealously." + +Joan cast on Robert a withering look, and, speaking to the Catanese, +said with a scornful air-- + +"You know, madam, I can refuse your son nothing." + +"All he asks," continued the lady, "is a title which is his due, and +which he inherited from his father--the title of Grand Seneschal of the +Two Sicilies: I trust, my daughter, you will have no difficulty in +granting this." + +"But I must consult the council of regency." + +"The council will hasten to ratify the queen's wishes," replied Robert, +handing her the parchment with an imperious gesture: "you need only +speak to the Count of Artois." + +And he cast a threatening glance at the curtain, which had slightly +moved. + +"You are right," said the queen at once; and going up to a table she +signed the parchment with a trembling hand. + +"Now, my daughter, I have come in the name of all the care I bestowed on +your infancy, of all the maternal love I have lavished on you, to +implore a favour that my family will remember for evermore." + +The queen recoiled one step, crimson with astonishment and rage; but +before she could find words to reply, the lady continued in a voice that +betrayed no feeling-- + +"I request you to make my son Count of Eboli." + +"That has nothing to do with me, madam; the barons of this kingdom would +revolt to a man if I were on my own authority to exalt to one of the +first dignities the son of a---" + +"A laundress and a negro; you would say, madam?" said Robert, with a +sneer. "Bertrand of Artois would be annoyed perhaps if I had a title +like his." + +He advanced a step towards the bed, his hand upon the hilt of his sword. + +"Have mercy, Robert!" cried the queen, checking him: "I will do all you +ask." + +And she signed the parchment naming him Count of Eboli. + +"And now," Robert went on impudently, "to show that my new title is not +illusory, while you are busy about signing documents, let me have the +privilege of taking part in the councils of the crown: make a +declaration that, subject to your good pleasure, my mother and I are to +have a deliberative voice in the council whenever an important matter is +under discussion." + +"Never!" cried Joan, turning pale. "Philippa and Robert, you abuse my +weakness and treat your queen shamefully. In the last few days I have +wept and suffered continually, overcome by a terrible grief; I have no +strength to turn to business now. Leave me, I beg: I feel my strength +gives way." + +"What, my daughter," cried the Catanese hypocritically, "are you feeling +unwell? Come and lie down at once." And hurrying to the bed, she took +hold of the curtain that concealed the Count of Artois. + +The queen uttered a piercing cry, and threw herself before Philippa with +the fury of a lioness. "Stop!" she cried in a choking voice; "take the +privilege you ask, and now, if you value your own life, leave me." + +The Catanese and her son departed instantly, not even waiting to reply, +for they had got all they wanted; while Joan, trembling, ran desperately +up to Bertrand, who had angrily drawn his dagger, and would have fallen +upon the two favourites to take vengeance for the insults they had +offered to the queen; but he was very soon disarmed by the lovely +shining eyes raised to him in supplication, the two arms cast about him, +and the tears shed by Joan: he fell at her feet and kissed them +rapturously, with no thought of seeking excuse for his presence, with no +word of love, for it was as if they had loved always: he lavished the +tenderest caresses on her, dried her tears, and pressed his trembling +lips upon her lovely head. Joan began to forget her anger, her vows, and +her repentance: soothed by the music of her lover's speech, she returned +uncomprehending monosyllables: her heart beat till it felt like +breaking, and once more she was falling beneath love's resistless spell, +when a new interruption occurred, shaking her roughly out of her +ecstasy; but this time the young count was able to pass quietly and +calmly into a room adjoining, and Joan prepared to receive her +importunate visitor with severe and frigid dignity. + +The individual who arrived at so inopportune a moment was little +calculated to smooth Joan's ruffled brow, being Charles, the eldest son +of the Durazzo family. After he had introduced his fair cousin to the +people as their only legitimate sovereign, he had sought on various +occasions to obtain an interview with her, which in all probability +would be decisive. Charles was one of those men who to gain their end +recoil at nothing; devoured by raging ambition and accustomed from his +earliest years to conceal his most ardent desires beneath a mask of +careless indifference, he marched ever onward, plot succeeding plot, +towards the object he was bent upon securing, and never deviated one +hair's-breadth from the path he had marked out, but only acted with +double prudence after each victory, and with double courage after each +defeat. His cheek grew pale with joy; when he hated most, he smiled; in +all the emotions of his life, however strong, he was inscrutable. He had +sworn to sit on the throne of Naples, and long had believed himself the +rightful heir, as being nearest of kin to Robert of all his nephews. To +him the hand of Joan would have been given, had not the old king in his +latter days conceived the plan of bringing Andre from Hungary and +re-establishing the elder branch in his person, though that had long +since been forgotten. But his resolution had never for a moment been +weakened by the arrival of Andre in the kingdom, or by the profound +indifference wherewith Joan, preoccupied with other passion, had always +received the advances of her cousin Charles of Durazzo. Neither the love +of a woman nor the life of a man was of any account to him when a crown +was weighed in the other scale of the balance. + +During the whole time that the queen had remained invisible, Charles had +hung about her apartments, and now came into her presence with +respectful eagerness to inquire for his cousin's health. The young duke +had been at pains to set off his noble features and elegant figure by a +magnificent dress covered with golden fleur-de-lys and glittering with +precious stones. His doublet of scarlet velvet and cap of the same +showed up, by their own splendour, the warm colouring of his skin, while +his face seemed illumined by his black eyes that shone keen as an +eagle's. + +Charles spoke long with his cousin of the people's enthusiasm on her +accession and of the brilliant destiny before her; he drew a hasty but +truthful sketch of the state of the kingdom; and while he lavished +praises on the queen's wisdom, he cleverly pointed out what reforms were +most urgently needed by the country; he contrived to put so much warmth, +yet so much reserve, into his speech that he destroyed the disagreeable +impression his arrival had produced. In spite of the irregularities of +her youth and the depravity brought about by her wretched education, +Joan's nature impelled her to noble action: when the welfare of her +subjects was concerned, she rose above the limitations of her age and +sex, and, forgetting her strange position, listened to the Duke of +Durazzo with the liveliest interest and the kindliest attention. He then +hazarded allusions to the dangers that beset a young queen, spoke +vaguely of the difficulty in distinguishing between true devotion and +cowardly complaisance or interested attachment; he spoke of the +ingratitude of many who had been loaded with benefits, and had been most +completely trusted. Joan, who had just learned the truth of his words by +sad experience, replied with a sigh, and after a moment's silence +added-- + +"May God, whom I call to witness for the loyalty and uprightness of my +intentions, may God unmask all traitors and show me my true friends! I +know that the burden laid upon me is heavy, and I presume not on my +strength, but I trust that the tried experience of those counsellors to +whom my uncle entrusted me, the support of my family, and your warm and +sincere friendship above all, my dear cousin, will help me to accomplish +my duty." + +"My sincerest prayer is that you may succeed, my fair cousin, and I will +not darken with doubts and fears a time that ought to be given up to +joy; I will not mingle with the shouts of gladness that rise on all +sides to proclaim you queen, any vain regrets over that blind fortune +which has placed beside the woman whom we all alike adore, whose single +glance would make a man more blest than the angels, a foreigner unworthy +of your love and unworthy of your throne." + +"You forget, Charles," said the queen, putting out her hand as though to +check his words, "Andre is my husband, and it was my grandfather's will +that he should reign with me." + +"Never!" cried the duke indignantly; "he King of Naples! Nay, dream that +the town is shaken to its very foundations, that the people rise as one +man, that our church bells sound a new Sicilian vespers, before the +people of Naples will endure the rule of a handful of wild Hungarian +drunkards, a deformed canting monk, a prince detested by them even as +you are beloved!" + +"But why is Andre blamed? What has he done?" + +"What has he done? Why is he blamed, madam? The people blame him as +stupid, coarse, a savage; the nobles blame him for ignoring their +privileges and openly supporting men of obscure birth; and I, +madam,"--here he lowered his voice, "I blame him for making you +unhappy." + +Joan shuddered as though a wound had been touched by an unkind hand; but +hiding her emotion beneath an appearance of calm, she replied in a voice +of perfect indifference-- + +"You must be dreaming, Charles; who has given you leave to suppose I am +unhappy?" + +"Do not try to excuse him, my dear cousin," replied Charles eagerly; +"you will injure yourself without saving him." + +The queen looked fixedly at her cousin, as though she would read him +through and through and find out the meaning of his words; but as she +could not give credence to the horrible thought that crossed her mind, +she assumed a complete confidence in her cousin's friendship, with a +view to discovering his plans, and said carelessly-- + +"Well, Charles, suppose I am not happy, what remedy could you offer me +that I might escape my lot?" + +"You ask me that, my dear cousin? Are not all remedies good when you +suffer, and when you wish for revenge?" + +"One must fly to those means that are possible. Andre will not readily +give up his pretensions: he has a party of his own, and in case of open +rupture his brother the King of Hungary may declare war upon us, and +bring ruin and desolation upon our kingdom." + +The Duke of Duras faintly smiled, and his countenance assumed a sinister +expression. + +"You do not understand me," he said. + +"Then explain without circumlocution," said the queen, trying to conceal +the convulsive shudder that ran through her limbs. + +"Listen, Joan," said Charles, taking his cousin's hand and laying it +upon his heart: "can you feel that dagger?" + +"I can," said Joan, and she turned pale. + +"One word from you--and--" + +"Yes?" + +"To-morrow you will be free." + +"A murder!" cried Joan, recoiling in horror: "then I was not deceived; +it is a murder that you have proposed." + +"It is a necessity," said the duke calmly: "today I advise; later on you +will give your orders." + +"Enough, wretch! I cannot tell if you are more cowardly or more rash: +cowardly, because you reveal a criminal plot feeling sure that I shall +never denounce you; rash, because in revealing it to me you cannot tell +what witnesses are near to hear it all." + +"In any case, madam, since I have put myself in your hands, you must +perceive that I cannot leave you till I know if I must look upon myself +as your friend or as your enemy." + +"Leave me," cried Joan, with a disdainful gesture; "you insult your +queen." + +"You forget, my dear cousin, that some day I may very likely have a +claim to your kingdom." + +"Do not force me to have you turned out of this room," said Joan, +advancing towards the door. + +"Now do not get excited, my fair cousin; I am going: but at least +remember that I offered you my hand and you refused it. Remember what I +say at this solemn moment: to-day I am the guilty man; some day perhaps +I may be the judge." + +He went away slowly, twice turning his head, repeating in the language +of signs his menacing prophecy. Joan hid her face in her hands, and for +a long time remained plunged in dismal reflections; then anger got the +better of all her other feelings, and she summoned Dona Cancha, bidding +her not to allow anybody to enter, on any pretext whatsoever. + +This prohibition was not for the Count of Artois, for the reader will +remember that he was in the adjoining room. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Night fell, and from the Molo to the Mergellina, from the Capuano Castle +to the hill of St. Elmo, deep silence had succeeded the myriad sounds +that go up from the noisiest city in the world. Charles of Durazzo, +quickly walking away from the square of the Correggi, first casting one +last look of vengeance at the Castel Nuovo, plunged into the labyrinth +of dark streets that twist and turn, cross and recross one another, in +this ancient city, and after a quarter of an hour's walking, that was +first slow, then very rapid, arrived at his ducal palace near the church +of San Giovanni al Mare. He gave certain instructions in a harsh, +peremptory tone to a page who took his sword and cloak. Then Charles +shut himself into his room, without going up to see his poor mother, who +was weeping, sad and solitary over her son's ingratitude, and like every +other mother taking her revenge by praying God to bless him. + +The Duke of Durazzo walked up and down his room several times like a +lion in a cage, counting the minutes in a fever of impatience, and was +on the point of summoning a servant and renewing his commands, when two +dull raps on the door informed him that the person he was waiting for +had arrived. He opened at once, and a man of about fifty, dressed in +black from head to foot, entered, humbly bowing, and carefully shut the +door behind him. Charles threw himself into an easy-chair, and gazing +fixedly at the man who stood before him, his eyes on the ground and his +arms crossed upon his breast in an attitude of the deepest respect and +blind obedience, he said slowly, as though weighing each word-- + +"Master Nicholas of Melazzo, have you any remembrance left of the +services I once rendered you?" + +The man to whom these words were addressed trembled in every limb, as if +he heard the voice of Satan come to claim his soul; then lifting a look +of terror to his questioner's face, he asked in a voice of gloom-- + +"What have I done, my lord, to deserve this reproach?" + +"It is not a reproach: I ask a simple question." + +"Can my lord doubt for a moment of my eternal gratitude? Can I forget +the favours your Excellency showed me? Even if I could so lose my reason +and my memory, are not my wife and son ever here to remind me that to +you we owe all our life, our honour, and our fortune? I was guilty of an +infamous act," said the notary, lowering his voice, "a crime that would +not only have brought upon my head the penalty of death, but which meant +the confiscation of my goods, the ruin of my family, poverty and shame +for my only son--that very son, sire, for whom I, miserable wretch, had +wished to ensure a brilliant future by means of my frightful crime: you +had in your hands the proofs of this! + +"I have them still." + +"And you will not ruin me, my lord," resumed the notary, trembling; "I +am at your feet, your Excellency; take my life and I will die in torment +without a murmur, but save my son since you have been so merciful as to +spare him till now; have pity on his mother; my lord, have pity!" + +"Be assured," said Charles, signing to him to rise; "it is nothing to do +with your life; that will come later, perhaps. What I wish to ask of you +now is a much simpler, easier matter." + +"My lord, I await your command." + +"First," said the duke, in a voice of playful irony, "you must draw up a +formal contract of my marriage." + +"At once, your Excellency." + +"You are to write in the first article that my wife brings me as dowry +the county of Alba, the jurisdiction of Grati and Giordano, with all +castles, fiefs, and lands dependent thereto." + +"But, my lord--" replied the poor notary, greatly embarrassed. + +"Do you find any difficulty, Master Nicholas?" + +"God forbid, your Excellency, but--" + +"Well, what is it?" + +"Because, if my lord will permit, because there is only one person in +Naples who possesses that dowry your Excellency mentions." + +"And so?" + +"And she," stammered the notary, embarrassed more and more, "--she is +the queen's sister." + +"And in the contract you will write the name of Marie of Anjou." + +"But the young maiden," replied Nicholas timidly, "whom your Excellency +would marry is destined, I thought, under the will of our late king of +blessed memory, to become the wife of the King of Hungary or else of the +grandson of the King of France." + +"Ah, I understand your surprise: you may learn from this that an uncle's +intentions are not always the same as his nephew's." + +"In that case, sire, if I dared--if my lord would deign to give me +leave--if I had an opinion I might give, I would humbly entreat your +Excellency to reflect that this would mean the abduction of a minor." + +"Since when did you learn to be scrupulous, Master Nicholas?" + +These words were uttered with a glance so terrible that the poor notary +was crushed, and had hardly the strength to reply-- + +"In an hour the contract will be ready." + +"Good: we agree as to the first point," continued Charles, resuming his +natural tone of voice. "You now will hear my second charge. You have +known the Duke of Calabria's valet for the last two years pretty +intimately?" + +"Tommaso Pace; why, he is my best friend." + +"Excellent. Listen, and remember that on your discretion the safety or +ruin of your family depends. A plot will soon be on foot against the +queen's husband; the conspirators no doubt will gain over Andre's valet, +the man you call your best friend; never leave him for an instant, try +to be his shadow; day by day and hour by hour come to me and report the +progress of the plot, the names of the plotters." + +"Is this all your Excellency's command?" + +"All." + +The notary respectfully bowed, and withdrew to put the orders at once +into execution. Charles spent the rest of that night writing to his +uncle the Cardinal de Perigord, one of the most influential prelates at +the court of Avignon. He begged him before all things to use his +authority so as to prevent Pope Clement from signing the bull that would +sanction Andre's coronation, and he ended his letter by earnestly +entreating his uncle to win the pope's consent to his marriage with the +queen's sister. + +"We shall see, fair cousin," he said as he sealed his letter, "which of +us is best at understanding where our interest lies. You would not have +me as a friend, so you shall have me as an enemy. Sleep on in the arms +of your lover: I will wake you when the time comes. I shall be Duke of +Calabria perhaps some day, and that title, as you well know, belongs to +the heir to the throne." + +The next day and on the following days a remarkable change took place in +the behaviour of Charles towards Andre: he showed him signs of great +friendliness, cleverly flattering his inclinations, and even persuading +Friar Robert that, far from feeling any hostility in the matter of +Andre's coronation, his most earnest desire was that his uncle's wishes +should be respected; and that, though he might have given the impression +of acting contrary to them, it had only been done with a view to +appeasing the populace, who in their first excitement might have been +stirred up to insurrection against the Hungarians. He declared with much +warmth that he heartily detested the people about the queen, whose +counsels tended to lead her astray, and he promised to join Friar Robert +in the endeavour to get rid of Joan's favourites by all such means as +fortune might put at his disposal. Although the Dominican did not +believe in the least in the sincerity of his ally's protestations, he +yet gladly welcomed the aid which might prove so useful to the prince's +cause, and attributed the sudden change of front to some recent rupture +between Charles and his cousin, promising himself that he would make +capital out of his resentment. Be that as it might, Charles wormed +himself into Andre's heart, and after a few days one of them could +hardly be seen without the other. If Andre went out hunting, his +greatest pleasure in life, Charles was eager to put his pack or his +falcons at his disposal; if Andre rode through the town, Charles was +always ambling by his side. He gave way to his whims, urged him to +extravagances, and inflamed his angry passions: in a word, he was the +good angel--or the bad one--who inspired his every thought and guided +his every action. + +Joan soon understood this business, and as a fact had expected it. She +could have ruined Charles with a single word; but she scorned so base a +revenge, and treated him with utter contempt. Thus the court was split +into two factions: the Hungarians with Friar Robert at their head and +supported by Charles of Durazzo; on the other side all the nobility of +Naples, led by the Princes of Tarentum. Joan, influenced by the grand +seneschal's widow and her two daughters, the Countesses of Terlizzi and +Morcone, and also by Dona Cancha and the Empress of Constantinople, took +the side of the Neapolitan party against the pretensions of her husband. +The partisans of the queen made it their first care to have her name +inscribed upon all public acts without adding Andre's; but Joan, led by +an instinct of right and justice amid all the corruption of her court, +had only consented to this last after she had taken counsel with Andre +d'Isernia, a very learned lawyer of the day, respected as much for his +lofty character as for his great learning. The prince, annoyed at being +shut out in this way, began to act in a violent and despotic manner. On +his own authority he released prisoners; he showered favours upon +Hungarians, and gave especial honours and rich gifts to Giovanni Pipino, +Count of Altanuera, the enemy of all others most dreaded and detested by +the Neapolitan barons. Then the Counts of San Severino, Mileto, Terlizzi +and Balzo, Calanzaro and Sant' Angelo, and most of the grandees, +exasperated by the haughty insolence of Andre's favourite, which grew +every day more outrageous, decided that he must perish, and his master +with him, should he persist in attacking their privileges and defying +their anger. + +Moreover, the women who were about Joan at the court egged her on, each +one urged by a private interest, in the pursuit of her fresh passion. +Poor Joan,--neglected by her husband and betrayed by Robert of Cabane-- +gave way beneath the burden of duties beyond her strength to bear, and +fled for refuge to the arms of Bertrand of Artois, whose love she did +not even attempt to resist; for every feeling for religion and virtue +had been destroyed in her own set purpose, and her young inclinations +had been early bent towards vice, just as the bodies of wretched +children are bent and their bones broken by jugglers when they train +them. Bertrand himself felt an adoration for her surpassing ordinary +human passion. When he reached the summit of a happiness to which in his +wildest dreams he had never dared to aspire, the young count nearly lost +his reason. In vain had his father, Charles of Artois (who was Count of +Aire, a direct descendant of Philip the Bold, and one of the regents of +the kingdom), attempted by severe admonitions to stop him while yet on +the brink of the precipice: Bertrand would listen to nothing but his +love for Joan and his implacable hatred for all the queen's enemies. +Many a time, at the close of day, as the breeze from Posilippo or +Sorrento coming from far away was playing in his hair, might Bertrand be +seen leaning from one of the casements of Castel Nuovo, pale and +motionless, gazing fixedly from his side of the square to where the Duke +of Calabria and the Duke of Durazzo came galloping home from their +evening ride side by side in a cloud of dust. Then the brows of the +young count were violently contracted, a savage, sinister look shone in +his blue eyes once so innocent, like lightning a thought of death and +vengeance flashed into his mind; he would all at once begin to tremble, +as a light hand was laid upon his shoulder; he would turn softly, +fearing lest the divine apparition should vanish to the skies; but there +beside him stood a young girl, with cheeks aflame and heaving breast, +with brilliant liquid eyes: she had come to tell how her past day had +been spent, and to offer her forehead for the kiss that should reward +her labours and unwilling absence. This woman, dictator of laws and +administrator of justice among grave magistrates and stern ministers, +was but fifteen years old; this man; who knew her griefs, and to avenge +them was meditating regicide, was not yet twenty: two children of earth, +the playthings of an awful destiny! + +Two months and a few days after the old king's death, on the morning of +Friday the 28th of March of the same year, 1343, the widow of the grand +seneschal, Philippa, who, had already contrived to get forgiven for the +shameful trick she had used to secure all her son's wishes, entered the +queen's apartments, excited by a genuine fear, pale and distracted, the +bearer of news that spread terror and lamentation throughout the court: +Marie, the queen's younger sister, had disappeared. + +The gardens and outside courts had been searched for any trace of her; +every corner of the castle had been examined; the guards had been +threatened with torture, so as to drag the truth from them; no one had +seen anything of the princess, and nothing could be found that suggested +either flight or abduction. Joan, struck down by this new blow in the +midst of other troubles, was for a time utterly prostrated; then, when +she had recovered from her first surprise, she behaved as all people do +if despair takes the place of reason: she gave orders for what was +already done to be done again, she asked the same questions that could +only bring the same answers, and poured forth vain regrets and unjust +reproaches. The news spread through the town, causing the greatest +astonishment: there arose a great commotion in the castle, and the +members of the regency hastily assembled, while couriers were sent out +in every direction, charged to promise 12,000 ducats to whomsoever +should discover the place where the princess was concealed. Proceedings +were at once taken against the soldiers who were on guard at the +fortress at the time of the disappearance. + +Bertrand of Artois drew the queen apart, telling her his suspicions, +which fell directly upon Charles of Durazzo; but Joan lost no time in +persuading him of the improbability of his hypothesis: first of all, +Charles had never once set his foot in Castel Nuovo since the day of his +stormy interview with the queen, but had made a point of always leaving +Andre by the bridge when he came to the town with him; besides, it had +never been noticed, even in the past, that the young duke had spoken to +Marie or exchanged looks with her: the result of all attainable evidence +was that no stranger had entered the castle the evening before except a +notary named Master Nicholas of Melazzo, an old person, half silly, half +fanatical, for whom Tommaso Pace, valet de chambre to the Duke of +Calabria, was ready to answer with his life. Bertrand yielded to the +queen's reasoning, and day by day advanced new suggestions, each less +probable than the last, to draw his mistress on to feel a hope that he +was far from feeling himself. + +But a month later, and precisely on the morning of Monday the 30th of +April, a strange and unexpected scene took place, an exhibition of +boldness transcending all calculations. The Neapolitan people were +stupefied in astonishment, and the grief of Joan and her friends was +changed to indignation. Just as the clock of San Giovanni struck twelve, +the gate of the magnificent palace of the Durazzo flung open its folding +doors, and there came forth to the sound of trumpets a double file of +cavaliers on richly caparisoned horses, with the duke's arms on their +shields. They took up their station round the house to prevent the +people outside from disturbing a ceremony which was to take place before +the eyes of an immense crowd, assembled suddenly, as by a miracle, upon +the square. At the back of the court stood an altar, and upon the steps +lay two crimson velvet cushions embroidered with the fleur-de-lys of +France and the ducal crown. Charles came forward, clad in a dazzling +dress, and holding by the hand the queen's sister, the Princess Marie, +at that time almost thirteen years of age. She knelt down timidly on one +of the cushions, and when Charles had done the same, the grand almoner +of the Duras house asked the young duke solemnly what was his intention +in appearing thus humbly before a minister of the Church. At these words +Master Nicholas of Melazzo took his place on the left of the altar, and +read in a firm, clear voice, first, the contract of marriage between +Charles and Marie, and then the apostolic letters from His Holiness the +sovereign pontiff, Clement VI, who in his own name removing all +obstacles that might impede the union, such as the age of the young +bride and the degrees of affinity between the two parties, authorised +his dearly beloved son Charles, Duke of Durazzo and Albania, to take in +marriage the most illustrious Marie of Anjou, sister of Joan, Queen of +Naples and Jerusalem, and bestowed his benediction on the pair. + +The almoner then took the young girl's hand, and placing it in that of +Charles, pronounced the prayers of the Church. Charles, turning half +round to the people, said in a loud voice-- + +"Before God and man, this woman is my wife." + +"And this man is my husband," said Marie, trembling. + +"Long live the Duke and Duchess of Durazzo!" cried the crowd, clapping +their hands. And the young pair, at once mounting two beautiful horses +and followed by their cavaliers and pages, solemnly paraded through the +town, and re-entered their palace to the sound of trumpets and cheering. + +When this incredible news was brought to the queen, her first feeling +was joy at the recovery of her sister; and when Bertrand of Artois was +eager to head a band of barons and cavaliers and bent on falling upon +the cortege to punish the traitor, Joan put up her hand to stop him with +a very mournful look. + +"Alas!" she said sadly, "it is too late. They are legally married, for +the head of the Church--who is moreover by my grandfather's will the +head of our family--has granted his permission. I only pity my poor +sister; I pity her for becoming so young the prey of a wretched man who +sacrifices her to his own ambition, hoping by this marriage to establish +a claim to the throne. O God! what a strange fate oppresses the royal +house of Anjou! My father's early death in the midst of his triumphs; my +mother's so quickly after; my sister and I, the sole offspring of +Charles I, both before we are women grown fallen into the hands of +cowardly men, who use us but as the stepping-stones of their ambition!" +Joan fell back exhausted on her chair, a burning tear trembling on her +eyelid. + +"This is the second time," said Bertrand reproachfully, "that I have +drawn my sword to avenge an insult offered to you, the second time I +return it by your orders to the scabbard. But remember, Joan, the third +time will not find me so docile, and then it will not be Robert of +Cabane or Charles of Durazzo that I shall strike, but him who is the +cause of all your misfortunes." + +"Have mercy, Bertrand! do not you also speak these words; whenever this +horrible thought takes hold of me, let me come to you: this threat of +bloodshed that is drummed into my ears, this sinister vision that haunts +my sight; let me come to you, beloved, and weep upon your bosom, beneath +your breath cool my burning fancies, from your eyes draw some little +courage to revive my perishing soul. Come, I am quite unhappy enough +without needing to poison the future by an endless remorse. Tell me +rather to forgive and to forget, speak not of hatred and revenge; show +me one ray of hope amid the darkness that surrounds me; hold up my +wavering feet, and push me not into the abyss." + +Such altercations as this were repeated as often as any fresh wrong +arose from the side of Andre or his party; and in proportion as the +attacks made by Bertrand and his friends gained in vehemence--and we +must add, in justice--so did Joan's objections weaken. The Hungarian +rule, as it became more and more arbitrary and unbearable, irritated +men's minds to such a point that the people murmured in secret and the +nobles proclaimed aloud their discontent. Andre's soldiers indulged in a +libertinage which would have been intolerable in a conquered city: they +were found everywhere brawling in the taverns or rolling about +disgustingly drunk in the gutters; and the prince, far from rebuking +such orgies, was accused of sharing them himself. His former tutor, who +ought to have felt bound to drag him away from so ignoble a mode of +life, rather strove to immerse him in degrading pleasures, so as to keep +him out of business matters; without suspecting it, he was hurrying on +the denouement of the terrible drama that was being acted behind the +scenes at Castel Nuovo. Robert's widow, Dona Sancha of Aragon, the good +and sainted lady whom our readers may possibly have forgotten, as her +family had done, seeing that God's anger was hanging over her house, and +that no counsels, no tears or prayers of hers could avail to arrest it, +after wearing mourning for her husband one whole year, according to her +promise, had taken the veil at the convent of Santa Maria delta Croce, +and deserted the court and its follies and passions, just as the +prophets of old, turning their back on some accursed city, would shake +the dust from off their sandals and depart. Sandra's retreat was a sad +omen, and soon the family dissensions, long with difficulty suppressed, +sprang forth to open view; the storm that had been threatening from afar +broke suddenly over the town, and the thunderbolt was shortly to follow. + +On the last day of August 1344, Joan rendered homage to Americ, Cardinal +of Saint Martin and legate of Clement VI, who looked upon the kingdom of +Naples as being a fief of the Church ever since the time when his +predecessors had presented it to Charles of Anjou, and overthrown and +excommunicated the house of Suabia. For this solemn ceremony the church +of Saint Clara was chosen, the burial-place of Neapolitan kings, and but +lately the tomb of the grandfather and father of the young queen, who +reposed to right and left of the high altar. Joan, clad in the royal +robe, with the crown upon her head, uttered her oath of fidelity between +the hands of the apostolic legate in the presence of her husband, who +stood behind her simply as a witness, just like the other princes of the +blood. Among the prelates with their pontifical insignia who formed the +brilliant following of the envoy, there stood the Archbishops of Pisa, +Bari, Capua, and Brindisi, and the reverend fathers Ugolino, Bishop of +Castella, and Philip, Bishop of Cavaillon, chancellor to the queen. All +the nobility of Naples and Hungary were present at this ceremony, which +debarred Andre from the throne in a fashion at once formal and striking. +Thus, when they left the church the excited feelings of both parties +made a crisis imminent, and such hostile glances, such threatening words +were exchanged, that the prince, finding himself too weak to contend +against his enemies, wrote the same evening to his mother, telling her +that he was about to leave a country where from his infancy upwards he +had experienced nothing but deceit and disaster. + +Those who know a mother's heart will easily guess that Elizabeth of +Poland was no sooner aware of the danger that threatened her son than +she travelled to Naples, arriving there before her coming was suspected. +Rumour spread abroad that the Queen of Hungary had come to take her son +away with her, and the unexpected event gave rise to strange comments: +the fever of excitement now blazed up in another direction. The Empress +of Constantinople, the Catanese, her two daughters, and all the +courtiers, whose calculations were upset by Andre's departure, hurried +to honour the arrival of the Queen of Hungary by offering a very cordial +and respectful reception, with a view to showing her that, in the midst +of a court so attentive and devoted, any isolation or bitterness of +feeling on the young prince's part must spring from his pride, from an +unwarrantable mistrust, and his naturally savage and untrained +character. Joan received her husband's mother with so much proper +dignity in her behaviour that, in spite of preconceived notions, +Elizabeth could not help admiring the noble seriousness and earnest +feeling she saw in her daughter-in-law. To make the visit more pleasant +to an honoured guest, fetes and tournaments were given, the barons vying +with one another in display of wealth and luxury. The Empress of +Constantinople, the Catanese, Charles of Duras and his young wife, all +paid the utmost attention to the mother of the prince. Marie, who by +reason of her extreme youth and gentleness of character had no share in +any intrigues, was guided quite as much by her natural feeling as by her +husband's orders when she offered to the Queen of Hungary those marks of +regard and affection that she might have felt for her own mother. In +spite, however, of these protestations of respect and love, Elizabeth of +Poland trembled for her son, and, obeying a maternal instinct, chose to +abide by her original intention, believing that she should never feel +safe until Andre was far away from a court in appearance so friendly but +in reality so treacherous. The person who seemed most disturbed by the +departure, and tried to hinder it by every means in his power, was Friar +Robert. Immersed in his political schemes, bending over his mysterious +plans with all the eagerness of a gambler who is on the point of +gaining, the Dominican, who thought himself on the eve of a tremendous +event, who by cunning, patience, and labour hoped to scatter his enemies +and to reign as absolute autocrat, now falling suddenly from the edifice +of his dream, stiffened himself by a mighty effort to stand and resist +the mother of his pupil. But fear cried too loud in the heart of +Elizabeth for all the reasonings of the monk to lull it to rest: to +every argument he advanced she simply said that while her son was not +king and had not entire unlimited power, it was imprudent to leave him +exposed to his enemies. The monk, seeing that all was indeed lost and +that he could not contend against the fears of this woman, asked only +the boon of three days' grace, at the end of which time, should a reply +he was expecting have not arrived, he said he would not only give up his +opposition to Andre's departure, but would follow himself, renouncing +for ever a scheme to which he had sacrificed everything. + +Towards the end of the third day, as Elizabeth was definitely making her +preparations for departure, the monk entered radiant. Showing her a +letter which he had just hastily broken open, he cried triumphantly-- + +"God be praised, madam! I can at last give you incontestable proofs of +my active zeal and accurate foresight." + +Andre's mother, after rapidly running through the document, turned her +eyes on the monk with yet some traces of mistrust in her manner, not +venturing to give way to her sudden joy. + +"Yes, madam," said the monk, raising his head, his plain features +lighted up by his glance of intelligence--"yes, madam, you will believe +your eyes, perhaps, though you would never believe my words: this is not +the dream of an active imagination, the hallucination of a credulous +mind, the prejudice of a limited intellect; it is a plan slowly +conceived, painfully worked out, my daily thought and my whole life's +work. I have never ignored the fact that at the court of Avignon your +son had powerful enemies; but I knew also that on the very day I +undertook a certain solemn engagement in the prince's name, an +engagement to withdraw those laws that had caused coldness between the +pope and Robert; who was in general so devoted to the Church, I knew +very well that my offer would never be rejected, and this argument of +mine I kept back for the last. See, madam, my calculations are correct; +your enemies are put to shame and your son is triumphant." + +Then turning to Andre, who was just corning in and stood dumbfounded at +the threshold on hearing the last words, he added-- + +"Come, my son, our prayers are at last fulfilled: you are king." + +"King!" repeated Andre, transfixed with joy, doubt, and amazement. + +"King of Sicily and Jerusalem: yes, my lord; there is no need for you to +read this document that brings the joyful, unexpected news. You can see +it in your mother's tears; she holds out her arms to press you to her +bosom; you can see it in the happiness of your old teacher; he falls on +his knees at your feet to salute you by this title, which he would have +paid for with his own blood had it been denied to you much longer." + +"And yet," said Elizabeth, after a moment's mournful reflection, "if I +obey my presentiments, your news will make no difference to our plans +for departure." + +"Nay, mother," said Andre firmly, "you would not force me to quit the +country to the detriment of my honour. If I have made you feel some of +the bitterness and sorrow that have spoiled my own young days because of +my cowardly enemies, it is not from a poor spirit, but because I was +powerless, and knew it, to take any sort of striking vengeance for their +secret insults, their crafty injuries, their underhand intrigues. It was +not because my arm wanted strength, but because my head wanted a crown. +I might have put an end to some of these wretched beings, the least +dangerous maybe; but it would have been striking in the dark; the +ringleaders would have escaped, and I should never have really got to +the bottom of their infernal plots. So I have silently eaten out my own +heart in shame and indignation. Now that my sacred rights are recognised +by the Church, you will see, my mother, how these terrible barons, the +queen's counsellors, the governors of the kingdom, will lower their +heads in the dust: for they are threatened with no sword and no +struggle; no peer of their own is he who speaks, but the king; it is by +him they are accused, by the law they shall be condemned, and shall +suffer on the scaffold." + +"O my beloved son," cried the queen in tears, "I never doubted your +noble feelings or the justice of your claims; but when your life is in +danger, to what voice can I listen but the voice of fear? what can move +my counsels but the promptings of love?" + +"Mother, believe me, if the hands and hearts alike of these cowards had +not trembled, you would have lost your son long ago." + +"It is not violence that I fear, my son, it is treachery." + +"My life, like every man's, belongs to God, and the lowest of sbirri may +take it as I turn the corner of the street; but a king owes something to +his people." + +The poor mother long tried to bend the resolution of Andre by reason and +entreaties; but when she had spoken her last word and shed her last +tear, she summoned Bertram de Baux, chief-justice of the kingdom, and +Marie, Duchess of Durazzo. Trusting in the old man's wisdom and the +girl's innocence, she commended her son to them in the tenderest and +most affecting words; then drawing from her own hand a ring richly +wrought, and taking the prince aside, she slipped it upon his finger, +saying in a voice that trembled with emotion as she pressed him to her +heart-- + +"My son, as you refuse to come with me, here is a wonderful talisman, +which I would not use before the last extremity. So long as you wear +this ring on your finger, neither sword nor poison will have power +against you." + +"You see then, mother," said the prince, smiling, "with this protection +there is no reason at all to fear for my life." + +"There are other dangers than sword or poison," sighed the queen. + +"Be calm, mother: the best of all talismans is your prayer to God for +me: it is the tender thought of you that will keep me for ever in the +path of duty and justice; your maternal love will watch over me from +afar, and cover me like the wings of a guardian angel." + +Elizabeth sobbed as she embraced her son, and when she left him she felt +her heart was breaking. At last she made up her mind to go, and was +escorted by the whole court, who had never changed towards her for a +moment in their chivalrous and respectful devotion. The poor mother, +pale, trembling, and faint, leaned heavily upon Andre's arm, lest she +should fall. On the ship that was to take her for ever from her son, she +cast her arms for the last time about his neck, and there hung a long +time, speechless, tearless, and motionless; when the signal for +departure was given, her women took her in their arms half swooning. +Andre stood on the shore with the feeling of death at his heart: his +eyes were fixed upon the sail that carried ever farther from him the +only being he loved in the world. Suddenly he fancied he beheld +something white moving a long way off: his mother had recovered her +senses by a great effort, and had dragged herself up to the bridge to +give a last signal of farewell: the unhappy lady knew too well that she +would never see her son again. + +At almost the same moment that Andre's mother left the kingdom, the +former queen of Naples, Robert's widow, Dona Sancha, breathed her last +sigh. She was buried in the convent of Santa Maria delta Croce, under +the name of Clara, which she had assumed on taking her vows as a nun, as +her epitaph tells us, as follows: + +"Here lies, an example of great humility, the body of the sainted sister +Clara, of illustrious memory, otherwise Sancha, Queen of Sicily and +Jerusalem, widow of the most serene Robert, King of Jerusalem and +Sicily, who, after the death of the king her husband, when she had +completed a year of widowhood, exchanged goods temporary for goods +eternal. Adopting for the love of God a voluntary poverty, and +distributing her goods to the poor, she took upon her the rule of +obedience in this celebrated convent of Santa Croce, the work of her own +hands, in the year 1344, on the gist of January of the twelfth +indiction, where, living a life of holiness under the rule of the +blessed Francis, father of the poor, she ended her days religiously in +the year of our Lord 1345, on the 28th of July of the thirteenth +indiction. On the day following she was buried in this tomb." + +The death of Dona Sancha served to hasten on the catastrophe which was +to stain the throne of Naples with blood: one might almost fancy that +God wished to spare this angel of love and resignation the sight of so +terrible a spectacle, that she offered herself as a propitiatory +sacrifice to redeem the crimes of her family. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +Eight days after the funeral of the old queen, Bertrand of Artois came +to Joan, distraught, dishevelled, in a state of agitation and confusion +impossible to describe. + +Joan went quickly up to her lover, asking him with a look of fear to +explain the cause of his distress. + +"I told you, madam," cried the young baron excitedly, "you will end by +ruining us all, as you will never take any advice from me." + +"For God's sake, Bertrand, speak plainly: what has happened? What advice +have I neglected?" + +"Madam, your noble husband, Andre of Hungary, has just been made King of +Jerusalem and Sicily, and acknowledged by the court of Avignon, so +henceforth you will be no better than his slave." + +"Count of Artois, you are dreaming." + +"No, madam, I am not dreaming: I have this fact to prove the truth of my +words, that the pope's ambassadors are arrived at Capua with the bull +for his coronation, and if they do not enter Castel Nuovo this very +evening, the delay is only to give the new king time to make his +preparations." + +The queen bent her head as if a thunderbolt had fallen at her feet. + +"When I told you before," said the count, with growing fury, "that we +ought to use force to make a stand against him, that we ought to break +the yoke of this infamous tyranny and get rid of the man before he had +the means of hurting you, you always drew back in childish fear, with a +woman's cowardly hesitation." + +Joan turned a tearful look upon her lover. + +"God, my God!" she cried, clasping her hands in desperation, "am I to +hear for ever this awful cry of death! You too, Bertrand, you too say +the word, like Robert of Cabane, like Charles of Duras? Wretched man, +why would you raise this bloody spectre between us, to check with icy +hand our adulterous kisses? Enough of such crimes; if his wretched +ambition makes him long to reign, let him be king: what matters his +power to me, if he leaves me with your love?" + +"It is not so sure that our love will last much longer." + +"What is this, Bertrand? You rejoice in this merciless torture." + +"I tell you, madam, that the King of Naples has a black flag ready, and +on the day of his coronation it will be carried before him." + +"And you believe," said Joan, pale as a corpse in its shroud, "--you +believe that this flag is a threat?" + +"Ay, and the threat begins to be put in execution." + +The queen staggered, and leaned against a table to save herself from +falling. + +"Tell me all," she cried in a choking voice; "fear not to shock me; see, +I am not trembling. O Bertrand, I entreat you!" + +"The traitors have begun with the man you most esteemed, the wisest +counsellor of the crown, the best of magistrates, the noblest-hearted, +most rigidly virtuous----" + +"Andrea of Isernia!" + +"Madam, he is no more." + +Joan uttered a cry, as though the noble old man had been slain before +her eyes: she respected him as a father; then, sinking back, she +remained profoundly silent. + +"How did they kill him?" she asked at last, fixing her great eyes in +terror on the count. + +"Yesterday evening, as he left this castle, on the way to his own home, +a man suddenly sprang out upon him before the Porta Petruccia: it was +one of Andre's favourites, Conrad of Gottis chosen no doubt because he +had a grievance against the incorruptible magistrate on account of some +sentence passed against him, and the murder would therefore be put down +to motives of private revenge. The cowardly wretch gave a sign to two or +three companions, who surrounded the victim and robbed him of all means +of escape. The poor old man looked fixedly at his assassin, and asked +him what he wanted. 'I want you to lose your life at my hands, as I lost +my case at yours!' cried the murderer, and leaving him no time to +answer, he ran him through with his sword. Then the rest fell upon the +poor man, who did not even try to call for help, and his body was +riddled with wounds and horribly mutilated, and then left bathed in its +blood." + +"Terrible!" murmured the queen, covering her face. + +"It was only their first effort; the proscription lists are already +full: Andre must needs have blood to celebrate his accession to the +throne of Naples. And do you know, Joan, whose name stands first in the +doomed list?" + +"Whose?" cried the queen, shuddering from head to foot. + +"Mine," said the count calmly. + +"Yours!" cried Joan, drawing herself up to her full height; "are you to +be killed next! Oh, be careful, Andre; you have pronounced your own +death-sentence. Long have I turned aside the dagger pointing to your +breast, but you put an end to all my patience. Woe to you, Prince of +Hungary! the blood which you have spilt shall fall on your own head." + +As she spoke she had lost her pallor; her lovely face was fired with +revenge, her eyes flashed lightning. This child of sixteen was terrible +to behold; she pressed her lover's hand with convulsive tenderness, and +clung to him as if she would screen him with her own body. + +"Your anger is awakened too late," said he gently and sadly; for at this +moment Joan seemed so lovely that he could reproach her with nothing. +"You do not know that his mother has left him a talisman preserving him +from sword and poison?" + +"He will die," said Joan firmly; the smile that lighted up her face was +so unnatural that the count was dismayed, and dropped his eyes. + +The next day the young Queen of Naples, lovelier, more smiling than +ever, sitting carelessly in a graceful attitude beside a window which +looked out on the magnificent view of the bay, was busy weaving a cord +of silk and gold. The sun had run nearly two-thirds of his fiery course, +and was gradually sinking his rays in the clear blue waters where +Posilippo's head is reflected with its green and flowery crown. A warm, +balmy breeze that had passed over the orange trees of Sorrento and +Amalfi felt deliciously refreshing to the inhabitants of the capital, +who had succumbed to torpor in the enervating softness of the day. The +whole town was waking from a long siesta, breathing freely after a +sleepy interval; the Molo was covered with a crowd of eager people +dressed out in the brightest colours; the many cries of a festival, +joyous songs, love ditties sounded from all quarters of the vast +amphitheatre, which is one of the chief marvels of creation; they came +to the ears of Joan, and she listened as she bent over her work, +absorbed in deep thought. Suddenly, when she seemed most busily +occupied, the indefinable feeling of someone near at hand, and the touch +of something on her shoulder, made her start: she turned as though waked +from a dream by contact with a serpent, and perceived her husband, +magnificently dressed, carelessly leaning against the back of her chair. +For a long time past the prince had not come to his wife in this +familiar fashion, and to the queen the pretence of affection and +careless behaviour augured ill. Andre did not appear to notice the look +of hatred and terror that had escaped Joan in spite of herself, and +assuming the best expression of gentleness as that his straight hard +features could contrive to put on in such circumstances as these, he +smilingly asked-- + +"Why are you making this pretty cord, dear dutiful wife?" + +"To hang you with, my lord," replied the queen, with a smile. + +Andre shrugged his shoulders, seeing in the threat so incredibly rash +nothing more than a pleasantry in rather bad taste. But when he saw that +Joan resumed her work, he tried to renew the conversation. + +"I admit," he said, in a perfectly calm voice, "that my question is +quite unnecessary: from your eagerness to finish this handsome piece of +work, I ought to suspect that it is destined for some fine knight of +yours whom you propose to send on a dangerous enterprise wearing your +colours. If so, my fair queen, I claim to receive my orders from your +lips: appoint the time and place for the trial, and I am sure beforehand +of carrying off a prize that I shall dispute with all your adorers." + +"That is not so certain," said Joan, "if you are as valiant in war as in +love." And she cast on her husband a look at once seductive and +scornful, beneath which the young man blushed up to his eyes. + +"I hope," said Andre, repressing his feelings, "I hope soon to give you +such proofs of my affection that you will never doubt it again." + +"And what makes you fancy that, my lord?" + +"I would tell you, if you would listen seriously." + +"I am listening." + +"Well, it is a dream I had last night that gives me such confidence in +the future." + +"A dream! You surely ought to explain that." + +"I dreamed that there was a grand fete in the town: an immense crowd +filled the streets like an overflowing torrent, and the heavens were +ringing with their shouts of joy; the gloomy granite facades were hidden +by hangings of silk and festoons of flowers; the churches were decorated +as though for some grand ceremony. I was riding side by side with you." +Joan made a haughty movement: "Forgive me, madam, it was only a dream: I +was on your right, riding a fine white horse, magnificently caparisoned, +and the chief-justice of the kingdom carried before me a flag unfolded +in sign of honour. After riding in triumph through the main +thoroughfares of the city, we arrived, to the sound of trumpets and +clarions, at the royal church of Saint Clara, where your grandfather and +my uncle are buried, and there, before the high altar, the pope's +ambassador laid your hand in mine and pronounced a long discourse, and +then on our two heads in turn placed the crown of Jerusalem and Sicily; +after which the nobles and the people shouted in one voice, 'Long live +the King and Queen of Naples!' And I, wishing to perpetuate the memory +of so glorious a day, proceeded to create knights among the most zealous +in our court." + +"And do you not remember the names of the chosen persons whom you judged +worthy of your royal favours?" + +"Assuredly, madam: Bertrand, Count of Artois." + +"Enough, my lord; I excuse you from naming the rest: I always supposed +you were loyal and generous, but you give me fresh proof of it by +showing favour to men whom I most honour and trust. I cannot tell if +your wishes are likely soon to be realised, but in any case feel sure of +my perpetual gratitude." + +Joan's voice did not betray the slightest emotion; her look had became +kind, and the sweetest smile was on her lips. But in her heart Andre's +death was from that moment decided upon. The prince, too much +preoccupied with his own projects of vengeance, and too confident in his +all-powerful talisman and his personal valour, had no suspicion that his +plans could be anticipated. He conversed a long time with his wife in a +chatting, friendly way, trying to spy out her secret, and exposing his +own by his interrupted phrases and mysterious reserves. When he fancied +that every cloud of former resentment, even the lightest, had +disappeared from Joan's brow, he begged her to go with her suite on a +magnificent hunting expedition that he was organising for the 20th of +August, adding that such a kindness on her part would be for him a sure +pledge of their reconciliation and complete forgetfulness of the past. +Joan promised with a charming grace, and the prince retired fully +satisfied with the interview, carrying with him the conviction that he +had only to threaten to strike a blow at the queen's favourite to ensure +her obedience, perhaps even her love. + +But on the eve of the 20th of August a strange and terrible scene was +being enacted in the basement storey of one of the lateral towers of +Castel Nuovo. Charles of Durazzo, who had never ceased to brood secretly +over his infernal plans, had been informed by the notary whom he had +charged to spy upon the conspirators, that on that particular evening +they were about to hold a decisive meeting, and therefore, wrapped in a +black cloak, he glided into the underground corridor and hid himself +behind a pillar, there to await the issue of the conference. After two +dreadful hours of suspense, every second marked out by the beating of +his heart, Charles fancied he heard the sound of a door very carefully +opened; the feeble ray of a lantern in the vault scarcely served to +dispel the darkness, but a man coming away from the wall approached him +walking like a living statue. Charles gave a slight cough, the sign +agreed upon. The man put out his light and hid away the dagger he had +drawn in case of a surprise. + +"Is it you, Master Nicholas?" asked the duke in a low voice. + +"It is I, my lord." + +"What is it?" + +"They have just fixed the prince's death for tomorrow, on his way to the +hunt." + +"Did you recognise every conspirator?" + +"Every one, though their faces were masked; when they gave their vote +for death, I knew them by their voices." + +"Could you point out to me who they are?" + +"Yes, this very minute; they are going to pass along at the end of this +corridor. And see, here is Tommaso Pace walking in front of them to +light their way." + +Indeed, a tall spectral figure, black from head to foot, his face +carefully hidden under a velvet mask, walked at the end of the corridor, +lamp in hand, and stopped at the first step of a staircase which led to +the upper floors. The conspirators advanced slowly, two by two, like a +procession of ghosts, appeared for one moment in the circle of light +made by the torch, and again disappeared into shadow. + +"See, there are Charles and Bertrand of Artois," said the notary; "there +are the Counts of Terlizzi and Catanzaro; the grand admiral and grand +seneschal, Godfrey of Marsan, Count of Squillace, and Robert of Cabane, +Count of Eboli; the two women talking in a low voice with the eager +gesticulations are Catherine of Tarentum, Empress of Constantinople, and +Philippa the Catanese, the queen's governess and chief lady; there is +Dona Cancha, chamberwoman and confidante of Joan; and there is the +Countess of Morcone." + +The notary stopped on beholding a shadow alone, its head bowed, with +arms hanging loosely, choking back her sobs beneath a hood of black. + +"Who is the woman who seems to drag herself so painfully along in their +train?" asked the duke, pressing his companion's arm. + +"That woman," said the notary, "is the queen." "Ah, now I see," thought +Charles, breathing freely, with the same sort of satisfaction that Satan +no doubt feels when a long coveted soul falls at length into his power. + +"And now, my lord," continued Master Nicholas, when all had returned +once more into silence and darkness, "if you have bidden me spy on these +conspirators with a view to saving the young prince you are protecting +with love and vigilance, you must hurry forward, for to-morrow maybe it +will be too late." + +"Follow me," cried the duke imperiously; "it is time you should know my +real intention, and then carry out my orders with scrupulous exactness." + +With these words he drew him aside to a place opposite to where the +conspirators had just disappeared. The notary mechanically followed +through a labyrinth of dark corridors and secret staircases, quite at a +loss how to account for the sudden change that had come over his +master--crossing one of the ante-chambers in the castle, they came upon +Andre, who joyfully accosted them; grasping the hand of his cousin Duras +in his affectionate manner, he asked him in a pressing way that would +brook no refusal, "Will you be of our hunting party to-morrow, duke?" + +"Excuse me, my lord," said Charles, bowing down to the ground; "it will +be impossible for me to go to-morrow, for my wife is very unwell; but I +entreat you to accept the best falcon I have." + +And here he cast upon the notary a petrifying glance. + +The morning of the 20th of August was fine and calm--the irony of nature +contrasting cruelly with the fate of mankind. From break of day masters +and valets, pages and knights, princes and courtiers, all were on foot; +cries of joy were heard on every side when the queen arrived on a +snow-white horse, at the head of the young and brilliant throng. Joan +was perhaps paler than usual, but that might be because she had been +obliged to rise very early. Andre, mounted on one of the most fiery of +all the steeds he had tamed, galloped beside his wife, noble and proud, +happy in his own powers, his youth, and the thousand gilded hopes that a +brilliant future seemed to offer. Never had the court of Naples shown so +brave an aspect: every feeling of distrust and hatred seemed entirely +forgotten; Friar Robert himself, suspicious as he was by nature, when he +saw the joyous cavalcade go by under his window, looked out with pride, +and stroking his beard, laughed at his own seriousness. + +Andre's intention was to spend several days hunting between Capua and +Aversa, and only to return to Naples when all was in readiness for his +coronation. Thus the first day they hunted round about Melito, and went +through two or three villages in the land of Labore. Towards evening the +court stopped at Aversa, with a view to passing the night there, and +since at that period there was no castle in the place worthy of +entertaining the queen with her husband and numerous court, the convent +of St. Peter's at Majella was converted into a royal residence: this +convent had been built by Charles II in the year of our Lord 1309. + +While the grand seneschal was giving orders for supper and the +preparation of a room for Andre and his wife, the prince, who during the +whole day had abandoned himself entirely to his favourite amusement, +went up on the terrace to enjoy the evening air, accompanied by the good +Isolda, his beloved nurse, who loved him more even than his mother, and +would not leave his side for a moment. Never had the prince appeared so +animated and happy: he was in ecstasies over the beauty of the country, +the clear air, the scent of the trees around; he besieged his nurse with +a thousand queries, never waiting for an answer; and they were indeed +long in coming, for poor Isolda was gazing upon him with that appearance +of fascination which makes a mother absent-minded when her child is +talking: Andre was eagerly telling her about a terrible boar he had +chased that morning across the woods, how it had lain foaming at his +feet, and Isolda interrupted him to say he had a grain of dust in his +eye. Then Andre was full of his plans for the future, and Isolda stroked +his fair hair, remarking that he must be feeling very tired. Then, +heeding nothing but his own joy and excitement, the young prince hurled +defiance at destiny, calling by all his gods on dangers to come forward, +so that he might have the chance of quelling them, and the poor nurse +exclaimed, in a flood of tears, "My child, you love me no longer." + +Out of all patience with these constant interruptions, Andre scolded her +kindly enough, and mocked at her childish fears. Then, paying no +attention to a sort of melancholy that was coming over him, he bade her +tell him old tales of his childhood, and had a long talk about his +brother Louis, his absent mother, and tears were in his eyes when he +recalled her last farewell. Isolda listened joyfully, and answered all +he asked; but no fell presentiment shook her heart: the poor woman loved +Andre with all the strength of her soul; for him she would have given up +her life in this world and in the world to come; yet she was not his +mother. + +When all was ready, Robert of Cabane came to tell the prince that the +queen awaited him; Andre cast one last look at the smiling fields +beneath the starry heavens, pressed his nurse's hand to his lips and to +his heart, and followed the grand seneschal slowly and, it seemed, with +some regret. But soon the brilliant lights of the room, the wine that +circulated freely, the gay talk, the eager recitals of that day's +exploits served to disperse the cloud of gloom that had for a moment +overspread the countenance of the prince. The queen alone, leaning on +the table with fixed eyes and lips that never moved, sat at this strange +feast pale and cold as a baleful ghost summoned from the tomb to disturb +the joy of the party. Andre, whose brain began to be affected by the +draughts of wine from Capri and Syracuse, was annoyed at his wife's +look, and attributing it to contempt, filled a goblet to the brim and +presented it to the queen. Joan visibly trembled, her lips moved +convulsively; but the conspirators drowned in their noisy talk the +involuntary groan that escaped her. In the midst of a general uproar, +Robert of Cabane proposed that they should serve generous supplies of +the same wine drunk at the royal table to the Hungarian guards who were +keeping watch at the approaches to the convent, and this liberality +evoked frenzied applause. The shouting of the soldiers soon gave witness +to their gratitude for the unexpected gift, and mingled with the +hilarious toasts of the banqueters. To put the finishing touch to +Andre's excitement, there were cries on every side of "Long live the +Queen! Long live His Majesty the King of Naples!" + +The orgy lasted far into the night: the pleasures of the next day were +discussed with enthusiasm, and Bertrand of Artois protested in a loud +voice that if they were so late now some would not rise early on the +morrow. Andre declared that, for his part, an hour or two's rest would +be enough to get over his fatigue, and he eagerly protested that it +would be well for others to follow his example. The Count of Terlizzi +seemed to express some doubt as to the prince's punctuality. Andre +insisted, and challenging all the barons present to see who would be up +first, he retired with the queen to the room that had been reserved for +them, where he very soon fell into a deep and heavy sleep. About two +o'clock in the morning, Tommaso Pace, the prince's valet and first usher +of the royal apartments, knocked at his master's door to rouse him for +the chase. At the first knock, all was silence; at the second, Joan, who +had not closed her eyes all night, moved as if to rouse her husband and +warn him of the threatened danger; but at the third knock the +unfortunate young man suddenly awoke, and hearing in the next room +sounds of laughter and whispering, fancied that they were making a joke +of his laziness, and jumped out of bed bareheaded, in nothing but his +shirt, his shoes half on and half off. He opened the door; and at this +point we translate literally the account of Domenico Gravina, a +historian of much esteem. As soon as the prince appeared, the +conspirators all at once fell upon him, to strangle him with their +hands; believing he could not die by poison or sword, because of the +charmed ring given him by his poor mother. But Andre was so strong and +active, that when he perceived the infamous treason he defended himself +with more than human strength, and with dreadful cries got free from his +murderers, his face all bloody, his fair hair pulled out in handfuls. +The unhappy young man tried to gain his own bedroom, so as to get some +weapon and valiantly resist the assassins; but as he reached the door, +Nicholas of Melazzo, putting his dagger like a bolt into the lock, +stopped his entrance. The prince, calling aloud the whole time and +imploring the protection of his friends, returned to the hall; but all +the doors were shut, and no one held out a helping hand; for the queen +was silent, showing no uneasiness about her husband's death. + +But the nurse Isolda, terrified by the shouting of her beloved son and +lord, leapt from her bed and went to the window, filling the house with +dreadful cries. The traitors, alarmed by the mighty uproar, although the +place was lonely and so far from the centre of the town that nobody +could have come to see what the noise was, were on the point of letting +their victim go, when Bertrand of Artois, who felt he was more guilty +than the others, seized the prince with hellish fury round the waist, +and after a desperate struggle got him down; then dragging him by the +hair of his head to a balcony which gave upon the garden, and pressing +one knee upon his chest, cried out to the others-- + +"Come here, barons: I have what we want to strangle him with." + +And round his neck he passed a long cord of silk and gold, while the +wretched man struggled all he could. Bertrand quickly drew up the knot, +and the others threw the body over the parapet of the balcony, leaving +it hanging between earth and sky until death ensued. When the Count of +Terlizzi averted his eyes from the horrid spectacle, Robert of Cabane +cried out imperiously-- + +"What are you doing there? The cord is long enough for us all to hold: +we want not witnesses, we want accomplices!" + +As soon as the last convulsive movements of the dying man had ceased, +they let the corpse drop the whole height of the three storeys, and +opening the doors of the hall, departed as though nothing had happened. + +Isolda, when at last she contrived to get a light, rapidly ran to the +queen's chamber, and finding the door shut on the inside, began to call +loudly on her Andre. There was no answer, though the queen was in the +room. The poor nurse, distracted, trembling, desperate, ran down all the +corridors, knocked at all the cells and woke the monks one by one, +begging them to help her look for the prince. The monks said that they +had indeed heard a noise, but thinking it was a quarrel between soldiers +drunken perhaps or mutinous, they had not thought it their business to +interfere. Isolda eagerly, entreated: the alarm spread through the +convent; the monks followed the nurse, who went on before with a torch. +She entered the garden, saw something white upon the grass, advanced +trembling, gave one piercing cry, and fell backward. + +The wretched Andre was lying in his blood, a cord round his neck as +though he were a thief, his head crushed in by the height from which he +fell. Then two monks went upstairs to the queen's room, and respectfully +knocking at the door, asked in sepulchral tones-- + +"Madam, what would you have us do with your husband's corpse?" + +And when the queen made no answer, they went down again slowly to the +garden, and kneeling one at the head, the other at the foot of the dead +man, they began to recite penitential psalms in a low voice. When they +had spent an hour in prayer, two other monks went up in the same way to +Joan's chamber, repeating the same question and getting no answer, +whereupon they relieved the first two, and began themselves to pray. +Next a third couple went to the door of this inexorable room, and coming +away perturbed by their want of success, perceived that there was a +disturbance of people outside the convent, while vengeful cries were +heard amongst the indignant crowd. The groups became more and more +thronged, threatening voices were raised, a torrent of invaders +threatened the royal dwelling, when the queen's guard appeared, lance in +readiness, and a litter closely shut, surrounded by the principal barons +of the court, passed through the crowd, which stood stupidly gazing. +Joan, wrapped in a black veil, went back to Castel Nuovo, amid her +escort; and nobody, say the historians, had the courage to say a word +about this terrible deed. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +The terrible part that Charles of Durazzo was to play began as soon as +this crime was accomplished. The duke left the corpse two whole days +exposed to the wind and the rain, unburied and dishonoured, the corpse +of a man whom the pope had made King of Sicily and Jerusalem, so that +the indignation of the mob might be increased by the dreadful sight. On +the third he ordered it to be conveyed with the utmost pomp to the +cathedral of Naples, and assembling all the Hungarians around the +catafalque, he thus addressed them, in a voice of thunder:-- + +"Nobles and commoners, behold our king hanged like a dog by infamous +traitors. God will soon make known to us the names of all the guilty: +let those who desire that justice may be done hold up their hands and +swear against murderers bloody persecution, implacable hatred, +everlasting vengeance." + +It was this one man's cry that brought death and desolation to the +murderers' hearts, and the people dispersed about the town, shrieking, +"Vengeance, vengeance!" + +Divine justice, which knows naught of privilege and respects no crown, +struck Joan first of all in her love. When the two lovers first met, +both were seized alike with terror and disgust; they recoiled trembling, +the queen seeing in Bertrand her husband's executioner, and he in her +the cause of his crime, possibly of his speedy punishment. Bertrand's +looks were disordered, his cheeks hollow, his eyes encircled with black +rings, his mouth horribly distorted; his arm and forefinger extended +towards his accomplice, he seemed to behold a frightful vision rising +before him. The same cord he had used when he strangled Andre, he now +saw round the queen's neck, so tight that it made its way into her +flesh: an invisible force, a Satanic impulse, urged him to strangle with +his own hands the woman he had loved so dearly, had at one time adored +on his knees. The count rushed out of the room with gestures of +desperation, muttering incoherent words; and as he shewed plain signs of +mental aberration, his father, Charles of Artois, took him away, and +they went that same evening to their palace of St. Agatha, and there +prepared a defence in case they should be attacked. + +But Joan's punishment, which was destined to be slow as well as +dreadful, to last thirty-seven years and end in a ghastly death, was now +only beginning. All the wretched beings who were stained with Andre's +death came in turn to her to demand the price of blood. The Catanese and +her son, who held in their hands not only the queen's honour but her +life, now became doubly greedy and exacting. Dona Cancha no longer put +any bridle on her licentiousness, and the Empress of Constantinople +ordered her niece to marry her eldest son, Robert, Prince of Tarentum. +Joan, consumed by remorse, full of indignation and shame at the arrogant +conduct of her subjects, dared scarcely lift her head, and stooped to +entreaties, only stipulating for a few days' delay before giving her +answer: the empress consented, on condition that her son should come to +reside at Castel Nuovo, with permission to see the queen once a day. +Joan bowed her head in silence, and Robert of Tarentum was installed at +the castle. + +Charles of Durazzo, who by the death of Andre had practically become the +head of the family, and, would, by the terms of his grandfather's will, +inherit the kingdom by right of his wife Marie in the case of Joan's +dying without lawful issue, sent to the queen two commands: first, that +she should not dream of contracting a new marriage without first +consulting him in the choice of a husband; secondly, that she should +invest him at once with the title of Duke of Calabria. To compel his +cousin to make these two concessions, he added that if she should be so +ill advised as to refuse either of them, he should hand over to justice +the proofs of the crime and the names of the murderers. Joan, bending +beneath the weight of this new difficulty, could think of no way to +avoid it; but Catherine, who alone was stout enough to fight this nephew +of hers, insisted that they must strike at the Duke of Durazzo in his +ambition and hopes, and tell him, to begin with--what was the fact--that +the queen was pregnant. If, in spite of this news, he persisted in his +plans, she would find some means or other, she said, of causing trouble +and discord in her nephew's family, and wounding him in his most +intimate affections or closest interests, by publicly dishonouring him +through his wife or his mother. + +Charles smiled coldly when his aunt came to tell him from the queen that +she was about to bring into the world an infant, Andre's posthumous +child. What importance could a babe yet unborn possibly have--as a fact, +it lived only a few months--in the eyes of a man who with such admirable +coolness got rid of people who stood in his wary, and that moreover by +the hand of his own enemies? He told the empress that the happy news she +had condescended to bring him in person, far from diminishing his +kindness towards his cousin, inspired him rather with more interest and +goodwill; that consequently he reiterated his suggestion, and renewed +his promise not to seek vengeance for his dear Andre, since in a certain +sense the crime was not complete should a child be destined to survive; +but in case of a refusal he declared himself inexorable. He cleverly +gave Catherine to understand that, as she had some interest herself in +the prince's death, she ought for her own sake to persuade the queen to +stop legal proceedings. + +The empress seemed to be deeply impressed by her nephew's threatening +attitude, and promised to do her best to persuade the queen to grant all +he asked, on condition, however, that Charles should allow the necessary +time for carrying through so delicate a business. But Catherine profited +by this delay to think out her own plan of revenge, and ensure the means +of certain success. After starting several projects eagerly and then +regretfully abandoning them, she fixed upon an infernal and unheard-of +scheme, which the mind would refuse to believe but for the unanimous +testimony of historians. Poor Agnes of Duras, Charles's mother, had for +some few days been suffering with an inexplicable weariness, a slow +painful malady with which her son's restlessness and violence may have +had not a little to do. The empress resolved that the first effect of +her hatred was to fall upon this unhappy mother. She summoned the Count +of Terlizzi and Dona Cancha, his mistress, who by the queen's orders had +been attending Agnes since her illness began. Catherine suggested to the +young chamberwoman, who was at that time with child, that she should +deceive the doctor by representing that certain signs of her own +condition really belonged to the sick woman, so that he, deceived by the +false indications, should be compelled to admit to Charles of Durazzo +that his mother was guilty and dishonoured. The Count of Terlizzi, who +ever since he had taken part in the regicide trembled in fear of +discovery, had nothing to oppose to the empress's desire, and Dona +Cancha, whose head was as light as her heart was corrupt, seized with a +foolish gaiety on any chance of taking her revenge on the prudery of the +only princess of the blood who led a pure life at a court that was +renowned for its depravity. Once assured that her accomplices would be +prudent and obedient, Catherine began to spread abroad certain vague and +dubious but terribly serious rumours, only needing proof, and soon after +the cruel accusation was started it was repeated again and again in +confidence, until it reached the ears of Charles. + +At this amazing revelation the duke was seized with a fit of trembling. +He sent instantly for the doctor, and asked imperiously what was the +cause of his mother's malady. The doctor turned pale and stammered; but +when Charles grew threatening he admitted that he had certain grounds +for suspecting that the duchess was enceinte, but as he might easily +have been deceived the first time, he would make a second investigation +before pronouncing his opinion in so serious a matter. The next day, as +the doctor came out of the bedroom, the duke met him, and interrogating +him with an agonised gesture, could only judge by the silence that his +fears were too well confirmed. But the doctor, with excess of caution, +declared that he would make a third trial. Condemned criminals can +suffer no worse than Charles in the long hours that passed before that +fatal moment when he learned that his mother was indeed guilty. On the +third day the doctor stated on his soul and conscience that Agnes of +Durazzo was pregnant. + +"Very good," said Charles, dismissing the doctor with no sign of +emotion. + +That evening the duchess took a medicine ordered by the doctor; and +when, half an hour later, she was assailed with violent pains, the duke +was warned that perhaps other physicians ought to be consulted, as the +prescription of the ordinary doctor, instead of bringing about an +improvement in her state, had only made her worse. + +Charles slowly went up to the duchess's room, and sending away all the +people who were standing round her bed, on the pretext that they were +clumsy and made his mother worse, he shut the door, and they were alone. +Then poor Agnes, forgetting her internal agony when she saw her son, +pressed his hand tenderly and smiled through her tears. + +Charles, pale beneath his bronzed complexion, his forehead moist with a +cold sweat, and his eyes horribly dilated, bent over the sick woman and +asked her gloomily-- + +"Are you a little better, mother?" + +"Ah, I am in pain, in frightful pain, my poor Charles. I feel as though +I have molten lead in my veins. O my son, call your brothers, so that I +may give you all my blessing for the last time, for I cannot hold out +long against this pain. I am burning. Mercy! Call a doctor: I know I +have been poisoned." + +Charles did not stir from the bedside. + +"Water!" cried the dying woman in a broken voice,--"water! A doctor, a +confessor! My children--I want my children!" + +And as the duke paid no heed, but stood moodily silent, the poor mother, +prostrated by pain, fancied that grief had robbed her son of all power +of speech or movement, and so, by a desperate effort, sat up, and +seizing him by the arm, cried with all the strength she could muster-- + +"Charles, my son, what is it? My poor boy, courage; it is nothing, I +hope. But quick, call for help, call a doctor. Ah, you have no idea of +what I suffer." + +"Your doctor," said Charles slowly and coldly, each word piercing his +mother's heart like a dagger,--"your doctor cannot come." + +"Oh why?" asked Agnes, stupefied. + +"Because no one ought to live who knows the secret of our shame." + +"Unhappy man!" she cried, overwhelmed with, pain and terror, "you have +murdered him! Perhaps you have poisoned your mother too! Charles, +Charles, have mercy on your own soul!" + +"It is your doing," said Charles, without show of emotion: "you have +driven me into crime and despair; you have caused my dishonour in this +world and my damnation in the next." + +"What are you saying? My own Charles, have mercy! Do not let me die in +this horrible uncertainty; what fatal delusion is blinding you? Speak, +my son, speak: I am not feeling the poison now. What have I done? Of +what have I been accused?" + +She looked with haggard eyes at her son: her maternal love still +struggled against the awful thought of matricide; at last, seeing that +Charles remained speechless in spite of her entreaties, she repeated, +with a piercing cry-- + +"Speak, in God's name, speak before I die!" + +"Mother, you are with child." + +"What!" cried Agnes, with a loud cry, which broke her very heart. "O +God, forgive him! Charles, your mother forgives and blesses you in +death." + +Charles fell upon her neck, desperately crying for help: he would now +have gladly saved her at the cost of his life, but it was too late. He +uttered one cry that came from his heart, and was found stretched out +upon his mother's corpse. + +Strange comments were made at the court on the death of the Duchess of +Durazzo and her doctor's disappearance; but there was no doubt at all +that grief and gloom were furrowing wrinkles on Charles's brow, which +was already sad enough. Catherine alone knew the terrible cause of her +nephew's depression, for to her it was very plain that the duke at one +blow had killed his mother and her physician. But she had never expected +a reaction so sudden and violent in a man who shrank before no crime. +She had thought Charles capable of everything except remorse. His +gloomy, self absorbed silence seemed a bad augury for her plans. She had +desired to cause trouble for him in his own family, so that he might +have no time to oppose the marriage of her son with the queen; but she +had shot beyond her mark, and Charles, started thus on the terrible path +of crime, had now broken through the bonds of his holiest affections, +and gave himself up to his bad passions with feverish ardour and a +savage desire for revenge. Then Catherine had recourse to gentleness and +submission. She gave her son to understand that there was only one way +of obtaining the queen's hand, and that was by flattering the ambition +of Charles and in some sort submitting himself to his patronage. Robert +of Tarentum understood this, and ceased making court to Joan, who +received his devotion with cool kindness, and attached himself closely +to Charles, paying him much the same sort of respect and deference that +he himself had affected for Andre, when the thought was first in his +mind of causing his ruin. But the Duke of Durazzo was by no means +deceived as to the devoted friendship shown towards him by the heir of +the house of Tarentum, and pretending to be deeply touched by the +unexpected change of feeling, he all the time kept a strict guard on +Robert's actions. + +An event outside all human foresight occurred to upset the calculations +of the two cousins. One day while they were out together on horseback, +as they often were since their pretended reconciliation, Louis of +Tarentum, Robert's youngest brother, who had always felt for Joan a +chivalrous, innocent love,--a love which a young man of twenty is apt to +lock up in his heart as a secret treasure,--Louis, we say, who had held +aloof from the infamous family conspiracy and had not soiled his hands +with Andre's blood, drawn on by an irrepressible passion, all at once +appeared at the gates of Castel Nuovo; and while his brother was wasting +precious hours in asking for a promise of marriage, had the bridge +raised and gave the soldiers strict orders to admit no one. Then, never +troubling himself about Charles's anger or Robert's jealousy, he hurried +to the queen's room, and there, says Domenico Gravina, without any +preamble, the union was consummated. + +On returning from his ride, Robert, astonished that the bridge was not +at once lowered for him, at first loudly called upon the soldiers on +guard at the fortress, threatening severe punishment for their +unpardonable negligence; but as the gates did not open and the soldiers +made no sign of fear or regret, he fell into a violent fit of rage, and +swore he would hang the wretches like dogs for hindering his return +home. But the Empress of Constantinople, terrified at the bloody quarrel +beginning between the two brothers, went alone and on foot to her son, +and making use of her maternal authority to beg him to master his +feelings, there in the presence of the crowd that had come up hastily to +witness the strange scene, she related in a low voice all that had +passed in his absence. + +A roar as of a wounded tiger escaped from Robert's breast: all but blind +with rage, he nearly trampled his mother under the feet of his horse, +which seemed to feel his master's anger, and plunging violently, +breathed blood from his nostrils. When the prince had poured every +possible execration on his brother's head, he turned and galloped away +from the accursed castle, flying to the Duke of Durazzo, whom he had +only just left, to tell him of this outrage and stir him to revenge. +Charles was talking carelessly with his young wife, who was but little +used to such tranquil conversation and expansiveness, when the Prince of +Tarentum, exhausted, out of breath, bathed in perspiration, came up with +his incredible tale. Charles made him say it twice over, so impossible +did Louis's audacious enterprise appear to him. Then quickly changing +from doubt to fury, he struck his brow with his iron glove, saying that +as the queen defied him he would make her tremble even in her castle and +in her lover's arms. He threw one withering look on Marie, who +interceded tearfully for her sister, and pressing Robert's hand with +warmth, vowed that so long as he lived Louis should never be Joan's +husband. + +That same evening he shut himself up in his study, and wrote letters +whose effect soon appeared. A bull, dated June 2, 1346, was addressed to +Bertram de Baux, chief-justice of the kingdom of Sicily and Count of +Monte Scaglioso, with orders to make the most strict inquiries +concerning Andre's murderers, whom the pope likewise laid under his +anathema, and to punish them with the utmost rigour of the law. But a +secret note was appended to the bull which was quite at variance with +the designs of Charles: the sovereign pontiff expressly bade the +chief-justice not to implicate the queen in the proceedings or the +princes of the blood, so as to avoid worse disturbances, reserving, as +supreme head of the Church and lord of the kingdom, the right of judging +them later on, as his wisdom might dictate. + +For this imposing trial Bertram de Baux made great preparations. A +platform was erected in the great hall of tribunal, and all the officers +of the crown and great state dignitaries, and all the chief barons, had +a place behind the enclosure where the magistrates sat. Three days after +Clement VI's bull had been published in the capital, the chief-justice +was ready for a public examination of two accused persons. The two +culprits who had first fallen into the hands of justice were, as one may +easily suppose, those whose condition was least exalted, whose lives +were least valuable, Tommaso Pace and Nicholas of Melazzo. They were led +before the tribunal to be first of all tortured, as the custom was. As +they approached the judges, the notary passing by Charles in the street +had time to say in a low voice-- + +"My lord, the time has come to give my life for you: I will do my duty; +I commend my wife and children to you." + +Encouraged by a nod from his patron, he walked on firmly and +deliberately. The chief-justice, after establishing the identity of the +accused, gave them over to the executioner and his men to be tortured in +the public square, so that their sufferings might serve as a show and an +example to the crowd. But no sooner was Tommaso Pace tied to the rope, +when to the great disappointment of all he declared that he would +confess everything, and asked accordingly to be taken back before his +judges. At these words, the Count of Terlizzi, who was following every +movement of the two men with mortal anxiety, thought it was all over now +with him and his accomplices; and so, when Tommaso Pace was turning his +steps towards the great hall, led by two guards, his hands tied behind +his back, and followed by the notary, he contrived to take him into a +secluded house, and squeezing his throat with great force, made him thus +put his tongue out, whereupon he cut it off with a sharp razor. + +The yells of the poor wretch so cruelly mutilated fell on the ears of +the Duke of Durazzo: he found his way into the room where the barbarous +act had been committed just as the Count of Terlizzi was coming out, and +approached the notary, who had been present at the dreadful spectacle +and had not given the least sign of fear or emotion. Master Nicholas, +thinking the same fate was in store for him, turned calmly to the duke, +saying with a sad smile-- + +"My lord, the precaution is useless; there is no need for you to cut out +my tongue, as the noble count has done to my poor companion. The last +scrap of my flesh may be torn off without one word being dragged from my +mouth. I have promised, my lord, and you have the life of my wife and +the future of my children as guarantee for my word." + +"I do not ask for silence," said the duke solemnly; "you can free me +from all my enemies at once, and I order you to denounce them at the +tribunal." + +The notary bowed his head with mournful resignation; then raising it in +affright, made one step up to the duke and murmured in a choking voice-- + +"And the queen?" + +"No one would believe you if you ventured to denounce her; but when the +Catanese and her son, the Count of Terlizzi and his wife and her most +intimate friends, have been accused by you, when they fail to endure the +torture, and when they denounce her unanimously--" + +"I see, my lord. You do not only want my life; you would have my soul +too. Very well; once more I commend to you my children." + +With a deep sigh he walked up to the tribunal. The chief-justice asked +Tommaso Pace the usual questions, and a shudder of horror passed through +the assembly when they saw the poor wretch in desperation opening his +mouth, which streamed with blood. But surprise and terror reached their +height when Nicholas of Melazzo slowly and firmly gave a list of Andre's +murderers, all except the queen and the princes of the blood, and went +on to give all details of the assassination. + +Proceedings were at once taken for the arrest of the grand seneschal, +Robert of Cabane, and the Counts of Terlizzi and Morcone, who were +present and had not ventured to make any movement in self-defence. An +hour later, Philippa, her two daughters, and Dona Cancha joined them in +prison, after vainly imploring the queen's protection. Charles and +Bertrand of Artois, shut up in their fortress of Saint Agatha, bade +defiance to justice, and several others, among them the Counts of Meleto +and Catanzaro, escaped by flight. + +As soon as Master Nicholas said he had nothing further to confess, and +that he had spoken the whole truth and nothing but the truth, the +chief-justice pronounced sentence amid a profound silence; and without +delay Tommaso Pace and the notary were tied to the tails of two horses, +dragged through the chief streets of the town, and hanged in the market +place. + +The other prisoners were thrown into a subterranean vault, to be +questioned and put to the torture on the following day. In the evening, +finding themselves in the same dungeon, they reproached one another, +each pretending he had been dragged into the crime by someone else. Then +Dona Cancha, whose strange character knew no inconsistencies, even face +to face with death and torture, drowned with a great burst of laughter +the lamentations of her companions, and joyously exclaimed-- + +"Look here, friends, why these bitter recriminations--this ill-mannered +raving? We have no excuses to make, and we are all equally guilty. I am +the youngest of all, and not the ugliest, by your leave, ladies, but if +I am condemned, at least I will die cheerfully. For I have never denied +myself any pleasure I could get in this world, and I can boast that much +will be forgiven me, for I have loved much: of that you, gentlemen, know +something. You, bad old man," she continued to the Count of Terlizzi, +"do you not remember lying by my side in the queen's ante-chamber? Come, +no blushes before your noble family; confess, my lord, that I am with +child by your Excellency; and you know how we managed to make up the +story of poor Agnes of Durazzo and her pregnancy--God rest her soul! For +my part, I never supposed the joke would take such a serious turn all at +once. You know all this and much more; spare your lamentations, for, by +my word, they are getting very tiresome: let us prepare to die joyously, +as we have lived." + +With these words she yawned slightly, and, lying down on the straw, fell +into a deep sleep, and dreamed as happy dreams as she had ever dreamed +in her life. + +On the morrow from break of day there was an immense crowd on the sea +front. During the night an enormous palisade had been put up to keep the +people away far enough for them to see the accused without hearing +anything. Charles of Durazzo, at the head of a brilliant cortege of +knights and pages, mounted on a magnificent horse, all in black, as a +sign of mourning, waited near the enclosure. Ferocious joy shone in his +eyes as the accused made their way through the crowd, two by two, their +wrists tied with ropes; for the duke every minute expected to hear the +queen's name spoken. But the chief-justice, a man of experience, had +prevented indiscretion of any kind by fixing a hook in the tongue of +each one. The poor creatures were tortured on a ship, so that nobody +should hear the terrible confessions their sufferings dragged from them. + +But Joan, in spite of the wrongs that most of the conspirators had done +her, felt a renewal of pity for the woman she had once respected as a +mother, for her childish companions and her friends, and possibly also +some remains of love for Robert of Cabane, and sent two messengers to +beg Bertram de Baux to show mercy to the culprits. But the chief-justice +seized these men and had them tortured; and on their confession that +they also were implicated in Andre's murder, he condemned them to the +same punishment as the others. Dona Cancha alone, by reason of her +situation, escaped the torture, and her sentence was deferred till the +day of her confinement. + +As this beautiful girl was returning to prison, with many a smile for +all the handsomest cavaliers she could see in the crowd, she gave a sign +to Charles of Durazzo as she neared him to come forward, and since her +tongue had not been pierced (for the same reason) with an iron +instrument, she said some words to him a while in a low voice. + +Charles turned fearfully pale, and putting his hand to his sword, +cried-- + +"Wretched woman!" + +"You forget, my lord, I am under the protection of the law." + +"My mother!--oh, my poor mother!" murmured Charles in a choked voice, +and he fell backward. + +The next morning the people were beforehand with the executioner, loudly +demanding their prey. All the national troops and mercenaries that the +judicial authorities could command were echelonned in the streets, +opposing a sort of dam to the torrent of the raging crowd. The sudden +insatiable cruelty that too often degrades human nature had awaked in +the populace: all heads were turned with hatred and frenzy; all +imaginations inflamed with the passion for revenge; groups of men and +women, roaring like wild beasts, threatened to knock down the walls of +the prison, if the condemned were not handed over to them to take to the +place of punishment: a great murmur arose, continuous, ever the same, +like the growling of thunder: the queen's heart was petrified with +terror. + +But, in spite of the desire of Bertram de Baux to satisfy the popular +wish, the preparations for the solemn execution were not completed till +midday, when the sun's rays fell scorchingly upon the town. There went +up a mighty cry from ten thousand palpitating breasts when a report +first ran through the crowd that the prisoners were about to appear. +There was a moment of silence, and the prison doors rolled slowly back +on their hinges with a rusty, grating noise. A triple row of horsemen, +with lowered visor and lance in rest, started the procession, and amid +yells and curses the condemned prisoners came out one by one, each tied +upon a cart, gagged and naked to the waist, in charge of two +executioners, whose orders were to torture them the whole length of +their way. On the first cart was the former laundress of Catana, +afterwards wife of the grand seneschal and governess to the queen, +Philippa of Cabane: the two executioners at right and left of her +scourged her with such fury that the blood spurting up from the wounds +left a long track in all the streets passed by the cortege. + +Immediately following their mother on separate carts came the Countesses +of Terlizzi and Morcone, the elder no more than eighteen years of age. +The two sisters were so marvellously beautiful that in the crowd a +murmur of surprise was heard, and greedy eyes were fixed upon their +naked trembling shoulders. But the men charged to torture them gazed +with ferocious smiles upon their forms of seductive beauty, and, armed +with sharp knives, cut off pieces of their flesh with a deliberate +enjoyment and threw them out to the crowd, who eagerly struggled to get +them, signing to the executioners to show which part of the victims' +bodies they preferred. + +Robert of Cabane, the grand seneschal, the Counts of Terlizzi and +Morcone, Raymond Pace, brother of the old valet who had been executed +the day before, and many more, were dragged on similar carts, and both +scourged with ropes and slashed with knives; their flesh was torn out +with red-hot pincers, and flung upon brazen chafing-dishes. No cry of +pain was heard from the grand seneschal, he never stirred once in his +frightful agony; yet the torturers put such fury into their work that +the poor wretch was dead before the goal was reached. + +In the centre of the square of Saint Eligius an immense stake was set +up: there the prisoners were taken, and what was left of their mutilated +bodies was thrown into the flames. The Count of Terlizzi and the grand +seneschal's widow were still alive, and two tears of blood ran down the +cheeks of the miserable mother as she saw her son's corpse and the +palpitating remains of her two daughters cast upon the fire--they by +their stifled cries showed that they had not ceased to suffer. But +suddenly a fearful noise overpowered the groans of the victims; the +enclosure was broken and overturned by the mob. Like madmen, they rushed +at the burning pile,--armed with sabres, axes, and knives, and snatching +the bodies dead or alive from the flames, tore them to pieces, carrying +off the bones to make whistles or handles for their daggers as a +souvenir of this horrible day. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +The spectacle of this frightful punishment did not satisfy the revenge +of Charles of Durazzo. Seconded by the chief-justice, he daily brought +about fresh executions, till Andre's death came to be no more than a +pretext for the legal murder of all who opposed his projects. But Louis +of Tarentum, who had won Joan's heart, and was eagerly trying to get the +necessary dispensation for legalising the marriage, from this time +forward took as a personal insult every act of the high court of justice +which was performed against his will and against the queen's +prerogative: he armed all his adherents, increasing their number by all +the adventurers he could get together, and so put on foot a strong +enough force to support his own party and resist his cousin. Naples was +thus split up into hostile camps, ready to come to blows on the smallest +pretext, whose daily skirmishes, moreover, were always followed by some +scene of pillage or death. + +But Louis had need of money both to pay his mercenaries and to hold his +own against the Duke of Durazzo and his own brother Robert, and one day +he discovered that the queen's coffers were empty. Joan was wretched and +desperate, and her lover, though generous and brave and anxious to +reassure her so far as he could, did not very clearly see how to +extricate himself from such a difficult situation. But his mother +Catherine, whose ambition was satisfied in seeing one of her sons, no +matter which, attain to the throne of Naples, came unexpectedly to their +aid, promising solemnly that it would only take her a few days to be +able to lay at her niece's feet a treasure richer than anything she had +ever dreamed of, queen as she was. + +The empress then took half her son's troops, made for Saint Agatha, and +besieged the fortress where Charles and Bertrand of Artois had taken +refuge when they fled from justice. The old count, astonished at the +sight of this woman, who had been the very soul of the conspiracy, and +not in the least understanding her arrival as an enemy, sent out to ask +the intention of this display of military force. To which Catherine +replied in words which we translate literally: + +"My friends, tell Charles, our faithful friend, that we desire to speak +with him privately and alone concerning a matter equally interesting to +us both, and he is not to be alarmed at our arriving in the guise of an +enemy, for this we have done designedly, as we shall explain in the +course of our interview. We know he is confined to bed by the gout, and +therefore feel no surprise at his not coming out to meet us. Have the +goodness to salute him on our part and reassure him, telling him that we +desire to come in, if such is his good pleasure, with our intimate +counsellor, Nicholas Acciajuoli, and ten soldiers only, to speak with +him concerning an important matter that cannot be entrusted to +go-betweens." + +Entirely reassured by these frank, friendly explanations, Charles of +Artois sent out his son Bertrand to the empress to receive her with the +respect due to her rank and high position at the court of Naples. +Catherine went promptly to the castle with many signs of joy, and +inquiring after the count's health and expressing her affection, as soon +as they were alone, she mysteriously lowered her voice and explained +that the object of her visit was to consult a man of tried experience on +the affairs of Naples, and to beg his active cooperation in the queen's +favour. As, however, she was not pressed for time, she could wait at +Saint Agatha for the count's recovery to hear his views and tell him of +the march of events since he left the court. She succeeded so well in +gaining the old man's confidence and banishing his suspicions, that he +begged her to honour them with her presence as long as she was able, and +little by little received all her men within the walls. This was what +Catherine was waiting for: on the very day when her army was installed +at Saint Agatha, she suddenly entered the count's room, followed by four +soldiers, and seizing the old man by the throat, exclaimed wrathfully-- + +"Miserable traitor, you will not escape from our hands before you have +received the punishment you deserve. In the meanwhile, show me where +your treasure is hidden, if you would not have me throw your body out to +feed the crows that are swooping around these dungeons." + +The count, half choking, the dagger at his breast, did not even attempt +to call for help; he fell on his knees, begging the empress to save at +least the life of his son, who was not yet well from the terrible attack +of melancholia that had shaken his reason ever since the catastrophe. +Then he painfully dragged himself to the place where he had hidden his +treasure, and pointing with his finger, cried-- + +"Take all; take my life; but spare my son." + +Catherine could not contain herself for joy when she saw spread out at +her feet exquisite and incredibly valuable cups, caskets of pearls, +diamonds and rubies of marvellous value, coffers full of gold ingots, +and all the wonders of Asia that surpass the wildest imagination. But +when the old man, trembling, begged for the liberty of his son as the +price of his fortune and his own life, the empress resumed her cold, +pitiless manner, and harshly replied-- + +"I have already given orders for your son to be brought here; but +prepare for an eternal farewell, for he is to be taken to the fortress +of Melfi, and you in all probability will end your days beneath the +castle of Saint Agatha." + +The grief of the poor count at this violent separation was so great, +that a few days later he was found dead in his dungeon, his lips covered +with a bloody froth, his hands gnawed in despair. Bertrand did not long +survive him. He actually lost his reason when he heard of his father's +death, and hanged himself on the prison grating. Thus did the murderers +of Andre destroy one another, like venomous animals shut up in the same +cage. + +Catherine of Tarentum, carrying off the treasure she had so gained, +arrived at the court of Naples, proud of her triumph and contemplating +vast schemes. But new troubles had come about in her absence. Charles of +Durazzo, for the last time desiring the queen to give him the duchy of +Calabria, a title which had always belonged to the heir presumptive, and +angered by her refusal, had written to Louis of Hungary, inviting him to +take possession of the kingdom, and promising to help in the enterprise +with all his own forces, and to give up the principal authors of his +brother's death, who till now had escaped justice. + +The King of Hungary eagerly accepted these offers, and got ready an army +to avenge Andre's death and proceed to the conquest of Naples. The tears +of his mother Elizabeth and the advice of Friar Robert, the old +minister, who had fled to Buda, confirmed him in his projects of +vengeance. He had already lodged a bitter complaint at the court of +Avignon that, while the inferior assassins had been punished, she who +was above all others guilty had been shamefully let off scot free, and +though still stained with her husband's blood, continued to live a life +of debauchery and adultery. The pope replied soothingly that, so far as +it depended upon him, he would not be found slow to give satisfaction to +a lawful grievance; but the accusation ought to be properly formulated +and supported by proof; that no doubt Joan's conduct during and after +her husband's death was blamable; but His Majesty must consider that the +Church of Rome, which before all things seeks truth and justice, always +proceeds with the utmost circumspection, and in so grave a matter more +especially must not judge by appearances only. + +Joan, frightened by the preparations for war, sent ambassadors to the +Florentine Republic, to assert her innocence of the crime imputed to her +by public opinion, and did not hesitate to send excuses even to the +Hungarian court; but Andre's brother replied in a letter laconic and +threatening:-- + +"Your former disorderly life, the arrogation to yourself of exclusive +power, your neglect to punish your husband's murderers, your marriage to +another husband, moreover your own excuses, are all sufficient proofs +that you were an accomplice in the murder." + +Catherine would not be put out of heart by the King of Hungary's +threats, and looking at the position of the queen and her son with a +coolness that was never deceived, she was convinced that there was no +other means of safety except a reconciliation with Charles, their mortal +foe, which could only be brought about by giving him all he wanted. It +was one of two things: either he would help them to repulse the King of +Hungary, and later on they would pay the cost when the dangers were less +pressing, or he would be beaten himself, and thus they would at least +have the pleasure of drawing him down with them in their own +destruction. + +The agreement was made in the gardens of Castel Nuovo, whither Charles +had repaired on the invitation of the queen and her aunt. To her cousin +of Durazzo Joan accorded the title so much desired of Duke of Calabria, +and Charles, feeling that he was hereby made heir to the kingdom, +marched at once on Aquila, which town already was flying the Hungarian +colours. The wretched man did not foresee that he was going straight to +his destruction. + +When the Empress of Constantinople saw this man, whom she hated above +all others, depart in joy, she looked contemptuously upon him, divining +by a woman's instinct that mischief would befall him; then, having no +further mischief to do, no further treachery on earth, no further +revenge to satisfy, she all at once succumbed to some unknown malady, +and died suddenly, without uttering a cry or exciting a single regret. + +But the King of Hungary, who had crossed Italy with a formidable army, +now entered the kingdom from the side of Aquila: on his way he had +everywhere received marks of interest and sympathy; and Alberto and +Mertino delta Scala, lords of Verona, had given him three hundred horse +to prove that all their goodwill was with him in his enterprise. The +news of the arrival of the Hungarians threw the court into a state of +confusion impossible to describe. They had hoped that the king would be +stopped by the pope's legate, who had come to Foligno to forbid him, in +the name of the Holy Father, and on pain of excommunication to proceed +any further without his consent; but Louis of Hungary replied to the +pope's legate that, once master of Naples, he should consider himself a +feudatory of the Church, but till then he had no obligations except to +God and his own conscience. Thus the avenging army fell like a +thunderbolt upon the heart of the kingdom, before there was any thought +of taking serious measures for defence. There was only one plan +possible: the queen assembled the barons who were most strongly attached +to her, made them swear homage and fidelity to Louis of Tarentum, whom +she presented to them as her husband, and then leaving with many tears +her most faithful subjects, she embarked secretly, in the middle of the +night, on a ship of Provence, and made for Marseilles. Louis of +Tarentum, following the prompting of his adventure-loving character, +left Naples at the head of three thousand horse and a considerable +number of foot, and took up his post on the banks of the Voltorno, there +to contest the enemy's passage; but the King of Hungary foresaw the +stratagem, and while his adversary was waiting for him at Capua, he +arrived at Beneventum by the mountains of Alife and Morcone, and on the +same day received Neapolitan envoys: they in a magnificent display of +eloquence congratulated him on his entrance, offered the keys of the +town, and swore obedience to him as being the legitimate successor of +Charles of Anjou. The news of the surrender of Naples soon reached the +queen's camp, and all the princes of the blood and the generals left +Louis of Tarentum and took refuge in the capital. Resistance was +impossible. Louis, accompanied by his counsellor, Nicholas Acciajuoli, +went to Naples on the same evening on which his relatives quitted the +town to get away from the enemy. Every hope of safety was vanishing as +the hours passed by; his brothers and cousins begged him to go at once, +so as not to draw down upon the town the king's vengeance, but unluckily +there was no ship in the harbour that was ready to set sail. The terror +of the princes was at its height; but Louis, trusting in his luck, +started with the brave Acciajuoli in an unseaworthy boat, and ordering +four sailors to row with all their might, in a few minutes disappeared, +leaving his family in a great state of anxiety till they learned that he +had reached Pisa, whither he had gone to join the queen in Provence. +Charles of Durazzo and Robert of Tarentum, who were the eldest +respectively of the two branches of the royal family, after hastily +consulting, decided to soften the Hungarian monarch's wrath by a +complete submission. Leaving their young brothers at Naples, they +accordingly set off for Aversa, where the king was. Louis received them +with every mark of friendship, and asked with much interest why their +brothers were not with them. The princes replied that their young +brothers had stayed at Naples to prepare a worthy reception for His +Majesty. Louis thanked them for their kind intentions, but begged them +to invite the young princes now, saying that it would be infinitely more +pleasant to enter Naples with all his family, and that he was most +anxious to see his cousins. Charles and Robert, to please the king, sent +equerries to bid their brothers come to Aversa; but Louis of Durazzo, +the eldest of the boys, with many tears begged the others not to obey, +and sent a message that he was prevented by a violent headache from +leaving Naples. So puerile an excuse could not fail to annoy Charles, +and the same day he compelled the unfortunate boys to appear before the +king, sending a formal order which admitted of no delay. Louis of +Hungary embraced them warmly one after the other, asked them several +questions in an affectionate way, kept them to supper, and only let them +go quite late at night. + +When the Duke of Durazzo reached his room, Lello of Aquila and the Count +of Fondi slipped mysteriously to the side of his bed, and making sure +that no one could hear, told him that the king in a council held that +morning had decided to kill him and to imprison the other princes. +Charles heard them out, but incredulously: suspecting treachery, he +dryly replied that he had too much confidence in his cousin's loyalty to +believe such a black calumny. Lello insisted, begging him in the name of +his dearest friends to listen; but the duke was impatient, and harshly +ordered him to depart. + +The next day there was the same kindness on the king's part, the same +affection shown to the children, the same invitation to supper. The +banquet was magnificent; the room was brilliantly lighted, and the +reflections were dazzling: vessels of gold shone on the table; the +intoxicating perfume of flowers filled the air; wine foamed in the +goblets and flowed from the flagons in ruby streams; conversation, +excited and discursive, was heard on every side; all faces beamed with +joy. + +Charles of Durazzo sat opposite the king, at a separate table among his +brothers. Little by little his look grew fixed, his brow pensive. He was +fancying that Andre might have supped in this very hall on the eve of +his tragic end, and he thought how all concerned in that death had +either died in torment or were now languishing in prison; the queen, an +exile and a fugitive, was begging pity from strangers: he alone was +free. The thought made him tremble; but admiring his own cleverness in +pursuing his infernal schemes, and putting away his sad looks, he smiled +again with an expression of indefinable pride. The madman at this moment +was scoffing at the justice of God. But Lello of Aquila, who was waiting +at the table, bent down, whispering gloomily-- + +"Unhappy duke, why did you refuse to believe me? Fly, while there is yet +time." + +Charles, angered by the man's obstinacy, threatened that if he were such +a fool as to say any more, he would repeat every word aloud. + +"I have done my duty," murmured Lello, bowing his head; "now it must +happen as God wills." + +As he left off speaking, the king rose, and as the duke went up to take +his leave, his face suddenly changed, and he cried in an awful voice-- + +"Traitor! At length you are in my hands, and you shall die as you +deserve; but before you are handed over to the executioner, confess with +your own lips your deeds of treachery towards our royal majesty: so +shall we need no other witness to condemn you to a punishment +proportioned to your crimes. Between our two selves, Duke of Durazzo, +tell me first why, by your infamous manoeuvring, you aided your uncle, +the Cardinal of Perigord, to hinder the coronation of my brother, and so +led him on, since he had no royal prerogative of his own, to his +miserable end? Oh, make no attempt to deny it. Here is the letter sealed +with your seal; in secret you wrote it, but it accuses you in public. +Then why, after bringing us hither to avenge our brother's death, of +which you beyond all doubt were the cause,--why did you suddenly turn to +the queen's party and march against our town of Aquila, daring to raise +an army against our faithful subjects? You hoped, traitor, to make use +of us as a footstool to mount the throne withal, as soon as you were +free from every other rival. Then you would but have awaited our +departure to kill the viceroy we should have left in our place, and so +seize the kingdom. But this time your foresight has been at fault. There +is yet another crime worse than all the rest, a crime of high treason, +which I shall remorselessly punish. You carried off the bride that our +ancestor King Robert designed for me, as you knew, by his will. Answer, +wretch what excuse can you make for the rape of the Princess Marie?" + +Anger had so changed Louis's voice that the last words sounded like the +roar of a wild beast: his eyes glittered with a feverish light, his lips +were pale and trembling. Charles and his brothers fell upon their knees, +frozen by mortal terror, and the unhappy duke twice tried to speak, but +his teeth were chattering so violently that he could not articulate a +single word. At last, casting his eyes about him and seeing his poor +brothers, innocent and ruined by his fault, he regained some sort of +courage, and said-- + +"My lord, you look upon me with a terrible countenance that makes me +tremble. But on my knees I entreat you, have mercy on me if I have done +wrong, for God is my witness that I did not call you to this kingdom +with any criminal intention: I have always desired, and still desire, +your supremacy in all the sincerity of my soul. Some treacherous +counsellors, I am certain, have contrived to draw down your hatred upon +me. If it is true, as you say, that I went with an armed force to Aquila +I was compelled by Queen Joan, and I could not do otherwise; but as soon +as I heard of your arrival at Fermo I took my troops away again. I hope +for the love of Christ I may obtain your mercy and pardon, by reason of +my former services and constant loyalty. But as I see you are now angry +with me, I say no more waiting for your fury to pass over. Once again, +my lord, have pity upon us, since we are in the hands of your Majesty." + +The king turned away his head, and retired slowly, confiding the +prisoners to the care of Stephen Vayvoda and the Count of Zornic, who +guarded them during the night in a room adjoining the king's chamber. +The next day Louis held another meeting of his council, and ordered that +Charles should have his throat cut on the very spot where poor Andre had +been hanged. He then sent the other princes of the blood, loaded with +chains, to Hungary, where they were long kept prisoners. Charles, quite +thunderstruck by such an unexpected blow, overwhelmed by the thought of +his past crimes, trembled like a coward face to face with death, and +seemed completely crushed. Bowed, upon his knees, his face half hidden +in his hands, from time to time convulsive sobs escaped him, as he tried +to fix the thoughts that chased each other through his mind like the +shapes of a monstrous dream. Night was in his soul, but every now and +then light flashed across the darkness, and over the gloomy background +of his despair passed gilded figures fleeing from him with smiles of +mockery. In his ears buzzed voices from the other world; he saw a long +procession of ghosts, like the conspirators whom Nicholas of Melazzo had +pointed out in the vaults of Castel Nuovo. But these phantoms each held +his head in his hand, and shaking it by the hair, bespattered him with +drops of blood. Some brandished whips, some knives: each threatened +Charles with his instrument of torture. Pursued by the nocturnal train, +the hapless man opened his mouth for one mighty cry, but his breath was +gone, and it died upon his lips. Then he beheld his mother stretching +out her arms from afar, and he fancied that if he could but reach her he +would be safe. But at each step the path grew more and more narrow, +pieces of his flesh were torn off by the approaching walls; at last, +breathless, naked and bleeding, he reached his goal; but his mother +glided farther away, and it was all to begin over again. The phantoms +pursued him, grinning and screaming in his ears:-- + +"Cursed be he who slayeth his mother!" + +Charles was roused from these horrors by the cries of his brothers, who +had come to embrace him for the last time before embarking. The duke in +a low voice asked their pardon, and then fell back into his state of +despair. The children were dragged away, begging to be allowed to share +their brother's fate, and crying for death as an alleviation of their +woes. At length they were separated, but the sound of their lamentation +sounded long in the heart of the condemned man. After a few moments, two +soldiers and two equerries came to tell the duke that his hour had come. + +Charles followed them, unresisting, to the fatal balcony where Andre had +been hanged. He was there asked if he desired to confess, and when he +said yes, they brought a monk from the sane convent where the terrible +scene had been enacted: he listened to the confession of all his sins, +and granted him absolution. The duke at once rose and walked to the +place where Andre had been thrown down for the cord to be put round his +neck, and there, kneeling again, he asked his executioners-- + +"Friends, in pity tell me, is there any hope for my life?" + +And when they answered no, Charles exclaimed: + +"Then carry out your instructions." + +At these words, one of the equerries plunged his sword into his breast, +and the other cut his head off with a knife, and his corpse was thrown +over the balcony into the garden where Andre's body had lain for three +days unburied. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +The King of Hungary, his black flag ever borne before him, started for +Naples, refusing all offered honours, and rejecting the canopy beneath +which he was to make his entry, not even stopping to give audience to +the chief citizens or to receive the acclamations of the crowd. Armed at +all points, he made for Castel Nuovo, leaving behind him dismay and +fear. His first act on entering the city was to order Dona Cancha to be +burnt, her punishment having been deferred by reason of her pregnancy. +Like the others, she was drawn on a cart to the square of St. Eligius, +and there consigned to the flames. The young creature, whose suffering +had not impaired her beauty, was dressed as for a festival, and laughing +like a mad thing up to the last moment, mocked at her executioners and +threw kisses to the crowd. + +A few days later, Godfrey of Marsana, Count of Squillace and grand +admiral of the kingdom, was arrested by the king's orders. His life was +promised him on condition of his delivering up Conrad of Catanzaro, one +of his relatives, accused of conspiring against Andre. The grand admiral +committed this act of shameless treachery, and did not shrink from +sending his own son to persuade Conrad to come to the town. The poor +wretch was given over to the king, and tortured alive on a wheel made +with sharp knives. The sight of these barbarities, far from calming the +king's rage, seemed to inflame it the more. Every day there were new +accusations and new sentences. The prisons were crowded: Louis's +punishments were redoubled in severity. A fear arose that the town, and +indeed the whole kingdom, were to be treated as having taken part in +Andre's death. Murmurs arose against this barbarous rule, and all men's +thoughts turned towards their fugitive queen. The Neapolitan barons had +taken the oath of fidelity with no willing hearts; and when it came to +the turn of the Counts of San Severino, they feared a trick of some +kind, and refused to appear all together before the Hungarian, but took +refuge in the town of Salerno, and sent Archbishop Roger, their brother, +to make sure of the king's intentions beforehand. Louis received him +magnificently, and appointed him privy councillor and grand proto +notary. Then, and not till then, did Robert of San Severino and Roger, +Count of Chiaramonte, venture into the king's presence; after doing +homage, they retired to their homes. The other barons followed their +example of caution, and hiding their discontent under a show of respect, +awaited a favourable moment for shaking off the foreign yoke. But the +queen had encountered no obstacle in her flight, and arrived at Nice +five days later. Her passage through Provence was like a triumph. Her +beauty, youth, and misfortunes, even certain mysterious reports as to +her adventures, all contributed to arouse the interest of the Provencal +people. Games and fetes were improvised to soften the hardship of exile +for the proscribed princess; but amid the outbursts of joy from every +town, castle, and city, Joan, always sad, lived ever in her silent grief +and glowing memories. + +At the gates of Aix she found the clergy, the nobility, and the chief +magistrates, who received her respectfully but with no signs of +enthusiasm. As the queen advanced, her astonishment increased as she saw +the coldness of the people and the solemn, constrained air of the great +men who escorted her. Many anxious thoughts alarmed her, and she even +went so far as to fear some intrigue of the King of Hungary. Scarcely +had her cortege arrived at Castle Arnaud, when the nobles, dividing into +two ranks, let the queen pass with her counsellor Spinelli and two +women; then closing up, they cut her off from the rest of her suite. +After this, each in turn took up his station as guardian of the +fortress. + +There was no room for doubt: the queen was a prisoner; but the cause of +the manoeuvre it was impossible to guess. She asked the high +dignitaries, and they, protesting respectful devotion, refused to +explain till they had news from Avignon. Meanwhile all honours that a +queen could receive were lavished on Joan; but she was kept in sight and +forbidden to go out. This new trouble increased her depression: she did +not know what had happened to Louis of Tarentum, and her imagination, +always apt at creating disasters, instantly suggested that she would +soon be weeping for his loss. + +But Louis, always with his faithful Acciajuoli, had after many fatiguing +adventures been shipwrecked at the port of Pisa; thence he had taken +route for Florence, to beg men and money; but the Florentines decided to +keep an absolute neutrality, and refused to receive him. The prince, +losing his last hope, was pondering gloomy plans, when Nicholas +Acciajuoli thus resolutely addressed him: + +"My lord, it is not given to mankind to enjoy prosperity for ever: there +are misfortunes beyond all human foresight. You were once rich and +powerful, and you are now a fugitive in disguise, begging the help of +others. You must reserve your strength for better days. I still have a +considerable fortune, and also have relations and friends whose wealth +is at my disposal: let us try to make our way to the queen, and at once +decide what we can do. I myself shall always defend you and obey you as +my lord and master." + +The prince received these generous offers with the utmost gratitude, and +told his counsellor that he placed his person in his hands and all that +remained of his future. Acciajuoli, not content with serving his master +as a devoted servant, persuaded his brother Angelo, Archbishop of +Florence, who was in great favour at Clement VI's court, to join with +them in persuading the pope to interest himself in the cause of Louis of +Tarentum. So, without further delay, the prince, his counsellor, and the +good prelate made their way to the port of Marseilles, but learning that +the queen was a prisoner at Aix, they embarked at Acque-Morte, and went +straight to Avignon. It soon appeared that the pope had a real affection +and esteem for the character of the Archbishop of Florence, for Louis +was received with paternal kindness at the court of Avignon; which was +far more than he had expected: when he kneeled before the sovereign +pontiff, His Holiness bent affectionately towards him and helped him to +rise, saluting him by the title of king. + +Two days later, another prelate, the Archbishop of Aix, came into the +queen's presence,-- + +"Most gracious and dearly beloved sovereign, permit the most humble and +devoted of your servants to ask pardon, in the name of your subjects, +for the painful but necessary measure they have thought fit to take +concerning your Majesty. When you arrived on our coast, your loyal town +of Aix had learned from a trustworthy source that the King of France was +proposing to give our country to one of his own sons, making good this +loss to you by the cession of another domain, also that the Duke of +Normandy had come to Avignon to request this exchange in person. We were +quite decided, madam, and had made a vow to God that we would give up +everything rather than suffer the hateful tyranny of the French. But +before spilling blood we thought it best to secure your august person as +a sacred hostage, a sacred ark which no man dared touch but was smitten +to the ground, which indeed must keep away from our walls the scourge of +war. We have now read the formal annulment of this hateful plan, in a +brief sent by the sovereign pontiff from Avignon; and in this brief he +himself guarantees your good faith. + +"We give you your full and entire liberty, and henceforth we shall only +endeavour to keep you among us by prayers and protestations. Go then, +madam, if that is your pleasure, but before you leave these lands, which +will be plunged into mourning by your withdrawal, leave with us some +hope that you forgive the apparent violence to which we have subjected +you, only in the fear that we might lose you; and remember that on the +day when you cease to be our queen you sign the death-warrant of all +your subjects." + +Joan reassured the archbishop and the deputation from her good town of +Aix with a melancholy smile, and promised that she would always cherish +the memory of their affection. For this time she could not be deceived +as to the real sentiments of the nobles and people; and a fidelity so +uncommon, revealed with sincere tears, touched her heart and made her +reflect bitterly upon her past. But a league's distance from Avignon a +magnificent triumphal reception awaited her. Louis of Tarentum and all +the cardinals present at the court had come out to meet her. Pages in +dazzling dress carried above Joan's head a canopy of scarlet velvet, +ornamented with fleur-de-lys in gold and plumes. Handsome youths and +lovely girls, their heads crowned with flowers, went before her singing +her praise. The streets were bordered with a living hedge of people; the +houses were decked out; the bells rang a triple peal, as at the great +Church festivals. Clement VI first received the queen at the castle of +Avignon with all the pomp he knew so well how to employ on solemn +occasions, then she was lodged in the palace of Cardinal Napoleon of the +Orsini, who on his return from the Conclave at Perugia had built this +regal dwelling at Villeneuve, inhabited later by the popes. + +No words could give an idea of the strangely disturbed condition of +Avignon at this period. Since Clement V had transported the seat of the +papacy to Provence, there had sprung up, in this rival to Rome, squares, +churches, cardinals' palaces, of unparalleled splendour. All the +business of nations and kings was transacted at the castle of Avignon. +Ambassadors from every court, merchants of every nation, adventurers of +all kinds, Italians, Spaniards, Hungarians, Arabs, Jews, soldiers, +Bohemians, jesters, poets, monks, courtesans, swarmed and clustered +here, and hustled one another in the streets. There was confusion of +tongues, customs, and costumes, an inextricable mixture of splendour and +rags, riches and misery, debasement and grandeur. The austere poets of +the Middle Ages stigmatised the accursed city in their writings under +the name of the New Babylon. + +There is one curious monument of Joan's sojourn at Avignon and the +exercise of her authority as sovereign. She was indignant at the +effrontery of the women of the town, who elbowed everybody shamelessly +in the streets, and published a notable edict, the first of its kind, +which has since served as a model in like cases, to compel all +unfortunate women who trafficked in their honour to live shut up +together in a house, that was bound to be open every day in the year +except the last three days of Holy Week, the entrance to be barred to +Jews at all times. An abbess, chosen once a year, had the supreme +control over this strange convent. Rules were established for the +maintenance of order, and severe penalties inflicted for any +infringement of discipline. The lawyers of the period gained a great +reputation by this salutary institution; the fair ladies of Avignon were +eager in their defence of the queen in spite of the calumnious reports +that strove to tarnish her reputation: with one voice the wisdom of +Andre's widow was extolled. The concert of praises was disturbed, +however, by murmurs from the recluses themselves, who, in their own +brutal language, declared that Joan of Naples was impeding their +commerce so as to get a monopoly for herself. + +Meanwhile Marie of Durazzo had joined her sister. After her husband's +death she had found means to take refuge in the convent of Santa Croce +with her two little daughters; and while Louis of Hungary was busy +burning his victims, the unhappy Marie had contrived to make her escape +in the frock of an old monk, and as by a miracle to get on board a ship +that was setting sail for Provence. She related to her sister the +frightful details of the king's cruelty. And soon a new proof of his +implacable hatred confirmed the tales of the poor princess. + +Louis's ambassadors appeared at the court of Avignon to demand formally +the queen's condemnation. + +It was a great day when Joan of Naples pleaded her own cause before the +pope, in the presence of all the cardinals then at Avignon, all the +ambassadors of foreign powers, and all the eminent persons come from +every quarter of Europe to be present at this trial, unique in the +annals of history. We must imagine a vast enclosure, in whose midst upon +a raised throne, as president of the august tribunal, sat God's vicar on +earth, absolute and supreme judge, emblem of temporal and spiritual +power, of authority human and divine. To right and left of the sovereign +pontiff, the cardinals in their red robes sat in chairs set round in a +circle, and behind these princes of the Sacred College stretched rows of +bishops extending to the end of the hall, with vicars, canons, deacons, +archdeacons, and the whole immense hierarchy of the Church. Facing the +pontifical throne was a platform reserved for the Queen of Naples and +her suite. At the pope's feet stood the ambassadors from the King of +Hungary, who played the part of accusers without speaking a word, the +circumstances of the crime and all the proofs having been discussed +beforehand by a committee appointed for the purpose. The rest of the +hall was filled by a brilliant crowd of high dignitaries, illustrious +captains, and noble envoys, all vying with one another in proud display. +Everyone ceased to breathe, all eyes were fixed on the dais whence Joan +was to speak her own defence. A movement of uneasy curiosity made this +compact mass of humanity surge towards the centre, the cardinals above +raised like proud peacocks over a golden harvest-field shaken in the +breeze. + +The queen appeared, hand in hand with her uncle, the old Cardinal of +Perigord, and her aunt, the Countess Agnes. Her gait was so modest and +proud, her countenance so melancholy and pure, her looks so open and +confident, that even before she spoke every heart was hers. Joan was now +twenty years of age; her magnificent beauty was fully developed, but an +extreme pallor concealed the brilliance of her transparent satin skin, +and her hollow cheek told the tale of expiation and suffering. Among the +spectators who looked on most eagerly there was a certain young man with +strongly marked features, glowing eyes, and brown hair, whom we shall +meet again later on in our narrative; but we will not divert our +readers' attention, but only tell them that his name was James of +Aragon, that he was Prince of Majorca, and would have been ready to shed +every drop of his blood only to check one single tear that hung on +Joan's eyelids. The queen spoke in an agitated, trembling voice, +stopping from time to time to dry her moist and shining eyes, or to +breathe one of those deep sighs that go straight to the heart. She told +the tale of her husband's death painfully and vividly, painted +truthfully the mad terror that had seized upon her and struck her down +at that frightful time, raised her hands to her brow with the gesture of +despair, as though she would wrest the madness from her brain--and a +shudder of pity and awe passed through the assembled crowd. It is a fact +that at this moment, if her words were false, her anguish was both +sincere and terrible. An angel soiled by crime, she lied like Satan +himself, but like him too she suffered all the agony of remorse and +pride. Thus, when at the end of her speech she burst into tears and +implored help and protection against the usurper of her kingdom, a cry +of general assent drowned her closing words, several hands flew to their +sword-hilts, and the Hungarian ambassadors retired covered with shame +and confusion. + +That same evening the sentence, to the great joy of all, was proclaimed, +that Joan was innocent and acquitted of all concern in the assassination +of her husband. But as her conduct after the event and the indifference +she had shown about pursuing the authors of the crime admitted of no +valid excuse, the pope declared that there were plain traces of magic, +and that the wrong-doing attributed to Joan was the result of some +baneful charm cast upon her, which she could by no possible means +resist. At the same time, His Holiness confirmed her marriage with Louis +of Tarentum, and bestowed on him the order of the Rose of Gold and the +title of King of Sicily and Jerusalem. Joan, it is true, had on the eve +of her acquittal sold the town of Avignon to the pope for the sum of +80,000 florins. + +While the queen was pleading her cause at the court of Clement VI, a +dreadful epidemic, called the Black Plague--the same that Boccaccio has +described so wonderfully--was ravaging the kingdom of Naples, and indeed +the whole of Italy. According to the calculation of Matteo Villani, +Florence lost three-fifths of her population, Bologna two-thirds, and +nearly all Europe was reduced in some such frightful proportion. The +Neapolitans were already weary of the cruelties and greed of the +Hungarians, they were only awaiting some opportunity to revolt against +the stranger's oppression, and to recall their lawful sovereign, whom, +for all her ill deeds, they had never ceased to love. The attraction of +youth and beauty was deeply felt by this pleasure-loving people. +Scarcely had the pestilence thrown confusion into the army and town, +when loud cursing arose against the tyrant and his executioners. Louis +of Hungary, suddenly threatened by the wrath of Heaven and the people's +vengeance, was terrified both by the plague and by the riots, and +disappeared in the middle of the night. Leaving the government of Naples +in the hands of Conrad Lupo, one of his captains, he embarked hastily at +Berletta, and left the kingdom in very much the same way as Louis of +Tarentum, fleeing from him, had left it a few months before. + +This news arrived at Avignon just when the pope was about to send the +queen his bull of absolution. It was at once decided to take away the +kingdom from Louis's viceroy. Nicholas Acciajuoli left for Naples with +the marvellous bull that was to prove to all men the innocence of the +queen, to banish all scruples and stir up a new enthusiasm. The +counsellor first went to the castle of Melzi, commanded by his son +Lorenzo: this was the only fortress that had always held out. The father +and son embraced with the honourable pride that near relatives may +justly feel when they meet after they have united in the performance of +a heroic duty. From the governor of Melzi Louis of Tarentum's counsellor +learned that all men were wearied of the arrogance and vexatious conduct +of the queen's enemies, and that a conspiracy was in train, started in +the University of Naples, but with vast ramifications all over the +kingdom, and moreover that there was dissension in the enemy's army. The +indefatigable counsellor went from Apulia to Naples, traversing towns +and villages, collecting men everywhere, proclaiming loudly the +acquittal of the queen and her marriage with Louis of Tarentum, also +that the pope was offering indulgences to such as would receive with joy +their lawful sovereigns. Then seeing that the people shouted as he went +by, "Long live Joan! Death to the Hungarians!" he returned and told his +sovereigns in what frame of mind he had left their subjects. + +Joan borrowed money wherever she could, armed galleys, and left +Marseilles with her husband, her sister, and two faithful advisers, +Acciajuoli and Spinelli, on the 10th of September 1348. The king and +queen not being able to enter at the harbour, which was in the enemy's +power, disembarked at Santa Maria del Carmine, near the river Sebeto, +amid the frenzied applause of an immense crowd, and accompanied by all +the Neapolitan nobles. They made their way to the palace of Messire +Ajutorio, near Porta Capuana, the Hungarians having fortified themselves +in all the castles; but Acciajuoli, at the head of the queen's +partisans, blockaded the fortresses so ably that half of the enemy were +obliged to surrender, and the other half took to flight and were +scattered about the interior of the kingdom. We shall now follow Louis +of Tarentum in his arduous adventures in Apulia, the Calabrias, and the +Abruzzi, where he recovered one by one the fortresses that the +Hungarians had taken. By dint of unexampled valour and patience, he at +last mastered nearly all the more considerable places, when suddenly +everything changed, and fortune turned her back upon him for the second +time. A German captain called Warner, who had deserted the Hungarian +army to sell himself to the queen, had again played the traitor and sold +himself once more, allowed himself to be surprised at Corneto by Conrad +Lupo, the King of Hungary's vicar-general, and openly joined him, taking +along with him a great party of the adventurers who fought under his +orders. This unexpected defection forced Louis of Tarentum to retire to +Naples. The King of Hungary soon learning that the troops had rallied +round his banner, and only awaited his return to march upon the capital, +disembarked with a strong reinforcement of cavalry at the port of +Manfredonia, and taking Trani, Canosa, and Salerno, went forward to lay +siege to Aversa. + +The news fell like a thunder-clap on Joan and her husband. The Hungarian +army consisted of 10,000 horse and more than 7000 infantry, and Aversa +had only 500 soldiers under Giacomo Pignatelli. In spite of the immense +disproportion of the numbers, the Neapolitan general vigorously repelled +the attack; and the King of Hungary, fighting in the front, was wounded +in his foot by an arrow. Then Louis, seeing that it would be difficult +to take the place by storm, determined to starve them out. For three +months the besieged performed prodigies of valour, and further +assistance was impossible. Their capitulation was expected at any +moment, unless indeed they decided to perish every man. Renaud des Baux, +who was to come from Marseilles with a squadron of ten ships to defend +the ports of the capital and secure the queen's flight, should the +Hungarian army get possession of Naples, had been delayed by adverse +winds and obliged to stop on the way. All things seemed to conspire in +favour of the enemy. Louis of Tarentum, whose generous soul refused to +shed the blood of his brave men in an unequal and desperate struggle, +nobly sacrificed himself, and made an offer to the King of Hungary to +settle their quarrel in single combat. We append the authentic letters +that passed between Joan's husband and Andre's brother. + +"Illustrious King of Hungary, who has come to invade our kingdom, we, by +the grace of God King of Jerusalem and Sicily, invite you to single +combat. We know that you are in no wise disturbed by the death of your +lancers or the other pagans in your suite, no more indeed than if they +were dogs; but we, fearing harm to our own soldiers and men-at-arms, +desire to fight with you personally, to put an end to the present war +and restore peace to our kingdom. He who survives shall be king. And +therefore, to ensure that this duel shall take place, we definitely +propose as a site either Paris, in the presence of the King of France, +or one of the towns of Perugia, Avignon, or Naples. Choose one of these +four places, and send us your reply." + +The King of Hungary first consulted with his council, and then +replied:-- + +"Great King, we have read and considered your letter sent to us by the +bearer of these presents, and by your invitation to a duel we are most +supremely pleased; but we do not approve of any of the places you +propose, since they are all suspect, and for several reasons. The King +of France is your maternal grandfather, and although we are also +connected by blood with him, the relationship is not so near. The town +of Avignon, although nominally belonging to the sovereign pontiff, is +the capital of Provence, and has always been subject to your rule. +Neither have we any more confidence in Perugia, for that town is devoted +to your cause. + +"As to the city of Naples, there is no need to say that we refuse that +rendezvous, since it is in revolt against us and you are there as king. +But if you wish to fight with us, let it be in the presence of the +Emperor of Germany, who is lord supreme, or the King of England, who is +our common friend, or the Patriarch of Aquilea, a good Catholic. If you +do not approve of any of the places we propose, we shall soon be near +you with our army, and so remove all difficulties and delays. Then you +can come forth, and our duel can take place in the presence of both +armies." + +After the interchange of these two letters, Louis of Tarentum proposed +nothing further. The garrison at Aversa had capitulated after a heroic +resistance, and it was known only too well that if the King of Hungary +could get so far as the walls of Naples, he would not have to endanger +his life in order to seize that city. Happily the Provencal galleys had +reached port at last. The king and the queen had only just time to +embark and take refuge at Gaeta. The Hungarian army arrived at Naples. +The town was on the point of yielding, and had sent messengers to the +king humbly demanding peace; but the speeches of the Hungarians showed +such insolence that the people, irritated past endurance, took up arms, +and resolved to defend their household gods with all the energy of +despair. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +While the Neapolitans were holding out against their enemy at the Porta +Capuana, a strange scene was being enacted at the other side of the +town, a scene that shows us in lively colours the violence and treachery +of this barbarous age. The widow of Charles of Durazzo was shut up in +the castle of Ovo, and awaiting in feverish anxiety the arrival of the +ship that was to take her to the queen. The poor Princess Marie, +pressing her weeping children to her heart, pale, with dishevelled +locks, fixed eyes, and drawn lips, was listening for every sound, +distracted between hope and fear. Suddenly steps resounded along the +corridor; a friendly voice was heard; Marie fell upon her knees with a +cry of joy: her liberator had come. + +Renaud des Baux, admiral of the Provencal squadron, respectfully +advanced, followed by his eldest son Robert and his chaplain. + +"God, I thank Thee!" exclaimed Marie, rising to her feet; "we are +saved." + +"One moment, madam," said Renaud, stopping her: "you are indeed saved, +but upon one condition." + +"A condition?" murmured the princess in surprise. + +"Listen, madam. The King of Hungary, the avenger of Andre's murderers, +the slayer of your husband, is at the gates of Naples; the people and +soldiers will succumb, as soon as their last gallant effort is +spent--the army of the conqueror is about to spread desolation and death +throughout the city by fire and the sword. This time the Hungarian +butcher will spare no victims: he will kill the mother before her +children's eyes, the children in their mother's arms. The drawbridge of +this castle is up and there are none on guard; every man who can wield a +sword is now at the other end of the town. Woe to you, Marie of Durazzo, +if the King of Hungary shall remember that you preferred his rival to +him!" + +"But have you not come here to save me?" cried Marie in a voice of +anguish. "Joan, my sister, did she not command you to take me to her?" + +"Your sister is no longer in the position to give orders," replied +Renaud, with a disdainful smile. "She had nothing for me but thanks +because I saved her life, and her husband's too, when he fled like a +coward before the man whom he had dared to challenge to a duel." + +Marie looked fixedly at the admiral to assure herself that it was really +he who thus arrogantly talked about his masters. But she was terrified +at his imperturbable expression, and said gently-- + +"As I owe my life and my children's lives solely to your generosity, I +am grateful to you beyond all measure. But we must hurry, my lord: every +moment I fancy I hear cries of vengeance, and you would not leave me now +a prey to my brutal enemy?" + +"God forbid, madam; I will save you at the risk of my life; but I have +said already, I impose a condition." + +"What is it?" said Marie, with forced calm. + +"That you marry my son on the instant, in the presence of our reverend +chaplain." + +"Rash man!" cried Marie, recoiling, her face scarlet with indignation +and shame; "you dare to speak thus to the sister of your legitimate +sovereign? Give thanks to God that I will pardon an insult offered, as I +know, in a moment of madness; try by your devotion to make me forget +what you have said." + +The count, without one word, signed to his son and a priest to follow, +and prepared to depart. As he crossed the threshold Marie ran to him, +and clasping her hands, prayed him in God's name never to forsake her. +Renaud stopped. + +"I might easily take my revenge," he said, "for your affront when you +refuse my son in your pride; but that business I leave to Louis of +Hungary, who will acquit himself, no doubt, with credit." + +"Have mercy on my poor daughters!" cried the princess; "mercy at least +for my poor babes, if my own tears cannot move you." + +"If you loved your children," said the admiral, frowning, "you would +have done your duty at once." + +"But I do not love your son!" cried Marie, proud but trembling. "O God, +must a wretched woman's heart be thus trampled? You, father, a minister +of truth and justice, tell this man that God must not be called on to +witness an oath dragged from the weak and helpless!" + +She turned to the admiral's son; and added, sobbing-- + +"You are young, perhaps you have loved: one day no doubt you will love. +I appeal to your loyalty as a young man, to your courtesy as a knight, +to all your noblest impulses; join me, and turn your father away from +his fatal project. You have never seen me before: you do not know but +that in my secret heart I love another. Your pride should be revolted at +the sight of an unhappy woman casting herself at your feet and imploring +your favour and protection. One word from you, Robert, and I shall bless +you every moment of my life: the memory of you will be graven in my +heart like the memory of a guardian angel, and my children shall name +you nightly in their prayers, asking God to grant your wishes. Oh, say, +will you not save me? Who knows, later on I may love you--with real +love." + +"I must obey my father," Robert replied, never lifting his eyes to the +lovely suppliant. + +The priest was silent. Two minutes passed, and these four persons, each +absorbed in his own thoughts, stood motionless as statues carved at the +four corners of a tomb. Marie was thrice tempted to throw herself into +the sea. But a confused distant sound suddenly struck upon her ears: +little by little it drew nearer, voices were more distinctly heard; +women in the street were uttering cries of distress-- + +"Fly, fly! God has forsaken us; the Hungarians are in the town!" + +The tears of Marie's children were the answer to these cries; and little +Margaret, raising her hands to her mother, expressed her fear in speech +that was far beyond her years. Renaud, without one look at this touching +picture, drew his son towards the door. + +"Stay," said the princess, extending her hand with a solemn gesture: "as +God sends no other aid to my children, it is His will that the sacrifice +be accomplished." + +She fell on her knees before the priest, bending her head like a victim +who offers her neck to the executioner. Robert des Baux took his place +beside her, and the priest pronounced the formula that united them for +ever, consecrating the infamous deed by a sacrilegious blessing. + +"All is over!" murmured Marie of Durazzo, looking tearfully on her +little daughters. + +"No, all is not yet over," said the admiral harshly, pushing her towards +another room; "before we leave, the marriage must be consummated." + +"O just God!" cried the princess, in a voice torn with anguish, and she +fell swooning to the floor. + +Renaud des Baux directed his ships towards Marseilles, where he hoped to +get his son crowned Count of Provence, thanks to his strange marriage +with Marie of Durazzo. But this cowardly act of treason was not to go +unpunished. The wind rose with fury, and drove him towards Gaeta, where +the queen and her husband had just arrived. Renaud bade his sailors keep +in the open, threatening to throw any man into the sea who dared to +disobey him. The crew at first murmured; soon cries of mutiny rose on +every side. The admiral, seeing he was lost, passed from threats to +prayers. But the princess, who had recovered her senses at the first +thunder-clap, dragged herself up to the bridge and screamed for help, + +"Come to me, Louis! Come, my barons! Death to the cowardly wretches who +have outraged my honour!" + +Louis of Tarentum jumped into a boat, followed by some ten of his +bravest men, and, rowing rapidly, reached the ship. Then Marie told him +her story in a word, and he turned upon the admiral a lightning glance, +as though defying him to make any defence. + +"Wretch!" cried the king, transfixing the traitor with his sword. + +Then he had the son loaded with chains, and also the unworthy priest who +had served as accomplice to the admiral, who now expiated his odious +crime by death. He took the princess and her children in his boat, and +re-entered the harbour. + +The Hungarians, however, forcing one of the gates of Naples, marched +triumphant to Castel Nuovo. But as they were crossing the Piazza delle +Correggie, the Neapolitans perceived that the horses were so weak and +the men so reduced by all they had undergone during the siege of Aversa +that a mere puff of wind would dispense this phantom-like army. Changing +from a state of panic to real daring, the people rushed upon their +conquerors, and drove them outside the walls by which they had just +entered. The sudden violent reaction broke the pride of the King of +Hungary, and made him more tractable when Clement VI decided that he +ought at last to interfere. A truce was concluded first from the month +of February 1350 to the beginning of April 1351, and the next year this +was converted into a real peace, Joan paying to the King of Hungary the +sum of 300,000 florins for the expenses of the war. + +After the Hungarians had gone, the pope sent a legate to crown Joan and +Louis of Tarentum, and the 25th of May, the day of Pentecost, was chosen +for the ceremony. All contemporary historians speak enthusiastically of +this magnificent fete. Its details have been immortalised by Giotto in +the frescoes of the church which from this day bore the name of +L'Incoronata. A general amnesty was declared for all who had taken part +in the late wars on either side, and the king and queen were greeted +with shouts of joy as they solemnly paraded beneath the canopy, with all +the barons of the kingdom in their train. + +But the day's joy was impaired by an accident which to a superstitious +people seemed of evil augury. Louis of Tarentum, riding a richly +caparisoned horse, had just passed the Porta Petruccia, when some ladies +looking out from a high window threw such a quantity of flowers at the +king that his frightened steed reared and broke his rein. Louis could +not hold him, so jumped lightly to the ground; but the crown fell at his +feet and was broken into three pieces. On that very day the only +daughter of Joan and Louis died. + +But the king not wishing to sadden the brilliant ceremony with show of +mourning, kept up the jousts and tournaments for three days, and in +memory of his coronation instituted the order of 'Chevaliers du Noeud'. +But from that day begun with an omen so sad, his life was nothing but a +series of disillusions. After sustaining wars in Sicily and Apulia, and +quelling the insurrection of Louis of Durazzo, who ended his days in the +castle of Ovo, Louis of Tarentum, worn out by a life of pleasure, his +health undermined by slow disease, overwhelmed with domestic trouble, +succumbed to an acute fever on the 5th of June 1362, at the age of +forty-two. His body had not been laid in its royal tomb at Saint +Domenico before several aspirants appeared to the hand of the queen. + +One was the Prince of Majorca, the handsome youth we have already spoken +of: he bore her off triumphant over all rivals, including the son of the +King of France. James of Aragon had one of those faces of melancholy +sweetness which no woman can resist. Great troubles nobly borne had +thrown as it were a funereal veil over his youthful days: more than +thirteen years he had spent shut in an iron cage; when by the aid of a +false key he had escaped from his dreadful prison, he wandered from one +court to another seeking aid; it is even said that he was reduced to the +lowest degree of poverty and forced to beg his bread. The young +stranger's beauty and his adventures combined had impressed both Joan +and Marie at the court of Avignon. Marie especially had conceived a +violent passion for him, all the more so for the efforts she made to +conceal it in her own bosom. Ever since James of Aragon came to Naples, +the unhappy princess, married with a dagger at her throat, had desired +to purchase her liberty at the expense of crime. Followed by four armed +men, she entered the prison where Robert des Baux was still suffering +for a fault more his father's than his own. Marie stood before the +prisoner, her arms crossed, her cheeks livid, her lips trembling. It was +a terrible interview. This time it was she who threatened, the man who +entreated pardon. Marie was deaf to his prayers, and the head of the +luckless man fell bleeding at her feet, and her men threw the body into +the sea. But God never allows a murder to go unpunished: James preferred +the queen to her sister, and the widow of Charles of Durazzo gained +nothing by her crime but the contempt of the man she loved, and a bitter +remorse which brought her while yet young to the tomb. + +Joan was married in turn to James of Aragon, son of the King of Majorca, +and to Otho of Brunswick, of the imperial family of Saxony. We will pass +rapidly over these years, and come to the denouement of this history of +crime and expiation. James, parted from his wife, continued his stormy +career, after a long contest in Spain with Peter the Cruel, who had +usurped his kingdom: about the end of the year 1375 he died near +Navarre. Otho also could not escape the Divine vengeance which hung over +the court of Naples, but to the end he valiantly shared the queen's +fortunes. Joan, since she had no lawful heir, adopted her nephew, +Charles de la Paix (so called after the peace of Trevisa). He was the +son of Louis Duras, who after rebelling against Louis of Tarentum, had +died miserably in the castle of Ovo. The child would have shared his +father's fate had not Joan interceded to spare his life, loaded him with +kindness, and married him to Margaret, the daughter of her sister Marie +and her cousin Charles, who was put to death by the King of Hungary. + +Serious differences arose between the queen and one of her former +subjects, Bartolommeo Prigiani, who had become pope under the name of +Urban VI. Annoyed by the queen's opposition, the pope one day angrily +said he would shut her up in a convent. Joan, to avenge the insult, +openly favoured Clement VII, the anti-pope, and offered him a home in +her own castle, when, pursued by Pope Urban's army, he had taken refuge +at Fondi. But the people rebelled against Clement, and killed the +Archbishop of Naples, who had helped to elect him: they broke the cross +that was carried in procession before the anti-pope, and hardly allowed +him time to make his escape on shipboard to Provence. Urban declared +that Joan was now dethroned, and released her subjects from their oath +of fidelity to her, bestowing the crown of Sicily and Jerusalem upon +Charles de la Paix, who marched on Naples with 8000 Hungarians. Joan, +who could not believe in such base ingratitude, sent out his wife +Margaret to meet her adopted son, though she might have kept her as a +hostage, and his two children, Ladislaus and Joan, who became later the +second queen of that name. But the victorious army soon arrived at the +gates of Naples, and Charles blockaded the queen in her castle, +forgetting in his ingratitude that she had saved his life and loved him +like a mother. + +Joan during the siege endured all the worst fatigues of war that any +soldier has to bear. She saw her faithful friends fall around her wasted +by hunger or decimated by sickness. When all food was exhausted, dead +and decomposed bodies were thrown into the castle that they might +pollute the air she breathed. Otho with his troops was kept at Aversa; +Louis of Anjou, the brother of the King of France whom she had named as +her successor when she disinherited her nephew, never appeared to help +her, and the Provencal ships from Clement VII were not due to arrive +until all hope must be over. Joan asked for a truce of five days, +promising that, if Otho had not come to relieve her in that time, she +would surrender the fortress. + +On the fifth day Otho's army appeared on the side of Piedigrotta. The +fight was sharp on both sides, and Joan from the top of a tower could +follow with her eyes the cloud of dust raised by her husband's horse in +the thickest of the battle. The victory was long uncertain: at length +the prince made so bold an onset upon the royal standard, in his +eagerness to meet his enemy hand to hand, that he plunged into the very +middle of the army, and found himself pressed on every side. Covered +with blood and sweat, his sword broken in his hand, he was forced to +surrender. An hour later Charles was writing to his uncle, the King of +Hungary, that Joan had fallen into his power, and he only awaited His +Majesty's orders to decide her fate. + +It was a fine May morning: the queen was under guard in the castle of +Aversa: Otho had obtained his liberty on condition of his quitting +Naples, and Louis of Anjou had at last got together an army of 50,000 +men and was marching in hot haste to the conquest of the kingdom. None +of this news had reached the ears of Joan, who for some days had lived +in complete isolation. The spring lavished all her glory on these +enchanted plains, which have earned the name of the blessed and happy +country, campagna felite. The orange trees were covered with sweet white +blossoms, the cherries laden with ruby fruit, the olives with young +emerald leaves, the pomegranate feathery with red bells; the wild +mulberry, the evergreen laurel, all the strong budding vegetation, +needing no help from man to flourish in this spot privileged by Nature, +made one great garden, here and there interrupted by little hidden +runlets. It was a forgotten Eden in this corner of the world. Joan at +her window was breathing in the perfumes of spring, and her eyes misty +with tears rested on a bed of flowery verdure; a light breeze, keen and +balmy, blew upon her burning brow and offered a grateful coolness to her +damp and fevered cheeks. Distant melodious voices, refrains of +well-known songs, were all that disturbed the silence of the poor little +room, the solitary nest where a life was passing away in tears and +repentance, a life the most brilliant and eventful of a century of +splendour and unrest. + +The queen was slowly reviewing in her mind all her life since she ceased +to be a child--fifty years of disillusionment and suffering. She thought +first of her happy, peaceful childhood, her grandfather's blind +affection, the pure joys of her days of innocence, the exciting games +with her little sister and tall cousins. Then she shuddered at the +earliest thought of marriage, the constraint, the loss of liberty, the +bitter regrets; she remembered with horror the deceitful words murmured +in her ear, designed to sow the seeds of corruption and vice that were +to poison her whole life. Then came the burning memories of her first +love, the treachery and desertion of Robert of Cabane, the moments of +madness passed like a dream in the arms of Bertrand of Artois--the whole +drama up to its tragic denouement showed as in letters of fire on the +dark background of her sombre thoughts. Then arose cries of anguish in +her soul, even as on that terrible fatal night she heard the voice of +Andre asking mercy from his murderers. A long deadly silence followed +his awful struggle, and the queen saw before her eyes the carts of +infamy and the torture of her accomplices. All the rest of this vision +was persecution, flight, exile, remorse, punishments from God and curses +from the world. Around her was a frightful solitude: husbands, lovers, +kindred, friends, all were dead; all she had loved or hated in the world +were now no more; her joy, pain, desire, and hope had vanished for ever. +The poor queen, unable to free herself from these visions of woe, +violently tore herself away from the awful reverie, and kneeling at a +prie-dieu, prayed with fervour. She was still beautiful, in spite of her +extreme pallor; the noble lines of her face kept their pure oval; the +fire of repentance in her great black eyes lit them up with superhuman +brilliance, and the hope of pardon played in a heavenly smile upon her +lips. + +Suddenly the door of the room where Joan was so earnestly praying opened +with a dull sound: two Hungarian barons in armour entered and signed to +the queen to follow them. Joan arose silently and obeyed; but a cry of +pain went up from her heart when she recognised the place where both +Andre and Charles of Durazzo had died a violent death. But she collected +her forces, and asked calmly why she was brought hither. For all answer, +one of the men showed her a cord of silk and gold.... + +"May the will of a just God be done!" cried Joan, and fell upon her +knees. Some minutes later she had ceased to suffer. + +This was the third corpse that was thrown over the balcony at Aversa. + + + + +*THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK [An Essay]* + + + (This is the essay entitled The Man in the Iron Mask, not the + novel + "The Man in the Iron Mask" [The Novel] Dumas + #28[nmaskxxx.xxx]2759]) + +For nearly one hundred years this curious problem has exercised the +imagination of writers of fiction--and of drama, and the patience of the +learned in history. No subject is more obscure and elusive, and none +more attractive to the general mind. It is a legend to the meaning of +which none can find the key and yet in which everyone believes. +Involuntarily we feel pity at the thought of that long captivity +surrounded by so many extraordinary precautions, and when we dwell on +the mystery which enveloped the captive, that pity is not only deepened +but a kind of terror takes possession of us. It is very likely that if +the name of the hero of this gloomy tale had been known at the time, he +would now be forgotten. To give him a name would be to relegate him at +once to the ranks of those commonplace offenders who quickly exhaust our +interest and our tears. But this being, cut off from the world without +leaving any discoverable trace, and whose disappearance apparently +caused no void--this captive, distinguished among captives by the +unexampled nature of his punishment, a prison within a prison, as if the +walls of a mere cell were not narrow enough, has come to typify for us +the sum of all the human misery and suffering ever inflicted by unjust +tyranny. + +Who was the Man in the Mask? Was he rapt away into this silent seclusion +from the luxury of a court, from the intrigues of diplomacy, from the +scaffold of a traitor, from the clash of battle? What did he leave +behind? Love, glory, or a throne? What did he regret when hope had fled? +Did he pour forth imprecations and curses on his tortures and blaspheme +against high Heaven, or did he with a sigh possess his soul in patience? + +The blows of fortune are differently received according to the different +characters of those on whom they fall; and each one of us who in +imagination threads the subterranean passages leading to the cells of +Pignerol and Exilles, and incarcerates himself in the Iles +Sainte-Marguerite and in the Bastille, the successive scenes of that +long-protracted agony will give the prisoner a form shaped by his own +fancy and a grief proportioned to his own power of suffering. How we +long to pierce the thoughts and feel the heart-beats and watch the +trickling tears behind that machine-like exterior, that impassible mask! +Our imagination is powerfully excited by the dumbness of that fate borne +by one whose words never reached the outward air, whose thoughts could +never be read on the hidden features; by the isolation of forty years +secured by two-fold barriers of stone and iron, and she clothes the +object of her contemplation in majestic splendour, connects the mystery +which enveloped his existence with mighty interests, and persists in +regarding the prisoner as sacrificed for the preservation of some +dynastic secret involving the peace of the world and the stability of a +throne. + +And when we calmly reflect on the whole case, do we feel that our first +impulsively adopted opinion was wrong? Do we regard our belief as a +poetical illusion? I do not think so; on the contrary, it seems to me +that our good sense approves our fancy's flight. For what can be more +natural than the conviction that the secret of the name, age, and +features of the captive, which was so perseveringly kept through long +years at the cost of so much care, was of vital importance to the +Government? No ordinary human passion, such as anger, hate, or +vengeance, has so dogged and enduring a character; we feel that the +measures taken were not the expression of a love of cruelty, for even +supposing that Louis XIV were the most cruel of princes, would he not +have chosen one of the thousand methods of torture ready to his hand +before inventing a new and strange one? Moreover, why did he voluntarily +burden himself with the obligation of surrounding a prisoner with such +numberless precautions and such sleepless vigilance? Must he not have +feared that in spite of it all the walls behind which he concealed the +dread mystery would one day let in the light? Was it not through his +entire reign a source of unceasing anxiety? And yet he respected the +life of the captive whom it was so difficult to hide, and the discovery +of whose identity would have been so dangerous. It would have been so +easy to bury the secret in an obscure grave, and yet the order was never +given. Was this an expression of hate, anger, or any other passion? +Certainly not; the conclusion we must come to in regard to the conduct +of the king is that all the measures he took against the prisoner were +dictated by purely political motives; that his conscience, while +allowing him to do everything necessary to guard the secret, did not +permit him to take the further step of putting an end to the days of an +unfortunate man, who in all probability was guilty of no crime. + +Courtiers are seldom obsequious to the enemies of their master, so that +we may regard the respect and consideration shown to the Man in the Mask +by the governor Saint-Mars, and the minister Louvois, as a testimony, +not only to his high rank, but also to his innocence. + +For my part, I make no pretensions to the erudition of the bookworm, and +I cannot read the history of the Man in the Iron Mask without feeling my +blood boil at the abominable abuse of power--the heinous crime of which +he was the victim. + +A few years ago, M. Fournier and I, thinking the subject suitable for +representation on the stage, undertook to read, before dramatising it, +all the different versions of the affair which had been published up to +that time. Since our piece was successfully performed at the Odeon two +other versions have appeared: one was in the form of a letter addressed +to the Historical Institute by M. Billiard, who upheld the conclusions +arrived at by Soulavie, on whose narrative our play was founded; the +other was a work by the bibliophile Jacob, who followed a new system of +inquiry, and whose book displayed the results of deep research and +extensive reading. It did not, however, cause me to change my opinion. +Even had it been published before I had written my drama, I should still +have adhered to the idea as to the most probable solution of the problem +which I had arrived at in 1831, not only because it was incontestably +the most dramatic, but also because it is supported by those moral +presumptions which have such weight with us when considering a dark and +doubtful question like the one before us. It will, be objected, perhaps, +that dramatic writers, in their love of the marvellous and the pathetic, +neglect logic and strain after effect, their aim being to obtain the +applause of the gallery rather than the approbation of the learned. But +to this it may be replied that the learned on their part sacrifice a +great deal to their love of dates, more or less exact; to their desire +to elucidate some point which had hitherto been considered obscure, and +which their explanations do not always clear up; to the temptation to +display their proficiency in the ingenious art of manipulating facts and +figures culled from a dozen musty volumes into one consistent whole. + +Our interest in this strange case of imprisonment arises, not alone from +its completeness and duration, but also from our uncertainty as to the +motives from which it was inflicted. Where erudition alone cannot +suffice; where bookworm after bookworm, disdaining the conjectures of +his predecessors, comes forward with a new theory founded on some +forgotten document he has hunted out, only to find himself in his turn +pushed into oblivion by some follower in his track, we must turn for +guidance to some other light than that of scholarship; especially if, on +strict investigation, we find that not one learned solution rests on a +sound basis of fact. + +In the question before us, which, as we said before, is a double one, +asking not only who was the Man in the Iron Mask, but why he was +relentlessly subjected to this torture till the moment of his death, +what we need in order to restrain our fancy is mathematical +demonstration, and not philosophical induction. + +While I do not go so far as to assert positively that Abbe Soulavie has +once for all lifted the veil which hid the truth, I am yet persuaded +that no other system of research is superior to his, and that no other +suggested solution has so many presumptions in its favour. I have not +reached this firm conviction on account of the great and prolonged +success of our drama, but because of the ease with which all the +opinions adverse to those of the abbe may be annihilated by pitting them +one against the other. + +The qualities that make for success being quite different in a novel and +in a drama, I could easily have founded a romance on the fictitious +loves of Buckingham and the queen, or on a supposed secret marriage +between her and Cardinal Mazarin, calling to my aid a work by +Saint-Mihiel which the bibliophile declares he has never read, although +it is assuredly neither rare nor difficult of access. I might also have +merely expanded my drama, restoring to the personages therein their true +names and relative positions, both of which the exigencies of the stage +had sometimes obliged me to alter, and while allowing them to fill the +same parts, making them act more in accordance with historical fact. No +fable however far-fetched, no grouping of characters however improbable, +can, however, destroy the interest which the innumerable writings about +the Iron Mask excite, although no two agree in details, and although +each author and each witness declares himself in possession of complete +knowledge. No work, however mediocre, however worthless even, which has +appeared on this subject has ever failed of success, not even, for +example, the strange jumble of Chevalier de Mouhy, a kind of literary +braggart, who was in the pay of Voltaire, and whose work was published +anonymously in 1746 by Pierre de Hondt of The Hague. It is divided into +six short parts, and bears the title, 'Le Masque de Fer, ou les +Aventures admirables du Prre et du Fils'. An absurd romance by Regnault +Warin, and one at least equally absurd by Madame Guenard, met with a +like favourable reception. In writing for the theatre, an author must +choose one view of a dramatic situation to the exclusion of all others, +and in following out this central idea is obliged by the inexorable laws +of logic to push aside everything that interferes with its development. +A book, on the contrary, is written to be discussed; it brings under the +notice of the reader all the evidence produced at a trial which has as +yet not reached a definite conclusion, and which in the case before us +will never reach it, unless, which is most improbable, some lucky chance +should lead to some new discovery. + +The first mention of the prisoner is to be found in the 'Memoires +secrets pour servir a l'Histoire de Perse' in one 12mo volume, by an +anonymous author, published by the 'Compagnie des Libraires Associes +d'Amsterdam' in 1745. + +"Not having any other purpose," says the author (page 20, 2nd edit.), +"than to relate facts which are not known, or about which no one has +written, or about which it is impossible to be silent, we refer at once +to a fact which has hitherto almost escaped notice concerning Prince +Giafer (Louis de Bourbon, Comte de Vermandois, son of Louis XIV and +Mademoiselle de la Valliere), who was visited by Ali-Momajou (the Duc +d'Orleans, the regent) in the fortress of Ispahan (the Bastille), in +which he had been imprisoned for several years. This visit had probably +no other motive than to make sure that this prince was really alive, he +having been reputed dead of the plague for over thirty years, and his +obsequies having been celebrated in presence of an entire army. + +"Cha-Abas (Louis XIV) had a legitimate son, Sephi-Mirza (Louis, Dauphin +of France), and a natural son, Giafer. These two princes, as dissimilar +in character as in birth, were always rivals and always at enmity with +each other. One day Giafer so far forgot himself as to strike +Sephi-Mirza. Cha-Abas having heard of the insult offered to the heir to +the throne, assembled his most trusted councillors, and laid the conduct +of the culprit before them--conduct which, according to the law of the +country, was punishable with death, an opinion in which they all agreed. +One of the councillors, however, sympathising more than the others with +the distress of Cha-Abas, suggested that Giafer should be sent to the +army, which was then on the frontiers of Feidrun (Flanders), and that +his death from plague should be given out a few days after his arrival. +Then, while the whole army was celebrating his obsequies, he should be +carried off by night, in the greatest secrecy, to the stronghold on the +isle of Ormus (Sainte-Marguerite), and there imprisoned for life. + +"This course was adopted, and carried out by faithful and discreet +agents. The prince, whose premature death was mourned by the army, being +carried by unfrequented roads to the isle of Ormus, was placed in the +custody of the commandant of the island, who, had received orders +beforehand not to allow any person whatever to see the prisoner. A +single servant who was in possession of the secret was killed by the +escort on the journey, and his face so disfigured by dagger thrusts that +he could not be recognised. + +"The commandant treated his prisoner with the most profound respect; he +waited on him at meals himself, taking the dishes from the cooks at the +door of the apartment, none of whom ever looked on the face of Giafer. +One day it occurred to the prince to scratch, his name on the back of a +plate with his knife. One of the servants into whose hands the plate +fell ran with it at once to the commandant, hoping he would be pleased +and reward the bearer; but the unfortunate man was greatly mistaken, for +he was at once made away with, that his knowledge of such an important +secret might be buried with himself. + +"Giafer remained several years in the castle Ormus, and was then +transported to the fortress of Ispahan; the commandant of Ormus having +received the governorship of Ispahan as a reward for faithful service. + +"At Ispahan, as at Ormus, whenever it was necessary on account of +illness or any other cause to allow anyone to approach the prince, he +was always masked; and several trustworthy persons have asserted that +they had seen the masked prisoner often, and had noticed that he used +the familiar 'tu' when addressing the governor, while the latter showed +his charge the greatest respect. As Giafer survived Cha-Abas and +Sephi-Mirza by many years, it may be asked why he was never set at +liberty; but it must be remembered it would have been impossible to +restore a prince to his rank and dignities whose tomb actually existed, +and of whose burial there were not only living witnesses but documentary +proofs, the authenticity of which it would have been useless to deny, so +firm was the belief, which has lasted down to the present day, that +Giafer died of the plague in camp when with the army on the frontiers of +Flanders. Ali-Homajou died shortly after the visit he paid to Giafer." + +This version of the story, which is the original source of all the +controversy on the subject, was at first generally received as true. On +a critical examination it fitted in very well with certain events which +took place in the reign of Louis XIV. + +The Comte de Vermandois had in fact left the court for the camp very +soon after his reappearance there, for he had been banished by the king +from his presence some time before for having, in company with several +young nobles, indulged in the most reprehensible excesses. + +"The king," says Mademoiselle de Montpensier ('Memoires de Mademoiselle +de Montpensier', vol. xliii. p. 474., of 'Memoires Relatifs d'Histoire +de France', Second Series, published by Petitot), "had not been +satisfied with his conduct and refused to see him. The young prince had +caused his mother much sorrow, but had been so well lectured that it was +believed that he had at last turned over a new leaf." He only remained +four days at court, reached the camp before Courtrai early in November +1683, was taken ill on the evening of the 12th, and died on the 19th of +the same month of a malignant fever. Mademoiselle de Montpensier says +that the Comte de Vermandois "fell ill from drink." + +There are, of course, objections of all kinds to this theory. + +For if, during the four days the comte was at court, he had struck the +dauphin, everyone would have heard of the monstrous crime, and yet it is +nowhere spoken of, except in the 'Memoires de Perse'. What renders the +story of the blow still more improbable is the difference in age between +the two princes. The dauphin, who already had a son, the Duc de +Bourgogne, more than a year old, was born the 1st November 1661, and was +therefore six years older than the Comte de Vermandois. But the most +complete answer to the tale is to be found in a letter written by +Barbezieux to Saint-Mars, dated the 13th August 1691:-- + +"When you have any information to send me relative to the prisoner who +has been in your charge for twenty years, I most earnestly enjoin on you +to take the same precautions as when you write to M. de Louvois." + +The Comte de Vermandois, the official registration of whose death bears +the date 1685, cannot have been twenty years a prisoner in 1691. + +Six years after the Man in the Mask had been thus delivered over to the +curiosity of the public, the 'Siecle de Louis XIV' (2 vols. octavo, +Berlin, 1751) was published by Voltaire under the pseudonym of M. de +Francheville. Everyone turned to this work, which had been long +expected, for details relating to the mysterious prisoner about whom +everyone was talking. + +Voltaire ventured at length to speak more openly of the prisoner than +anyone had hitherto done, and to treat as a matter of history "an event +long ignored by all historians." (vol. ii. p. 11, 1st edition, chap. +xxv.). He assigned an approximate date to the beginning of this +captivity, "some months after the death of Cardinal Mazarin" (1661); he +gave a description of the prisoner, who according to him was "young and +dark-complexioned; his figure was above the middle height and well +proportioned; his features were exceedingly handsome, and his bearing +was noble. When he spoke his voice inspired interest; he never +complained of his lot, and gave no hint as to his rank." Nor was the +mask forgotten: "The part which covered the chin was furnished with +steel springs, which allowed the prisoner to eat without uncovering his +face." And, lastly, he fixed the date of the death of the nameless +captive; who "was buried," he says, "in 1704., by night, in the parish +church of Saint-Paul." + +Voltaire's narrative coincided with the account given in the 'Memoires +de Peyse', save for the omission of the incident which, according to the +'Memoires', led in the first instance to the imprisonment of Giafer. +"The prisoner," says Voltaire, "was sent to the Iles Sainte-Marguerite, +and afterwards to the Bastille, in charge of a trusty official; he wore +his mask on the journey, and his escort had orders to shoot him if he +took it off. The Marquis de Louvois visited him while he was on the +islands, and when speaking to him stood all the time in a respectful +attitude. The prisoner was removed to the Bastille in 1690, where he was +lodged as comfortably as could be managed in that building; he was +supplied with everything he asked for, especially with the finest linen +and the costliest lace, in both of which his taste was perfect; he had a +guitar to play on, his table was excellent, and the governor rarely sat +in his presence." + +Voltaire added a few further details which had been given him by M. de +Bernaville, the successor of M. de Saint-Mars, and by an old physician +of the Bastille who had attended the prisoner whenever his health +required a doctor, but who had never seen his face, although he had +"often seen his tongue and his body." He also asserted that M. de +Chamillart was the last minister who was in the secret, and that when +his son-in-law, Marshal de la Feuillade, besought him on his knees, de +Chamillart being on his deathbed, to tell him the name of the Man in the +Iron Mask, the minister replied that he was under a solemn oath never to +reveal the secret, it being an affair of state. To all these details, +which the marshal acknowledges to be correct, Voltaire adds a remarkable +note: "What increases our wonder is, that when the unknown captive was +sent to the Iles Sainte-Marguerite no personage of note disappeared from +the European stage." + +The story of the Comte de Vermandois and the blow was treated as an +absurd and romantic invention, which does not even attempt to keep +within the bounds of the possible, by Baron C. (according to P. +Marchand, Baron Crunyngen) in a letter inserted in the 'Bibliotheque +raisonnee des Ouvrages des Savants de d'Europe', June 1745. The +discussion was revived somewhat later, however, and a few Dutch scholars +were supposed to be responsible for a new theory founded on history; the +foundations proving somewhat shaky, however,--a quality which it shares, +we must say, with all the other theories which have ever been advanced. + +According to this new theory, the masked prisoner was a young foreign +nobleman, groom of the chambers to Anne of Austria, and the real father +of Louis XIV. This anecdote appears first in a duodecimo volume printed +by Pierre Marteau at Cologne in 1692, and which bears the title, 'The +Loves of Anne of Austria, Consort of Louis XIII, with M. le C. D. R., +the Real Father of Louis XIV, King of France; being a Minute Account of +the Measures taken to give an Heir to the Throne of France, the +Influences at Work to bring this to pass, and the Denoument of the +Comedy'. + +This libel ran through five editions, bearing date successively, 1692, +1693, 1696, 1722, and 1738. In the title of the edition of 1696 the +words "Cardinal de Richelieu" are inserted in place of the initials "C. +D. R.," but that this is only a printer's error everyone who reads the +work will perceive. Some have thought the three letters stood for Comte +de Riviere, others for Comte de Rochefort, whose 'Memoires' compiled by +Sandras de Courtilz supply these initials. The author of the book was an +Orange writer in the pay of William III, and its object was, he says, +"to unveil the great mystery of iniquity which hid the true origin of +Louis XIV." He goes on to remark that "the knowledge of this fraud, +although comparatively rare outside France, was widely spread within her +borders. The well-known coldness of Louis XIII; the extraordinary birth +of Louis-Dieudonne, so called because he was born in the twenty-third +year of a childless marriage, and several other remarkable circumstances +connected with the birth, all point clearly to a father other than the +prince, who with great effrontery is passed off by his adherents as +such. The famous barricades of Paris, and the organised revolt led by +distinguished men against Louis XIV on his accession to the throne, +proclaimed aloud the king's illegitimacy, so that it rang through the +country; and as the accusation had reason on its side, hardly anyone +doubted its truth." + +We give below a short abstract of the narrative, the plot of which is +rather skilfully constructed:-- + +"Cardinal Richelieu, looking with satisfied pride at the love of Gaston, +Duc d'Orleans, brother of the king, for his niece Parisiatis (Madame de +Combalet), formed the plan of uniting the young couple in marriage. +Gaston taking the suggestion as an insult, struck the cardinal. Pere +Joseph then tried to gain the cardinal's consent and that of his niece +to an attempt to deprive Gaston of the throne, which the childless +marriage of Louis XIII seemed to assure him. A young man, the C. D. R. +of the book, was introduced into Anne of Austria's room, who though a +wife in name had long been a widow in reality. She defended herself but +feebly, and on seeing the cardinal next day said to him, 'Well, you have +had your wicked will; but take good care, sir cardinal, that I may find +above the mercy and goodness which you have tried by many pious +sophistries to convince me is awaiting me. Watch over my soul, I charge +you, for I have yielded!' The queen having given herself up to love for +some time, the joyful news that she would soon become a mother began to +spread over the kingdom. In this manner was born Louis XIV, the putative +son of Louis XIII. If this instalment of the tale be favourably +received, says the pamphleteer, the sequel will soon follow, in which +the sad fate of C. D. R. will be related, who was made to pay dearly for +his short-lived pleasure." + +Although the first part was a great success, the promised sequel never +appeared. It must be admitted that such a story, though it never +convinced a single person of the illegitimacy of Louis XIV, was an +excellent prologue to the tale of the unfortunate lot of the Man in the +Iron Mask, and increased the interest and curiosity with which that +singular historical mystery was regarded. But the views of the Dutch +scholars thus set forth met with little credence, and were soon +forgotten in a new solution. + +The third historian to write about the prisoner of the Iles +Sainte-Marguerite was Lagrange-Chancel. He was just twenty-nine years of +age when, excited by Freron's hatred of Voltaire, he addressed a letter +from his country place, Antoniat, in Perigord, to the 'Annee Litteraire' +(vol. iii. p. 188), demolishing the theory advanced in the 'Siecle de +Louis XIV', and giving facts which he had collected whilst himself +imprisoned in the same place as the unknown prisoner twenty years later. + +"My detention in the Iles-Saint-Marguerite," says Lagrange-Chancel," +brought many things to my knowledge which a more painstaking historian +than M. de Voltaire would have taken the trouble to find out; for at the +time when I was taken to the islands the imprisonment of the Man in the +Iron Mask was no longer regarded as a state secret. This extraordinary +event, which M. de Voltaire places in 1662, a few months after the death +of Cardinal Mazarin, did not take place till 1669, eight years after the +death of His Eminence. M. de La Motte-Guerin, commandant of the islands +in my time, assured me that the prisoner was the Duc de Beaufort, who +was reported killed at the siege of Candia, but whose body had never +been recovered, as all the narratives of that event agree in stating. He +also told me that M. de Saint-Mars, who succeeded Pignerol as governor +of the islands, showed great consideration for the prisoner, that he +waited on him at table, that the service was of silver, and that the +clothes supplied to the prisoner were as costly as he desired; that when +he was ill and in need of a physician or surgeon, he was obliged under +pain of death to wear his mask in their presence, but that when he was +alone he was permitted to pull out the hairs of his beard with steel +tweezers, which were kept bright and polished. I saw a pair of these +which had been actually used for this purpose in the possession of M. de +Formanoir, nephew of Saint-Mars, and lieutenant of a Free Company raised +for the purpose of guarding the prisoners. Several persons told me that +when Saint-Mars, who had been placed over the Bastille, conducted his +charge thither, the latter was heard to say behind his iron mask, 'Has +the king designs on my life?' To which Saint-Mars replied, 'No, my +prince; your life is safe: you must only let yourself be guided.' + +"I also learned from a man called Dubuisson, cashier to the well-known +Samuel Bernard, who, having been imprisoned for some years in the +Bastile, was removed to the Iles Sainte-Marguerite, where he was +confined along with some others in a room exactly over the one occupied +by the unknown prisoner. He told me that they were able to communicate +with him by means of the flue of the chimney, but on asking him why he +persisted in not revealing his name and the cause of his imprisonment, +he replied that such an avowal would be fatal not only to him but to +those to whom he made it. + +"Whether it were so or not, to-day the name and rank of this political +victim are secrets the preservation of which is no longer necessary to +the State; and I have thought that to tell the public what I know would +cut short the long chain of circumstances which everyone was forging +according to his fancy, instigated thereto by an author whose gift of +relating the most impossible events in such a manner as to make them +seem true has won for all his writings such success--even for his Vie de +Charles XII" + +This theory, according to Jacob, is more probable than any of the +others. + +"Beginning with the year 1664.," he says, "the Duc de Beaufort had by +his insubordination and levity endangered the success of several +maritime expeditions. In October 1666 Louis XIV remonstrated with him +with much tact, begging him to try to make himself more and more capable +in the service of his king by cultivating the talents with which he was +endowed, and ridding himself of the faults which spoilt his conduct. 'I +do not doubt,' he concludes, 'that you will be all the more grateful to +me for this mark of my benevolence towards you, when you reflect how few +kings have ever shown their goodwill in a similar manner.'" ( 'Oeuvres +de Louis XIV', vol. v. p. 388). Several calamities in the royal navy are +known to have been brought about by the Duc de Beaufort. M. Eugene Sue, +in his 'Histoire de la Marine', which is full of new and curious +information, has drawn a very good picture of the position of the "roi +des halles," the "king of the markets," in regard to Colbert and Louis +XIV. Colbert wished to direct all the manoeuvres of the fleet from his +study, while it was commanded by the naval grandmaster in the capricious +manner which might be expected from his factious character and love of +bluster (Eugene Sue, vol. i., 'Pieces Justificatives'). In 1699 Louis +XIV sent the Duc de Beaufort to the relief of Candia, which the Turks +were besieging. Seven hours after his arrival Beaufort was killed in a +sortie. The Duc de Navailles, who shared with him the command of the +French squadron, simply reported his death as follows: "He met a body of +Turks who were pressing our troops hard: placing himself at the head of +the latter, he fought valiantly, but at length his soldiers abandoned +him, and we have not been able to learn his fate" ('Memoires du Duc de +Navailles', book iv. P. 243) + +The report of his death spread rapidly through France and Italy; +magnificent funeral services were held in Paris, Rome, and Venice, and +funeral orations delivered. Nevertheless, many believed that he would +one day reappear, as his body had never been recovered. + +Guy Patin mentions this belief, which he did not share, in two of his +letters:-- + +"Several wagers have been laid that M. de Beaufort is not dead! 'O +utinam'!" (Guy Patin, September 26, 1669). + +"It is said that M. de Vivonne has been granted by commission the post +of vice-admiral of France for twenty years; but there are many who +believe that the Duc de Beaufort is not dead, but imprisoned in some +Turkish island. Believe this who may, I don't; he is really dead, and +the last thing I should desire would be to be as dead as he",(Ibid., +January 14, 1670). + +The following are the objections to this theory: + +"In several narratives written by eye-witnesses of the siege of Candia," +says Jacob, "it is related that the Turks, according to their custom, +despoiled the body and cut off the head of the Duc de Beaufort on the +field of battle, and that the latter was afterwards exhibited at +Constantinople; and this may account for some of the details given by +Sandras de Courtilz in his 'Memoires du Marquis de Montbrun' and his +'Memoires d'Artagnan', for one can easily imagine that the naked, +headless body might escape recognition. M. Eugene Sue, in his 'Histoire +de la Marine' (vol. ii, chap. 6), had adopted this view, which coincides +with the accounts left by Philibert de Jarry and the Marquis de Ville, +the MSS. of whose letters and 'Memoires' are to be found in the +Bibliotheque du Roi. + +"In the first volume of the 'Histoire de la Detention des Philosophes et +des Gens de Lettres a la Bastille, etc.', we find the following +passage:-- + +"Without dwelling on the difficulty and danger of an abduction, which an +Ottoman scimitar might any day during this memorable siege render +unnecessary, we shall restrict ourselves to declaring positively that +the correspondence of Saint-Mars from 1669 to 1680 gives us no ground +for supposing that the governor of Pignerol had any great prisoner of +state in his charge during that period of time, except Fouquet and +Lauzun.'" + +While we profess no blind faith in the conclusions arrived at by the +learned critic, we would yet add to the considerations on which he +relies another, viz. that it is most improbable that Louis XIV should +ever have considered it necessary to take such rigorous measures against +the Duc de Beaufort. Truculent and self-confident as he was, he never +acted against the royal authority in such a manner as to oblige the king +to strike him down in secret; and it is difficult to believe that Louis +XIV, peaceably seated on his throne, with all the enemies of his +minority under his feet, should have revenged himself on the duke as an +old Frondeur. + +The critic calls our attention to another fact also adverse to the +theory under consideration. The Man in the Iron Mask loved fine linen +and rich lace, he was reserved in character and possessed of extreme +refinement, and none of this suits the portraits of the 'roi des halles' +which contemporary historians have drawn. + +Regarding the anagram of the name Marchiali (the name under which the +death of the prisoner was registered), 'hic amiral', as a proof, we +cannot think that the gaolers of Pignerol amused themselves in +propounding conundrums to exercise the keen intellect of their +contemporaries; and moreover the same anagram would apply equally well +to the Count of Vermandois, who was made admiral when only twenty-two +months old. Abbe Papon, in his roamings through Provence, paid a visit +to the prison in which the Iron Mask was confined, and thus speaks:-- + +"It was to the Iles Sainte-Marguerite that the famous prisoner with the +iron mask whose name has never been discovered, was transported at the +end of the last century; very few of those attached to his service were +allowed to speak to him. One day, as M. de Saint-Mars was conversing +with him, standing outside his door, in a kind of corridor, so as to be +able to see from a distance everyone who approached, the son of one of +the governor's friends, hearing the voices, came up; Saint-Mars quickly +closed the door of the room, and, rushing to meet the young man, asked +him with an air of great anxiety if he had overheard anything that was +said. Having convinced himself that he had heard nothing, the governor +sent the young man away the same day, and wrote to the father that the +adventure was like to have cost the son dear, and that he had sent him +back to his home to prevent any further imprudence. + +"I was curious enough to visit the room in which the unfortunate man was +imprisoned, on the 2nd of February 1778. It is lighted by one window to +the north, overlooking the sea, about fifteen feet above the terrace +where the sentries paced to and fro. This window was pierced through a +very thick wall and the embrasure barricaded by three iron bars, thus +separating the prisoner from the sentries by a distance of over two +fathoms. I found an officer of the Free Company in the fortress who was +nigh on fourscore years old; he told me that his father, who had +belonged to the same Company, had often related to him how a friar had +seen something white floating on the water under the prisoner's window. +On being fished out and carried to M. de Saint-Mars, it proved to be a +shirt of very fine material, loosely folded together, and covered with +writing from end to end. M. de Saint-Mars spread it out and read a few +words, then turning to the friar who had brought it he asked him in an +embarrassed manner if he had been led by curiosity to read any of the, +writing. The friar protested repeatedly that he had not read a line, but +nevertheless he was found dead in bed two days later. This incident was +told so often to my informant by his father and by the chaplain of the +fort of that time that he regarded it as incontestably true. The +following fact also appears to me to be equally well established by the +testimony of many witnesses. I collected all the evidence I could on the +spot, and also in the Lerins monastery, where the tradition is +preserved. + +"A female attendant being wanted for the prisoner, a woman of the +village of Mongin offered herself for the place, being under the +impression that she would thus be able to make her children's fortune; +but on being told that she would not only never be allowed to see her +children again, but would be cut off from the rest of the world as well, +she refused to be shut up with a prisoner whom it cost so much to serve. +I may mention here that at the two outer angles of the wall of the fort +which faced the sea two sentries were placed, with orders to fire on any +boat which approached within a certain distance. + +"The prisoner's personal attendant died in the Iles Sainte-Marguerite. +The brother of the officer whom I mentioned above was partly in the +confidence of M. de Saint-Mars, and he often told how he was summoned to +the prison once at midnight and ordered to remove a corpse, and that he +carried it on his shoulders to the burial-place, feeling certain it was +the prisoner who was dead; but it was only his servant, and it was then +that an effort was made to supply his place by a female attendant." + +Abbe Papon gives some curious details, hitherto unknown to the public, +but as he mentions no names his narrative cannot be considered as +evidence. Voltaire never replied to Lagrange-Chancel, who died the same +year in which his letter was published. Freron desiring to revenge +himself for the scathing portrait which Voltaire had drawn of him in the +'Ecossaise', called to his assistance a more redoubtable adversary than +Lagrange-Chancel. Sainte-Foix had brought to the front a brand new +theory, founded on a passage by Hume in an article in the 'Annee +Litteraire (1768, vol. iv.), in which he maintained that the Man in the +Iron Mask was the Duke of Monmouth, a natural son of Charles II, who was +found guilty of high treason and beheaded in London on the 15th July +1685. + +This is what the English historian says: + +"It was commonly reported in London that the Duke of Monmouth's life had +been saved, one of his adherents who bore a striking resemblance to the +duke having consented to die in his stead, while the real culprit was +secretly carried off to France, there to undergo a lifelong +imprisonment." + +The great affection which the English felt for the Duke of Monmouth, and +his own conviction that the people only needed a leader to induce them +to shake off the yoke of James II, led him to undertake an enterprise +which might possibly have succeeded had it been carried out with +prudence. He landed at Lyme, in Dorset, with only one hundred and twenty +men; six thousand soon gathered round his standard; a few towns declared +in his favour; he caused himself to be proclaimed king, affirming that +he was born in wedlock, and that he possessed the proofs of the secret +marriage of Charles II and Lucy Waiters, his mother. He met the +Royalists on the battlefield, and victory seemed to be on his side, when +just at the decisive moment his ammunition ran short. Lord Gray, who +commanded the cavalry, beat a cowardly retreat, the unfortunate Monmouth +was taken prisoner, brought to London, and beheaded. + +The details published in the 'Siecle de Louis XIV' as to the personal +appearance of the masked prisoner might have been taken as a description +of Monmouth, who possessed great physical beauty. Sainte-Foix had +collected every scrap of evidence in favour of his solution of the +mystery, making use even of the following passage from an anonymous +romance called 'The Loves of Charles II and James II, Kings of +England':-- + +"The night of the pretended execution of the Duke of Monmouth, the king, +attended by three men, came to the Tower and summoned the duke to his +presence. A kind of loose cowl was thrown over his head, and he was put +into a carriage, into which the king and his attendants also got, and +was driven away." + +Sainte-Foix also referred to the alleged visit of Saunders, confessor to +James II, paid to the Duchess of Portsmouth after the death of that +monarch, when the duchess took occasion to say that she could never +forgive King James for consenting to Monmouth's execution, in spite of +the oath he had taken on the sacred elements at the deathbed of Charles +II that he would never take his natural brother's life, even in case of +rebellion. To this the priest replied quickly, "The king kept his oath." + +Hume also records this solemn oath, but we cannot say that all the +historians agree on this point. 'The Universal History' by Guthrie and +Gray, and the 'Histoire d'Angleterre' by Rapin, Thoyras and de Barrow, +do not mention it. + +"Further," wrote Sainte-Foix, "an English surgeon called Nelaton, who +frequented the Cafe Procope, much affected by men of letters, often +related that during the time he was senior apprentice to a surgeon who +lived near the Porte Saint-Antoine, he was once taken to the Bastille to +bleed a prisoner. He was conducted to this prisoner's room by the +governor himself, and found the patient suffering from violent headache. +He spoke with an English accent, wore a gold-flowered dressing-gown of +black and orange, and had his face covered by a napkin knotted behind +his head." + +This story does not hold water: it would be difficult to form a mask out +of a napkin; the Bastille had a resident surgeon of its own as well as a +physician and apothecary; no one could gain access to a prisoner without +a written order from a minister, even the Viaticum could only be +introduced by the express permission of the lieutenant of police. + +This theory met at first with no objections, and seemed to be going to +oust all the others, thanks, perhaps, to the combative and restive +character of its promulgator, who bore criticism badly, and whom no one +cared to incense, his sword being even more redoubtable than his pen. + +It was known that when Saint-Mars journeyed with his prisoner to the +Bastille, they had put up on the way at Palteau, in Champagne, a +property belonging to the governor. Freron therefore addressed himself +to a grand-nephew of Saint-Mars, who had inherited this estate, asking +if he could give him any information about this visit. The following +reply appeared in the 'Annee Litteraire (June 1768):-- + +"As it appears from the letter of M. de Sainte-Foix from which you quote +that the Man in the Iron Mask still exercises the fancy of your +journalists, I am willing to tell you all I know about the prisoner. He +was known in the islands of Sainte-Marguerite and at the Bastille as 'La +Tour.' The governor and all the other officials showed him great +respect, and supplied him with everything he asked for that could be +granted to a prisoner. He often took exercise in the yard of the prison, +but never without his mask on. It was not till the 'Siecle' of M. de +Voltaire appeared that I learned that the mask was of iron and furnished +with springs; it may be that the circumstance was overlooked, but he +never wore it except when taking the air, or when he had to appear +before a stranger. + +"M. de Blainvilliers, an infantry officer who was acquainted with M. de +Saint-Mars both at Pignerol and Sainte-Marguerite, has often told me +that the lot of 'La Tour' greatly excited his curiosity, and that he had +once borrowed the clothes and arms of a soldier whose turn it was to be +sentry on the terrace under the prisoner's window at Sainte-Marguerite, +and undertaken the duty himself; that he had seen the prisoner +distinctly, without his mask; that his face was white, that he was tall +and well proportioned, except that his ankles were too thick, and that +his hair was white, although he appeared to be still in the prime of +life. He passed the whole of the night in question pacing to and fro in +his room. Blainvilliers added that he was always dressed in brown, that +he had plenty of fine linen and books, that the governor and the other +officers always stood uncovered in his presence till he gave them leave +to cover and sit down, and that they often bore him company at table. + +"In 1698 M. de Saint-Mars was promoted from the governorship of the Iles +Sainte-Marguerite to that of the Bastille. In moving thither, +accompanied by his prisoner, he made his estate of Palteau a +halting-place. The masked man arrived in a litter which preceded that of +M. de Saint-Mars, and several mounted men rode beside it. The peasants +were assembled to greet their liege lord. M. de Saint-Mars dined with +his prisoner, who sat with his back to the dining-room windows, which +looked out on the court. None of the peasants whom I have questioned +were able to see whether the man kept his mask on while eating, but they +all noticed that M. de Saint-Mars, who sat opposite to his charge, laid +two pistols beside his plate; that only one footman waited at table, who +went into the antechamber to change the plates and dishes, always +carefully closing the dining-room door behind him. When the prisoner +crossed the courtyard his face was covered with a black mask, but the +peasants could see his lips and teeth, and remarked that he was tall, +and had white hair. M. de Saint-Mars slept in a bed placed beside the +prisoner's. M. de Blainvilliers told me also that 'as soon as he was +dead, which happened in 1704, he was buried at Saint-Paul's,' and that +'the coffin was filled with substances which would rapidly consume the +body.' He added, 'I never heard that the masked man spoke with an +English accent.'" + +Sainte-Foix proved the story related by M. de Blainvilliers to be little +worthy of belief, showing by a circumstance mentioned in the letter that +the imprisoned man could not be the Duc de Beaufort; witness the epigram +of Madame de Choisy, "M. de Beaufort longs to bite and can't," whereas +the peasants had seen the prisoner's teeth through his mask. It appeared +as if the theory of Sainte-Foix were going to stand, when a Jesuit +father, named Griffet, who was confessor at the Bastille, devoted +chapter xiii, of his 'Traite des differentes Sortes de Preuves qui +servent a etablir la Verite dans l'Histoire' (12mo, Liege, 1769) to the +consideration of the Iron Mask. He was the first to quote an authentic +document which certifies that the Man in the Iron Mask about whom there +was so much disputing really existed. This was the written journal of M. +du Jonca, King's Lieutenant in the Bastille in 1698, from which Pere +Griffet took the following passage:-- + +"On Thursday, September the 8th, 1698, at three o'clock in the +afternoon, M. de Saint-Mars, the new governor of the Bastille, entered +upon his duties. He arrived from the islands of Sainte-Marguerite, +bringing with him in a litter a prisoner whose name is a secret, and +whom he had had under his charge there, and at Pignerol. This prisoner, +who was always masked, was at first placed in the Bassiniere tower, +where he remained until the evening. At nine o'clock p.m. I took him to +the third room of the Bertaudiere tower, which I had had already +furnished before his arrival with all needful articles, having received +orders to do so from M. de Saint-Mars. While I was showing him the way +to his room, I was accompanied by M. Rosarges, who had also arrived +along with M. de Saint-Mars, and whose office it was to wait on the said +prisoner, whose table is to be supplied by the governor." + +Du Jonca's diary records the death of the prisoner in the following +terms:-- + +"Monday, 19th November 1703. The unknown prisoner, who always wore a +black velvet mask, and whom M. de Saint-Mars brought with him from the +Iles Sainte-Marguerite, and whom he had so long in charge, felt slightly +unwell yesterday on coming back from mass. He died to-day at 10 p.m. +without having a serious illness, indeed it could not have been +slighter. M. Guiraut, our chaplain, confessed him yesterday, but as his +death was quite unexpected he did not receive the last sacraments, +although the chaplain was able to exhort him up to the moment of his +death. He was buried on Tuesday the 20th November at 4 P.M. in the +burial-ground of St. Paul's, our parish church. The funeral expenses +amounted to 40 livres." + +His name and age were withheld from the priests of the parish. The entry +made in the parish register, which Pere Griffet also gives, is in the +following words:-- + +"On the 19th November 1703, Marchiali, aged about forty-five, died in +the Bastille, whose body was buried in the graveyard of Saint-Paul's, +his parish, on the 20th instant, in the presence of M. Rosarges and of +M. Reilh, Surgeon-Major of the Bastille. + +"(Signed) ROSARGES. + +"REILH." + +As soon as he was dead everything belonging to him, without exception, +was burned; such as his linen, clothes, bed and bedding, rugs, chairs, +and even the doors of the room he occupied. His service of plate was +melted down, the walls of his room were scoured and whitewashed, the +very floor was renewed, from fear of his having hidden a note under it, +or left some mark by which he could be recognised. + +Pere Griffet did not agree with the opinions of either Lagrange-Chancel +or Sainte-Foix, but seemed to incline towards the theory set forth in +the 'Memoires de Perse', against which no irrefutable objections had +been advanced. He concluded by saying that before arriving at any +decision as to who the prisoner really was, it would be necessary to +ascertain the exact date of his arrival at Pignerol. + +Sainte-Foix hastened to reply, upholding the soundness of the views he +had advanced. He procured from Arras a copy of an entry in the registers +of the Cathedral Chapter, stating that Louis XIV had written with his +own hand to the said Chapter that they were to admit to burial the body +of the Comte de Vermandois, who had died in the city of Courtrai; that +he desired that the deceased should be interred in the centre of the +choir, in the vault in which lay the remains of Elisabeth, Comtesse de +Vermandois, wife of Philip of Alsace, Comte de Flanders, who had died in +1182. It is not to be supposed that Louis XIV would have chosen a family +vault in which to bury a log of wood. + +Sainte-Foix was, however, not acquainted with the letter of Barbezieux, +dated the 13th August 1691, to which we have already referred, as a +proof that the prisoner was not the Comte de Vermandois; it is equally a +proof that he was not the Duke of Monmouth, as Sainte-Foix maintained; +for sentence was passed on the Duke of Monmouth in 1685, so that it +could not be of him either that Barbezieux wrote in 1691, "The prisoner +whom you have had in charge for twenty years." + +In the very year in which Sainte-Foix began to flatter himself that his +theory was successfully established, Baron Heiss brought a new one +forward, in a letter dated "Phalsburg, 28th June 1770," and addressed to +the 'Journal Enclycopedique'. It was accompanied by a letter translated +from the Italian which appeared in the 'Histoire Abregee de l'Europe' by +Jacques Bernard, published by Claude Jordan, Leyden, 1685-87, in +detached sheets. This letter stated (August 1687, article 'Mantoue') +that the Duke of Mantua being desirous to sell his capital, Casale, to +the King of France, had been dissuaded therefrom by his secretary, and +induced to join the other princes of Italy in their endeavours to thwart +the ambitious schemes of Louis XVI. The Marquis d'Arcy, French +ambassador to the court of Savoy, having been informed of the +secretary's influence, distinguished him by all kinds of civilities, +asked him frequently to table, and at last invited him to join a large +hunting party two or three leagues outside Turin. They set out together, +but at a short distance from the city were surrounded by a dozen +horsemen, who carried off the secretary, 'disguised him, put a mask on +him, and took him to Pignerol.' He was not kept long in this fortress, +as it was 'too near the Italian frontier, and although he was carefully +guarded it was feared that the walls would speak'; so he was transferred +to the Iles Sainte-Marguerite, where he is at present in the custody of +M. de Saint-Mars. + +This theory, of which much was heard later, did not at first excite much +attention. What is certain is that the Duke of Mantua's secretary, by +name Matthioli, was arrested in 1679 through the agency of Abbe +d'Estrade and M. de Catinat, and taken with the utmost secrecy to +Pignerol, where he was imprisoned and placed in charge of M. de +Saint-Mars. He must not, however, be confounded with the Man in the Iron +Mask. + +Catinat says of Matthioli in a letter to Louvois "No one knows the name +of this knave." + +Louvois writes to Saint-Mars: "I admire your patience in waiting for an +order to treat such a rogue as he deserves, when he treats you with +disrespect." + +Saint-Mars replies to the minister: "I have charged Blainvilliers to +show him a cudgel and tell him that with its aid we can make the froward +meek." + +Again Louvois writes: "The clothes of such people must be made to last +three or four years." + +This cannot have been the nameless prisoner who was treated with such +consideration, before whom Louvois stood bare-headed, who was supplied +with fine linen and lace, and so on. + +Altogether, we gather from the correspondence of Saint-Mars that the +unhappy man alluded to above was confined along with a mad Jacobin, and +at last became mad himself, and succumbed to his misery in 1686. + +Voltaire, who was probably the first to supply such inexhaustible food +for controversy, kept silence and took no part in the discussions. But +when all the theories had been presented to the public, he set about +refuting them. He made himself very merry, in the seventh edition of +'Questions sur l'Encyclopedie distibuees en forme de Dictionnaire +(Geneva, 1791), over the complaisance attributed to Louis XIV in acting +as police-sergeant and gaoler for James II, William III, and Anne, with +all of whom he was at war. Persisting still in taking 1661 or 1662 as +the date when the incarceration of the masked prisoner began, he attacks +the opinions advanced by Lagrange-Chancel and Pere Griffet, which they +had drawn from the anonymous 'Memoires secrets pour servir a l'Histoire +de Perse'. "Having thus dissipated all these illusions," he says, "let +us now consider who the masked prisoner was, and how old he was when he +died. It is evident that if he was never allowed to walk in the +courtyard of the Bastille or to see a physician without his mask, it +must have been lest his too striking resemblance to someone should be +remarked; he could show his tongue but not his face. As regards his age, +he himself told the apothecary at the Bastille, a few days before his +death, that he thought he was about sixty; this I have often heard from +a son-in-law to this apothecary, M. Marsoban, surgeon to Marshal +Richelieu, and afterwards to the regent, the Duc d'Orleans. The writer +of this article knows perhaps more on this subject than Pere Griffet. +But he has said his say." + +This article in the 'Questions on the Encyclopaedia' was followed by +some remarks from the pen of the publisher, which are also, however, +attributed by the publishers of Kelh to Voltaire himself. The publisher, +who sometimes calls himself the author, puts aside without refutation +all the theories advanced, including that of Baron Heiss, and says he +has come to the conclusion that the Iron Mask was, without doubt, a +brother and an elder brother of Louis XIV, by a lover of the queen. Anne +of Austria had come to persuade herself that hers alone was the fault +which had deprived Louis XIII [the publisher of this edition overlooked +the obvious typographical error of "XIV" here when he meant, and it only +makes sense, that it was XIII. D.W.] of an heir, but the birth of the +Iron Mask undeceived her. The cardinal, to whom she confided her secret, +cleverly arranged to bring the king and queen, who had long lived apart, +together again. A second son was the result of this reconciliation; and +the first child being removed in secret, Louis XIV remained in ignorance +of the existence of his half-brother till after his majority. It was the +policy of Louis XIV to affect a great respect for the royal house, so he +avoided much embarrassment to himself and a scandal affecting the memory +of Anne of Austria by adopting the wise and just measure of burying +alive the pledge of an adulterous love. He was thus enabled to avoid +committing an act of cruelty, which a sovereign less conscientious and +less magnanimous would have considered a necessity. + +After this declaration Voltaire made no further reference to the Iron +Mask. This last version of the story upset that of Sainte-Foix. Voltaire +having been initiated into the state secret by the Marquis de Richelieu, +we may be permitted to suspect that being naturally indiscreet he +published the truth from behind the shelter of a pseudonym, or at least +gave a version which approached the truth, but later on realising the +dangerous significance of his words, he preserved for the future +complete silence. + +We now approach the question whether the prince who thus became the Iron +Mask was an illegitimate brother or a twin-brother of Louis XIV. The +first was maintained by M. Quentin-Crawfurd; the second by Abbe Soulavie +in his 'Memoires du Marechal Duc de Richelieu' (London, 1790). In 1783 +the Marquis de Luchet, in the 'Journal des Gens du Monde' (vol. iv. No. +23, p. 282, et seq.), awarded to Buckingham the honour of the paternity +in dispute. In support of this, he quoted the testimony of a lady of the +house of Saint-Quentin who had been a mistress of the minister +Barbezieux, and who died at Chartres about the middle of the eighteenth +century. She had declared publicly that Louis XIV had consigned his +elder brother to perpetual imprisonment, and that the mask was +necessitated by the close resemblance of the two brothers to each other. + +The Duke of Buckingham, who came to France in 1625, in order to escort +Henrietta Maria, sister of Louis XIII, to England, where she was to +marry the Prince of Wales, made no secret of his ardent love for the +queen, and it is almost certain that she was not insensible to his +passion. An anonymous pamphlet, 'La Conference du Cardinal Mazarin avec +le Gazetier' (Brussels, 1649), says that she was infatuated about him, +and allowed him to visit her in her room. She even permitted him to take +off and keep one of her gloves, and his vanity leading him to show his +spoil, the king heard of it, and was vastly offended. An anecdote, the +truth of which no one has ever denied, relates that one day Buckingham +spoke to the queen with such passion in the presence of her +lady-in-waiting, the Marquise de Senecey, that the latter exclaimed, "Be +silent, sir, you cannot speak thus to the Queen of France!" According to +this version, the Man in the Iron Mask must have been born at latest in +1637, but the mention of any such date would destroy the possibility of +Buckingham's paternity; for he was assassinated at Portsmouth on +September 2nd, 1628. + +After the taking of the Bastille the masked prisoner became the +fashionable topic of discussion, and one heard of nothing else. On the +13th of August 1789 it was announced in an article in a journal called +'Loisirs d'un Patriote francais', which was afterwards published +anonymously as a pamphlet, that the publisher had seen, among other +documents found in the Bastille, a card bearing the unintelligible +number "64389000," and the following note: "Fouquet, arriving from Les +Iles Sainte-Marguerite in an iron mask." To this there was, it was said, +a double signature, viz. "XXX," superimposed on the name "Kersadion." +The journalist was of opinion that Fouquet had succeeded in making his +escape, but had been retaken and condemned to pass for dead, and to wear +a mask henceforward, as a punishment for his attempted evasion. This +tale made some impression, for it was remembered that in the Supplement +to the 'Siecle de Louis XIV' it was stated that Chamillart had said that +"the Iron Mask was a man who knew all the secrets of M. Fouquet." But +the existence of this card was never proved, and we cannot accept the +story on the unsupported word of an anonymous writer. + +From the time that restrictions on the press were removed, hardly a day +passed without the appearance of some new pamphlet on the Iron Mask. +Louis Dutens, in 'Correspondence interceptee' (12mo, 1789), revived the +theory of Baron Heiss, supporting it by new and curious facts. He proved +that Louis XIV had really ordered one of the Duke of Mantua's ministers +to be carried off and imprisoned in Pignerol. Dutens gave the name of +the victim as Girolamo Magni. He also quoted from a memorandum which by +the wish of the Marquis de Castellane was drawn up by a certain Souchon, +probably the man whom Papon questioned in 1778. This Souchon was the son +of a man who had belonged to the Free Company maintained in the islands +in the time of Saint-Mars, and was seventy-nine years old. This +memorandum gives a detailed account of the abduction of a minister in +1679, who is styled a "minister of the Empire," and his arrival as a +masked prisoner at the islands, and states that he died there in +captivity nine years after he was carried off. + +Dutens thus divests the episode of the element of the marvellous with +which Voltaire had surrounded it. He called to his aid the testimony of +the Duc de Choiseul, who, having in vain attempted to worm the secret of +the Iron Mask out of Louis XV, begged Madame de Pompadour to try her +hand, and was told by her that the prisoner was the minister of an +Italian prince. At the same time that Dutens wrote, "There is no fact in +history better established than the fact that the Man in the Iron Mask +was a minister of the Duke of Mantua who was carried off from Turin," M. +Quentin-Crawfurd was maintaining that the prisoner was a son of Anne of +Austria; while a few years earlier Bouche, a lawyer, in his 'Essai sur +l'Histoire de Provence' (2 vols. 4to, 1785), had regarded this story as +a fable invented by Voltaire, and had convinced himself that the +prisoner was a woman. As we see, discussion threw no light on the +subject, and instead of being dissipated, the confusion became ever +"worse confounded." + +In 1790 the 'Memoires du Marechal de Richelieu' appeared. He had left +his note-books, his library, and his correspondence to Soulavie. The +'Memoires' are undoubtedly authentic, and have, if not certainty, at +least a strong moral presumption in their favour, and gained the belief +of men holding diverse opinions. But before placing under the eyes of +our readers extracts from them relating to the Iron Mask, let us refresh +our memory by recalling two theories which had not stood the test of +thorough investigation. + +According to some MS. notes left by M. de Bonac, French ambassador at +Constantinople in 1724, the Armenian Patriarch Arwedicks, a mortal enemy +of our Church and the instigator of the terrible persecutions to which +the Roman Catholics were subjected, was carried off into exile at the +request of the Jesuits by a French vessel, and confined in a prison +whence there was no escape. This prison was the fortress of +Sainte-Marguerite, and from there he was taken to the Bastille, where he +died. The Turkish Government continually clamoured for his release till +1723, but the French Government persistently denied having taken any +part in the abduction. + +Even if it were not a matter of history that Arwedicks went over to the +Roman Catholic Church and died a free man in Paris, as may be seen by an +inspection of the certificate of his death preserved among the archives +in the Foreign Office, one sentence from the note-book of M. de Bonac +would be sufficient to annihilate this theory. M. de Bonac says that the +Patriarch was carried off, while M. de Feriol, who succeeded M. de +Chateauneuf in 1699, was ambassador at Constantinople. Now it was in +1698 that Saint-Mars arrived at the Bastille with his masked prisoner. + +Several English scholars have sided with Gibbon in thinking that the Man +in the Iron Mask might possibly have been Henry, the second son of +Oliver Cromwell, who was held as a hostage by Louis XIV. + +By an odd coincidence the second son of the Lord Protector does entirely +disappear from the page of history in 1659; we know nothing of where he +afterwards lived nor when he died. But why should he be a prisoner of +state in France, while his elder brother Richard was permitted to live +there quite openly? In the absence of all proof, we cannot attach the +least importance to this explanation of the mystery. + +We now come to the promised extracts from the 'Memoires du Marechal de +Richelieu': + +"Under the late king there was a time when every class of society was +asking who the famous personage really was who went by the name of the +Iron Mask, but I noticed that this curiosity abated somewhat after his +arrival at the Bastille with Saint-Mars, when it began to be reported +that orders had been given to kill him should he let his name be known. +Saint-Mars also let it be understood that whoever found out the secret +would share the same fate. This threat to murder both the prisoner and +those who showed too much curiosity about him made such an impression, +that during the lifetime of the late king people only spoke of the +mystery below their breath. The anonymous author of 'Les Memoires de +Perse', which were published in Holland fifteen years after the death of +Louis XIV, was the first who dared to speak publicly of the prisoner and +relate some anecdotes about him. + +"Since the publication of that work, liberty of speech and the freedom +of the press have made great strides, and the shade of Louis XIV having +lost its terrors, the case of the Iron Mask is freely discussed, and yet +even now, at the end of my life and seventy years after the death of the +king, people are still asking who the Man in the Iron Mask really was. + +"This question was one I put to the adorable princess, beloved of the +regent, who inspired in return only aversion and respect, all her love +being given to me. As everyone was persuaded that the regent knew the +name, the course of life, and the cause of the imprisonment of the +masked prisoner, I, being more venturesome in my curiosity than others, +tried through my princess to fathom the secret. She had hitherto +constantly repulsed the advances of the Duc d' Orleans, but as the +ardour of his passion was thereby in no wise abated, the least glimpse +of hope would be sufficient to induce him to grant her everything she +asked; I persuaded her, therefore, to let him understand that if he +would allow her to read the 'Memoires du Masque' which were in his +possession his dearest desires would be fulfilled. + +"The Duc d'Orleans had never been known to reveal any secret of state, +being unspeakably circumspect, and having been trained to keep every +confidence inviolable by his preceptor Dubois, so I felt quite certain +that even the princess would fail in her efforts to get a sight of the +memoranda in his possession relative to the birth and rank of the masked +prisoner; but what cannot love, and such an ardent love, induce a man to +do? + +"To reward her goodness the regent gave the documents into her hands, +and she forwarded them to me next day, enclosed in a note written in +cipher, which, according to the laws of historical writing, I reproduce +in its entirety, vouching for its authenticity; for the princess always +employed a cipher when she used the language of gallantry, and this note +told me what treaty she had had to sign in order that she might obtain +the documents, and the duke the desire of his heart. The details are not +admissible in serious history, but, borrowing the modest language of the +patriarchal time, I may say that if Jacob, before he obtained possession +of the best beloved of Laban's daughters, was obliged to pay the price +twice over, the regent drove a better bargain than the patriarch. The +note and the memorandum were as follows: "'2. 1. 17. 12. 9. 2. 20. 2. 1. +7. 14 20. 10. 3. 21. 1. 11. 14. 1. 15. 16. 12. 17. 14. 2. 1. 21. 11. 20. +17. 12. 9. 14. 9. 2. 8. 20. 5. 20. 2. 2. 17. 8. 1. 2. 20. 9. 21. 21. 1. +5. 12. 17. 15. 00. 14. 1. 15. 14. 12. 9. 21. 5. 12. 9. 21. 16. 20. 14. +8. 3. + +"'NARRATIVE OF THE BIRTH AND EDUCATION OF THE UNFORTUNATE PRINCE WHO WAS +SEPARATED FROM THE WORLD BY CARDINALS RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN AND +IMPRISONED BY ORDER OF LOUIS XIV. + +"'Drawn up by the Governor of this Prince on his deathbed. + +"'The unfortunate prince whom I brought up and had in charge till almost +the end of my life was born on the 5th September 1638 at 8.30 o'clock in +the evening, while the king was at supper. His brother, who is now on +the throne, was born at noon while the king was at dinner, but whereas +his birth was splendid and public, that of his brother was sad and +secret; for the king being informed by the midwife that the queen was +about to give birth to a second child, ordered the chancellor, the +midwife, the chief almoner, the queen's confessor, and myself to stay in +her room to be witnesses of whatever happened, and of his course of +action should a second child be born. + +"'For a long time already it had been foretold to the king that his wife +would give birth to two sons, and some days before, certain shepherds +had arrived in Paris, saying they were divinely inspired, so that it was +said in Paris that if two dauphins were born it would be the greatest +misfortune which could happen to the State. The Archbishop of Paris +summoned these soothsayers before him, and ordered them to be imprisoned +in Saint-Lazare, because the populace was becoming excited about them--a +circumstance which filled the king with care, as he foresaw much trouble +to his kingdom. What had been predicted by the soothsayers happened, +whether they had really been warned by the constellations, or whether +Providence by whom His Majesty had been warned of the calamities which +might happen to France interposed. The king had sent a messenger to the +cardinal to tell him of this prophecy, and the cardinal had replied that +the matter, must be considered, that the birth of two dauphins was not +impossible, and should such a case arrive, the second must be carefully +hidden away, lest in the future desiring to be king he should fight +against his brother in support of a new branch of the royal house, and +come at last to reign. + +"'The king in his suspense felt very uncomfortable, and as the queen +began to utter cries we feared a second confinement. We sent to inform +the king, who was almost overcome by the thought that he was about to +become the father of two dauphins. He said to the Bishop of Meaux, whom +he had sent for to minister to the queen, "Do not quit my wife till she +is safe; I am in mortal terror." Immediately after he summoned us all, +the Bishop of Meaux, the chancellor M. Honorat, Dame Peronete the +midwife, and myself, and said to us in presence of the queen, so that +she could hear, that we would answer to him with our heads if we made +known the birth of a second dauphin; that it was his will that the fact +should remain a state secret, to prevent the misfortunes which would +else happen, the Salic Law not having declared to whom the inheritance +of the kingdom should come in case two eldest sons were born to any of +the kings. + +"'What had been foretold happened: the queen, while the king was at +supper, gave birth to a second dauphin, more dainty and more beautiful +than the first, but who wept and wailed unceasingly, as if he regretted +to take up that life in which he was afterwards to endure such +suffering. The chancellor drew up the report of this wonderful birth, +without parallel in our history; but His Majesty not being pleased with +its form, burned it in our presence, and the chancellor had to write and +rewrite till His Majesty was satisfied. The almoner remonstrated, saying +it would be impossible to hide the birth of a prince, but the king +returned that he had reasons of state for all he did. + +"'Afterwards the king made us register our oath, the chancellor signing +it first, then the queen's confessor, and I last. The oath was also +signed by the surgeon and midwife who attended on the queen, and the +king attached this document to the report, taking both away with him, +and I never heard any more of either. I remember that His Majesty +consulted with the chancellor as to the form of the oath, and that he +spoke for a long time in an undertone to the cardinal: after which the +last-born child was given into the charge of the midwife, and as they +were always afraid she would babble about his birth, she has told me +that they often threatened her with death should she ever mention it: we +were also forbidden to speak, even to each other, of the child whose +birth we had witnessed. + +"'Not one of us has as yet violated his oath; for His Majesty dreaded +nothing so much as a civil war brought about by the two children born +together, and the cardinal, who afterwards got the care of the second +child into his hands, kept that fear alive. The king also commanded us +to examine the unfortunate prince minutely; he had a wart above the left +elbow, a mole on the right side of his neck, and a tiny wart on his +right thigh; for His Majesty was determined, and rightly so, that in +case of the decease of the first-born, the royal infant whom he was +entrusting to our care should take his place; wherefore he required our +signmanual to the report of the birth, to which a small royal seal was +attached in our presence, and we all signed it after His Majesty, +according as he commanded. As to the shepherds who had foretold the +double birth, never did I hear another word of them, but neither did I +inquire. The cardinal who took the mysterious infant in charge probably +got them out of the country. + +"'All through the infancy of the second prince Dame Peronete treated him +as if he were her own child, giving out that his father was a great +nobleman; for everyone saw by the care she lavished on him and the +expense she went to, that although unacknowledged he was the cherished +son of rich parents, and well cared for. + +"'When the prince began to grow up, Cardinal Mazarin, who succeeded +Cardinal Richelieu in the charge of the prince's education, gave him +into my hands to bring up in a manner worthy of a king's son, but in +secret. Dame Peronete continued in his service till her death, and was +very much attached to him, and he still more to her. The prince was +instructed in my house in Burgundy, with all the care due to the son and +brother of a king. + +"'I had several conversations with the queen mother during the troubles +in France, and Her Majesty always seemed to fear that if the existence +of the prince should be discovered during the lifetime of his brother, +the young king, malcontents would make it a pretext for rebellion, +because many medical men hold that the last-born of twins is in reality +the elder, and if so, he was king by right, while many others have a +different opinion. + +"'In spite of this dread, the queen could never bring herself to destroy +the written evidence of his birth, because in case of the death of the +young king she intended to have his twin-brother proclaimed. She told me +often that the written proofs were in her strong box. + +"'I gave the ill-starred prince such an education as I should have liked +to receive myself, and no acknowledged son of a king ever had a better. +The only thing for which I have to reproach myself is that, without +intending it, I caused him great unhappiness; for when he was nineteen +years old he had a burning desire to know who he was, and as he saw that +I was determined to be silent, growing more firm the more he tormented +me with questions, he made up his mind henceforward to disguise his +curiosity and to make me think that he believed himself a love-child of +my own. He began to call me 'father,' although when we were alone I +often assured him that he was mistaken; but at length I gave up +combating this belief, which he perhaps only feigned to make me speak, +and allowed him to think he was my son, contradicting him no more; but +while he continued to dwell on this subject he was meantime making every +effort to find out who he really was. Two years passed thus, when, +through an unfortunate piece of forgetfulness on my part, for which I +greatly blame myself, he became acquainted with the truth. He knew that +the king had lately sent me several messengers, and once having +carelessly forgotten to lock up a casket containing letters from the +queen and the cardinals, he read part and divined the rest through his +natural intelligence; and later confessed to me that he had carried off +the letter which told most explicitly of his birth. + +"'I can recall that from this time on, his manner to me showed no longer +that respect for me in which I had brought him up, but became hectoring +and rude, and that I could not imagine the reason of the change, for I +never found out that he had searched my papers, and he never revealed to +me how he got at the casket, whether he was aided by some workmen whom +he did not wish to betray, or had employed other means. + +"'One day, however, he unguardedly asked me to show him the portraits of +the late and the present king. I answered that those that existed were +so poor that I was waiting till better ones were taken before having +them in my house. + +"'This answer, which did not satisfy him, called forth the request to be +allowed to go to Dijon. I found out afterwards that he wanted to see a +portrait of the king which was there, and to get to the court, which was +just then at Saint-Jean-de-Luz, because of the approaching marriage with +the infanta; so that he might compare himself with his brother and see +if there were any resemblance between them. Having knowledge of his +plan, I never let him out of my sight. + +"'The young prince was at this time as beautiful as Cupid, and through +the intervention of Cupid himself he succeeded in getting hold of a +portrait of his brother. One of the upper servants of the house, a young +girl, had taken his fancy, and he lavished such caresses on her and +inspired her with so much love, that although the whole household was +strictly forbidden to give him anything without my permission, she +procured him a portrait of the king. The unhappy prince saw the likeness +at once, indeed no one could help seeing it, for the one portrait would +serve equally well for either brother, and the sight produced such a fit +of fury that he came to me crying out, "There is my brother, and this +tells me who I am!" holding out a letter from Cardinal Mazarin which he +had stolen from me, and making a great commotion in my house. + +"'The dread lest the prince should escape and succeed in appearing at +the marriage of his brother made me so uneasy, that I sent off a +messenger to the king to tell him that my casket had been opened, and +asking for instructions. The king sent back word through the cardinal +that we were both to be shut up till further orders, and that the prince +was to be made to understand that the cause of our common misfortune was +his absurd claim. I have since shared his prison, but I believe that a +decree of release has arrived from my heavenly judge, and for my soul's +health and for my ward's sake I make this declaration, that he may know +what measures to take in order to put an end to his ignominious estate +should the king die without children. Can any oath imposed under threats +oblige one to be silent about such incredible events, which it is +nevertheless necessary that posterity should know?'" + +Such were the contents of the historical document given by the regent to +the princess, and it suggests a crowd of questions. Who was the prince's +governor? Was he a Burgundian? Was he simply a landed proprietor, with +some property and a country house in Burgundy? How far was his estate +from Dijon? He must have been a man of note, for he enjoyed the most +intimate confidence at the court of Louis XIII, either by virtue of his +office or because he was a favourite of the king, the queen, and +Cardinal Richelieu. Can we learn from the list of the nobles of Burgundy +what member of their body disappeared from public life along with a +young ward whom he had brought up in his own house just after the +marriage of Louis XIV? Why did he not attach his signature to the +declaration, which appears to be a hundred years old? Did he dictate it +when so near death that he had not strength to sign it? How did it find +its way out of prison? And so forth. + +There is no answer to all these questions, and I, for my part, cannot +undertake to affirm that the document is genuine. Abbe Soulavie relates +that he one day "pressed the marshal for an answer to some questions on +the matter, asking, amongst other things, if it were not true that the +prisoner was an elder brother of Louis XIV born without the knowledge of +Louis XIII. The marshal appeared very much embarrassed, and although he +did not entirely refuse to answer, what he said was not very +explanatory. He averred that this important personage was neither the +illegitimate brother of Louis XIV, nor the Duke of Monmouth, nor the +Comte de Vermandois, nor the Duc de Beaufort, and so on, as so many +writers had asserted." He called all their writings mere inventions, but +added that almost every one of them had got hold of some true incidents, +as for instance the order to kill the prisoner should he make himself +known. Finally he acknowledged that he knew the state secret, and used +the following words: "All that I can tell you, abbe, is, that when the +prisoner died at the beginning of the century, at a very advanced age, +he had ceased to be of such importance as when, at the beginning of his +reign, Louis XIV shut him up for weighty reasons of state." + +The above was written down under the eyes of the marshal, and when Abbe +Soulavie entreated him to say something further which, while not +actually revealing the secret, would yet satisfy his questioner's +curiosity, the marshal answered, "Read M. de Voltaire's latest writings +on the subject, especially his concluding words, and reflect on them." + +With the exception of Dulaure, all the critics have treated Soulavie's +narrative with the most profound contempt, and we must confess that if +it was an invention it was a monstrous one, and that the concoction of +the famous note in cipher was abominable. "Such was the great secret; in +order to find it out, I had to allow myself 5, 12, 17, 15, 14, 1, three +times by 8, 3." But unfortunately for those who would defend the morals +of Mademoiselle de Valois, it would be difficult to traduce the +character of herself, her lover, and her father, for what one knows of +the trio justifies one in believing that the more infamous the conduct +imputed to them, the more likely it is to be true. We cannot see the +force of the objection that Louvois would not have written in the +following terms to Saint-Mars in 1687 about a bastard son of Anne of +Austria: "I see no objection to your removing Chevalier de Thezut from +the prison in which he is confined, and putting your prisoner there till +the one you are preparing for him is ready to receive him." And we +cannot understand those who ask if Saint-Mars, following the example of +the minister, would have said of a prince "Until he is installed in the +prison which is being prepared for him here, which has a chapel +adjoining"? Why should he have expressed himself otherwise? Does it +evidence an abatement of consideration to call a prisoner a prisoner, +and his prison a prison? + +A certain M. de Saint-Mihiel published an 8vo volume in 1791, at +Strasbourg and Paris, entitled 'Le veritable homme, dit au MASQUE DE +FER, ouvrage dans lequel on fait connaitre, sur preuves incontestables, +a qui le celebre infortune dut le jour, quand et ou il naquit'. The +wording of the title will give an idea of the bizarre and barbarous +jargon in which the whole book is written. It would be difficult to +imagine the vanity and self-satisfaction which inspire this new reader +of riddles. If he had found the philosopher's stone, or made a discovery +which would transform the world, he could not exhibit more pride and +pleasure. All things considered, the "incontestable proofs" of his +theory do not decide the question definitely, or place it above all +attempts at refutation, any more than does the evidence on which the +other theories which preceded and followed his rest. But what he lacks +before all other things is the talent for arranging and using his +materials. With the most ordinary skill he might have evolved a theory +which would have defied criticism at least as successfully, as the +others, and he might have supported it by proofs, which if not +incontestable (for no one has produced such), had at least moral +presumption in their favour, which has great weight in such a mysterious +and obscure affair, in trying to explain, which one can never leave on +one side, the respect shown by Louvois to the prisoner, to whom he +always spoke standing and with uncovered head. + +According to M. de Saint-Mihiel, the 'Man in the Iron Mask was a +legitimate son of Anne of Austria and Mazarin'. + +He avers that Mazarin was only a deacon, and not a priest, when he +became cardinal, having never taken priest's orders, according to the +testimony of the Princess Palatine, consort of Philip I, Duc d'Orleans, +and that it was therefore possible for him to marry, and that he did +marry, Anne of Austria in secret. + +"Old Madame Beauvais, principal woman of the bed-chamber to the queen +mother, knew of this ridiculous marriage, and as the price of her +secrecy obliged the queen to comply with all her whims. To this +circumstance the principal bed-chamber women owe the extensive +privileges accorded them ever since in this country" (Letter of the +Duchesse d'Orleans, 13th September 1713). + +"The queen mother, consort of Louis XIII, had done worse than simply to +fall in love with Mazarin, she had married him, for he had never been an +ordained priest, he had only taken deacon's orders. If he had been a +priest his marriage would have been impossible. He grew terribly tired +of the good queen mother, and did not live happily with her, which was +only what he deserved for making such a marriage" (Letter of the +Duchesse d'Orleans, 2nd November 1717). + +"She (the queen mother) was quite easy in her conscience about Cardinal +Mazarin; he was not in priest's orders, and so could marry. The secret +passage by which he reached the queen's rooms every evening still exists +in the Palais Royal" (Letter of the Duchesse d'Orleans, 2nd July 1719) + +"The queen's, manner of conducting affairs is influenced by the passion +which dominates her. When she and the cardinal converse together, their +ardent love for each other is betrayed by their looks and gestures; it +is plain to see that when obliged to part for a time they do it with +great reluctance. If what people say is true, that they are properly +married, and that their union has been blessed by Pere Vincent the +missioner, there is no harm in all that goes on between them, either in +public or in private" ('Requete civile contre la Conclusion de la Paix, +1649). + +The Man in the Iron Mask told the apothecary in the Bastille that he +thought he was about sixty years of age ('Questions sur +d'Encyclopedie'). Thus he must have been born in 1644, just at the time +when Anne of Austria was invested with the royal power, though it was +really exercised by Mazarin. + +Can we find any incident recorded in history which lends support to the +supposition that Anne of Austria had a son whose birth was kept as +secret as her marriage to Mazarin? + +"In 1644, Anne of Austria being dissatisfied with her apartments in the +Louvre, moved to the Palais Royal, which had been left to the king by +Richelieu. Shortly after taking up residence there she was very ill with +a severe attack of jaundice, which was caused, in the opinion of the +doctors, by worry, anxiety, and overwork, and which pulled her down +greatly" ('Memoire de Madame de Motteville, 4 vols. 12mo, Vol i. p. +194). + +"This anxiety, caused by the pressure of public business, was most +probably only dwelt on as a pretext for a pretended attack of illness. +Anne of Austria had no cause for worry and anxiety till 1649. She did +not begin to complain of the despotism of Mazarin till towards the end +of 1645" (Ibid., viol. i. pp. 272, 273). + +"She went frequently to the theatre during her first year of widowhood, +but took care to hide herself from view in her box." (Ibid., vol. i. p. +342). + +Abbe Soulavie, in vol. vi. of the 'Memoires de Richelieu', published in +1793, controverted the opinions of M. de Saint-Mihiel, and again +advanced those which he had published some time before, supporting them +by a new array of reasons. + +The fruitlessness of research in the archives of the Bastille, and the +importance of the political events which were happening, diverted the +attention of the public for some years from this subject. In the year +1800, however, the 'Magazin encyclopedique' published (vol. vi. p. 472) +an article entitled 'Memoires sur les Problemes historiques, et la +methode de les resoudre appliquee a celui qui concerne l'Homme au Masque +de Fer', signed C. D. O., in which the author maintained that the +prisoner was the first minister of the Duke of Mantua, and says his name +was Girolamo Magni. + +In the same year an octavo volume of 142 pages was produced by M. +Roux-Fazillac. It bore the title 'Recherches historiques et critiques +sur l'Homme au Masque de Fer, d'ou resultent des Notions certaines sur +ce prisonnier'. These researches brought to light a secret +correspondence relative to certain negotiations and intrigues, and to +the abduction of a secretary of the Duke of Mantua whose name was +Matthioli, and not Girolamo Magni. + +In 1802 an octavo pamphlet containing 11 pages, of which the author was +perhaps Baron Lerviere, but which was signed Reth, was published. It +took the form of a letter to General Jourdan, and was dated from Turin, +and gave many details about Matthioli and his family. It was entitled +'Veritable Clef de l'Histoire de l'Homme au Masque de Fer'. It proved +that the secretary of the Duke of Mantua was carried off, masked, and +imprisoned, by order of Louis XIV in 1679, but it did not succeed in +establishing as an undoubted fact that the secretary and the Man in the +Iron Mask were one and the same person. + +It may be remembered that M. Crawfurd writing in 1798 had said in his +'Histoire de la Bastille' (8vo, 474 pages), "I cannot doubt that the Man +in the Iron Mask was the son of Anne of Austria, but am unable to decide +whether he was a twin-brother of Louis XIV or was born while the king +and queen lived apart, or during her widowhood." M. Crawfurd, in his +'Melanges d'Histoire et de Litterature tires dun Portefeuille' (quarto +1809, octavo 1817), demolished the theory advanced by Roux-Fazillac. + +In 1825, M. Delort discovered in the archives several letters relating +to Matthioli, and published his Histoire de l'Homme au Masque de Fer +(8vo). This work was translated into English by George Agar-Ellis, and +retranslated into French in 1830, under the title 'Histoire authentique +du Prisonnier d'Etat, connu sons le Nom de Masque de Fer'. It is in this +work that the suggestion is made that the captive was the second son of +Oliver Cromwell. + +In 1826, M. de Taules wrote that, in his opinion, the masked prisoner +was none other than the Armenian Patriarch. But six years later the +great success of my drama at the Odeon converted nearly everyone to the +version of which Soulavie was the chief exponent. The bibliophile Jacob +is mistaken in asserting that I followed a tradition preserved in the +family of the Duc de Choiseul; M. le Duc de Bassano sent me a copy made +under his personal supervision of a document drawn up for Napoleon, +containing the results of some researches made by his orders on the +subject of the Man in the Iron Mask. The original MS., as well as that +of the Memoires du Duc de Richelieu, were, the duke told me, kept at the +Foreign Office. In 1834 the journal of the Institut historique published +a letter from M. Auguste Billiard, who stated that he had also made a +copy of this document for the late Comte de Montalivet, Home Secretary +under the Empire. + + M. Dufey (de l'Yonne) gave his 'Histoire de la Bastille' to the world + in the same year, and was inclined to believe that the prisoner was + a son of Buckingham. + +Besides the many important personages on whom the famous mask had been +placed, there was one whom everyone had forgotten, although his name had +been put forward by the minister Chamillart: this was the celebrated +Superintendent of Finance, Nicolas Fouquet. In 1837, Jacob, armed with +documents and extracts, once more occupied himself with this Chinese +puzzle on which so much ingenuity had been lavished, but of which no one +had as yet got all the pieces into their places. Let us see if he +succeeded better than his forerunners. + +The first feeling he awakes is one of surprise. It seems odd that he +should again bring up the case of Fouquet, who was condemned to +imprisonment for life in 1664, confined in Pignerol under the care of +Saint-Mars, and whose death was announced (falsely according to Jacob) +on March 23rd, 1680. The first thing to look for in trying to get at the +true history of the Mask is a sufficient reason of state to account for +the persistent concealment of the prisoner's features till his death; +and next, an explanation of the respect shown him by Louvois, whose +attitude towards him would have been extraordinary in any age, but was +doubly so during the reign of Louis XIV, whose courtiers would have been +the last persons in the world to render homage to the misfortunes of a +man in disgrace with their master. Whatever the real motive of the +king's anger against Fouquet may have been, whether Louis thought he +arrogated to himself too much power, or aspired to rival his master in +the hearts of some of the king's mistresses, or even presumed to raise +his eyes higher still, was not the utter ruin, the lifelong captivity, +of his enemy enough to satiate the vengeance of the king? What could he +desire more? Why should his anger, which seemed slaked in 1664, burst +forth into hotter flames seventeen years later, and lead him to inflict +a new punishment? According to the bibliophile, the king being wearied +by the continual petitions for pardon addressed to him by the +superintendent's family, ordered them to be told that he was dead, to +rid himself of their supplications. Colbert's hatred, says he, was the +immediate cause of Fouquet's fall; but even if this hatred hastened the +catastrophe, are we to suppose that it pursued the delinquent beyond the +sentence, through the long years of captivity, and, renewing its energy, +infected the minds of the king and his councillors? If that were so, how +shall we explain the respect shown by Louvois? Colbert would not have +stood uncovered before Fouquet in prison. Why should Colbert's colleague +have done so? + +It must, however, be confessed that of all existing theories, this one, +thanks to the unlimited learning and research of the bibliophile, has +the greatest number of documents with the various interpretations +thereof, the greatest profusion of dates, on its side. + +For it is certain-- + +1st, that the precautions taken when Fouquet was sent to Pignerol +resembled in every respect those employed later by the custodians of the +Iron Mask, both at the Iles Sainte-Marguerite and at the Bastille; + +2nd, that the majority of the traditions relative to the masked prisoner +might apply to Fouquet; + +3rd, that the Iron Mask was first heard of immediately after the +announcement of the death of Fouquet in 1680; + +4th, that there exists no irrefragable proof that Fouquet's death really +occurred in the above year. + +The decree of the Court of justice, dated 20th December 1664, banished +Fouquet from the kingdom for life. "But the king was of the opinion that +it would be dangerous to let the said Fouquet leave the country, in +consideration of his intimate knowledge of the most important matters of +state. Consequently the sentence of perpetual banishment was commuted +into that of perpetual imprisonment." ('Receuil des defenses de M. +Fouquet'). The instructions signed by the king and remitted to +Saint-Mars forbid him to permit Fouquet to hold any spoken or written +communication with anyone whatsoever, or to leave his apartments for any +cause, not even for exercise. The great mistrust felt by Louvois +pervades all his letters to Saint-Mars. The precautions which he ordered +to be kept up were quite as stringent as in the case of the Iron Mask. + +The report of the discovery of a shirt covered with writing, by a friar, +which Abbe Papon mentions, may perhaps be traced to the following +extracts from two letters written by Louvois to Saint-Mars: "Your letter +has come to hand with the new handkerchief on which M. Fouquet has +written" (18th Dec. 1665 ); "You can tell him that if he continues too +employ his table-linen as note-paper he must not be surprised if you +refuse to supply him with any more" ( 21st Nov. 1667). + +Pere Papon asserts that a valet who served the masked prisoner died in +his master's room. Now the man who waited on Fouquet, and who like him +was sentenced to lifelong imprisonment, died in February 1680 (see +letter of Louvois to Saint-Mars, 12th March 1680). Echoes of incidents +which took place at Pignerol might have reached the Iles +Sainte-Marguerite when Saint-Mars transferred his "former prisoner" from +one fortress to the other. The fine clothes and linen, the books, all +those luxuries in fact that were lavished on the masked prisoner, were +not withheld from Fouquet. The furniture of a second room at Pignerol +cost over 1200 livres (see letters of Louvois, 12th Dec. 1665, and 22nd +Feb, 1666). + +It is also known that until the year 1680 Saint-Mars had only two +important prisoners at Pignerol, Fouquet and Lauzun. However, his +"former prisoner of Pignerol," according to Du Junca's diary, must have +reached the latter fortress before the end of August 1681, when +Saint-Mars went to Exilles as governor. So that it was in the interval +between the 23rd March 1680, the alleged date of Fouquet's death, and +the 1st September 1681, that the Iron Mask appeared at Pignerol, and yet +Saint-Mars took only two prisoners to Exilles. One of these was probably +the Man in the Iron Mask; the other, who must have been Matthioli, died +before the year 1687, for when Saint-Mars took over the governorship in +the month of January of that year of the Iles Sainte-Marguerite he +brought only ONE prisoner thither with him. "I have taken such good +measures to guard my prisoner that I can answer to you for his safety" +('Lettres de Saint-Mars a Louvois', 20th January 1687). + +In the correspondence of Louvois with Saint-Mars we find, it is true, +mention of the death of Fouquet on March 23rd, 1680, but in his later +correspondence Louvois never says "the late M. Fouquet," but speaks of +him, as usual, as "M. Fouquet" simply. Most historians have given as a +fact that Fouquet was interred in the same vault as his father in the +chapel of Saint-Francois de Sales in the convent church belonging to the +Sisters of the Order of the Visitation-Sainte-Marie, founded in the +beginning of the seventeenth century by Madame de Chantal. But proof to +the contrary exists; for the subterranean portion of St. Francis's +chapel was closed in 1786, the last person interred there being Adelaide +Felicite Brulard, with whom ended the house of Sillery. The convent was +shut up in 1790, and the church given over to the Protestants in 1802; +who continued to respect the tombs. In 1836 the Cathedral chapter of +Bourges claimed the remains of one of their archbishops buried there in +the time of the Sisters of Sainte-Marie. On this occasion all the +coffins were examined and all the inscriptions carefully copied, but the +name of Nicolas Fouquet is absent. + +Voltaire says in his 'Dictionnaire philosophique', article "Ana," "It is +most remarkable that no one knows where the celebrated Fouquet was +buried." + +But in spite of all these coincidences, this carefully constructed +theory was wrecked on the same point on which the theory that the +prisoner was either the Duke of Monmouth or the Comte de Vermandois came +to grief, viz. a letter from Barbezieux, dated 13th August 1691, in +which occur the words, "THE PRISONER WHOM YOU HAVE HAD IN CHARGE FOR +TWENTY YEARS." According to this testimony, which Jacob had successfully +used against his predecessors, the prisoner referred to could not have +been Fouquet, who completed his twenty-seventh year of captivity in +1691, if still alive. + +We have now impartially set before our readers all the opinions which +have been held in regard to the solution of this formidable enigma. For +ourselves, we hold the belief that the Man in the Iron Mask stood on the +steps of the throne. Although the mystery cannot be said to be +definitely cleared up, one thing stands out firmly established among the +mass of conjecture we have collected together, and that is, that +wherever the prisoner appeared he was ordered to wear a mask on pain of +death. His features, therefore, might during half a century have brought +about his recognition from one end of France to the other; consequently, +during the same space of time there existed in France a face resembling +the prisoner's known through all her provinces, even to her most +secluded isle. + +Whose face could this be, if not that of Louis XVI, twin-brother of the +Man in the Iron Mask? + +To nullify this simple and natural conclusion strong evidence will be +required. + +Our task has been limited to that of an examining judge at a trial, and +we feel sure that our readers will not be sorry that we have left them +to choose amid all the conflicting explanations of the puzzle. No +consistent narrative that we might have concocted would, it seems to us, +have been half as interesting to them as to allow them to follow the +devious paths opened up by those who entered on the search for the heart +of the mystery. Everything connected with the masked prisoner arouses +the most vivid curiosity. And what end had we in view? Was it not to +denounce a crime and to brand the perpetrator thereof? The facts as they +stand are sufficient for our object, and speak more eloquently than if +used to adorn a tale or to prove an ingenious theory. + + + + +*MARTIN GUERRE* + + +We are sometimes astonished at the striking resemblance existing between +two persons who are absolute strangers to each other, but in fact it is +the opposite which ought to surprise us. Indeed, why should we not +rather admire a Creative Power so infinite in its variety that it never +ceases to produce entirely different combinations with precisely the +same elements? The more one considers this prodigious versatility of +form, the more overwhelming it appears. + +To begin with, each nation has its own distinct and characteristic type, +separating it from other races of men. Thus there are the English, +Spanish, German, or Slavonic types; again, in each nation we find +families distinguished from each other by less general but still +well-pronounced features; and lastly, the individuals of each family, +differing again in more or less marked gradations. What a multitude of +physiognomies! What variety of impression from the innumerable stamps of +the human countenance! What millions of models and no copies! +Considering this ever changing spectacle, which ought to inspire us with +most astonishment--the perpetual difference of faces or the accidental +resemblance of a few individuals? Is it impossible that in the whole +wide world there should be found by chance two people whose features are +cast in one and the same mould? Certainly not; therefore that which +ought to surprise us is not that these duplicates exist here and there +upon the earth, but that they are to be met with in the same place, and +appear together before our eyes, little accustomed to see such +resemblances. From Amphitryon down to our own days, many fables have +owed their origin to this fact, and history also has provided a few +examples, such as the false Demetrius in Russia, the English Perkin +Warbeck, and several other celebrated impostors, whilst the story we now +present to our readers is no less curious and strange. + +On the 10th of, August 1557, an inauspicious day in the history of +France, the roar of cannon was still heard at six in the evening in the +plains of St. Quentin; where the French army had just been destroyed by +the united troops of England and Spain, commanded by the famous Captain +Emanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy. An utterly beaten infantry, the +Constable Montmorency and several generals taken prisoner, the Duke +d'Enghien mortally wounded, the flower of the nobility cut down like +grass,--such were the terrible results of a battle which plunged France +into mourning, and which would have been a blot on the reign of Henry +II, had not the Duke of Guise obtained a brilliant revenge the following +year. + +In a little village less than a mile from the field of battle were to be +heard the groans of the wounded and dying, who had been carried thither +from the field of battle. The inhabitants had given up their houses to +be used as hospitals, and two or three barber surgeons went hither and +thither, hastily ordering operations which they left to their +assistants, and driving out fugitives who had contrived to accompany the +wounded under pretence of assisting friends or near relations. They had +already expelled a good number of these poor fellows, when, opening the +door of a small room, they found a soldier soaked in blood lying on a +rough mat, and another soldier apparently attending on him with the +utmost care. + +"Who are you?" said one of the surgeons to the sufferer. "I don't think +you belong to our French troops." + +"Help!" cried the soldier, "only help me! and may God bless you for it!" + +"From the colour of that tunic," remarked the other surgeon, "I should +wager the rascal belongs to some Spanish gentleman. By what blunder was +he brought here?" + +"For pity's sake!" murmured the poor fellow, "I am in such pain." + +"Die, wretch!" responded the last speaker, pushing him with his foot. +"Die, like the dog you are!" + +But this brutality, answered as it was by an agonised groan, disgusted +the other surgeon. + +"After all, he is a man, and a wounded man who implores help. Leave him +to me, Rene." + +Rene went out grumbling, and the one who remained proceeded to examine +the wound. A terrible arquebus-shot had passed through the leg, +shattering the bone: amputation was absolutely necessary. + +Before proceeding to the operation, the surgeon turned to the other +soldier, who had retired into the darkest corner of the room. + +"And you, who may you be?" he asked. + +The man replied by coming forward into the light: no other answer was +needed. He resembled his companion so closely that no one could doubt +they were brothers-twin brothers, probably. Both were above middle +height; both had olive-brown complexions, black eyes, hooked noses, +pointed chins, a slightly projecting lower lip; both were +round-shouldered, though this defect did not amount to disfigurement: +the whole personality suggested strength, and was not destitute of +masculine beauty. So strong a likeness is hardly ever seen; even their +ages appeared to agree, for one would not have supposed either to be +more than thirty-two; and the only difference noticeable, besides the +pale countenance of the wounded man, was that he was thin as compared +with the moderate fleshiness of the other, also that he had a large scar +over the right eyebrow. + +"Look well after your brother's soul," said the surgeon to the soldier, +who remained standing; "if it is in no better case than his body, it is +much to be pitied." + +"Is there no hope?" inquired the Sosia of the wounded man. + +"The wound is too large and too deep," replied the man of science, "to +be cauterised with boiling oil, according to the ancient method. +'Delenda est causa mali,' the source of evil must be destroyed, as says +the learned Ambrose Pare; I ought therefore 'secareferro,'--that is to +say, take off the leg. May God grant that he survive the operation!" + +While seeking his instruments, he looked the supposed brother full in +the face, and added-- + +"But how is it that you are carrying muskets in opposing armies, for I +see that you belong to us, while this poor fellow wears Spanish +uniform?" + +"Oh, that would be a long story to tell," replied the soldier, shaking +his head. "As for me, I followed the career which was open to me, and +took service of my own free will under the banner of our lord king, +Henry II. This man, whom you rightly suppose to be my brother, was born +in Biscay, and became attached to the household of the Cardinal of +Burgos, and afterwards to the cardinal's brother, whom he was obliged to +follow to the war. I recognised him on the battle-field just as he fell; +I dragged him out of a heap of dead, and brought him here." + +During his recital this individual's features betrayed considerable +agitation, but the surgeon did not heed it. Not finding some necessary +instruments, "My colleague," he exclaimed, "must have carried them off. +He constantly does this, out of jealousy of my reputation; but I will be +even with him yet! Such splendid instruments! They will almost work of +themselves, and are capable of imparting some skill even to him, dunce +as he is!... I shall be back in an hour or two; he must rest, sleep, +have nothing to excite him, nothing to inflame the wound; and when the +operation is well over, we shall see! May the Lord be gracious to him!" + +Then he went to the door, leaving the poor wretch to the care of his +supposed brother. + +"My God!" he added, shaking his head, "if he survive, it will be by the +help of a miracle." + +Scarcely had he left the room, when the unwounded soldier carefully +examined the features of the wounded one. + +"Yes," he murmured between his teeth, "they were right in saying that my +exact double was to be found in the hostile army . . . . Truly one would +not know us apart! . . . I might be surveying myself in a mirror. I did +well to look for him in the rear of the Spanish army, and, thanks to the +fellow who rolled him over so conveniently with that arquebus-shot; I +was able to escape the dangers of the melee by carrying him out of it." + +"But that's not all," he thought, still carefully studying the tortured +face of the unhappy sufferer; "it is not enough to have got out of that. +I have absolutely nothing in the world, no home, no resources. Beggar by +birth, adventurer by fortune, I have enlisted, and have consumed my pay; +I hoped for plunder, and here we are in full flight! What am I to do? Go +and drown myself? No, certainly a cannon-ball would be as good as that. +But can't I profit by this chance, and obtain a decent position by +turning to my own advantage this curious resemblance, and making some +use of this man whom Fate has thrown in my way, and who has but a short +time to live?" + +Arguing thus, he bent over the prostrate man with a cynical laugh: one +might have thought he was Satan watching the departure of a soul too +utterly lost to escape him. + +"Alas! alas!" cried the sufferer; "may God have mercy on me! I feel my +end is near." + +"Bah! comrade, drive away these dismal thoughts. Your leg pains +you--well they will cut it off! Think only of the other one, and trust +in Providence!" + +"Water, a drop of water, for Heaven's sake!" The sufferer was in a high +fever. The would-be nurse looked round and saw a jug of water, towards +which the dying man extended a trembling hand. A truly infernal idea +entered his mind. He poured some water into a gourd which hung from his +belt, held it to the lips of the wounded man, and then withdrew it. + +"Oh! I thirst-that water! . . . For pity's sake, give me some!" + +"Yes, but on one condition you must tell me your whole history." + +"Yes . . . but give me water!" + +His tormentor allowed him to swallow a mouthful, then overwhelmed him +with questions as to his family, his friends and fortune, and compelled +him to answer by keeping before his eyes the water which alone could +relieve the fever which devoured him. After this often interrupted +interrogation, the sufferer sank back exhausted, and almost insensible. +But, not yet satisfied, his companion conceived the idea of reviving him +with a few drops of brandy, which quickly brought back the fever, and +excited his brain sufficiently to enable him to answer fresh questions. +The doses of spirit were doubled several times, at the risk of ending +the unhappy man's days then and there: Almost delirious, his head +feeling as if on fire, his sufferings gave way to a feverish excitement, +which took him back to other places and other times: he began to recall +the days of his youth and the country where he lived. But his tongue was +still fettered by a kind of reserve: his secret thoughts, the private +details of his past life were not yet told, and it seemed as though he +might die at any moment. Time was passing, night already coming on, and +it occurred to the merciless questioner to profit by the gathering +darkness. By a few solemn words he aroused the religious feelings of the +sufferer, terrified him by speaking of the punishments of another life +and the flames of hell, until to the delirious fancy of the sick man he +took the form of a judge who could either deliver him to eternal +damnation or open the gates of heaven to him. At length, overwhelmed by +a voice which resounded in his ear like that of a minister of God, the +dying man laid bare his inmost soul before his tormentor, and made his +last confession to him. + +Yet a few moments, and the executioner--he deserves no other name--hangs +over his victim, opens his tunic, seizes some papers and a few coins, +half draws his dagger, but thinks better of it; then, contemptuously +spurning the victim, as the other surgeon had done-- + +"I might kill you," he says, "but it would be a useless murder; it would +only be hastening your last Sigh by an hour or two, and advancing my +claims to your inheritance by the same space of time." + +And he adds mockingly:-- + +"Farewell, my brother!" + +The wounded soldier utters a feeble groan; the adventurer leaves the +room. + +Four months later, a woman sat at the door of a house at one end of the +village of Artigues, near Rieux, and played with a child about nine or +ten years of age. Still young, she had the brown complexion of Southern +women, and her beautiful black hair fell in curls about her face. Her +flashing eyes occasionally betrayed hidden passions, concealed, however, +beneath an apparent indifference and lassitude, and her wasted form +seemed to acknowledge the existence of some secret grief. An observer +would have divined a shattered life, a withered happiness, a soul +grievously wounded. + +Her dress was that of a wealthy peasant; and she wore one of the long +gowns with hanging sleeves which were in fashion in the sixteenth +century. The house in front of which she sat belonged to her, so also +the immense field which adjoined the garden. Her attention was divided +between the play of her son and the orders she was giving to an old +servant, when an exclamation from the child startled her. + +"Mother!" he cried, "mother, there he is!" + +She looked where the child pointed, and saw a young boy turning the +corner of the street. + +"Yes," continued the child, "that is the lad who, when I was playing +with the other boys yesterday, called me all sorts of bad names." + +"What sort of names, my child?" + +"There was one I did not understand, but it must have been a very bad +one, for the other boys all pointed at me, and left me alone. He called +me--and he said it was only what his mother had told him--he called me a +wicked bastard!" + +His mother's face became purple with indignation. "What!" she cried, +"they dared! . . . What an insult!" + +"What does this bad word mean, mother?" asked the child, half frightened +by her anger. "Is that what they call poor children who have no father?" + +His mother folded him in her arms. "Oh!" she continued, "it is an +infamous slander! These people never saw your father, they have only +been here six years, and this is the eighth since he went away, but this +is abominable! We were married in that church, we came at once to live +in this house, which was my marriage portion, and my poor Martin has +relations and friends here who will not allow his wife to be insulted--" + +"Say rather, his widow," interrupted a solemn voice. + +"Ah! uncle!" exclaimed the woman, turning towards an old man who had +just emerged from the house. + +"Yes, Bertrande," continued the new-comer, "you must get reconciled to +the idea that my nephew has ceased to exist. I am sure he was not such a +fool as to have remained all this time without letting us hear from him. +He was not the fellow to go off at a tangent, on account of a domestic +quarrel which you have never vouchsafed to explain to me, and to retain +his anger during all these eight years! Where did he go? What did he do? +We none of us know, neither you nor I, nor anybody else. He is assuredly +dead, and lies in some graveyard far enough from here. May God have +mercy on his soul!" + +Bertrande, weeping, made the sign of the cross, and bowed her head upon +her hands. + +"Good-bye, Sanxi," said the uncle, tapping the child's,' cheek. Sanxi +turned sulkily away. + +There was certainly nothing specially attractive about the uncle: he +belonged to a type which children instinctively dislike, false, crafty, +with squinting eyes which continually appeared to contradict his honeyed +tongue. + +"Bertrande," he said, "your boy is like his father before him, and only +answers my kindness with rudeness." + +"Forgive him," answered the mother; "he is very young, and does not +understand the respect due to his father's uncle. I will teach him +better things; he will soon learn that he ought to be grateful for the +care you have taken of his little property." + +"No doubt, no doubt," said the uncle, trying hard to smile. "I will give +you a good account of it, for I shall only have to reckon with you two +in future. Come, my dear, believe me, your husband is really dead, and +you have sorrowed quite enough for a good-for-nothing fellow. Think no +more of him." + +So saying, he departed, leaving the poor young woman a prey to the +saddest thoughts. + +Bertrande de Rolls, naturally gifted with extreme sensibility, on which +a careful education had imposed due restraint, had barely completed her +twelfth year when she was married to Martin Guerre, a boy of about the +same age, such precocious unions being then not uncommon, especially in +the Southern provinces. They were generally settled by considerations of +family interest, assisted by the extremely early development habitual to +the climate. The young couple lived for a long time as brother and +sister, and Bertrande, thus early familiar with the idea of domestic +happiness, bestowed her whole affection on the youth whom she had been +taught to regard as her life's companion. He was the Alpha and Omega of +her existence; all her love, all her thoughts, were given to him, and +when their marriage was at length completed, the birth of a son seemed +only another link in the already long existing bond of union. But, as +many wise men have remarked, a uniform happiness, which only attaches +women more and more, has often upon men a precisely contrary effect, and +so it was with Martin Guerre. Of a lively and excitable temperament, he +wearied of a yoke which had been imposed so early, and, anxious to see +the world and enjoy some freedom, he one day took advantage of a +domestic difference, in which Bertrande owned herself to have been +wrong, and left his house and family. He was sought and awaited in vain. +Bertrande spent the first month in vainly expecting his return, then she +betook herself to prayer; but Heaven appeared deaf to her supplications, +the truant returned not. She wished to go in search of him, but the +world is wide, and no single trace remained to guide her. What torture +for a tender heart! What suffering for a soul thirsting for love! What +sleepless nights! What restless vigils! Years passed thus; her son was +growing up, yet not a word reached her from the man she loved so much. +She spoke often of him to the uncomprehending child, she sought to +discover his features in those of her boy, but though she endeavoured to +concentrate her whole affection on her son, she realised that there is +suffering which maternal love cannot console, and tears which it cannot +dry. Consumed by the strength of the sorrow which ever dwelt in her +heart, the poor woman was slowly wasting, worn out by the regrets of the +past, the vain desires of the present, and the dreary prospect of the +future. And now she had been openly insulted, her feelings as a mother +wounded to the quirk; and her husband's uncle, instead of defending and +consoling her, could give only cold counsel and unsympathetic words! + +Pierre Guerre, indeed, was simply a thorough egotist. In his youth he +had been charged with usury; no one knew by what means he had become +rich, for the little drapery trade which he called his profession did +not appear to be very profitable. + +After his nephew's departure it seemed only natural that he should pose +as the family guardian, and he applied himself to the task of increasing +the little income, but without considering himself bound to give any +account to Bertrande. So, once persuaded that Martin was no more, he was +apparently not unwilling to prolong a situation so much to his own +advantage. + +Night was fast coming on; in the dim twilight distant objects became +confused and indistinct. It was the end of autumn, that melancholy +season which suggests so many gloomy thoughts and recalls so many +blighted hopes. The child had gone into the house. Bertrande, still +sitting at the door, resting her forehead on her hand, thought sadly of +her uncle's words; recalling in imagination the past scenes which they +suggested, the time of their childhood, when, married so young, they +were as yet only playmates, prefacing the graver duties of life by +innocent pleasures; then of the love which grew with their increasing +age; then of how this love became altered, changing on her side into +passion, on his into indifference. She tried to recollect him as he had +been on the eve of his departure, young and handsome, carrying his head +high, coming home from a fatiguing hunt and sitting by his son's cradle; +and then also she remembered bitterly the jealous suspicions she had +conceived, the anger with which she had allowed them to escape her, the +consequent quarrel, followed by the disappearance of her offended +husband, and the eight succeeding years of solitude and mourning. She +wept over his desertion; over the desolation of her life, seeing around +her only indifferent or selfish people, and caring only to live for her +child's sake, who gave her at least a shadowy reflection of the husband +she had lost. "Lost--yes, lost for ever!" she said to herself, sighing, +and looking again at the fields whence she had so often seen him coming +at this same twilight hour, returning to his home for the evening meal. +She cast a wandering eye on the distant hills, which showed a black +outline against a yet fiery western sky, then let it fall on a little +grove of olive trees planted on the farther side of the brook which +skirted her dwelling. Everything was calm; approaching night brought +silence along with darkness: it was exactly what she saw every evening, +but to leave which required always an effort. + +She rose to re-enter the house, when her attention was caught by a +movement amongst the trees. For a moment she thought she was mistaken, +but the branches again rustled, then parted asunder, and the form of a +man appeared on the other side of the brook. Terrified, Bertrande tried +to scream, but not a sound escaped her lips; her voice seemed paralyzed +by terror, as in an evil dream. And she almost thought it was a dream, +for notwithstanding the dark shadows cast around this indistinct +semblance, she seemed to recognise features once dear to her. Had her +bitter reveries ended by making her the victim of a hallucination? She +thought her brain was giving way, and sank on her knees to pray for +help. But the figure remained; it stood motionless, with folded arms, +silently gazing at her! Then she thought of witchcraft, of evil demons, +and superstitious as every one was in those days, she kissed a crucifix +which hung from her neck, and fell fainting on the ground. With one +spring the phantom crossed the brook and stood beside her. + +"Bertrande!" it said in a voice of emotion. She raised her head, uttered +a piercing cry, and was clasped in her husband's arms. + +The whole village became aware of this event that same evening. The +neighbours crowded round Bertrande's door, Martin's friends and +relations naturally wishing to see him after this miraculous +reappearance, while those who had never known him desired no less to +gratify their curiosity; so that the hero of the little drama, instead +of remaining quietly at home with his wife, was obliged to exhibit +himself publicly in a neighbouring barn. His four sisters burst through +the crowd and fell on his neck weeping; his uncle examined him +doubtfully at first, then extended his arms. Everybody recognised him, +beginning with the old servant Margherite, who had been with the young +couple ever since their wedding-day. People observed only that a riper +age had strengthened his features, and given more character to his +countenance and more development to his powerful figure; also that he +had a scar over the right eyebrow, and that he limped slightly. These +were the marks of wounds he had received, he said; which now no longer +troubled him. He appeared anxious to return to his wife and child, but +the crowd insisted on hearing the story of his adventures during his +voluntary absence, and he was obliged to satisfy them. Eight years ago, +he said, the desire to see more of the world had gained an irresistible +mastery over him; he yielded to it, and departed secretly. A natural +longing took him to his birthplace in Biscay, where he had seen his +surviving relatives. There he met the Cardinal of Burgos, who took him +into his service, promising him profit, hard knocks to give and take, +and plenty of adventure. Some time after, he left the cardinal's +household for that of his brother, who, much against his will, compelled +him to follow him to the war and bear arms against the French. Thus he +found himself on the Spanish side on the day of St. Quentin, and +received a terrible gun-shot wound in the leg. Being carried into a +house a an adjoining village, he fell into the hands of a surgeon, who +insisted that the leg must be amputated immediately, but who left him +for a moment, and never returned. Then he encountered a good old woman, +who dressed his wound and nursed him night and day. So that in a few +weeks he recovered, and was able to set out for Artigues, too thankful +to return to his house and land, still more to his wife and child, and +fully resolved never to leave them again. + +Having ended his story, he shook hands with his still wondering +neighbours, addressing by name some who had been very young when he +left, and who, hearing their names, came forward now as grown men, +hardly recognisable, but much pleased at being remembered. He returned +his sisters' carresses, begged his uncle's forgiveness for the trouble +he had given in his boyhood, recalling with mirth the various +corrections received. He mentioned also an Augustinian monk who had +taught him to read, and another reverend father, a Capuchin, whose +irregular conduct had caused much scandal in the neighbourhood. In +short, notwithstanding his prolonged absence, he seemed to have a +perfect recollection of places, persons, and things. The good people +overwhelmed him with congratulations, vying with one another in praising +him for having the good sense to come home, and in describing the grief +and the perfect virtue of his Bertrande. Emotion was excited, many wept, +and several bottles from Martin Guerre's cellar were emptied. At length +the assembly dispersed, uttering many exclamations about the +extraordinary chances of Fate, and retired to their own homes, excited, +astonished, and gratified, with the one exception of old Pierre Guerre, +who had been struck by an unsatisfactory remark made by his nephew, and +who dreamed all night about the chances of pecuniary loss augured by the +latter's return. + +It was midnight before the husband and wife were alone and able to give +vent to their feelings. Bertrande still felt half stupefied; she could +not believe her own eyes and ears, nor realise that she saw again in her +marriage chamber her husband of eight years ago, him for whom she had +wept; whose death she had deplored only a few hours previously. In the +sudden shock caused by so much joy succeeding so much grief, she had not +been able to express what she felt; her confused ideas were difficult to +explain, and she seemed deprived of the powers of speech and reflection. +When she became calmer and more capable of analysing her feelings, she +was astonished not to feel towards her husband the same affection which +had moved her so strongly a few hours before. It was certainly himself, +those were the same features, that was the man to whom she had willingly +given her hand, her heart, herself, and yet now that she saw him again a +cold barrier of shyness, of modesty, seemed to have risen between them. +His first kiss, even, had not made her happy: she blushed and felt +saddened--a curious result of the long absence! She could not define the +changes wrought by years in his appearance: his countenance seemed +harsher, yet the lines of his face, his outer man, his whole +personality, did not seem altered, but his soul had changed its nature, +a different mind looked forth from those eyes. Bertrande knew him for +her husband, and yet she hesitated. Even so Penelope, on the, return of +Ulysses, required a certain proof to confirm the evidence of her eyes, +and her long absent husband had to remind her of secrets known only to +herself. + +Martin, however, as if he understood Bertrande's feeling and divined +some secret mistrust, used the most tender and affectionate phrases, and +even the very pet names which close intimacy had formerly endeared to +them. + +"My queen," he said, "my beautiful dove, can you not lay aside your +resentment? Is it still so strong that no submission can soften it? +Cannot my repentance find grace in your eyes? My Bertrande, my Bertha, +my Bertranilla, as I used to call you." + +She tried to smile, but stopped short, puzzled; the names were the very +same, but the inflexion of voice quite different. + +Martin took her hands in his. "What pretty hands! Do you still wear my +ring? Yes, here it is, and with it the sapphire ring I gave you the day +Sanxi was born." + +Bertrande did not answer, but she took the child and placed him in his +father's arms. + +Martin showered caresses on his son, and spoke of the time when he +carried him as a baby in the garden, lifting him up to the fruit trees, +so that he could reach and try to bite the fruit. He recollected one day +when the poor child got his leg terribly torn by thorns, and convinced +himself, not without emotion, that the scar could still be seen. + +Bertrande was touched by this display of affectionate recollections, and +felt vexed at her own coldness. She came up to Martin and laid her hand +in his. He said gently-- + +"My departure caused you great grief: I now repent what I did. But I was +young, I was proud, and your reproaches were unjust." + +"Ah," said she, "you have not forgotten the cause of our quarrel?" + +"It was little Rose, our neighbour, whom you said I was making love to, +because you found us together at the spring in the little wood. I +explained that we met only by chance,--besides, she was only a +child,--but you would not listen, and in your anger--" + +"Ah! forgive me, Martin, forgive me!" she interrupted, in confusion. + +"In your blind anger you took up, I know not what, something which lay +handy, and flung it at me. And here is the mark," he continued, smiling, +"this scar, which is still to be seen." + +"Oh, Martin!" Bertrande exclaimed, "can you ever forgive me?" + +"As you see," Martin replied, kissing her tenderly. + +Much moved, Bertrande swept aside his hair, and looked at the scar +visible on his forehead. + +"But," she said, with surprise not free from alarm, "this scar seems to +me like a fresh one." + +"Ah!" Martin explained, with a, little embarrassment; "it reopened +lately. But I had thought no more about it. Let us forget it, Bertrande; +I should not like a recollection which might make you think yourself +less dear to me than you once were." + +And he drew her upon his knee. She repelled him gently. + +"Send the child to bed," said Martin. "Tomorrow shall be for him; +to-night you have the first place, Bertrande, you only." + +The boy kissed his father and went. + +Bertrande came and knelt beside her husband, regarding him attentively +with an uneasy smile, which did not appear to please him by any means. + +"What is the matter?" said he. "Why do you examine me thus?" + +"I do not know--forgive me, oh! forgive me! . . . But the happiness of +seeing you was so great and unexpected, it is all like a dream. I must +try to become accustomed to it; give me some time to collect myself; let +me spend this night in prayer. I ought to offer my joy and my +thanksgiving to Almighty God--" + +"Not so," interrupted her husband, passing his arms round her neck and +stroking her beautiful hair. "No; 'tis to me that your first thoughts +are due. After so much weariness, my rest is in again beholding you, and +my happiness after so many trials will be found in your love. That hope +has supported me throughout, and I long to be assured that it is no +illusion." So saying, he endeavoured to raise her. + +"Oh," she murmured, "I pray you leave me." + +"What!" he exclaimed angrily. "Bertrande, is this your love? Is it thus +you keep faith with me? You will make me doubt the evidence of your +friends; you will make me think that indifference, or even another +love----" + +"You insult me," said Bertrande, rising to her feet. + +He caught her in his arms. "No, no; I think nothing which could wound +you, my queen, and I believe your fidelity, even as before, you know, on +that first journey, when you wrote me these loving letters which I have +treasured ever since. Here they are." And he drew forth some papers, on +which Bertrande recognised her own handwriting. "Yes," he continued, "I +have read and--re-read them.... See, you spoke then of your love and the +sorrows of absence. But why all this trouble and terror? You tremble, +just as you did when I first received you from your father's hands.... +It was here, in this very room.... You begged me then to leave you, to +let you spend the night in prayer; but I insisted, do you remember? and +pressed you to my heart, as I do now." + +"Oh," she murmured weakly, "have pity!" + +But the words were intercepted by a kiss, and the remembrance of the +past, the happiness of the present, resumed their sway; the imaginary +terrors were forgotten, and the curtains closed around the marriage-bed. + +The next day was a festival in the village of Artigues. Martin returned +the visits of all who had come to welcome him the previous night, and +there were endless recognitions and embracings. The young men remembered +that he had played with them when they were little; the old men, that +they had been at his wedding when he was only twelve. + +The women remembered having envied Bertrande, especially the pretty +Rose, daughter of Marcel, the apothecary, she who had roused the demon +of jealousy in, the poor wife's heart. And Rose knew quite well that the +jealousy was not without some cause; for Martin had indeed shown her +attention, and she was unable to see him again without emotion. She was +now the wife of a rich peasant, ugly, old, and jealous, and she +compared, sighing, her unhappy lot with that of her more fortunate +neighbour. Martin's sisters detained him amongst them, and spoke of +their childish games and of their parents, both dead in Biscay. Martin +dried the tears which flowed at these recollections of the past, and +turned their thoughts to rejoicing. Banquets were given and received. +Martin invited all his relations and former friends; an easy gaiety +prevailed. It was remarked that the hero of the feast refrained from +wine; he was thereupon reproached, but answered that on account of the +wounds he had received he was obliged to avoid excess. The excuse was +admitted, the result of Martin's precautions being that he kept a clear +head on his shoulders, while all the rest had their tongues loosed by +drunkenness. + +"Ah!" exclaimed one of the guests, who had studied a little medicine, +"Martin is quite right to be afraid of drink. Wounds which have +thoroughly healed may be reopened and inflamed by intemperance, and wine +in the case of recent wounds is deadly poison. Men have died on the +field of battle in an hour or two merely because they had swallowed a +little brandy." + +Martin Guerre grew pale, and began a conversation with the pretty Rose, +his neighbour. Bertrande observed this, but without uneasiness; she had +suffered too much from her former suspicions, besides her husband showed +her so much affection that she was now quite happy. + +When the first few days were over, Martin began to look into his +affairs. His property had suffered by his long absence, and he was +obliged to go to Biscay to claim his little estate there, the law having +already laid hands upon it. It was several months before, by dint of +making judicious sacrifices, he could regain possession of the house and +fields which had belonged to his father. This at last accomplished, he +returned to Artigues, in order to resume the management of his wife's +property, and with this end in view, about eleven months after his +return, he paid a visit to his uncle Pierre. + +Pierre was expecting him; he was extremely polite, desired Martin, to +sit down, overwhelmed him with compliments, knitting his brows as he +discovered that his nephew decidedly meant business. Martin broke +silence. + +"Uncle," he said, "I come to thank you for the care you have taken of my +wife's property; she could never have managed it alone. You have +received the income in the family interest: as a good guardian, I +expected no less from your affection. But now that I have returned, and +am free from other cares, we will go over the accounts, if you please." + +His uncle coughed and cleared his voice before replying, then said +slowly, as if counting his words-- + +"It is all accounted for, my dear nephew; Heaven be praised! I don't owe +you anything." + +"What!" exclaimed the astonished Martin, "but the whole income?" + +"Was well and properly employed in the maintenance of your wife and +child." + +"What! a thousand livres for that? And Bertrande lived alone, so quietly +and simply! Nonsense! it is impossible." + +"Any surplus," resumed the old man, quite unmoved,--"any surplus went to +pay the expenses of seed-time and harvest." + +"What! at a time when labour costs next to nothing?" + +"Here is the account," said Pierre. + +"Then the account is a false one," returned his nephew. + +Pierre thought it advisable to appear extremely offended and angry, and +Martin, exasperated at his evident dishonesty, took still higher ground, +and threatened to bring an action against him. Pierre ordered him to +leave the house, and suiting actions to words, took hold of his arm to +enforce his departure. Martin, furious, turned and raised his fist to +strike. + +"What! strike your uncle, wretched boy!" exclaimed the old man. + +Martin's hand dropped, but he left the house uttering reproaches and +insults, among which Pierre distinguished-- + +"Cheat that you are!" + +"That is a word I shall remember," cried the angry old man, slamming his +door violently. + +Martin brought an action before the judge at Rieux, and in course of +time obtained a decree, which, reviewing the accounts presented by +Pierre, disallowed them, and condemned the dishonest guardian to pay his +nephew four hundred livres for each year of his administration. The day +on which this sum had to be disbursed from his strong box the old usurer +vowed vengeance, but until he could gratify his hatred he was forced to +conceal it, and to receive attempts at reconciliation with a friendly +smile. It was not until six months later, on the occasion of a joyous +festivity, that Martin again set foot in his uncle's house. The bells +were ringing for the birth of a child, there was great gaiety at +Bertrande's house, where all the guests were waiting on the threshold +for the godfather in order to take the infant to church, and when Martin +appeared, escorting his uncle, who was adorned with a huge bouquet for +the occasion, and who now came forward and took the hand of Rose, the +pretty godmother, there were cries of joy on all sides. Bertrande was +delighted at this reconciliation, and dreamed only of happiness. She was +so happy now, her long sorrow was atoned for, her regret was at an end, +her prayers seemed to have been heard, the long interval between the +former delights and the present seemed wiped out as if the bond of union +had never been broken, and if she remembered her grief at all, it was +only to intensify the new joys by comparison. She loved her husband more +than ever; he was full of affection for her, and she was grateful for +his love. The past had now no shadow, the future no cloud, and the birth +of a daughter, drawing still closer the links which united them, seemed +a new pledge of felicity. Alas! the horizon which appeared so bright and +clear to the poor woman was doomed soon again to be overcast. + +The very evening of the christening party, a band of musicians and +jugglers happened to pass through the village, and the inhabitants +showed themselves liberal. Pierre asked questions, and found that the +leader of the band was a Spaniard. He invited the man to his own house, +and remained closeted with him for nearly an hour, dismissing him at +length with a refilled purse. Two days later the old man announced to +the family that he was going to Picardy to see a former partner on a +matter of business, and he departed accordingly, saying he should return +before long. + +The day on which Bertrande again saw her uncle was, indeed, a terrible +one. She was sitting by the cradle of the lately-born infant, watching +for its awakening, when the door opened, and Pierre Guerre strode in. +Bertrande drew back with an instinct of terror as soon as she saw him, +for his expression was at once wicked and joyful--an expression of +gratified hate, of mingled rage and triumph, and his smile was terrible +to behold. She did not venture to speak, but motioned him to a seat. He +came straight up to her, and raising his head, said loudly-- + +"Kneel down at once, madame--kneel down, and ask pardon from Almighty +God!" + +"Are you mad, Pierre?" she replied, gazing at him in astonishment. + +"You, at least, ought to know that I am not." + +"Pray for forgiveness--I--! and what for, in Heaven's name?" + +"For the crime in which you are an accomplice." + +"Please explain yourself." + +"Oh!" said Pierre, with bitter irony, "a woman always thinks herself +innocent as long as her sin is hidden; she thinks the truth will never +be known, and her conscience goes quietly to sleep, forgetting her +faults. Here is a woman who thought her sins nicely concealed; chance +favoured her: an absent husband, probably no more; another man so +exactly like him in height, face, and manner that everyone else is +deceived! Is it strange that a weak, sensitive woman, wearied of +widowhood, should willingly allow herself to be imposed on?" + +Bertrande listened without understanding; she tried to interrupt, but +Pierre went on-- + +"It was easy to accept this stranger without having to blush for it, +easy to give him the name and the rights of a husband! She could even +appear faithful while really guilty; she could seem constant, though +really fickle; and she could, under a veil of mystery, at once reconcile +her honour, her duty--perhaps even her love." + +"What on earth do you mean?" cried Bertrande, wringing her hands in +terror. + +"That you are countenancing an impostor who is not your husband." + +Feeling as if the ground were passing from beneath her, Bertrande +staggered, and caught at the nearest piece of furniture to save herself +from falling; then, collecting all her strength to meet this +extraordinary attack, she faced the old man. + +"What! my husband, your nephew, an impostor!" + +"Don't you know it?" "I!!" + +This cry, which came from her heart, convinced Pierre that she did not +know, and that she had sustained a terrible shock. He continued more +quietly-- + +"What, Bertrande, is it possible you were really deceived?" + +"Pierre, you are killing me; your words are torture. No more mystery, I +entreat. What do you know? What do you suspect? Tell me plainly at +once." + +"Have you courage to hear it?" + +"I must," said the trembling woman. + +"God is my witness that I would willingly have kept it from you, but you +must know; if only for the safety of your soul entangled in so deadly a +snare,... there is yet time, if you follow my advice. Listen: the man +with whom you are living, who dares to call himself Martin Guerre, is a +cheat, an impostor----" + +"How dare you say so?" + +"Because I have discovered it. Yes, I had always a vague suspicion, an +uneasy feeling, and in spite of the marvellous resemblance I could never +feel as if he were really my sister's child. The day he raised his hand +to strike me--yes, that day I condemned him utterly.... Chance has +justified me! A wandering Spaniard, an old soldier, who spent a night in +the village here, was also present at the battle of St. Quentin, and saw +Martin Guerre receive a terrible gunshot wound in the leg. After the +battle, being wounded, he betook himself to the neighbouring village, +and distinctly heard a surgeon in the next room say that a wounded man +must have his leg amputated, and would very likely not survive the +operation. The door opened, he saw the sufferer, and knew him for Martin +Guerre. So much the Spaniard told me. Acting on this information, I went +on pretence of business to the village he named, I questioned the +inhabitants, and this is what I learned." + +"Well?" said Bertrande, pale, and gasping with emotion. + +"I learned that the wounded man had his leg taken off, and, as the +surgeon predicted, he must have died in a few hours, for he was never +seen again." + +Bertrande remained a few moments as if annihilated by this appalling +revelation; then, endeavoring to repel the horrible thought-- + +"No," she cried, "no, it is impossible! It is a lie intended to ruin +him-to ruin us all." + +"What! you do not believe me?" + +"No, never, never!" + +"Say rather you pretend to disbelieve me: the truth has pierced your +heart, but you wish to deny it. Think, however, of the danger to your +immortal soul." + +"Silence, wretched man!... No, God would not send me so terrible a +trial. What proof can you show of the truth of your words?" + +"The witnesses I have mentioned." + +"Nothing more?" + +"No, not as yet." + +"Fine proofs indeed! The story of a vagabond who flattered your hatred +in hope of a reward, the gossip of a distant village, the recollections +of ten years back, and finally, your own word, the word of a man who +seeks only revenge, the word of a man who swore to make Martin pay +dearly for the results of his own avarice, a man of furious passions +such as yours! No, Pierre, no, I do not believe you, and I never will!" + +"Other people may perhaps be less incredulous, and if I accuse him +publicly----" + +"Then I shall contradict you publicly!" And coming quickly forward, her +eyes shining with virtuous anger-- + +"Leave this house, go," she said; "it is you yourself who are the +impostor--go!" + +"I shall yet know how to convince everyone, and will make you +acknowledge it," cried the furious old man. + +He went out, and Bertrande sank exhausted into a chair. All the strength +which had supported her against Pierre vanished as soon as she was +alone, and in spite of her resistance to suspicion, the terrible light +of doubt penetrated her heart, and extinguished the pure torch of +trustfulness which had guided her hitherto--a doubt, alas! which +attacked at once her honour and her love, for she loved with all a +woman's tender affection. Just as actual poison gradually penetrates and +circulates through the whole system, corrupting the blood and affecting +the very sources of life until it causes the destruction of the whole +body, so does that mental poison, suspicion, extend its ravages in the +soul which has received it. Bertrande remembered with terror her first +feelings at the sight of the returned Martin Guerre, her involuntary +repugnance, her astonishment at not feeling more in touch with the +husband whom she had so sincerely regretted. She remembered also, as if +she saw it for the first time, that Martin, formerly quick, lively, and +hasty tempered, now seemed thoughtful, and fully master of himself. + +This change of character she had supposed due to the natural development +of age, she now trembled at the idea of another possible cause. Some +other little details began to occur to her mind--the forgetfulness or +abstraction of her husband as to a few insignificant things; thus it +sometimes happened that he did not answer to his name of Martin, also +that he mistook the road to a hermitage, formerly well known to them +both, and again that he could not answer when addressed in Basque, +although he him self had taught her the little she knew of this +language. Besides, since his return, he would never write in her +presence, did he fear that she would notice some difference? She had +paid little or no attention to these trifles; now, pieced together, they +assumed an alarming importance. An appalling terror seized Bertrande: +was she to remain in this uncertainty, or should she seek an explanation +which might prove her destruction? And how discover the truth--by +questioning the guilty man, by noting his confusion, his change of +colour, by forcing a confession from him? But she had lived with him for +two years, he was the father of her child, she could not ruin him +without ruining herself, and, an explanation once sought, she could +neither punish him and escape disgrace, nor pardon him without sharing +his guilt. To reproach him with his conduct and then keep silence would +destroy her peace for ever; to cause a scandal by denouncing him would +bring dishonour upon herself and her child. Night found her involved in +these hideous perplexities, too weak to surmount them; an icy chill came +over her, she went to bed, and awoke in a high fever. For several days +she hovered between life and death, and Martin Guerre bestowed the most +tender care upon her. She was greatly moved thereby, having one of those +impressionable minds which recognise kindness fully as much as injury. +When she was a little recovered and her mental power began to return, +she had only a vague recollection of what had occurred, and thought she +had had a frightful dream. She asked if Pierre Guerre had been to see +her, and found he had not been near the house. This could only be +explained by the scene which had taken place, and she then recollected +all the accusation Pierre had made, her own observations which had +confirmed it, all her grief and trouble. She inquired about the village +news. Pierre, evidently, had kept silence why? Had he seen that his +suspicions were unjust, or was he only seeking further evidence? She +sank back into her cruel uncertainty, and resolved to watch Martin +closely, before deciding as to his guilt or innocence. + +How was she to suppose that God had created two faces so exactly alike, +two beings precisely similar, and then sent them together into the +world, and on the same track, merely to compass the ruin of an unhappy +woman! A terrible idea took possession of her mind, an idea not uncommon +in an age of superstition, namely, that the Enemy himself could assume +human form, and could borrow the semblance of a dead man in order to +capture another soul for his infernal kingdom. Acting on this idea, she +hastened to the church, paid for masses to be said, and prayed +fervently. She expected every day to see the demon forsake the body he +had animated, but her vows, offerings, and prayers had no result. But +Heaven sent her an idea which she wondered had not occurred to her +sooner. "If the Tempter," she said to herself, "has taken the form of my +beloved husband, his power being supreme for evil, the resemblance would +be exact, and no difference, however slight, would exist. If, however, +it is only another man who resembles him, God must have made them with +some slight distinguishing marks." + +She then remembered, what she had not thought of before, having been +quite unsuspicious before her uncle's accusation, and nearly out of her +mind between mental and bodily suffering since. She remembered that on +her husband's left shoulder, almost on the neck, there used to be one of +those small, almost imperceptible, but ineffaceable birthmarks. Martin +wore his hair very long, it was difficult to see if the mark were there +or not. One night, while he slept, Bertrande cut away a lock of hair +from the place where this sign ought to be--it was not there! + +Convinced at length of the deception, Bertrande suffered inexpressible +anguish. This man whom she had loved and respected for two whole years, +whom she had taken to her heart as a husband bitterly mourned for--this +man was a cheat, an infamous impostor, and she, all unknowing, was yet a +guilty woman! Her child was illegitimate, and the curse of Heaven was +due to this sacrilegious union. To complete the misfortune, she was +already expecting another infant. She would have killed herself, but her +religion and the love of her children forbade it. Kneeling before her +child's cradle, she entreated pardon from the father of the one for the +father of the other. She would not bring herself to proclaim aloud their +infamy. + +"Oh!" she said, "thou whom I loved, thou who art no more, thou knowest +no guilty thought ever entered my mind! When I saw this man, I thought I +beheld thee; when I was happy, I thought I owed it to thee; it was thee +whom I loved in him. Surely thou dost not desire that by a public avowal +I should bring shame and disgrace on these children and on myself." + +She rose calm and strengthened: it seemed as if a heavenly inspiration +had marked out her duty. To suffer in silence, such was the course she +adopted,--a life of sacrifice and self-denial which she offered to God +as an expiation for her involuntary sin. But who can understand the +workings of the human heart? This man whom she ought to have loathed, +this man who had made her an innocent partner in his crime, this +unmasked impostor whom she should have beheld only with disgust, +she-loved him! The force of habit, the ascendancy he had obtained over +her, the love he had shown her, a thousand sympathies felt in her inmost +heart, all these had so much influence, that, instead of accusing and +cursing him, she sought to excuse him on the plea of a passion to which, +doubtless, he had yielded when usurping the name and place of another. +She feared punishment for him yet more than disgrace for herself, and +though resolved to no longer allow him the rights purchased by crime, +she yet trembled at the idea of losing his love. It was this above all +which decided her to keep eternal silence about her discovery; one +single word which proved that his imposture was known would raise an +insurmountable barrier between them. + +To conceal her trouble entirely was, however, beyond her power; her eyes +frequently showed traces of her secret tears. Martin several times asked +the cause of her sorrow; she tried to smile and excuse herself, only +immediately sinking back into her gloomy thoughts. Martin thought it +mere caprice; he observed her loss of colour, her hollow cheeks, and +concluded that age was impairing her beauty, and became less attentive +to her. His absences became longer and more frequent, and he did not +conceal his impatience and annoyance at being watched; for her looks +hung upon his, and she observed his coldness and change with much grief. +Having sacrificed all in order to retain his love, she now saw it slowly +slipping away from her. + +Another person also observed attentively. Pierre Guerre since his +explanation with Bertrande had apparently discovered no more evidence, +and did not dare to bring an accusation without some positive proofs. +Consequently he lost no chance of watching the proceedings of his +supposed nephew, silently hoping that chance might put him on the track +of a discovery. He also concluded from Bertrande's state of melancholy +that she had convinced herself of the fraud, but had resolved to conceal +it. + +Martin was then endeavoring to sell a part of his property, and this +necessitated frequent interviews with the lawyers of the neighbouring +town. Twice in the week he went to Rieux, and to make the journey +easier, used to start horseback about seven in the evening, sleep at +Rieux, and return the following afternoon. This arrangement did not +escape his enemy's notice, who was not long in convincing himself that +part of the time ostensibly spent on this journey was otherwise +employed. + +Towards ten o'clock on the evening of a dark night, the door of a small +house lying about half a gunshot from the village opened gently for the +exit of a man wrapped in a large cloak, followed by a young woman, who +accompanied him some distance. Arrived at the parting point, they +separated with a tender kiss and a few murmured words of adieu; the +lover took his horse, which was fastened to a tree, mounted, and rode +off towards Rieux. When the sounds died away, the woman turned slowly +and sadly towards her home, but as she approached the door a man +suddenly turned the corner of the house and barred her away. Terrified, +she was on the point of crying for help, when he seized her arm and +ordered her to be silent. + +"Rose," he whispered, "I know everything: that man is your lover. In +order to receive him safely, you send your old husband to sleep by means +of a drug stolen from your father's shop. This intrigue has been going +on for a month; twice a week, at seven o'clock, your door is opened to +this man, who does not proceed on his way to the town until ten. I know +your lover: he is my nephew." + +Petrified with terror, Rose fell on her knees and implored mercy. + +"Yes," replied Pierre, "you may well be frightened: I have your secret. +I have only to publish it and you are ruined for ever:" + +You will not do it! "entreated the guilty woman, clasping her hands. + +"I have only to tell your husband," continued Pierre, "that his wife has +dishonoured him, and to explain the reason of his unnaturally heavy +sleep." + +"He will kill me!" + +"No doubt: he is jealous, he is an Italian, he will know how to avenge +himself--even as I do." + +"But I never did you any harm," Rose cried in despair. "Oh! have pity, +have mercy, and spare me!" + +"On one condition." + +"What is it?" + +"Come with me." + +Terrified almost out of her mind, Rose allowed him to lead her away. + +Bertrande had just finished her evening prayer, and was preparing for +bed, when she was startled by several knocks at her door. Thinking that +perhaps some neighbour was in need of help, she opened it immediately, +and to her astonishment beheld a dishevelled woman whom Pierre grasped +by the arm. He exclaimed vehemently-- + +"Here is thy judge! Now, confess all to Bertrande!" + +Bertrande did not at once recognise the woman, who fell at her feet, +overcome by Pierre's threats. + +"Tell the truth here," he continued, "or I go and tell it to your +husband, at your own home!"--"Ah! madame, kill me," said the unhappy +creature, hiding her face; "let me rather die by your hand than his!" + +Bertrande, bewildered, did not understand the position in the least, but +she recognised Rose-- + +"But what is the matter, madame? Why are you here at this hour, pale and +weeping? Why has my uncle dragged you hither? I am to judge you, does he +say? Of what crime are you guilty?" + +"Martin might answer that, if he were here," remarked Pierre. + +A lightning flash of jealousy shot through Bertrande's soul at these +words, all her former suspicions revived. + +"What!" she said, "my husband! What do you mean?" + +"That he left this woman's house only a little while ago, that for a +month they have been meeting secretly. You are betrayed: I have seen +them and she does not dare to deny it." + +"Have mercy!" cried Rose, still kneeling. + +The cry was a confession. Bertrande became pate as death. "O God!" she +murmured, "deceived, betrayed--and by him!" + +"For a month past," repeated the old man. + +"Oh! the wretch," she continued, with increasing passion; "then his +whole life is a lie! He has abused my credulity, he now abuses my love! +He does not know me! He thinks he can trample on me--me, in whose power +are his fortune, his honour, his very life itself!" + +Then, turning to Rose-- + +"And you, miserable woman! by what unworthy artifice did you gain his +love? Was it by witchcraft? or some poisonous philtre learned from your +worthy father?" + +"Alas! no, madame; my weakness is my only crime, and also my only +excuse. I loved him, long ago, when I was only a young girl, and these +memories have been my ruin." + +"Memories? What! did you also think you were loving the same man? Are +you also his dupe? Or are you only pretending, in order to find a rag of +excuse to cover your wickedness?" + +It was now Rose who failed to understand; Bertrande continued, with +growing excitement-- + +"Yes, it was not enough to usurp the rights of a husband and father, he +thought to play his part still better by deceiving the mistress also . . +. . Ah! it is amusing, is it not? You also, Rose, you thought he was +your old lover! Well, I at least am excusable, I the wife, who only +thought she was faithful to her husband!" + +"What does it all mean?" asked the terrified Rose. + +"It means that this man is an impostor and that I will unmask him. +Revenge! revenge!" + +Pierre came forward. "Bertrande," he said, "so long as I thought you +were happy, when I feared to disturb your peace, I was silent, I +repressed my just indignation, and I spared the usurper of the name and +rights of my nephew. Do you now give me leave to speak?" + +"Yes," she replied in a hollow voice. + +"You will not contradict me?" + +By way of answer she sat down by the table and wrote a few hasty lines +with a trembling hand, then gave them to Pierre, whose eyes sparkled +with joy. + +"Yes," he said, "vengeance for him, but for her pity. Let this +humiliation be her only punishment. I promised silence in return for +confession, will you grant it?" + +Bertrande assented with a contemptuous gesture. + +"Go, fear not," said the old man, and Rose went out. Pierre also left +the house. + +Left to herself, Bertrande felt utterly worn out by so much emotion; +indignation gave way to depression. She began to realise what she had +done, and the scandal which would fall on her own head. Just then her +baby awoke, and held out its arms, smiling, and calling for its father. +Its father, was he not a criminal? Yes! but was it for her to ruin him, +to invoke the law, to send him to death, after having taken him to her +heart, to deliver him to infamy which would recoil on her own head and +her child's and on the infant which was yet unborn? If he had sinned +before God, was it not for God to punish him? If against herself, ought +she not rather to overwhelm him with contempt? But to invoke the help, +of strangers to expiate this offence; to lay bare the troubles of her +life, to unveil the sanctuary of the nuptial couch--in short, to summon +the whole world to behold this fatal scandal, was not that what in her +imprudent anger she had really done? She repented bitterly of her haste, +she sought to avert the consequences, and notwithstanding the night and +the bad weather, she hurried at once to Pierre's dwelling, hoping at all +costs to withdraw her denunciation. He was not there: he had at once +taken a horse and started for Rieux. Her accusation was already on its +way to the magistrates! + +At break of day the house where Martin Guerre lodged when at Rieux was +surrounded by soldiers. He came forward with confidence and inquired +what was wanted. On hearing the accusation, he changed colour slightly, +then collected himself, and made no resistance. When he came before the +judge, Bertrande's petition was read to him, declaring him to be "an +impostor, who falsely, audaciously, and treacherously had deceived her +by taking the name and assuming the person of Martin Guerre," and +demanding that he should be required to entreat pardon from God, the +king, and herself. + +The prisoner listened calmly to the charge, and met it courageously, +only evincing profound surprise at such a step being taken by a wife who +had lived with him for two years since his return, and who only now +thought of disputing the rights he had so long enjoyed. As he was +ignorant both of Bertrande's suspicions and their confirmation, and also +of the jealousy which had inspired her accusation, his astonishment was +perfectly natural, and did not at all appear to be assumed. He +attributed the whole charge to the machinations of his uncle, Pierre +Guerre; an old man, he said, who, being governed entirely by avarice and +the desire of revenge, now disputed his name and rights, in order the +better to deprive him of his property, which might be worth from sixteen +to eighteen hundred livres. In order to attain his end, this wicked man +had not hesitated to pervert his wife's mind, and at the risk of her own +dishonour had instigated this calumnious charge--a horrible and +unheard-of thing in the mouth of a lawful wife. "Ah! I do not blame +her," he cried; "she must suffer more than I do, if she really +entertains doubts such as these; but I deplore her readiness to listen +to these extraordinary calumnies originated by my enemy." + +The judge was a good deal impressed by so much assurance. The accused +was relegated to prison, whence he was brought two days later to +encounter a formal examination. + +He began by explaining the cause of his long absence, originating, he +said, in a domestic quarrel, as his wife well remembered. He there +related his life during these eight years. At first he wandered over the +country, wherever his curiosity and the love of travel led him. He then +had crossed the frontier, revisited Biscay, where he was born, and +having entered the service of the Cardinal of Burgos, he passed thence +into the army of the King of Spain. He was wounded at the battle of St. +Quentin, conveyed to a neighbouring village, where he recovered, +although threatened with amputation. Anxious to again behold his wife +and child, his other relations and the land of his adoption, he returned +to Artigues, where he was immediately recognised by everyone, including +the identical Pierre Guerre, his uncle, who now had the cruelty to +disavow him. In fact, the latter had shown him special affection up to +the day when Martin required an account of his stewardship. Had he only +had the cowardice to sacrifice his money and thereby defraud his +children, he would not to-day be charged as an impostor. "But," +continued Martin, "I resisted, and a violent quarrel ensued, in which +anger perhaps carried me too far; Pierre Guerre, cunning and revengeful, +has waited in silence. He has taken his time and his measures to +organise this plot, hoping thereby to obtain his ends, to bring justice +to the help of his avarice, and to acquire the spoils he coveted, and +revenge for his defeat, by means of a sentence obtained from the +scruples of the judges." Besides these explanations, which did not +appear wanting in probability, Martin vehemently protested his +innocence, demanding that his wife should be confronted with him, and +declaring that in his presence she would not sustain the charge of +personation brought against him, and that her mind not being animated by +the blind hatred which dominated his persecutor, the truth would +undoubtedly prevail. + +He now, in his turn, demanded that the judge should acknowledge his +innocence, and prove it by condemning his calumniators to the punishment +invoked against himself; that his wife, Bertrande de Rolls, should be +secluded in some house where her mind could no longer be perverted, and, +finally, that his innocence should be declared, and expenses and +compensations awarded him. + +After this speech, delivered with warmth, and with every token of +sincerity, he answered without difficulty all the interrogations of the +judge. The following are some of the questions and answers, just as they +have come down to us:-- + +"In what part of Biscay were you born?" + +"In the village of Aymes, province of Guipuscoa." + +"What were the names of your parents?" + +"Antonio Guerre and Marie Toreada." + +"Are they still living?" + +"My father died June 15th, 1530; my mother survived him three years and +twelve days." + +"Have you any brothers and sisters?" + +"I had one brother, who only lived three months. My four sisters, Inez, +Dorothea, Marietta, and Pedrina, all came to live at Artigues when I +did; they are there still, and they all recognised me." + +"What is the date of your marriage?" + +"January 10, 1539." + +"Who were present at the ceremony?" + +"My father-in-law, my mother-in-law, my uncle, my two sisters, Maitre +Marcel and his daughter Rose; a neighbour called Claude Perrin, who got +drunk at the wedding feast; also Giraud, the poet, who composed verses +in our honour." + +"Who was the priest who married you?" + +"The old cure, Pascal Guerin, whom I did not find alive when I +returned." + +"What special circumstances occurred on the wedding-day?" + +"At midnight exactly, our neighbour, Catherine Boere, brought us the +repast which is known as 'medianoche.' This woman has recognised me, as +also our old Marguerite, who has remained with us ever since the +wedding." + +"What is the date of your son's birth?" + +"February 10, 1548, nine years after our marriage. I was only twelve +when the ceremony took place, and did not arrive at manhood till several +years later." + +"Give the date of your leaving Artigues." + +"It was in August 1549. As I left the village, I met Claude Perrin and +the cure Pascal, and took leave of them. I went towards Beauvais, end I +passed through Orleans, Bourges, Limoges, Bordeaux, and Toulouse. If you +want the names of people whom I saw and to whom I spoke, you can have +them. What more can I say?" + +Never, indeed, was there a more apparently veracious statement! All the +doings of Martin Guerre seemed to be most faithfully described, and +surely only himself could thus narrate his own actions. As the historian +remarks, alluding to the story of Amphitryon, Mercury himself could not +better reproduce all Sosia's actions, gestures, and words, than did the +false Martin Guerre those of the real one. + +In accordance with the demand of the accused, Bertrande de Rolls was +detained in seclusion, in order to remove her from the influence of +Pierre Guerre. The latter, however, did not waste time, and during the +month spent in examining the witnesses cited by Martin, his diligent +enemy, guided by some vague traces, departed on a journey, from which he +did not return alone. + +All the witnesses bore out the statement of the accused; the latter +heard this in prison, and rejoiced, hoping for a speedy release. Before +long he was again brought before the judge, who told him that his +deposition had been confirmed by all the witnesses examined. + +"Do you know of no others?" continued the magistrate. "Have you no +relatives except those you have mentioned?" + +"I have no others," answered the prisoner. + +"Then what do you say to this man?" said the judge, opening a door. + +An old man issued forth, who fell on the prisoner's neck, exclaiming, +"My nephew!" + +Martin trembled in every limb, but only for a moment. Promptly +recovering himself, and gazing calmly at the newcomer, he asked coolly-- + +"And who may you be?" + +"What!" said the old man, "do you not know me? Dare you deny me?--me, +your mother's brother, Carbon Barreau, the old soldier! Me, who dandled +you on my knee in your infancy; me, who taught you later to carry a +musket; me, who met you during the war at an inn in Picardy, when you +fled secretly. Since then I have sought you everywhere; I have spoken of +you, and described your face and person, until a worthy inhabitant of +this country offered to bring me hither, where indeed I did not expect +to find my sister's son imprisoned and fettered as a malefactor. What is +his crime, may it please your honour?" + +"You shall hear," replied the magistrate. "Then you identify the +prisoner as your nephew? You affirm his name to be---?" + +"Arnauld du Thill, also called 'Pansette,' after his father, Jacques +Pansa. His mother was Therese Barreau, my sister, and he was born in the +village of Sagias." + +"What have you to say?" demanded the judge, turning to the accused. + +"Three things," replied the latter, unabashed, "this man is either mad, +or he has been suborned to tell lies, or he is simply mistaken." + +The old man was struck dumb with astonishment. But his supposed nephew's +start of terror had not been lost upon the judge, also much impressed by +the straightforward frankness of Carbon Barreau. He caused fresh +investigations to be made, and other inhabitants of Sagias were summoned +to Rieux, who one and all agreed in identifying the accused as the same +Arnauld du Thill who had been born and had grown up under their very +eyes. Several deposed that as he grew up he had taken to evil courses, +and become an adept in theft and lying, not fearing even to take the +sacred name of God in vain, in order to cover the untruth of his daring +assertions. From such testimony the judge naturally concluded that +Arnauld du Thill was quite capable of carrying on, an imposture, and +that the impudence which he displayed was natural to his character. +Moreover, he noted that the prisoner, who averred that he was born in +Biscay, knew only a few words of the Basque language, and used these +quite wrongly. He heard later another witness who deposed that the +original Martin Guerre was a good wrestler and skilled in the art of +fence, whereas the prisoner, having wished to try what he could do, +showed no skill whatever. Finally, a shoemaker was interrogated, and his +evidence was not the least damning. Martin Guerre, he declared, required +twelve holes to lace his boots, and his surprise had been great when he +found those of the prisoner had only nine. Considering all these points, +and the cumulative evidence, the judge of Rieux set aside the favourable +testimony, which he concluded had been the outcome of general credulity, +imposed on by an extraordinary resemblance. He gave due weight also to +Bertrande's accusation, although she had never confirmed it, and now +maintained an obstinate silence; and he pronounced a judgment by which +Arnauld du Thill was declared "attainted and convicted of imposture, and +was therefore condemned to be beheaded; after which his body should be +divided into four quarters, and exposed at the four corners of the +town." + +This sentence, as soon as it was known, caused much diversity of opinion +in the town. The prisoner's enemies praised the wisdom of the judge, and +those less prejudiced condemned his decision; as such conflicting +testimony left room for doubt. Besides, it was thought that the +possession of property and the future of the children required much +consideration, also that the most absolute certainty was demanded before +annulling a past of two whole years, untroubled by any counter claim +whatever. + +The condemned man appealed from this sentence to the Parliament of +Toulouse. This court decided that the case required more careful +consideration than had yet been given to it, and began by ordering +Arnauld du Thill to be confronted with Pierre Guerre and Bertrande de +Rolls. + +Who can say what feelings animate a man who, already once condemned, +finds himself subjected to a second trial? The torture scarcely ended +begins again, and Hope, though reduced to a shadow, regains her sway +over his imagination, which clings to her skirts, as it were, with +desperation. The exhausting efforts must be recommenced; it is the last +struggle--a struggle which is more desperate in proportion as there is +less strength to maintain it. In this case the defendant was not one of +those who are easily cast down; he collected all his energy, all his +courage, hoping to come victoriously out of the new combat which lay +before him. + +The magistrates assembled in the great hall of the Parliament, and the +prisoner appeared before them. He had first to deal with Pierre, and +confronted him calmly, letting him speak, without showing any emotion. +He then replied with indignant reproaches, dwelling on Pierre's greed +and avarice, his vows of vengeance, the means employed to work upon +Bertrande, his secret manoeuvres in order to gain his ends, and the +unheard-of animosity displayed in hunting up accusers, witnesses, and +calumniators. He defied Pierre to prove that he was not Martin Guerre, +his nephew, inasmuch as Pierre had publicly acknowledged and embraced +him, and his tardy suspicions only dated from the time of their violent +quarrel. His language was so strong and vehement, that Pierre became +confused and was unable to answer, and the encounter turned entirely in +Arnauld's favour, who seemed to overawe his adversary from a height of +injured innocence, while the latter appeared as a disconcerted +slanderer. + +The scene of his confrontation with Bertrande took a wholly different +character. The poor woman, pale, cast down, worn by sorrow, came +staggering before the tribunal, in an almost fainting condition. She +endeavoured to collect herself, but as soon as she saw the prisoner she +hung her head and covered her face with her hands. He approached her and +besought her in the gentlest accents not to persist in an accusation +which might send him to the scaffold, not thus to avenge any sins he +might have committed against her, although he could not reproach himself +with any really serious fault. + +Bertrande started, and murmured in a whisper, "And Rose?" + +"Ah!" Arnauld exclaimed, astonished at this revelation. + +His part was instantly taken. Turning to the judges-- + +"Gentlemen," he said, "my wife is a jealous woman! Ten years ago, when I +left her, she had formed these suspicions; they were the cause of my +voluntary exile. To-day she again accuses me of, guilty relations with +the same person; I neither deny nor acknowledge them, but I affirm that +it is the blind passion of jealousy which, aided by my uncle's +suggestions, guided my wife's hand when she signed this denunciation." + +Bertrande remained silent. + +"Do you dare," he continued, turning towards her,--"do you dare to swear +before God that jealousy did not inspire you with the wish to ruin me?" + +"And you," she replied, "dare you swear that I was deceived in my +suspicions?" + +"You see, gentlemen," exclaimed the prisoner triumphantly, "her jealousy +breaks forth before your eyes. Whether I am, or am not, guilty of the +sin she attributes to me, is not the question for you to decide. Can you +conscientiously admit the testimony of a woman who, after publicly +acknowledging me, after receiving me in her house, after living two +years in perfect amity with me, has, in a fit of angry vengeance, +thought she could give the lie to all her wards and actions? Ah! +Bertrande," he continued, "if it only concerned my life I think I could +forgive a madness of which your love is both the cause and the excuse, +but you are a mother, think of that! My punishment will recoil on the +head of my daughter, who is unhappy enough to have been born since our +reunion, and also on our unborn child, which you condemn beforehand to +curse the union which gave it being. Think of this, Bertrande, you will +have to answer before God for what you are now doing!" + +The unhappy woman fell on her knees, weeping. + +"I adjure you," he continued solemnly, "you, my wife, Bertrande de +Rolls, to swear now, here, on the crucifix, that I am an impostor and a +cheat." + +A crucifix was placed before Bertrande; she made a sign as if to push it +away, endeavoured to speak, and feebly exclaimed, "No," then fell to the +ground, and was carried out insensible. + +This scene considerably shook the opinion of the magistrates. They could +not believe that an impostor, whatever he might be, would have +sufficient daring and presence of mind thus to turn into mockery all +that was most sacred. They set a new inquiry on foot, which, instead of +producing enlightenment, only plunged them into still greater obscurity. +Out of thirty witnesses heard, more than three-quarters agreed in +identifying as Martin Guerre the man who claimed his name. Never was +greater perplexity caused by more extraordinary appearances. The +remarkable resemblance upset all reasoning: some recognised him as +Arnauld du Thill, and others asserted the exact contrary. He could +hardly understand Basque, some said, though born in Biscay, was that +astonishing, seeing he was only three when he left the country? He could +neither wrestle nor fence well, but having no occasion to practise these +exercises he might well have forgotten them. The shoemaker--who made his +shoes afore-time, thought he took another measure, but he might have +made a mistake before or be mistaken now. The prisoner further defended +himself by recapitulating the circumstances of his first meeting with +Bertrande, on his return, the thousand and one little details he had +mentioned which he only could have known, also the letters in his +possession, all of which could only be explained by the assumption that +he was the veritable Martin Guerre. Was it likely that he would be +wounded over the left eye and leg as the missing man was supposed to be? +Was it likely that the old servant, that the four sisters, his uncle +Pierre, many persons to whom he had related facts known only to himself, +that all the community in short, would have recognised him? And even the +very intrigue suspected by Bertrande, which had aroused her jealous +anger, this very intrigue, if it really existed, was it not another +proof of the verity of his claim, since the person concerned, as +interested and as penetrating as the legitimate wife; had also accepted +him as her former lover? Surely here was a mass of evidence sufficient +to cast light on the case. Imagine an impostor arriving for the first +time in a place where all the inhabitants are unknown to him, and +attempting to personate a man who had dwelt there, who would have +connections of all kinds, who would have played his part in a thousand +different scenes, who would have confided his secrets, his opinions, to +relations, friends, acquaintances, to all sorts of people; who had also +a wife--that is to say, a person under whose eyes nearly his whole life +would be passed, a person would study him perpetually, with whom he +would be continually conversing on every sort of subject. Could such an +impostor sustain his impersonation for a single day, without his memory +playing him false? From the physical and moral impossibility of playing +such a part, was it not reasonable to conclude that the accused, who had +maintained it for more than two years, was the true Martin Guerre? + +There seemed, in fact, to be nothing which could account for such an +attempt being successfully made unless recourse was had to an accusation +of sorcery. The idea of handing him over to the ecclesiastical +authorities was briefly discussed, but proofs were necessary, and the +judges hesitated. It is a principle of justice, which has become a +precept in law, that in cases of uncertainty the accused has the benefit +of the doubt; but at the period of which we are writing, these truths +were far from being acknowledged; guilt was presumed rather than +innocence; and torture, instituted to force confession from those who +could not otherwise be convicted, is only explicable by supposing the +judges convinced of the actual guilt of the accused; for no one would +have thought of subjecting a possibly innocent person to this suffering. +However, notwithstanding this prejudice, which has been handed down to +us by some organs of the public ministry always disposed to assume the +guilt of a suspected person,--notwithstanding this prejudice, the judges +in this case neither ventured to condemn Martin Guerre themselves as an +impostor, nor to demand the intervention of the Church. In this conflict +of contrary testimony, which seemed to reveal the truth only to +immediately obscure it again, in this chaos of arguments and conjectures +which showed flashes of light only to extinguish them in greater +darkness, consideration for the family prevailed. The sincerity of +Bertrande, the future of the children, seemed reasons for proceeding +with extreme caution, and this once admitted, could only yield to +conclusive evidence. Consequently the Parliament adjourned the case, +matters remaining in 'statu quo', pending a more exhaustive inquiry. +Meanwhile, the accused, for whom several relations and friends gave +surety, was allowed to be at liberty at Artigues, though remaining under +careful surveillance. + +Bertrande therefore again saw him an inmate of the house, as if no +doubts had ever been cast on the legitimacy of their union. What +thoughts passed through her mind during the long 'tete-a-tete'? She had +accused this man of imposture, and now, notwithstanding her secret +conviction, she was obliged to appear as if she had no suspicion, as if +she had been mistaken, to humiliate herself before the impostor, and ask +forgiveness for the insanity of her conduct; for, having publicly +renounced her accusation by refusing to swear to it, she had no +alternative left. In order to sustain her part and to save the honour of +her children, she must treat this man as her husband and appear +submissive and repentant; she must show him entire confidence, as the +only means of rehabilitating him and lulling the vigilance of justice. +What the widow of Martin Guerre must have suffered in this life of +effort was a secret between God and herself, but she looked at her +little daughter, she thought of her fast approaching confinement, and +took courage. + +One evening, towards nightfall, she was sitting near him in the most +private corner of the garden, with her little child on her knee, whilst +the adventurer, sunk in gloomy thoughts, absently stroked Sanxi's fair +head. Both were silent, for at the bottom of their hearts each knew the +other's thoughts, and, no longer able to talk familiarly, nor daring to +appear estranged, they spent, when alone together, long hours of silent +dreariness. + +All at once a loud uproar broke the silence of their retreat; they heard +the exclamations of many persons, cries of surprise mixed with angry +tones, hasty footsteps, then the garden gate was flung violently open, +and old Marguerite appeared, pale, gasping, almost breathless. Bertrande +hastened towards her in astonishment, followed by her husband, but when +near enough to speak she could only answer with inarticulate sounds, +pointing with terror to the courtyard of the house. They looked in this +direction, and saw a man standing at the threshold; they approached him. +He stepped forward, as if to place himself between them. He was tall, +dark; his clothes were torn; he had a wooden leg; his countenance was +stern. He surveyed Bertrande with a gloomy look: she cried aloud, and +fell back insensible; . . . she recognised her real husband! + +Arnauld du Thill stood petrified. While Marguerite, distracted herself, +endeavoured to revive her mistress, the neighbours, attracted by the +noise, invaded the house, and stopped, gazing with stupefaction at this +astonishing resemblance. The two men had the same features, the same +height, the same bearing, and suggested one being in two persons. They +gazed at each other in terror, and in that superstitious age the idea of +sorcery and of infernal intervention naturally occurred to those +present. All crossed themselves, expecting every moment to see fire from +heaven strike one or other of the two men, or that the earth would +engulf one of them. Nothing happened, however, except that both were +promptly arrested, in order that the strange mystery might be cleared +up. + +The wearer of the wooden leg, interrogated by the judges, related that +he came from Spain, where first the healing of his wound, and then the +want of money, had detained him hitherto. He had travelled on foot, +almost a beggar. He gave exactly the same reasons for leaving Artigues +as had been given by the other Martin Guerre, namely, a domestic quarrel +caused by jealous suspicion, the desire of seeing other countries, and +an adventurous disposition. He had gone back to his birthplace, in +Biscay; thence he entered the service of the Cardinal of Burgos; then +the cardinal's brother had taken him to the war, and he had served with +the Spanish troops; at the battle of St. Quentiny--his leg had been +shattered by an arquebus ball. So far his recital was the counterpart of +the one already heard by the judges from the other man. Now, they began +to differ. Martin Guerre stated that he had been conveyed to a house by +a man whose features he did not distinguish, that he thought he was +dying, and that several hours elapsed of which he could give no account, +being probably delirious; that he suffered later intolerable pain, and +on coming to himself, found that his leg had been amputated. He remained +long between life and death, but he was cared for by peasants who +probably saved his life; his recovery was very slow. He discovered that +in the interval between being struck down in the battle and recovering +his senses, his papers had disappeared, but it was impossible to suspect +the people who had nursed him with such generous kindness of theft. +After his recovery, being absolutely destitute, he sought to return to +France and again see his wife and child: he had endured all sorts of +privations and fatigues, and at length, exhausted, but rejoicing at +being near the end of his troubles, he arrived, suspecting nothing, at +his own door. Then the terror of the old servant, a few broken words, +made him guess at some misfortune, and the appearance of his wife and of +a man so exactly like himself stupefied him. Matters had now been +explained, and he only regretted that his wound had not at once ended +his existence. + +The whole story bore the impress of truth, but when the other prisoner +was asked what he had to say he adhered to his first answers, +maintaining their correctness, and again asserted that he was the real +Martin Guerre, and that the new claimant could only be Arnauld du Thill, +the clever impostor, who was said to resemble himself so much that the +inhabitants of Sagias had agreed in mistaking him for the said Arnauld. + +The two Martin Guerres were then confronted without changing the +situation in the least; the first showing the same assurance, the same +bold and confident bearing; while the second, calling on God and men to +bear witness to his sincerity, deplored his misfortune in the most +pathetic terms. + +The judge's perplexity was great: the affair became more and more +complicated, the question remained as difficult, as uncertain as ever. +All the appearances and evidences were at variance; probability seemed +to incline towards one, sympathy was more in favour of the other, but +actual proof was still wanting. + +At length a member of the Parliament, M. de Coras, proposed as a last +chance before resorting to torture, that final means of examination in a +barbarous age, that Bertrande should be placed between the two rivals, +trusting, he said, that in such a case a woman's instinct would divine +the truth. Consequently the two Martin Guerres were brought before the +Parliament, and a few moments after Bertrande was led in, weak, pale, +hardly able to stand, being worn out by suffering and advanced +pregnancy. Her appearance excited compassion, and all watched anxiously +to see what she would do. She looked at the two men, who had been placed +at different ends of the hall, and turning from him who was nearest to +her, went and knelt silently before the man with the wooden leg; then, +joining her hands as if praying for mercy, she wept bitterly. So simple +and touching an action roused the sympathy of all present; Arnauld du +Thill grew pale, and everyone expected that Martin Guerre, rejoiced at +being vindicated by this public acknowledgment, would raise his wife and +embrace her. But he remained cold and stern, and in a contemptuous +tone-- + +"Your tears, madame," he said; "they do not move me in the least, +neither can you seek to excuse your credulity by the examples of my +sisters and my uncle. A wife knows her husband more intimately than his +other relations, as you prove by your present action, and if she is +deceived it is because she consents to the deception. You are the sole +cause of the misfortunes of my house, and to you only shall I ever +impute them." + +Thunderstruck by this reproach, the poor woman had no strength to reply, +and was taken home more dead than alive. + +The dignified language of this injured husband made another point in his +favour. Much pity was felt for Bertrande, as being the victim of an +audacious deception; but everybody agreed that thus it beseemed the real +Martin Guerre to have spoken. After the ordeal gone through by the wife +had been also essayed by the sisters and other relatives, who one and +all followed Bertrande's example and accepted the new-comer, the court, +having fully deliberated, passed the following sentence, which we +transcribe literally: + +"Having reviewed the trial of Arnauld du Thill or Pansette, calling +himself Martin Guerre, a prisoner in the Conciergerie, who appeals from +the decision of the judge of Rieux, etc. + +"We declare that this court negatives the appeal and defence of the said +Arnauld du Thill; and as punishment and amends for the imposture, +deception, assumption of name and of person, adultery, rape, sacrilege, +theft, larceny, and other deeds committed by the aforesaid du Thill, and +causing the above-mentioned trial; this court has condemned and condemns +him to do penance before the church of Artigue, kneeling, clad in his +shirt only, bareheaded and barefoot, a halter on his neck, and a burning +torch in his hand, and there he shall ask pardon from God, from the +King, and from justice, from the said Martin Guerre and Bertrande de +Rolls, husband and wife: and this done, the aforesaid du Thill shall be +delivered into the hands of the executioners of the King's justice, who +shall lead him through the customary streets and crossroads of the +aforesaid place of Artigues, and, the halter on his neck, shall bring +him before the house of the aforesaid Martin Guerre, where he shall be +hung and strangled upon a gibbet erected for this purpose, after which +his body shall be burnt: and for various reasons and considerations +thereunto moving the court, it has awarded and awards the goods of the +aforesaid Arnauld du Thill, apart from the expenses of justice, to the +daughter born unto him by the aforesaid Bertrande de Rolls, under +pretence of marriage falsely asserted by him, having thereto assumed the +name and person of the aforesaid Martin Guerre, by this mans deceiving +the aforesaid de Rolls; and moreover the court has exempted and exempts +from this trial the aforesaid Martin Guerre and Bertrande de Rolls, also +the said Pierre Guerre, uncle of the aforesaid Martin, and has remitted +and remits the aforesaid Arnauld du Thill to the aforesaid judge of +Rieux, in order that the present sentence may be executed according to +its form and tenor. Pronounced judicially this 12th day of September +1560." + +This sentence substituted the gallows for the decapitation decreed by +the first judge, inasmuch as the latter punishment was reserved for +criminals of noble birth, while hanging was inflicted on meaner persons. + +When once his fate was decided, Arnauld du Thill lost all his audacity. +Sent back to Artigues, he was interrogated in prison by the judge of +Rieux, and confessed his imposture at great length. He said the idea +first occurred to him when, having returned from the camp in Picardy, he +was addressed as Martin Guerre by several intimate friends of the +latter. He then inquired as to the sort of life, the habits and +relations of, this man, and having contrived to be near him, had watched +him closely during the battle. He saw him fall, carried him away, and +then, as the reader has already seen, excited his delirium to the utmost +in order to obtain possession of his secrets. Having thus explained his +successful imposture by natural causes, which excluded any idea of magic +or sorcery, he protested his penitence, implored the mercy of God, and +prepared himself for execution as became a Christian. + +The next day, while the populace, collecting from the whole +neighbourhood, had assembled before the parish church of Artigues in +order to behold the penance of the criminal, who, barefoot, attired in a +shirt, and holding a lighted torch in his hand, knelt at the entrance of +the church, another scene, no less painful, took place in the house of +Martin Guerre. Exhausted by her suffering, which had caused a premature +confinement, Bertrande lay on her couch of pain, and besought pardon +from him whom she had innocently wronged, entreating him also to pray +for her soul. Martin Guerre, sitting at her bedside, extended his hand +and blessed her. She took his hand and held it to her lips; she could no +longer speak. All at once a loud noise was heard outside: the guilty man +had just been executed in front of the house. When finally attached to +the gallows, he uttered a terrible cry, which was answered by another +from inside the house. The same evening, while the body of the +malefactor was being consumed by fire, the remains of a mother and child +were laid to rest in consecrated ground. + + + + +*ALI PACHA* + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +The beginning of the nineteenth century was a time of audacious +enterprises and strange vicissitudes of fortune. Whilst Western Europe +in turn submitted and struggled against a sub-lieutenant who made +himself an emperor, who at his pleasure made kings and destroyed +kingdoms, the ancient eastern part of the Continent; like mummies which +preserve but the semblance of life, was gradually tumbling to pieces, +and getting parcelled out amongst bold adventurers who skirmished over +its ruins. Without mentioning local revolts which produced only +short-lived struggles and trifling changes, of administration, such as +that of Djezzar Pacha, who refused to pay tribute because he thought +himself impregnable in his citadel of Saint-Jean-d'Acre, or that of +Passevend-Oglou Pacha, who planted himself on the walls of Widdin as +defender of the Janissaries against the institution of the regular +militia decreed by Sultan Selim at Stamboul, there were wider spread +rebellions which attacked the constitution of the Turkish Empire and +diminished its extent; amongst them that of Czerni-Georges, which raised +Servia to the position of a free state; of Mahomet Ali, who made his +pachalik of Egypt into a kingdom; and finally that of the man whose, +history we are about to narrate, Ali Tepeleni, Pacha of Janina, whose +long resistance to the suzerain power preceded and brought about the +regeneration of Greece. + +Ali's own will counted for nothing in this important movement. He +foresaw it, but without ever seeking to aid it, and was powerless to +arrest it. He was not one of those men who place their lives and +services at the disposal of any cause indiscriminately; and his sole aim +was to acquire and increase a power of which he was both the guiding +influence, and the end and object. His nature contained the seeds of +every human passion, and he devoted all his long life to their +development and gratification. This explains his whole temperament; his +actions were merely the natural outcome of his character confronted with +circumstances. Few men have understood themselves better or been on +better terms with the orbit of their existence, and as the personality +of an individual is all the more striking, in proportion as it reflects +the manners and ideas of the time and country in which he has lived, so +the figure of Ali Pacha stands out, if not one of the most brilliant, at +least one of the most singular in contemporary history. + +From the middle of the eighteenth century Turkey had been a prey to the +political gangrene of which she is vainly trying to cure herself to-day, +and which, before long, will dismember her in the sight of all Europe. +Anarchy and disorder reigned from one end of the empire to the other. +The Osmanli race, bred on conquest alone, proved good for nothing when +conquest failed. It naturally therefore came to pass when Sobieski, who +saved Christianity under the walls of Vienna, as before his time Charles +Martel had saved it on the plains of Poitiers, had set bounds to the +wave of Mussulman westward invasion, and definitely fixed a limit which +it should not pass, that the Osmanli warlike instincts recoiled upon +themselves. The haughty descendants of Ortogrul, who considered +themselves born to command, seeing victory forsake them, fell back upon +tyranny. Vainly did reason expostulate that oppression could not long be +exercised by hands which had lost their strength, and that peace imposed +new and different labours on those who no longer triumphed in war; they +would listen to nothing; and, as fatalistic when condemned to a state of +peace as when they marched forth conquering and to conquer, they cowered +down in magnificent listlessness, leaving the whole burden of their +support on conquered peoples. Like ignorant farmers, who exhaust fertile +fields by forcing crops; they rapidly ruined their vast and rich empire +by exorbitant exactions. Inexorable conquerors and insatiable masters, +with one hand they flogged their slaves and with the other plundered +them. Nothing was superior to their insolence, nothing on a level with +their greed. They were never glutted, and never relaxed their +extortions. But in proportion as their needs increased on the one hand, +so did their resources diminish on the other. Their oppressed subjects +soon found that they must escape at any cost from oppressors whom they +could neither appease nor satisfy. Each population took the steps best +suited to its position and character; some chose inertia, others +violence. The inhabitants of the plains, powerless and shelterless, bent +like reeds before the storm and evaded the shock against which they were +unable to stand. The mountaineers planted themselves like rocks in a +torrent, and dammed its course with all their might. On both sides arose +a determined resistance, different in method, similar in result. In the +case of the peasants labour came to a stand-still; in that of the hill +folk open war broke out. The grasping exactions of the tyrant dominant +body produced nothing from waste lands and armed mountaineers; +destitution and revolt were equally beyond their power to cope with; and +all that was left for tyranny to govern was a desert enclosed by a wall. + +But, all the same, the wants of a magnificent sultan, descendant of the +Prophet and distributor of crowns, must be supplied; and to do this, the +Sublime Porte needed money. Unconsciously imitating the Roman Senate, +the Turkish Divan put up the empire for sale by public auction. All +employments were sold to the highest bidder; pachas, beys, cadis, +ministers of every rank, and clerks of every class had to buy their +posts from their sovereign and get the money back out of his subjects. +They spent their money in the capital, and recuperated themselves in the +provinces. And as there was no other law than their master's pleasure, +so there, was no other guarantee than his caprice. They had therefore to +set quickly to work; the post might be lost before its cost had been +recovered. Thus all the science of administration resolved itself into +plundering as much and as quickly as possible. To this end, the delegate +of imperial power delegated in his turn, on similar conditions, other +agents to seize for him and for themselves all they could lay their +hands on; so that the inhabitants of the empire might be divided into +three classes--those who were striving to seize everything; those who +were trying to save a little; and those who, having nothing and hoping +for nothing, took no interest in affairs at all. + +Albania was one of the most difficult provinces to manage. Its +inhabitants were poor, brave, and, the nature of the country was +mountainous and inaccessible. The pashas had great difficulty in +collecting tribute, because the people were given to fighting for their +bread. Whether Mahomedans or Christians, the Albanians were above all +soldiers. Descended on the one side from the unconquerable Scythians, on +the other from the ancient Macedonians, not long since masters of the +world; crossed with Norman adventurers brought eastwards by the great +movement of the Crusades; they felt the blood of warriors flow in their +veins, and that war was their element. Sometimes at feud with one +another, canton against canton, village against village, often even +house against house; sometimes rebelling against the government their +sanjaks; sometimes in league with these against the sultan; they never +rested from combat except in an armed peace. Each tribe had its military +organisation, each family its fortified stronghold, each man his gun on +his shoulder. When they had nothing better to do, they tilled their +fields, or mowed their neighbours', carrying off, it should be noted, +the crop; or pastured their, flocks, watching the opportunity to +trespass over pasture limits. This was the normal and regular life of +the population of Epirus, Thesprotia, Thessaly, and Upper Albania. Lower +Albania, less strong, was also less active and bold; and there, as in +many other parts of Turkey, the dalesman was often the prey of the +mountaineer. It was in the mountain districts where were preserved the +recollections of Scander Beg, and where the manners of ancient Laconia +prevailed; the deeds of the brave soldier were sung on the lyre, and the +skilful robber quoted as an example to the children by the father of the +family. Village feasts were held on the booty taken from strangers; and +the favourite dish was always a stolen sheep. Every man was esteemed in +proportion to his skill and courage, and a man's chances of making a +good match were greatly enhanced when he acquired the reputation of +being an agile mountaineer and a good bandit. + +The Albanians proudly called this anarchy liberty, and religiously +guarded a state of disorder bequeathed by their ancestors, which always +assured the first place to the most valiant. + +It was amidst men and manners such as these that Ali Tepeleni was born. +He boasted that he belonged to the conquering race, and that he +descended from an ancient Anatolian family which had crossed into +Albania with the troops of Bajazet Ilderim. But it is made certain by +the learned researches of M. de Pouqueville that he sprang from a native +stock, and not an Asiatic one, as he pretended. His ancestors were +Christian Skipetars, who became Mussulmans after the Turkish invasion, +and his ancestry certainly cannot be traced farther back than the end of +the sixteenth century. + +Mouktar Tepeleni, his grandfather, perished in the Turkish expedition +against Corfu, in 1716. Marshal Schullemburg, who defended the island, +having repulsed the enemy with loss, took Mouktar prisoner on Mount San +Salvador, where he was in charge of a signalling party, and with a +barbarity worthy of his adversaries, hung him without trial. It must be +admitted that the memory of this murder must have had the effect of +rendering Ali badly disposed towards Christians. + +Mouktar left three sons, two of whom, Salik and Mahomet, were born of +the same mother, a lawful wife, but the mother of the youngest, Veli, +was a slave. His origin was no legal bar to his succeeding like his +brothers. The family was one of the richest in the town of Tepelen, +whose name it bore, it enjoyed an income of six thousand piastres, equal +to twenty thousand francs. This was a large fortune in a poor country, +where, all commodities were cheap. But the Tepeleni family, holding the +rank of beys, had to maintain a state like that of the great financiers +of feudal Europe. They had to keep a large stud of horses, with a great +retinue of servants and men-at-arms, and consequently to incur heavy +expenses; thus they constantly found their revenue inadequate. The most +natural means of raising it which occurred to them was to diminish the +number of those who shared it; therefore the two elder brothers, sons of +the wife, combined against Veli, the son of the slave, and drove him out +of the house. The latter, forced to leave home, bore his fate like a +brave man, and determined to levy exactions on others to compensate him +for the losses incurred through his brothers. He became a freebooter, +patrolling highroads and lanes, with his gun on his shoulder and his +yataghan in his belt, attacking, holding for ransom, or plundering all +whom he encountered. + +After some years of this profitable business, he found himself a wealthy +man and chief of a warlike band. Judging that the moment for vengeance +had arrived, he marched for Tepelen, which he reached unsuspected, +crossed the river Vojutza, the ancient Aous, penetrated the streets +unresisted, and presented himself before the paternal house, in which +his brothers, forewarned, had barricaded themselves. He at once besieged +them, soon forced the gates, and pursued them to a tent, in which they +took a final refuge. He surrounded this tent, waited till they were +inside it, and then set fire to the four corners. "See," said he to +those around him, "they cannot accuse me of vindictive reprisals; my +brothers drove me out of doors, and I retaliate by keeping them at home +for ever." + +In a few moments he was his father's sole heir and master of Tepelen. +Arrived at the summit of his ambition, he gave up free-booting, and +established himself in the town, of which he became chief ago. He had +already a son by a slave, who soon presented him with another son, and +afterwards with a daughter, so that he had no reason to fear dying +without an heir. But finding himself rich enough to maintain more wives +and bring up many children, he desired to increase his credit by allying +himself to some great family of the country. He therefore solicited and +obtained the hand of Kamco, daughter of a bey of Conitza. This marriage +attached him by the ties of relationship to the principal families of +the province, among others to Kourd Pacha, Vizier of Serat, who was +descended from the illustrious race of Scander Beg. After a few years, +Veli had by his new wife a son named Ali, the subject of this history, +and a daughter named Chainitza. + +Ire spite of his intentions to reform, Veli could not entirely give up +his old habits. Although his fortune placed him altogether above small +gains and losses, he continued to amuse himself by raiding from time to +time sheep, goats, and other perquisites, probably to keep his hand in. +This innocent exercise of his taste was not to the fancy of his +neighbours, and brawls and fights recommenced in fine style. Fortune did +not always favour him, and the old mountaineer lost in the town part of +what he had made on the hills. Vexations soured his temper and injured +his health. Notwithstanding the injunctions of Mahomet, he sought +consolation in wine, which soon closed his career. He died in 1754. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +Ali thus at thirteen years of age was free to indulge in the impetuosity +of his character. From his early youth he had manifested a mettle and +activity rare in young Turks, haughty by nature and self-restrained by +education. Scarcely out of the nursery, he spent his time in climbing +mountains, wandering through forests, scaling precipices, rolling in +snow, inhaling the wind, defying the tempests, breathing out his nervous +energy through every pore. Possibly he learnt in the midst of every kind +of danger to brave everything and subdue everything; possibly in +sympathy with the majesty of nature, he felt aroused in him a need of +personal grandeur which nothing could satiate. In vain his father sought +to calm his savage temper; and restrain his vagabond spirit; nothing was +of, any use. As obstinate as intractable, he set at defiance all efforts +and all precautions. If they shut him up, he broke the door or jumped +out of the window; if they threatened him, he pretended to comply, +conquered by fear, and promised everything that was required, but only +to break his word the first opportunity. He had a tutor specially +attached to his person and charged to supervise all his actions. He +constantly deluded him by fresh tricks, and when he thought himself free +from the consequences, he maltreated him with gross violence. It was +only in his youth, after his father's death, that he became more +manageable; he even consented to learn to read, to please his mother, +whose idol he was, and to whom in return he gave all his affection. + +If Kamco had so strong a liking for Ali, it was because she found in +him, not only her blood, but also her character. During the lifetime of +her husband, whom she feared, she seemed only an ordinary woman; but as +soon as his eyes were closed, she gave free scope to the violent +passions which agitated her bosom. Ambitious, bold, vindictive; she +assiduously cultivated the germs of ambition, hardihood, and vengeance +which already strongly showed themselves in the young Ali. "My son," she +was never tired of telling him, "he who cannot defend his patrimony +richly deserves to lose it. Remember that the property of others is only +theirs so long as they are strong enough to keep it, and that when you +find yourself strong enough to take it from them, it is yours. Success +justifies everything, and everything is permissible to him who has the +power to do it." + +Ali, when he reached the zenith of his greatness, used to declare that +his success was entirely his mother's work. "I owe everything to my +mother," he said one day to the French Consul; "for my father, when he +died, left me nothing but a den of wild beasts and a few fields. My +imagination, inflamed by the counsels of her who has given me life twice +over, since she has made me both a man and a vizier, revealed to me the +secret of my destiny. Thenceforward I saw nothing in Tepelen but the +natal air from which I was to spring on the prey which I devoured +mentally. I dreamt of nothing else but power, treasures, palaces, in +short what time has realised and still promises; for the point I have +now reached is not the limit of my hopes." + +Kamco did not confine herself to words; she employed every means to +increase the fortune of her beloved son and to make him a power. Her +first care was to poison the children of Veli's favourite slave, who had +died before him. Then, at ease about the interior of her family, she +directed her attention to the exterior. Renouncing all the habit of her +sex, she abandoned the veil and the distaff, and took up arms, under +pretext of maintaining the rights of her children. She collected round +her her husband's old partisans, whom she attached to her, service, some +by presents, others by various favours, and she gradually enlisted all +the lawless and adventurous men in Toscaria. With their aid, she made +herself all powerful in Tepelen, and inflicted the most rigorous +persecutions on such as remained hostile to her. + +But the inhabitants of the two adjacent villages of Kormovo and Kardiki, +fearing lest this terrible woman, aided by her son, now grown into a +man, should strike a blow against their independence; made a secret +alliance against her, with the object of putting her out of the way the +first convenient opportunity. Learning one day that Ali had started on a +distant expedition with his best soldiers; they surprised Tepelen under +cover of night, and carried off Kamco and her daughter Chainitza +captives to Kardiki. It was proposed to put them to death; and +sufficient evidence to justify their execution was not wanting; but +their beauty saved their lives; their captors preferred to revenge +themselves by licentiousness rather than by murder. Shut up all day in +prison, they only emerged at night to pass into the arms of the men who +had won them by lot the previous morning. This state of things lasted +for a month, at the end of which a Greek of Argyro-Castron, named G. +Malicovo, moved by compassion for their horrible fate, ransomed them for +twenty thousand piastres, and took them back to Tepelen. + +Ali had just returned. He was accosted by his mother and sister, pale +with fatigue, shame, and rage. They told him what had taken place, with +cries and tears, and Kamco added, fixing her distracted eyes upon him, +"My son! my son! my soul will enjoy no peace till Kormovo and Kardikil +destroyed by thy scimitar, will no longer exist to bear witness to my +dishonour." + +Ali, in whom this sight and this story had aroused, sanguinary passions, +promised a vengeance proportioned to the outrage, and worked with all +his might to place himself in a position to keep his word. A worthy son +of his father, he had commenced life in the fashion of the heroes of +ancient Greece, stealing sheep and goats, and from the age of fourteen +years he had acquired an equal reputation to that earned by the son of +Jupiter and Maia. When he grew to manhood, he extended his operations. +At the time of which we are speaking, he had long practised open +pillage. His plundering expeditions added to his mother's savings, who +since her return from Kardiki had altogether withdrawn from public life, +and devoted herself to household duties, enabled him to collect a +considerable force for am expedition against Kormovo, one of the two +towns he had sworn to destroy. He marched against it at the head of his +banditti, but found himself vigorously opposed, lost part of his force, +and was obliged to save himself and the rest by flight. He did not stop +till he reached Tepelen, where he had a warm reception from Kamco, whose +thirst for vengeance had been disappointed by his defeat. "Go!" said +she, "go, coward! go spin with the women in the harem! The distaff is a +better weapon for you than the scimitar!" The young man answered not a +word, but, deeply wounded by these reproaches, retired to hide his +humiliation in the bosom of his old friend the mountain. The popular +legend, always thirsting for the marvellous in the adventures of heroes, +has it that he found in the ruins of a church a treasure which enabled +him to reconstitute his party. But he himself has contradicted this +story, stating that it was by the ordinary methods of rapine and plunder +that he replenished his finances. He selected from his old band of +brigands thirty palikars, and entered, as their bouloubachi, or leader +of the group, into the service of the Pacha of Negropont. But he soon +tired of the methodical life he was obliged to lead, and passed into +Thessaly, where, following the example of his father Veli, he employed +his time in brigandage on the highways. Thence he raided the Pindus +chain of mountains, plundered a great number of villages, and returned +to Tepelen, richer and consequently more esteemed than ever. + +He employed his fortune and influence in collecting a formidable +guerilla force, and resumed his plundering operations. Kurd Pacha soon +found himself compelled, by the universal outcry of the province, to +take active measures against this young brigand. He sent against him a +division of troops, which defeated him and brought him prisoner with his +men to Berat, the capital of Central Albania and residence of the +governor. The country flattered itself that at length it was freed from +its scourge. The whole body of bandits was condemned to death; but Ali +was not the man to surrender his life so easily. Whilst they were +hanging his comrades, he threw himself at the feet of the pacha and +begged for mercy in the name of his parents, excusing himself on account +of his youth, and promising a lasting reform. The pacha, seeing at his +feet a comely youth, with fair hair and blue eyes, a persuasive voice, +and eloquent tongue, and in whose veins flowed the same blood as his +own, was moved with pity and pardoned him. Ali got off with a mild +captivity in the palace of his powerful relative, who heaped benefits +upon him, and did all he could to lead him into the paths of probity. He +appeared amenable to these good influences, and bitterly to repent his +past errors. After some years, believing in his reformation, and moved +by the prayers of Kamco, who incessantly implored the restitution of her +dear son, the generous pacha restored him his liberty, only giving him +to under stand that he had no more mercy to expect if he again disturbed +the public peace. Ali taking the threat seriously; did not run the risk +of braving it, and, on the contrary, did all he could to conciliate the +man whose anger he dared not kindle. Not only did he keep the promise he +had made to live quietly, but by his good conduct he caused his, former +escapades to be forgotten, putting under obligation all his neighbours, +and attaching to himself, through the services he rendered them, a great +number of friendly disposed persons. In this manner he soon assumed a +distinguished and honourable rank among the beys of the country, and +being of marriageable age, he sought and formed an alliance with the +daughter of Capelan Tigre, Pacha of Delvino, who resided at +Argyro-Castron. This union, happy on both sides, gave him, with one of +the most accomplished women in Epirus, a high position and great +influence. + +It seemed as if this marriage were destined to wean Ali forever from his +former turbulent habits and wild adventures. But the family into which +he had married afforded violent contrasts and equal elements of good and +mischief. If Emineh, his wife, was a model of virtue, his father-in-law, +Capelan, was a composition of every vice--selfish, ambitious, turbulent, +fierce. Confident in his courage, and further emboldened by his +remoteness from the capital, the Pacha of Delvino gloried in setting law +and authority at defiance. + +Ali's disposition was too much like that of his father-in-law to prevent +him from taking his measure very quickly. He soon got on good terms with +him, and entered into his schemes, waiting for an opportunity to +denounce him and become his successor. For this opportunity he had not +long to wait. + +Capelan's object in giving his daughter to Tepeleni was to enlist him +among the beys of the province to gain independence, the ruling passion +of viziers. The cunning young man pretended to enter into the views of +his father-in-law, and did all he could to urge him into the path of +rebellion. + +An adventurer named Stephano Piccolo, an emissary of Russia, had just +raised in Albania the standard of the Cross and called to arms all the +Christians of the Acroceraunian Mountains. The Divan sent orders to all +the pachas of Northern Turkey in Europe to instantly march against the +insurgents and quell the rising in blood. + +Instead of obeying the orders of the Divan and joining Kurd Pacha, who +had summoned him, Capelan, at the instigation of his son-in-law, did all +he could to embarrass the movement of the imperial troops, and without +openly making common cause with the insurgents, he rendered them +substantial aid in their resistance. They were, notwithstanding, +conquered and dispersed; and their chief, Stephano Piccolo, had to take +refuge in the unexplored caves of Montenegro. + +When the struggle was over, Capelan, as Ali had foreseen, was summoned +to give an account of his conduct before the roumeli-valicy, supreme +judge over Turkey in Europe. He was not only accused of the gravest +offences, but proofs of them were forwarded to the Divan by the very man +who had instigated them. There could be no doubt as to the result of the +inquiry; therefore, the pacha, who had no suspicions of his son-in-law's +duplicity, determined not to leave his pachalik. That was not in +accordance with the plans of Ali, who wished to succeed to both the +government and the wealth of his father-in-law. He accordingly made the +most plausible remonstrances against the inefficacy and danger of such a +resistance. To refuse to plead was tantamount to a confession of guilt, +and was certain to bring on his head a storm against which he was +powerless to cope, whilst if he obeyed the orders of the roumeli-valicy +he would find it easy to excuse himself. To give more effect to his +perfidious advice, Ali further employed the innocent Emineh, who was +easily alarmed on her father's account. Overcome by the reasoning of his +son-in-law and the tears of his daughter, the unfortunate pacha +consented to go to Monastir, where he had been summoned to appear, and +where he was immediately arrested and beheaded. + +Ali's schemes had succeeded, but both his ambition and his cupidity were +frustrated. Ali, Bey of Argyro-Castron, who had throughout shown himself +devoted to the sultan, was nominated Pacha of Delvino in place of +Capelan. He sequestered all the property of his predecessor, as +confiscated to the sultan, and thus deprived Ali Tepeleni of all the +fruits of his crime. + +This disappointment kindled the wrath of the ambitious Ali. He swore +vengeance for the spoliation of which he considered himself the victim. +But the moment was not favourable for putting his projects in train. The +murder of Capelan, which its perpetrator intended for a mere crime, +proved a huge blunder. The numerous enemies of Tepeleni, silent under +the administration of the late pacha, whose resentment they had cause to +fear, soon made common cause under the new one, for whose support they +had hopes. Ali saw the danger, sought and found the means to obviate it. +He succeeded in making a match between Ali of Argyro-Castron, who was +unmarried, and Chainitza, his own sister. This alliance secured to him +the government of Tigre, which he held under Capelan. But that was not +sufficient. He must put himself in a state of security against the +dangers he had lately, experienced, and establish himself on a firm +footing' against possible accidents. He soon formed a plan, which he +himself described to the French Consul in the following words:-- + +"Years were elapsing," said he, "and brought no important change in my +position. I was an important partisan, it is true, and strongly +supported, but I held no title or Government employment of my own. I +recognised the necessity of establishing myself firmly in my birthplace. +I had devoted friends, and formidable foes, bent on my destruction, whom +I must put out of the way, for my own safety. I set about a plan for +destroying them at one blow, and ended by devising one with which I +ought to have commenced my career. Had I done so, I should have saved +much time and pains. + +"I was in the habit of going every day, after hunting, for a siesta in a +neighbouring wood. A confidential servant of mine suggested to my +enemies the idea of surprising me and assassinating one there. I myself +supplied the plan of the conspiracy, which was adopted. On the day +agreed upon, I preceded my adversaries to the place where I was +accustomed to repose, and caused a goat to be pinioned and muzzled, and +fastened under the tree, covered with my cape; I then returned home by a +roundabout path. Soon after I had left, the conspirators arrived, and +fired a volley at the goat. + +"They ran up to make certain of my death, but were interrupted by a +piquet of my men, who unexpectedly emerged from a copse where I had +posted them, and they were obliged to return to Tepelen, which they +entered, riotous with joy, crying 'Ali Bey is dead, now we are free!' +This news reached my harem, and I heard the cries of my mother and my +wife mingled with the shouts of my enemies. I allowed the commotion to +run its course and reach its height, so as to indicate which were my +friends and which my foes. But when the former were at the depth of +their distress and the latter at the height of their joy, and, exulting +in their supposed victory, had drowned their prudence and their courage +in floods of wine, then, strong in the justice of my cause, I appeared +upon the scene. Now was the time for my friends to triumph and for my +foes to tremble. I set to work at the head of my partisans, and before +sunrise had exterminated the last of my enemies. I distributed their +lands, their houses, and their goods amongst my followers, and from that +moment I could call the town of Tepelen my own." + +A less ambitious man might perhaps have remained satisfied with such a +result. But Ali did not look upon the suzerainty of a canton as a final +object, but only as a means to an end; and he had not made himself +master of Tepelen to limit himself to a petty state, but to employ it as +a base of operations. + +He had allied himself to Ali of Argyro-Castron to get rid of his +enemies; once free from them, he began to plot against his supplanter. +He forgot neither his vindictive projects nor his ambitious schemes. As +prudent in execution as bold in design, he took good care not to openly +attack a man stronger than himself, and gained by stratagem what he +could not obtain by violence. The honest and straightforward character +of his brother-in-law afforded an easy success to his perfidy. He began +by endeavouring to suborn his sister Chainitza, and several times +proposed to her to poison her husband; but she, who dearly loved the +pacha, who was a kind husband and to whom she had borne two children, +repulsed his suggestions with horror, and threatened, if he persisted, +to denounce him. Ali, fearing the consequences if she carried out her +threat, begged forgiveness for his wicked plans, pretended deep +repentance, and spoke of his brother-in-law in terms of the warmest +affection. His acting was so consummate that even Chainitza, who well +knew her brother's subtle character, was deceived by it. When he saw +that she was his dupe, knowing that he had nothing more either to fear +or to hope for from that side, he directed his attention to another. + +The pacha had a brother named Soliman, whose character nearly resembled +that of Tepeleni. The latter, after having for some time quietly studied +him, thought he discerned in him the man he wanted; he tempted him to +kill the pacha, offering him, as the price of this crime, his whole +inheritance and the hand of Chainitza, only reserving for himself the +long coveted sanjak. Soliman accepted the proposals, and the fratricidal +bargain was concluded. The two conspirators, sole masters of the secret, +the horrible nature of which guaranteed their mutual fidelity, and +having free access to the person of their victim; could not fail in +their object. + +One day, when they were both received by the pacha in private audience, +Soliman, taking advantage of a moment when he was unobserved, drew a +pistol from his belt and blew out his brother's brains. Chainitza ran at +the sound, and saw her husband lying dead between her brother and her +brother-in-law. Her cries for help were stopped by threats of death if +she moved or uttered a sound. As she lay, fainting with grief and +terror, Ali made, a sign to Soliman, who covered her with his cloak, and +declared her his wife. Ali pronounced the marriage concluded, and +retired for it to be consummated. Thus was celebrated this frightful +wedding, in the scene of an awful crime; beside the corpse of a man who +a moment before had been the husband of the bride and the brother of the +bridegroom. + +The assassins published the death of the pacha, attributing it, as is +usual in Turkey, to a fit of cerebral apoplexy. But the truth soon +leaked out from the lying shrouds in which it had been wrapped. Reports +even exceeded the truth, and public opinion implicated Chainitza in a +crime of which she had been but the witness. Appearances certainly +justified these suspicions. The young wife had soon consoled herself in +the arms of her second husband for the loss of the first, and her son by +him presently died suddenly, thus leaving Soliman in lawful and peaceful +possession of all his brother's wealth. As for the little girl, as she +had no rights and could hurt no one, her life was spared; and she was +eventually married to a bey of Cleisoura, destined in the sequel to cut +a tragic figure in the history of the Tepeleni family. + +But Ali was once more deprived of the fruit of his bloody schemes. +Notwithstanding all his intrigues, the sanjak of Delvino was conferred, +not upon him, but upon a bey of one of the first families of Zapouria. +But, far from being discouraged, he recommenced with new boldness and +still greater confidence the work of his elevation, so often begun and +so often interrupted. He took advantage of his increasing influence to +ingratiate himself with the new pasha, and was so successful in +insinuating himself into his confidence, that he was received into the +palace and treated like the pacha's son. There he acquired complete +knowledge of the details of the pachalik and the affairs of the pacha, +preparing himself to govern the one when he had got rid of the other. + +The sanjak of Delvino was bounded from Venetian territory by the +district of Buthrotum. Selim, a better neighbour and an abler politician +than his predecessors, sought to renew and preserve friendly commercial +relations with the purveyors of the Magnificent Republic. This wise +conduct, equally advantageous for both the bordering provinces, instead +of gaining for the pacha the praise and favours which he deserved, +rendered him suspected at a court whose sole political idea was hatred +of the name of Christian, and whose sole means of government was terror. +Ali immediately perceived the pacha's error, and the advantage which he +himself could derive from it. Selim, as one of his commercial +transactions with the Venetians, had sold them, for a number of years, +the right of felling timber in a forest near Lake Reloda. Ali +immediately took advantage of this to denounce the pasha as guilty of +having alienated the territory of the Sublime Porte, and of a desire to +deliver to the infidels all the province of Delvino. Masking his +ambitious designs under the veil of religion and patriotism, he +lamented, in his denunciatory report, the necessity under which he found +himself, as a loyal subject and faithful Mussulman, of accusing a man +who had been his benefactor, and thus at the same time gained the +benefit of crime and the credit of virtue. + +Under the gloomy despotism of the Turks, a man in any position of +responsibility is condemned almost as soon as accused; and if he is not +strong enough to inspire terror, his ruin is certain. Ali received at +Tepelen, where he had retired to more conveniently weave his perfidious +plots, an order to get rid of the pacha. At the receipt of the firman of +execution he leaped with joy, and flew to Delvino to seize the prey +which was abandoned to him. + +The noble Selim, little suspecting that his protege had become his +accuser and was preparing to become his executioner, received him with +more tenderness than ever, and lodged him, as heretofore, in his palace. +Under the shadow of this hospitable roof, Ali skilfully prepared the +consummation of the crime which was for ever to draw him out of +obscurity. He went every morning to pay his court to the pacha, whose +confidence he doubted; then, one day, feigning illness, he sent excuses +for inability to pay his respects to a man whom he was accustomed to +regard as his father, and begged him to come for a moment into his +apartment. The invitation being accepted, he concealed assassins in one +of the cupboards without shelves, so common in the East, which contain +by day the mattresses spread by night on the floor for the slaves to +sleep upon. At the hour fixed, the old man arrived. Ali rose from his +sofa with a depressed air, met him, kissed the hem of his robe, and, +after seating him in his place, himself offered him a pipe-and coffee, +which were accepted. But instead of putting the cup in the hand +stretched to receive it, he let it fall on the floor, where it broke +into a thousand pieces. This was the signal. The assassins sprang from +their retreat and darted upon Selim, who fell, exclaiming, like Caesar, +"And it is thou, my son, who takest my life!" + +At the sound of the tumult which followed the assassination, Selim's +bodyguard, running up, found Ali erect, covered with blood, surrounded +by assassins, holding in his hand the firman displayed, and crying with +a menacing voice, "I have killed the traitor Selim by the order of our +glorious sultan; here is his imperial command." At these words, and the +sight of the fatal diploma, all prostrated themselves terror-stricken. +Ali, after ordering the decapitation of Selim, whose head he seized as a +trophy, ordered the cadi, the beys, and the Greek archons to meet at the +palace, to prepare the official account of the execution of the +sentence. They assembled, trembling; the sacred hymn of the Fatahat was +sung, and the murder declared legal, in the name of the merciful and +compassionate God, Lord of the world. + +When they had sealed up the effects of the victim, the murderer left the +palace, taking with him, as a hostage, Mustapha, son of Selim, destined +to be even more unfortunate than his father. + +A few days afterwards, the Divan awarded to Ali Tepeleni, as a reward +for his zeal for the State and religion, the sanjak of Thessaly, with +the title of Dervendgi-pacha, or Provost Marshal of the roads. This +latter dignity was conferred on the condition of his levying a body of +four thousand men to clear the valley of the Peneus of a multitude of +Christian chiefs who exercised more power than the officers of the Grand +Seigneur. The new pacha took advantage of this to enlist a numerous body +of Albanians ready for any enterprise, and completely devoted to him. +With two important commands, and with this strong force at his back, he +repaired to Trikala, the seat of his government, where he speedily +acquired great influence. + +His first act of authority was to exterminate the bands of Armatolis, or +Christian militia, which infested the plain. He laid violent hands on +all whom he caught, and drove the rest back into their mountains, +splitting them up into small bands whom he could deal with at his +pleasure. At the same time he sent a few heads to Constantinople, to +amuse the sultan and the mob, and some money to the ministers to gain +their support. "For," said he, "water sleeps, but envy never does." +These steps were prudent, and whilst his credit increased at court, +order was reestablished from the defiles of the Perrebia of Pindus to +the vale of Tempe and to the pass of Thermopylae. + +These exploits of the provost-marshal, amplified by Oriental +exaggeration, justified the ideas which were entertained of the capacity +of Ali Pacha. Impatient of celebrity, he took good care himself to +spread his fame, relating his prowess to all comers, making presents to +the sultan's officers who came into his government, and showing +travellers his palace courtyard festooned with decapitated heads. But +what chiefly tended to consolidate his power was the treasure which he +ceaselessly amassed by every means. He never struck for the mere +pleasure of striking, and the numerous victims of his proscriptions only +perished to enrich him. His death sentences always fell on beys and +wealthy persons whom he wished to plunder. In his eyes the axe was but +an instrument of fortune, and the executioner a tax-gatherer. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Having governed Thessaly in this manner during several years, Ali found +himself in a position to acquire the province of Janina, the possession +of which, by making him master of Epirus, would enable him to crush all +his enemies and to reign supreme over the three divisions of Albania. + +But before he could succeed in this, it was necessary to dispose of the +pacha already in possession. Fortunately for Ali, the latter was a weak +and indolent man, quite incapable of struggling against so formidable a +rival; and his enemy speedily conceived and put into execution a plan +intended to bring about the fulfilment of his desires. He came to terms +with the same Armatolians whom he had formerly treated so harshly, and +let them loose, provided with arms and ammunition, on the country which +he wished to obtain. Soon the whole region echoed with stories of +devastation and pillage. The pacha, unable to repel the incursions of +these mountaineers, employed the few troops he had in oppressing the +inhabitants of the plains, who, groaning under both extortion and +rapine, vainly filled the air with their despairing cries. Ali hoped +that the Divan, which usually judged only after the event, seeing that +Epirus lay desolate, while Thessaly flourished under his own +administration, would, before long, entrust himself with the government +of both provinces, when a family incident occurred, which for a time +diverted the course of his political manoeuvres. + +For a long time his mother Kamco had suffered from an internal cancer, +the result of a life of depravity. Feeling that her end drew near, she +despatched messenger after messenger, summoning her son to her bedside. +He started, but arrived too late, and found only his sister Chainitza +mourning over the body of their mother, who had expired in her arms an +hour previously. Breathing unutterable rage and pronouncing horrible +imprecations against Heaven, Kamco had commanded her children, under +pain of her dying curse, to carry out her last wishes faithfully. After +having long given way to their grief, Ali and Chainitza read together +the document which contained these commands. It ordained some special +assassinations, mentioned sundry villages which, some day; were to be +given to the flames, but ordered them most especially, as soon as +possible, to exterminate the inhabitants of Kormovo and Kardiki, from +whom she had endured the last horrors of slavery. + +Then, after advising her children to remain united, to enrich their +soldiers, and to count as nothing people who were useless to them, Kamco +ended by commanding them to send in her name a pilgrim to Mecca, who +should deposit an offering on the tomb of the Prophet for the repose of +her soul. Having perused these last injunctions, Ali and Chainitza +joined hands, and over the inanimate remains of their departed mother +swore to accomplish her dying behests. + +The pilgrimage came first under consideration. Now a pilgrim can only be +sent as proxy to Mecca, or offerings be made at the tomb of Medina, at +the expense of legitimately acquired property duly sold for the purpose. +The brother and sister made a careful examination of the family estates, +and after long hunting, thought they had found the correct thing in a +small property of about fifteen hundred francs income, inherited from +their great-grandfather, founder of the Tepel-Enian dynasty. But further +investigations disclosed that even this last resource had been forcibly +taken from a Christian, and the idea of a pious pilgrimage and a sacred +offering had to be given up. They then agreed to atone for the +impossibility of expiation by the grandeur of their vengeance, and swore +to pursue without ceasing and to destroy without mercy all enemies of +their family. + +The best mode of carrying out this terrible and self-given pledge was +that Ali should resume his plans of aggrandizement exactly where he had +left them. He succeeded in acquiring the pachalik of Janina, which was +granted him by the Porte under the title of "arpalik," or conquest. It +was an old custom, natural to the warlike habits of the Turks, to bestow +the Government provinces or towns affecting to despise the authority of +the Grand Seigneur on whomsoever succeeded in controlling them, and +Janina occupied this position. It was principally inhabited by +Albanians, who had an enthusiastic admiration for anarchy, dignified by +them with the name of "Liberty," and who thought themselves independent +in proportion to the disturbance they succeeded in making. Each lived +retired as if in a mountain castle, and only went out in order to +participate in the quarrels of his faction in the forum. As for the +pachas, they were relegated to the old castle on the lake, and there was +no difficulty in obtaining their recall. + +Consequently there was a general outcry at the news of Ali Pacha's +nomination, and it was unanimously agreed that a man whose character and +power were alike dreaded must not be admitted within the walls of +Janina. Ali, not choosing to risk his forces in an open battle with a +warlike population, and preferring a slower and safer way to a short and +dangerous one, began by pillaging the villages and farms belonging to +his most powerful opponents. His tactics succeeded, and the very persons +who had been foremost in vowing hatred to the son of Kamco and who had +sworn most loudly that they would die rather than submit to the tyrant, +seeing their property daily ravaged, and impending ruin if hostilities +continued, applied themselves to procure peace. Messengers were sent +secretly to Ali, offering to admit him into Janina if he would undertake +to respect the lives and property of his new allies. Ali promised +whatever they asked, and entered the town by night. His first proceeding +was to appear before the cadi, whom he compelled to register and +proclaim his firmans of investiture. + +In the same year in which he arrived at this dignity, really the desire +and object of Ali's whole life, occurred also the death of the Sultan +Abdul Hamid, whose two sons, Mustapha and Mahmoud, were confined in the +Old Seraglio. This change of rulers, however, made no difference to Ali; +the peaceful Selim, exchanging the prison to which his nephews were now +relegated, for the throne of their father, confirmed the Pacha of Janina +in the titles, offices, and privileges which had been conferred on him. + +Established in his position by this double investiture, Ali applied +himself to the definite settlement of his claims. He was now fifty years +of age, and was at the height of his intellectual development: +experience had been his teacher, and the lesson of no single event had +been lost upon him. An uncultivated but just and penetrating mind +enabled him to comprehend facts, analyse causes, and anticipate results; +and as his heart never interfered with the deductions of his rough +intelligence, he had by a sort of logical sequence formulated an +inflexible plan of action. This man, wholly ignorant, not only of the +ideas of history but also of the great names of Europe, had succeeded in +divining, and as a natural consequence of his active and practical +character, in also realising Macchiavelli, as is amply shown in the +expansion of his greatness and the exercise of his power. Without faith +in God, despising men, loving and thinking only of himself, distrusting +all around him, audacious in design, immovable in resolution, inexorable +in execution, merciless in vengeance, by turns insolent, humble, +violent, or supple according to circumstances, always and entirely +logical in his egotism, he is Cesar Borgia reborn as a Mussulman; he is +the incarnate ideal of Florentine policy, the Italian prince converted +into a satrap. + +Age had as yet in no way impaired Ali's strength and activity, and +nothing prevented his profiting by the advantages of his position. +Already possessing great riches, which every day saw increasing under +his management, he maintained a large body of warlike and devoted +troops, he united the offices of Pacha of two tails of Janina, of +Toparch of Thessaly, and of Provost Marshal of the Highway. As +influential aids both to his reputation for general ability and the +terror of his' arms, and his authority as ruler, there stood by his side +two sons, Mouktar and Veli, offspring of his wife Emineh, both fully +grown and carefully educated in the principles of their father. + +Ali's first care, once master of Janina, was to annihilate the beys +forming the aristocracy of the place, whose hatred he was well aware of, +and whose plots he dreaded. He ruined them all, banishing many and +putting others to death. Knowing that he must make friends to supply the +vacancy caused by the destruction of his foes, he enriched with the +spoil the Albanian mountaineers in his pay, known by the name of +Skipetars, on whom he conferred most of the vacant employments. But much +too prudent to allow all the power to fall into the hands of a single +caste, although a foreign one to the capital, he, by a singular +innovation, added to and mixed with them an infusion of Orthodox Greeks, +a skilful but despised race, whose talents he could use without having +to dread their influence. While thus endeavouring on one side to destroy +the power of his enemies by depriving them of both authority and wealth, +and on the other to consolidate his own by establishing a firm +administration, he neglected no means of acquiring popularity. A fervent +disciple of Mahomet when among fanatic Mussulmans, a materialist with +the Bektagis who professed a rude pantheism, a Christian among the +Greeks, with whom he drank to the health of the Holy Virgin, he made +everywhere partisans by flattering the idea most in vogue. But if he +constantly changed both opinions and language when dealing with +subordinates whom it was desirable to win over, Ali towards his +superiors had one only line of conduct which he never transgressed. +Obsequious towards the Sublime Porte, so long as it did not interfere +with his private authority, he not only paid with exactitude all dues to +the sultan, to whom he even often advanced money, but he also pensioned +the most influential ministers. He was bent on having no enemies who +could really injure his power, and he knew that in an absolute +government no conviction can hold its own against the power of gold. + +Having thus annihilated the nobles, deceived the multitude with +plausible words and lulled to sleep the watchfulness of the Divan, Ali +resolved to turn his arms against Kormovo. At the foot of its rocks he +had, in youth, experienced the disgrace of defeat, and during thirty +nights Kamco and Chainitza had endured all horrors of outrage at the +hands of its warriors. Thus the implacable pacha had a twofold wrong to +punish, a double vengeance to exact. + +This time, profiting by experience, he called in the aid of treachery. +Arrived at the citadel, he negotiated, promised an amnesty, forgiveness +for all, actual rewards for some. The inhabitants, only too happy to +make peace with so formidable an adversary, demanded and obtained a +truce to settle the conditions. This was exactly what Ali expected, and +Kormovo, sleeping on the faith of the treaty, was suddenly attacked and +taken. All who did not escape by flight perished by the sword in the +darkness, or by the hand of the executioner the next morning. Those who +had offered violence aforetime to Ali's mother and sister were carefully +sought for, and whether convicted or merely accused, were impaled on +spits, torn with redhot pincers, and slowly roasted between two fires; +the women were shaved and publicly scourged, and then sold as slaves. + +This vengeance, in which all the nobles of the province not yet entirely +ruined were compelled to assist, was worth a decisive victory to Ali. +Towns, cantons, whole districts, overwhelmed with terror, submitted +without striking a blow, and his name, joined to the recital of a +massacre which ranked as a glorious exploit in the eyes of this savage +people, echoed like thunder from valley to valley and mountain to +mountain. In order that all surrounding him might participate in the joy +of his success Ali gave his army a splendid festival. Of unrivalled +activity, and, Mohammedan only in name, he himself led the chorus in the +Pyrrhic and Klephtic dances, the ceremonials of warriors and of robbers. +There was no lack of wine, of sheep, goats, and lambs roasted before +enormous fires; made of the debris of the ruined city; antique games of +archery and wrestling were celebrated, and the victors received their +prizes from the hand of their chief. The plunder, slaves, and cattle +were then shared, and the Tapygae, considered as the lowest of the four +tribes composing the race of Skipetars, and ranking as the refuse of the +army, carried off into the mountains of Acroceraunia, doors, windows, +nails, and even the tiles of the houses, which were then all surrendered +to the flames. + +However, Ibrahim, the successor and son-in-law of Kurd Pacha, could not +see with indifference part of his province invaded by his ambitious +neighbour. He complained and negotiated, but obtaining no satisfaction, +called out an army composed of Skipetars of Toxid, all Islamites, and +gave the command to his brother Sepher, Bey of Avlone. Ali, who had +adopted the policy of opposing alternately the Cross to the Crescent and +the Crescent to the Cross, summoned to his aid the Christian chiefs of +the mountains, who descended into the plains at the head of their +unconquered troops. As is generally the case in Albania, where war is +merely an excuse for brigandage, instead of deciding matters by a +pitched battle, both sides contented themselves with burning villages, +hanging peasants, and carrying off cattle. + +Also, in accordance with the custom of the country, the women interposed +between the combatants, and the good and gentle Emineh laid proposals of +peace before Ibrahim Pacha, to whose apathetic disposition a state of +war was disagreeable, and who was only too happy to conclude a fairly +satisfactory negotiation. A family alliance was arranged, in virtue of +which Ali retained his conquests, which were considered as the marriage +portion of Ibrahim's eldest daughter, who became the wife of Ali's +eldest son, Mouktar. + +It was hoped that this peace might prove permanent, but the marriage +which sealed the treaty was barely concluded before a fresh quarrel +broke out between the pachas. Ali, having wrung such important +concessions from the weakness of his neighbour, desired to obtain yet +more. But closely allied to Ibrahim were two persons gifted with great +firmness of character and unusual ability, whose position gave them +great influence. They were his wife Zaidee, and his brother Sepher, who +had been in command during the war just terminated. As both were +inimical to Ali, who could not hope to corrupt them, the latter resolved +to get rid of them. + +Having in the days of his youth been intimate with Kurd Pacha, Ali had +endeavoured to seduce his daughter, already the wife of Ibrahim. Being +discovered by the latter in the act of scaling the wall of his harem, he +had been obliged to fly the country. Wishing now to ruin the woman whom +he had formerly tried to corrupt, Ali sought to turn his former crime to +the success of a new one. Anonymous letters, secretly sent to Ibrahim, +warned him that his wife intended to poison him, in order to be able +later to marry Ali Pacha, whom she had always loved. In a country like +Turkey, where to suspect a woman is to accuse her, and accusation is +synonymous with condemnation, such a calumny might easily cause the +death of the innocent Zaidee. But if Ibrahim was weak and indolent, he +was also confiding and generous. He took the letters; to his wife, who +had no difficulty in clearing herself, and who warned him against the +writer, whose object and plots she easily divined, so that this odious +conspiracy turned only to Ali's discredit. But the latter was not likely +either to concern himself as to what others said or thought about him or +to be disconcerted by a failure. He simply turned his machinations +against his other enemy, and arranged matters this time so as to avoid a +failure. + +He sent to Zagori, a district noted for its doctors, for a quack who +undertook to poison Sepher Bey on condition of receiving forty purses. +When all was settled, the miscreant set out for Berat, and was +immediately accused by Ali of evasion, and his wife and children were +arrested as accomplices and detained, apparently as hostages for the +good behaviour of their husband and father, but really as pledges for +his silence when the crime should have been accomplished. Sepher Bey, +informed of this by letters which Ali wrote to the Pacha of Berat +demanding the fugitive, thought that a man persecuted by his enemy would +be faithful to himself, and took the supposed runaway into his service. +The traitor made skilful use of the kindness of his too credulous +protector, insinuated himself into his confidence, became his trusted +physician and apothecary, and gave him poison instead of medicine on the +very first appearance of indisposition. As soon as symptoms of death +appeared, the poisoner fled, aided by the emissaries of All, with whom +the court of Berat was packed, and presented himself at Janina to +receive the reward of his crime. Ali thanked him for his zeal, commended +his skill, and referred him to the treasurer. But the instant the wretch +left the seraglio in order to receive his recompense, he was seized by +the executioners and hurried to the gallows. In thus punishing the +assassin, Ali at one blow discharged the debt he owed him, disposed of +the single witness to be dreaded, and displayed his own friendship for +the victim! Not content with this, he endeavoured to again throw +suspicion on the wife of Ibrahim Pacha, whom he accused of being jealous +of the influence which Sepher Pacha had exercised in the family. This he +mentioned regularly in conversation, writing in the same style to his +agents at Constantinople, and everywhere where there was any profit in +slandering a family whose ruin he desired for the sake of their +possessions. Before long he made a pretext out of the scandal started by +himself, and prepared to take up arms in order, he said, to avenge his +friend Sepher Bey, when he was anticipated by Ibrahim Pacha, who roused +against him the allied Christians of Thesprotia, foremost among whom +ranked the Suliots famed through Albania for their courage and their +love of independence. + +After several battles, in which his enemies had the a vantage, Ali began +negotiations with Ibrahim, and finally concluded a treaty offensive and +defensive. This fresh alliance was, like the first, to be cemented by a +marriage. The virtuous Emineh, seeing her son Veli united to the second +daughter of Ibrahim, trusted that the feud between the two families was +now quenched, and thought herself at the summit of happiness. But her +joy was not of long duration; the death-groan was again to be heard +amidst the songs of the marriage-feast. + +The daughter of Chainitza, by her first husband, Ali, had married a +certain Murad, the Bey of Clerisoura. This nobleman, attached to Ibrahim +Pacha by both blood and affection, since the death of Sepher Bey, had, +become the special object of Ali's hatred, caused by the devotion of +Murad to his patron, over whom he had great influence, and from whom +nothing could detach him. Skilful in concealing truth under special +pretexts, Ali gave out that the cause of his known dislike to this young +man was that the latter, although his nephew by marriage, had several +times fought in hostile ranks against him. Therefore the amiable Ibrahim +made use of the marriage treaty to arrange an honourable reconciliation +between Murad Bey and his uncle, and appointed the former "Ruler a the +Marriage Feast," in which capacity he was charged to conduct the bride +to Janina and deliver her to her husband, the young Veli Bey. He had +accomplished his mission satisfactorily, and was received by Ali with +all apparent hospitality. The festival began on his arrival towards the +end of November 1791, and had already continued several days, when +suddenly it was announced that a shot had been fired upon Ali, who had +only escaped by a miracle, and that the assassin was still at large. +This news spread terror through the city and the palace, and everyone +dreaded being seized as the guilty person. Spies were everywhere +employed, but they declared search was useless, and that there must bean +extensive conspiracy against Ali's life. The latter complained of being +surrounded by enemies, and announced that henceforth he would receive +only one person at a time, who should lay down his arms before entering +the hall now set apart for public audience. It was a chamber built over +a vault, and entered by a sort of trap-door, only reached by a ladder. + +After having for several days received his couriers in this sort of +dovecot, Ali summoned his nephew in order to entrust with him the +wedding gifts. Murad took this as a sign of favour, and joyfully +acknowledged the congratulations of his friends. He presented himself at +the time arranged, the guards at the foot of the ladder demanded his +arms, which he gave up readily, and ascended the ladder full of hope. +Scarcely had the trap-door closed behind him when a pistol ball, fired +from a dark corner, broke his shoulder blade, and he fell, but sprang up +and attempted to fly. Ali issued from his hiding place and sprang upon +him, but notwithstanding his wound the young bey defended himself +vigorously, uttering terrible cries. The pacha, eager to finish, and +finding his hands insufficient, caught a burning log from the hearth, +struck his nephew in the face with it, felled him to the ground, and +completed his bloody task. This accomplished, Ali called for help with +loud cries, and when his guards entered he showed the bruises he had +received and the blood with which he was covered, declaring that he had +killed in self-defence a villain who endeavoured to assassinate him. He +ordered the body to be searched, and a letter was found in a pocket +which Ali had himself just placed there, which purported to give the +details of the pretended conspiracy. + +As Murad's brother was seriously compromised by this letter, he also was +immediately seized, and strangled without any pretence of trial. The +whole palace rejoiced, thanks were rendered to Heaven by one of those +sacrifices of animals still occasionally made in the East to celebrate +an escape from great danger, and Ali released some prisoners in order to +show his gratitude to Providence for having protected him from so +horrible a crime. He received congratulatory visits, and composed an +apology attested by a judicial declaration by the cadi, in which the +memory of Murad and his brother was declared accursed. Finally, +commissioners, escorted by a strong body of soldiers, were sent to seize +the property of the two brothers, because, said the decree, it was just +that the injured should inherit the possessions of his would-be +assassins. + +Thus was exterminated the only family capable of opposing the Pacha of +Janina, or which could counterbalance his influence over the weak +Ibrahim of Berat. The latter, abandoned by his brave defenders, and +finding himself at the mercy of his enemy, was compelled to submit to +what he could not prevent, and protested only by tears against these +crimes, which seemed to herald a terrible future for himself. + +As for Emineh, it is said that from the date of this catastrophe she +separated herself almost entirely from her blood-stained husband, and +spent her life in the recesses of the harem, praying as a Christian both +for the murderer and his victims. It is a relief, in the midst of this +atrocious saturnalia to encounter this noble and gentle character, which +like a desert oasis, affords a rest to eyes wearied with the +contemplation of so much wickedness and treachery. + +Ali lost in her the guardian angel who alone could in any way restrain +his violent passions. Grieved at first by the withdrawal of the wife +whom hitherto he had loved exclusively, he endeavoured in vain to regain +her affection; and then sought in new vices compensation for the +happiness he had lost, and gave himself up to sensuality. Ardent in +everything, he carried debauchery to a monstrous extent, and as if his +palaces were not large enough for his desires, he assumed various +disguises; sometimes in order to traverse the streets by night in search +of the lowest pleasures; sometimes penetrating by day into churches and +private houses seeking for young men and maidens remarkable for their +beauty, who were then carried off to his harem. + +His sons, following in his footsteps, kept also scandalous households, +and seemed to dispute preeminence in evil with their father, each in his +own manner. Drunkenness was the speciality of the eldest, Mouktar, who +was without rival among the hard drinkers of Albania, and who was +reputed to have emptied a whole wine-skin in one evening after a +plentiful meal. Gifted with the hereditary violence of his family, he +had, in his drunken fury, slain several persons, among others his +sword-bearer, the companion of his childhood and confidential friend of +his whole life. Veli chose a different course. Realising the Marquis de +Sade as his father had realised Macchiavelli, he delighted in mingling +together debauchery and cruelty, and his amusement consisted in biting +the lips he had kissed, and tearing with his nails the forms he had +caressed. The people of Janina saw with horror more than one woman in +their midst whose nose and ears he had caused to be cut off, and had +then turned into the streets. + +It was indeed a reign of terror; neither fortune, life, honour, nor +family were safe. Mothers cursed their fruitfulness, and women their +beauty. Fear soon engenders corruption, and subjects are speedily +tainted by the depravity of their masters. Ali, considering a +demoralised race as easier to govern, looked on with satisfaction. + +While he strengthened by every means his authority from within, he +missed no opportunity of extending his rule without. In 1803 he declared +war against the Suliots, whose independence he had frequently +endeavoured either to purchase or to overthrow. The army sent against +them, although ten thousand strong, was at first beaten everywhere. Ali +then, as usual, brought treason to his aid, and regained the advantage. +It became evident that, sooner or later, the unhappy Suliots must +succumb. + +Foreseeing the horrors which their defeat would entail, Emineh, touched +with compassion, issued from her seclusion and cast herself at Ali's +feet. He raised her, seated her beside him, and inquired as to her +wishes. She spoke of, generosity, of mercy; he listened as if touched +and wavering, until she named the Suliots. Then, filled with fury, he +seized a pistol and fired at her. She was not hurt, but fell to the +ground overcome with terror, and her women hastily intervened and +carried her away. For the first time in his life, perhaps, Ali shuddered +before the dread of a murder. + +It was his wife, the mother of his children, whom he saw lying at his +feet, and the recollection afflicted and tormented him. He rose in the +night and went to Emineh's apartment; he knocked and called, but being +refused admittance, in his anger he broke open the door. Terrified by +the noise; and at the sight of her infuriated husband, Emineh fell into +violent convulsions, and shortly expired. Thus perished the daughter of +Capelan Pacha, wife of Ali Tepeleni, and mother of Mouktar and Veli, +who, doomed to live surrounded by evil, yet remained virtuous and good. + +Her death caused universal mourning throughout Albania, and produced a +not less deep impression on the mind of her murderer. Emineh's spectre +pursued him in his pleasures, in the council chamber, in the hours of +night. He saw her, he heard her, and would awake, exclaiming, "my wife! +my wife!--It is my wife!--Her eyes are angry; she threatens me!--Save +me! Mercy!" For more than ten years Ali never dared to sleep alone. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +In December, the Suliots, decimated by battle, worn by famine, +discouraged by treachery, were obliged to capitulate. The treaty gave +them leave to go where they would, their own mountains excepted. The +unfortunate tribe divided into two parts, the one going towards Parga, +the other towards Prevesa. Ali gave orders for the destruction of both, +notwithstanding the treaty. + +The Parga division was attacked in its march, and charged by a numerous +body of Skipetars. Its destruction seemed imminent, but instinct +suddenly revealed to the ignorant mountaineers the one manoeuvre which +might save them. They formed a square, placing old men, women, children, +and cattle in the midst, and, protected by this military formation, +entered Parga in full view of the cut-throats sent to pursue them. + +Less fortunate was the Prevesa division, which, terrified by a sudden +and unexpected attack, fled in disorder to a Greek convent called +Zalongos. But the gate was soon broken down, and the unhappy Suliots +massacred to the last man. + +The women, whose tents had been pitched on the summit of a lofty rock, +beheld the terrible carnage which destroyed their defenders. Henceforth +their only prospect was that of becoming the slaves of those who had +just slaughtered their husbands and brothers. An heroic resolution +spared them this infamy; they joined hands, and chanting their national +songs, moved in a solemn dance round the rocky platform. As the song +ended, they uttered a prolonged and piercing cry, and cast themselves +and their children down into the profound abyss beneath. + +There were still some Suliots left in their country when Ali Pacha took +possession of it. These were all taken and brought to Janina, and their +sufferings were the first adornments of the festival made for the army. +Every soldier's imagination was racked for the discovery of new +tortures, and the most original among them had the privilege of +themselves carrying out their inventions. + +There were some who, having had their noses and ears cut off, were +compelled to eat them raw, dressed as a salad. One young man was scalped +until the skin fell back upon his shoulders, then beaten round the court +of the seraglio for the pacha's entertainment, until at length a lance +was run through his body and he was cast on the funeral pile. Many were +boiled alive and their flesh then thrown to the dogs. + +From this time the Cross has disappeared from the Selleid mountains, and +the gentle prayer of Christ no longer wakes the echoes of Suli. + +During the course of this war, and shortly after the death of Emineh, +another dismal drama was enacted in the pacha's family, whose active +wickedness nothing seemed to weary. The scandalous libertinism of both +father and sons had corrupted all around as well as themselves. This +demoralisation brought bitter fruits for all alike: the subjects endured +a terrible tyranny; the masters sowed among themselves distrust, +discord, and hatred. The father wounded his two sons by turns in their +tenderest affections, and the sons avenged themselves by abandoning +their father in the hour of danger. + +There was in Janina a woman named Euphrosyne, a niece of the archbishop, +married to one of the richest Greek merchants, and noted for wit and +beauty. She was already the mother of two children, when Mouktar became +enamoured of her, and ordered her to come to his palace. The unhappy +Euphrosyne, at once guessing his object, summoned a family council to +decide what should be done. All agreed that there was no escape, and +that her husband's life was in danger, on account of the jealousy of his +terrible rival. He fled the city that same night, and his wife +surrendered herself to Mouktar, who, softened by her charms, soon +sincerely loved her, and overwhelmed her with presents and favours. +Things were in this position when Mouktar was obliged to depart on an +important expedition. + +Scarcely had he started before his wives complained to Ali that +Euphrosyne usurped their rights and caused their husband to neglect +them. Ali, who complained greatly of his sons' extravagance, and +regretted the money they squandered, at once struck a blow which was +both to enrich himself and increase the terror of his name. + +One night he appeared by torchlight, accompanied by his guards, at +Euphrosyne's house. Knowing his cruelty and avarice, she sought to +disarm one by gratifying the other: she collected her money and jewels +and laid them at Ali's feet with a look of supplication. + +"These things are only my own property, which you restore," said he, +taking possession of the rich offering. "Can you give back the heart of +Mouktar, which you have stolen?" + +Euphrosyne besought him by his paternal feelings, for the sake of his +son whose love had been her misfortune and was now her only crime, to +spare a mother whose conduct had been otherwise irreproachable. But her +tears and pleadings produced no effect on Ali, who ordered her to be +taken, loaded with fetters and covered with a piece of sackcloth, to the +prison of the seraglio. + +If it were certain that there was no hope for the unhappy Euphrosyne, +one trusted that she might at least be the only victim. But Ali, +professing to follow the advice of some severe reformers who wished to +restore decent morality, arrested at the same time fifteen ladies +belonging to the best Christian families in Janina. A Wallachian, named +Nicholas Janco, took the opportunity to denounce his own wife, who was +on the point of becoming a mother, as guilty of adultery, and handed her +also over to the pacha. These unfortunate women were brought before Ali +to undergo a trial of which a sentence of death was the foregone +conclusion. They were then confined in a dungeon, where they spent two +days of misery. The third night, the executioners appeared to conduct +them to the lake where they were to perish. Euphrosyne, too exhausted to +endure to the end, expired by the way, and when she was flung with the +rest into the dark waters, her soul had already escaped from its earthly +tenement. Her body was found the next day, and was buried in the +cemetery of the monastery of Saints-Anargyres, where her tomb, covered +with white iris and sheltered by a wild olive tree, is yet shown. + +Mouktar was returning from his expedition when a courier from his +brother Veli brought him a letter informing him of these events. He +opened it. "Euphrosyne!" he cried, and, seizing one of his pistols, +fired it at the messenger, who fell dead at his feet,--"Euphrosyne, +behold thy first victim!" Springing on his horse, he galloped towards +Janina. His guards followed at a distance, and the inhabitants of all +the villages he passed fled at his approach. He paid no attention to +them, but rode till his horse fell dead by the lake which had engulfed +Euphrosyne, and then, taking a boat, he went to hide his grief and rage +in his own palace. + +Ali, caring little for passion which evaporated in tears and cries, sent +an order to Mouktar to appear before him at once. "He will not kill +you," he remarked to his messenger, with a bitter smile. And, in fact, +the man who a moment before was furiously raging and storming against +his father, as if overwhelmed by this imperious message, calmed down, +and obeyed. + +"Come hither, Mouktar," said the pacha, extending his murderous hand to +be kissed as soon as his son appeared. "I shall take no notice of your +anger, but in future never forget that a man who braves public opinion +as I do fears nothing in the world. You can go now; when your troops +have rested from their march, you can come and ask for orders. Go, +remember what I have said." + +Mouktar retired as submissively as if he had just received pardon for +some serious crime, and found no better consolation than to spend the +night with Veli in drinking and debauchery. But a day was to come when +the brothers, alike outraged by their father, would plot and carry out a +terrible vengeance. + +However, the Porte began to take umbrage at the continual aggrandisement +of the Pacha of Janina. Not daring openly to attack so formidable a +vassal, the sultan sought by underhand means to diminish his power, and +under the pretext that Ali was becoming too old for the labour of so +many offices, the government of Thessaly was withdrawn from him, but, to +show that this was not done in enmity, the province was entrusted to his +nephew, Elmas Bey, son of Suleiman and Chainitza. + +Chainitza, fully as ambitious as her brother, could not contain her +delight at the idea of governing in the name of her son, who was weak +and gentle in character and accustomed to obey her implicitly. She asked +her brother's permission to go to Trikala to be present at the +installation, and obtained it, to everybody's astonishment; for no one +could imagine that Ali would peacefully renounce so important a +government as that of Thessaly. However, he dissembled so skilfully that +everyone was deceived by his apparent resignation, and applauded his +magnanimity, when he provided his sister with a brilliant escort to +conduct her to the capital of the province of which he had just been +deprived in favour of his nephew. He sent letters of congratulation to +the latter as well as magnificent presents, among them a splendid +pelisse of black fox, which had cost more than a hundred thousand francs +of Western money. He requested Elmas Bey to honour him by wearing this +robe on the day when the sultan's envoy should present him with the +firman of investiture, and Chainitza herself was charged to deliver both +gifts and messages. + +Chainitza arrived safely at Trikala, and faithfully delivered the +messages with which she had been entrusted. When the ceremony she so +ardently desired took place, she herself took charge of all the +arrangements. Elmas, wearing the black fox pelisse, was proclaimed, and +acknowledged as Governor of Thessaly in her presence. "My son is pacha!" +she cried in the delirium of joy. "My son is pacha! and my nephews will +die of envy!" But her triumph was not to be of long duration. A few days +after his installation, Elmas began to feel strangely languid. Continual +lethargy, convulsive sneezing, feverish eyes, soon betokened a serious +illness. Ali's gift had accomplished its purpose. The pelisse, carefully +impregnated with smallpox germs taken from a young girl suffering from +this malady, had conveyed the dreaded disease to the new pacha, who, not +having been inoculated, died in a few days. + +The grief of Chainitza at her son's death displayed itself in sobs, +threats, and curses, but, not knowing whom to blame for her misfortune, +she hastened to leave the scene of it, and returned to Janina, to mingle +her tears with those of her brother. She found Ali apparently in such +depths of grief, that instead of suspecting, she was actually tempted to +pity him, and this seeming sympathy soothed her distress, aided by the +caresses of her second son, Aden Bey. Ali, thoughtful of his own +interests, took care to send one of his own officers to Trikala, to +administer justice in the place of his deceased nephew, and the Porte, +seeing that all attempts against him only caused misfortune, consented +to his resuming the government of Thessaly. + +This climax roused the suspicions of many persons. But the public voice, +already discussing the causes of the death of Elinas, was stifled by the +thunder of the cannon, which, from the ramparts of Janina, announced to +Epirus the birth of another son to Ali, Salik Bey, whose mother was a +Georgian slave. + +Fortune, seemingly always ready both to crown Ali's crimes with success +and to fulfil his wishes, had yet in reserve a more precious gift than +any of the others, that of a good and beautiful wife; who should +replace, and even efface the memory of the beloved Emineh. + +The Porte, while sending to Ali the firman which restored to him the +government of Thessaly, ordered him to seek out and destroy a society of +coiners who dwelt within his jurisdiction. Ali, delighted to, prove his +zeal by a service which cost nothing but bloodshed; at once set his +spies to work, and having discovered the abode of the gang, set out for +the place attended by a strong escort. It was a village called +Plikivitza. + +Having arrived in the evening, he spent the night in taking measures to +prevent escape, and at break of day attacked the village suddenly with +his whole force. The coiners were seized in the act. Ali immediately +ordered the chief to be hung at his own door and the whole population to +be massacred. Suddenly a young girl of great beauty made her way through +the tumult and sought refuge at his feet. Ali, astonished, asked who she +was. She answered with a look of mingled innocence and terror, kissing +his hands, which she bathed with tears, and said: + +"O my lord! I implore thee to intercede with the terrible vizier Ali for +my mother and brothers. My father is dead, behold where he hangs at the +door of our cottage! But we have done nothing to rouse the anger of our +dreadful master. My mother is a poor woman who never offended anyone, +and we are only weak children. Save us from him!" + +Touched in spite of himself, the pacha took the girl in his arms, and +answered her with a gentle smile. + +"Thou hast come to the wrong man, child: I am this terrible vizier." + +"Oh no, no! you are good, you will be our good lord." + +"Well, be comforted, my child, and show me thy mother and thy brothers; +they shall be spared. Thou hast saved their lives." + +And as she knelt at his feet, overcome with joy, he raised her and asked +her name. + +"Basilessa," she replied. + +"Basilessa, Queen! it is a name of good augury. Basilessa, thou shalt +dwell with me henceforth." + +And he collected the members of her family, and gave orders for them to +be sent to Janina in company with the maiden, who repaid his mercy with +boundless love and devotion. + +Let us mention one trait of gratitude shown by Ali at the end of this +expedition, and his record of good deeds is then closed. Compelled by a +storm to take refuge in a miserable hamlet, he inquired its name, and on +hearing it appeared surprised and thoughtful, as if trying to recall +lost memories. Suddenly he asked if a woman named Nouza dwelt in the +village, and was told there was an old infirm woman of that name in +great poverty. He ordered her to be brought before him. She came and +prostrated herself in terror. Ali raised her kindly. + +"Dost thou not know me?" he asked. + +"Have mercy, great Vizier," answered the poor woman, who, having nothing +to lose but her life, imagined that even that would be taken from her. + +"I see," said the pacha, "that if thou knowest me, thou dost not really +recognise me." + +The woman looked at him wonderingly, not understanding his words in the +least. + +"Dost thou remember," continued Ali, "that forty years ago a young man +asked for shelter from the foes who pursued him? Without inquiring his +name or standing, thou didst hide him in thy humble house, and dressed +his wounds, and shared thy scanty food with him, and when he was able to +go forward thou didst stand on thy threshold to wish him good luck and +success. Thy wishes were heard, for the young man was Ali Tepeleni, and +I who speak am he!" + +The old woman stood overwhelmed with astonishment. She departed calling +down blessings on the pasha, who assured her a pension of fifteen +hundred francs for the rest of her days. + +But these two good actions are only flashes of light illuminating the +dark horizon of Ali's life for a brief moment. Returned to Janina, he +resumed his tyranny, his intrigues, and cruelty. Not content with the +vast territory which owned his sway, he again invaded that of his +neighbours on every pretext. Phocis, Mtolia, Acarnania, were by turns +occupied by his troops, the country ravaged, and the inhabitants +decimated. At the same time he compelled Ibrahim Pacha to surrender his +last remaining daughter, and give her in marriage to his nephew, Aden +Bey, the son of Chainitza. This new alliance with a family he had so +often attacked and despoiled gave him fresh arms against it, whether by +being enabled better to watch the pasha's sons, or to entice them into +some snare with greater ease. + +Whilst he thus married his nephew, he did not neglect the advancement of +his sons. By the aid of the French Ambassador, whom he had convinced of +his devotion to the Emperor Napoleon, he succeeded in getting the +pachalik of Morea bestowed on Veli, and that of Lepanto on Mouktar. But +as in placing his sons in these exalted positions his only aim was to +aggrandise and consolidate his own power, he himself ordered their +retinues, giving them officers of his own choosing. When they departed +to their governments, he kept their wives, their children, and even +their furniture as pledges, saying that they ought not to be encumbered +with domestic establishments in time of war, Turkey just then being at +open war with England. He also made use of this opportunity to get rid +of people who displeased him, among others, of a certain Ismail Pacho +Bey, who had been alternately both tool and enemy, whom he made +secretary to his son Veli, professedly as a pledge of reconciliation and +favour, but really in order to despoil him more easily of the +considerable property which he possessed at Janina. Pacho was not +deceived, and showed his resentment openly. "The wretch banishes me," he +cried, pointing out Ali, who was sitting at a window in the palace, "he +sends me away in order to rob me; but I will avenge myself whatever +happens, and I shall die content if I can procure his destruction at the +price of my own." + +Continually increasing his power, Ali endeavoured to consolidate it +permanently. He had entered by degrees into secret negotiations with all +the great powers of Europe, hoping in the end to make himself +independent, and to obtain recognition as Prince of Greece. A mysterious +and unforeseen incident betrayed this to the Porte, and furnished actual +proofs of his treason in letters confirmed by Ali's own seal. The Sultan +Selim immediately, sent to Janina a "kapidgi-bachi," or plenipotentiary, +to examine into the case and try the delinquent. + +Arrived at Janina, this officer placed before Ali the proofs of his +understanding with the enemies of the State. Ali was not strong enough +to throw off the mask, and yet could not deny such overwhelming +evidence. He determined to obtain time. + +"No wonder," said he, "that I appear guilty in the eyes of His Highness. +This seal is, certainly mine, I cannot deny it; but the writing is not +that of my secretaries, and the seal must have been obtained and used to +sign these guilty letters in order to ruin me. I pray you to grant me a +few days in order to clear up this iniquitous mystery, which compromises +me in the eyes of my master the sultan and of all good Mahommedans. May +Allah grant me the means of proving my innocence, which is as pure as +the rays of the sun, although everything seems against me!" + +After this conference, Ali, pretending to be engaged in a secret +inquiry, considered how he could legally escape from this predicament. +He spent some days in making plans which were given up as soon as +formed, until his fertile genius at length suggested a means of getting +clear of one of the greatest difficulties in which he had ever found +himself. Sending for a Greek whom he had often employed, he addressed +him thus: + +"Thou knowest I have always shown thee favour, and the day is arrived +when thy fortune shall be made. Henceforth thou shalt be as my son, thy +children shall be as mine, my house shall be thy home, and in return for +my benefits I require one small service. This accursed kapidgi-bachi has +come hither bringing certain papers signed with my seal, intending to +use them to my discredit, and thus to extort money from me. Of money I +have already given too much, and I intend this time to escape without +being plundered except for the sake of a good servant like thee. +Therefore, my son, thou shalt go before the tribunal when I tell thee, +and declare before this kapidgi-bachi and the cadi that thou hast +written these letters attributed to me, and that thou didst seal them +with my seal, in order to give them due weight and importance." + +The unhappy Greek grew pale and strove to answer. + +"What fearest thou, my son?" resumed Ali. "Speak, am I not thy good +master? Thou wilt be sure of my lasting favour, and who is there to +dread when I protect thee? Is it the kapidgi-bachi? he has no authority +here. I have thrown twenty as good as he into the lake! If more is +required to reassure thee, I swear by the Prophet, by my own and my +sons' heads, that no harm shall come to thee from him. Be ready, then, +to do as I tell thee, and beware of mentioning this matter to anyone, in +order that all may be accomplished according to our mutual wishes." + +More terrified by dread of the pacha, from whose wrath in case of +refusal there was no chance of escape, than tempted by his promises, the +Greek undertook the false swearing required. Ali, delighted, dismissed +him with a thousand assurances of protection, and then requested the +presence of the sultan's envoy, to whom he said, with much emotion: + +"I have at length unravelled the infernal plot laid against me; it is +the work of a man in the pay of the implacable enemies of the Sublime +Porte, and who is a Russian agent. He is in my power, and I have given +him hopes of pardon on condition of full confession. Will you then +summon the cadi, the judges and ecclesiastics of the town, in order that +they may hear the guilty man's deposition, and that the light of truth +may purify their minds?" + +The tribunal was soon assembled, and the trembling Greek appeared in the +midst of a solemn silence. "Knowest thou this writing?" demanded the +cadi.--"It is mine."--"And this seal?"--"It is that of my master, Ali +Pacha."--"How does it come to be placed at the foot of these +letters?"--"I did this by order of my chief, abusing the confidence of +my master, who occasionally allowed me to use it to sign his +orders."--"It is enough: thou canst withdraw." + +Uneasy as to the success of his intrigue, Ali was approaching the Hall +of Justice. As he entered the court, the Greek, who had just finished +his examination, threw himself at his feet, assuring him that all had +gone well. "It is good," said Ali; "thou shalt have thy reward." Turning +round, he made a sign to his guards, who had their orders, and who +instantly seized the unhappy Greek, and, drowning his voice with their +shouts, hung him in the courtyard. This execution finished, the pacha +presented himself before the judges and inquired the result of their +investigation. He was answered by a burst of congratulation. "Well," +said he, "the guilty author of this plot aimed at me is no more; I +ordered him to be hung without waiting to hear your decision. May all +enemies of our glorious sultan perish even as he!" + +A report of what had occurred was immediately drawn up, and, to assist +matters still further, Ali sent the kapidgi-bachi a gift of fifty +purses, which he accepted without difficulty, and also secured the +favour of the Divan by considerable presents. The sultan, yielding to +the advice of his councillors, appeared to have again received him into +favour. + +But Ali knew well that this appearance of sunshine was entirely +deceptive, and that Selim only professed to believe in his innocence +until the day should arrive when the sultan could safely punish his +treason. He sought therefore to compass the latter's downfall, and made +common cause with his enemies, both internal and external. A conspiracy, +hatched between the discontented pachas and the English agents, shortly +broke out, and one day, when Ali was presiding at the artillery practice +of some French gunners sent to Albania by the Governor of Illyria, a +Tartar brought him news of the deposition of Selim, who was succeeded by +his nephew Mustapha. Ali sprang up in delight, and publicly thanked +Allah for this great good fortune. He really did profit by this change +of rulers, but he profited yet more by a second revolution which caused +the deaths both of Selim, whom the promoters wished to reestablish on +the throne, and of Mustapha whose downfall they intended. Mahmoud II, +who was next invested with the scimitar of Othman, came to the throne in +troublous times, after much bloodshed, in the midst of great political +upheavals, and had neither the will nor the power to attack one of his +most powerful vassals. He received with evident satisfaction the million +piastres which, at, his installation, Ali hastened to send as a proof of +his devotion, assured the pacha of his favour, and confirmed both him +and his sons in their offices and dignities. This fortunate change in +his position brought Ali's pride and audacity to a climax. Free from +pressing anxiety, he determined to carry out a project which had been +the dream of his life. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +After taking possession of Argyro-Castron, which he had long coveted, +Ali led his victorious army against the town of Kardiki, whose +inhabitants had formerly joined with those of Kormovo in the outrage +inflicted on his mother and sister. The besieged, knowing they had no +mercy to hope for, defended themselves bravely, but were obliged to +yield to famine. After a month's blockade, the common people, having no +food for themselves or their cattle, began to cry for mercy in the open +streets, and their chiefs, intimidated by the general misery and unable +to stand alone, consented to capitulate. Ali, whose intentions as to the +fate of this unhappy town were irrevocably decided, agreed to all that +they asked. A treaty was signed by both parties, and solemnly sworn to +on the Koran, in virtue of which seventy-two beys, heads of the +principal Albanian families, were to go to Janina as free men, and fully +armed. They were to be received with the honours due to their rank as +free tenants of the sultan, their lives and their families were to be +spared, and also their possessions. The other inhabitants of Kardiki, +being Mohammedans, and therefore brothers of Ali, were to be treated as +friends and retain their lives and property. On these conditions a +quarter of the town; was to be occupied by the victorious troops. + +One of the principal chiefs, Saleh Bey, and his wife, foreseeing the +fate which awaited their friends, committed suicide at the moment when, +in pursuance of the treaty, Ali's soldiers took possession of the +quarter assigned to them. + +Ali received the seventy-two beys with all marks of friendship when they +arrived at Janina. He lodged them in a palace on the lake, and treated +them magnificently for some days. But soon, having contrived on some +pretext to disarm them, he had them conveyed, loaded with chains, to a +Greek convent on an island in the lake, which was converted into a +prison. The day of vengeance not having fully arrived, he explained this +breach of faith by declaring that the hostages had attempted to escape. + +The popular credulity was satisfied by this explanation, and no one +doubted the good faith of the pacha when he announced that he was going +to Kardiki to establish a police and fulfil the promises he had made to +the inhabitants. Even the number of soldiers he took excited no +surprise, as Ali was accustomed to travel with a very numerous suite. + +After three days' journey, he stopped at Libokhovo, where his sister had +resided since the death of Aden Bey, her second son, cut off recently by +wickness. What passed in the long interview they had no one knew, but it +was observed that Chainitza's tears, which till then had flowed +incessantly, stopped as if by magic, and her women, who were wearing +mourning, received an order to attire themselves as for a festival. +Feasting and dancing, begun in Ali's honour, did not cease after his +departure. + +He spent the night at Chenderia, a castle built on a rock, whence the +town of Kardiki was plainly visible. Next day at daybreak Ali despatched +an usher to summon all the male inhabitants of Kardiki to appear before +Chenderia, in order to receive assurances of the pacha's pardon and +friendship. + +The Kardikiotes at once divined that this injunction was the precursor +of a terrible vengeance: the whole town echoed with cries and groans, +the mosques were filled with people praying for deliverance. The +appointed time arrived, they embraced each other as if parting for ever, +and then the men, unarmed, in number six hundred and seventy, started +for Chenderia. At the gate of the town they encountered a troop of +Albanians, who followed as if to escort them, and which increased in +number as they proceeded. Soon they arrived in the dread presence of Ali +Pacha. Grouped in formidable masses around him stood several thousand of +his fierce soldiery. + +The unhappy Kardikiotes realised their utter helplessness, and saw that +they, their wives an children, were completely at the mercy of their +implacable enemy. They fell prostrate before the pacha, and with all the +fervour which the utmost terror could inspire, implored him to grant +them a generous pardon. + +Ali for some time silently enjoyed the pleasure of seeing his ancient +enemies lying before him prostrate in the dust. He then desired them to +rise, reassured them, called them brothers, sons, friends of his heart. +Distinguishing some of his old acquaintances, he called them to him, +spoke familiarly of the days of their youth, of their games, their early +friendships, and pointing to the young men, said, with tears in his +eyes. + +"The discord which has divided us for so many years has allowed children +not born at the time of our dissension to grow into men. I have lost the +pleasure of watching the development of the off-spring of my neighbours +and the early friends of my youth, and of bestowing benefits on them, +but I hope shortly to repair the natural results of our melancholy +divisions." + +He then made them splendid promises, and ordered them to assemble in a +neighbouring caravanserai, where he wished to give them a banquet in +proof of reconciliation. Passing from the depths of despair to +transports of joy, the Kardikiotes repaired gaily to the caravanserai, +heaping blessings on the pacha, and blaming each other for having ever +doubted his good faith. + +Ali was carried down from Chenderia in a litter, attended by his +courtiers, who celebrated his clemency in pompous speeches, to which he +replied with gracious smiles. At the foot of the steep descent he +mounted his horse, and, followed by his troops, rode towards the +caravanserai. Alone, and in silence, he rode twice round it, then, +returning to the gate, which had just been closed by his order, he +pulled up his horse, and, signing to his own bodyguard to attack the +building, "Slay them!" he cried in a voice of thunder. + +The guards remained motionless in surprise and horror, then as the +pacha, with a roar, repeated his order, they indignantly flung down +their arms. In vain he harangued, flattered, or threatened them; some +preserved a sullen silence, others ventured to demand mercy. Then he +ordered them away, and, calling on the Christian Mirdites who served +under his banner. + +"To you, brave Latins," he cried, "I will now entrust the duty of +exterminating the foes of my race. Avenge me, and I will reward you +magnificently." + +A confused murmur rose from the ranks. Ali imagined they were consulting +as to what recompense should be required as the price of such deed. + +"Speak," said he; "I am ready to listen to your demands and to satisfy +them." + +Then the Mirdite leader came forward and threw back the hood of his +black cloak. + +"O Pacha!" said he, looking Ali boldly in the face, "thy words are an +insult; the Mirdites do not slaughter unarmed prisoners in cold blood. +Release the Kardikiotes, give them arms, and we will fight them to the +death; but we serve thee as soldiers and not as executioners." + +At these words; which the black-cloaked battalion received with +applause, Ali thought himself betrayed, and looked around with doubt and +mistrust. Fear was nearly taking the place of mercy, words of pardon +were on his lips, when a certain Athanasius Vaya, a Greek schismatic, +and a favourite of the pacha's, whose illegitimate son he was supposed +to be, advanced at the head of the scum of the army, and offered to +carry out the death sentence. Ali applauded his zeal, gave him full +authority to act, and spurred his horse to the top of a neighbouring +hill, the better to enjoy the spectacle. The Christian Mirdites and the +Mohammedan guards knelt together to pray for the miserable Kardikiotes, +whose last hour had come. + +The caravanserai where they were shut in was square enclosure, open to +the sky, and intended to shelter herds of buffaloes. The prisoners +having heard nothing of what passed outside, were astonished to behold +Athanasius Vaya and his troop appearing on the top of the wall. They did +not long remain in doubt. Ali gave the signal by a pistol-shot, and a +general fusillade followed. Terrible cries echoed from the court; the +prisoners, terrified, wounded, crowded one upon another for shelter. +Some ran frantically hither and thither in this enclosure with no +shelter and no exit, until they fell, struck down by bullets. Some tried +to climb the walls, in hope of either escape or vengeance, only to be +flung back by either scimitars or muskets. It was a terrible scene of +despair and death. + +After an hour of firing, a gloomy silence descended on the place, now +occupied solely by a heap of corpses. Ali forbade any burial rites on +pain of death, and placed over the gate an inscription in letters of +gold, informing posterity that six hundred Kardikiotes had there been +sacrificed to the memory of his mother Kamco. + +When the shrieks of death ceased in the enclosure, they began to be +heard in the town. The assassins spread themselves through it, and +having violated the women and children, gathered them into a crowd to be +driven to Libokovo. At every halt in this frightful journey fresh +marauders fell on the wretched victims, claiming their share in cruelty +and debauchery. At length they arrived at their destination, where the +triumphant and implacable Chainitza awaited them. As after the taking of +Kormovo, she compelled the women to cut off their hair and to stuff with +it a mattress on which she lay. She then stripped them, and joyfully +narrated to them the massacre of their husbands, fathers, brothers and +sons, and when she had sufficiently enjoyed their misery they were again +handed over to the insults of the soldiery. Chainitza finally published +an edict forbidding either clothes, shelter, or food to be given to the +women and children of Kardiki, who were then driven forth into the woods +either to die of hunger or to be devoured by wild beasts. As to the +seventy-two hostages, Ali put them all to death when he returned to +Janina. His vengeance was indeed complete. + +But as, filled with a horrible satisfaction, the pacha was enjoying the +repose of a satiated tiger, an indignant and threatening voice reached +him even in the recesses of his palace. The Sheik Yussuf, governor of +the castle of Janina, venerated as a saint by the Mohammedans on account +of his piety, and universally beloved and respected for his many +virtues, entered Ali's sumptuous dwelling for the first time. The guards +on beholding him remained stupefied and motionless, then the most devout +prostrated themselves, while others went to inform the pacha; but no one +dared hinder the venerable man, who walked calmly and solemnly through +the astonished attendants. For him there existed no antechamber, no +delay; disdaining the ordinary forms of etiquette, he paced slowly +through the various apartments, until, with no usher to announce him, he +reached that of Ali. The latter, whose impiety by no means saved him +from superstitious terrors, rose hastily from the divan and advanced to +meet the holy sheik, who was followed by a crowd of silent courtiers. +Ali addressed him with the utmost respect, and endeavoured even to kiss +his right hand. Yussuf hastily withdrew it, covered it with his mantle, +and signed to the pacha to seat himself. Ali mechanically obeyed, and +waited in solemn silence to hear the reason of this unexpected visit. + +Yussuf desired him to listen with all attention, and then reproached him +for his injustice and rapine, his treachery and cruelty, with such vivid +eloquence that his hearers dissolved in tears. Ali, though much +dejected, alone preserved his equanimity, until at length the sheik +accused him of having caused the death of Emineh. He then grew pale, and +rising, cried with terror: + +"Alas! my father, whose name do you now pronounce? Pray for me, or at +least do not sink me to Gehenna with your curses!" + +"There is no need to curse thee," answered Yussuf. "Thine own crimes +bear witness against thee. Allah has heard their cry. He will summon +thee, judge thee, and punish thee eternally. Tremble, for the time is at +hand! Thine hour is coming--is coming--is coming!" + +Casting a terrible glance at the pacha, the holy man turned his back on +him, and stalked out of the apartment without another word. + +Ali, in terror, demanded a thousand pieces of gold, put them in a white +satin purse, and himself hastened with them to overtake the sheik, +imploring him to recall his threats. But Yussuf deigned no answer, and +arrived at the threshold of the palace, shook off the dust of his feet +against it. + +Ali returned to his apartment sad and downcast, and many days elapsed +before he could shake off the depression caused by this scene. But soon +he felt more ashamed of his inaction than of the reproaches which had +caused it, and on the first opportunity resumed his usual mode of life. + +The occasion was the marriage of Moustai, Pacha of Scodra, with the +eldest daughter of Veli Pacha, called the Princess of Aulis, because she +had for dowry whole villages in that district. Immediately after the +announcement of this marriage Ali set on foot a sort of saturnalia, +about the details of which there seemed to be as much mystery as if he +had been preparing an assassination. + +All at once, as if by a sudden inundation, the very scum of the earth +appeared to spread over Janina. The populace, as if trying to drown +their misery, plunged into a drunkenness which simulated pleasure. +Disorderly bands of mountebanks from the depths of Roumelia traversed +the streets, the bazaars and public places; flocks and herds, with +fleeces dyed scarlet, and gilded horns, were seen on all the roads +driven to the court by peasants under the guidance of their priests. +Bishops, abbots, ecclesiastics generally, were compelled to drink, and +to take part in ridiculous and indecent dances, Ali apparently thinking +to raise himself by degrading his more respectable subjects. Day and +night these spectacles succeeded each other with increasing rapidity, +the air resounded with firing, songs, cries, music, and the roaring of +wild beasts in shows. Enormous spits, loaded with meat, smoked before +huge braziers, and wine ran in floods at tables prepared in the palace +courts. Troops of brutal soldiers drove workmen from their labour with +whips, and compelled them to join in the entertainments; dirty and +impudent jugglers invaded private houses, and pretending that they had +orders from the pacha to display their skill, carried boldly off +whatever they could lay their hands upon. Ali saw the general +demoralization with pleasure, especially as it tended to the +gratification of his avarice, Every guest was expected to bring to the +palace gate a gift in proportion to his means, and foot officers watched +to see that no one forgot this obligation. At length, on the nineteenth +day, Ali resolved to crown the feast by an orgy worthy of himself. He +caused the galleries and halls of his castle by the lake to be decorated +with unheard-of splendour, and fifteen hundred guests assembled for a +solemn banquet. The pacha appeared in all his glory, surrounded by his +noble attendants and courtiers, and seating himself on a dais raised +above this base crowd which trembled at his glance, gave the signal to +begin. At his voice, vice plunged into its most shameless diversions, +and the wine-steeped wings of debauchery outspread themselves over the +feast. All tongues were at their freest, all imaginations ran wild, all +evil passions were at their height, when suddenly the noise ceased, and +the guests clung together in terror. A man stood at the entrance of the +hall, pale, disordered, and wild-eyed, clothed in torn and blood-stained +garments. As everyone made way at his approach, he easily reached the +pacha, and prostrating himself at his feet, presented a letter. Ali +opened and rapidly perused it; his lips trembled, his eyebrows met in a +terrible frown, the muscles of his forehead contracted alarmingly. He +vainly endeavoured to smile and to look as if nothing had happened, his +agitation betrayed him, and he was obliged to retire, after desiring a +herald to announce that he wished the banquet to continue. + +Now for the subject of the message, and the cause of the dismay it +produced. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +Ali had long cherished a violent passion for Zobeide, the wife of his +son Veli Pacha: Having vainly attempted to gratify it after his son's +departure, and being indignantly repulsed, he had recourse to drugs, and +the unhappy Zobeide remained in ignorance of her misfortune until she +found she was pregnant. Then, half-avowals from her women, compelled to +obey the pacha from fear of death, mixed with confused memories of her +own, revealed the whole terrible truth. Not knowing in her despair which +way to turn, she wrote to Ali, entreating him to visit the harem. As +head of the family, he had a right to enter, being supposed responsible +for the conduct of his sons' families, no-law-giver having hitherto +contemplated the possibility of so disgraceful a crime. When he +appeared, Zobeide flung herself at his feet, speechless with grief. Ali +acknowledged his guilt, pleaded the violence of his passion, wept with +his victim, and entreating her to control herself and keep silence, +promised that all should be made right. Neither the prayers nor tears of +Zobeide could induce him to give up the intention of effacing the traces +of his first crime by a second even more horrible. + +But the story was already whispered abroad, and Pacho Bey learnt all its +details from the spies he kept in Janina. Delighted at the prospect of +avenging himself on the father, he hastened with his news to the son. +Veli Pacha, furious, vowed vengeance, and demanded Pacho Bey's help, +which was readily promised. But Ali had been warned, and was not a man +to be taken unawares. Pacho Bey, whom Veli had just promoted to the +office of sword-bearer, was attacked in broad daylight by six emissaries +sent from Janina. He obtained timely help, however, and five of the +assassins, taken red-handed, were at once hung without ceremony in the +market-place. The sixth was the messenger whose arrival with the news +had caused such dismay at Ali's banquet. + +As Ali reflected how the storm he had raised could best be laid, he was +informed that the ruler of the marriage feast sent by Moustai, Pacha of +Scodra, to receive the young bride who should reign in his harem, had +just arrived in the plain of Janina. He was Yussuf Bey of the Delres, an +old enemy of Ali's, and had encamped with his escort of eight hundred +warriors at the foot of Tomoros of Dodona. Dreading some treachery, he +absolutely refused all entreaties to enter the town, and Ali seeing that +it was useless to insist, and that his adversary for the present was +safe, at once sent his grand-daughter, the Princess of Aulis, out to +him. + +This matter disposed of, Ali was able to attend to his hideous family +tragedy. He began by effecting the disappearance of the women whom he +had been compelled to make his accomplices; they were simply sewn up in +sacks by gipsies and thrown into the lake. This done, he himself led the +executioners into a subterranean part of the castle, where they were +beheaded by black mutes as a reward for their obedience. He then sent a +doctor to Zobeide; who succeeded in causing a miscarriage, and who, his +work done, was seized and strangled by the black mutes who had just +beheaded the gipsies. Having thus got rid of all who could bear witness +to his crime, he wrote to Veli that he might now send for his wife and +two of his children, hitherto detained as hostages, and that the +innocence of Zobeide would confound a calumniator who had dared to +assail him with such injurious suspicions. + +When this letter arrived, Pacho Bey, distrusting equally the treachery +of the father and the weakness of the son, and content with having sown +the seeds of dissension in his enemy's family, had sufficient wisdom to +seek safety in flight. Ali, furious, vowed, on hearing this, that his +vengeance should overtake him even at the ends of the earth. Meanwhile +he fell back on Yussuf Bey of the Debres, whose escape when lately at +Janina still rankled in his mind. As Yussuf was dangerous both from +character and influence, Ali feared to attack him openly, and sought to +assassinate him. This was not precisely easy; for, exposed to a thousand +dangers of this kind, the nobles of that day were on their guard. Steel +and poison were used up, and another way had to be sought. Ali found it. + +One of the many adventurers with whom Janina was filled penetrated to +the pacha's presence, and offered to sell the secret of a powder whereof +three grains would suffice to kill a man with a terrible +explosion--explosive powder, in short. Ali heard with delight, but +replied that he must see it in action before purchasing. + +In the dungeons of the castle by the lake, a poor monk of the order of +St. Basil was slowly dying, for having boldly refused a sacrilegious +simony proposed to him by Ali. He was a fit subject for the experiment, +and was successfully blown to pieces, to the great satisfaction of Ali, +who concluded his bargain, and hastened to make use of it. He prepared a +false firman, which, according to custom, was enclosed and sealed in a +cylindrical case, and sent to Yussuf Bey by a Greek, wholly ignorant of +the real object of his mission. Opening it without suspicion, Yussuf had +his arm blown off, and died in consequence, but found time to despatch a +message to Moustai Pacha of Scodra, informing him of the catastrophe, +and warning him to keep good guard. + +Yussuf's letter was received by Moustai just as a similar infernal +machine was placed in his hands under cover to his young wife. The +packet was seized, and a careful examination disclosed its nature. The +mother of Moustai, a jealous and cruel woman, accused her +daughter-in-law of complicity, and the unfortunate Ayesha, though +shortly to become a mother, expired in agony from the effects of poison, +only guilty of being the innocent instrument of her grandfather's +treachery. + +Fortune having frustrated Ali's schemes concerning Moustai Pacha, +offered him as consolation a chance of invading the territory of Parga, +the only place in Epirus which had hitherto escaped his rule, and which +he greedily coveted. Agia, a small Christian town on the coast, had +rebelled against him and allied itself to Parga. It provided an excuse +for hostilities, and Ali's troops, under his son Mouktar, first seized +Agia, where they only found a few old men to massacre, and then marched +on Parga, where the rebels had taken refuge. After a few skirmishes, +Mouktar entered the town, and though the Parganiotes fought bravely, +they must inevitably have surrendered had they been left to themselves. +But they had sought protection from the French, who had garrisoned the +citadel, and the French grenadiers descending rapidly from the height, +charged the Turks with so much fury that they fled in all directions, +leaving on the field four "bimbashis," or captains of a thousand, and a +considerable number of killed and wounded. + +The pacha's fleet succeeded no better than his army. Issuing from the +Gulf of Ambracia, it was intended to attack Parga from the sea, joining +in the massacre, and cutting off all hope of escape from that side, Ali +meaning to spare neither the garrison nor any male inhabitants over +twelve years of age. But a few shots fired from a small fort dispersed +the ships, and a barque manned by sailors from Paxos pursued them, a +shot from which killed Ali's admiral on his quarter-deck. He was a Greek +of Galaxidi, Athanasius Macrys by name. + +Filled with anxiety, Ali awaited news at Prevesa, where a courier, sent +off at the beginning of the action, had brought him oranges gathered in +the orchards of Parga. Ali gave him a purse of gold, and publicly +proclaimed his success. His joy was redoubled when a second messenger +presented two heads of French soldiers, and announced that his troops +were in possession of the lower part of Parga. Without further delay he +ordered his attendants to mount, entered his carriage, and started +triumphantly on the Roman road to Nicopolis. He sent messengers to his +generals, ordering them to spare the women and children of Parga, +intended for his harem, and above all to take strict charge of the +plunder. He was approaching the arena of Nicopolis when a third Tartar +messenger informed him of the defeat of his army. Ali changed +countenance, and could scarcely articulate the order to return to +Prevesa. Once in his palace, he gave way to such fury that all around +him trembled, demanding frequently if it could be true that his troops +were beaten. "May your misfortune be upon us!" his attendants answered, +prostrating themselves. All at once, looking out on the calm blue sea +which lay before his windows, he perceived his fleet doubling Cape +Pancrator and re-entering the Ambracian Gulf under full sail; it +anchored close by the palace, and on hailing the leading ship a speaking +trumpet announced to Ali the death of his admiral, Athanasius Macrys. + +"But Parga, Parga!" cried Ali. + +"May Allah grant the pacha long life! The Parganiotes have escaped the +sword of His Highness." + +"It is the will of Allah!" murmured the pacha; whose head sank upon his +breast in dejection. + +Arms having failed, Ali, as usual, took refuge in plots and treachery, +but this time, instead of corrupting his enemies with gold, he sought to +weaken them by division. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +The French commander Nicole, surnamed the "Pilgrim," on account of a +journey he had once made to Mecca, had spent six months at Janina with a +brigade of artillery which General Marmont, then commanding in the +Illyrian provinces, had for a time placed at Ali's disposal. The old +officer had acquired the esteem and friendship of the pacha, whose +leisure he had often amused by stories of his campaigns and various +adventures, and although it was now long since they had met, he still +had the reputation of being Ali's friend. Ali prepared his plans +accordingly. He wrote a letter to Colonel Nicole, apparently in +continuation of a regular correspondence between them, in which he +thanked the colonel for his continued affection, and besought him by +various powerful motives to surrender Parga, of which he promised him +the governorship during the rest of his life. He took good care to +complete his treason by allowing the letter to fall into the hands of +the chief ecclesiastics of Parga, who fell head-foremost into the trap. +Seeing that the tone of the letter was in perfect accordance with the +former friendly relations between their French governor and the pacha, +they were convinced of the former's treachery. But the result was not as +Ali had hoped: the Parganiotes resumed their former negotiations with +the English, preferring to place their freedom in the hands of a +Christian nation rather than to fall under the rule of a Mohammedan +satrap.... The English immediately sent a messenger to Colonel Nicole, +offering honourable conditions of capitulation. The colonel returned a +decided refusal, and threatened to blow up the place if the inhabitants, +whose intentions he guessed, made the slightest hostile movement. +However, a few days later, the citadel was taken at night, owing to the +treachery of a woman who admitted an English detachment; and the next +day, to the general astonishment, the British standard floated over the +Acropolis of Parga. + +All Greece was then profoundly stirred by a faint gleam of the dawn of +liberty, and shaken by a suppressed agitation. The Bourbons again +reigned in France, and the Greeks built a thousand hopes on an event +which changed the basis of the whole European policy. Above all, they +reckoned on powerful assistance from Russia. But England had already +begun to dread anything which could increase either the possessions or +the influence of this formidable power. Above all, she was determined +that the Ottoman Empire should remain intact, and that the Greek navy, +beginning to be formidable, must be destroyed. With these objects in +view, negotiations with Ali Pacha were resumed. The latter was still +smarting under his recent disappointment, and to all overtures answered +only, "Parga! I must have Parga."--And the English were compelled to +yield it! + +Trusting to the word of General Campbell, who had formally promised, on +its surrender, that Parga should be classed along with the seven Ionian +Isles; its grateful inhabitants were enjoying a delicious rest after the +storm, when a letter from the Lord High Commissioner, addressed to +Lieutenant-Colonel de Bosset, undeceived them, and gave warning of the +evils which were to burst on the unhappy town. + +On the 25th of March, 1817, notwithstanding the solemn promise made to +the Parganiotes, when they admitted the British troops, that they should +always be on the same footing as the Ionian Isles, a treaty was signed +at Constantinople by the British Plenipotentiary, which stipulated the +complete and stipulated cession of Parga and all its territory to, the +Ottoman Empire. Soon there arrived at Janine Sir John Cartwright, the +English Consul at Patras, to arrange for the sale of the lands of the +Parganiotes and discuss the conditions of their emigration. Never before +had any such compact disgraced European diplomacy, accustomed hitherto +to regard Turkish encroachments as simple sacrilege. But Ali Pacha +fascinated the English agents, overwhelming them with favours, honours, +and feasts, carefully watching them all the while. Their correspondence +was intercepted, and he endeavoured by means of his agents to rouse the +Parganiotes against them. The latter lamented bitterly, and appealed to +Christian Europe, which remained deaf to their cries. In the name of +their ancestors, they demanded the rights which had been guaranteed +them. "They will buy our lands," they said; "have we asked to sell them? +And even if we received their value, can gold give us a country and the +tombs of our ancestors?" + +Ali Pacha invited the Lord High Commissioner of Great Britain, Sir +Thomas Maitland, to a conference at Prevesa, and complained of the +exorbitant price of 1,500,000, at which the commissioners had estimated +Parga and its territory, including private property and church +furniture. It had been hoped that Ali's avarice would hesitate at this +high price, but he was not so easily discouraged. He give a banquet for +the Lord High Commissioner, which degenerated into a shameless orgy. In +the midst of this drunken hilarity the Turk and the Englishman disposed +of the territory of Parga; agreeing that a fresh estimate should be made +on the spot by experts chosen by both English and Turks. The result of +this valuation was that the indemnity granted to the Christians was +reduced by the English to the sum of 276,075 sterling, instead of the +original 500,000. And as Ali's agents only arrived at the sum of 56,750, +a final conference was held at Buthrotum between Ali and the Lord High +Commissioner. The latter then informed the Parganiotes that the +indemnity allowed them was irrevocably fixed at 150,000! The transaction +is a disgrace to the egotistical and venal nation which thus allowed the +life and liberty of a people to be trifled with, a lasting blot on the +honour of England! + +The Parganiotes at first could believe neither in the infamy of their +protectors nor in their own misfortune; but both were soon confirmed by +a proclamation of the Lord High Commissioner, informing them that the +pacha's army was marching to take possession of the territory which, by +May 10th, must be abandoned for ever. + +The fields were then in full bearing. In the midst of plains ripening +for a rich harvest were 80,000 square feet of olive trees, alone +estimated at two hundred thousand guineas. The sun shone in cloudless +azure, the air was balmy with the scent of orange trees, of pomegranates +and citrons. But the lovely country might have been inhabited by +phantoms; only hands raised to heaven and brows bent to the dust met +one's eye. Even the very dust belonged no more to the wretched +inhabitants; they were forbidden to take a fruit or a flower, the +priests might not remove either relics or sacred images. Church, +ornaments, torches, tapers, pyxes, had by this treaty all become +Mahommedan property. The English had sold everything, even to the Host! +Two days more, and all must be left. Each was silently marking the door +of the dwelling destined so soon to shelter an enemy, with a red cross, +when suddenly a terrible cry echoed from street to street, for the Turks +had been perceived on the heights overlooking the town. Terrified and +despairing, the whole population hastened to fall prostrate before the +Virgin of Parga, the ancient guardian of their citadel. A mysterious +voice, proceeding from the sanctuary, reminded them that the English +had, in their iniquitous treaty, forgotten to include the ashes of those +whom a happier fate had spared the sight of the ruin of Parga. Instantly +they rushed to the graveyards, tore open the tombs, and collected the +bones and putrefying corpses. The beautiful olive trees were felled, an +enormous funeral pyre arose, and in the general excitement the orders of +the English chief were defied. With naked daggers in their hands, +standing in the crimson light of the flames which were consuming the +bones of their ancestors, the people of Parga vowed to slay their wives +and children, and to kill themselves to the last man, if the infidels +dared to set foot in the town before the appointed hour. Xenocles, the +last of the Greek poets, inspired by this sublime manifestation of +despair, even as Jeremiah by the fall of Jerusalem, improvised a hymn +which expresses all the grief of the exiles, and which the exiles +interrupted by their tears and sobs. + +A messenger, crossing the sea in all haste, informed the Lord High +Commissioner of the terrible threat of the Parganiotes. He started at +once, accompanied by General Sir Frederic Adams, and landed at Parga by +the light of the funeral pyre. He was received with ill-concealed +indignation, and with assurances that the sacrifice would be at once +consummated unless Ali's troops were held back. The general endeavoured +to console and to reassure the unhappy people, and then proceeded to the +outposts, traversing silent streets in which armed men stood at each +door only waiting a signal before slaying their families, and then +turning their weapons against the English and themselves. He implored +them to have patience, and they answered by pointing to the approaching +Turkish army and bidding him hasten. He arrived at last and commenced +negotiations, and the Turkish officers, no less uneasy than the English +garrison, promised to wait till the appointed hour. The next day passed +in mournful silence, quiet as death, At sunset on the following day, May +9, 1819, the English standard on the castle of Parga was hauled down, +and after a night spent in prayer and weeping, the Christians demanded +the signal of departure. + +They had left their dwellings at break of day, and scattering on the +shore, endeavoured to collect some relics of their country. Some filled +little bags with ashes withdrawn from the funeral pile; others took +handfuls of earth, while the women and children picked up pebbles which +they hid in their clothing and pressed to their bosoms, as if fearing to +be deprived of them. Meanwhile, the ships intended to transport them +arrived, and armed English soldiers superintended the embarkation, which +the Turks hailed from afar with, ferocious cries. The Parganiotes were +landed in Corfu, where they suffered yet more injustice. Under various +pretexts the money promised them was reduced and withheld, until +destitution compelled them to accept the little that was offered. Thus +closed one of the most odious transactions which modern history has been +compelled to record. + +The satrap of Janina had arrived at the fulfilment of his wishes. In the +retirement of his fairy-like palace by the lake he could enjoy +voluptuous pleasures to the full. But already seventy-eight years had +passed over his head, and old age had laid the burden of infirmity upon +him. His dreams were dreams of blood, and vainly he sought refuge in +chambers glittering with gold, adorned with arabesques, decorated with +costly armour and covered with the richest of Oriental carpets, remorse +stood ever beside him. Through the magnificence which surrounded him +there constantly passed the gale spectre of Emineh, leading onwards a +vast procession of mournful phantoms, and the guilty pasha buried his +face in his hands and shrieked aloud for help. Sometimes, ashamed of his +weakness, he endeavoured to defy both the reproaches of his conscience +and the opinion of the multitude, and sought to encounter criticism with +bravado. If, by chance, he overheard some blind singer chanting in the +streets the satirical verses which, faithful to the poetical and mocking +genius of them ancestors, the Greeks frequently composed about him, he +would order the singer to be brought, would bid him repeat his verses, +and, applauding him, would relate some fresh anecdote of cruelty, +saying, "Go, add that to thy tale; let thy hearers know what I can do; +let them understand that I stop at nothing in order to overcome my foes! +If I reproach myself with anything, it is only with the deeds I have +sometimes failed to carry out." + +Sometimes it was the terrors of the life after death which assailed him. +The thought of eternity brought terrible visions in its train, and Ali +shuddered at the prospect of Al-Sirat, that awful bridge, narrow as a +spider's thread and hanging over the furnaces of Hell; which a Mussulman +must cross in order to arrive at the gate of Paradise. He ceased to joke +about Eblis, the Prince of Evil, and sank by degrees into profound +superstition. He was surrounded by magicians and soothsayers; he +consulted omens, and demanded talismans and charms from the dervishes, +which he had either sewn into his garments, or suspended in the most +secret parts of his palace, in order to avert evil influences. A Koran +was hung about his neck as a defence against the evil eye, and +frequently he removed it and knelt before it, as did Louis XI before the +leaden figures of saints which adorned his hat. He ordered a complete +chemical laboratory from Venice, and engaged alchemists to distill the +water of immortality, by the help of which he hoped to ascend to the +planets and discover the Philosopher's Stone. Not perceiving any +practical result of their labours, he ordered, the laboratory to be +burnt and the alchemists to be hung. + +Ali hated his fellow-men. He would have liked to leave no survivors, and +often regretted his inability to destroy all those who would have cause +to rejoice at his death, Consequently he sought to accomplish as much +harm as he could during the time which remained to him, and for no +possible reason but that of hatred, he caused the arrest of both Ibrahim +Pasha, who had already suffered so much at his hands, and his son, and +confined them both in a dungeon purposely constructed under the grand +staircase of the castle by the lake, in order that he might have the +pleasure of passing over their heads each time he left his apartments or +returned to them. + +It was not enough for Ali merely to put to death those who displeased +him, the form of punishment must be constantly varied in order to +produce a fresh mode of suffering, therefore new tortures had to be +constantly invented. Now it was a servant, guilty of absence without +leave, who was bound to a stake in the presence of his sister, and +destroyed by a cannon placed six paces off, but only loaded with powder, +in order to prolong the agony; now, a Christian accused of having tried +to blow up Janina by introducing mice with tinder fastened to their +tails into the powder magazine, who was shut up in the cage of Ali's +favourite tiger and devoured by it. + +The pasha despised the human race as much as he hated it. A European +having reproached him with the cruelty shown to his subjects, Ali +replied:-- + +"You do not understand the race with which I have to deal. Were I to +hang a criminal on yonder tree, the sight would not deter even his own +brother from stealing in the crowd at its foot. If I had an old man +burnt alive, his son would steal the ashes and sell them. The rabble can +be governed by fear only, and I am the one man who does it +successfully." + +His conduct perfectly corresponded to his ideas. One great feast-day, +two gipsies devoted their lives in order to avert the evil destiny of +the pasha; and, solemnly convoking on their own heads all misfortunes +which might possibly befall him, cast themselves down from the palace +roof. One arose with difficulty, stunned and suffering, the other +remained on the ground with a broken leg. Ali gave them each forty +francs and an annuity of two pounds of maize daily, and considering this +sufficient, took no further trouble about them. + +Every year, at Ramadan, a large sum was distributed in alms among poor +women without distinction of sect. But Ali contrived to change this act +of benevolence into a barbarous form of amusement. + +As he possessed several palaces in Janina at a considerable distance +from each other, the one at which a distribution was to take place was +each day publicly announced, and when the women had waited there for an +hour or two, exposed to sun, rain or cold, as the case might be, they +were suddenly informed that they must go to some other palace, at the +opposite end of the town. When they got there, they usually had to wait +for another hour, fortunate if they were not sent off to a third place +of meeting. When the time at length arrived, an eunuch appeared, +followed by Albanian soldiers armed with staves, carrying a bag of +money, which he threw by handfuls right into the midst of the assembly. +Then began a terrible uproar. The women rushed to catch it, upsetting +each other, quarreling, fighting, and uttering cries of terror and pain, +while the Albanians, pretending to enforce order, pushed into the crowd, +striking right and left with their batons. The pacha meanwhile sat at a +window enjoying the spectacle, and impartially applauding all well +delivered blows, no matter whence they came. During these distributions, +which really benefitted no one, many women were always severely hurt, +and some died from the blows they had received. + +Ali maintained several carriages for himself and his family, but allowed +no one else to share in this prerogative. To avoid being jolted, he +simply took up the pavement in Janina and the neighbouring towns, with +the result that in summer one was choked by dust, and in winter could +hardly get through the mud. He rejoiced in the public inconvenience, and +one day having to go out in heavy rain, he remarked to one of the +officers of his escort, "How delightful to be driven through this in a +carriage, while you will have the pleasure of following on horseback! +You will be wet and dirty, whilst I smoke my pipe and laugh at your +condition." + +He could not understand why Western sovereigns should permit their +subjects to enjoy the same conveniences and amusements as themselves. +"If I had a theatre," he said, "I would allow no one to be present at +performances except my own children; but these idiotic Christians do not +know how to uphold their own dignity." + +There was no end to the mystifications which it amused the pacha to +carry out with those who approached him. + +One day he chose to speak Turkish to a Maltese merchant who came to +display some jewels. He was informed that the merchant understood only +Greek and Italian. He none the less continued his discourse without +allowing anyone to translate what he said into Greek. The Maltese at +length lost patience, shut up his cases, and departed. Ali watched him +with the utmost calm, and as he went out told him, still in Turkish, to +come again the next day. + +An unexpected occurrence seemed, like the warning finger of Destiny, to +indicate an evil omen for the pacha's future. "Misfortunes arrive in +troops," says the forcible Turkish proverb, and a forerunner of +disasters came to Ali Dacha. + +One morning he was suddenly roused by the Sheik Yussuf, who had forced +his way in, in spite of the guards. "Behold!" said he, handing Ali a +letter, "Allah, who punishes the guilty, has permitted thy seraglio of +Tepelen to be burnt. Thy splendid palace, thy beautiful furniture, +costly stuffs, cashmeers, furs, arms, all are destroyed! And it is thy +youngest and best beloved son, Salik Bey himself, whose hand kindled the +flames!" So saying; Yussuf turned and departed, crying with a triumphant +voice, "Fire! fire! fire!" + +Ali instantly ordered his horse, and, followed by his guards, rode +without drawing rein to Tepelen. As soon as he arrived at the place +where his palace had formerly insulted the public misery, he hastened to +examine the cellars where his treasures were deposited. All was intact, +silver plate, jewels, and fifty millions of francs in gold, enclosed in +a well over which he had caused a tower to be built. After this +examination he ordered all the ashes to be carefully sifted in hopes of +recovering the gold in the tassels and fringes of the sofas, and the +silver from the plate and the armour. He next proclaimed through the +length and breadth of the land, that, being by the hand of Allah +deprived of his house, and no longer possessing anything in his native +town, he requested all who loved him to prove their affection by +bringing help in proportion. He fixed the day of reception for each +commune, and for almost each individual of any rank, however small, +according to their distance from Tepelen, whither these evidences of +loyalty were to be brought. + +During five days Ali received these forced benevolences from all parts. +He sat, covered with rags, on a shabby palm-leaf mat placed at the outer +gate of his ruined palace, holding in his left hand a villainous pipe of +the kind used by the lowest people, and in his right an old red cap, +which he extended for the donations of the passers-by. Behind stood a +Jew from Janina, charged with the office of testing each piece of gold +and valuing jewels which were offered instead of money; for, in terror, +each endeavoured to appear generous. No means of obtaining a rich +harvest were neglected; for instance, Ali distributed secretly large +sums among poor and obscure people, such as servants, mechanics, and +soldiers, in order that by returning them in public they might appear to +be making great sacrifices, so that richer and more distinguished +persons could not, without appearing ill-disposed towards the pacha, +offer only the same amount as did the poor, but were obliged to present +gifts of enormous value. + +After this charity extorted from their fears, the pacha's subjects hoped +to be at peace. But a new decree proclaimed throughout Albania required +them to rebuild and refurnish the formidable palace of Tepelen entirely +at the public expense. Ali then returned to Janina, followed by his +treasure and a few women who had escaped from the flames, and whom he +disposed of amongst his friends, saying that he was no longer +sufficiently wealthy to maintain so many slaves. + +Fate soon provided him with a second opportunity for amassing wealth. +Arta, a wealthy town with a Christian population, was ravaged by the +plague, and out of eight thousand inhabitants, seven thousand were swept +away. Hearing this, Ali hastened to send commissioners to prepare an +account of furniture and lands which the pacha claimed as being heir to +his subjects. A few livid and emaciated spectres were yet to be found in +the streets of Arta. In order that the inventory might be more complete, +these unhappy beings were compelled to wash in the Inachus blankets, +sheets, and clothes steeped in bubonic infection, while the collectors +were hunting everywhere for imaginary hidden treasure. Hollow trees were +sounded, walls pulled down, the most unlikely corners examined, and a +skeleton which was discovered still girt with a belt containing Venetian +sequins was gathered up with the utmost care. The archons of the town +were arrested and tortured in the hope of discovering buried treasure, +the clue to which had disappeared along with the owners. One of these +magistrates, accused of having hidden some valuable objects, was plunged +up to his shoulders in a boiler full of melted lead and boiling oil. Old +men, women, children, rich and poor alike, were interrogated, beaten, +and compelled to abandon the last remains of their property in order to +save their lives. + +Having thus decimated the few inhabitants remaining to the town, it +became necessary to repeople it. With this object in view, Ali's +emissaries overran the villages of Thessaly, driving before them all the +people they met in flocks, and compelling them to settle in Arta. These +unfortunate colonists were also obliged to find money to pay the pacha +for the houses they were forced to occupy. + +This business being settled, Ali turned to another which had long been +on his mind. We have seen how Ismail Pacho Bey escaped the assassins +sent to murder him. A ship, despatched secretly from Prevesa, arrived at +the place of his retreat. The captain, posing as a merchant, invited +Ismail to come on board and inspect his goods. But the latter, guessing +a trap, fled promptly, and for some time all trace of him was lost. Ali, +in revenge, turned his wife out of the palace at Janina which she still +occupied, and placed her in a cottage, where she was obliged to earn a +living by spinning. But he did not stop there, and learning after some +time that Pacho Bey had sought refuge with the Nazir of Drama, who had +taken him into favour, he resolved to strike a last blow, more sure and +more terrible than the others. Again Ismail's lucky star saved him from +the plots of his enemy. During a hunting party he encountered a +kapidgi-bachi, or messenger from the sultan, who asked him where he +could find the Nazir, to whom he was charged with an important +communication. As kapidgi-bachis are frequently bearers of evil tidings, +which it is well to ascertain at once, and as the Nazir was at some +distance, Pacho Bey assumed the latter's part, and the sultan's +confidential messenger informed him that he was the bearer of a firman +granted at the request of Ali Pacha of Janina. + +"Ali of Tepelenir. He is my friend. How can I serve him?" + +"By executing the present order, sent you by the Divan, desiring you to +behead a traitor, named Pacho Bey, who crept into your service a short +time ago. + +"Willingly I but he is not an easy man to seize being brave, vigorous, +clever, and cunning. Craft will be necessary in this case. He may appear +at any moment, and it is advisable that he should not see you. Let no +one suspect who you are, but go to Drama, which is only two hours +distant, and await me there. I shall return this evening, and you can +consider your errand as accomplished." + +The kapidgi-bachi made a sign of comprehension, and directed his course +towards Drama; while Ismail, fearing that the Nazir, who had only known +him a short time, would sacrifice him with the usual Turkish +indifference, fled in the opposite direction. At the end of an hour he +encountered a Bulgarian monk, with whom he exchanged clothes--a disguise +which enabled him to traverse Upper Macedonia in safety. Arriving at the +great Servian convent in the mountains whence the Axius takes its rise, +he obtained admission under an assumed name. But feeling sure of the +discretion of the monks, after a few days he explained his situation to +them. + +Ali, learning the ill-success of his latest stratagem, accused the Nazir +of conniving at Paeho Bey's escape. But the latter easily justified +himself with the Divan by giving precise information of what had really +occurred. This was what Ali wanted, who profited thereby in having the +fugitive's track followed up, and soon got wind of his retreat. As Pacho +Bey's innocence had been proved in the explanations given to the Porte, +the death firman obtained against him became useless, and Ali affected +to abandon him to his fate, in order the better to conceal the new plot +he was conceiving against him. + +Athanasius Vaya, chief assassin of the Kardikiotes, to whom Ali imparted +his present plan for the destruction of Ismail, begged for the honour of +putting it into execution, swearing that this time Ismail should not +escape. The master and the instrument disguised their scheme under the +appearance of a quarrel, which astonished the whole town. At the end of +a terrible scene which took place in public, Ali drove the confidant of +his crimes from the palace, overwhelming him with insults, and declaring +that were Athanasius not the son of his children's foster-mother, he +would have sent him to the gibbet. He enforced his words by the +application of a stick, and Vaya, apparently overwhelmed by terror and +affliction, went round to all the nobles of the town, vainly entreating +them to intercede for him. The only favour which Mouktar Pacha could +obtain for him was a sentence of exile allowing him to retreat to +Macedonia. + +Athanasius departed from Janina with all the demonstrations of utter +despair, and continued his route with the haste of one who fears +pursuit. Arrived in Macedonia, he assumed the habit of a monk, and +undertook a pilgrimage to Mount Athos, saying that both the disguise and +the journey were necessary to his safety. On the way he encountered one +of the itinerant friars of the great Servian convent, to whom he +described his disgrace in energetic terms, begging him to obtain his +admission among the lay brethren of his monastery. + +Delighted at the prospect of bringing back to the fold of the Church a +man so notorious for his crimes, the friar hastened to inform his +superior, who in his turn lost no time in announcing to Pacho Bey that +his compatriot and companion in misfortune was to be received among the +lay brethren, and in relating the history of Athanasius as he himself +had heard it. Pacho Bey, however, was not easily deceived, and at once +guessing that Vaya's real object was his own assassination, told his +doubts to the superior, who had already received him as a friend. The +latter retarded the reception of Vaya so as to give Pacho time to escape +and take the road to Constantinople. Once arrived there, he determined +to brave the storm and encounter Ali openly. + +Endowed by nature with a noble presence and with masculine firmness, +Pacho Bey possessed also the valuable gift of speaking all the various +tongues of the Ottoman Empire. He could not fail to distinguish himself +in the capital and to find an opening for his great talents. But his +inclination drove him at first to seek his fellow-exiles from Epirus, +who were either his old companions in arms, friends, of relations, for +he was allied to all the principal families, and was even, through his +wife, nearly connected with his enemy, Ali Pacha himself. + +He had learnt what this unfortunate lady had already endured on his +account, and feared that she would suffer yet more if he took active +measures against the pacha. While he yet hesitated between affection and +revenge, he heard that she had died of grief and misery. Now that +despair had put an end to uncertainty, he set his hand to the work. + +At this precise moment Heaven sent him a friend to console and aid him +in his vengeance, a Christian from OEtolia, Paleopoulo by name. This man +was on the point of establishing himself in Russian Bessarabia, when he +met Pacho Bey and joined with him in the singular coalition which was to +change the fate of the Tepelenian dynasty. + +Paleopoulo reminded his companion in misfortune of a memorial presented +to the Divan in 1812, which had brought upon Ali a disgrace from which +he only escaped in consequence of the overwhelming political events +which just then absorbed the attention of the Ottoman Government. The +Grand Seigneur had sworn by the tombs of his ancestors to attend to the +matter as soon as he was able, and it was only requisite to remind him +of his vow. Pacho Hey and his friend drew up a new memorial, and knowing +the sultan's avarice, took care to dwell on the immense wealth possessed +by Ali, on his scandalous exactions, and on the enormous sums diverted +from the Imperial Treasury. By overhauling the accounts of his +administration, millions might be recovered. To these financial +considerations Pacho Bey added some practical ones. Speaking as a man +sure of his facts and well acquainted with the ground, he pledged his +head that with twenty thousand men he would, in spite of Ali's troops +and strongholds, arrive before Janina without firing a musket. + +However good these plans appeared, they were by no means to the taste of +the sultan's ministers, who were each and all in receipt of large +pensions from the man at whom they struck. Besides, as in Turkey it is +customary for the great fortunes of Government officials to be absorbed +on their death by the Imperial Treasury, it of course appeared easier to +await the natural inheritance of Ali's treasures than to attempt to +seize them by a war which would certainly absorb part of them. +Therefore, while Pacho Bey's zeal was commended, he obtained only +dilatory answers, followed at length by a formal refusal. + +Meanwhile, the old OEtolian, Paleopoulo, died, having prophesied the +approaching Greek insurrection among his friends, and pledged Pacho Bey +to persevere in his plans of vengeance, assuring him that before long +Ali would certainly fall a victim to them. Thus left alone, Pacho, +before taking any active steps in his work of vengeance, affected to +give himself up to the strictest observances of the Mohammedan religion. +Ali, who had established a most minute surveillance over his actions, +finding that his time was spent with ulemas and dervishes, imagined that +he had ceased to be dangerous, and took no further trouble about him. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +A career of successful crime had established Ali's rule over a +population equal to that of the two kingdoms of Sweden and Norway. But +his ambition was not yet satisfied. The occupation of Parga did not +crown his desires, and the delight which it caused him was much tempered +by the escape of the Parganiotes, who found in exile a safe refuge from +his persecution. Scarcely had he finished the conquest of Middle Albania +before he was exciting a faction against the young Moustai Pacha in +Scodra, a new object of greed. He also kept an army of spies in +Wallachia, Moldavia, Thrace, and Macedonia, and, thanks to them, he +appeared to be everywhere present, and was mixed up in every intrigue, +private or political, throughout the empire. He had paid the English +agents the price agreed on for Parga, but he repaid himself five times +over, by gifts extorted from his vassals, and by the value of the Parga +lands, now become his property. His palace of Tepelen had been rebuilt +at the public expense, and was larger and more magnificent than before; +Janina was embellished with new buildings; elegant pavilions rose on the +shores of the lake; in short, Ali's luxury was on a level with his vast +riches. His sons and grandsons were provided for by important positions, +and Ali himself was sovereign prince in everything but the name. + +There was no lack of flattery, even from literary persons. At Vienna a +poem was pointed in his honour, and a French-Greek Grammar was dedicated +to him, and such titles as "Most Illustrious," "Most Powerful," and +"Most Clement," were showered upon him, as upon a man whose lofty +virtues and great exploits echoed through the world. A native of +Bergamo, learned in heraldry, provided him with a coat of arms, +representing, on a field gules, a lion, embracing three cubs, emblematic +of the Tepelenian dynasty. Already he had a consul at Leucadia accepted +by the English, who, it is said, encouraged him to declare himself +hereditary Prince of Greece, under the nominal suzerainty of the sultan; +their real intention being to use him as a tool in return for their +protection, and to employ him as a political counter-balance to the +hospodars of Moldavia and Wallachia, who for the last twenty years had +been simply Russian agents in disguise, This was not all; many of the +adventurers with whom the Levant swarms, outlaws from every country, had +found a refuge in Albania, and helped not a little to excite Ali's +ambition by their suggestions. Some of these men frequently saluted him +as King, a title which he affected to reject with indignation; and he +disdained to imitate other states by raising a private standard of his +own, preferring not to compromise his real power by puerile displays of +dignity; and he lamented the foolish ambition of his children, who would +ruin him, he said, by aiming, each, at becoming a vizier. Therefore he +did not place his hope or confidence in them, but in the adventurers of +every sort and kind, pirates, coiners, renegades, assassins, whom he +kept in his pay and regarded as his best support. These he sought to +attach to his person as men who might some day be found useful, for he +did not allow the many favours of fortune to blind him to the real +danger of his position. A vizier," he was answered, "resembles a man +wrapped in costly furs, but he sits on a barrel of powder, which only +requires a spark to explode it." The Divan granted all the concessions +which Ali demanded, affecting ignorance of his projects of revolt and +his intelligence with the enemies of the State; but then apparent +weakness was merely prudent temporising. It was considered that Ali, +already advanced in years, could not live much longer, and it was hoped +that, at his death, Continental Greece, now in some measure detached +from the Ottoman rule, would again fall under the sultan's sway. + +Meanwhile, Pacho Bey, bent on silently undermining Ali's influence; had +established himself as an intermediary for all those who came to demand +justice on account of the pacha's exactions, and he contrived that both +his own complaints and those of his clients, should penetrate to the +ears of the sultan; who, pitying his misfortunes, made him a +kapidgi-bachi, as a commencement of better things. About this time the +sultan also admitted to the Council a certain Abdi Effendi of Larissa, +one of the richest nobles of Thessaly, who had been compelled by the +tyranny of Veli Pacha to fly from his country. The two new dignitaries, +having secured Khalid Effendi as a partisan, resolved to profit by his +influence to carry out their plans of vengeance on the Tepelenian +family. The news of Pacho Bey's promotion roused Ali from the security +in which he was plunged, and he fell a prey to the most lively anxiety. +Comprehending at once the evil which this man,--trained in his own +school, might cause him, he exclaimed, "Ah! if Heaven would only restore +me the strength of my youth, I would plunge my sword into his heart even +in the midst of the Divan." + +It was not long before Ali's enemies found an extremely suitable +opportunity for opening their attack. Veli Pacha, who had for his own +profit increased the Thessalian taxation fivefold, had in doing so +caused so much oppression that many of the inhabitants preferred the +griefs and dangers of emigration rather than remain under so tyrannical +a rule. A great number of Greeks sought refuge at Odessa, and the great +Turkish families assembled round Pacho Bey and Abdi Effendi at +Constantinople, who lost no opportunity of interceding in their favour. +The sultan, who as yet did not dare to act openly against the Tepelenian +family, was at least able to relegate Veli to the obscure post of +Lepanto, and Veli, much disgusted, was obliged to obey. He quitted the +new palace he had just built at Rapehani, and betook himself to the +place of exile, accompanied by actors, Bohemian dancers, bear leaders, +and a crowd of prostitutes. + +Thus attacked in the person of his most powerful son, Ali thought to +terrify his enemies by a daring blow. He sent three Albanians to +Constantinople to assassinate Pacho Bey. They fell upon him as he was +proceeding to the Mosque of Saint-Sophia, on the day on which the sultan +also went in order to be present at the Friday ceremonial prayer, and +fired several shots at him. He was wounded, but not mortally. + +The assassins, caught red-handed, were hung at the gate of the Imperial +Seraglio, but not before confessing that they were sent by the Pacha of +Janina. The Divan, comprehending at last that so dangerous a man must be +dealt with at any cost, recapitulated all Ali's crimes, and pronounced a +sentence against him which was confirmed by a decree of the Grand Mufti. +It set forth that Ali Tepelen, having many times obtained pardon for his +crimes, was now guilty of high treason in the first degree, and that he +would, as recalcitrant, be placed under the ban of the Empire if he did +not within forty days appear at the Gilded Threshold of the Felicitous +Gate of the Monarch who dispenses crowns to the princes who reign in +this world, in order to justify himself. As may be supposed, submission +to such an order was about the last thing Ali contemplated. As he failed +to appear, the Divan caused the Grand Mufti to launch the thunder of +excommunication against him. + +Ali had just arrived at Parga, which he now saw for the third time since +he had obtained it, when his secretaries informed him that only the rod +of Moses could save him from the anger of Pharaoh--a figurative mode of +warning him that he had nothing to hope for. But Ali, counting on his +usual luck, persisted in imagining that he could, once again, escape +from his difficulty by the help of gold and intrigue. Without +discontinuing the pleasures in which he was immersed, he contented +himself with sending presents and humble petitions to Constantinople. +But both were alike useless, for no one even ventured to transmit them +to the sultan, who had sworn to cut off the head of anyone who dared +mention the name of Ali Tepelen in his presence. + +Receiving no answer to his overtures, Ali became a prey to terrible +anxiety. As he one day opened the Koran to consult it as to his future, +his divining rod stopped at verse 82, chap. xix., which says, "He doth +flatter himself in vain. He shall appear before our tribunal naked and +bare." Ali closed the book and spat three times into his bosom. He was +yielding to the most dire presentiments, when a courier, arriving from +the capital, informed him that all hope of pardon was lost. + +He ordered his galley to be immediately prepared, and left his seraglio, +casting a look of sadness on the beautiful gardens where only yesterday +he had received the homage of his prostrate slaves. He bade farewell to +his wives, saying that he hoped soon to return, and descended to the +shore, where the rowers received him with acclamations. The sail was set +to a favourable breeze, and Ali, leaving the shore he was never to see +again, sailed towards Erevesa, where he hoped to meet the Lord High +Commissioner Maitland. But the time of prosperity had gone by, and the +regard which had once been shown him changed with his fortunes. The +interview he sought was not granted. + +The sultan now ordered a fleet to be equipped, which, after Ramadan, was +to disembark troops on the coast of Epirus, while all the neighbouring +pashas received orders to hold themselves in readiness to march with all +the troops of their respective Governments against Ali, whose name was +struck out of the list of viziers. Pacho Bey was named Pasha of Janina +and Delvino on condition of subduing them, and was placed in command of +the whole expedition. + +However, notwithstanding these orders, there was not at the beginning of +April, two months after the attempted assassination of Pacho Bey, a +single soldier ready to march on Albania. Ramadan, that year, did not +close until the new moon of July. Had Ali put himself boldly at the head +of the movement which was beginning to stir throughout Greece, he might +have baffled these vacillating projects, and possibly dealt a fatal blow +to the Ottoman Empire. As far back as 1808, the Hydriotes had offered to +recognise his son Veli, then Vizier of the Morea, as their Prince, and +to support him in every way, if he would proclaim the independence of +the Archipelago. The Moreans bore him no enmity until he refused to help +them to freedom, and would have returned to him had he consented. + +On the other side, the sultan, though anxious for war, would not spend a +penny in order to wage it; and it was not easy to corrupt some of the +great vassals ordered to march at their own expense against a man in +whose downfall they had no special interest. Nor were the means of +seduction wanting to Ali, whose wealth was enormous; but he preferred to +keep it in order to carry on the war which he thought he could no longer +escape. He made, therefore, a general appeal to all Albanian warriors, +whatever their religion. Mussulmans and Christians, alike attracted by +the prospect of booty and good pay, flocked to his standard in crowds. + +He organised all these adventurers on the plan of the Armatous, by +companies, placing a captain of his own choice at the head of each, and +giving each company a special post to defend. Of all possible plans this +was the best adapted to his country, where only a guerilla warfare can +be carried on, and where a large army could not subsist. + +In repairing to the posts assigned to them, these troops committed such +terrible depredations that the provinces sent to Constantinople +demanding their suppression. The Divan answered the petitioners that it +was their own business to suppress these disorders, and to induce the +Klephotes to turn their arms against Ali, who had nothing to hope from +the clemency of the Grand Seigneur. At the same time circular letters +were addressed to the Epirotes, warning them to abandon the cause of a +rebel, and to consider the best means of freeing themselves from a +traitor, who, having long oppressed them, now sought to draw down on +their country all the terrors of war. Ali, who every where maintained +numerous and active spies, now redoubled his watchfulness, and not a +single letter entered Epirus without being opened and read by his +agents. As an extra precaution, the guardians of the passes were +enjoined to slay without mercy any despatch-bearer not provided with an +order signed by Ali himself; and to send to Janina under escort any +travellers wishing to enter Epirus. These measures were specially aimed +against Suleyman Pacha, who had succeeded Veli in the government of +Thessaly, and replaced Ali himself in the office of Grand Provost of the +Highways. Suleyman's secretary was a Greek called Anagnorto, a native of +Macedonia, whose estates Ali had seized, and who had fled with his +family to escape further persecution. He had become attached to the +court party, less for the sake of vengeance on Ali than to aid the cause +of the Greeks, for whose freedom he worked by underhand methods. He +persuaded Suleyman Pacha that the Greeks would help him to dethrone Ali, +for whom they cherished the deepest hatred, and he was determined that +they should learn the sentence of deprivation and excommunication +fulminated against the rebel pacha. He introduced into the Greek +translation which he was commissioned to make, ambiguous phrases which +were read by the Christians as a call to take up arms in the cause of +liberty. In an instant, all Hellas was up in arms. The Mohammedans were +alarmed, but the Greeks gave out that it was in order to protect +themselves and their property against the bands of brigands which had +appeared on all sides. This was the beginning of the Greek insurrection, +and occurred in May 1820, extending from Mount Pindus to Thermopylae. +However, the Greeks, satisfied with having vindicated their right to +bear arms in their own defence, continued to pay their taxes, and +abstained from all hostility. + +At the news of this great movement, Ali's friends advised him to turn it +to his own advantage. "The Greeks in arms," said they, "want a chief: +offer yourself as their leader. They hate you, it is true, but this +feeling may change. It is only necessary to make them believe, which is +easily done, that if they will support your cause you will embrace +Christianity and give them freedom." + +There was no time to lose, for matters became daily more serious. Ali +hastened to summon what he called a Grand Divan, composed of the chiefs +of both sects, Mussulmans and Christians. There were assembled men of +widely different types, much astonished at finding themselves in +company: the venerable Gabriel, Archbishop of Janina, and uncle of the +unfortunate Euphrosyne, who had been dragged thither by force; Abbas, +the old head of the police, who had presided at the execution of the +Christian martyr; the holy bishop of Velas, still bearing the marks of +the chains with which Ali had loaded him; and Porphyro, Archbishop of +Arta, to whom the turban would have been more becoming than the mitre. + +Ashamed of the part he was obliged to play, Ali, after long hesitation, +decided on speaking, and, addressing the Christians, "O Greeks!" he +said, "examine my conduct with unprejudiced minds, and you will see +manifest proofs of the confidence and consideration which I have ever +shown you. What pacha has ever treated you as I have done? Who would +have treated your priests and the objects of your worship with as much +respect? Who else would have conceded the privileges which you enjoy? +for you hold rank in my councils, and both the police and the +administration of my States are in your hands. I do not, however, seek +to deny the evils with which I have afflicted you; but, alas! these +evils have been the result of my enforced obedience to the cruel and +perfidious orders of the Sublime Porte. It is to the Porte that these +wrongs must be attributed, for if my actions be attentively regarded it +will be seen that I only did harm when compelled thereto by the course +of events. Interrogate my actions, they will speak more fully than a +detailed apology. + +"My position with regard to the Suliotes allowed no half-and-half +measures. Having once broken with them, I was obliged either to drive +them from my country or to exterminate them. I understood the political +hatred of the Ottoman Cabinet too well not to know that it would declare +war against me sooner or later, and I knew that resistance would be +impossible, if on one side I had to repel the Ottoman aggression, and on +the other to fight against the formidable Suliotes. + +"I might say the same of the Parganiotes. You know that their town was +the haunt of my enemies, and each time that I appealed to them to change +their ways they answered only with insults and threats. They constantly +aided the Suliotes with whom I was at war; and if at this moment they +still were occupying Parga, you would see them throw open the gates of +Epirus to the forces of the sultan. But all this does not prevent my +being aware that my enemies blame me severely, and indeed I also blame +myself, and deplore the faults which the difficulty of my position has +entailed upon me. Strong in my repentance, I do not hesitate to address +myself to those whom I have most grievously wounded. Thus I have long +since recalled to my service a great number of Suliotes, and those who +have responded to my invitation are occupying important posts near my +person. To complete the reconciliation, I have written to those who are +still in exile, desiring them to return fearlessly to their country, and +I have certain information that this proposal has been everywhere +accepted with enthusiasm. The Suliotes will soon return to their +ancestral houses, and, reunited under my standard, will join me in +combating the Osmanlis, our common enemies. + +"As to the avarice of which I am accused, it seems easily justified by +the constant necessity I was under of satisfying the inordinate cupidity +of the Ottoman ministry, which incessantly made me pay dearly for +tranquillity. This was a personal affair, I acknowledge, and so also is +the accumulation of treasure made in order to support the war, which the +Divan has at length declared." + +Here Ali ceased, then having caused a barrel full of gold pieces to be +emptied on the floor, he continued: + +"Behold a part of the treasure I have preserved with so much care, and +which has been specially obtained from the Turks, our common enemies: it +is yours. I am now more than ever delighted at being the friend of the +Greeks. Their bravery is a sure earnest of victory, and we will shortly +re-establish the Greek Empire, and drive the Osmanlis across the +Bosphorus. O bishops and priests of Issa the prophet! bless the arms of +the Christians, your children. O primates! I call upon you to defend +your rights, and to rule justly the brave nation associated with my +interests." + +This discourse produced very different impressions on the Christian +priests and archons. Some replied only by raising looks of despair to +Heaven, others murmured their adhesion. A great number remained +uncertain, not knowing what to decide. The Mirdite chief, he who had +refused to slaughter the Kardikiotes, declared that neither he nor any +Skipetar of the Latin communion would bear arms against their legitimate +sovereign the sultan. But his words were drowned by cries of "Long live +Ali Pasha! Long live the restorer of liberty!" uttered by some chiefs of +adventurers and brigands. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +Yet next day, May 24th, 1820, Ali addressed a circular letter to his +brothers the Christians, announcing that in future he would consider +them as his most faithful subjects, and that henceforth he remitted the +taxes paid to his own family. He wound up by asking for soldiers, but +the Greeks having learnt the instability of his promises, remained deaf +to his invitations. At the same time he sent messengers to the +Montenegrins and the Servians, inciting them to revolt, and organised +insurrections in Wallachia and Moldavia to the very environs of +Constantinople. + +Whilst the Ottoman vassals assembled only in small numbers and very +slowly under their respective standards, every day there collected round +the castle of Janina whole companies of Toxidae, of Tapazetae, and of +Chamidae; so that Ali, knowing that Ismail Pacho Bey had boasted that he +could arrive in sight of Janina without firing a gun, said in his turn +that he would not treat with the Porte until he and his troops should be +within eight leagues of Constantinople. + +He had fortified and supplied with munitions of war Ochrida, Avlone, +Cannia, Berat, Cleisoura, Premiti, the port of Panormus, Santi-Quaranta, +Buthrotum, Delvino, Argyro-Castron, Tepelen, Parga, Prevesa, Sderli, +Paramythia, Arta, the post of the Five Wells, Janina and its castles. +These places contained four hundred and twenty cannons of all sizes, for +the most part in bronze, mounted on siege-carriages, and seventy +mortars. Besides these, there were in the castle by the lake, +independently of the guns in position, forty field-pieces, sixty +mountain guns, a number of Congreve rockets, formerly given him by the +English, and an enormous quantity of munitions of war. Finally, he +endeavoured to establish a line of semaphores between Janina and +Prevesa, in order to have prompt news of the Turkish fleet, which was +expected to appear on this coast. + +Ali, whose strength seemed to increase with age, saw to everything and +appeared everywhere; sometimes in a litter borne by his Albanians, +sometimes in a carriage raised into a kind of platform, but it was more +frequently on horseback that he appeared among his labourers. Often he +sat on the bastions in the midst of the batteries, and conversed +familiarly with those who surrounded him. He narrated the successes +formerly obtained against the sultan by Kara Bazaklia, Vizier of Scodra, +who, like himself, had been attained with the sentence of deprivation +and excommunication; recounting how the rebel pacha, shut up in his +citadel with seventy-two warriors, had seen collapse at his feet the +united forces of four great provinces of the Ottoman Empire, commanded +by twenty-two pachas, who were almost entirely annihilated in one day by +the Guegues. He reminded them also, of the brilliant victory gained by +Passevend Oglon, Pacha of Widdin, of quite recent memory, which is +celebrated in the warlike songs of the Klephts of Roumelia. + +Almost simultaneously, Ali's sons, Mouktar and Veli, arrived at Janina. +Veli had been obliged, or thought himself obliged, to evacuate Lepanto +by superior forces, and brought only discouraging news, especially as to +the wavering fidelity of the Turks. Mouktar, on the contrary, who had +just made a tour of inspection in the Musache, had only noticed +favourable dispositions, and deluded himself with the idea that the +Chaonians, who had taken up arms, had done so in order to aid his +father. He was curiously mistaken, for these tribes hated Ali with a +hatred all the deeper for being compelled to conceal it, and were only +in arms in order to repel aggression. + +The advice given by the sons to their father as to the manner of +treating the Mohammedans differed widely in accordance with their +respective opinions. Consequently a violent quarrel arose between them, +ostensibly on account of this dispute, but in reality on the subject of +their father's inheritance, which both equally coveted. Ali had brought +all his treasure to Janina, and thenceforth neither son would leave the +neighbourhood of so excellent a father. They overwhelmed him with marks +of affection, and vowed that the one had left Lepanto, and the other +Berat, only in order to share his danger. Ali was by no means duped by +these protestations, of which he divined the motive only too well, and +though he had never loved his sons, he suffered cruelly in discovering +that he was not beloved by them. + +Soon he had other troubles to endure. One of his gunners assassinated a +servant of Vela's, and Ali ordered the murderer to be punished, but when +the sentence was to be carried out the whole corps of artillery +mutinied. In order to save appearances, the pacha was compelled to allow +them to ask for the pardon of the criminal whom he dared not punish. +This incident showed him that his authority was no longer paramount, and +he began to doubt the fidelity of his soldiers. The arrival of the +Ottoman fleet further enlightened him to his true position. Mussulman +and Christian alike, all the inhabitants of Northern Albania, who had +hitherto concealed their disaffection under an exaggerated semblance of +devotion, now hastened to make their submission to the sultan. The +Turks, continuing their success, laid siege to Parga, which was held by +Mehemet, Veli's eldest son. He was prepared to make a good defence, but +was betrayed by his troops, who opened the gates of the town, and he was +compelled to surrender at discretion. He was handed over to the +commander of the naval forces, by whom he was well treated, being +assigned the best cabin in the admiral's ship and given a brilliant +suite. He was assured that the sultan, whose only quarrel was with his +grandfather, would show him favour, and would even deal mercifully with +Ali, who, with his treasures, would merely be sent to an important +province in Asia Minor. He was induced to write in this strain to his +family and friends in order to induce them to lay down their arms. + +The fall of Parga made a great impression on the Epirotes, who valued +its possession far above its real importance. Ali rent his garments and +cursed the days of his former good fortune, during which he had neither +known how to moderate his resentment nor to foresee the possibility of +any change of fortune. + +The fall of Parga was succeeded by that of Arta of Mongliana, where was +situated Ali's country house, and of the post of the Five Wells. Then +came a yet more overwhelming piece of news Omar Brionis, whom Ali, +having formerly despoiled of its wealth, had none the less, recently +appointed general-in-chief, had gone over to the enemy with all his +troops! + +Ali then decided on carrying out a project he had formed in case of +necessity, namely, on destroying the town of Janina, which would afford +shelter to the enemy and a point of attack against the fortresses in +which he was entrenched. When this resolution was known, the inhabitants +thought only of saving themselves and their property from the ruin from +which nothing could save their country. But most of them were only +preparing to depart, when Ali gave leave to the Albanian soldiers yet +faithful to him to sack the town. + +The place was immediately invaded by an unbridled soldiery. The +Metropolitan church, where Greeks and Turks alike deposited their gold, +jewels, and merchandise, even as did the Greeks of old in the temples of +the gods, became the first object of pillage. Nothing was respected. The +cupboards containing sacred vestments were broken open, so were the +tombs of the archbishops, in which were interred reliquaries adorned +with precious stones; and the altar itself was defiled with the blood of +ruffians who fought for chalices and silver crosses. + +The town presented an equally terrible spectacle; neither Christians nor +Mussulmans were spared, and the women's apartments, forcibly entered, +were given up to violence. Some of the more courageous citizens +endeavoured to defend their houses and families against these bandits, +and the clash of arms mingled with cries and groans. All at once the +roar of a terrible explosion rose above the other sounds, and a hail of +bombs, shells, grenade's, and rockets carried devastation and fire into +the different quarters of the town, which soon presented the spectacle +of an immense conflagration. Ali, seated on the great platform of the +castle by the lake, which seemed to vomit fire like a volcano, directed +the bombardment, pointing out the places which must be burnt. Churches, +mosques, libraries, bazaars, houses, all were destroyed, and the only +thing spared by the flames was the gallows, which remained standing in +the midst of the ruins. + +Of the thirty thousand persons who inhabited Janina a few hours +previously, perhaps one half had escaped. But these had not fled many +leagues before they encountered the outposts of the Otto man army, +which, instead of helping or protecting them, fell upon them, plundered +them, and drove them towards the camp, where slavery awaited them. The +unhappy fugitives, taken thus between fire and sword, death behind and +slavery before, uttered a terrible cry, and fled in all directions. +Those who escaped the Turks were stopped in the hill passes by the +mountaineers rushing down to the rey; only large numbers who held +together could force a passage. + +In some cases terror bestows extraordinary strength, there were mothers +who, with infants at the breast, covered on foot in one day the fourteen +leagues which separate Janina from Arta. But others, seized with the +pangs of travail in the midst of their flight, expired in the woods, +after giving birth to babes, who, destitute of succour, did not survive +their mothers. And young girls, having disfigured themselves by gashes, +hid themselves in caves, where they died of terror and hunger. + +The Albanians, intoxicated with plunder and debauchery, refused to +return to the castle, and only thought of regaining their country and +enjoying the fruit of their rapine. But they were assailed on the way by +peasants covetous of their booty, and by those of Janina who had sought +refuge with them. The roads and passes were strewn with corpses, and the +trees by the roadside converted into gibbets. The murderers did not long +survive their victims. + +The ruins of Janina were still smoking when, on the 19th August, Pacho +Bey made his entry. Having pitched his tent out of range of Ali's +cannon, he proclaimed aloud the firman which inaugurated him as Pacha of +Janina and Delvino, and then raised the tails, emblem of his dignity. +Ali heard on the summit of his keep the acclamations of the Turks who +saluted Pacho Bey, his former servant with the titles of Vali of Epirus, +and Ghazi, of Victorius. After this ceremony, the cadi read the +sentence, confirmed by the Mufti, which declared Tepelen Veli-Zade to +have forfeited his dignities and to be excommunicated, adding an +injunction to all the faithful that henceforth his name was not to be +pronounced except with the addition of "Kara," or "black," which is +bestowed on those cut off from the congregation of Sunnites, or Orthodox +Mohammedans. A Marabout then cast a stone towards the castle, and the +anathema upon "Kara Ali" was repeated by the whole Turkish army, ending +with the cry of "Long live the sultan! So be it!" + +But it was not by ecclesiastical thunders that three fortresses could be +reduced, which were defended by artillerymen drawn from different +European armies, who had established an excellent school for gunners and +bombardiers. The besieged, having replied with hootings of contempt to +the acclamations of the besiegers, proceeded to enforce their scorn with +well-aimed cannon shots, while the rebel flotilla, dressed as if for a +fete-day, passed slowly before the Turks, saluting them with cannon-shot +if they ventured near the edge of the lake. + +This noisy rhodomontade did not prevent Ali from being consumed with +grief and anxiety. The sight of his own troops, now in the camp of Pacho +Bey, the fear of being for ever separated from his sons, the thought of +his grandson in the enemy's hands, all threw him into the deepest +melancholy, and his sleepless eyes were constantly drowned in tears. He +refused his food, and sat for seven days with untrimmed beard, clad in +mourning, on a mat at the door of his antechamber, extending his hands +to his soldiers, and imploring them to slay him rather than abandon him. +His wives, seeing him in this state, and concluding all was lost, filled +the air with their lamentations. All began to think that grief would +bring Ali to the grave; but his soldiers, to whose protestations he at +first refused any credit, represented to him that their fate was +indissolubly linked with his. Pacho Bey having proclaimed that all taken +in arms for Ali would be shot as sharers in rebellion, it was therefore +their interest to support his resistance with all their power. They also +pointed out that the campaign was already advanced, and that the Turkish +army, which had forgotten its siege artillery at Constantinople, could +not possibly procure any before the end of October, by which time the +rains would begin, and the enemy would probably be short of food. +Moreover, in any case, it being impossible to winter in a ruined town, +the foe would be driven to seek shelter at a distance. + +These representations, made with warmth conviction, and supported by +evidence, began to soothe the restless fever which was wasting Ali, and +the gentle caresses and persuasions of Basillisa, the beautiful +Christian captive, who had now been his wife for some time, completed +the cure. + +At the same time his sister Chainitza gave him an astonishing example of +courage. She had persisted, in spite of all that could be said, in +residing in her castle of Libokovo. The population, whom she had cruelly +oppressed, demanded her death, but no one dared attack her. Superstition +declared that the spirit of her mother, with whom she kept up a +mysterious communication even beyond the portals of the grave, watched +over her safety. The menacing form of Kamco had, it was said, appeared +to several inhabitants of Tepelen, brandishing bones of the wretched +Kardikiotes, and demanding fresh victims with loud cries. The desire of +vengeance had urged some to brave these unknown dangers, and twice, a +warrior, clothed in black, had warned them back, forbidding them to lay +hands on a sacrilegious woman; whose punishment Heaven reserved to +itself, and twice they had returned upon their footsteps. + +But soon, ashamed of their terror, they attempted another attack, and +came attired in the colour of the Prophet. This time no mysterious +stranger speared to forbid their passage and with a cry they climbed the +mountain, listening for any supernatural warning. Nothing disturbed the +silence and solitude save the bleating of flocks and the cries of birds +of prey. Arrived on the platform of Libokovo, they prepared in silence +to surprise the guards, believing the castle full of them. They +approached crawling, like hunters who stalk a deer, already they had +reached the gate of the enclosure, and prepared to burst it open, when +lo! it opened of itself, and they beheld Chainitza standing before them, +a carabine in her hand, pistols in her belt, and, for all guard, two +large dogs. + +"Halt! ye daring ones," she cried; "neither my life nor my treasure will +ever be at your mercy. Let one of you move a step without my permission, +and this place and the ground beneath your feet' will engulf you. Ten +thousand pounds of powder are in these cellars. I will, however, grant +your pardon, unworthy though you are. I will even allow you to take +these sacks filled with gold; they may recompense you for the losses +which my brother's enemies have recently inflicted on you. But depart +this instant without a word, and dare not to trouble me again; I have +other means of destruction at command besides gunpowder. Life is nothing +to me, remember that; but your mountains may yet at my command become +the tomb of your wives and children. Go!" + +She ceased, and her would-be murderers fled terror. + +Shortly after the plague broke out in these mountains, Chainitza had +distributed infected garments among gipsies, who scattered contagion +wherever they went. + +"We are indeed of the same blood!" cried Ali with pride, when he heard +of his sister's conduct; and from that hour he appeared to regain all +the fire and audacity of his youth. When, a few days later, he was +informed that Mouktar and Veli, seduced by the brilliant promises of +Dacha Bey, had surrendered Prevesa and Argyro-Castron, "It does not +surprise me," he observed coldly. "I have long known them to be unworthy +of being my sons, and henceforth my only children and heirs are those +who defend my cause." And on hearing a report that both had been +beheaded by Dacha Bey's order, he contented himself with saying, "They +betrayed their father, and have only received their deserts; speak no +more of them." And to show how little it discouraged him, he redoubled +his fire upon the Turks. + +But the latter, who had at length obtained some artillery, answered his +fire with vigour, and began to rally to discrown the old pacha's +fortress. Feeling that the danger was pressing, Ali redoubled both his +prudence and activity. His immense treasures were the real reason of the +war waged against him, and these might induce his own soldiers to rebel, +in order to become masters of them. He resolved to protect them from +either surprise or conquest. The sum necessary for present use was +deposited in the powder magazine, so that, if driven to extremity, it +might be destroyed in a moment; the remainder was enclosed in +strong-boxes, and sunk in different parts of the lake. This labour +lasted a fortnight, when, finally, Ali put to death the gipsies who had +been employed about it, in order that the secret might remain with +himself. + +While he thus set his own affairs in order, he applied himself to the +troubling those of his adversary. A great number of Suliots had joined +the Ottoman army in order to assist in the destruction of him who +formerly had ruined their country. Their camp, which for a long time had +enjoyed immunity from the guns of Janina, was one day overwhelmed with +bombs. The Suliots were terrified, until they remarked that the bombs +did not burst. They then, much astonished, proceeded to pick up and +examine these projectiles. Instead of a match, they found rolls of paper +enclosed in a wooden cylinder, on which was engraved these words, "Open +carefully." The paper contained a truly Macchiavellian letter from Ali, +which began by saying that they were quite justified in having taken up +arms against him, and added that he now sent them a part of the pay of +which the traitorous Ismail was defrauding them, and that the bombs +thrown into their cantonment contained six thousand sequins in gold. He +begged them to amuse Ismail by complaints and recriminations, while his +gondola should by night fetch one of them, to whom he would communicate +what more he had to say. If they accepted his proposition, they were to +light three fires as a signal. + +The signal was not long in appearing. Ali despatched his barge, which +took on board a monk, the spiritual chief of the Suliots. He was clothed +in sackcloth, and repeated the prayers for the dying, as one going to +execution. Ali, however, received him with the utmost cordiality: He +assured the priest of his repentance, his good intentions, his esteem +for the Greek captains, and then gave him a paper which startled him +considerably. It was a despatch, intercepted by Ali, from Khalid Effendi +to the Seraskier Ismail, ordering the latter to exterminate all +Christians capable of bearing arms. All male children were to be +circumcised, and brought up to form a legion drilled in European +fashion; and the letter went on to explain how the Suliots, the +Armatolis, the Greek races of the mainland and those of the Archipelago +should be disposed of. Seeing the effect produced on the monk by the +perusal of this paper, Ali hastened to make him the most advantageous +offers, declaring that his own wish was to give Greece a political +existence, and only requiring that the Suliot captains should send him a +certain number of their children as hostages. He then had cloaks and +arms brought which he presented to the monk, dismissing him in haste, in +order that darkness might favour his return. + +The next day Ali was resting, with his head on Basilissa's lap, when he +was informed that the enemy was advancing upon the intrenchments which +had been raised in the midst of the ruins of Janina. Already the +outposts had been forced, and the fury of the assailants threatened to +triumph over all obstacles. Ali immediately ordered a sortie of all his +troops, announcing that he himself would conduct it. His master of the +horse brought him the famous Arab charger called the Dervish, his chief +huntsman presented him with his guns, weapons still famous in Epirus, +where they figure in the ballads of the Skipetars. The first was an +enormous gun, of Versailles manufacture, formerly presented by the +conqueror of the Pyramids to Djezzar, the Pacha of St. Jean-d'Arc, who +amused himself by enclosing living victims in the walls of his palace, +in order that he might hear their groans in the midst of his +festivities. Next came a carabine given to the Pacha of Janina in the +name of Napoleon in 1806; then the battle musket of Charles XII of +Sweden, and finally-- the much revered sabre of Krim-Guerai. The signal +was given; the draw bridge crossed; the Guegues and other adventurers +uttered a terrific shout; to which the cries of the assailants replied. +Ali placed himself on a height, whence his eagle eye sought to discern +the hostile chiefs; but he called and defied Pacho Bey in vain. +Perceiving Hassan-Stamboul, colonel of the Imperial bombardiers outside +his battery, Ali demanded the gun of Djezzar, and laid him dead on the +spot. He then took the carabine of Napoleon, and shot with it Kekriman, +Bey of Sponga, whom he had formerly appointed Pacha of Lepanto. The +enemy now became aware of his presence, and sent a lively fusillade in +his direction; but the balls seemed to diverge from his person. As soon +as the smoke cleared, he perceived Capelan, Pacha of Croie, who had been +his guest, and wounded him mortally in the chest. Capelan uttered a +sharp cry, and his terrified horse caused disorder in the ranks. Ali +picked off a large number of officers, one after another; every shot was +mortal, and his enemies began to regard him in, the light of a +destroying angel. Disorder spread through the forces of the Seraskier, +who retreated hastily to his intrenchments. + +The Suliots meanwhile sent a deputation to Ismail offering their +submission, and seeking to regain their country in a peaceful manner; +but, being received by him with the most humiliating contempt, they +resolved to make common cause with Ali. They hesitated over the demand +for hostages, and at length required Ali's grandson, Hussien Pacha, in +exchange. After many difficulties, Ali at length consented, and the +agreement was concluded. The Suliots received five hundred thousand +piastres and a hundred and fifty charges of ammunition, Hussien Pacha +was given up to them, and they left the Ottoman camp at dead of night. +Morco Botzaris remained with three hundred and twenty men, threw down +the palisades, and then ascending Mount Paktoras with his troops, waited +for dawn in order to announce his defection to the Turkish army. As soon +as the sun appeared he ordered a general salvo of artillery and shouted +his war-cry. A few Turks in charge of an outpost were slain, the rest +fled. A cry of "To arms" was raised, and the standard of the Cross +floated before the camp of the infidels. + +Signs and omens of a coming general insurrection appeared on all sides; +there was no lack of prodigies, visions, or popular rumours, and the +Mohammedans became possessed with the idea that the last hour of their +rule in Greece had struck. Ali Pacha favoured the general +demoralisation; and his agents, scattered throughout the land, fanned +the flame of revolt. Ismail Pacha was deprived of his title of +Seraskier, and superseded by Kursheed Pacha. As soon as Ali heard this, +he sent a messenger to Kursheed, hoping to influence him in his favour. +Ismail, distrusting the Skipetars, who formed part of his troops, +demanded hostages from them. The Skipetars were indignant, and Ali +hearing of their discontent, wrote inviting them to return to him, and +endeavouring to dazzle them by the most brilliant promises. These +overtures were received by the offended troops with enthusiasm, and +Alexis Noutza, Ali's former general, who had forsaken him for Ismail, +but who had secretly returned to his allegiance and acted as a spy on +the Imperial army, was deputed to treat with him. As soon as he arrived, +Ali began to enact a comedy in the intention of rebutting the accusation +of incest with his daughter-in-law Zobeide; for this charge, which, +since Veli himself had revealed the secret of their common shame, could +only be met by vague denials, had never ceased to produce a mast +unfavourable impression on Noutza's mind. Scarcely had he entered the +castle by the lake, when Ali rushed to meet him, and flung himself into +his arms. In presence of his officers and the garrison, he loaded him +with the most tender names, calling him his son, his beloved Alexis, his +own legitimate child, even as Salik Pacha. He burst into tears, and, +with terrible oaths, called Heaven to witness that Mouktar and Veli, +whom he disavowed on account of their cowardice, were the adulterous +offspring of Emineh's amours. Then, raising his hand against the tomb of +her whom he had loved so much, he drew the stupefied Noutza into the +recess of a casemate, and sending for Basilissa, presented him to her as +a beloved son, whom only political considerations had compelled him to +keep at a distance, because, being born of a Christian mother, he had +been brought up in the faith of Jesus. + +Having thus softened the suspicions of his soldiers, Ali resumed his +underground intrigues. The Suliots had informed him that the sultan had +made them extremely advantageous offers if they would return to his +service, and they demanded pressingly that Ali should give up to them +the citadel of Kiapha, which was still in his possession, and which +commanded Suli. He replied with the information that he intended, +January 26, to attack the camp of Pacho Bey early in the morning, and +requested their assistance. In order to cause a diversion, they were to +descend into the valley of Janina at night, and occupy a position which +he pointed out to them, and he gave their the word "flouri" as password +for the night. If successful, he undertook to grant their request. + +Ali's letter was intercepted, and fell into Ismail's hands, who +immediately conceived a plan for snaring his enemy in his own toils. +When the night fixed by Ali arrived, the Seraskier marched out a strong +division under the command of Omar Brionis, who had been recently +appointed Pacha, and who was instructed to proceed along the western +slope of Mount Paktoras as far as the village of Besdoune, where he was +to place an outpost, and then to retire along the other side of the +mountain, so that, being visible in the starlight, the sentinels placed +to watch on the hostile towers might take his men for the Suliots and +report to Ali that the position of Saint-Nicolas, assigned to them, had +been occupied as arranged. All preparations for battle were made, and +the two mortal enemies, Ismail and Ali, retired to rest, each cherishing +the darling hope of shortly annihilating his rival. + +At break of day a lively cannonade, proceeding from the castle of the +lake and from Lithoritza, announced that the besieged intended a sortie. +Soon Ali's Skipetars, preceded by a detachment of French, Italians, and +Swiss, rushed through the Ottoman fire and carried the first redoubt, +held by Ibrahim-Aga-Stamboul. They found six pieces of cannon, which the +Turks, notwithstanding their terror, had had time to spike. This +misadventure, for they had hoped to turn the artillery against the +intrenched camp, decided Ali's men on attacking the second redoubt, +commanded by the chief bombardier. The Asiatic troops of Baltadgi Pacha +rushed to its defence. At their head appeared the chief Imaun of the +army, mounted on a richly caparisoned mule and repeating the curse +fulminated by the mufti against Ali, his adherents, his castles, and +even his cannons, which it was supposed might be rendered harmless by +these adjurations. Ali's Mohammedan Skipetars averted their eyes, and +spat into their bosoms, hoping thus to escape the evil influence. A +superstitious terror was beginning to spread among them, when a French +adventurer took aim at the Imaun and brought him down, amid the +acclamations of the soldiers; whereupon the Asiatics, imagining that +Eblis himself fought against them, retired within the intrenchments, +whither the Skipetars, no longer fearing the curse, pursued them +vigorously. + +At the same time, however, a very different action was proceeding at the +northern end of the besiegers' intrenchments. Ali left his castle of the +lake, preceded by twelve torch-bearers carrying braziers filled with +lighted pitch-wood, and advanced towards the shore of Saint-Nicolas, +expecting to unite with the Suliots. He stopped in the middle of the +ruins to wait for sunrise, and while there heard that his troops had +carried the battery of Ibrahim-Aga-Stamboul. Overjoyed, he ordered them +to press on to the second intrenchment, promising that in an hour, when +he should have been joined by the Suliots, he would support them, and he +then pushed forward, preceded by two field-pieces with their waggons, +and followed by fifteen hundred men, as far as a large plateau on which +he perceived at a little distance an encampment which he supposed to be +that of the Suliots. He then ordered the Mirdite prince, Kyr Lekos, to +advance with an escort of twenty-five men, and when within hearing +distance to wave a blue flag and call out the password. An Imperial +officer replied with the countersign "flouri," and Lekos immediately +sent back word to Ali to advance. His orderly hastened back, and the +prince entered the camp, where he and his escort were immediately +surrounded and slain. + +On receiving the message, Ali began to advance, but cautiously, being +uneasy at seeing no signs of the Mirdite troop. Suddenly, furious cries, +and a lively fusillade, proceeding from the vineyards and thickets, +announced that he had fallen into a trap, and at the same moment Omar +Pacha fell upon his advance guard, which broke, crying "Treason!". + +Ali sabred the fugitives mercilessly, but fear carried them away, and, +forced to follow the crowd, he perceived the Kersales and Baltadgi Pacha +descending the side of Mount Paktoras, intending to cut off his retreat. +He attempted another route, hastening towards the road to Dgeleva, but +found it held by the Tapagetae under the Bimbashi Aslon of +Argyro-Castron. He was surrounded, all seemed lost, and feeling that his +last hour had come, he thought only of selling his life as dearly as +possible. Collecting his bravest soldiers round him, he prepared for a +last rush on Omar Pacha; when, suddenly, with an inspiration born of +despair, he ordered his ammunition waggons to be blown up. The Kersales, +who were about to seize them, vanished in the explosion, which scattered +a hail of stones and debris far and wide. Under cover of the smoke and +general confusion, Ali succeeded in withdrawing his men to the shelter +of the guns of his castle of Litharitza, where he continued the fight in +order to give time to the fugitives to rally, and to give the support he +had promised to those fighting on the other slope; who, in the meantime, +had carried the second battery and were attacking the fortified camp. +Here the Seraskier Ismail met them with a resistance so well managed, +that he was able to conceal the attack he was preparing to make on their +rear. Ali, guessing that the object of Ismail's manoeuvres was to crush +those whom he had promised to help, and unable, on account of the +distance, either to support or to warn them, endeavoured to impede Omar +Pasha, hoping still that his Skipetars might either see or hear him. He +encouraged the fugitives, who recognised him from afar by his scarlet +dolman, by the dazzling whiteness of his horse, and by the terrible +cries which he uttered; for, in the heat of battle, this extraordinary +man appeared to have regained the vigour and audacity, of his youth. +Twenty times he led his soldiers to the charge, and as often was forced +to recoil towards his castles. He brought up his reserves, but in vain. +Fate had declared against him. His troops which were attacking the +intrenched camp found themselves taken between two fires, and he could +not help them. Foaming with passion, he threatened to rush singly into +the midst of his enemies. His officers besought him to calm himself, +and, receiving only refusals, at last threatened to lay hands upon him +if he persisted in exposing himself like a private soldier. Subdued by +this unaccustomed opposition, Ali allowed himself to be forced back into +the castle by the lake, while his soldiers dispersed in various +directions. + +But even this defeat did not discourage the fierce pasha. Reduced to +extremity, he yet entertained the hope of shaking the Ottoman Empire, +and from the recesses of his fortress he agitated the whole of Greece. +The insurrection which he had stirred up, without foreseeing what the +results might be, was spreading with the rapidity of a lighted train of +powder, and the Mohammedans were beginning to tremble, when at length +Kursheed Pasha, having crossed the Pindus at the head of an army of +eighty thousand men, arrived before Janina. + +His tent had hardly been pitched, when Ali caused a salute of twenty-one +guns to be fired in his honour, and sent a messenger, bearing a letter +of congratulation on his safe arrival. This letter, artful and +insinuating, was calculated to make a deep impression on Kursheed. Ali +wrote that, being driven by the infamous lies of a former servant, +called Pacho Bey, into resisting, not indeed the authority of the +sultan, before whom he humbly bent his head weighed down with years and +grief, but the perfidious plots of His Highness's advisers, he +considered himself happy in his misfortunes to have dealings with a +vizier noted for his lofty qualities. He then added that these rare +merits had doubtless been very far from being estimated at their proper +value by a Divan in which men were only classed in accordance with the +sums they laid out in gratifying the rapacity of the ministers. +Otherwise, how came it about that Kursheed Pasha, Viceroy of +Egypt--after the departure of the French, the conqueror of the +Mamelukes, was only rewarded for these services by being recalled +without a reason? Having been twice Romili-Valicy, why, when he should +have enjoyed the reward of his labours, was he relegated to the obscure +post of Salonica? And, when appointed Grand Vizier and sent to pacify +Servia, instead of being entrusted with the government of this kingdom +which he had reconquered for the sultan, why was he hastily despatched +to Aleppo to repress a trifling sedition of emirs and janissaries? Now, +scarcely arrived in the Morea, his powerful arm was to be employed +against an aged man. + +Ali then plunged into details, related the pillaging, avarice, and +imperious dealing of Pacho Bey, as well as of the pachas subordinate to +him; how they had alienated the public mind, how they had succeeded in +offending the Armatolis, and especially the Suliots, who might be +brought back to their duty with less trouble than these imprudent chiefs +had taken to estrange them. He gave a mass of special information on +this subject, and explained that in advising the Suliots to retire to +their mountains he had really only put them in a false position as long +as he retained possession of the fort of Kiapha, which is the key of the +Selleide. + +The Seraskier replied in a friendly manner, ordered the military salute +to be returned in Ali's honour, shot for shot, and forbade that +henceforth a person of the valour and intrepidity of the Lion of Tepelen +should be described by the epithet of "excommunicated." He also spoke of +him by his title of "vizier," which he declared he had never forfeited +the right to use; and he also stated that he had only entered Epirus as +a peace-maker. Kursheed's emissaries had just seized some letters sent +by Prince Alexander Ypsilanti to the Greek captains at Epirus. Without +going into details of the events which led to the Greek insurrection, +the prince advised the Polemarchs, chiefs of the Selleid, to aid Ali +Pacha in his revolt against the Porte, but to so arrange matters that +they could easily detach themselves again, their only aim being to seize +his treasures, which might be used to procure the freedom of Greece. + +These letters a messenger from Kursheed delivered to Ali. They produced +such an impression upon his mind that he secretly resolved only to make +use of the Greeks, and to sacrifice them to his own designs, if he could +not inflict a terrible vengeance on their perfidy. He heard from the +messenger at the same time of the agitation in European Turkey, the +hopes of the Christians, and the apprehension of a rupture between the +Porte and Russia. It was necessary to lay aside vain resentment and to +unite against these threatening dangers. Kursheed Pacha was, said his +messenger, ready to consider favourably any propositions likely to lead +to a prompt pacification, and would value such a result far more highly +than the glory of subduing by means of the imposing force at his +command, a valiant prince whom he had always regarded as one of the +strongest bulwarks of the Ottoman Empire. This information produced a +different effect upon Ali to that intended by the Seraskier. Passing +suddenly from the depth of despondency to the height of pride, he +imagined that these overtures of reconciliation were only a proof of the +inability of his foes to subdue him, and he sent the following +propositions to Kursheed Pacha: + +"If the first duty of a prince is to do justice, that of his subjects is +to remain faithful, and obey him in all things. From this principle we +derive that of rewards and punishments, and although my services might +sufficiently justify my conduct to all time, I nevertheless acknowledge +that I have deserved the wrath of the sultan, since he has raised the +arm of his anger against the head of his slave. Having humbly implored +his pardon, I fear not to invoke his severity towards those who have +abused his confidence. With this object I offer--First, to pay the +expenses of the war and the tribute in arrears due from my Government +without delay. Secondly, as it is important for the sake of example that +the treason of an inferior towards his superior should receive fitting +chastisement, I demand that Pacho Bey, formerly in my service, should be +beheaded, he being the real rebel, and the cause of the public +calamities which are afflicting the faithful of Islam. Thirdly, I +require that for the rest of my life I shall retain, without annual +re-investiture, my pachalik of Janina, the coast of Epirus, Acarnania +and its dependencies, subject to the rights, charges and tribute due now +and hereafter to the sultan. Fourthly, I demand amnesty and oblivion of +the past for all those who have served me until now. And if these +conditions are not accepted without modifications, I am prepared to +defend myself to the last. + +"Given at the castle of Janina, March 7, 1821." + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +This mixture of arrogance and submission only merited indignation, but +it suited Kursheed to dissemble. He replied that, assenting to such +propositions being beyond his powers, he would transmit them to +Constantinople, and that hostilities might be suspended, if Ali wished, +until the courier, could return. + +Being quite as cunning as Ali himself, Kursheed profited by the truce to +carry on intrigues against him. He corrupted one of the chiefs of the +garrison, Metzo-Abbas by name, who obtained pardon for himself and fifty +followers, with permission to return to their homes. But this clemency +appeared to have seduced also four hundred Skipetars who made use of the +amnesty and the money with which Ali provided them, to raise Toxis and +the Tapygetae in the latter's favour. Thus the Seraskier's scheme turned +against himself, and he perceived he had been deceived by Ali's seeming +apathy, which certainly did not mean dread of defection. In fact, no man +worth anything could have abandoned him, supported as he seemed to be by +almost supernatural courage. Suffering from a violent attack of gout, a +malady he had never before experienced, the pacha, at the age of +eighty-one, was daily carried to the most exposed place on the ramparts +of his castle. There, facing the hostile batteries, he gave audience to +whoever wished to see him. On this exposed platform he held his +councils, despatched orders, and indicated to what points his guns +should be directed. Illumined by the flashes of fire, his figure assumed +fantastic and weird shapes. The balls sung in the air, the bullets +hailed around him, the noise drew blood from the ears of those with him. +Calm and immovable, he gave signals to the soldiers who were still +occupying part of the ruins of Janina, and encouraged them by voice and +gesture. Observing the enemy's movements by the help of a telescope, he +improvised means of counteracting them. Sometimes he amused himself by, +greeting curious persons and new-comers after a fashion of his own. Thus +the chancellor of the French Consul at Prevesa, sent as an envoy to +Kursheed Pacha, had scarcely entered the lodging assigned to him, when +he was visited by a bomb which caused him to leave it again with all +haste. This greeting was due to Ali's chief engineer, Caretto, who next +day sent a whole shower of balls and shells into the midst of a group of +Frenchmen, whose curiosity had brought them to Tika, where Kursheed was +forming a battery. "It is time," said Ali, "that these contemptible +gossip-mongers should find listening at doors may become uncomfortable. +I have furnished matter enough for them to talk about. Frangistan +(Christendom) shall henceforth hear only of my triumph or my fall, which +will leave it considerable trouble to pacify." Then, after a moment's +silence, he ordered the public criers to inform his soldiers of the +insurrections in Wallachia and the Morea, which news, proclaimed from +the ramparts, and spreading immediately in the Imperial camp, caused +there much dejection. + +The Greeks were now everywhere proclaiming their independence, and +Kursheed found himself unexpectedly surrounded by enemies. His position +threatened to become worse if the siege of Janina dragged on much +longer. He seized the island in the middle of the lake, and threw up +redoubts upon it, whence he kept up an incessant fire on the southern +front of the castle of Litharitza, and a practicable trench of nearly +forty feet having been made, an assault was decided on. The troops +marched out boldly, and performed prodigies of valour; but at the end of +an hour, Ali, carried on a litter because of his gout, having led a +sortie, the besiegers were compelled to give way and retire to their +intrenchments, leaving three hundred dead at the foot of the rampart. +"The Pindian bear is yet alive," said Ali in a message to Kursheed; +"thou mayest take thy dead and bury them; I give them up without ransom, +and as I shall always do when thou attackest me as a brave man ought." +Then, having entered his fortress amid the acclamations of his soldiers, +he remarked on hearing of the general rising of Greece and the +Archipelago, "It is enough! two men have ruined Turkey!" He then +remained silent, and vouchsafed no explanation of this prophetic +sentence. + +Ali did not on this occasion manifest his usual delight on having gained +a success. As soon as he was alone with Basilissa, he informed her with +tears of the death of Chainitza. A sudden apoplexy had stricken this +beloved sister, the life of his councils, in her palace of Libokovo, +where she remained undisturbed until her death. She owed this special +favour to her riches and to the intercession of her nephew, Djiladin +Pacha of Ochcrida, who was reserved by fate to perform the funeral +obsequies of the guilty race of Tepelen. + +A few months afterwards, Ibrahim Pacha of Berat died of poison, being +the last victim whom Chainitza had demanded from her brother. + +Ali's position was becoming daily more difficult, when the time of +Ramadan arrived, during which the Turks relax hostilities, and a species +of truce ensued. Ali himself appeared to respect the old popular +customs, and allowed his Mohammedan soldiers to visit the enemy's +outposts and confer on the subject of various religious ceremonies. +Discipline was relaxed in Kursheed's camp, and Ali profited thereby to +ascertain the smallest details of all that passed. + +He learned from his spies that the general's staff, counting on the +"Truce of God," a tacit suspension of all hostilities during the feast +of Bairam, the Mohammedan Easter, intended to repair to the chief +mosque, in the quarter of Loutcha. This building, spared by the bombs, +had until now been respected by both sides. Ali, according to reports +spread by himself, was supposed to be ill, weakened by fasting, and +terrified into a renewal of devotion, and not likely to give trouble on +so sacred a day. Nevertheless he ordered Caretto to turn thirty guns +against the mosque, cannon, mortars and howitzers, intending, he said, +to solemnise Bairam by discharges of artillery. As soon as he was sure +that the whole of the staff had entered the mosque, he gave the signal. + +Instantly, from the assembled thirty pieces, there issued a storm of +shells, grenades and cannon-balls. With a terrific noise, the mosque +crumbled together, amid the cries of pain and rage of the crowd inside +crushed in the ruins. At the end of a quarter of an hour the wind +dispersed the smoke, and disclosed a burning crater, with the large +cypresses which surrounded the building blazing as if they had been +torches lighted for the funeral ceremonies of sixty captains and two +hundred soldiers. + +"Ali Pacha is yet alive!" cried the old Homeric hero of Janina, leaping +with joy; and his words, passing from mouth to mouth, spread yet more +terror amid Kursheed's soldiers, already overwhelmed by the horrible +spectacle passing before their eyes. + +Almost on the same day, Ali from the height of his keep beheld the +standard of the Cross waving in the distance. The rebellious Greeks were +bent on attacking Kursheed. The insurrection promoted by the Vizier of +Janina had passed far beyond the point he intended, and the rising had +become a revolution. The delight which Ali first evinced cooled rapidly +before this consideration, and was extinguished in grief when he found +that a conflagration, caused by the besiegers' fire, had consumed part +of his store in the castle by the lake. Kursheed, thinking that this +event must have shaken the old lion's resolution, recommenced +negotiations, choosing the Kiaia of Moustai Pacha: as an envoy, who gave +Ali a remarkable warning. "Reflect," said he, "that these rebels bear +the sign of the Cross on their standards. You are now only an instrument +in their hands. Beware lest you become the victim of their policy." Ali +understood the danger, and had the sultan been better advised, he would +have pardoned Ali on condition of again bringing Hellos under his iron +yoke. It is possible that the Greeks might not have prevailed against an +enemy so formidable and a brain so fertile in intrigue. But so simple an +idea was far beyond the united intellect of the Divan, which never rose +above idle display. As soon as these negotiations, had commenced, +Kursheed filled the roads with his couriers, sending often two in a day +to Constantinople, from whence as many were sent to him. This state of +things lasted mare than three weeks, when it became known that Ali, who +had made good use of his time in replacing the stores lost in the +conflagration, buying actually from the Kiaia himself a part of the +provisions brought by him for the Imperial camp, refused to accept the +Ottoman ultimatum. Troubles which broke, out at the moment of the +rupture of the negotiations proved that he foresaw the probable result. + +Kursheed was recompensed for the deception by which he had been duped by +the reduction of the fortress of Litharitza. The Guegue Skipetars, who +composed the garrison, badly paid, wearied out by the long siege, and +won by the Seraskier's bribes, took advantage of the fact that the time +of their engagement with Ali had elapsed same months previously, and +delivering up the fortress they defended, passed over to the enemy. +Henceforth Ali's force consisted of only six hundred men. + +It was to be feared that this handful of men might also become a prey to +discouragement, and might surrender their chief to an enemy who had +received all fugitives with kindness. The Greek insurgents dreaded such +an event, which would have turned all Kursheed's army, hitherto detained +before the castle, of Janina, loose upon themselves. Therefore they +hastened to send to their former enemy, now their ally, assistance which +he declined to accept. Ali saw himself surrounded by enemies thirsting +for his wealth, and his avarice increasing with the danger, he had for +some months past refused to pay his defenders. He contented himself with +informing his captains of the insurgents' offer, and telling them that +he was confident that bravery such as theirs required no reinforcement. +And when some of them besought him to at least receive two or three +hundred Palikars into the castle, "No," said he; "old serpents always +remain old serpents: I distrust the Suliots and their friendship." + +Ignorant of Ali's decision, the Greeks of the Selleid were advancing, as +well as the Toxidae, towards Janina, when they received the following +letter from Ali Pacha: + +"My well-beloved children, I have just learned that you are preparing to +despatch a party of your Palikars against our common enemy, Kursheed. I +desire to inform you that this my fortress is impregnable, and that I +can hold out against him for several years. The only, service I require +of your courage is, that you should reduce Arta, and take alive Ismail +Pacho Bey, my former servant, the mortal enemy of my family, and the +author of the evils and frightful calamities which have so long +oppressed our unhappy country, which he has laid waste before our eyes. +Use your best efforts to accomplish this, it will strike at the root of +the evil, and my treasures shall reward your Palikars, whose courage +every day gains a higher value in my eyes." + +Furious at this mystification, the Suliots retired to their mountains, +and Kursheed profited by the discontent Ali's conduct had caused, to win +over the Toxide Skipetars, with their commanders Tahir Abbas and Hagi +Bessiaris, who only made two conditions: one, that Ismail Pacho Bey, +their personal enemy, should be deposed; the other, that the life of +their old vizier should be respected. + +The first condition was faithfully adhered to by Kursheed, actuated by +private motives different from those which he gave publicly, and Ismail +Pacho Bey was solemnly deposed. The tails, emblems of his authority, +were removed; he resigned the plumes of office; his soldiers forsook +him, his servants followed suit. Fallen to the lowest rank, he was soon +thrown into prison, where he only blamed Fate for his misfortunes. All +the Skipetar Agas hastened to place themselves under Kursheeds' +standard, and enormous forces now threatened Janina. All Epirus awaited +the denoument with anxiety. + +Had he been less avaricious, Ali might have enlisted all the adventurers +with whom the East was swarming, and made the sultan tremble in his +capital. But the aged pacha clung passionately to his treasures. He +feared also, perhaps not unreasonably, that those by whose aid he might +triumph would some day become his master. He long deceived himself with +the idea that the English, who had sold Parga to him, would never allow +a Turkish fleet to enter the Ionian Sea. Mistaken on this point, his +foresight was equally at fault with regard to the cowardice of his sons. +The defection of his troops was not less fatal, and he only understood +the bearing of the Greek insurrection which he himself had provoked, so +far as to see that in this struggle he was merely an instrument in +procuring the freedom of a country which he had too cruelly oppressed to +be able to hold even an inferior rank in it. His last letter to the +Suliots opened the eyes of his followers, but under the influence of a +sort of polite modesty these were at least anxious to stipulate for the +life of their vizier. Kursheed was obliged to produce firmans from the +Porte, declaring that if Ali Tepelen submitted, the royal promise given +to his sons should be kept, and that he should, with them, be +transferred to Asia Minor, as also his harem, his servants; and his +treasures, and allowed to finish his days in peace. Letters from Ali's +sons were shown to the Agas, testifying to the good treatment they had +experienced in their exile; and whether the latter believed all this, or +whether they merely sought to satisfy their own consciences, they +henceforth thought only of inducing their rebellious chief to submit. +Finally, eight months' pay, given them in advance, proved decisive, and +they frankly embraced the cause of the sultan. + +The garrison of the castle on the lake, whom Ali seemed anxious to +offend as much as possible, by refusing their pay, he thinking them so +compromised that they would not venture even to accept an amnesty +guaranteed by the mufti, began to desert as soon as they knew the +Toxidae had arrived at the Imperial camp. Every night these Skipetars +who could cross the moat betook themselves to Kursheed's quarters. One +single man yet baffled all the efforts of the besiegers. The chief +engineer, Caretto, like another Archimedes, still carried terror into +the midst of their camp. + +Although reduced to the direst misery, Caretto could not forget that he +owed his life to the master who now only repaid his services with the +most sordid ingratitude. When he had first come to Epirus, Ali, +recognising his ability, became anxious to retain him, but without +incurring any expense. He ascertained that the Neapolitan was +passionately in love with a Mohammedan girl named Nekibi, who returned +his affection. Acting under Ali's orders, Tahir Abbas accused the woman +before the cadi of sacrilegious intercourse with an infidel. She could +only escape death by the apostasy of her lover; if he refused to deny +his God, he shared her fate, and both would perish at the stake. Caretto +refused to renounce his religion, but only Nekibi suffered death. +Caretto was withdrawn from execution, and Ali kept him concealed in a +place of safety, whence he produced him in the time of need. No one had +served him with greater zeal; it is even possible that a man of this +type would have died at his post, had his cup not been filled with +mortification and insult. + +Eluding the vigilance of Athanasius Vaya, whose charge it was to keep +guard over him, Caretto let himself down by a cord fastened to the end +of a cannon: He fell at the foot of the rampart, and thence dragged +himself, with a broken arm, to the opposite camp. He had become nearly +blind through the explosion of a cartridge which had burnt his face. He +was received as well as a Christian from whom there was now nothing to +fear, could expect. He received the bread of charity, and as a refugee +is only valued in proportion to the use which can be made of him, he was +despised and forgotten. + +The desertion of Caretto was soon followed by a defection which +annihilated Ali's last hopes. The garrison which had given him so many +proofs of devotion, discouraged by his avarice, suffering from a +disastrous epidemic, and no longer equal to the necessary labour in +defence of the place, opened all, the gates simultaneously to the enemy. +But the besiegers, fearing a trap, advanced very slowly; so that Ali, +who had long prepared against very sort of surprise, had time to gain a +place which he called his "refuge." + +It was a sort of fortified enclosure, of solid masonry, bristling with +cannon, which surrounded the private apartments of his seraglio, called +the "Women's Tower." He had taken care to demolish everything which +could be set on fire, reserving only a mosque and the tomb of his wife +Emineh, whose phantom, after announcing an eternal repose, had ceased to +haunt him. Beneath was an immense natural cave, in which he had stored +ammunition, precious articles, provisions, and the treasures which had +not been sunk in the lake. In this cave an apartment had been made for +Basilissa and his harem, also a shelter in which he retired to sleep +when exhausted with fatigue. This place was his last resort, a kind of +mausoleum; and he did not seem distressed at beholding the castle in the +hands of his enemies. He calmly allowed them to occupy the entrance, +deliver their hostages, overrun the ramparts, count the cannon which +were on the platforms, crumbling from the hostile shells; but when they +came within hearing, he demanded by one of his servants that Kursheed +should send him an envoy of distinction; meanwhile he forbade anyone to +pass beyond a certain place which he pointed out. + +Kursheed, imagining that, being in the last extremity, he would +capitulate, sent out Tahir Abbas and Hagi Bessiaris. Ali listened +without reproaching them for their treachery, but simply observed that +he wished to meet some of the chief officers. + +The Seraskier then deputed his keeper of the wardrobe, accompanied by +his keeper of the seals and other persons of quality. Ali received them +with all ceremony, and, after the usual compliments had been exchanged, +invited them to descend with him into the cavern. There he showed them +more than two thousand barrels of powder carefully arranged beneath his +treasures, his remaining provisions, and a number of valuable objects +which adorned this slumbering volcano. He showed them also his bedroom, +a sort of cell richly furnished, and close to the powder. It could be +reached only by means of three doors, the secret of which was known to +no one but himself. Alongside of this was the harem, and in the +neighbouring mosque was quartered his garrison, consisting of fifty men, +all ready to bury themselves under the ruins of this fortification, the +only spot remaining to him of all Greece, which had formerly bent +beneath his authority. + +After this exhibition, Ali presented one of his most devoted followers +to the envoys. Selim, who watched over the fire, was a youth in +appearance as gentle as his heart was intrepid, and his special duty was +to be in readiness to blow up the whole place at any moment. The pacha +gave him his hand to kiss, inquiring if he were ready to die, to which +he only responded by pressing his master's hand fervently to his lips. +He never took his eyes off Ali, and the lantern, near which a match was +constantly smoking, was entrusted only to him and to Ali, who took turns +with him in watching it. Ali drew a pistol from his belt, making as if +to turn it towards the powder magazine, and the envoys fell at his feet, +uttering involuntary cries of terror. He smiled at their fears, and +assured them that, being wearied of the weight of his weapons, he had +only intended to relieve himself of some of them. He then begged them to +seat themselves, and added that he should like even a more terrible +funeral than that which they had just ascribed to him. "I do not wish to +drag down with me," he exclaimed, "those who have come to visit me as +friends; it is Kursheed, whom I have long regarded as my brother, his +chiefs, those who have betrayed me, his whole army in short, whom I +desire to follow me to the tomb--a sacrifice which will be worthy of my +renown, and of the brilliant end to which I aspire." + +The envoys gazed at him with stupefaction, which did not diminish when +Ali further informed them that they were not only sitting over the arch +of a casemate filled with two hundred thousand pounds of powder, but +that the whole castle, which they had so rashly occupied, was +undermined. "The rest you have seen," he said, "but of this you could +not be aware. My riches are the sole cause of the war which has been +made against me, and in one moment I can destroy them. Life is nothing +to me, I might have ended it among the Greeks, but could I, a powerless +old man, resolve to live on terms of equality among those whose absolute +master I have been? Thus, whichever way I look, my career is ended. +However, I am attached to those who still surround me, so hear my last +resolve. Let a pardon, sealed by the sultan's hands, be given me, and I +will submit. I will go to Constantinople, to Asia Minor, or wherever I +am sent. The things I should see here would no longer be fitting for me +to behold." + +To this Kursheed's envoys made answer that without doubt these terms +would be conceded. Ali then touched his breast and forehead, and, +drawing forth his watch, presented it to the keeper of the wardrobe. "I +mean what I say, my friend," he observed; "my word will be kept. If +within an hour thy soldiers are not withdrawn from this castle which has +been treacherously yielded to them, I will blow it up. Return to the +Seraskier, warn him that if he allows one minute more to elapse than the +time specified, his army, his garrison, I myself and my family, will all +perish together: two hundred thousand pounds of powder can destroy all +that surrounds us. Take this watch, I give it thee, and forget not that +I am a man of my word." Then, dismissing the messengers, he saluted them +graciously, observing that he did not expect an answer until the +soldiers should have evacuated the castle. + +The envoys had barely returned to the camp when Kursheed sent orders to +abandon the fortress. As the reason far this step could not be +concealed, everyone, exaggerating the danger, imagined deadly mines +ready to be fired everywhere, and the whole army clamoured to break up +the camp. Thus Ali and his fifty followers cast terror into the hearts +of nearly thirty thousand men, crowded together on the slopes of Janina. +Every sound, every whiff of smoke, ascending from near the castle, +became a subject of alarm for the besiegers. And as the besieged had +provisions for a long time, Kursheed saw little chance of successfully +ending his enterprise; when Ali's demand for pardon occurred to him. +Without stating his real plans, he proposed to his Council to unite in +signing a petition to the Divan for Ali's pardon. + +This deed, formally executed, and bearing more than sixty signatures, +was then shown to Ali, who was greatly delighted. He was described in it +as Vizier, as Aulic Councillor, and also as the most distinguished +veteran among His Highness the Sultan's slaves. He sent rich presents to +Kursheed and the principal officers, whom he hoped to corrupt, and +breathed as though the storm had passed away. The following night, +however, he heard the voice of Emineh, calling him several times, and +concluded that his end drew nigh. + +During the two next nights he again thought he heard Emineh's voice, and +sleep forsook his pillow, his countenance altered, and his endurance +appeared to be giving way. Leaning on a long Malacca cane, he repaired +at early dawn to Emineh's tomb, on which he offered a sacrifice of two +spotted lambs, sent him by Tahir Abbas, whom in return he consented to +pardon, and the letters he received appeared to mitigate his trouble. +Some days later, he saw the keeper of the wardrobe, who encouraged him, +saying that before long there would be good news from Constantinople. +Ali learned from him the disgrace of Pacho Bey, and of Ismail Pliaga, +whom he detested equally, and this exercise of authority, which was made +to appear as a beginning of satisfaction offered him, completely +reassured him, and he made fresh presents to this officer, who had +succeeded in inspiring him with confidence. + +Whilst awaiting the arrival of the firman of pardon which Ali was +reassured must arrive from Constantinople without fail, the keeper of +the wardrobe advised him to seek an interview with Kursheed. It was +clear that such a meeting could not take place in the undermined castle, +and Ali was therefore invited to repair to the island in the lake. The +magnificent pavilion, which he had constructed there in happier days, +had been entirely refurnished, and it was proposed that the conference +should take place in this kiosk. + +Ali appeared to hesitate at this proposal, and the keeper of the +wardrobe, wishing to anticipate his objections, added that the object of +this arrangement was, to prove to the army, already aware of it, that +there was no longer any quarrel between himself and the +commander-in-chief. He added that Kursheed would go to the conference +attended only by members of his Divan, but that as it was natural an +outlawed man should be on his guard, Ali might, if he liked, send to +examine the place, might take with him such guards as he thought +necessary, and might even arrange things on the same footing as in his +citadel, even to his guardian with the lighted match, as the surest +guarantee which could be given him. + +The proposition was accepted, and when Ali, having crossed over with a +score of soldiers, found himself more at large than he did in his +casemate, he congratulated himself on having come. He had Basilissa +brought over, also his diamonds; and several chests of money. Two days +passed without his thinking of anything but procuring various +necessaries, and he then began to inquire what caused the Seraskier to +delay his visit. The latter excused himself on the plea of illness, and +offered meanwhile to send anyone Ali might wish to see, to visit him: +The pacha immediately mentioned several of his former followers, now +employed in the Imperial army, and as no difficulty was made in allowing +them to go, he profited by the permission to interview a large number of +his old acquaintances, who united in reassuring him and in giving him +great hopes of success. + +Nevertheless, time passed on, and neither the Seraskier nor the firman +appeared. Ali, at first uneasy, ended by rarely mentioning either the +one or the other, and never was deceiver more completely deceived. His +security was so great that he loudly congratulated himself on having +come to the island. He had begun to form a net of intrigue to cause +himself to be intercepted on the road when he should be sent to +Constantinople, and he did not despair of soon finding numerous +partisans in the Imperial army. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +For a whole week all seemed going well, when, on the morning of February +5th, Kursheed sent Hassan Pacha to convey his compliments to Ali, and +announce that the sultan's firman, so long desired, had at length +arrived. Their mutual wishes had been heard, but it was desirable, for +the dignity of their sovereign, that Ali, in order to show his gratitude +and submission, should order Selim to extinguish the fatal match and to +leave the cave, and that the rest of the garrison should first display +the Imperial standard and then evacuate the enclosure. Only on this +condition could Kursheed deliver into Ali's hands the sultan's decree of +clemency. + +Ali was alarmed, and his eyes were at length opened. He replied +hesitatingly, that on leaving the citadel he had charged Selim to obey +only his own verbal order, that no written command, even though signed +and sealed by himself, would produce any effect, and therefore he +desired to repair himself to the castle, in order to fulfil what was +required. + +Thereupon a long argument ensued, in which Ali's sagacity, skill, and +artifice struggled vainly against a decided line of action. New +protestations were made to deceive him, oaths were even taken on the +Koran that no evil designs, no mental reservations, were entertained. At +length, yielding to the prayers of those who surrounded him, perhaps +concluding that all his skill could no longer fight against Destiny, he +finally gave way. + +Drawing a secret token from his bosom, he handed it to Kursheed's envoy, +saying, "Go, show this to Selim, and you will convert a dragon into a +lamb." And in fact, at sight of the talisman, Selim prostrated himself, +extinguished the match, and fell, stabbed to the heart. At the same time +the garrison withdrew, the Imperial standard displayed its blazonry, and +the lake castle was occupied by the troops of the Seraskier, who rent +the air with their acclamations. + +It was then noon. Ali, in the island, had lost all illusions. His pulse +beat violently, but his countenance did not betray his mental trouble. +It was noticed that he appeared at intervals to be lost in profound +thought, that he yawned frequently, and continually drew his fingers +through his beard. He drank coffee and iced water several times, +incessantly looked at his watch, and taking his field-glass, surveyed by +turns the camp, the castles of Janina, the Pindus range, and the +peaceful waters of the lake. Occasionally he glanced at his weapons, and +then his eyes sparkled with the fire of youth and of courage. Stationed +beside him, his guards prepared their cartridges, their eyes fixed on +the landing-place. + +The kiosk which he occupied was connected with a wooden structure raised +upon pillars, like the open-air theatres constructed for a public +festival, and the women occupied the most remote apartments. Everything +seemed sad and silent. The vizier, according to custom, sat facing the +doorway, so as to be the first to perceive any who might wish to enter. +At five o'clock boats were seen approaching the island, and soon Hassan +Pacha, Omar Brionis, Kursheed's sword-bearer, Mehemet, the keeper of the +wardrobe, and several officers of the army, attended by a numerous +suite, drew near with gloomy countenances. + +Seeing them approach, Ali sprang up impetuously, his hand upon the +pistols in his belt. "Stand! . . . what is it you bring me?" he cried to +Hassan in a voice of thunder. "I bring the commands of His Highness the +Sultan,--knowest thou not these august characters?" And Hassan exhibited +the brilliantly gilded frontispiece which decorated the firman. "I know +them and revere them." "Then bow before thy destiny; make thy ablutions; +address thy prayer to Allah and to His Prophet; for thy, head is +demanded. . . ." Ali did not allow him to finish. "My head," he cried +with fury, "will not be surrendered like the head of a slave." + +These rapidly pronounced words were instantly followed by a pistol-shot +which wounded Hassan in the thigh. Swift as lightning, a second killed +the keeper of the wardrobe, and the guards, firing at the same time, +brought down several officers. Terrified, the Osmanlis forsook the +pavilion. Ali, perceiving blood flowing from a wound in his chest, +roared like a bull with rage. No one dared to face his wrath, but shots +were fired at the kiosk from all sides, and four of his guards fell dead +beside him. He no longer knew which way to turn, hearing the noise made +by the assailants under the platform, who were firing through the boards +on which he stood. A ball wounded him in the side, another from below +lodged in his spine; he staggered, clung to a window, then fell on the +sofa. "Hasten," he cried to one of his officers, "run, my friend, and +strangle my poor Basilissa; let her not fall a prey to these infamous +wretches." + +The door opened, all resistance ceased, the guards hastened to escape by +the windows. Kursheed's sword-bearer entered, followed by the +executioners. "Let the justice of Allah be accomplished!" said a cadi. +At these words the executioners seized Ali, who was still alive, by the +beard, and dragged him out into the porch, where, placing his head on +one of the steps, they separated it from the body with many blows of a +jagged cutlass. Thus ended the career of the dreaded Ali Pacha. + +His head still preserved so terrible and imposing an aspect that those +present beheld it with a sort of stupor. Kursheed, to whom it was +presented on a large dish of silver plate, rose to receive it, bowed +three times before it, and respectfully kissed the beard, expressing +aloud his wish that he himself might deserve a similar end. To such an +extent did the admiration with which Ali's bravery inspired these +barbarians efface the memory of his crimes. Kursheed ordered the head to +be perfumed with the most costly essences, and despatched to +Constantinople, and he allowed the Skipetars to render the last honours +to their former master. + +Never was seen greater mourning than that of the warlike Epirotes. +During the whole night, the various Albanian tribes watched by turns +around the corpse, improvising the most eloquent funeral songs in its +honour. At daybreak, the body, washed and prepared according to the +Mohammedan ritual, was deposited in a coffin draped with a splendid +Indian Cashmere shawl, on which was placed a magnificent turban, adorned +with the plumes Ali had worn in battle. The mane of his charger was cut +off, and the animal covered with purple housings, while Ali's shield, +his sword, his numerous weapons, and various insignia, were borne on the +saddles of several led horses. The cortege proceeded towards the castle, +accompanied by hearty imprecations uttered by the soldiers against the +"Son of a Slave," the epithet bestowed on their sultan by the Turks in +seasons of popular excitement. + +The Selaon-Aga, an officer appointed to render the proper salutes, acted +as chief mourner, surrounded by weeping mourners, who made the ruins of +Janina echo with their lamentations. The guns were fired at long +intervals. The portcullis was raised to admit the procession, and the +whole garrison, drawn up to receive it, rendered a military salute. The +body, covered with matting, was laid in a grave beside that of Amina. +When the grave had been filled in, a priest approached to listen to the +supposed conflict between the good and bad angels, who dispute the +possession of the soul of the deceased. When he at length announced that +Ali Tepelen Zadi would repose in peace amid celestial houris, the +Skipetars, murmuring like the waves of the sea after a tempest, +dispersed to their quarters: + +Kursheed, profiting by the night spent by the Epirotes in mourning, +caused Ali's head to be en closed in a silver casket, and despatched it +secretly to Constantinople. His sword-bearer Mehemet, who, having +presided at the execution, was entrusted with the further duty of +presenting it to the sultan, was escorted by three hundred Turkish +soldiers. He was warned to be expeditious, and before dawn was well out +of reach of the Arnaouts, from whom a surprise might have been feared. + +The Seraskier then ordered the unfortunate Basilissa, whose life had +been spared, to be brought before him. She threw herself at his feet, +imploring him to spare, not her life, but her honour; and he consoled +her, and assured her of the sultan's protection. She burst into tears +when she beheld Ali's secretaries, treasurers, and steward loaded with +irons. Only sixty thousand purses (about twenty-five million piastres) +of Ali's treasure could be found, and already his officers had been +tortured, in order to compel them to disclose where the rest might be +concealed. Fearing a similar fate, Basilissa fell insensible into the +arms of her attendants, and she was removed to the farm of Bouila, until +the Supreme Porte should decide on her fate. + +The couriers sent in all directions to announce the death of Ali, having +preceded the sword-bearer Mehemet's triumphal procession, the latter, on +arriving at Greveno, found the whole population of that town and the +neighbouring hamlets assembled to meet him, eager to behold the head of +the terrible Ali Pacha. Unable to comprehend how he could possibly have +succumbed, they could hardly believe their eyes when the head was +withdrawn from its casket and displayed before them. It remained exposed +to view in the house of the Mussulman Veli Aga whilst the escort partook +of refreshment and changed horses, and as the public curiosity continued +to increase throughout the journey, a fixed charge was at length made +for its gratification, and the head of the renowned vizier was degraded +into becoming an article of traffic exhibited at every post-house, until +it arrived at Constantinople. + +The sight of this dreaded relic, exposed on the 23rd of February at the +gate of the seraglio, and the birth of an heir-presumptive to the sword +of Othman--which news was announced simultaneously with that of the +death of Ali, by the firing of the guns of the seraglio--roused the +enthusiasm of the military inhabitants of Constantinople to a state of +frenzy, and triumphant shouts greeted the appearance of a document +affixed to the head which narrated Ali's crimes and the circumstances of +his death, ending with these words: "This is the Head of the above-named +Ali Pacha, a Traitor to the Faith of Islam." + +Having sent magnificent presents to Kursheed, and a hyperbolical +despatch to his army, Mahmoud II turned his attention to Asia Minor; +where Ali's sons would probably have been forgotten in their banishment, +had it not been supposed that their riches were great. A sultan does not +condescend to mince matters with his slaves, when he can despoil them +with impunity; His Supreme Highness simply sent them his commands to +die. Veli Pacha, a greater coward than a woman-slave born in the harem, +heard his sentence kneeling. The wretch who had, in his palace at Arta, +danced to the strains of a lively orchestra, while innocent victims were +being tortured around him, received the due reward of his crimes. He +vainly embraced the knees of his executioners, imploring at least the +favour of dying in privacy; and he must have endured the full bitterness +of death in seeing his sons strangled before his eyes, Mehemet the +elder, remarkable, for his beauty, and the gentle Selim, whose merits +might have procured the pardon of his family had not Fate ordained +otherwise. After next beholding the execution of his brother, Salik +Pacha, Ali's best loved son, whom a Georgian slave had borne to him in +his old age, Veli, weeping, yielded his guilty head to the executioners. + +His women were then seized, and the unhappy Zobeide, whose scandalous +story had even reached Constantinople, sewn up in a leather sack, was +flung into the Pursak--a river whose waters mingle with those of the +Sagaris. Katherin, Veli's other wife, and his daughters by various +mothers, were dragged to the bazaar and sold ignominiously to Turcoman +shepherds, after which the executioners at once proceeded to make an +inventory of the spoils of their victims. + +But the inheritance of Mouktar Pacha was not quite such an easy prey. +The kapidgi-bachi who dared to present him with the bowstring was +instantly laid dead at his feet by a pistol-shot. "Wretch!" cried +Mouktar, roaring like a bull escaped from the butcher, "dost thou think +an Arnaout dies like an eunuch? I also am a Tepelenian! To arms, +comrades! they would slay us!" As he spoke, he rushed, sword in hand, +upon the Turks, and driving them back, succeeded in barricading himself +in his apartments. + +Presently a troop of janissaries from Koutaieh, ordered to be in +readiness, advanced, hauling up cannon, and a stubborn combat began. +Mouktar's frail defences were soon in splinters. The venerable +Metche-Bono, father of Elmas Bey, faithful to the end, was killed by a +bullet; and Mouktar, having slain a host of enemies with his own hand +and seen all his friends perish, himself riddled with wounds, set fire +to the powder magazine, and died, leaving as inheritance for the sultan +only a heap of smoking ruins. An enviable fate, if compared with that of +his father and brothers, who died by the hand of the executioner. + +The heads of Ali's children, sent to Constantinople and exposed at the +gate of the seraglio, astonished the gaping multitude. The sultan +himself, struck with the beauty of Mehemet and Selim, whose long +eyelashes and closed eyelids gave them the appearance of beautiful +youths sunk in peaceful slumber, experienced a feeling of emotion. "I +had imagined them," he said stupidly, "to be quite as old as their +father;" and he expressed sorrow for the fate to which he had condemned +them. + + + + +*THE COUNTESS DE SAINT-GERAN--1639* + + +About the end of the year 1639, a troop of horsemen arrived, towards +midday, in a little village at the northern extremity of the province of +Auvergne, from the direction of Paris. The country folk assembled at the +noise, and found it to proceed from the provost of the mounted police +and his men. The heat was excessive, the horses were bathed in sweat, +the horsemen covered with dust, and the party seemed on its return from +an important expedition. A man left the escort, and asked an old woman +who was spinning at her door if there was not an inn in the place. The +woman and her children showed him a bush hanging over a door at the end +of the only street in the village, and the escort recommenced its march +at a walk. There was noticed, among the mounted men, a young man of +distinguished appearance and richly dressed, who appeared to be a +prisoner. This discovery redoubled the curiosity of the villagers, who +followed the cavalcade as far as the door of the wine-shop. The host +came out, cap in hand, and the provost enquired of him with a swaggering +air if his pothouse was large enough to accommodate his troop, men and +horses. The host replied that he had the best wine in the country to +give to the king's servants, and that it would be easy to collect in the +neighbourhood litter and forage enough for their horses. The provost +listened contemptuously to these fine promises, gave the necessary +orders as to what was to be done, and slid off his horse, uttering an +oath proceeding from heat and fatigue. The horsemen clustered round the +young man: one held his stirrup, and the provost deferentially gave way +to him to enter the inn first. No, more doubt could be entertained that +he was a prisoner of importance, and all kinds of conjectures were made. +The men maintained that he must be charged with a great crime, otherwise +a young nobleman of his rank would never have been arrested; the women +argued, on the contrary, that it was impossible for such a pretty youth +not to be innocent. + +Inside the inn all was bustle: the serving-lads ran from cellar to +garret; the host swore and despatched his servant-girls to the +neighbours, and the hostess scolded her daughter, flattening her nose +against the panes of a downstairs window to admire the handsome youth. + +There were two tables in the principal eating-room. The provost took +possession of one, leaving the other to the soldiers, who went in turn +to tether their horses under a shed in the back yard; then he pointed to +a stool for the prisoner, and seated himself opposite to him, rapping +the table with his thick cane. + +"Ouf!" he cried, with a fresh groan of weariness, "I heartily beg your +pardon, marquis, for the bad wine I am giving you!" + +The young man smiled gaily. + +"The wine is all very well, monsieur provost," said he, "but I cannot +conceal from you that however agreeable your company is to me, this halt +is very inconvenient; I am in a hurry to get through my ridiculous +situation, and I should have liked to arrive in time to stop this affair +at once." + +The girl of the house was standing before the table with a pewter pot +which she had just brought, and at these words she raised her eyes on +the prisoner, with a reassured look which seemed to say, "I was sure +that he was innocent." + +"But," continued the marquis, carrying the glass to his lips, "this wine +is not so bad as you say, monsieur provost." + +Then turning to the girl, who was eyeing his gloves and his ruff-- + +"To your health, pretty child." + +"Then," said the provost, amazed at this free and easy air, "perhaps I +shall have to beg you to excuse your sleeping quarters." + +"What!" exclaimed the marquis, "do we sleep here?" + +"My lord;" said the provost, "we have sixteen long leagues to make, our +horses are done up, and so far as I am concerned I declare that I am no +better than my horse." + +The marquis knocked on the table, and gave every indication of being +greatly annoyed. The provost meanwhile puffed and blowed, stretched out +his big boots, and mopped his forehead with his handkerchief. He was a +portly man, with a puffy face, whom fatigue rendered singularly +uncomfortable. + +"Marquis," said he, "although your company, which affords me the +opportunity of showing you some attention, is very precious to me, you +cannot doubt that I had much rather enjoy it on another footing. If it +be within your power, as you say, to release yourself from the hands of +justice, the sooner you do so the better I shall be pleased. But I beg +you to consider the state we are in. For my part, I am unfit to keep the +saddle another hour, and are you not yourself knocked up by this forced +march in the great heat?" + +"True, so I am," said the marquis, letting his arms fall by his side. + +"Well, then, let us rest here, sup here, if we can, and we will start +quite fit in the cool of the morning." + +"Agreed," replied the marquis; "but then let us pass the time in a +becoming manner. I have two pistoles left, let them be given to these +good fellows to drink. It is only fair that I should treat them, seeing +that I am the cause of giving them so much trouble." + +He threw two pieces of money on the table of the soldiers, who cried in +chorus, "Long live M. the marquis!" The provost rose, went to post +sentinels, and then repaired to the kitchen, where he ordered the best +supper that could be got. The men pulled out dice and began to drink and +play. The marquis hummed an air in the middle of the room, twirled his +moustache, turning on his heel and looking cautiously around; then he +gently drew a purse from his trousers pocket, and as the daughter of the +house was coming and going, he threw his arms round her neck as if to +kiss her, and whispered, slipping ten Louis into her hand-- + +"The key of the front door in my room, and a quart of liquor to the +sentinels, and you save my life." + +The girl went backwards nearly to the door, and returning with an +expressive look, made an affirmative sign with her hand. The provost +returned, and two hours later supper was served. He ate and drank like a +man more at home at table than in the saddle. The marquis plied him with +bumpers, and sleepiness, added to the fumes of a very heady wine, caused +him to repeat over and over again-- + +"Confound it all, marquis, I can't believe you are such a blackguard as +they say you are; you seem to me a jolly good sort." + +The marquis thought he was ready to fall under the table, and was +beginning to open negotiations with the daughter of the house, when, to +his great disappointment, bedtime having come, the provoking provost +called his sergeant, gave him instructions in an undertone, and +announced that he should have the honour of conducting M. the marquis to +bed, and that he should not go to bed himself before performing this +duty. In fact, he posted three of his men, with torches, escorted the +prisoner to his room, and left him with many profound bows. + +The marquis threw himself on his bed without pulling off his boots, +listening to a clock which struck nine. He heard the men come and go in +the stables and in the yard. + +An hour later, everybody being tired, all was perfectly still. The +prisoner then rose softly, and felt about on tiptoe on the chimneypiece, +on the furniture, and even in his clothes, for the key which he hoped to +find. He could not find it. He could not be mistaken, nevertheless, in +the tender interest of the young girl, and he could not believe that she +was deceiving him. The marquis's room had a window which opened upon the +street, and a door which gave access to a shabby gallery which did duty +for a balcony, whence a staircase ascended to the principal rooms of the +house. This gallery hung over the courtyard, being as high above it as +the window was from the street. The marquis had only to jump over one +side or the other: he hesitated for some time, and just as he was +deciding to leap into the street, at the risk of breaking his neck, two +taps were struck on the door. He jumped for joy, saying to himself as he +opened, "I am saved!" A kind of shadow glided into the room; the young +girl trembled from head to foot, and could not say a word. The marquis +reassured her with all sorts of caresses. + +"Ah, sir," said she, "I am dead if we are surprised." + +"Yes," said the marquis, "but your fortune is made if you get me out of +here." + +"God is my witness that I would with all my soul, but I have such a bad +piece of news----" + +She stopped, suffocated with varying emotions. The poor girl had come +barefooted, for fear of making a noise, and appeared to be shivering. + +"What is the matter?" impatiently asked the marquis. + +"Before going to bed," she continued, "M. the provost has required from +my father all the keys of the house, and has made him take a great oath +that there are no more. My father has given him all: besides, there is a +sentinel at every door; but they are very tired; I have heard them +muttering and grumbling, and I have given them more wine than you told +me." + +"They will sleep," said the marquis, nowise discouraged, "and they have +already shown great respect to my rank in not nailing me up in this +room." + +"There is a small kitchen garden," continued the girl, "on the side of +the fields, fenced in only by a loose hurdle, but----" + +"Where is my horse?" + +"No doubt in the shed with the rest." + +"I will jump into the yard." + +"You will be killed." + +"So much the better!" + +"Ah monsieur marquis, what have, you done?" said the young girl with +grief. + +"Some foolish things! nothing worth mentioning; but my head and my +honour are at stake. Let us lose no time; I have made up my mind." + +"Stay," replied the girl, grasping his arm; "at the left-hand corner of +the yard there is a large heap of straw, the gallery hangs just over +it--" + +"Bravo! I shall make less noise, and do myself less mischief." He made a +step towards the door; the girl, hardly knowing what she was doing, +tried to detain him; but he got loose from her and opened it. The moon +was shining brightly into the yard; he heard no sound. He proceeded to +the end of the wooden rail, and perceived the dungheap, which rose to a +good height: the girl made the sign of the cross. The marquis listened +once again, heard nothing, and mounted the rail. He was about to jump +down, when by wonderful luck he heard murmurings from a deep voice. This +proceeded from one of two horsemen, who were recommencing their +conversation and passing between them a pint of wine. The marquis crept +back to his door, holding his breath: the girl was awaiting him on the +threshold. + +"I told you it was not yet time," said she. + +"Have you never a knife," said the marquis, "to cut those rascals' +throats with?" + +"Wait, I entreat you, one hour, one hour only," murmured the young girl; +"in an hour they will all be asleep." + +The girl's voice was so sweet, the arms which she stretched towards him +were full of such gentle entreaty, that the marquis waited, and at the +end of an hour it was the young girl's turn to tell him to start. + +The marquis for the last time pressed with his mouth those lips but +lately so innocent, then he half opened the door, and heard nothing this +time but dogs barking far away in an otherwise silent country. He leaned +over the balustrade, and saw: very plainly a soldier lying prone on the +straw. + +"If they were to awake?" murmured the young girl in accents of anguish. + +"They will not take me alive, be assured," said the marquis. + +"Adieu, then," replied she, sobbing; "may Heaven preserve you!" + +He bestrode the balustrade, spread himself out upon it, and fell heavily +on the dungheap. The young girl saw him run to the shed, hastily detach +a horse, pass behind the stable wall, spur his horse in both flanks, +tear across the kitchen garden, drive his horse against the hurdle, +knock it down, clear it, and reach the highroad across the fields. + +The poor girl remained at the end of the gallery, fixing her eyes on the +sleeping sentry, and ready to disappear at the slightest movement. The +noise made by spurs on the pavement and by the horse at the end of the +courtyard had half awakened him. He rose, and suspecting some surprise, +ran to the shed. His horse was no longer there; the marquis, in his +haste to escape, had taken the first which came to hand, and this was +the soldier's. Then the soldier gave the alarm; his comrades woke up. +They ran to the prisoner's room, and found it empty. The provost came +from his bed in a dazed condition. The prisoner had escaped. + +Then the young girl, pretending to have been roused by the noise, +hindered the preparations by mislaying the saddlery, impeding the +horsemen instead of helping them; nevertheless, after a quarter of an +hour, all the party were galloping along the road. The provost swore +like a pagan. The best horses led the way, and the sentinel, who rode +the marquis's, and who had a greater interest in catching the prisoner, +far outstripped his companions; he was followed by the sergeant, equally +well mounted, and as the broken fence showed the line he had taken, +after some minutes they were in view of him, but at a great distance. +However, the marquis was losing ground; the horse he had taken was the +worst in the troop, and he had pressed it as hard as it could go. +Turning in the saddle, he saw the soldiers half a musket-shot off; he +urged his horse more and more, tearing his sides with his spurs; but +shortly the beast, completely winded, foundered; the marquis rolled with +it in the dust, but when rolling over he caught hold of the holsters, +which he found to contain pistols; he lay flat by the side of the horse, +as if he had fainted, with a pistol at full cock in his hand. The +sentinel, mounted on a valuable horse, and more than two hundred yards +ahead of his serafile, came up to him. In a moment the marquis, jumping +up before he had tune to resist him, shot him through the head; the +horseman fell, the marquis jumped up in his place without even setting +foot in the stirrup, started off at a gallop, and went away like the +wind, leaving fifty yards behind him the non-commissioned officer, +dumbfounded with what had just passed before his eyes. + +The main body of the escort galloped up, thinking that he was taken; and +the provost shouted till he was hoarse, "Do not kill him!" But they +found only the sergeant, trying to restore life to his man, whose skull +was shattered, and who lay dead on the spot. + +As for the marquis, he was out of sight; for, fearing a fresh pursuit, +he had plunged into the cross roads, along which he rode a good hour +longer at full gallop. When he felt pretty sure of having shaken the +police off his track, and that their bad horses could not overtake him, +he determined to slacken to recruit his horse; he was walking him along +a hollow lane, when he saw a peasant approaching; he asked him the road +to the Bourbonnais, and flung him a crown. The man took the crown and +pointed out the road, but he seemed hardly to know what he was saying, +and stared at the marquis in a strange manner. The marquis shouted to +him to get out of the way; but the peasant remained planted on the +roadside without stirring an inch. The marquis advanced with threatening +looks, and asked how he dared to stare at him like that. + +"The reason is," said the peasant, "that you have----", and he pointed +to his shoulder and his ruff. + +The marquis glanced at his dress, and saw that his coat was dabbled in +blood, which, added to the disorder of his clothes and the dust with +which he was covered, gave him a most suspicious aspect. + +"I know," said he. "I and my servant have been separated in a scuffle +with some drunken Germans; it's only a tipsy spree, and whether I have +got scratched, or whether in collaring one of these fellows I have drawn +some of his blood, it all arises from the row. I don't think I am hurt a +bit." So saying, he pretended to feel all over his body. + +"All the same," he continued, "I should not be sorry to have a wash; +besides, I am dying with thirst and heat, and my horse is in no better +case. Do you know where I can rest and refresh myself?" + +The peasant offered to guide him to his own house, only a few yards off. +His wife and children, who were working, respectfully stood aside, and +went to collect what was wanted--wine, water, fruit, and a large piece +of black bread. The marquis sponged his coat, drank a glass of wine, and +called the people of the house, whom he questioned in an indifferent +manner. He once more informed himself of the different roads leading +into the Bourbonnais province, where he was going to visit a relative; +of the villages, cross roads, distances; and finally he spoke of the +country, the harvest, and asked what news there was. + +The peasant replied, with regard to this, that it was surprising to hear +of disturbances on the highway at this moment, when it was patrolled by +detachments of mounted police, who had just made an important capture. + +"Who is that?--" asked the marquis. + +"Oh," said the peasant, "a nobleman who has done a lot of mischief in +the country." + +"What! a nobleman in the hands of justice?" + +"Just so; and he stands a good chance of losing his head." + +"Do they say what he has done?" + +"Shocking things; horrid things; everything he shouldn't do. All the +province is exasperated with him." + +"Do you know him?" + +"No, but we all have his description." + +As this news was not encouraging, the marquis, after a few more +questions, saw to his horse, patted him, threw some more money to the +peasant, and disappeared in the direction pointed out. + +The provost proceeded half a league farther along the road; but coming +to the conclusion that pursuit was useless, he sent one of his men to +headquarters, to warn all the points of exit from the province, and +himself returned with his troop to the place whence he had started in +the morning. The marquis had relatives in the neighbourhood, and it was +quite possible that he might seek shelter with some of them. All the +village ran to meet the horsemen, who were obliged to confess that they +had been duped by the handsome prisoner. Different views were expressed +on the event, which gave rise to much talking. The provost entered the +inn, banging his fist on the furniture, and blaming everybody for the +misfortune which had happened to him. The daughter of the house, at +first a prey to the most grievous anxiety, had great difficulty in +concealing her joy. + +The provost spread his papers over the table, as if to nurse his +ill-temper. + +"The biggest rascal in the world!" he cried; "I ought to have suspected +him." + +"What a handsome man he was!" said the hostess. + +"A consummate rascal! Do you know who he is? He is the Marquis de +Saint-Maixent!" + +"The Marquis de Saint-Maixent!" all cried with horror. + +"Yes, the very man," replied the provost; "the Marquis de Saint-Maixent, +accused, and indeed convicted, of coining and magic." + +"Ah!" + +"Convicted of incest." + +"O my God!" + +"Convicted of having strangled his wife to marry another, whose husband +he had first stabbed." + +"Heaven help us!" All crossed themselves. + +"Yes, good people," continued the furious provost, "this is the nice boy +who has just escaped the king's justice!" + +The host's daughter left the room, for she felt she was going to faint. + +"But," said the host, "is there no hope of catching him again?" + +"Not the slightest, if he has taken the road to the Bourbonnais; for I +believe there are in that province noblemen belonging to his family who +will not allow him to be rearrested." + +The fugitive was, indeed, no other than the Marquis de Saint-Maixent, +accused of all the enormous crimes detailed by the provost, who by his +audacious flight opened for himself an active part in the strange story +which it remains to relate. + +It came to pass, a fortnight after these events, that a mounted +gentleman rang at the wicket gate of the chateau de Saint-Geran, at the +gates of Moulins. It was late, and the servants were in no hurry to +open. The stranger again pulled the bell in a masterful manner, and at +length perceived a man running from the bottom of the avenue. The +servant peered through the wicket, and making out in the twilight a very +ill-appointed traveller, with a crushed hat, dusty clothes, and no +sword, asked him what he wanted, receiving a blunt reply that the +stranger wished to see the Count de Saint-Geran without any further loss +of time. The servant replied that this was impossible; the other got +into a passion. + +"Who are you?" asked the man in livery. + +"You are a very ceremonious fellow!" cried the horseman. "Go and tell M. +de Saint-Geran that his relative, the Marquis de Saint-Maixent, wishes +to see him at once." + +The servant made humble apologies, and opened the wicket gate. He then +walked before the marquis, called other servants, who came to help him +to dismount, and ran to give his name in the count's apartments. The +latter was about to sit down to supper when his relative was announced; +he immediately went to receive the marquis, embraced him again and +again, and gave him the most friendly and gracious reception possible. +He wished then to take him into the dining-room to present him to all +the family; but the marquis called his attention to the disorder of his +dress, and begged for a few minutes' conversation. The count took him +into his dressing-room, and had him dressed from head to foot in his own +clothes, whilst they talked. The marquis then narrated a made-up story +to M. de Saint-Geran relative to the accusation brought against him. +This greatly impressed his relative, and gave him a secure footing in +the chateau. When he had finished dressing, he followed the count, who +presented him to the countess and the rest of the family. + +It will now be in place to state who the inmates of the chateau were, +and to relate some previous occurrences to explain subsequent ones. + +The Marshal de Saint-Geran, of the illustrious house of Guiche, and +governor of the Bourbonnais, had married, for his first wife, Anne de +Tournon, by whom he had one son, Claude de la Guiche, and one daughter, +who married the Marquis de Bouille. His wife dying, he married again +with Suzanne des Epaules, who had also been previously married, being +the widow of the Count de Longaunay, by whom she had Suzanne de +Longaunay. + +The marshal and his wife, Suzanne des Epauies, for the mutual benefit of +their children by first nuptials, determined to marry them, thus sealing +their own union with a double tie. Claude de Guiche, the marshal's son, +married Suzanne de Longaunay. + +This alliance was much to the distaste of the Marchioness de Bouille, +the marshal's daughter, who found herself separated from her stepmother, +and married to a man who, it was said, gave her great cause for +complaint, the greatest being his threescore years and ten. + +The contract of marriage between Claude de la Guiche and Suzanne de +Longaunay was executed at Rouen on the 17th of February 1619; but the +tender age of the bridegroom, who was then but eighteen, was the cause +of his taking a tour in Italy, whence he returned after two years. The +marriage was a very happy one but for one circumstance--it produced no +issue. The countess could not endure a barrenness which threatened the +end of a great name, the extinction of a noble race. She made vows, +pilgrimages; she consulted doctors and quacks; but to no purpose. + +The Marshal de Saint-Geran died on the Loth of December 1632, having the +mortification of having seen no descending issue from the marriage of +his son. The latter, now Count de Saint-Geran, succeeded his father in +the government of the Bourbonnais, and was named Chevalier of the King's +Orders. + +Meanwhile the Marchioness de Bouille quarrelled with her old husband the +marquis, separated from him after a scandalous divorce, and came to live +at the chateau of Saint-Geran, quite at ease as to her brother's +marriage, seeing that in default of heirs all his property would revert +to her. + +Such was the state of affairs when the Marquis de Saint-Maixent arrived +at the chateau. He was young, handsome, very cunning, and very +successful with women; he even made a conquest of the dowager Countess +de Saint-Geran, who lived there with her children. He soon plainly saw +that he might easily enter into the most intimate relations with the +Marchioness de Bouille. + +The Marquis de Saint-Maixent's own fortune was much impaired by his +extravagance and by the exactions of the law, or rather, in plain words, +he had lost it all. The marchioness was heiress presumptive to the +count: he calculated that she would soon lose her own husband; in any +case, the life of a septuagenarian did not much trouble a man like the +marquis; he could then prevail upon the marchioness to marry him, thus +giving him the command of the finest fortune in the province. + +He set to work to pay his court to her, especially avoiding anything +that could excite the slightest suspicion. It was, however, difficult to +get on good terms with the marchioness without showing outsiders what +was going on. But the marchioness, already prepossessed by the agreeable +exterior of M. de Saint-Maixent, soon fell into his toils, and the +unhappiness of her marriage, with the annoyances incidental to a +scandalous case in the courts, left her powerless to resist his schemes. +Nevertheless, they had but few opportunities of seeing one' another +alone: the countess innocently took a part in all their conversations; +the count often came to take the marquis out hunting; the days passed in +family pursuits. M. de Saint-Maixent had not so far had an opportunity +of saying what a discreet woman ought to pretend not to hear; this +intrigue, notwithstanding the marquis's impatience, dragged terribly. + +The countess, as has been stated, had for twenty years never ceased to +hope that her prayers would procure for her the grace of bearing a son +to her husband. Out of sheer weariness she had given herself up to all +kinds of charlatans, who at that period were well received by people of +rank. On one occasion she brought from Italy a sort of astrologer, who +as nearly as possible poisoned her with a horrible nostrum, and was sent +back to his own country in a hurry, thanking his stars for having +escaped so cheaply. This procured Madame de Saint-Geran a severe +reprimand from her confessor; and, as time went on, she gradually +accustomed herself to the painful conclusion that she would die +childless, and cast herself into the arms of religion. The count, whose +tenderness for her never failed, yet clung to the hope of an heir, and +made his Will with this in view. The marchioness's hopes had become +certainties, and M. de Saint-Maixent, perfectly tranquil on this head, +thought only of forwarding his suit with Madame-de Bouille, when, at the +end of the month of November 1640, the Count de Saint-Geran was obliged +to repair to Paris in great haste on pressing duty. + +The countess, who could not bear to be separated from her husband, took +the family advice as to accompanying him. The marquis, delighted at an +opportunity which left him almost alone in the chateau with Madame de +Bouille, painted the journey to Paris in the most attractive colours, +and said all he could to decide her to go. The marchioness, for her +part, worked very quietly to the same end; it was more than was needed. +It was settled that the countess should go with M. de Saint-Geran. She +soon made her preparations, and a few days later they set off on the +journey together. + +The marquis had no fears about declaring his passion; the conquest of +Madame de Bouille gave him no trouble; he affected the most violent +love, and she responded in the same terms. All their time was spent in +excursions and walks from, which the servants were excluded; the lovers, +always together, passed whole days in some retired part of the park, or +shut up in their apartments. It was impossible for these circumstances +not to cause gossip among an army of servants, against whom they had to +keep incessantly on their guard; and this naturally happened. + +The marchioness soon found herself obliged to make confidantes of the +sisters Quinet, her maids; she had no difficulty in gaining their +support, for the girls were greatly attached to her. This was the first +step of shame for Madame de Bouille, and the first step of corruption +for herself and her paramour, who soon found themselves entangled in the +blackest of plots. Moreover, there was at the chateau de Saint-Geran a +tall, spare, yellow, stupid man, just intelligent enough to perform, if +not to conceive, a bad action, who was placed in authority over the +domestics; he was a common peasant whom the old marshal had deigned to +notice, and whom the count had by degrees promoted to the service of +major-domo on account of his long service in the house, and because he +had seen him there since he himself was a child; he would not take him +away as body servant, fearing that his notions of service would not do +for Paris, and left him to the superintendence of the household. The +marquis had a quiet talk with this man, took his measure, warped his +mind as he wished, gave him some money, and acquired him body and soul. +These different agents undertook to stop the chatter of the servants' +hall, and thenceforward the lovers could enjoy free intercourse. + +One evening, as the Marquis de Saint-Maixent was at supper in company +with the marchioness, a loud knocking was heard at the gate of the +chateau, to which they paid no great attention. This was followed by the +appearance of a courier who had come post haste from Paris; he entered +the courtyard with a letter from the Count de Saint-Geran for M. the +marquis; he was announced and introduced, followed by nearly all the +household. The marquis asked the meaning of all this, and dismissed all +the following with a wave of the hand; but the courier explained that M. +the count desired that the letter in his hands should be read before +everyone. The marquis opened it without replying, glanced over it, and +read it out loud without the slightest alteration: the count announced +to his good relations and to all his household that the countess had +indicated positive symptoms of pregnancy; that hardly had she arrived in +Paris when she suffered from fainting fits, nausea, retching, that she +bore with joy these premonitory indications, which were no longer a +matter of doubt to the physicians, nor to anyone; that for his part he +was overwhelmed with joy at this event, which was the crowning stroke to +all his wishes; that he desired the chateau to share his satisfaction by +indulging in all kinds of gaieties; and that so far as other matters +were concerned they could remain as they were till the return of himself +and the countess, which the letter would precede only a few days, as he +was going to transport her in a litter for greater safety. Then followed +the specification of certain sums of money to be distributed among the +servants. + +The servants uttered cries of joy; the marquis and marchioness exchanged +a look, but a very troublous one; they, however, restrained themselves +so far as to simulate a great satisfaction, and the marquis brought +himself to congratulate the servants on their attachment to their master +and mistress. After this they were left alone, looking very serious, +while crackers exploded and violins resounded under the windows. For +some time they preserved silence, the first thought which occurred to +both being that the count and countess had allowed themselves to be +deceived by trifling symptoms, that people had wished to flatter their +hopes, that it was impossible for a constitution to change so suddenly +after twenty years, and that it was a case of simulative pregnancy. This +opinion gaining strength in their minds made them somewhat calmer. + +The next day they took a walk side by side in a solitary path in the +park and discussed the chances of their situation. M. de Saint-Maixent +brought before the marchioness the enormous injury which this event +would bring them. He then said that even supposing the news to be true, +there were many rocks ahead to be weathered before the succession could +be pronounced secure. + +"The child may die," he said at last. + +And he uttered some sinister expressions on the slight damage caused by +the loss of a puny creature without mind, interest, or consequence; +nothing, he said, but a bit of ill-organised matter, which only came +into the world to ruin so considerable a person as the marchioness. + +"But what is the use of tormenting ourselves?" he went on impatiently; +"the countess is not pregnant, nor can she be." + +A gardener working near them overheard this part of the conversation, +but as they walked away from him he could not hear any more. + +A few days later, some outriders, sent before him by the count, entered +the chateau, saying that their master and mistress were close at hand. +In fact, they were promptly followed by brakes and travelling-carriages, +and at length the countess's litter was descried, which M. de +Saint-Geran, on horse back, had never lost sight of during the journey. +It was a triumphal reception: all the peasants had left their work, and +filled the air with shouts of welcome; the servants ran to meet their +mistress; the ancient retainers wept for joy at seeing the count so +happy and in the hope that his noble qualities might be perpetuated in +his heir. The marquis and Madame de Bouille did their best to tune up to +the pitch of this hilarity. + +The dowager countess, who had arrived at the chateau the same day, +unable to convince herself as to this news, had the pleasure of +satisfying her self respecting it. The count and countess were much +beloved in the Bourbonnais province; this event caused therein a general +satisfaction, particularly in the numerous houses attached to them by +consanguinity. Within a few days of their return, more than twenty +ladies of quality flocked to visit them in great haste, to show the +great interest they took in this pregnancy. All these ladies, on one +occasion or another, convinced themselves as to its genuineness, and +many of them, carrying the subject still further, in a joking manner +which pleased the countess, dubbed themselves prophetesses, and +predicted the birth of a boy. The usual symptoms incidental to the +situation left no room for doubt: the country physicians were all +agreed. The count kept one of these physicians in the chateau for two +months, and spoke to the Marquis of Saint-Maixent of his intention of +procuring a good mid-wife, on the same terms. Finally, the dowager +countess, who was to be sponsor, ordered at a great expense a +magnificent store of baby linen, which she desired to present at the +birth. + +The marchioness devoured her rage, and among the persons who went beside +themselves with joy not one remarked the disappointment which overspread +her soul. Every day she saw the marquis, who did all he could to +increase her regret, and incessantly stirred up her ill-humour by +repeating that the count and countess were triumphing over her +misfortune, and insinuating that they were importing a supposititious +child to disinherit her. As usual both in private and political affairs, +he began by corrupting the marchioness's religious views, to pervert her +into crime. The marquis was one of those libertines so rare at that +time, a period less unhappy than is generally believed, who made science +dependent upon, atheism. It is remarkable that great criminals of this +epoch, Sainte-Croix for instance, and Exili, the gloomy poisoner, were +the first unbelievers, and that they preceded the learned of the +following age both, in philosophy and in the exclusive study of physical +science, in which they included that of poisons. Passion, interest, +hatred fought the marquis's battles in the heart of Madame de Bouille; +she readily lent herself to everything that M. de Saint-Maixent wished. + +The Marquis de Saint-Maixent had a confidential servant, cunning, +insolent, resourceful, whom he had brought from his estates, a servant +well suited to such a master, whom he sent on errands frequently into +the neighbourhood of Saint-Geran. + +One evening, as the marquis was about to go to bed, this man, returning +from one of his expeditions, entered his room, where he remained for a +long time, telling him that he had at length found what he wanted, and +giving him a small piece of paper which contained several names of +places and persons. + +Next morning, at daybreak, the marquis caused two of his horses to be +saddled, pretended that he was summoned home on pressing business, +foresaw that he should be absent for three or four days, made his +excuses to the count, and set off at full gallop, followed by his +servant. + +They slept that night at an inn on the road to Auvergne, to put off the +scent any persons who might recognise them; then, following +cross-country roads, they arrived after two days at a large hamlet, +which they had seemed to have passed far to their left. + +In this hamlet was a woman who practised the avocation of midwife, and +was known as such in the neighbourhood, but who had, it was said, +mysterious and infamous secrets for those who paid her well. Further, +she drew a good income from the influence which her art gave her over +credulous people. It was all in her line to cure the king's evil, +compound philtres and love potions; she was useful in a variety of ways +to girls who could afford to pay her; she was a lovers' go-between, and +even practised sorcery for country folk. She played her cards so well, +that the only persons privy to her misdeeds were unfortunate creatures +who had as strong an interest as herself in keeping them profoundly +secret; and as her terms were very high, she lived comfortably enough in +a house her own property, and entirely alone, for greater security. In a +general way, she was considered skilful in her ostensible profession, +and was held in estimation by many persons of rank. This woman's name +was Louise Goillard. + +Alone one evening after curfew, she heard a loud knocking at the door of +her house. Accustomed to receive visits at all hours, she took her lamp +without hesitation, and opened the door. An armed man, apparently much +agitated, entered the room. Louise Goillard, in a great fright, fell +into a chair; this man was the Marquis de Saint-Maixent. + +"Calm yourself, good woman," said the stranger, panting and stammering; +"be calm, I beg; for it is I, not you, who have any cause for emotion. I +am not a brigand, and far from your having anything to fear, it is I, on +the contrary, who am come to beg for your assistance." + +He threw his cloak into a corner, unbuckled his waistbelt, and laid +aside his sword. Then falling into a chair, he said-- + +"First of all, let me rest a little." + +The marquis wore a travelling-dress; but although he had not stated his +name, Louise Goillard saw at a glance that he was a very different +person from what she had thought, and that, on the contrary, he was some +fine gentleman who had come on his love affairs. + +"I beg you to excuse," said she, "a fear which is insulting to you. You +came in so hurriedly that I had not time to see whom I was talking to. +My house is rather lonely; I am alone; ill-disposed people might easily +take advantage of these circumstances to plunder a poor woman who has +little enough to lose. The times are so bad! You seem tired. Will you +inhale some essence?" + +"Give me only a glass of water." + +Louise Goillard went into the adjoining room, and returned with an ewer. +The marquis affected to rinse his lips, and said-- + +"I come from a great distance on a most important matter. Be assured +that I shall be properly grateful for your services." + +He felt in his pocket, and pulled out a purse, which he rolled between +his fingers. + +"In the first place; you must swear to the greatest secrecy." + +"There is no need of that with us," said Louise Goillard; "that is the +first condition of our craft." + +"I must have more express guarantees, and your oath that you will reveal +to no one in the world what I am going to confide to you." + +"I give you my word, then, since you demand it; but I repeat that this +is superfluous; you do not know me." + +"Consider that this is a most serious matter, that I am as it were +placing my head in your hands, and that I would lose my life a thousand +times rather than see this mystery unravelled." + +"Consider also," bluntly replied the midwife, "that we ourselves are +primarily interested in all the secrets entrusted to us; that an +indiscretion would destroy all confidence in us, and that there are even +cases----You may speak." + +When the marquis had reassured her as to himself by this preface, he +continued: "I know that you are a very able woman." + +"I could indeed wish to be one, to serve you.". + +"That you have pushed the study of your art to its utmost limits." + +"I fear they have been flattering your humble servant." + +"And that your studies have enabled you to predict the future." + +"That is all nonsense." + +"It is true; I have been told so." + +"You have been imposed upon." + +"What is the use of denying it and refusing to do me a service?" + +Louise Goillard defended herself long: she could not understand a man of +this quality believing in fortune-telling, which she practised only with +low-class people and rich farmers; but the marquis appeared so earnest +that she knew not what to think. + +"Listen," said he, "it is no use dissembling with me, I know all. Be +easy; we are playing a game in which you are laying one against a +thousand; moreover, here is something on account to compensate you for +the trouble I am giving." + +He laid a pile of gold on the table. The matron weakly owned that she +had sometimes attempted astrological combinations which were not always +fortunate, and that she had been only induced to do so by the +fascination of the phenomena of science. The secret of her guilty +practices was drawn from her at the very outset of her defence. + +"That being so," replied the marquis, "you must be already aware of the +situation in which I find myself; you must know that, hurried away by a +blind and ardent passion, I have betrayed the confidence of an old lady +and violated the laws of hospitality by seducing her daughter in her own +house; that matters have come to a crisis, and that this noble damsel, +whom I Love to distraction, being pregnant, is on the point of losing +her life and honour by the discovery of her fault, which is mine." + +The matron replied that nothing could be ascertained about a person +except from private questions; and to further impose upon the marquis, +she fetched a kind of box marked with figures and strange emblems. +Opening this, and putting together certain figures which it contained, +she declared that what the marquis had told her was true, and that his +situation was a most melancholy one. She added, in order to frighten +him, that he was threatened by still more serious misfortunes than those +which had already overtaken him, but that it was easy to anticipate and +obviate these mischances by new consultations. + +"Madame," replied the marquis, "I fear only one thing in the world, the +dishonour of the woman I love. Is there no method of remedying the usual +embarrassment of a birth?" + +"I know of none," said the matron. + +"The young lady has succeeded in concealing her condition; it would be +easy for her confinement to take place privately." + +"She has already risked her life; and I cannot consent to be mixed up in +this affair, for fear of the consequences." + +"Could not, for instance," said the marquis, "a confinement be effected +without pain?" + +"I don't know about that, but this I do" know, that I shall take very +good care not to practise any method contrary to the laws of nature." + +"You are deceiving me: you are acquainted with this method, you have +already practised it upon a certain person whom I could name to you." + +"Who has dared to calumniate me thus? I operate only after the decision +of the Faculty. God forbid that I should be stoned by all the +physicians, and perhaps expelled from France!" + +"Will you then let me die of despair? If I were capable of making a bad +use of your secrets, I could have done so long ago, for I know them. In +Heaven's name, do not dissimulate any longer, and tell me how it is +possible to stifle the pangs of labour. Do you want more gold? Here it +is." And he threw more Louis on the table. + +"Stay," said the matron: "there is perhaps a method which I think I have +discovered, and which I have never employed, but I believe it +efficacious." + +"But if you have never employed it, it may be dangerous, and risk the +life of the lady whom I love." + +"When I say never, I mean that I have tried it once, and most +successfully. Be at your ease." + +"Ah!" cried the marquis, "you have earned my everlasting gratitude! +But," continued he, "if we could anticipate the confinement itself, and +remove from henceforth the symptoms of pregnancy?" + +"Oh, sir, that is a great crime you speak of!" + +"Alas!" continued the marquis, as if speaking to himself in a fit of +intense grief; "I had rather lose a dear child, the pledge of our love, +than bring into the world an unhappy creature which might possibly cause +its mother's death." + +"I pray you, sir, let no more be said on the subject; it is a horrible +crime even to think of such a thing." + +"But what is to be done? Is it better to destroy two persons and perhaps +kill a whole family with despair? Oh, madame, I entreat you, extricate +us from this extremity!" + +The marquis buried his face in his hands, and sobbed as though he were +weeping copiously. + +"Your despair grievously affects me," said the matron; "but consider +that for a woman of my calling it is a capital offence." + +"What are you talking about? Do not our mystery, our safety, and our +credit come in first? + +"They can never get at you till after the death and dishonour of all +that is dear to me in the world." + +"I might then, perhaps. But in this case you must insure me against +legal complications, fines, and procure me a safe exit from the +kingdom." + +"Ah! that is my affair. Take my whole fortune! Take my life!" + +And he threw the whole purse on the table. + +"In this case, and solely to extricate you from the extreme danger in +which I see you placed, I consent to give you a decoction, and certain +instructions, which will instantly relieve the lady from her burden. She +must use the greatest precaution, and study to carry out exactly what I +am about to tell you. My God! only such desperate occasions as this one +could induce me to---- Here----" + +She took a flask from the bottom of a cupboard, and continued-- + +"Here is a liquor which never fails." + +"Oh, madame, you save my honour, which is dearer to me than life! But +this is not enough: tell me what use I am to make of this liquor, and in +what doses I am to administer it." + +"The patient," replied the midwife, "must take one spoonful the first +day; the second day two; the third----" + +"You will obey me to the minutest particular?" + +"I swear it." + +"Let us start, then." + +She asked but for time to pack a little linen, put things in order, then +fastened her doors, and left the house with the marquis. A quarter of an +hour later they were galloping through the night, without her knowing +where the marquis was taking her. + +The marquis reappeared three days later at the chateau, finding the +count's family as he had left them--that is to say, intoxicated with +hope, and counting the weeks, days, and hours before the accouchement of +the countess. He excused his hurried departure on the ground of the +importance of the business which had summoned him away; and speaking of +his journey at table, he related a story current in the country whence +he came, of a surprising event which he had all but witnessed. It was +the case of a lady of quality who suddenly found herself in the most +dangerous pangs of labour. All the skill of the physicians who had been +summoned proved futile; the lady was at the point of death; at last, in +sheer despair, they summoned a midwife of great repute among the +peasantry, but whose practice did not include the gentry. From the first +treatment of this woman, who appeared modest and diffident to a degree, +the pains ceased as if by enchantment; the patient fell into an +indefinable calm languor, and after some hours was delivered of a +beautiful infant; but after this was attacked by a violent fever which +brought her to death's door. They then again had recourse to the +doctors, notwithstanding the opposition of the master of the house, who +had confidence in the matron. The doctors' treatment only made matters +worse. In this extremity they again called in the midwife, and at the +end of three weeks the lady was miraculously restored to life, thus, +added the marquis, establishing the reputation of the matron, who had +sprung into such vogue in the town where she lived and the neighbouring +country that nothing else was talked about. + +This story made a great impression on the company, on account of the +condition of the countess; the dowager added that it was very wrong to +ridicule these humble country experts, who often through observation and +experience discovered secrets which proud doctors were unable to unravel +with all their studies. Hereupon the count cried out that this midwife +must be sent for, as she was just the kind of woman they wanted. After +this other matters were talked about, the marquis changing the +conversation; he had gained his point in quietly introducing the thin +end of the wedge of his design. + +After dinner, the company walked on the terrace. The countess dowager +not being able to walk much on account of her advanced age, the countess +and Madame de Bouille took chairs beside her. The count walked up and +down with M. de Saint-Maixent. The marquis naturally asked how things +had been going on during his absence, and if Madame de Saint-Geran had +suffered any inconvenience, for her pregnancy had become the most +important affair in the household, and hardly anything else was talked +about. + +"By the way," said the count, "you were speaking just now of a very +skilful midwife; would it not be a good step to summon her?" + +"I think," replied the marquis, "that it would be an excellent +selection, for I do not suppose there is one in this neighbourhood to +compare to her." + +"I have a great mind to send for her at once, and to keep her about the +countess, whose constitution she will be all the better acquainted with +if she studies it beforehand. Do you know where I can send for her?" + +"Faith," said the marquis, "she lives in a village, but I don't know +which." + +"But at least you know her name?" + +"I can hardly remember it. Louise Boyard, I think, or Polliard, one or +the other." + +"How! have you not even retained the name?" + +"I heard the story, that's all. Who the deuce can keep a name in his +head which he hears in such a chance fashion?" + +"But did the condition of the countess never occur to you?" + +"It was so far away that I did not suppose you would send such a +distance. I thought you were already provided." + +"How can we set about to find her?" + +"If that is all, I have a servant who knows people in that part of the +country, and who knows how to go about things: if you like, he shall go +in quest of her." + +"If I like? This very moment." + +The same evening the servant started on his errand with the count's +instructions, not forgetting those of his master. He went at full speed. +It may readily be supposed that he had not far to seek the woman he was +to bring back with him; but he purposely kept away for three days, and +at the end of this time Louise Goillard was installed in the chateau. + +She was a woman of plain and severe exterior, who at once inspired +confidence in everyone. The plots of the marquis and Madame de Bouille +thus throve with most baneful success; but an accident happened which +threatened to nullify them, and, by causing a great disaster, to prevent +a crime. + +The countess, passing into her apartments, caught her foot in a carpet, +and fell heavily on the floor. At the cries of a footman all the +household was astir. The countess was carried to bed; the most intense +alarm prevailed; but no bad consequences followed this accident, which +produced only a further succession of visits from the neighbouring +gentry. This happened about the end of the seventh month. + +At length the moment of accouchement came. Everything had long before +been arranged for the delivery, and nothing remained to be done. The +marquis had employed all this time in strengthening Madame de Bouille +against her scruples. He often saw Louise Goillard in private, and gave +her his instructions; but he perceived that the corruption of Baulieu, +the house steward, was an essential factor. Baulieu was already half +gained over by the interviews of the year preceding; a large sum of +ready money and many promises did the rest. This wretch was not ashamed +to join a plot against a master to whom he owed everything. The +marchioness for her part, and always under the instigation of M. de +Saint-Maixent, secured matters all round by bringing into the abominable +plot the Quinet girls, her maids; so that there was nothing but treason +and conspiracy against this worthy family among their upper servants, +usually styled confidential. Thus, having prepared matters, the +conspirators awaited the event. + +On the 16th of August the Countess de Saint-Geran was overtaken by the +pangs of labour in the chapel of the chateau, where she was hearing +mass. They carried her to her room before mass was over, her women ran +around her, and the countess dowager with her own hands arranged on her +head a cap of the pattern worn by ladies about to be confined--a cap +which is not usually removed till some time later. + +The pains recurred with terrible intensity. The count wept at his wife's +cries. Many persons were present. The dowager's two daughters by her +second marriage, one of whom, then sixteen years of age, afterwards +married the Duke de Ventadour and was a party to the lawsuit, wished to +be present at this accouchement, which was to perpetuate by a new scion +an illustrious race near extinction. There were also Dame Saligny, +sister of the late Marshal Saint-Geran, the Marquis de Saint-Maixent, +and the Marchioness de Bouille. + +Everything seemed to favour the projects of these last two persons, who +took an interest in the event of a very different character from that +generally felt. As the pains produced no result, and the accouchement +was of the most difficult nature, while the countess was near the last +extremity, expresses were sent to all the neighbouring parishes to offer +prayers for the mother and the child; the Holy Sacrament was elevated in +the churches at Moulins. + +The midwife attended to everything herself. She maintained that the +countess would be more comfortable if her slightest desires were +instantly complied with. The countess herself never spoke a word, only +interrupting the gloomy silence by heart-rending cries. All at once, +Madame de Boulle, who affected to be bustling about, pointed out that +the presence of so many persons was what hindered the countess's +accouchement, and, assuming an air of authority justified by fictitious +tenderness, said that everyone must retire, leaving the patient in the +hands of the persons who were absolutely necessary to her, and that, to +remove any possible objections, the countess dowager her mother must set +the example. The opportunity was made use of to remove the count from +this harrowing spectacle, and everyone followed the countess dowager. +Even the countess's own maids were not allowed to remain, being sent on +errands which kept them out of the way. This further reason was given, +that the eldest being scarcely fifteen, they were too young to be +present on such an occasion. The only persons remaining by the bedside +were the Marchioness de Bouille, the midwife, and the two Quinet girls; +the countess was thus in the hands of her most cruel enemies. + +It was seven o'clock in the evening; the labours continued; the elder +Quinet girl held the patient by the hand to soothe her. The count and +the dowager sent incessantly to know the news. They were told that +everything was going on well, and that shortly their wishes would be +accomplished; but none of the servants were allowed to enter the room. + +Three hours later, the midwife declared that the countess could not hold +out any longer unless she got some rest. She made her swallow a liquor +which was introduced into her mouth by spoonfuls. The countess fell into +so deep a sleep that she seemed to be dead. The younger Quinet girl +thought for a moment that they had killed her, and wept in a corner of +the room, till Madame de Bouille reassured her. + +During this frightful night a shadowy figure prowled in the corridors, +silently patrolled the rooms, and came now and then to the door of the +bedroom, where he conferred in a low tone with the midwife and the +Marchioness de Bouille. This was the Marquis de Saint-Maixent, who gave +his orders, encouraged his people, watched over every point of his plot, +himself a prey to the agonies of nervousness which accompany the +preparations for a great crime. + +The dowager countess, owing to her great age, had been compelled to take +some rest. The count sat up, worn out with fatigue, in a downstairs room +hard by that in which they were compassing the ruin of all most dear to +him in the world. + +The countess, in her profound lethargy, gave birth, without being aware +of it, to a boy, who thus fell on his entry into the world into the +hands of his enemies, his mother powerless to defend him by her cries +and tears. The door was half opened, and a man who was waiting outside +brought in; this was the major-domo Baulieu. + +The midwife, pretending to afford the first necessary cares to the +child, had taken it into a corner. Baulieu watched her movements, and +springing upon her, pinioned her arms. The wretched woman dug her nails +into the child's head. He snatched it from her, but the poor infant for +long bore the marks of her claws. + +Possibly the Marchioness de Bouille could not nerve herself to the +commission of so great a crime; but it seems more probable that the +steward prevented the destruction of the child under the orders of M. de +Saint-Maixent. The theory is that the marquis, mistrustful of the +promise made him by Madame de Bouille to marry him after the death of +her husband, desired to keep the child to oblige her to keep her word, +under threats of getting him acknowledged, if she proved faithless to +him. No other adequate reason can be conjectured to determine a man of +his character to take such great care of his victim. + +Baulieu swaddled the child immediately, put it in a basket, hid it under +his cloak, and went with his prey to find the marquis; they conferred +together for some time, after which the house steward passed by a +postern gate into the moat, thence to a terrace by which he reached a +bridge leading into the park. This park had twelve gates, and he had the +keys of all. He mounted a blood horse which he had left waiting behind a +wall, and started off at full gallop. The same day he passed through the +village of Escherolles, a league distant from Saint-Geran, where he +stopped at the house of a nurse, wife of a glove-maker named Claude. +This peasant woman gave her breast to the child; but the steward, not +daring to stay in a village so near Saint-Geran, crossed the river +Allier at the port de la Chaise, and calling at the house of a man named +Boucaud, the good wife suckled the child for the second time; he then +continued his journey in the direction of Auvergne. + +The heat was excessive, his horse was done up, the child seemed uneasy. +A carrier's cart passed him going to Riom; it was owned by a certain +Paul Boithion of the town of Aigueperce, a common carrier on the road. +Baulieu went alongside to put the child in the cart, which he entered +himself, carrying the infant on his knees. The horse followed, fastened +by the bridle to the back of the cart. + +In the conversation which he held with this man, Baulieu said that he +should not take so much care of the child did it not belong to the most +noble house in the Bourbonnais. They reached the village of Che at +midday. The mistress of the house where he put up, who was nursing an +infant, consented to give some of her milk to the child. The poor +creature was covered with blood; she warmed some water, stripped off its +swaddling linen, washed it from head to foot, and swathed it up again +more neatly. + +The carrier then took them to Riom. When they got there, Baulieu got rid +of him by giving a false meeting-place for their departure; left in the +direction of the abbey of Lavoine, and reached the village of +Descoutoux, in the mountains, between Lavoine and Thiers. The +Marchioness de Bouille had a chateau there where she occasionally spent +some time. + +The child was nursed at Descoutoux by Gabrielle Moini, who was paid a +month in advance; but she only kept it a week or so, because they +refused to tell her the father and mother and to refer her to a place +where she might send reports of her charge. This woman having made these +reasons public, no nurse could be found to take charge of the child, +which was removed from the village of Descoutoux. The persons who +removed it took the highroad to Burgundy, crossing a densely wooded +country, and here they lost their way. + +The above particulars were subsequently proved by the nurses, the +carrier, and others who made legal depositions. They are stated at +length here, as they proved very important in the great lawsuit. The +compilers of the case, into which we search for information, have +however omitted to tell us how the absence of the major-domo was +accounted for at the castle; probably the far-sighted marquis had got an +excuse ready. + +The countess's state of drowsiness continued till daybreak. She woke +bathed in blood, completely exhausted, but yet with a sensation of +comfort which convinced her that she had been delivered from her burden. +Her first words were about her child; she wished to see it, kiss it; she +asked where it was. The midwife coolly told her, whilst the girls who +were by were filled with amazement at her audacity, that she had not +been confined at all. The countess maintained the contrary, and as she +grew very excited, the midwife strove to calm her, assuring her that in +any case her delivery could not be long protracted, and that, judging +from all the indications of the night, she would give birth to a boy. +This promise comforted the count and the countess dowager, but failed to +satisfy the countess, who insisted that a child had been born. + +The same day a scullery-maid met a woman going to the water's edge in +the castle moat, with a parcel in her arms. She recognised the midwife, +and asked what she was carrying and where she was going so early. The +latter replied that she was very inquisitive, and that it was nothing at +all; but the girl, laughingly pretending to be angry at this answer, +pulled open one of the ends of the parcel before the midwife had time to +stop her, and exposed to view some linen soaked in blood. + +"Madame has been confined, then?" she said to the matron. + +"No," replied she briskly, "she has not." + +The girl was unconvinced, and said, "How do you mean that she has not, +when madame the marchioness, who was there, says she has?" The matron in +great confusion replied, "She must have a very long tongue, if she said +so." + +The girl's evidence was later found most important. + +The countess's uneasiness made her worse the next day. She implored with +sighs and tears at least to be told what had become of her child, +steadily maintaining that she was not mistaken when she assured them +that she had given birth to one. The midwife with great effrontery told +her that the new moon was unfavourable to childbirth, and that she must +wait for the wane, when it would be easier as matters were already +prepared. + +Invalids' fancies do not obtain much credence; still, the persistence of +the countess would have convinced everyone in the long run, had not the +dowager said that she remembered at the end of the ninth month of one of +her own pregnancies she had all the premonitory symptoms of lying in, +but they proved false, and in fact the accouchement took place three +months later. + +This piece of news inspired great confidence. The marquis and Madame de +Bouille did all in their power to confirm it, but the countess +obstinately refused to listen to it, and her passionate transports of +grief gave rise to the greatest anxiety. The midwife, who knew not how +to gain time, and was losing all hope in face of the countess's +persistence, was almost frightened out of her wits; she entered into +medical details, and finally said that some violent exercise must be +taken to induce labour. The countess, still unconvinced, refused to obey +this order; but the count, the dowager, and all the family entreated her +so earnestly that she gave way. + +They put her in a close carriage, and drove her a whole day over +ploughed fields, by the roughest and hardest roads. She was so shaken +that she lost the power of breathing; it required all the strength of +her constitution to support this barbarous treatment in the delicate +condition of a lady so recently confined. They put her to bed again +after this cruel drive, and seeing that nobody took her view, she threw +herself into the arms of Providence, and consoled herself by religion; +the midwife administered violent remedies to deprive her of milk; she +got over all these attempts to murder her, and slowly got better. + +Time, which heals the deepest affliction, gradually soothed that of the +countess; her grief nevertheless burst out periodically on the slightest +cause; but eventually it died out, till the following events rekindled +it. + +There had been in Paris a fencing-master who used to boast that he had a +brother in the service of a great house. This fencing-master had married +a certain Marie Pigoreau, daughter of an actor. He had recently died in +poor circumstances, leaving her a widow with two children. This woman +Pigoreau did not enjoy the best of characters, and no one knew how she +made a living, when all at once, after some short absences from home and +visit from a man who came in the evening, his face muffled in his cloak, +she launched out into a more expensive style of living; the neighbours +saw in her house costly clothes, fine swaddling-clothes, and at last it +became known that she was nursing a strange child. + +About the same time it also transpired that she had a deposit of two +thousand livres in the hands of a grocer in the quarter, named Raguenet; +some days later, as the child's baptism had doubtless been put off for +fear of betraying his origin, Pigoreau had him christened at St. Jean en +Greve. She did not invite any of the neighbours to the function, and +gave parents' names of her own choosing at the church. For godfather she +selected the parish sexton, named Paul Marmiou, who gave the child the +name of Bernard. La Pigoreau remained in a confessional during the +ceremony, and gave the man ten sou. The godmother was Jeanne Chevalier, +a poor woman of the parish. + +The entry in the register was as follows: + + "On the seventh day of March one thousand six hundred and + forty-two was baptized Bernard, son of . . . and . . . his + godfather being Paul Marmiou, day labourer and servant of this + parish, and his godmother Jeanne Chevalier, widow of Pierre + Thibou." + +A few days afterwards la Pigoreau put out the child to nurse in the +village of Torcy en Brie, with a woman who had been her godmother, whose +husband was called Paillard. She gave out that it was a child of quality +which had been entrusted to her, and that she should not hesitate, if +such a thing were necessary, to save its life by the loss of one of her +own children. The nurse did not keep it long, because she fell ill; la +Pigoreau went to fetch the child away, lamenting this accident, and +further saying that she regretted it all the more, as the nurse would +have earned enough to make her comfortable for the rest of her life. She +put the infant out again in the same village, with the widow of a +peasant named Marc Peguin. The monthly wage was regularly paid, and the +child brought up as one of rank. La Pigoreau further told the woman that +it was the son of a great nobleman, and would later make the fortunes of +those who served him. An elderly man, whom the people supposed to be the +child's father, but who Pigoreau assured them was her brother-in-law, +often came to see him. + +When the child was eighteen months old, la Pigoreau took him away and +weaned him. Of the two by her husband the elder was called Antoine, the +second would have been called Henri if he had lived; but he was born on +the 9th of August 1639, after the death of his father, who was killed in +June of the same year, and died shortly after his birth. La Pigoreau +thought fit to give the name and condition of this second son to the +stranger, and thus bury for ever the secret of his birth. With this end +in view, she left the quarter where she lived, and removed to conceal +herself in another parish where she was not known. The child was brought +up under the name and style of Henri, second son of la Pigoreau, till he +was two and a half years of age; but at this time, whether she was not +engaged to keep it any longer, or whether she had spent the two thousand +livres deposited with the grocer Raguenet, and could get no more from +the principals, she determined to get rid of it. + +Her gossips used to tell this woman that she cared but little for her +eldest son, because she was very confident of the second one making his +fortune, and that if she were obliged to give up one of them, she had +better keep the younger, who was a beautiful boy. To this she would +reply that the matter did not depend upon her; that the boy's godfather +was an uncle in good circumstances, who would not charge himself with +any other child. She often mentioned this uncle, her brother-in-law, she +said, who was major-domo in a great house. + +One morning, the hall porter at the hotel de Saint-Geran came to Baulieu +and told him that a woman carrying a child was asking for him at the +wicket gate; this Baulieu was, in fact, the brother of the fencing +master, and godfather to Pigoreau's second son. It is now supposed that +he was the unknown person who had placed the child of quality with her, +and who used to go and see him at his nurse's. La Pigoreau gave him a +long account of her situation. The major-domo took the child with some +emotion, and told la Pigoreau to wait his answer a short distance off, +in a place which he pointed out. + +Baulieu's wife made a great outcry at the first proposal of an increase +of family; but he succeeded in pacifying her by pointing out the +necessities of his sister-in-law, and how easy and inexpensive it was to +do this good work in such a house as the count's. He went to his master +and mistress to ask permission to bring up this child in their hotel; a +kind of feeling entered into the charge he was undertaking which in some +measure lessened the weight on his conscience. + +The count and countess at first opposed this project; telling him that +having already five children he ought not to burden himself with any +more, but he petitioned so earnestly that he obtained what he wanted. +The countess wished to see it, and as she was about to start for Moulins +she ordered it to be put in her women's coach; when it was shown her, +she cried out, "What a lovely child!" The boy was fair, with large blue +eyes and very regular features, She gave him a hundred caresses, which +the child returned very prettily. She at once took a great fancy to him, +and said to Baulieu, "I shall not put him in my women's coach; I shall +put him in my own." + +After they arrived at the chateau of Saint-Geran, her affection for +Henri, the name retained by the child, increased day by day. She often +contemplated him with sadness, then embraced him with tenderness, and +kept him long on her bosom. The count shared this affection for the +supposed nephew of Baulieu, who was adopted, so to speak, and brought up +like a child of quality. + +The Marquis de Saint-Maixent and Madame de Bouille had not married, +although the old Marquis de Bouille had long been dead. It appeared that +they had given up this scheme. The marchioness no doubt felt scruples +about it, and the marquis was deterred from marriage by his profligate +habits. It is moreover supposed that other engagements and heavy bribes +compensated the loss he derived from the marchioness's breach of faith. + +He was a man about town at that period, and was making love to the +demoiselle Jacqueline de la Garde; he had succeeded in gaining her +affections, and brought matters to such a point that she no longer +refused her favours except on the grounds of her pregnancy and the +danger of an indiscretion. The marquis then offered to introduce to her +a matron who could deliver women without the pangs of labour, and who +had a very successful practice. The same Jacqueline de la Garde further +gave evidence at the trial that M. de Saint-Maixent had often boasted, +as of a scientific intrigue, of having spirited away the son of a +governor of a province and grandson of a marshal of France; that he +spoke of the Marchioness de Bouille, said that he had made her rich, and +that it was to him she owed her great wealth; and further, that one day +having taken her to a pretty country seat which belonged to him, she +praised its beauty, saying "c'etait un beau lieu"; he replied by a pun +on a man's name, saying that he knew another Baulieu who had enabled him +to make a fortune of five hundred thousand crowns. He also said to +Jadelon, sieur de la Barbesange, when posting with him from Paris, that +the Countess de Saint-Geran had been delivered of a son who was in his +power. + +The marquis had not seen Madame de Bouille for a long time; a common +danger reunited them. They had both learned with terror the presence of +Henri at the hotel de Saint-Geran. They consulted about this; the +marquis undertook to cut the danger short. However, he dared put in +practice nothing overtly against the child, a matter still more +difficult just then, inasmuch as some particulars of his discreditable +adventures had leaked out, and the Saint-Geran family received him more +than coldly. + +Baulieu, who witnessed every day the tenderness of the count and +countess for the boy Henri, had been a hundred times on the point of +giving himself up and confessing everything. He was torn to pieces with +remorse. Remarks escaped him which he thought he might make without +ulterior consequences; seeing the lapse of time, but they were noted and +commented on. Sometimes he would say that he held in his hand the life +and honour of Madame the Marchioness de Bouille; sometimes that the +count and countess had more reasons than they knew of for loving Henri. +One day he put a case of conscience to a confessor, thus: "Whether a man +who had been concerned in the abduction of a child could not satisfy his +conscience by restoring him to his father and mother without telling +them who he was?" What answer the confessor made is not known, but +apparently it was not what the major-domo wanted. He replied to a +magistrate of Moulins, who congratulated him on having a nephew whom his +masters overburdened with kind treatment, that they ought to love him, +since he was nearly related to them. + +These remarks were noticed by others than those principally concerned. +One day a wine merchant came to propose to Baulieu the purchase of a +pipe of Spanish wine, of which he gave him a sample bottle; in the +evening he was taken violently ill. They carried him to bed, where he +writhed, uttering horrible cries. One sole thought possessed him when +his sufferings left him a lucid interval, and in his agony he repeated +over and over again that he wished to implore pardon from the count and +countess for a great injury which he had done them. The people round +about him told him that was a trifle, and that he ought not to let it +embitter his last moments, but he begged so piteously that he got them +to promise that they should be sent for. + +The count thought it was some trifling irregularity, some +misappropriation in the house accounts; and fearing to hasten the death +of the sufferer by the shame of the confession of a fault, he sent word +that he heartily forgave him, that he might die tranquil, and refused to +see him. Baulieu expired, taking his secret with him. This happened in +1648. + +The child was then seven years old. His charming manners grew with his +age, and the count and countess felt their love for him increase. They +caused him to be taught dancing and fencing, put him into breeches and +hose, and a page's suit of their livery, in which capacity he served +them. The marquis turned his attack to this quarter. He was doubtless +preparing some plot as criminal as the preceding, when justice overtook +him for some other great crimes of which he had been guilty. He was +arrested one day in the street when conversing with one of the +Saint-Geran footmen, and taken to the Conciergerie of the Palace of +Justice. + +Whether owing to these occurrences, or to grounds for suspicion before +mentioned, certain reports spread in the Bourbonnais embodying some of +the real facts; portions of them reached the ears of the count and +countess, but they had only the effect of renewing their grief without +furnishing a clue to the truth. + +Meanwhile, the count went to take the waters at Vichy. The countess and +Madame de Bouille followed him, and there they chanced to encounter +Louise Goillard, the midwife. This woman renewed her acquaintance with +the house, and in particular often visited the Marchioness de Bouille. +One day the countess, unexpectedly entering the marchioness's room, +found them both conversing in an undertone. They stopped talking +immediately, and appeared disconcerted. + +The countess noticed this without attaching any importance to it, and +asked the subject of their conversation. + +"Oh, nothing," said the marchioness. + +"But what is it?" insisted the countess, seeing that she blushed. + +The marchioness, no longer able to evade the question, and feeling her +difficulties increase, replied-- + +"Dame Louise is praising my brother for bearing no ill-will to her." + +"Why?" said the countess, turning to the midwife,--"why should you fear +any ill-will on the part of my husband?" + +"I was afraid," said Louise Goillard awkwardly, "that he might have +taken a dislike to me on account of all that happened when you expected +to be confined." + +The obscurity of these words and embarrassment of the two women produced +a lively effect upon the countess; but she controlled herself and let +the subject drop. Her agitation, however, did not escape the notice of +the marchioness, who the next day had horses put to her coach and +retired to hey estate of Lavoine. This clumsy proceeding strengthened +suspicion. + +The first determination of the countess was to arrest Louise Goillard; +but she saw that in so serious a matter every step must be taken with +precaution. She consulted the count and the countess dowager. They +quietly summoned the midwife, to question her without any preliminaries. +She prevaricated and contradicted herself over and over again; moreover, +her state of terror alone sufficed to convict her of a crime. They +handed her over to the law, and the Count de Saint-Geran filed an +information before the vice-seneschal of Moulins. + +The midwife underwent a first interrogatory. She confessed the truth of +the accouchement, but she added that the countess had given birth to a +still-born daughter, which she had buried under a stone near the step of +the barn in the back yard. The judge, accompanied by a physician and a +surgeon, repaired to the place, where he found neither stone, nor +foetus, nor any indications of an interment. They searched +unsuccessfully in other places. + +When the dowager countess heard this statement, she demanded that this +horrible woman should be put on her trial. The civil lieutenant, in the +absence of the criminal lieutenant, commenced the proceedings. + +In a second interrogation, Louise Goillard positively declared that the +countess had never been confined; + +In a third, that she had been delivered of a mole; + +In a fourth, that she had been confined of a male infant, which Baulieu +had carried away in a basket; + +And in a fifth, in which she answered from the dock, she maintained that +her evidence of the countess's accouchement had been extorted from her +by violence. She made no charges against either Madame de Bouille or the +Marquis de Saint Maixent. On the other hand, no sooner was she under +lock and key than she despatched her son Guillemin to the marchioness to +inform her that she was arrested. The marchioness recognised how +threatening things were, and was in a state of consternation; she +immediately sent the sieur de la Foresterie, her steward, to the +lieutenant-general, her counsel, a mortal enemy of the count, that he +might advise her in this conjuncture, and suggest a means for helping +the matron without appearing openly in the matter. The lieutenant's +advice was to quash the proceedings and obtain an injunction against the +continuance of the preliminaries to the action. The marchioness spent a +large sum of money, and obtained this injunction; but it was immediately +reversed, and the bar to the suit removed. + +La Foresterie was then ordered to pass to Riom, where the sisters Quinet +lived, and to bribe them heavily to secrecy. The elder one, on leaving +the marchioness's service, had shaken her fist in her face, feeling +secure with the secrets in her knowledge, and told her that she would +repent having dismissed her and her sister, and that she would make a +clean breast of the whole affair, even were she to be hung first. These +girls then sent word that they wished to enter her service again; that +the countess had promised them handsome terms if they would speak; and +that they had even been questioned in her name by a Capuchin superior, +but that they said nothing, in order to give time to prepare an answer +for them. The marchioness found herself obliged to take back the girls; +she kept the younger, and married the elder to Delisle, her house +steward. But la Foresterie, finding himself in this network of intrigue, +grew disgusted at serving such a mistress, and left her house. The +marchioness told him on his departure that if he were so indiscreet as +to repeat a word of what he had learned from the Quinet girls, she would +punish him with a hundred poniard stabs from her major-domo Delisle. +Having thus fortified her position, she thought herself secure against +any hostile steps; but it happened that a certain prudent Berger, +gentleman and page to the Marquis de Saint-Maixent, who enjoyed his +master's confidence and went to see him in the Conciergerie, where he +was imprisoned, threw some strange light on this affair. His master had +narrated to him all the particulars of the accouchement of the countess +and of the abduction of the child. + +"I am astonished, my lord," replied the page, "that having so many +dangerous affairs on hand; you did not relieve your conscience of this +one." + +"I intend," replied the marquis, "to restore this child to his father: I +have been ordered to do so by a Capuchin to whom I confessed having +carried off from the midst of the family, without their knowing it, a +grandson of a marshal of France and son of a governor of a province." + +The marquis had at that time permission to go out from prison +occasionally on his parole. This will not surprise anyone acquainted +with the ideas which prevailed at that period on the honour of a +nobleman, even the greatest criminal. The marquis, profiting by this +facility, took the page to see a child of about seven years of age, fair +and with a beautiful countenance. + +"Page," said he, "look well at this child, so that you may know him +again when I shall send you to inquire about him." + +He then informed him that this was the Count de Saint-Geran's son whom +he had carried away. + +Information of these matters coming to the ears of justice, decisive +proofs were hoped for; but this happened just when other criminal +informations were lodged against the marquis, which left him helpless to +prevent the exposure of his crimes. Police officers were despatched in +all haste to the Conciergerie; they were stopped by the gaolers, who +told them that the marquis, feeling ill, was engaged with a priest who +was administering the sacraments, to him. As they insisted on seeing +him; the warders approached the cell: the priest came out, crying that +persons must be sought to whom the sick man had a secret to reveal; that +he was in a desperate state, and said he had just poisoned himself; all +entered the cell. + + M. de Saint-Maixent was writhing on a pallet, in a pitiable condition, + sometimes shrieking like a wild beast, sometimes stammering + disconnected words. All that the officers could hear was-- + +"Monsieur le Comte . . . call . . . the Countess . . . de Saint-Geran . +. . let them come. . . ." The officers earnestly begged him to try to be +more explicit. + +The marquis had another fit; when he opened his eyes, he said-- + +"Send for the countess . . . let them forgive me . . . I wish to tell +them everything." The police officers asked him to speak; one even told +him that the count was there. The marquis feebly murmured-- + +"I am going to tell you----" Then he gave a loud cry and fell back dead. + +It thus seemed as if fate took pains to close every mouth from which the +truth might escape. Still, this avowal of a deathbed revelation to be +made to the Count de Saint-Geran and the deposition of the priest who +had administered the last sacraments formed a strong link in the chain +of evidence. + +The judge of first instruction, collecting all the information he had +got, made a report the weight of which was overwhelming. The carters, +the nurse, the domestic servants, all gave accounts consistent with each +other; the route and the various adventures of the child were plainly +detailed, from its birth till its arrival at the village of Descoutoux. + +Justice, thus tracing crime to its sources, had no option but to issue a +warrant for the arrest of the Marchioness de Bouilie; but it seems +probable that it was not served owing to the strenuous efforts of the +Count de Saint-Geran, who could not bring himself to ruin his sister, +seeing that her dishonour would have been reflected on him. The +marchioness hid her remorse in solitude, and appeared again no more. She +died shortly after, carrying the weight of her secret till she drew her +last breath. + +The judge of Moulins at length pronounced sentence on the midwife, whom +he declared arraigned and convicted of having suppressed the child born +to the countess; for which he condemned her to be tortured and then +hanged. The matron lodged an appeal against this sentence, and the case +was referred to the Conciergerie. + +No sooner had the count and countess seen the successive proofs of the +procedure, than tenderness and natural feelings accomplished the rest. +They no longer doubted that their page was their son; they stripped him +at once of his livery and gave him his rank and prerogatives, under the +title of the Count de la Palice. + +Meanwhile, a private person named Sequeville informed the countess that +he had made a very important discovery; that a child had been baptized +in 1642 at St. Jean-en-Greve, and that a woman named Marie Pigoreau had +taken a leading part in the affair. Thereupon inquiries were made, and +it was discovered that this child had been nursed in the village of +Torcy. The count obtained a warrant which enabled him to get evidence +before the judge of Torcy; nothing was left undone to elicit the whole +truth; he also obtained a warrant through which he obtained more +information, and published a monitory. The elder of the Quinet girls on +this told the Marquis de Canillac that the count was searching at a +distance for things very near him. The truth shone out with great lustre +through these new facts which gushed from all this fresh information. +The child, exhibited in the presence of a legal commissary to the nurses +and witnesses of Torcy, was identified, as much by the scars left by the +midwife's nails on his head, as by his fair hair and blue eyes. This +ineffaceable vestige of the woman's cruelty was the principal proof; the +witnesses testified that la Pigoreau, when she visited this child with a +man who appeared to be of condition, always asserted that he was the son +of a great nobleman who had been entrusted to her care, and that she +hoped he would make her fortune and that of those who had reared him. + +The child's godfather, Paul Marmiou, a common labourer; the grocer +Raguenet, who had charge of the two thousand livres; the servant of la +Pigoreau, who had heard her say that the count was obliged to take this +child; the witnesses who proved that la Pigoreau had told them that the +child was too well born to wear a page's livery, all furnished +convincing proofs; but others were forthcoming. + +It was at la Pigoreau's that the Marquis de Saint-Maixent, living then +at the hotel de Saint-Geran, went to see the child, kept in her house as +if it were hers; Prudent Berger, the marquis's page, perfectly well +remembered la Pigoreau, and also the child, whom he had seen at her +house and whose history the marquis had related to him. Finally, many +other witnesses heard in the course of the case, both before the three +chambers of nobles, clergy, and the tiers etat, and before the judges of +Torcy, Cusset, and other local magistrates, made the facts so clear and +conclusive in favour of the legitimacy of the young count, that it was +impossible to avoid impeaching the guilty parties. The count ordered the +summons in person of la Pigoreau, who had not been compromised in the +original preliminary proceedings. This drastic measure threw the +intriguing woman on her beam ends, but she strove hard to right herself. + +The widowed Duchess de Ventadour, daughter by her mother's second +marriage of the Countess dowager of Saint-Geran, and half-sister of the +count, and the Countess de Lude, daughter of the Marchioness de Bouille, +from whom the young count carried away the Saint-Geran inheritance, were +very warm in the matter, and spoke of disputing the judgment. La +Pigoreau went to see them, and joined in concert with them. + +Then commenced this famous lawsuit, which long occupied all France, and +is parallel in some respects, but not in the time occupied in the +hearing, to the case heard by Solomon, in which one child was claimed by +two mothers. + +The Marquis de Saint-Maixent and Madame de Bouille being dead, were +naturally no parties to the suit, which was fought against the +Saint-Geran family by la Pigoreau and Mesdames du Lude and de Ventadour. +These ladies no doubt acted in good faith, at first at any rate, in +refusing to believe the crime; for if they had originally known the +truth it is incredible that they could have fought the case so long aid +so obstinately. + +They first of all went to the aid of the midwife, who had fallen sick in +prison; they then consulted together, and resolved as follows: + +That the accused should appeal against criminal proceedings; + +That la Pigoreau should lodge a civil petition against the judgments +which ordered her arrest and the confronting of witnesses; + +That they should appeal against the abuse of obtaining and publishing +monitories, and lodge an interpleader against the sentence of the judge +of first instruction, who had condemned the matron to capital +punishment; + +And that finally, to carry the war into the enemy's camp, la Pigoreau +should impugn the maternity of the countess, claiming the child as her +own; and that the ladies should depose that the countess's accouchement +was an imposture invented to cause it to be supposed that she had given +birth to a child. + +For more safety and apparent absence of collusion Mesdames du Lude and +de Ventadour pretended to have no communication with la Pigoreau. + +About this time the midwife died in prison, from an illness which +vexation and remorse had aggravated. After her death, her son Guillemin +confessed that she had often told him that the countess had given birth +to a son whom Baulieu had carried off, and that the child entrusted to +Baulieu at the chateau Saint-Geran was the same as the one recovered; +the youth added that he had concealed this fact so long as it might +injure his mother, and he further stated that the ladies de Ventadour +and du Lude had helped her in prison with money and advice--another +strong piece of presumptive evidence. + +The petitions of the accused and the interpleadings of Mesdames du Lude +and de Ventadour were discussed in seven hearings, before three courts +convened. The suit proceeded with all the languor and chicanery of the +period. + +After long and specious arguments, the attorney general Bijnon gave his +decision in favour of the Count and Countess of Saint-Geran, concluding +thus:-- + +"The court rejects the civil appeal of la Pigoreau; and all the +opposition and appeals of the appellants and the defendants; condemns +them to fine and in costs; and seeing that the charges against la +Pigoreau were of a serious nature, and that a personal summons had been +decreed against her, orders her committal, recommending her to the +indulgence of the court." + +By a judgment given in a sitting at the Tournelle by M. de Mesmes, on +the 18th of August 1657, the appellant ladies' and the defendants' +opposition was rejected with fine and costs. La Pigoreau was forbidden +to leave the city and suburbs of Paris under penalty of summary +conviction. The judgment in the case followed the rejection of the +appeal. + +This reverse at first extinguished the litigation of Mesdames du Lude +and de Ventadour, but it soon revived more briskly than ever. These +ladies, who had taken la Pigoreau in their coach to all the hearings, +prompted her, in order to procrastinate, to file a fresh petition, in +which she demanded the confrontment of all the witnesses to the +pregnancy, and the confinement. On hearing this petition, the court gave +on the 28th of August 1658 a decree ordering the confrontment, but on +condition that for three days previously la Pigoreau should deliver +herself a prisoner in the Conciergerie. + +This judgment, the consequences of which greatly alarmed la Pigoreau, +produced such an effect upon her that, after having weighed the interest +she had in the suit, which she would lose by flight, against the danger +to her life if she ventured her person into the hands of justice, she +abandoned her false plea of maternity, and took refuge abroad. This last +circumstance was a heavy blow to Mesdames du Lude and de Ventadour; but +they were not at the end of their resources and their obstinacy. + +Contempt of court being decreed against la Pigoreau, and the case being +got up against the other defendants, the Count de Saint-Geran left for +the Bourbonnais, to put in execution the order to confront the +witnesses. Scarcely had he arrived in the province when he was obliged +to interrupt his work to receive the king and the queen mother, who were +returning from Lyons and passing through Moulins. He presented the Count +de la Palice to their Majesties as his son; they received him as such. +But during the visit of the king and queen the Count de Saint-Geran fell +ill, over fatigued, no doubt, by the trouble he had taken to give them a +suitable reception, over and above the worry of his own affairs. + +During his illness, which only lasted a week, he made in his will a new +acknowledgment of his son, naming his executors M. de Barriere, +intendant of the province, and the sieur Vialet, treasurer of France, +desiring them to bring the lawsuit to an end. His last words were for +his wife and child; his only regret that he had not been able to +terminate this affair. He died on the 31st of January 1659. + +The maternal tenderness of the countess did not need stimulating by the +injunctions of her husband, and she took up the suit with energy. The +ladies de Ventadour and du Lude obtained by default letters of +administration as heiresses without liability, which were granted out of +the Chatelet. At the same time they appealed against the judgment of the +lieutenant-general of the Bourbonnais, giving the tutelage of the young +count to the countess his mother, and his guardianship to sieur de +Bompre. The countess, on her side, interpleaded an appeal against the +granting of letters of administration without liability, and did all in +her power to bring back the case to the Tournelle. The other ladies +carried their appeal to the high court, pleading that they were not +parties to the lawsuit in the Tournelle. + +It would serve no purpose to follow the obscure labyrinth of legal +procedure of that period, and to recite all the marches and +countermarches which legal subtlety suggested to the litigants. At the +end of three years, on the 9th of April 1661, the countess obtained a +judgment by which the king in person: + + "Assuming to his own decision the civil suit pending at the + Tournelle, as well as the appeals pled by both parties, and the + last petition of Mesdames du Lude and de Ventadour, sends back + the whole case to the three assembled chambers of the States + General, to be by them decided on its merits either jointly or + separately, as they may deem fit." + +The countess thus returned to her first battlefield. Legal science +produced an immense quantity of manuscript, barristers and attorneys +greatly distinguishing themselves in their calling. After an +interminable hearing, and pleadings longer and more complicated than +ever, which however did not bamboozle the court, judgment was pronounced +in Conformity with the summing up of the attorney-general, thus-- + +"That passing over the petition of Mesdames Marie de la Guiche and +Eleonore de Bouille, on the grounds," etc. etc.; + +"Evidence taken," etc.; + +"Appeals, judgments annulled," etc.; + +"With regard to the petition of the late Claude de la Guiche and Suzanne +de Longaunay, dated 12th August 1658," + +"Ordered, + +"That the rule be made absolute; + +"Which being done, Bernard de la Guiche is pronounced, maintained, and +declared the lawfully born and legitimate son of Claude de la Guiche and +Suzanne de Longaunay; in possession and enjoyment of the name and arms +of the house of Guiche, and of all the goods left by Claude de la +Guiche, his father; and Marie de la Guiche and Eleonore de Bouille are +interdicted from interfering with him; + +"The petitions of Eleonore de Bouille and Marie de la Guiche, dated 4th +June 1664, 4th August 1665, 6th January, 10th February, 12th March, 15th +April, and 2nd June, 1666, are dismissed with costs; + +"Declared, + +"That the defaults against la Pigoreau are confirmed; and that she, +arraigned and convicted of the offences imputed to her, is condemned to +be hung and strangled at a gallows erected in the Place de Greve in this +city, if taken and apprehended; otherwise, in effigy at a gallows +erected in the Place de Greve aforesaid; that all her property subject +to confiscation is seized and confiscated from whomsoever may be in +possession of it; on which property and other not subject to +confiscation, is levied a fine of eight hundred Paris livres, to be paid +to the King, and applied to the maintenance of prisoners in the +Conciergerie of the Palace of justice, and to the costs." + +Possibly a more obstinate legal contest was never waged, on both sides, +but especially by those who lost it. The countess, who played the part +of the true mother in the Bible, had the case so much to heart that she +often told the judges, when pleading her cause, that if her son were not +recognised as such, she would marry him, and convey all her property to +him. + +The young Count de la Palice became Count de Saint-Geran through the +death of his father, married, in 1667, Claude Francoise Madeleine de +Farignies, only daughter of Francois de Monfreville and of Marguerite +Jourdain de Carbone de Canisi. He had only one daughter, born in 1688, +who became a nun. He died at the age of fifty-five years, and thus this +illustrious family became extinct. + + + + +*MURAT--1815* + + + + +I--TOULON + + +On the 18th June, 1815, at the very moment when the destiny of Europe +was being decided at Waterloo, a man dressed like a beggar was silently +following the road from Toulon to Marseilles. + +Arrived at the entrance of the Gorge of Ollioulles, he halted on a +little eminence from which he could see all the surrounding country; +then either because he had reached the end of his journey, or because, +before attempting that forbidding, sombre pass which is called the +Thermopylae of Provence, he wished to enjoy the magnificent view which +spread to the southern horizon a little longer, he went and sat down on +the edge of the ditch which bordered the road, turning his back on the +mountains which rise like an amphitheatre to the north of the town, and +having at his feet a rich plain covered with tropical vegetation, +exotics of a conservatory, trees and flowers quite unknown in any other +part of France. + +Beyond this plain, glittering in the last rays of the sun, pale and +motionless as a mirror lay the sea, and on the surface of the water +glided one brig-of-war, which, taking advantage of a fresh land breeze, +had all sails spread, and was bowling along rapidly, making for Italian +seas. The beggar followed it eagerly with his eyes until it disappeared +between the Cape of Gien and the first of the islands of Hyeres, then as +the white apparition vanished he sighed deeply, let his head fall into +his hands, and remained motionless and absorbed in his reflections until +the tramplings of a cavalcade made him start; he looked up, shook back +his long black hair, as if he wished to get rid of the gloomy thoughts +which were overwhelming him, and, looking at the entrance to the gorge +from whence the noise came, he soon saw two riders appear, who were no +doubt well known to him, for, drawing himself up to his full height, he +let fall the stick he was carrying, and folding his arms he turned +towards them. On their side the new-comers had hardly seen him before +they halted, and the foremost dismounted, threw his bridle to his +companion, and uncovering, though fifty paces from the man in rags, +advanced respectfully towards him. The beggar allowed him to approach +with an air of sombre dignity and without a single movement; then, when +he was quite near-- + +"Well, marshal, have, you news for me?" said the beggar. + +"Yes, sire," said the other sadly. + +"And what are they?" + +"Such that I could wish it were anyone but myself to announce them to +your Majesty----" + +"So the Emperor refuses my services! He forgets the victories of +Aboukir, Eylau, and Moscow?" + +"No, sire; but he remembers the treaty of Naples, the taking of Reggio, +and the declaration of war of the viceroy of Italy." + +The beggar struck his forehead. + +"Yes, yes! I daresay he thinks I deserve his reproaches, and yet it +seems to me that he ought to remember that there are two men in me--the +soldier whom he made his brother, and the brother whom he made a +king.... Yes, as brother I have treated him ill--very ill, but as king, +upon my soul, I could not have acted differently.... I had to choose +between my sword and my crown, and between a regiment and a people. +Listen, Brune: you do not know how it all happened. There was an English +fleet, the guns of which were growling in the port, there was a +Neapolitan population howling in the streets. If I had been alone, I +would have passed through the fleet with one boat, through the crowd +with my sword alone, but I had a wife and children. Yet I hesitated; the +idea of being called traitor and deserter caused me to shed more tears +than the loss of my throne, or perhaps the death of those I love best, +will ever wring from me.... And so he will have nothing more to do with +me? He refuses me as general, captain, private? Then what is left for me +to do?" + +"Sire, your Majesty must leave France immediately." + +"And if I don't obey?" + +"My orders are to arrest you and deliver you up to a court-martial!" + +"Old comrade, you will not do that?" + +"I shall do it, praying God to strike me dead in the moment I lay hands +on you!" + +"That's you all over, Brune. You have been able to remain a good, loyal +fellow. He did not give you a kingdom, he did not encircle your brow +with a band of iron which men call a crown and which drives one mad; he +did not place you between your conscience and your family. So I must +leave France, begin my vagabond life again, and say farewell to Toulon, +which recalls so many memories to me! See, Brune," continued Murat, +leaning on the arm of the marshal, "are not the pines yonder as fine as +any at the Villa Pamfili, the palms as imposing as any at Cairo, the +mountains as grand as any range in the Tyrol? Look to your left, is not +Cape Gien something like Castellamare and Sorrento--leaving out +Vesuvius? And see, Saint-Mandrier at the farthest point of the gulf, is +it not like my rock of Capri, which Lamarque juggled away so cleverly +from that idiot of a Sir Hudson Lowe? My God! and I must leave all this! +Is there no way of remaining on this little corner of French +ground--tell me, Brune!" + +"You'll break my heart, sire!" answered the marshal. + +"Well, we'll say no more about it. What news?" + +"The Emperor has left Paris to join the army. They must be fighting +now." + +"Fighting now and I not there! Oh, I feel I could have been of use to +him on this battlefield. How I would have gloried in charging those +miserable Prussians and dastardly English! Brune, give me a passport, +I'll go at full speed, I'll reach the army, I will make myself known to +some colonel, I shall say, 'Give me your regiment.' I'll charge at its +head, and if the Emperor does not clasp my hand to-night, I'll blow my +brains out, I swear I will. Do what I ask, Brune, and however it may +end, my eternal gratitude will be yours!" + +"I cannot, sire." + +"Well, well, say no more about it." + +"And your Majesty is going to leave France?" + +"I don't know. Obey your orders, marshal, and if you come across me +again, have me arrested. That's another way of doing something for me. +Life is a heavy burden nowadays. He who will relieve me of it will be +welcome.... Good-bye, Brune." + +He held out his hand to the marshal, who tried to kiss it; but Murat +opened his arms, the two old comrades held each other fast for a moment, +with swelling hearts and eyes full of tears; then at last they parted. +Brune remounted his horse, Murat picked up his stick again, and the two +men went away in opposite directions, one to meet his death by +assassination at Avignon, the other to be shot at Pizzo. Meanwhile, like +Richard III, Napoleon was bartering his crown against a horse at +Waterloo. + +After the interview that has just been related, Murat took refuge with +his nephew, who was called Bonafoux, and who was captain of a frigate; +but this retreat could only be temporary, for the relationship would +inevitably awake the suspicions of the authorities. In consequence, +Bonafoux set about finding a more secret place of refuge for his uncle. +He hit on one of his friends, an avocat, a man famed for his integrity, +and that very evening Bonafoux went to see him. + +After chatting on general subjects, he asked his friend if he had not a +house at the seaside, and receiving an affirmative answer, he invited +himself to breakfast there the next day; the proposal naturally enough +was agreed to with pleasure. The next day at the appointed hour Bonafoux +arrived at Bonette, which was the name of the country house where M. +Marouin's wife and daughter were staying. M. Marouin himself was kept by +his work at Toulon. After the ordinary greetings, Bonafoux stepped to +the window, beckoning to Marouin to rejoin him. + +"I thought," he said uneasily, "that your house was by the sea." + +"We are hardly ten minutes' walk from it." + +"But it is not in sight." + +"That hill prevents you from seeing it." + +"May we go for a stroll on the beach before breakfast is served?" + +"By all means. Well, your horse is still saddled. I will order mine--I +will come back for you." + +Marouin went out. Bonafoux remained at the window, absorbed in his +thoughts. The ladies of the house, occupied in preparations for the +meal, did not observe, or did not appear to observe, his preoccupation. +In five minutes Marouin came back. He was ready to start. The avocat and +his friend mounted their horses and rode quickly down to the sea. On the +beach the captain slackened his pace, and riding along the shore for +about half an hour, he seemed to be examining the bearings of the coast +with great attention. Marouin followed without inquiring into his +investigations, which seemed natural enough for a naval officer. + +After about an hour the two men went back to the house. + +Marouin wished to have the horses unsaddled, but Bonafoux objected, +saying that he must go back to Toulon immediately after lunch. Indeed, +the coffee was hardly finished before he rose and took leave of his +hosts. Marouin, called back to town by his work, mounted his horse too, +and the two friends rode back to Toulon together. After riding along for +ten minutes, Bonafoux went close to his companion and touched him on the +thigh-- + +"Marouin," he said, "I have an important secret to confide to you." + +"Speak, captain. After a father confessor, you know there is no one so +discreet as a notary, and after a notary an avocat." + +"You can quite understand that I did not come to your country house just +for the pleasure of the ride. A more important object, a serious +responsibility, preoccupied me; I have chosen you out of all my friends, +believing that you were devoted enough to me to render me a great +service." + +"You did well, captain." + +"Let us go straight to the point, as men who respect and trust each +other should do. My uncle, King Joachim, is proscribed, he has taken +refuge with me; but he cannot remain there, for I am the first person +they will suspect. Your house is in an isolated position, and +consequently we could not find a better retreat for him. You must put it +at our disposal until events enable the king to come to some decision." + +"It is at your service," said Marouin. + +"Right. My uncle shall sleep there to-night." + +"But at least give me time to make some preparations worthy of my royal +guest." + +"My poor Marouin, you are giving yourself unnecessary trouble, and +making a vexatious delay for us: King Joachim is no longer accustomed to +palaces and courtiers; he is only too happy nowadays to find a cottage +with a friend in it; besides, I have let him know about it, so sure was +I of your answer. He is counting on sleeping at your house to-night, and +if I try to change his determination now he will see a refusal in what +is only a postponement, and you will lose all the credit for your +generous and noble action. There--it is agreed: to-night at ten at the +Champs de Mars." + +With these words the captain put his horse to a gallop and disappeared. +Marouin turned his horse and went back to his country house to give the +necessary orders for the reception of a stranger whose name he did not +mention. + +At ten o'clock at night, as had been agreed, Marouin was on the Champs +de Mars, then covered with Marshal Brune's field-artillery. No one had +arrived yet. He walked up and down between the gun-carriages until a +functionary came to ask what he was doing. He was hard put to it to find +an answer: a man is hardly likely to be wandering about in an artillery +park at ten o'clock at night for the mere pleasure of the thing. He +asked to see the commanding officer. The officer came up: M. Marouin +informed him that he was an avocat, attached to the law courts of +Toulon, and told him that he had arranged to meet someone on the Champs +de Mars, not knowing that it was prohibited, and that he was still +waiting for that person. After this explanation, the officer authorised +him to remain, and went back to his quarters. The sentinel, a faithful +adherent to discipline, continued to pace up and down with his measured +step, without troubling any more about the stranger's presence. + +A few moments later a group of several persons appeared from the +direction of Les Lices. The night was magnificent, and the moon +brilliant. Marouin recognised Bonafoux, and went up to him. The captain +at once took him by the hand and led him to the king, and speaking in +turn to each of them-- + +"Sire," he said, "here is the friend. I told you of." + +Then turning to Marouin-- + +"Here," he said, "is the King of Naples, exile and fugitive, whom I +confide to your care. I do not speak of the possibility that some day he +may get back his crown, that would deprive you of the credit of your +fine action.... Now, be his guide--we will follow at a distance. March!" + +The king and the lawyer set out at once together. Murat was dressed in a +blue coat-semi-military, semi-civil, buttoned to the throat; he wore +white trousers and top boots with spurs; he had long hair, moustache, +and thick whiskers, which would reach round his neck. + +As they rode along he questioned his host about the situation of his +country house and the facility for reaching the sea in case of a +surprise. Towards midnight the king and Marouin arrived at Bonette; the +royal suite came up in about ten minutes; it consisted of about thirty +individuals. After partaking of some light refreshment, this little +troop, the last of the court of the deposed king, retired to disperse in +the town and its environs, and Murat remained alone with the women, only +keeping one valet named Leblanc. + +Murat stayed nearly a month in this retirement, spending all his time in +answering the newspapers which accused him of treason to the Emperor. +This accusation was his absorbing idea, a phantom, a spectre to him; day +and night he tried to shake it off, seeking in the difficult position in +which he had found himself all the reasons which it might offer him for +acting as he had acted. Meanwhile the terrible news of the defeat at +Waterloo had spread abroad. The Emperor who had exiled him was an exile +himself, and he was waiting at Rochefort, like Murat at Toulon, to hear +what his enemies would decide against him. No one knows to this day what +inward prompting Napoleon obeyed when, rejecting the counsels of General +Lallemande and the devotion of Captain Bodin, he preferred England to +America, and went like a modern Prometheus to be chained to the rock of +St. Helena. + +We are going to relate the fortuitous circumstance which led Murat to +the moat of Pizzo, then we will leave it to fatalists to draw from this +strange story whatever philosophical deduction may please them. We, as +humble annalists, can only vouch for the truth of the facts we have +already related and of those which will follow. + +King Louis XVIII remounted his throne, consequently Murat lost all hope +of remaining in France; he felt he was bound to go. His nephew Bonafoux +fitted out a frigate for the United States under the name of Prince +Rocca Romana. The whole suite went on board, and they began to carry on +to the boat all the valuables which the exile had been able to save from +the shipwreck of his kingdom. First a bag of gold weighing nearly a +hundred pounds, a sword-sheath on which were the portraits of the king, +the queen, and their children, the deed of the civil estates of his +family bound in velvet and adorned with his arms. Murat carried on his +person a belt where some precious papers were concealed, with about a +score of unmounted diamonds, which he estimated himself to be worth four +millions. + +When all these preparations for departing were accomplished, it was +agreed that the next day, the 1st of August, at five o'clock, a boat +should fetch the king to the brig from a little bay, ten minutes' walk +from the house where he was staying. The king spent the night making out +a route for M. Marouin by which he could reach the queen, who was then +in Austria, I think. + +It was finished just as it was time to leave, and on crossing the +threshold of the hospitable house where he had found refuge he gave it +to his host, slipped into a volume of a pocket edition of Voltaire. +Below the story of 'Micromegas' the king had written: [The volume is +still in the hands of M. Marouin, at Toulon.] + +Reassure yourself, dear Caroline; although unhappy, I am free. I am +departing, but I do not know whither I am bound. Wherever I may be my +heart will be with you and my children. "J. M." + +Ten minutes later Murat and his host were waiting on the beach at +Bonette for the boat which was to take them out to the ship. + +They waited until midday, and nothing appeared; and yet on the horizon +they could see the brig which was to be his refuge, unable to lie at +anchor on account of the depth of water, sailing along the coast at the +risk of giving the alarm to the sentinels. + +At midday the king, worn out with fatigue and the heat of the sun, was +lying on the beach, when a servant arrived, bringing various +refreshments, which Madame Marouin, being very uneasy, had sent at all +hazards to her husband. The king took a glass of wine and water and ate +an orange, and got up for a moment to see whether the boat he was +expecting was nowhere visible on the vastness of the sea. There was not +a boat in sight, only the brig tossing gracefully on the horizon, +impatient to be off, like a horse awaiting its master. + +The king sighed and lay down again on the sand. + +The servant went back to Bonette with a message summoning M. Marouin's +brother to the beach. He arrived in a few minutes, and almost +immediately afterwards galloped off at full speed to Toulon, in order to +find out from M. Bonafoux why the boat had not been sent to the king. On +reaching the captain's house, he found it occupied by an armed force. +They were making a search for Murat. + +The messenger at last made his way through the tumult to the person he +was in search of, and he heard that the boat had started at the +appointed time, and that it must have gone astray in the creeks of Saint +Louis and Sainte Marguerite. This was, in fact, exactly what had +happened. + +By five o'clock M. Marouin had reported the news to his brother and the +king. It was bad news. The king had no courage left to defend his life +even by flight, he was in a state of prostration which sometimes +overwhelms the strongest of men, incapable of making any plan for his +own safety, and leaving M. Marouin to do the best he could. Just then a +fisherman was coming into harbour singing. Marouin beckoned to him, and +he came up. + +Marouin began by buying all the man's fish; then, when he had paid him +with a few coins, he let some gold glitter before his eyes, and offered +him three louis if he would take a passenger to the brig which was lying +off the Croix-des-Signaux. The fisherman agreed to do it. This chance of +escape gave back Murat all his strength; he got up, embraced Marouin, +and begged him to go to the queen with the volume of Voltaire. Then he +sprang into the boat, which instantly left the shore. + +It was already some distance from the land when the king stopped the man +who was rowing and signed to Marouin that he had forgotten something. On +the beach lay a bag into which Murat had put a magnificent pair of +pistols mounted with silver gilt which the queen had given him, and +which he set great store on. As soon as he was within hearing he shouted +his reason for returning to his host. Marouin seized the valise, and +without waiting for Murat to land he threw it into the boat; the bag +flew open, and one of the pistols fell out. The fisherman only glanced +once at the royal weapon, but it was enough to make him notice its +richness and to arouse his suspicions. Nevertheless, he went on rowing +towards the frigate. M. Marouin seeing him disappear in the distance, +left his brother on the beach, and bowing once more to the king, +returned to the house to calm his wife's anxieties and to take the +repose of which he was in much need. + +Two hours later he was awakened. His house was to be searched in its +turn by soldiers. They searched every nook and corner without finding a +trace of the king. Just as they were getting desperate, the brother came +in; Maroum smiled at him; believing the king to be safe, but by the +new-comer's expression he saw that some fresh misfortune was in the +wind. In the first moment's respite given him by his visitors he went up +to his brother. + +"Well," he said, "I hope the king is on board?" + +"The king is fifty yards away, hidden in the outhouse." + +"Why did he come back?" + +"The fisherman pretended he was afraid of a sudden squall, and refused +to take him off to the brig." + +"The scoundrel!" + +The soldiers came in again. + +They spent the night in fruitless searching about the house and +buildings; several times they passed within a few steps of the king, and +he could hear their threats and imprecations. At last, half an hour +before dawn, they went away. Marouin watched them go, and when they were +out of sight he ran to the king. He found him lying in a corner, a +pistol clutched in each hand. The unhappy man had been overcome by +fatigue and had fallen asleep. Marouin hesitated a moment to bring him +back to his wandering, tormented life, but there was not a minute to +lose. He woke him. + +They went down to the beach at once. A morning mist lay over the sea. +They could not see anything two hundred yards ahead. They were obliged +to wait. At last the first sunbeams began to pierce this nocturnal mist. +It slowly dispersed, gliding over the sea as clouds move in the sky. The +king's hungry eye roved over the tossing waters before him, but he saw +nothing, yet he could not banish the hope that somewhere behind that +moving curtain he would find his refuge. Little by little the horizon +came into view; light wreaths of mist, like smoke, still floated about +the surface of the water, and in each of them the king thought he +recognised the white sails of his vessel. The last gradually vanished, +the sea was revealed in all its immensity, it was deserted. Not daring +to delay any longer, the ship had sailed away in the night. + +"So," said the king, "the die is cast. I will go to Corsica." + +The same day Marshal Brune was assassinated at Avignon. + + + + +II--CORSICA + + +Once more on the same beach at Bonette, in the same bay where he had +awaited the boat in vain, still attended by his band of faithful +followers, we find Murat on the 22nd August in the same year. It was no +longer by Napoleon that he was threatened, it was by Louis XVIII that he +was proscribed; it was no longer the military loyalty of Marshal Brune +who came with tears in his eyes to give notice of the orders he had +received, but the ungrateful hatred of M. de Riviere, who had set a +price [48,000 francs.] on the head of the man who had saved his +own.[Conspiracy of Pichegru.] M. de Riviere had indeed written to the +ex-King of Naples advising him to abandon himself to the good faith and +humanity of the King of France, but his vague invitation had not seemed +sufficient guarantee to the outlaw, especially on the part of one who +had allowed the assassination almost before his eyes of a man who +carried a safe-conduct signed by himself. Murat knew of the massacre of +the Mamelukes at Marseilles, the assassination of Brune at Avignon; he +had been warned the day before by the police of Toulon that a formal +order for his arrest was out; thus it was impossible that he should +remain any longer in France. Corsica, with its hospitable towns, its +friendly mountains, its impenetrable forests, was hardly fifty leagues +distant; he must reach Corsica, and wait in its towns, mountains, and +forests until the crowned heads of Europe should decide the fate of the +man they had called brother for seven years. + +At ten o'clock at, night the king went down to the shore. The boat which +was to take him across had not reached the rendezvous, but this time +there was not the slightest fear that it would fail; the bay had been +reconnoitred during the day by three men devoted to the fallen fortunes +of the king--Messieurs Blancard, Langlade, and Donadieu, all three naval +officers, men of ability and warm heart, who had sworn by their own +lives to convey Murat to Corsica, and who were in fact risking their +lives in order to accomplish their promise. Murat saw the deserted shore +without uneasiness, indeed this delay afforded him a few more moments of +patriotic satisfaction. + +On this little patch of land, this strip of sand, the unhappy exile +clung to his mother France, for once his foot touched the vessel which +was to carry him away, his separation from France would be long, if not +eternal. He started suddenly amidst these thoughts and sighed: he had +just perceived a sail gliding over the waves like a phantom through the +transparent darkness of the southern night. Then a sailor's song was +heard; Murat recognised the appointed signal, and answered it by burning +the priming of a pistol, and the boat immediately ran inshore; but as +she drew three feet of water, she was obliged to stop ten or twelve feet +from the beach; two men dashed into the water and reached the beach, +while a third remained crouching in the stern-sheets wrapped in his +boat-cloak. + +"Well, my good friends," said the king, going towards Blancard and +Langlade until he felt the waves wet his feet "the moment is come, is it +not? The wind is favourable, the sea calm, we must get to sea." + +"Yes," answered Langlade, "yes, we must start; and yet perhaps it would +be wiser to wait till to-morrow." + +"Why?" asked Murat. + +Langlade did not answer, but turning towards the west, he raised his +hand, and according to the habit of sailors, he whistled to call the +wind. + +"That's no good," said Donadieu, who had remained in the boat. "Here are +the first gusts; you will have more than you know what to do with in a +minute.... Take care, Langlade, take care! Sometimes in calling the wind +you wake up a storm." + +Murat started, for he thought that this warning which rose from the sea +had been given him by the spirit of the waters; but the impression was a +passing one, and he recovered himself in a moment. + +"All the better," he said; "the more wind we have, the faster we shall +go." + +"Yes," answered Langlade, "but God knows where it will take us if it +goes on shifting like this." + +"Don't start to-night, sire," said Blancard, adding his voice to those +of his two companions. + +"But why not?" + +"You see that bank of black cloud there, don't you? Well, at sunset it +was hardly visible, now it covers a good part of the sky, in an hour +there won't be a star to be seen." + +"Are you afraid?" asked Murat. + +"Afraid!" answered Langlade. "Of what? Of the storm? I might as well ask +if your Majesty is afraid of a cannon-ball. We have demurred solely on +your account, sire; do you think seadogs like ourselves would delay on +account of the storm?" + +"Then let us go!" cried Murat, with a sigh. + +"Good-bye, Marouin.... God alone can reward you for what you have done +for me. I am at your orders, gentlemen." + +At these words the two sailors seized the king end hoisted him on to +their shoulders, and carried him into the sea; in another moment he was +on board. Langlade and Blancard sprang in behind him. Donadieu remained +at the helm, the two other officers undertook the management of the +boat, and began their work by unfurling the sails. Immediately the +pinnace seemed to rouse herself like a horse at touch of the spur; the +sailors cast a careless glance back, and Murat feeling that they were +sailing away, turned towards his host and called for a last time-- + +"You have your route as far as Trieste. Do not forget my wife!... +Good-bye-good-bye----!" + +"God keep you, sire!" murmured Marouin. + +And for some time, thanks to the white sail which gleamed through the +darkness, he could follow with his eyes the boat which was rapidly +disappearing; at last it vanished altogether. Marouin lingered on the +shore, though he could see nothing; then he heard a cry, made faint by +the distance; it was Murat's last adieu to France. + +When M. Marouin was telling me these details one evening on the very +spot where it all happened, though twenty years had passed, he +remembered clearly the slightest incidents of the embarkation that +night. From that moment he assured me that a presentiment of misfortune +seized him; he could not tear himself away from the shore, and several +times he longed to call the king back, but, like a man in a dream, he +opened his mouth without being able to utter a sound. He was afraid of +being thought foolish, and it was not until one o'clock that is, two and +a half hours after the departure of the boat-that he went home with a +sad and heavy heart. + +The adventurous navigators had taken the course from Toulon to Bastia, +and at first it seemed to the king that the sailors' predictions were +belied; the wind, instead of getting up, fell little by little, and two +hours after the departure the boat was rocking without moving forward or +backward on the waves, which were sinking from moment to moment. Murat +sadly watched the phosphorescent furrow trailing behind the little boat: +he had nerved himself to face a storm, but not a dead calm, and without +even interrogating his companions, of whose uneasiness he took no +account, he lay down in the boat, wrapped in his cloak, closing his eyes +as if he were asleep, and following the flow of his thoughts, which were +far more tumultuous than that of the waters. Soon the two sailors, +thinking him asleep, joined the pilot, and sitting down beside the helm, +they began to consult together. + +"You were wrong, Langlade," said Donadieu, "in choosing a craft like +this, which is either too small or else too big; in an open boat we can +never weather a storm, and without oars we can never make any way in a +calm." + +"'Fore God! I had no choice. I was obliged to take what I could get, and +if it had not been the season for tunny-fishing I might not even have +got this wretched pinnace, or rather I should have had to go into the +harbour to find it, and they keep such a sharp lookout that I might well +have gone in without coming out again." + +"At least it is seaworthy," said Blancard. + +"Pardieu, you know what nails and planks are when they have been soaked +in sea-water for ten years. On any ordinary occasion, a man would rather +not go in her from Marseilles to the Chateau d'If, but on an occasion +like this one would willingly go round the world in a nutshell." + +"Hush!" said Donadieu. The sailors listened; a distant growl was heard, +but it was so faint that only the experienced ear of a sailor could have +distinguished it. + +"Yes, yes," said Langlade, "it is a warning for those who have legs or +wings to regain the homes and nests that they ought never to have left." + +"Are we far from the islands?" asked Donadieu quickly. + +"About a mile off." + +"Steer for them." + +"What for?" asked Murat, looking up. + +"To put in there, sire, if we can." + +"No, no," cried Murat; "I will not land except in Corsica. I will not +leave France again. Besides, the sea is calm and the wind is getting up +again--" + +"Down with the sails!" shouted Donadieu. Instantly Langlade and Blancard +jumped forward to carry out the order. The sail slid down the mast and +fell in a heap in the bottom of the boat. + +"What are you doing?" cried Murat. "Do you forget that I am king and +that I command you?" + +"Sire," said Donadieu, "there is a king more powerful than you--God; +there is a voice which drowns yours--the voice of the tempest: let us +save your Majesty if possible, and demand nothing more of us." + +Just then a flash of lightning quivered along the horizon, a clap of +thunder nearer than the first one was heard, a light foam appeared on +the surface of the water, and the boat trembled like a living thing. +Murat began to understand that danger was approaching, then he got up +smiling, threw his hat behind him, shook back his long hair, and +breathed in the storm like the smell of powder--the soldier was ready +for the battle. + +"Sire," said Donadieu, "you have seen many a battle, but perhaps you +have never watched a storm if you are curious about it, cling to the +mast, for you have a fine opportunity now." + +"What ought I to do?" said Murat. "Can I not help you in any way?" + +"No, not just now, sire; later you will be useful at the pumps." + +During this dialogue the storm had drawn near; it rushed on the +travellers like a war-horse, breathing out fire and wind through its +nostrils, neighing like thunder, and scattering the foam of the waves +beneath its feet. + +Donadieu turned the rudder, the boat yielded as if it understood the +necessity for prompt obedience, and presented the poop to the shock of +wind; then the squall passed, leaving the sea quivering, and everything +was calm again. The storm took breath. + +"Will that gust be all?" asked Murat. + +"No, your Majesty, that was the advance-guard only; the body of the army +will be up directly." + +"And are you not going to prepare for it?" asked the king gaily. + +"What could we do?" said Donadieu. "We have not an inch of canvas to +catch the wind, and as long as we do not make too much water, we shall +float like a cork. Look out-sire!" + +Indeed, a second hurricane was on its way, bringing rain and lightning; +it was swifter than the first. Donadieu endeavoured to repeat the same +manoeuvre, but he could not turn before the wind struck the boat, the +mast bent like a reed; the boat shipped a wave. + +"To the pumps!" cried Donadieu. "Sire, now is the moment to help us--" + +Blancard, Langlade, and Murat seized their hats and began to bale out +the boat. The position of the four men was terrible--it lasted three +hours. + +At dawn the wind fell, but the sea was still high. They began to feel +the need of food: all the provisions had been spoiled by sea-water, only +the wine had been preserved from its contact. + +The king took a bottle and swallowed a little wine first, then he passed +it to his companions, who drank in their turn: necessity had overcome +etiquette. By chance Langlade had on him a few chocolates, which he +offered to the king. Murat divided them into four equal parts, and +forced his companions to take their shares; then, when the meal was +over, they steered for Corsica, but the boat had suffered so much that +it was improbable that it would reach Bastia. + +The whole day passed without making ten miles; the boat was kept under +the jib, as they dared not hoist the mainsail, and the wind was so +variable that much time was lost in humouring its caprices. + +By evening the boat had drawn a considerable amount of water, it +penetrated between the boards, the handkerchiefs of the crew served to +plug up the leaks, and night, which was descending in mournful gloom, +wrapped them a second time in darkness. Prostrated with fatigue, Murat +fell asleep, Blancard and Langlade took their places beside Donadieu, +and the three men, who seemed insensible to the calls of sleep and +fatigue, watched over his slumbers. + +The night was calm enough apparently, but low grumblings were heard now +and then. + +The three sailors looked at each other strangely and then at the king, +who was sleeping at the bottom of the boat, his cloak soaked with +sea-water, sleeping as soundly as he had slept on the sands of Egypt or +the snows of Russia. + +Then one of them got up and went to the other end of the boat, whistling +between his teeth a Provencal air; then, after examining the sky, the +waves; and the boat, he went back to his comrades and sat down, +muttering, "Impossible! Except by a miracle, we shall never make the +land." + +The night passed through all its phases. At dawn there was a vessel in +sight. + +"A sail!" cried Donadieu,--"a sail!" + +At this cry the king--awoke; and soon a little trading brig hove in +sight, going from Corsica to Toulon. + +Donadieu steered for the brig, Blancard hoisted enough sail to work the +boat, and Langlade ran to the prow and held up the king's cloak on the +end of a sort of harpoon. Soon the voyagers perceived that they had been +sighted, the brig went about to approach them, and in ten minutes they +found themselves within fifty yards of it. The captain appeared in the +bows. Then the king hailed him and offered him a substantial reward if +he would receive them on board and take them to Corsica. The captain +listened to the proposal; then immediately turning to the crew, he gave +an order in an undertone which Donadieu could not hear, but which he +understood probably by the gesture, for he instantly gave Langlade and +Blancard the order to make away from the schooner. They obeyed with the +unquestioning promptitude of sailors; but the king stamped his foot. + +"What are you doing, Donadieu? What are you about? Don't you see that +she is coming up to us?" + +"Yes--upon my soul--so she is.... Do as I say, Langlade; ready, +Blancard. Yes, she is coming upon us, and perhaps I was too late in +seeing this. That's all right--that's all right: my part now." + +Then he forced over the rudder, giving it so violent a jerk that the +boat, forced to change her course suddenly, seemed to rear and plunge +like a horse struggling against the curb; finally she obeyed. A huge +wave, raised by the giant bearing down on the pinnace, carried it on +like a leaf, and the brig passed within a few feet of the stern. + +"Ah!.... traitor!" cried the king, who had only just begun to realise +the intention of the captain. At the same time, he pulled a pistol from +his belt, crying "Board her! board her!" and tried to fire on the brig, +but the powder was wet and would not catch. The king was furious, and +went on shouting "Board her! board her!" + +"Yes, the wretch, or rather the imbecile," said Donadieu, "he took us +for pirates, and wanted to sink us--as if we needed him to do that!" + +Indeed, a single glance at the boat showed that she was beginning to +make water. + +The effort--to escape which Donadieu had made had strained the boat +terribly, and the water was pouring in by a number of leaks between the +planks; they had to begin again bailing out with their hats, and went on +at it for ten hours. Then for the second time Donadieu heard the +consoling cry, "A sail! a sail!" The king and his companions immediately +left off bailing; they hoisted the sails again, and steered for the +vessel which was coming towards them, and neglected to fight against the +water, which was rising rapidly. + +From that time forth it was a question of time, of minutes, of seconds; +it was a question of reaching the ship before the boat foundered. + +The vessel, however, seemed to understand the desperate position of the +men imploring help; she was coming up at full speed. Langlade was the +first to recognise her; she was a Government felucca plying between +Toulon and Bastia. Langlade was a friend of the captain, and he called +his name with the penetrating voice of desperation, and he was heard. It +was high time: the water kept on rising, and the king and his companions +were already up to their knees; the boat groaned in its death-struggle; +it stood still, and began to go round and round. + +Just then two or three ropes thrown from the felucca fell upon the boat; +the king seized one, sprang forward, and reached the rope-ladder: he was +saved. + +Blancard and Langlade immediately followed. Donadieu waited until the +last, as was his duty, and as he put his foot on the ladder he felt the +other boat begin to go under; he turned round with all a sailor's calm, +and saw the gulf open its jaws beneath him, and then the shattered boat +capsized, and immediately disappeared. Five seconds more, and the four +men who were saved would have been lost beyond recall! [These details +are well known to the people of Toulon, and I have heard them myself a +score of times during the two stays that I made in that town during 1834 +and 1835. Some of the people who related them had them first-hand from +Langlade and Donadieu themselves.] + +Murat had hardly gained the deck before a man came and fell at his feet: +it was a Mameluke whom he had taken to Egypt in former years, and had +since married at Castellamare; business affairs had taken him to +Marseilles, where by a miracle he had escaped the massacre of his +comrades, and in spite of his disguise and fatigue he had recognised his +former master. + +His exclamations of joy prevented the king from keeping up his +incognito. Then Senator Casabianca, Captain Oletta, a nephew of Prince +Baciocchi, a staff-paymaster called Boerco, who were themselves fleeing +from the massacres of the South, were all on board the vessel, and +improvising a little court, they greeted the king with the title of +"your Majesty." It had been a sudden embarkation, it brought about a +swift change: he was no longer Murat the exile; he was Joachim, the King +of Naples. The exile's refuge disappeared with the foundered boat; in +its place Naples and its magnificent gulf appeared on the horizon like a +marvellous mirage, and no doubt the primary idea of the fatal expedition +of Calabria was originated in the first days of exultation which +followed those hours of anguish. The king, however, still uncertain of +the welcome which awaited him in Corsica, took the name of the Count of +Campo Melle, and it was under this name that he landed at Bastia on the +25th August. But this precaution was useless; three days after his +arrival, not a soul but knew of his presence in the town. + +Crowds gathered at once, and cries of "Long live Joachim!" were heard, +and the king, fearing to disturb the public peace, left Bastia the same +evening with his three companions and his Mameluke. Two hours later he +arrived at Viscovato, and knocked at the door of General Franceschetti, +who had been in his service during his whole reign, and who, leaving +Naples at the same time as the king, had gone to Corsica with his wife, +to live with his father-in-law, M. Colonna Cicaldi. + +He was in the middle of supper when a servant told him that a stranger +was asking to speak to him--he went out, and found Murat wrapped in a +military greatcoat, a sailor's cap drawn down on his head, his beard +grown long, and wearing a soldier's trousers, boots, and gaiters. + +The general stood still in amazement; Murat fixed his great dark eyes on +him, and then, folding his arms:-- + +"Franceschetti," said he, "have you room at your table for your general, +who is hungry? Have you a shelter under your roof for your king, who is +an exile?" + +Franceschetti looked astonished as he recognised Joachim, and could only +answer him by falling on his knees and kissing his hand. From that +moment the general's house was at Murat's disposal. + +The news of the king's arrival had hardly been handed about the +neighbourhood before officers of all ranks hastened to Viscovato, +veterans who had fought under him, Corsican hunters who were attracted +by his adventurous character; in a few days the general's house was +turned into a palace, the village into a royal capital, the island into +a kingdom. + +Strange rumours were heard concerning Murat's intentions. An army of +nine hundred men helped to give them some amount of confirmation. It was +then that Blancard, Donadieu, and Langlade took leave of him; Murat +wished to keep them, but they had been vowed to the rescue of the exile, +not to the fortunes of the king. + +We have related how Murat had met one of his former Mamelukes, a man +called Othello, on board the Bastia mailboat. Othello had followed him +to Viscovato, and the ex-King of Naples considered how to make use of +him. Family relations recalled him naturally to Castellamare, and Murat +ordered him to return there, entrusting to him letters for persons on +whose devotion he could depend. Othello started, and reached his +father-in-law's safely, and thought he could confide in him; but the +latter was horror-struck, and alarmed the police, who made a descent on +Othello one night, and seized the letters. + +The next day each man to whom a letter was addressed was arrested and +ordered to answer Murat as if all was well, and to point out Salerno as +the best place for disembarking: five out of seven were dastards enough +to obey; the two remaining, who were two Spanish brothers, absolutely +refused; they were thrown into a dungeon. + +However, on the 17th September, Murat left Viscovato; General +Franceschetti and several Corsican officers served as escort; he took +the road to Ajaccio by Cotone, the mountains of Serra and Bosco, Venaco +and Vivaro, by the gorges of the forest of Vezzanovo and Bogognone; he +was received and feted like a king everywhere, and at the gates of the +towns he was met by deputations who made him speeches and saluted him +with the title of "Majesty"; at last, on the 23rd September, he arrived +at Ajaccio. The whole population awaited him outside the walls, and his +entry into the town was a triumphal procession; he was taken to the inn +which had been fixed upon beforehand by the quartermasters. It was +enough to turn the head of a man less impressionable than Murat; as for +him, he was intoxicated with it. As he went into the inn he held out his +hand to Franceschetti. + +"You see," he said, "what the Neapolitans will do for me by the way the +Corsicans receive me." + +It was the first mention which had escaped him of his plans for the +future, and from that very day he began to give orders for his +departure. + +They collected ten little feluccas: a Maltese, named Barbara, former +captain of a frigate of the Neapolitan navy, was appointed +commander-in-chief of the expedition; two hundred and fifty men were +recruited and ordered to hold themselves in readiness for the first +signal. + +Murat was only waiting for the answers to Othello's letters: they +arrived on the afternoon of the 28th. Murat invited all his officers to +a grand dinner, and ordered double pay and double rations to the men. + +The king was at dessert when the arrival of M. Maceroni was announced to +him: he was the envoy of the foreign powers who brought Murat the answer +which he had been awaiting so long at Toulon. Murat left the table and +went into another room. M. Maceroni introduced himself as charged with +an official mission, and handed the king the Emperor of Austria's +ultimatum. It was couched in the following terms: + + "Monsieur Maceroni is authorised by these presents to announce to + King Joachim that His Majesty the Emperor of Austria will afford him + shelter in his States on the following terms:-- + + "1. The king is to take a private name. The queen having adopted + that of Lipano, it is proposed that the king should do likewise. + + "2. It will be permitted to the king to choose a town in Bohemia, + Moravia, or the Tyrol, as a place of residence. He could even + inhabit a country house in one of these same provinces without + inconvenience. + + "3. The king is to give his word of honour to His Imperial and Royal + Majesty that he will never leave the States of Austria without the + express-permission of the Emperor, and that he is to live like a + private gentleman of distinction, but submitting to the laws in force + in the States of Austria. + + "In attestation whereof, and to guard against abuse, the undersigned + has received the order of the Emperor to sign the present + declaration. + + "(Signed) PRINCE OF METTERNICH + + "PARIS, 1st Sept. 1815." + +Murat smiled as he finished reading, then he signed to M. Maceroni to +follow him: + +He led him on to the terrace of the house, which looked over the whole +town, and over which a banner floated as it might on a royal castle. +From thence they could see Ajaccio all gay and illuminated, the port +with its little fleet, and the streets crowded with people, as if it +were a fete-day. + +Hardly had the crowd set eyes on Murat before a universal cry arose, +"Long live Joachim, brother of Napoleon! Long live the King of Naples!" + +Murat bowed, and the shouts were redoubled, and the garrison band played +the national airs. + + M. Maceroni did not know how to believe his own eyes and ears. + +When the king had enjoyed his astonishment, he invited him to go down to +the drawing-room. His staff were there, all in full uniform: one might +have been at Caserte or at Capo di Monte. At last, after a moment's +hesitation, Maceroni approached Murat. + +"Sir," he said, "what is my answer to be to His Majesty the Emperor of +Austria?" + +"Sir," answered Murat, with the lofty dignity which sat so well on his +fine face, "tell my brother Francis what you have seen and heard, and +add that I am setting out this very night to reconquer my kingdom of +Naples." + + + + +III--PIZZO + + +The letters which had made Murat resolve to leave Corsica had been +brought to him by a Calabrian named Luidgi. He had presented himself to +the king as the envoy of the Arab, Othello, who had been thrown into +prison in Naples, as we have related, as well as the seven recipients of +the letters. + +The answers, written by the head of the Neapolitan police, indicated the +port of Salerno as the best place for Joachim to land; for King +Ferdinand had assembled three thousand Austrian troops at that point, +not daring to trust the Neapolitan soldiers, who cherished a brilliant +and enthusiastic memory of Murat. + +Accordingly the flotilla was directed for the Gulf of Salerno, but +within sight of the island of Capri a violent storm broke over it, and +drove it as far as Paola, a little seaport situated ten miles from +Cosenza. Consequently the vessels were anchored for the night of the 5th +of October in a little indentation of the coast not worthy of the name +of a roadstead. The king, to remove all suspicion from the coastguards +and the Sicilian scorridori, [Small vessels fitted up as ships-of-war.] +ordered that all lights should be extinguished and that the vessels +should tack about during the night; but towards one o'clock such a +violent land-wind sprang up that the expedition was driven out to sea, +so that on the 6th at dawn the king's vessel was alone. + +During the morning they overhauled Captain Cicconi's felucca, and the +two ships dropped anchor at four o'clock in sight of Santo-Lucido. In +the evening the king commanded Ottoviani, a staff officer, to go ashore +and reconnoitre. Luidgi offered to accompany him. Murat accepted his +services. So Ottoviani and his guide went ashore, whilst Cicconi and his +felucca put out to sea in search of the rest of the fleet. + +Towards eleven o'clock at night the lieutenant of the watch descried a +man in the waves swimming to the vessel. As soon as he was within +hearing the lieutenant hailed him. The swimmer immediately made himself +known: it was Luidgi. They put out the boat, and he came on board. Then +he told them that Ottoviani had been arrested, and he had only escaped +himself by jumping into the sea. Murat's first idea was to go to the +rescue of Ottoviani; but Luidgi made the king realise the danger and +uselessness of such an attempt; nevertheless, Joachim remained agitated +and irresolute until two o'clock in the morning. + +At last he gave the order to put to sea again. During the manoeuvre +which effected this a sailor fell overboard and disappeared before they +had time to help him. Decidedly these were ill omens. + +On the morning of the 7th two vessels were in sight. The king gave the +order to prepare for action, but Barbara recognised them as Cicconi's +felucca and Courrand's lugger, which had joined each other and were +keeping each other company. They hoisted the necessary signals, and the +two captains brought up their vessels alongside the admiral's. + +While they were deliberating as to what route to follow, a boat came up +to Murat's vessel. Captain Pernice was on board with a lieutenant. They +came to ask the king's permission to board his ship, not wishing to +remain on Courrand's, for in their opinion he was a traitor. + +Murat sent to fetch him, and in spite of his protestations he was made +to descend into a boat with fifty men, and the boat was moored to the +vessel. The order was carried out at once, and the little squadron +advanced, coasting along the shores of Calabria without losing sight of +them; but at ten o'clock in the evening, just as they came abreast of +the Gulf of Santa-Eufemia, Captain Courrand cut the rope which moored +his boat to the vessel, and rowed away from the fleet. + +Murat had thrown himself on to his bed without undressing; they brought +him the news. + +He rushed up to the deck, and arrived in time to see the boat, which was +fleeing in the direction of Corsica, grow small and vanish in the +distance. He remained motionless, not uttering a cry, giving no signs of +rage; he only sighed and let his head fall on his breast: it was one +more leaf falling from the exhausted tree of his hopes. + +General Franceschetti profited by this hour of discouragement to advise +him not to land in Calabria, and to go direct to Trieste, in order to +claim from Austria the refuge which had been offered. + +The king was going through one of those periods of extreme exhaustion, +of mortal depression, when courage quite gives way: he refused flatly at +first, and there at last agreed to do it. + +Just then the general perceived a sailor lying on some coils of ropes, +within hearing of all they said; he interrupted himself, and pointed him +out to Murat. + +The latter got up, went to see the man, and recognised Luidgi; overcome +with exhaustion, he had fallen asleep on deck. The king satisfied +himself that the sleep was genuine, and besides he had full confidence +in the man. The conversation, which had been interrupted for a moment, +was renewed: it was agreed that without saying anything about the new +plans, they would clear Cape Spartivento and enter the Adriatic; then +the king and the general went below again to the lower deck. + +The next day, the 8th October, they found themselves abreast of Pizzo, +when Joachim, questioned by Barbara as to what he proposed to do, gave +the order to steer for Messina. Barbara answered that he was ready to +obey, but that they were in need of food and water; consequently he +offered to go on, board Cicconi's vessel and to land with him to get +stores. The king agreed; Barbara asked for the passports which he had +received from the allied powers, in order, he said, not to be molested +by the local authorities. + +These documents were too important for Murat to consent to part with +them; perhaps the king was beginning to suspect: he refused. Barbara +insisted; Murat ordered him to land without the papers; Barbara flatly +refused. + +The king, accustomed to being obeyed, raised his riding-whip to strike +the Maltese, but, changing his resolution, he ordered the soldiers to +prepare their arms, the officers to put on full uniform; he himself set +the example. The disembarkation was decided upon, and Pizzo was to +become the Golfe Juan of the new Napoleon. + +Consequently the vessels were steered for land. The king got down into a +boat with twenty-eight soldiers and three servants, amongst whom was +Luidgi. As they drew near the shore General Franceschetti made a +movement as if to land, but Murat stopped him. + +"It is for me to land first," he said, and he sprang on shore. + +He was dressed in a general's coat, white breeches and riding-boots, a +belt carrying two pistols, a gold-embroidered hat with a cockade +fastened in with a clasp made of fourteen brilliants, and lastly he +carried under his arm the banner round which he hoped to rally his +partisans. The town clock of Pizzo struck ten. Murat went straight up to +the town, from which he was hardly a hundred yards distant. He followed +the wide stone staircase which led up to it. + +It was Sunday. Mass was about to be celebrated, and the whole population +had assembled in the Great Square when he arrived. No one recognised +him, and everyone gazed with astonishment at the fine officer. Presently +he saw amongst the peasants a former sergeant of his who had served in +his guard at Naples. He walked straight up to him and put his hand on +the man's shoulder. + +"Tavella," he said, "don't you recognise me?" + +But as the man made no answer: + +"I am Joachim Murat, I am your king," he said. "Yours be the honour to +shout 'Long live Joachim!' first." + +Murat's suite instantly made the air ring with acclamations, but the +Calabrians remained silent, and not one of his comrades took up the cry +for which the king himself had given the signal; on the contrary, a low +murmur ran through the crowd. Murat well understood this forerunner of +the storm. + +"Well," he said to Tavella, "if you won't cry 'Long live Joachim!' you +can at least fetch me a horse, and from sergeant I will promote you to +be captain." + +Tavella walked away without answering, but instead of carrying out the +king's behest, went into his house, and did not appear again. + +In the meantime the people were massing together without evincing any of +the sympathy that the king had hoped for. He felt that he was lost if he +did not act instantly. + +"To Monteleone!" he cried, springing forward towards the road which led +to that town. + +"To Monteleone!" shouted his officers and men, as they followed him. + +And the crowd, persistently silent, opened to let them pass. + +But they had hardly left the square before a great disturbance broke +out. A man named Giorgio Pellegrino came out of his house with a gun and +crossed the square, shouting, "To your arms!" + +He knew that Captain Trenta Capelli commanding the Cosenza garrison was +just then in Pizzo, and he was going to warn him. + +The cry "To arms!" had more effect on the crowd than the cry "Long live +Joachim!" + +Every Calabrian possesses a gun, and each one ran to fetch his, and when +Trenta Capelli and Giorgio Pellegrino came back to the square they found +nearly two hundred armed men there. + +They placed themselves at the head of the column, and hastened forward +in pursuit of the king; they came up with him about ten minutes from the +square, where the bridge is nowadays. Seeing them, Murat stopped and +waited for them. + +Trenta Capelli advanced, sword in hand, towards the king. + +"Sir," said the latter, "will you exchange your captain's epaulettes for +a general's? Cry 'Long live Joachim!' and follow me with these brave +fellows to Monteleone." + +"Sire," said Trenta Capelli, "we are the faithful subjects of King +Ferdinand, and we come to fight you, and not to bear you company. Give +yourself up, if you would prevent bloodshed." + +Murat looked at the captain with an expression which it would be +impossible to describe; then without deigning to answer, he signed to +Cagelli to move away, while his other hand went to his pistol. Giotgio +Pellegrino perceived the movement. + +"Down, captain, down!" he cried. The captain obeyed. Immediately a +bullet whistled over his head and brushed Murat's head. + +"Fire!" commanded Franceschetti. + +"Down with your arms!" cried Murat. + +Waving his handkerchief in his right hand, he made a step towards the +peasants, but at the same moment a number of shots were fired, an +officer and two or three men fell. In a case like this, when blood has +begun to flow, there is no stopping it. + +Murat knew this fatal truth, and his course of action was rapidly +decided on. Before him he had five hundred armed men, and behind him a +precipice thirty feet high: he sprang from the jagged rock on which he +was standing, and alighting on the sand, jumped up safe and sound. +General Franceschetti and his aide-de-camp Campana were able to +accomplish the jump in the same way, and all three went rapidly down to +the sea through the little wood which lay within a hundred yards of the +shore, and which hid them for a few moments from their enemies. + +As they came out of the wood a fresh discharge greeted them, bullets +whistled round them, but no one was hit, and the three fugitives went on +down to the beach. + +It was only then that the king perceived that the boat which had brought +them to land had gone off again. The three ships which composed the +fleet, far from remaining to guard his landing, were sailing away at +full speed into the open sea. + +The Maltese, Barbara, was going off not only with Murat's fortune, but +with his hopes likewise, his salvation, his very life. They could not +believe in such treachery, and the king took it for some manoeuvre of +seamanship, and seeing a fishing-boat drawn up on the beach on some +nets, he called to his two companions, "Launch that boat!" + +They all began to push it down to the sea with the energy of despair, +the strength of agony. + +No one had dared to leap from the rock in pursuit of them; their +enemies, forced to make a detour, left them a few moments of liberty. + +But soon shouts were heard: Giorgio Pellegrino, Trenta Capelli, followed +by the whole population of Pizzo, rushed out about a hundred and fifty +paces from where Murat, Franceschetti, and Campana were straining +themselves to make the boat glide down the sand. + +These cries were immediately followed by a volley. Campana fell, with a +bullet through his heart. + +The boat, however, was launched. Franceschetti sprang into it, Murat was +about to follow, but he had not observed that the spurs of his +riding-boots had caught in the meshes of the net. The boat, yielding to +the push he gave it, glided away, and the king fell head foremost, with +his feet on land and his face in the water. Before he had time to pick +himself up, the populace had fallen on him: in one instant they had torn +away his epaulettes, his banner, and his coat, and would have torn him +to bits himself, had not Giorgio Pellegrino and Trenta Capelli taken him +under their protection, and giving him an arm on each side, defended him +in their turn against the people. Thus he crossed the square as a +prisoner where an hour before he had walked as a king. + +His captors took him to the castle: he was pushed into the common +prison, the door was shut upon him, and the king found himself among +thieves and murderers, who, not knowing him, took him for a companion in +crime, and greeted him with foul language and hoots of derision. + +A quarter of an hour later the door of the gaol opened and Commander +Mattei came in: he found Murat standing with head proudly erect and +folded arms. There was an expression of indefinable loftiness in this +half-naked man whose face was stained with blood and bespattered with +mud. Mattei bowed before him. + +"Commander," said Murat, recognising his rank by his epaulettes, "look +round you and tell me whether this is a prison for a king." + +Then a strange thing happened: the criminals, who, believing Murat their +accomplice, had welcomed him with vociferations and laughter, now bent +before his royal majesty, which had not overawed Pellegrino and Trenta +Capelli, and retired silently to the depths of their dungeon. + +Misfortune had invested Murat with a new power. + +Commander Mattei murmured some excuse, and invited Murat to follow him +to a room that he had had prepared for him; but before going out, Murat +put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a handful of gold and let it +fall in a shower in the midst of the gaol. + +"See," he said, turning towards the prisoners, "it shall not be said +that you have received a visit from a king, prisoner and crownless as he +is, without having received largesse." + +"Long live Joachim!" cried the prisoners. + +Murat smiled bitterly. Those same words repeated by the same number of +voices an hour before in the public square, instead of resounding in the +prison, would have made him King of Naples. + +The most important events proceed sometimes from such mere trifles, that +it seems as if God and the devil must throw dice for the life or death +of men, for the rise or fall of empires. + +Murat followed Commander Mattei: he led him to a little room which the +porter had put at his disposal. Mattei was going to retire when Murat +called him back. + +"Commander," he said, "I want a scented bath." + +"Sire, it will be difficult to obtain." + +"Here are fifty ducats; let someone buy all the eau de Cologne that can +be obtained. Ah--and let some tailors be sent to me." + +"It will be impossible to find anyone here capable of making anything +but a peasant's clothes." + +"Send someone to Monteleone to fetch them from there." + +The commander bowed and went out. + +Murat was in his bath when the Lavaliere Alcala was announced, a General +and Governor of the town. He had sent damask coverlets, curtains, and +arm-chairs. Murat was touched by this attention, and it gave him fresh +composure. At two o'clock the same day General Nunziante arrived from +Santa-Tropea with three thousand men. Murat greeted his old acquaintance +with pleasure; but at the first word the king perceived that he was +before his judge, and that he had not come for the purpose of making a +visit, but to make an official inquiry. + +Murat contented himself with stating that he had been on his way from +Corsica to Trieste with a passport from the Emperor of Austria when +stormy weather and lack of provisions had forced him to put into Pizzo. +All other questions Murat met with a stubborn silence; then at least, +wearied by his importunity-- + +"General," he said, "can you lend me some clothes after my bath?" + +The general understood that he could expect no more information, and, +bowing to the king, he went out. Ten minutes later, a complete uniform +was brought to Murat; he put it on immediately, asked for a pen and ink, +wrote to the commander-in-chief of the Austrian troops at Naples, to the +English ambassador, and to his wife, to tell them of his detention at +Pizzo. These letters written, he got up and paced his room for some time +in evident agitation; at last, needing fresh air, he opened the window. +There was a view of the very beach where he had been captured. + +Two men were digging a hole in the sand at the foot of the little +redoubt. Murat watched them mechanically. When the two men had finished, +they went into a neighbouring house and soon came out, bearing a corpse +in their arms. + +The king searched his memory, and indeed it seemed to him that in the +midst of that terrible scene he had seen someone fall, but who it was he +no longer remembered. The corpse was quite without covering, but by the +long black hair and youthful outlines the king recognised Campana, the +aide-decamp he had always loved best. + +This scene, watched from a prison window in the twilight, this solitary +burial on the shore, in the sand, moved Murat more deeply than his own +fate. Great tears filled his eyes and fell silently down the leonine +face. At that moment General Nunziante came in and surprised him with +outstretched arms and face bathed with tears. Murat heard him enter and +turned round, and seeing the old soldier's surprise. + +"Yes, general," he said, "I weep; I weep for that boy, just twenty-four, +entrusted to me by his parents, whose death I have brought about. I weep +for that vast, brilliant future which is buried in an unknown grave, in +an enemy's country, on a hostile shore. Oh, Campana! Campana! if ever I +am king again, I will raise you a royal tomb." + +The general had had dinner served in an adjacent room. Murat followed +him and sat down to table, but he could not eat. The sight which he had +just witnessed had made him heartbroken, and yet without a line on his +brow that man had been through the battles of Aboukir, Eylau, and +Moscow! After dinner, Murat went into his room again, gave his various +letters to General Nunziante, and begged to be left alone. The general +went away. + +Murat paced round his room several times, walking with long steps, and +pausing from time to time before the window, but without opening it. + +At last he overcame a deep reluctance, put his hand on the bolt and drew +the lattice towards him. + +It was a calm, clear night: one could see the whole shore. He looked for +Campana's grave. Two dogs scratching the sand showed him the spot. + +The king shut the window violently, and without undressing threw himself +onto his bed. At last, fearing that his agitation would be attributed to +personal alarm, he undressed and went to bed, to sleep, or seem to sleep +all night. + +On the morning of the 9th the tailors whom Murat had asked for arrived. +He ordered a great many clothes, taking the trouble to explain all the +details suggested by his fastidious taste. He was thus employed when +General Nunziante came in. He listened sadly to the king's commands. He +had just received telegraphic despatches ordering him to try the King of +Naples by court-martial as a public enemy. But he found the king so +confident, so tranquil, almost cheerful indeed, that he had not the +heart to announce his trial to him, and took upon himself to delay the +opening of operation until he received written instructions. These +arrived on the evening of the 12th. They were couched in the following +terms: + + NAPLES, October 9, 1815 + + "Ferdinand, by the grace of God, etc . . . . wills and decrees + the following: + + "Art. 1. General Murat is to be tried by court-martial, the members + whereof are to be nominated by our Minister of War. + + "Art. 2. Only half an hour is to be accorded to the condemned for + the exercises of religion. + + "(Signed) FERDINAND." + +Another despatch from the minister contained the names of the members of +the commission. They were:-- + +Giuseppe Fosculo, adjutant, commander-in-chief of the staff, president. + +Laffaello Scalfaro, chief of the legion of Lower Calabria. + +Latereo Natali, lieutenant-colonel of the Royal Marines. + +Gennaro Lanzetta, lieutenant-colonel of the Engineers. + + W. T. captain of Artillery. + +Francois de Venge, ditto. + +Francesco Martellari, lieutenant of Artillery. + +Francesco Froio, lieutenant in the 3rd regiment of the line. + +Giovanni delta Camera, Public Prosecutor to the Criminal Courts of Lower +Calabria. + +Francesco Papavassi, registrar. + +The commission assembled that night. + +On the 13th October, at six o'clock in the morning, Captain Stratti came +into the king's prison; he was sound asleep. Stratti was going away +again, when he stumbled against a chair; the noise awoke Murat. + +"What do you want with me, captain?" asked the king. + +Stratti tried to speak, but his voice failed him. + +"Ah ha!" said Murat, "you must have had news from Naples." + +"Yes, sire," muttered Stratti. + +"What are they?" said Murat. + +"Your trial, sire." + +"And by whose order will sentence be pronounced, if you please? Where +will they find peers to judge me? If they consider me as a king, I must +have a tribunal of kings; if I am a marshal of France, I must have a +court of marshals; if I am a general, and that is the least I can be, I +must have a jury of generals." + +"Sire, you are declared a public enemy, and as such you are liable to be +judged by court-martial: that is the law which you instituted yourself +for rebels." + +"That law was made for brigands, and not for crowned heads, sir," said +Murat scornfully. "I am ready; let them butcher me if they like. I did +not think King Ferdinand capable of such an action." + +"Sire, will you not hear the names of your judges?" + +"Yes, sir, I will. It must be a curious list. Read it: I am listening." + +Captain Stratti read out the names that we have enumerated. Murat +listened with a disdainful smile. + +"Ah," he said, as the captain finished, "it seems that every precaution +has been taken." + +"How, sire?" + +"Yes. Don't you know that all these men, with the exception of Francesco +Froio, the reporter; owe their promotion to me? They will be afraid of +being accused of sparing me out of gratitude, and save one voice, +perhaps, the sentence will be unanimous." + +"Sire, suppose you were to appear before the court, to plead your own +cause?" + +"Silence, sir, silence!" said Murat. "I could, not officially recognise +the judges you have named without tearing too many pages of history. +Such tribunal is quite incompetent; I should be disgraced if I appeared +before it. I know I could not save my life, let me at least preserve my +royal dignity." + +At this moment Lieutenant Francesco Froio came in to interrogate the +prisoner, asking his name, his age, and his nationality. Hearing these +questions, Murat rose with an expression of sublime dignity. + +"I am Joachim Napoleon, King of the Two Sicilies," he answered, "and I +order you to leave me." + +The registrar obeyed. + +Then Murat partially dressed himself, and asked Stratti if he could +write a farewell to his wife and children. The Captain no longer able to +speak, answered by an affirmative sign; then Joachim sat down to the +table and wrote this letter: + +"DEAR CAROLINE OF MY HEART,--The fatal moment has come: I am to suffer +the death penalty. In an hour you will be a widow, our children will be +fatherless: remember me; never forget my memory. I die innocent; my life +is taken from me unjustly. + +"Good-bye, Achilles good-bye, Laetitia; goodbye, Lucien; good-bye, +Louise. + +"Show yourselves worthy of me; I leave you in a world and in a kingdom +full of my enemies. Show yourselves superior to adversity, and remember +never to think yourselves better than you are, remembering what you have +been. + +"Farewell. I bless you all. Never curse my memory. Remember that the +worst pang of my agony is in dying far from my children, far from my +wife, without a friend to close my eyes. Farewell, my own Caroline. +Farewell, my children. I send you my blessing, my most tender tears, my +last kisses. Farewell, farewell. Never forget your unhappy father, + +"Pizzo, Oct. 13, 1815" + +[We can guarantee the authenticity of this letter, having copied it +ourselves at Pizzo, from the Lavaliere Alcala's copy of the original] + +Then he cut off a lock of his hair and put it in his letter. Just then +General Nunziante came in; Murat went to him and held out his hand. + +"General," he said, "you are a father, you are a husband, one day you +will know what it is to part from your wife and sons. Swear to me that +this letter shall be delivered." + +"On my epaulettes," said the general, wiping his eyes. [Madame Murat +never received this letter.] + +"Come, come, courage, general," said Murat; "we are soldiers, we know +how to face death. One favour--you will let me give the order to fire, +will you not?" + +The general signed acquiescence: just then the registrar came in with +the king's sentence in his hand. + +Murat guessed what it was. + +"Read, sir," he said coldly; "I am listening." + +The registrar obeyed. Murat was right. + +The sentence of death had been carried with only one dissentient voice. + +When the reading was finished, the king turned again to Nunziante. + +"General," he said, "believe that I distinguish in my mind the +instrument which strikes me and the hand that wields that instrument. I +should never have thought that Ferdinand would have had me shot like a +dog; he does not hesitate apparently before such infamy. Very well. We +will say no more about it. I have challenged my judges, but not my +executioners. What time have you fixed for my execution?" + +"Will you fix it yourself, sir?" said the general. + +Murat pulled out a watch on which there was a portrait of his wife; by +chance he turned up the portrait, and not the face of the watch; he +gazed at it tenderly. + +"See, general," he said, showing it to Nunziante; "it is a portrait of +the queen. You know her; is it not like her?" + +The general turned away his head. Murat sighed and put away the watch. + +"Well, sire," said the registrar, "what time have you fixed?" + +"Ah yes," said Murat, smiling, "I forgot why I took out my watch when I +saw Caroline's portrait." + +Then he looked at his watch again, but this time at its face. + +"Well, it shall be at four o'clock, if you like; it is past three +o'clock. I ask for fifty minutes. Is that too much, sir?" + +The registrar bowed and went out. The general was about to follow him. + +"Shall I never see you again, Nunziante?" said Murat. + +"My orders are to be present at your death, sire, but I cannot do it." + +"Very well, general. I will dispense with your presence at the last +moment, but I should like to say farewell once more and to embrace you." + +"I will be near, sire." + +"Thank you. Now leave me alone." + +"Sire, there are two priests here." + +Murat made an impatient movement. + +"Will you receive them?" continued the general. + +"Yes; bring them in." + +The general went out. A moment later, two priests appeared in the +doorway. One of them was called Francesco Pellegrino, uncle of the man +who had caused the king's death; the other was Don Antonio Masdea. + +"What do you want here?" asked Murat. + +"We come to ask you if you are dying a Christian?" + +"I am dying as a soldier. Leave me." + +Don Francesco Pellegrino retired. No doubt he felt ill at ease before +Joachim. But Antonio Masdea remained at the door. + +"Did you not hear me?" asked the king. + +"Yes, indeed," answered the old man; "but permit me, sire, to hope that +it was not your last word to me. It is not, the first time that I see +you or beg something of you. I have already had occasion to ask a favour +of you." + +"What was that?" + +"When your Majesty came to Pizzo in 1810, I asked you for 25,000 francs +to enable us to finish our church. Your Majesty sent me 40,000 francs." + +"I must have foreseen that I should be buried there," said Murat, +smiling. + +"Ah, sire, I should like to think that you did not refuse my second boon +any more than my first. Sire, I entreat you on my knees." + +The old man fell at Murat's feet. + +"Die as a Christian!" + +"That would give you pleasure, then, would it?" said the king. + +"Sire, I would give the few short days remaining to me if God would +grant that His Holy Spirit should fall upon you in your last hour." + +"Well," said Murat, "hear my confession. I accuse myself of having been +disobedient to my parents as a child. Since I reached manhood I have +done nothing to reproach myself with." + +"Sire, will you give me an attestation that you die in the Christian +faith?" + +"Certainly," said Murat. + +And he took a pen and wrote: "I, Joachim Murat, die a Christian, +believing in the Holy Catholic Church, Apostolic and Roman." + +He signed it. + +"Now, father," continued the king, "if you have a third favour to ask of +me, make haste, for in half an hour it will be too late." + +Indeed, the castle clock was striking half-past three. The priest signed +that he had finished. + +"Then leave me alone," said Murat; and the old man went out. + +Murat paced his room for a few moments, then he sat down on his bed and +let his head fall into his hands. Doubtless, during the quarter of an +hour he remained thus absorbed in his thoughts, he saw his whole life +pass before him, from the inn where he had started to the palace he had +reached; no doubt his adventurous career unrolled itself before him like +some golden dream, some brilliant fiction, some tale from the Arabian +Nights. + +His life gleamed athwart the storm like a rainbow, and like a rainbow's, +its two extremities were lost in clouds--the clouds of birth and death. +At last he roused himself from this inward contemplation, and lifted a +pale but tranquil face. Then he went to the glass and arranged his hair. +His strange characteristics never left him. The affianced of Death, he +was adorning himself to meet his bride. + +Four o'clock struck. + +Murat went to the door himself and opened it. + +General Nunziante was waiting for him. + +"Thank you, general," said Murat. "You have kept your word. Kiss me, and +go at once, if you like." + +The general threw himself into the king's arms, weeping, and utterly +unable to speak. + +"Courage," said Murat. "You see I am calm." It was this very calmness +which broke the general's heart. He dashed out of the corridor, and left +the castle, running like a madman. + +Then the king walked out into the courtyard. + +Everything was ready for the execution. + +Nine men and a corporal were ranged before the door of the council +chamber. Opposite them was a wall twelve feet high. Three feet away from +the wall was a stone block: Murat mounted it, thus raising himself about +a foot above the soldiers who were to execute him. Then he took out his +watch,[Madame Murat recovered this watch at the price of 200 Louis] +kissed his wife's portrait, and fixing his eyes on it, gave the order to +fire. At the word of command five out of the nine men fired: Murat +remained standing. The soldiers had been ashamed to fire on their king, +and had aimed over his head. That moment perhaps displayed most +gloriously the lionlike courage which was Murat's special attribute. His +face never changed, he did not move a muscle; only gazing at the +soldiers with an expression of mingled bitterness and gratitude, he +said: + +"Thank you; my friends. Since sooner or later you will be obliged to aim +true, do not prolong my death-agonies. All I ask you is to aim at the +heart and spare the face. Now----" + +With the same voice, the same calm, the same expression, he repeated the +fatal words one after another, without lagging, without hastening, as if +he were giving an accustomed command; but this time, happier than the +first, at the word "Fire!" he fell pierced by eight bullets, without a +sigh, without a movement, still holding the watch in his left hand. + +The soldiers took up the body and laid it on the bed where ten minutes +before he had been sitting, and the captain put a guard at the door. + +In the evening a man presented himself, asking to go into the +death-chamber: the sentinel refused to let him in, and he demanded an +interview with the governor of the prison. Led before him, he produced +an order. The commander read it with surprise and disgust, but after +reading it he led the man to the door where he had been refused +entrance. + +"Pass the Signor Luidgi," he said to the sentinel. + +Ten minutes had hardly elapsed before he came out again, holding a +bloodstained handkerchief containing something to which the sentinel +could not give a name. + +An hour later, the carpenter brought the coffin which was to contain the +king's remains. The workman entered the room, but instantly called the +sentinel in a voice of indescribable terror. + +The sentinel half opened the door to see what had caused the man's +panic. + +The carpenter pointed to a headless corpse! + +At the death of King Ferdinand, that, head, preserved in spirits of +wine, was found in a secret cupboard in his bedroom. + +A week after the execution of Pizzo everyone had received his reward: +Trenta Capelli was made a colonel, General Nunziante a marquis, and +Luidgi died from the effects of poison. + + + + +*THE MARQUISE DE BRINVILLIERS* + + +Towards the end of the year 1665, on a fine autumn evening, there was a +considerable crowd assembled on the Pont-Neuf where it makes a turn down +to the rue Dauphine. The object of this crowd and the centre of +attraction was a closely shut, carriage. A police official was trying to +force open the door, and two out of the four sergeants who were with him +were holding the horses back and the other two stopping the driver, who +paid no attention to their commands, but only endeavoured to urge his +horses to a gallop. The struggle had been going on same time, when +suddenly one of the doors violently pushed open, and a young officer in +the uniform of a cavalry captain jumped down, shutting the door as he +did so though not too quickly for the nearest spectators to perceive a +woman sitting at the back of the carriage. She was wrapped in cloak and +veil, and judging by the precautions she, had taken to hide her face +from every eye, she must have had her reasons for avoiding recognition. + +"Sir," said the young man, addressing the officer with a haughty air, "I +presume, till I find myself mistaken, that your business is with me +alone; so I will ask you to inform me what powers you may have for thus +stopping my coach; also, since I have alighted, I desire you to give +your men orders to let the vehicle go on." + +"First of all," replied the man, by no means intimidated by these lordly +airs, but signing to his men that they must not release the coach or the +horses, "be so good as to answer my questions." + +"I am attending," said the young man, controlling his agitation by a +visible effort. + +"Are you the Chevalier Gaudin de Sainte-Croix?" + +"I am he." + +"Captain of the Tracy, regiment?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Then I arrest you in the king's name." + +"What powers have you?" + +"This warrant." + +Sainte-Croix cast a rapid glance at the paper, and instantly recognised +the signature of the minister of police: he then apparently confined his +attention to the woman who was still in the carriage; then he returned +to his first question. + +"This is all very well, sir," he said to the officer, "but this warrant +contains no other name than mine, and so you have no right to expose +thus to the public gaze the lady with whom I was travelling when you +arrested me. I must beg of you to order your assistants to allow this +carriage to drive on; then take me where you please, for I am ready to +go with you." + +To the officer this request seemed a just one: he signed to his men to +let the driver and the horses go on; and, they, who had waited only for +this, lost no time in breaking through the crowd, which melted away +before them; thus the woman escaped for whose safety the prisoner seemed +so much concerned. + +Sainte-Croix kept his promise and offered no resistance; for some +moments he followed the officer, surrounded by a crowd which seemed to +have transferred all its curiosity to his account; then, at the corner +of the Quai de d'Horloge, a man called up a carriage that had not been +observed before, and Sainte-Croix took his place with the same haughty +and disdainful air that he had shown throughout the scene we have just +described. The officer sat beside him, two of his men got up behind, and +the other two, obeying no doubt their master's orders, retired with a +parting direction to the driver. + +"The Bastille!" + +Our readers will now permit us to make them more fully acquainted with +the man who is to take the first place in the story. The origin of +Gaudin de Sainte-Croix was not known: according to one tale, he was the +natural son of a great lord; another account declared that he was the +offspring of poor people, but that, disgusted with his obscure birth, he +preferred a splendid disgrace, and therefore chose to pass for what he +was not. The only certainty is that he was born at Montauban, and in +actual rank and position he was captain of the Tracy regiment. At the +time when this narrative opens, towards the end of 1665, Sainte-Croix +was about twenty-eight or thirty, a fine young man of cheerful and +lively appearance, a merry comrade at a banquet, and an excellent +captain: he took his pleasure with other men, and was so impressionable +a character that he enjoyed a virtuous project as well as any plan for a +debauch; in love he was most susceptible, and jealous to the point of +madness even about a courtesan, had she once taken his fancy; his +prodigality was princely, although he had no income; further, he was +most sensitive to slights, as all men are who, because they are placed +in an equivocal position, fancy that everyone who makes any reference to +their origin is offering an intentional insult. + +We must now see by what a chain of circumstances he had arrived at his +present position. About the year 1660, Sainte-Croix, while in the army, +had made the acquaintance of the Marquis de Brinvilliers, maitre-de-camp +of the Normandy regiment. + +Their age was much the same, and so was their manner of life: their +virtues and their vices were similar, and thus it happened that a mere +acquaintance grew into a friendship, and on his return from the field +the marquis introduced Sainte-Croix to his wife, and he became an +intimate of the house. The usual results followed. Madame de +Brinvilliers was then scarcely eight-and-twenty: she had married the +marquis in 1651-that is, nine years before. He enjoyed an income of +30,000 livres, to which she added her dowry of 200,000 livres, exclusive +of her expectations in the future. Her name was Marie-Madeleine; she had +a sister and two brothers: her father, M. de Dreux d'Aubray; was civil +lieutenant at the Chatelet de Paris. At the age of twenty-eight the +marquise was at the height of her beauty: her figure was small but +perfectly proportioned; her rounded face was charmingly pretty; her +features, so regular that no emotion seemed to alter their beauty, +suggested the lines of a statue miraculously endowed with life: it was +easy enough to mistake for the repose of a happy conscience the cold, +cruel calm which served as a mask to cover remorse. + +Sainte-Croix and the marquise loved at first sight, and she was soon his +mistress. The marquis, perhaps endowed with the conjugal philosophy +which alone pleased the taste of the period, perhaps too much occupied +with his own pleasure to see what was going on before his eyes, offered +no jealous obstacle to the intimacy, and continued his foolish +extravagances long after they had impaired his fortunes: his affairs +became so entangled that the marquise, who cared for him no longer, and +desired a fuller liberty for the indulgence of her new passion, demanded +and obtained a separation. She then left her husband's house, and +henceforth abandoning all discretion, appeared everywhere in public with +Sainte-Croix. This behaviour, authorised as it was by the example of the +highest nobility, made no impression upon the. Marquis of Brinvilliers, +who merrily pursued the road to ruin, without worrying about his wife's +behaviour. Not so M. de Dreux d'Aubray: he had the scrupulosity of a +legal dignitary. He was scandalised at his daughter's conduct, and +feared a stain upon his own fair name: he procured a warrant for the +arrest of Sainte-Croix wheresoever the bearer might chance to encounter +him. We have seen how it was put in execution when Sainte-Croix was +driving in the carriage of the marquise, whom our readers will doubtless +have recognised as the woman who concealed herself so carefully. + +From one's knowledge of the character of Sainte-Croix, it is easy to +imagine that he had to use great self-control to govern the anger he +felt at being arrested in the middle of the street; thus, although +during the whole drive he uttered not a single word, it was plain to see +that a terrible storm was gathering, soon to break. But he preserved the +same impossibility both at the opening and shutting of the fatal gates, +which, like the gates of hell, had so often bidden those who entered +abandon all hope on their threshold, and again when he replied to the +formal questions put to him by the governor. His voice was calm, and +when they gave him they prison register he signed it with a steady hand. +At once a gaoler, taking his orders from the governor, bade him follow: +after traversing various corridors, cold and damp, where the daylight +might sometimes enter but fresh air never, he opened a door, and +Sainte-Croix had no sooner entered than he heard it locked behind him. + +At the grating of the lock he turned. The gaoler had left him with no +light but the rays of the moon, which, shining through a barred window +some eight or ten feet from the ground, shed a gleam upon a miserable +truckle-bed and left the rest of the room in deep obscurity. The +prisoner stood still for a moment and listened; then, when he had heard +the steps die away in the distance and knew himself to be alone at last, +he fell upon the bed with a cry more like the roaring of a wild beast +than any human sound: he cursed his fellow-man who had snatched him from +his joyous life to plunge him into a dungeon; he cursed his God who had +let this happen; he cried aloud to whatever powers might be that could +grant him revenge and liberty. + +Just at that moment, as though summoned by these words from the bowels +of the earth, a man slowly stepped into the circle of blue light that +fell from the window-a man thin and pale, a man with long hair, in a +black doublet, who approached the foot of the bed where Sainte-Croix +lay. Brave as he was, this apparition so fully answered to his prayers +(and at the period the power of incantation and magic was still believed +in) that he felt no doubt that the arch-enemy of the human race, who is +continually at hand, had heard him and had now come in answer to his +prayers. He sat up on the bed, feeling mechanically at the place where +the handle of his sword would have been but two hours since, feeling his +hair stand on end, and a cold sweat began to stream down his face as the +strange fantastic being step by step approached him. At length the +apparition paused, the prisoner and he stood face to face for a moment, +their eyes riveted; then the mysterious stranger spoke in gloomy tones. + +"Young man," said he, "you have prayed to the devil for vengeance on the +men who have taken you, for help against the God who has abandoned you. +I have the means, and I am here to proffer it. Have you the courage to +accept?" + +"First of all," asked Sainte-Croix; "who are you?" + +"Why seek you to know who I am," replied the unknown, "at the very +moment when I come at your call, and bring what you desire?" + +"All the same," said Sainte-Croix, still attributing what he heard to a +supernatural being, "when one makes a compact of this kind, one prefers +to know with whom one is treating." + +"Well, since you must know," said the stranger, "I am the Italian +Exili." + +Sainte-Croix shuddered anew, passing from a supernatural vision to a +horrible reality. The name he had just heard had a terrible notoriety at +the time, not only in France but in Italy as well. Exili had been driven +out of Rome, charged with many poisonings, which, however, could not be +satisfactorily brought home to him. He had gone to Paris, and there, as +in his native country, he had drawn the eyes of the authorities upon +himself; but neither in Paris nor in Rome was he, the pupil of Rene and +of Trophana, convicted of guilt. All the same, though proof was wanting, +his enormities were so well accredited that there was no scruple as to +having him arrested. A warrant was out against him: Exili was taken up, +and was lodged in the Bastille. He had been there about six months when +Sainte-Croix was brought to the same place. The prisoners were numerous +just then, so the governor had his new guest put up in the same room as +the old one, mating Exili and Sainte-Croix, not knowing that they were a +pair of demons. Our readers now understand the rest. Sainte-Croix was +put into an unlighted room by the gaoler, and in the dark had failed to +see his companion: he had abandoned himself to his rage, his +imprecations had revealed his state of mind to Exili, who at once seized +the occasion for gaining a devoted and powerful disciple, who once out +of prison might open the doors for him, perhaps, or at least avenge his +fate should he be incarcerated for life. + +The repugnance felt by Sainte-Croix for his fellow-prisoner did not last +long, and the clever master found his pupil apt. Sainte-Croix, a strange +mixture of qualities good and evil, had reached the supreme crisis of +his life, when the powers of darkness or of light were to prevail. +Maybe, if he had met some angelic soul at this point, he would have been +led to God; he encountered a demon, who conducted him to Satan. + +Exili was no vulgar poisoner: he was a great artist in poisons, +comparable with the Medici or the Borgias. For him murder was a fine +art, and he had reduced it to fixed and rigid rules: he had arrived at a +point when he was guided not by his personal interest but by a taste for +experiment. God has reserved the act of creation for Himself, but has +suffered destruction to be within the scope of man: man therefore +supposes that in destroying life he is God's equal. Such was the nature +of Exili's pride: he was the dark, pale alchemist of death: others might +seek the mighty secret of life, but he had found the secret of +destruction. + +For a time Sainte-Croix hesitated: at last he yielded to the taunts of +his companion, who accused Frenchmen of showing too much honour in their +crimes, of allowing themselves to be involved in the ruin of their +enemies, whereas they might easily survive them and triumph over their +destruction. In opposition to this French gallantry, which often +involves the murderer in a death more cruel than that he has given, he +pointed to the Florentine traitor with his amiable smile and his deadly +poison. He indicated certain powders and potions, some of them of dull +action, wearing out the victim so slowly that he dies after long +suffering; others violent and so quick, that they kill like a flash of +lightning, leaving not even time for a single cry. Little by little +Sainte-Croix became interested in the ghastly science that puts the +lives of all men in the hand of one. He joined in Exili's experiments; +then he grew clever enough to make them for himself; and when, at the +year's end, he left the Bastille, the pupil was almost as accomplished +as his master. + +Sainte-Croix returned into that society which had banished him, +fortified by a fatal secret by whose aid he could repay all the evil he +had received. Soon afterwards Exili was set free--how it happened is not +known--and sought out Sainte-Croix, who let him a room in the name of +his steward, Martin de Breuille, a room situated in the blind, alley off +the Place Maubert, owned by a woman called Brunet. + +It is not known whether Sainte-Croix had an opportunity of seeing the +Marquise de Brinvilliers during his sojourn in the Bastille, but it is +certain that as soon as he was a free man the lovers were more attached +than ever. They had learned by experience, however, of what they had to +fear; so they resolved that they would at once make trial of +Sainte-Croix's newly acquired knowledge, and M. d'Aubray was selected by +his daughter for the first victim. At one blow she would free herself +from the inconvenience of his rigid censorship, and by inheriting his +goods would repair her own fortune, which had been almost dissipated by +her husband. But in trying such a bold stroke one must be very sure of +results, so the marquise decided to experiment beforehand on another +person. Accordingly, when one day after luncheon her maid, Francoise +Roussel, came into her room, she gave her a slice of mutton and some +preserved gooseberries for her own meal. The girl unsuspiciously ate +what her mistress gave her, but almost at once felt ill, saying she had +severe pain in the stomach, and a sensation as though her heart were +being pricked with pins. But she did not die, and the marquise perceived +that the poison needed to be made stronger, and returned it to +Sainte-Croix, who brought her some more in a few days' time. + +The moment had come for action. M. d'Aubray, tired with business, was to +spend a holiday at his castle called Offemont. The marquise offered to +go with him. M. d'Aubray, who supposed her relations with Sainte-Croix +to be quite broken off, joyfully accepted. Offemont was exactly the +place for a crime of this nature. In the middle of the forest of Aigue, +three or four miles from Compiegne, it would be impossible to get +efficient help before the rapid action of the poison had made it +useless. + + M. d'Aubray started with his daughter and one servant only. Never had + the marquise been so devoted to her father, so especially + attentive, as she was during this journey. And M. d'Aubray, like + Christ--who though He had no children had a father's heart--loved + his repentant daughter more than if she had never strayed. And then + the marquise profited by the terrible calm look which we have + already noticed in her face: always with her father, sleeping in a + room adjoining his, eating with him, caring for his comfort in + every way, thoughtful and affectionate, allowing no other person to + do anything for him, she had to present a smiling face, in which + the most suspicious eye could detect nothing but filial tenderness, + though the vilest projects were in her heart. With this mask she + one evening offered him some soup that was poisoned. He took it; + with her eyes she saw him put it to his lips, watched him drink it + down, and with a brazen countenance she gave no outward sign of + that terrible anxiety that must have been pressing on her heart. + When he had drunk it all, and she had taken with steady hands the + cup and its saucer, she went back to her own room, waited and + listened.... + +The effect was rapid. The marquise heard her father moan; then she heard +groans. At last, unable to endure his sufferings, he called out to his +daughter. The marquise went to him. But now her face showed signs of the +liveliest anxiety, and it was for M. d'Aubray to try to reassure her +about himself! He thought it was only a trifling indisposition, and was +not willing that a doctor should be disturbed. But then he was seized by +a frightful vomiting, followed by such unendurable pain that he yielded +to his daughter's entreaty that she should send for help. A doctor +arrived at about eight o'clock in the morning, but by that time all that +could have helped a scientific inquiry had been disposed of: the doctor +saw nothing, in M. d'Aubray's story but what might be accounted for by +indigestion; so he dosed him, and went back to Compiegne. + +All that day the marquise never left the sick man. At night she had a +bed made up in his room, declaring that no one else must sit up with +him; thus she, was able to watch the progress of the malady and see with +her own eyes the conflict between death and life in the body of her +father. The next day the doctor came again: M. d'Aubray was worse; the +nausea had ceased, but the pains in the stomach were now more acute; a +strange fire seemed to burn his vitals; and a treatment was ordered +which necessitated his return to Paris. He was soon so weak that he +thought it might be best to go only so far as Compiegne, but the +marquise was so insistent as to the necessity for further and better +advice than anything he could get away from home, that M. d'Aubray +decided to go. He made the journey in his own carriage, leaning upon his +daughter's shoulder; the behaviour of the marquise was always the same: +at last M. d'Aubray reached Paris. All had taken place as the marquise +desired; for the scene was now changed: the doctor who had witnessed the +symptoms would not be present at the death; no one could discover the +cause by studying the progress of the disorder; the thread of +investigation was snapped in two, and the two ends were now too distant +to be joined again. In spite, of every possible attention, M. d'Aubray +grew continually worse; the marquise was faithful to her mission, and +never left him for an hour. At list, after four days of agony, he died +in his daughter's arms, blessing the woman who was his murderess. Her +grief then broke forth uncontrolled. Her sobs and tears were so vehement +that her brothers' grief seemed cold beside hers. Nobody suspected a +crime, so no autopsy was held; the tomb was closed, and not the +slightest suspicion had approached her. + +But the marquise had only gained half her purpose. She had now more +freedom for her love affairs, but her father's dispositions were not so +favourable as she expected: the greater part of his property, together +with his business, passed to the elder brother and to the second +brother, who was Parliamentary councillor; the position of, the marquise +was very little improved in point of fortune. + +Sainte-Croix was leading a fine and joyous life. Although nobody +supposed him to be wealthy, he had a steward called Martin, three +lackeys called George, Lapierre, and Lachaussee, and besides his coach +and other carriages he kept ordinary bearers for excursions at night. As +he was young and good-looking, nobody troubled about where all these +luxuries came from. It was quite the custom in those days that a +well-set-up young gentleman should want for nothing, and Sainte-Croix +was commonly said to have found the philosopher's stone. In his life in +the world he had formed friendships with various persons, some noble, +some rich: among the latter was a man named Reich de Penautier, +receiver-general of the clergy and treasurer of the States of Languedoc, +a millionaire, and one of those men who are always successful, and who +seem able by the help of their money to arrange matters that would +appear to be in the province of God alone. This Penautier was connected +in business with a man called d'Alibert, his first clerk, who died all +of a sudden of apoplexy. The attack was known to Penautier sooner than +to his own family: then the papers about the conditions of partnership +disappeared, no one knew how, and d'Alibert's wife and child were +ruined. D'Alibert's brother-in-law, who was Sieur de la Magdelaine, felt +certain vague suspicions concerning this death, and wished to get to the +bottom of it; he accordingly began investigations, which were suddenly +brought to an end by his death. + +In one way alone Fortune seemed to have abandoned her favourite: Maitre +Penautier had a great desire to succeed the Sieur of Mennevillette, who +was receiver of the clergy, and this office was worth nearly 60,000 +livres. Penautier knew that Mennevillette was retiring in favour of his +chief clerk, Messire Pierre Hannyvel, Sieur de Saint-Laurent, and he had +taken all the necessary, steps for buying the place over his head: the +Sieur de Saint-Laurent, with the full support of the clergy, obtained +the reversion for nothing--a thing that never happened before. Penautier +then offered him 40,000 crowns to go halves, but Saint-Laurent refused. +Their relations, however, were not broken off, and they continued to +meet. Penautier was considered such a lucky fellow that it was generally +expected he would somehow or other get some day the post he coveted so +highly. People who had no faith in the mysteries of alchemy declared +that Sainte-Croix and Penautier did business together. + +Now, when the period for mourning was over, the relations of the +marquise and Sainte-Croix were as open and public as before: the two +brothers d'Aubray expostulated with her by the medium of an older sister +who was in a Carmelite nunnery, and the marquise perceived that her +father had on his death bequeathed the care and supervision of her to +her brothers. Thus her first crime had been all but in vain: she had +wanted to get rid of her father's rebukes and to gain his fortune; as a +fact the fortune was diminished by reason of her elder brothers, and she +had scarcely enough to pay her debts; while the rebukes were renewed +from the mouths of her brothers, one of whom, being civil lieutenant, +had the power to separate her again from her lover. This must be +prevented. Lachaussee left the service of Sainte-Croix, and by a +contrivance of the marquise was installed three months later as servant +of the elder brother, who lived with the civil lieutenant. The poison to +be used on this occasion was not so swift as the one taken by M. +d'Aubray so violent a death happening so soon in the same family might +arouse suspicion. Experiments were tried once more, not on animals--for +their different organisation might put the poisoner's science in the +wrong--but as before upon human subjects; as before, a 'corpus vili' was +taken. The marquise had the reputation of a pious and charitable lady; +seldom did she fail to relieve the poor who appealed: more than this, +she took part in the work of those devoted women who are pledged to the +service of the sick, and she walked the hospitals and presented wine and +other medicaments. No one was surprised when she appeared in her +ordinary way at l'Hotel-Dieu. This time she brought biscuits and cakes +for the convalescent patients, her gifts being, as usual, gratefully +received. A month later she paid another visit, and inquired after +certain patients in whom she was particularly interested: since the last +time she came they had suffered a relapse--the malady had changed in +nature, and had shown graver symptoms. It was a kind of deadly fatigue, +killing them by a slows strange decay. She asked questions of the +doctors but could learn nothing: this malady was unknown to them, and +defied all the resources of their art. A fortnight later she returned. +Some of the sick people were dead, others still alive, but desperately +ill; living skeletons, all that seemed left of them was sight, speech, +and breath. At the end of two months they were all dead, and the +physicians had been as much at a loss over the post-mortems as over the +treatment of the dying. + +Experiments of this kind were reassuring; so Lachaussee had orders to +carry out his instructions. One day the civil lieutenant rang his bell, +and Lachaussee, who served the councillor, as we said before, came up +for orders. He found the lieutenant at work with his secretary, Couste +what he wanted was a glass of wine and water. In a moment Lachaussee +brought it in. The lieutenant put the glass to his lips, but at the +first sip pushed it away, crying, "What have you brought, you wretch? I +believe you want to poison me." Then handing the glass to his secretary, +he added, "Look at it, Couste: what is this stuff?" The secretary put a +few drops into a coffee-spoon, lifting it to his nose and then to his +mouth: the drink had the smell and taste of vitriol. Meanwhile +Lachaussee went up to the secretary and told him he knew what it must +be: one of the councillor's valets had taken a dose of medicine that +morning, and without noticing he must have brought the very glass his +companion had used. Saying this, he took the glass from the secretary's +hand, put it to his lips, pretending to taste it himself, and then said +he had no doubt it was so, for he recognised the smell. He then threw +the wine into the fireplace. + +As the lieutenant had not drunk enough to be upset by it, he soon forgot +this incident and the suspicions that had been aroused at the moment in +his mind. Sainte-Croix and the marquise perceived that they had made a +false step, and at the risk of involving several people in their plan +for vengeance, they decided on the employment of other means. Three +months passed without any favourable occasion presenting itself; at +last, on one of the early days of April 1670, the lieutenant took his +brother to his country place, Villequoy, in Beauce, to spend the Easter +vacation. Lachaussee was with his master, and received his instructions +at the moment of departure. + +The day after they arrived in the country there was a pigeon-pie for +dinner: seven persons who had eaten it felt indisposed after the meal, +and the three who had not taken it were perfectly well. Those on whom +the poisonous substance had chiefly acted were the lieutenant, the +councillor, and the commandant of the watch. He may have eaten more, or +possibly the poison he had tasted on the former occasion helped, but at +any rate the lieutenant was the first to be attacked with vomiting two +hours later, the councillor showed the same symptoms; the commandant and +the others were a prey for several hours to frightful internal pains; +but from the beginning their condition was not nearly so grave as that +of the two brothers. This time again, as usual, the help of doctors was +useless. On the 12th of April, five days after they had been poisoned, +the lieutenant and his brother returned to Paris so changed that anyone +would have thought they had both suffered a long and cruel illness. +Madame de Brinvilliers was in the country at the time, and did not come +back during the whole time that her brothers were ill. From the very +first consultation in the lieutenant's case the doctors entertained no +hope. The symptoms were the same as those to which his father had +succumbed, and they supposed it was an unknown disease in the family. +They gave up all hope of recovery. Indeed, his state grew worse and +worse; he felt an unconquerable aversion for every kind of food, and the +vomiting was incessant. The last three days of his life he complained +that a fire was burning in his breast, and the flames that burned within +seemed to blaze forth at his eyes, the only part of his body that +appeared to live, so like a corpse was all the rest of him. On the 17th +of June 1670 he died: the poison had taken seventy-two days to complete +its work. Suspicion began to dawn: the lieutenant's body was opened, and +a formal report was drawn up. The operation was performed in the +presence of the surgeons Dupre and Durant, and Gavart, the apothecary, +by M. Bachot, the brothers' private physician. They found the stomach +and duodenum to be black and falling to pieces, the liver burnt and +gangrened. They said that this state of things must have been produced +by poison, but as the presence of certain bodily humours sometimes +produces similar appearances, they durst not declare that the +lieutenant's death could not have come about by natural causes, and he +was buried without further inquiry. + +It was as his private physician that Dr. Bachot had asked for the +autopsy of his patient's brother. For the younger brother seemed to have +been attacked by the same complaint, and the doctor hoped to find from +the death of the one some means for preserving the life of the other. +The councillor was in a violent fever, agitated unceasingly both in body +and mind: he could not bear any position of any kind for more than a few +minutes at a time. Bed was a place of torture; but if he got up, he +cried for it again, at least for a change of suffering. At the end of +three months he died. His stomach, duodenum, and liver were all in the +same corrupt state as his brother's, and more than that, the surface of +his body was burnt away. This, said the doctors; was no dubious sign of +poisoning; although, they added, it sometimes happened that a +'cacochyme' produced the same effect. Lachaussee was so far from being +suspected, that the councillor, in recognition of the care he had +bestowed on him in his last illness, left him in his will a legacy of a +hundred crowns; moreover, he received a thousand francs from +Sainte-Croix and the marquise. + +So great a disaster in one family, however, was not only sad but +alarming. Death knows no hatred: death is deaf and blind, nothing more, +and astonishment was felt at this ruthless destruction of all who bore +one name. Still nobody suspected the true culprits, search was +fruitless, inquiries led nowhere: the marquise put on mourning for her +brothers, Sainte-Croix continued in his path of folly, and all things +went on as before. Meanwhile Sainte-Croix had made the acquaintance of +the Sieur de Saint Laurent, the same man from whom Penautier had asked +for a post without success, and had made friends with him. Penautier had +meanwhile become the heir of his father-in-law, the Sieur Lesecq, whose +death had most unexpectedly occurred; he had thereby gained a second +post in Languedoc and an immense property: still, he coveted the place +of receiver of the clergy. Chance now once more helped him: a few days +after taking over from Sainte-Croix a man-servant named George, M. de +Saint-Laurent fell sick, and his illness showed symptoms similar to +those observed in the case of the d'Aubrays, father and sons; but it was +more rapid, lasting only twenty-four hours. Like them, M. de +Saint-Laurent died a prey to frightful tortures. The same day an officer +from the sovereign's court came to see him, heard every detail connected +with his friend's death, and when told of the symptoms said before the +servants to Sainfray the notary that it would be necessary to examine +the body. An hour later George disappeared, saying nothing to anybody, +and not even asking for his wages. Suspicions were excited; but again +they remained vague. The autopsy showed a state of things not precisely +to be called peculiar to poisoning cases the intestines, which the fatal +poison had not had time to burn as in the case of the d'Aubrays, were +marked with reddish spots like flea-bites. In June Penautier obtained +the post that had been held by the Sieur de Saint-Laurent. + +But the widow had certain suspicions which were changed into something +like certainty by George's flight. A particular circumstance aided and +almost confirmed her doubts. An abbe who was a friend of her husband, +and knew all about the disappearance of George, met him some days +afterwards in the rue des Masons, near the Sorbonne. They were both on +the same side, and a hay-cart coming along the street was causing a +block. George raised his head and saw the abbe, knew him as a friend of +his late master, stooped under the cart and crawled to the other side, +thus at the risk of being crushed escaping from the eyes of a man whose +appearance recalled his crime and inspired him with fear of punishment. +Madame de Saint-Laurent preferred a charge against George, but though he +was sought for everywhere, he could never be found. Still the report of +these strange deaths, so sudden and so incomprehensible, was bruited +about Paris, and people began to feel frightened. Sainte-Croix, always +in the gay world, encountered the talk in drawing-rooms, and began to +feel a little uneasy. True, no suspicion pointed as yet in his +direction; but it was as well to take precautions, and Sainte-Croix +began to consider how he could be freed from anxiety. There was a post +in the king's service soon to be vacant, which would cost 100,000 +crowns; and although Sainte-Croix had no apparent means, it was rumoured +that he was about to purchase it. He first addressed himself to +Belleguise to treat about this affair with Penautier. There was some +difficulty, however, to be encountered in this quarter. The sum was a +large one, and Penautier no longer required help; he had already come +into all the inheritance he looked for, and so he tried to throw cold +water on the project. + +Sainte-Croix thus wrote to Belleguise: + +"DEAR FRIEND,--Is it possible that you need any more talking to about +the matter you know of, so important as it is, and, maybe, able to give +us peace and quiet for the rest of our days! I really think the devil +must be in it, or else you simply will not be sensible: do show your +common sense, my good man, and look at it from all points of view; take +it at its very worst, and you still ought to feel bound to serve me, +seeing how I have made everything all right for you: all our interests +are together in this matter. Do help me, I beg of you; you may feel sure +I shall be deeply grateful, and you will never before have acted so +agreeably both for me and for yourself. You know quite enough about it, +for I have not spoken so openly even to my own brother as I have to you. +If you can come this afternoon, I shall be either at the house or quite +near at hand, you know where I mean, or I will expect you tomorrow +morning, or I will come and find you, according to what you +reply.--Always yours with all my heart." + +The house meant by Sainte-Croix was in the rue des Bernardins, and the +place near at hand where he was to wait for Belleguise was the room he +leased from the widow Brunet, in the blind alley out of the Place +Maubert. It was in this room and at the apothecary Glazer's that +Sainte-Croix made his experiments; but in accordance with poetical +justice, the manipulation of the poisons proved fatal to the workers +themselves. The apothecary fell ill and died; Martin was attacked by +fearful sickness, which brought, him to death's door. Sainte-Croix was +unwell, and could not even go out, though he did not know what was the +matter. He had a furnace brought round to his house from Glazer's, and +ill as he was, went on with the experiments. Sainte-Croix was then +seeking to make a poison so subtle that the very effluvia might be +fatal. He had heard of the poisoned napkin given to the young dauphin, +elder brother of Charles VII, to wipe his hands on during a game of +tennis, and knew that the contact had caused his death; and the still +discussed tradition had informed him of the gloves of Jeanne d'Albret; +the secret was lost, but Sainte-Croix hoped to recover it. And then +there happened one of those strange accidents which seem to be not the +hand of chance but a punishment from Heaven. At the very moment when +Sainte-Croix was bending over his furnace, watching the fatal +preparation as it became hotter and hotter, the glass mask which he wore +over his face as a protection from any poisonous exhalations that might +rise up from the mixture, suddenly dropped off, and Sainte-Croix dropped +to the ground as though felled by a lightning stroke. At supper-time, +his wife finding that he did not come out from his closet where he was +shut in, knocked at the door, and received no answer; knowing that her +husband was wont to busy himself with dark and mysterious matters, she +feared some disaster had occurred. She called her servants, who broke in +the door. Then she found Sainte-Croix stretched out beside the furnace, +the broken glass lying by his side. It was impossible to deceive the +public as to the circumstances of this strange and sudden death: the +servants had seen the corpse, and they talked. The commissary Picard was +ordered to affix the seals, and all the widow could do was to remove the +furnace and the fragments of the glass mask. + +The noise of the event soon spread all over Paris. Sainte-Croix was +extremely well known, and the, news that he was about to purchase a post +in the court had made him known even more widely. Lachaussee was one of +the first to learn of his master's death; and hearing that a seal had +been set upon his room, he hastened to put in an objection in these +terms: + +"Objection of Lachaussee, who asserts that for seven years he was in the +service of the deceased; that he had given into his charge, two years +earlier, 100 pistoles and 200 white crowns, which should be found in a +cloth bag under the closet window, and in the same a paper stating that +the said sum belonged to him, together with the transfer of 300 livres +owed to him by the late M. d'Aubray, councillor; the said transfer made +by him at Laserre, together with three receipts from his master of +apprenticeship, 100 livres each: these moneys and papers he claims." + +To Lachaussee the reply was given that he must wait till the day when +the seals were broken, and then if all was as he said, his property +would be returned. + +But Lachaussee was not the only person who was agitated about the death +of Sainte-Croix. The, marquise, who was familiar with all the secrets of +this fatal closet, had hurried to the commissary as 2496 soon as she +heard of the event, and although it was ten o'clock at night had +demanded to speak with him. But he had replied by his head clerk, Pierre +Frater, that he was in bed; the marquise insisted, begging them to rouse +him up, for she wanted a box that she could not allow to have opened. +The clerk then went up to the Sieur Picard's bedroom, but came back +saying that what the marquise demanded was for the time being an +impossibility, for the commissary was asleep. She saw that it was idle +to insist, and went away, saying that she should send a man the next +morning to fetch the box. In the morning the man came, offering fifty +Louis to the commissary on behalf of the marquise, if he would give her +the box. But he replied that the box was in the sealed room, that it +would have to be opened, and that if the objects claimed by the marquise +were really hers, they would be safely handed over to her. This reply +struck the marquise like a thunderbolt. There was no time to be lost: +hastily she removed from the rue Neuve-Saint-Paul, where her town house +was, to Picpus, her country place. Thence she posted the same evening to +Liege, arriving the next morning, and retired to a convent. + +The seals had been set on the 31st of July 1672, and they were taken off +on the 8th of August following. Just as they set to work a lawyer +charged with full powers of acting for the marquise, appeared and put in +the following statement: "Alexandre Delamarre, lawyer acting for the +Marquise de Brinvilliers, has come forward, and declares that if in the +box claimed by his client there is found a promise signed by her for the +sum of 30,000 livres, it is a paper taken from her by fraud, against +which, in case of her signature being verified, she intends to lodge an +appeal for nullification." This formality over, they proceeded to open +Sainte-Croix's closet: the key was handed to the commissary Picard by a +Carmelite called Friar Victorin. The commissary opened the door, and +entered with the parties interested, the officers, and the widow, and +they began by setting aside the loose papers, with a view to taking them +in order, one at a time. While they were thus busy, a small roll fell +down, on which these two words were written: "My Confession." All +present, having no reason to suppose Sainte-Croix a bad man, decided +that this paper ought not to be read. The deputy for the attorney +general on being consulted was of this opinion, and the confession of +Sainte-Croix was burnt. This act of conscience performed, they proceeded +to make an inventory. One of the first objects that attracted the +attention of the officers was the box claimed by Madame de Brinvilliers. +Her insistence had provoked curiosity, so they began with it. Everybody +went near to see what was in it, and it was opened. + +We shall let the report speak: in such cases nothing is so effective or +so terrible as the official statement. + +"In the closet of Sainte-Croix was found a small box one foot square, on +the top of which lay a half-sheet of paper entitled 'My Will,' written +on one side and containing these words: 'I humbly entreat any into whose +hands this chest may fall to do me the kindness of putting it into the +hands of Madame the Marquise de Brinvilliers, resident in the rue +Neuve-Saint-Paul, seeing that all the contents concern and belong to her +alone, and are of no use to any person in the world apart from herself: +in case of her being already dead before me, the box and all its +contents should be burnt without opening or disturbing anything. And +lest anyone should plead ignorance of the contents, I swear by the God I +worship and by all that is most sacred that no untruth is here asserted. +If anyone should contravene my wishes that are just and reasonable in +this matter, I charge their conscience therewith in discharging my own +in this world and the next, protesting that such is my last wish. + +"'Given at Paris, the 25th of May after noon, 1672. Signed by +Sainte-Croix,' + +"And below were written these words: 'There is one packet only addressed +to M. Penautier which should be delivered.'" + +It may be easily understood that a disclosure of this kind only +increased the interest of the scene; there was a murmur of curiosity, +and when silence again reigned, the official continued in these words: + +"A packet has been found sealed in eight different places with eight +different seals. On this is written: 'Papers to be burnt in case of my +death, of no consequence to anyone. I humbly beg those into whose hands +they may fall to burn them. I give this as a charge upon their +conscience; all without opening the packet.' In this packet we find two +parcels of sublimate. + +"Item, another packet sealed with six different seals, on which is a +similar inscription, in which is found more sublimate, half a pound in +weight. + +"Item, another packet sealed with six different seals, on which is a +similar inscription, in which are found three parcels, one containing +half an ounce of sublimate, the second 2 1/4 ozs. of Roman vitriol, and +the third some calcined prepared vitriol. In the box was found a large +square phial, one pint in capacity, full of a clear liquid, which was +looked at by M. Moreau, the doctor; he, however, could not tell its +nature until it was tested. + +"Item, another phial, with half a pint of clear liquid with a white +sediment, about which Moreau said the same thing as before. + +"Item, a small earthenware pot containing two or three lumps of prepared +opium. + +"Item, a folded paper containing two drachms of corrosive sublimate +powdered. + +"Next, a little box containing a sort of stone known as infernal stone. + +"Next, a paper containing one ounce of opium. + +"Next, a piece of pure antimony weighing three ounces. + +"Next, a packet of powder on which was written: 'To check the flow of +blood.' Moreau said that it was quince flower and quince buds dried. + +"Item, a pack sealed with six seals, on which was written, 'Papers to be +burnt in case of death.' In this twenty-four letters were found, said to +have been written by the Marquise de Brinvilliers. + +"Item, another packet sealed with six seals, on which a similar +inscription was written. In this were twenty-seven pieces of paper on +each of which was written: 'Sundry curious secrets.' + +"Item, another packet with six more seals, on which a similar +inscription was written. In this were found seventy-five livres, +addressed to different persons. Besides all these, in the box there were +two bonds, one from the marquise for 30,000, and one from Penautier for +10,000 francs, their dates corresponding to the time of the deaths of M. +d'Aubray and the Sieur de St. Laurent." + +The difference in the amount shows that Sainte-Croix had a tariff, and +that parricide was more expensive than simple assassination. Thus in his +death did Sainte-Croix bequeath the poisons to his mistress and his +friend; not content with his own crimes in the past, he wished to be +their accomplice in the future. + +The first business of the officials was to submit the different +substances to analysis, and to experiment with them on animals. The +report follows of Guy Simon, an apothecary, who was charged to undertake +the analysis and the experiments: + +"This artificial poison reveals its nature on examination. It is so +disguised that one fails to recognise it, so subtle that it deceives the +scientific, so elusive that it escapes the doctor's eye: experiments +seem to be at fault with this poison, rules useless, aphorisms +ridiculous. The surest experiments are made by the use of the elements +or upon animals. In water, ordinary poison falls by its own weight. The +water is superior, the poison obeys, falls downwards, and takes the +lower place. + +"The trial by fire is no less certain: the fire evaporates and disperses +all that is innocent and pure, leaving only acrid and sour matter which +resists its influence. The effect produced by poisons on animals is +still more plain to see: its malignity extends to every part that it +reaches, and all that it touches is vitiated; it burns and scorches all +the inner parts with a strange, irresistible fire. + +"The poison employed by Sainte-Croix has been tried in all the ways, and +can defy every experiment. This poison floats in water, it is the +superior, and the water obeys it; it escapes in the trial by fire, +leaving behind only innocent deposits; in animals it is so skilfully +concealed that no one could detect it; all parts of the animal remain +healthy and active; even while it is spreading the cause of death, this +artificial poison leaves behind the marks and appearance of life. Every +sort of experiment has been tried. The first was to pour out several +drops of the liquid found into oil of tartar and sea water, and nothing +was precipitated into the vessels used; the second was to pour the same +liquid into a sanded vessel, and at the bottom there was found nothing +acrid or acid to the tongue, scarcely any stains; the third experiment +was tried upon an Indian fowl, a pigeon, a dog, and some other animals, +which died soon after. When they were opened, however, nothing was found +but a little coagulated blood in the ventricle of the heart. Another +experiment was giving a white powder to a cat, in a morsel of mutton. +The cat vomited for half an hour, and was found dead the next day, but +when opened no part of it was found to be affected by the poison. A +second trial of the same poison was made upon a pigeon, which soon died. +When opened, nothing peculiar was found except a little reddish water in +the stomach." + +These experiments proved that Sainte-Croix was a learned chemist, and +suggested the idea that he did not employ his art for nothing; everybody +recalled the sudden, unexpected deaths that had occurred, and the bonds +from the marquise and from Penautier looked like blood-money. As one of +these two was absent, and the other so powerful and rich that they dared +not arrest him without proofs, attention was now paid to the objection +put in by Lachaussee. + +It was said in the objection that Lachaussee had spent seven years in +the service of Sainte-Croix, so he could not have considered the time he +had passed with the d'Aubrays as an interruption to this service. The +bag containing the thousand pistoles and the three bonds for a hundred +livres had been found in the place indicated; thus Lachaussee had a +thorough knowledge of this closet: if he knew the closet, he would know +about the box; if he knew about the box, he could not be an innocent +man. This was enough to induce Madame Mangot de Villarceaux, the +lieutenant's widow, to lodge an accusation against him, and in +consequence a writ was issued against Lachaussee, and he was arrested. + +When this happened, poison was found upon him. The trial came on before +the Chatelet. Lachaussee denied his guilt obstinately. The judges +thinking they had no sufficient proof, ordered the preparatory question +to be applied. Mme. Mangot appealed from a judgment which would probably +save the culprit if he had the strength to resist the torture and own to +nothing; + +[Note: There were two kinds of question, one before and one after the +sentence was passed. In the first, an accused person would endure +frightful torture in the hope of saving his life, and so would often +confess nothing. In the second, there was no hope, and therefore it was +not worth while to suffer additional pains.] + +so, in virtue of this appeal, a judgment, on March 4th, 1673, declared +that Jean Amelin Lachaussee was convicted of having poisoned the +lieutenant and the councillor; for which he was to be broken alive on +the wheel, having been first subjected to the question both ordinary and +extraordinary, with a view to the discovery of his accomplices. At the +same time Madame de Brinvilliers was condemned in default of appearance +to have her head cut off. + +Lachaussee suffered the torture of the boot. This was having each leg +fastened between two planks and drawn together in an iron ring, after +which wedges were driven in between the middle planks; the ordinary +question was with four wedges, the extraordinary with eight. At the +third wedge Lachaussee said he was ready to speak; so the question was +stopped, and he was carried into the choir of the chapel stretched on a +mattress, where, in a weak voice--for he could hardly speak--he begged +for half an hour to recover himself. We give a verbatim extract from the +report of the question and the execution of the death-sentence: + +"Lachaussee, released from the question and laid on the mattress, the +official reporter retired. Half an hour later Lachaussee begged that he +might return, and said that he was guilty; that Sainte-Croix told him +that Madame de Brinvilliers had given him the poison to administer to +her brothers; that he had done it in water and soup, had put the reddish +water in the lieutenant's glass in Paris, and the clear water in the pie +at Villequoy; that Sainte-Croix had promised to keep him always, and to +make him a gift of 100 pistolets; that he gave him an account of the +effect of the poisons, and that Sainte-Croix had given him some of the +waters several times. Sainte-Croix told him that the marquise knew +nothing of his other poisonings, but Lachaussee thought she did know, +because she had often spoken to him about his poisons; that she wanted +to compel him to go away, offering him money if he would go; that she +had asked him for the box and its contents; that if Sainte-Croix had +been able to put anyone into the service of Madame d'Aubray, the +lieutenant's widow, he would possibly have had her poisoned also; for he +had a fancy for her daughter." + +This declaration, which left no room for doubt, led to the judgment that +came next, thus described in the Parliamentary register: "Report of the +question and execution on the 24th of March 1673, containing the +declarations and confessions of Jean Amelin Lachaussee; the court has +ordered that the persons mentioned, Belleguise, Martin, Poitevin, +Olivier, Veron pere, the wife of Quesdon the wigmaker, be summoned to +appear before the court to be interrogated and heard concerning matters +arising from the present inquiry, and orders that the decree of arrest +against Lapierre and summons against Penautier decreed by the criminal +lieutenant shall be carried out. In Parliament, 27th March 1673." In +virtue of this judgment, Penautier, Martin, and Belleguise were +interrogated on the 21st, 22nd, and 24th of April. On the 26th of July, +Penautier was discharged; fuller information was desired concerning +Belleguise, and the arrest of Martin was ordered. On the 24th of March, +Lachaussee had been broken on the wheel. As to Exili, the beginner of it +all, he had disappeared like Mephistopheles after Faust's end, and +nothing was heard of him. Towards the end of the year Martin was +released for want of sufficient evidence. But the Marquise de +Brinvilliers remained at Liege, and although she was shut up in a +convent she had by no means abandoned one, at any rate, of the most +worldly pleasures. She had soon found consolation for the death of +Sainte-Croix, whom, all the same, she had loved so much as to be willing +to kill herself for his sake. But she had adopted a new lover, Theria by +name. About this man it has been impossible to get any information, +except that his name was several times mentioned during the trial. Thus, +all the accusations had, one by one, fallen upon her, and it was +resolved to seek her out in the retreat where she was supposed to be +safe. The mission was difficult and very delicate. Desgrais, one of the +cleverest of the officials, offered to undertake it. He was a handsome +man, thirty-six years old or thereabouts: nothing in his looks betrayed +his connection with the police; he wore any kind of dress with equal +ease and grace, and was familiar with every grade in the social scale, +disguising himself as a wretched tramp or a noble lord. He was just the +right man, so his offer was accepted. + +He started accordingly for Liege, escorted by several archers, and, +fortified by a letter from the king addressed to the Sixty of that town, +wherein Louis xiv demanded the guilty woman to be given up for +punishment. After examining the letter, which Desgrais had taken pains +to procure, the council authorised the extradition of the marquise. + +This was much, but it was not all. The marquise, as we know, had taken +refuge in a convent, where Desgrais dared not arrest her by force, for +two reasons: first, because she might get information beforehand, and +hide herself in one of the cloister retreats whose secret is known only +to the superior; secondly, because Liege was so religious a town that +the event would produce a great sensation: the act might be looked upon +as a sacrilege, and might bring about a popular rising, during which the +marquise might possibly contrive to escape. So Desgrais paid a visit to +his wardrobe, and feeling that an abbe's dress would best free him from +suspicion, he appeared at the doors of the convent in the guise of a +fellow-countryman just returned from Rome, unwilling to pass through +Liege without presenting his compliments to the lovely and unfortunate +marquise. Desgrais had just the manner of the younger son of a great +house: he was as flattering as a courtier, as enterprising as a +musketeer. In this first visit he made himself attractive by his wit and +his audacity, so much so that more easily than he had dared to hope, he +got leave to pay a second call. The second visit was not long delayed: +Desgrais presented himself the very next day. Such eagerness was +flattering to the marquise, so Desgrais was received even better than +the night before. She, a woman of rank and fashion, for more than a year +had been robbed of all intercourse with people of a certain set, so with +Desgrais the marquise resumed her Parisian manner. Unhappily the +charming abbe was to leave Liege in a few days; and on that account he +became all the more pressing, and a third visit, to take place next day, +was formally arranged. Desgrais was punctual: the marquise was +impatiently waiting him; but by a conjunction of circumstances that +Desgrais had no doubt arranged beforehand, the amorous meeting was +disturbed two or three times just as they were getting more intimate and +least wanting to be observed. Desgrais complained of these tiresome +checks; besides, the marquise and he too would be compromised: he owed +concealment to his cloth: He begged her to grant him a rendezvous +outside the town, in some deserted walk, where there would be no fear of +their being recognised or followed: the marquise hesitated no longer +than would serve to put a price on the favour she was granting, and the +rendezvous was fixed for the same evening. + +The evening came: both waited with the same impatience, but with very +different hopes. The marquise found Desgrais at the appointed spot: he +gave her his arm then holding her hand in his own, he gave a sign, the +archers appeared, the lover threw off his mask, Desgrais was confessed, +and the marquise was his prisoner. Desgrais left her in the hands of his +men, and hastily made his way to the convent. Then, and not before, he +produced his order from the Sixty, by means of which he opened the +marquise's room. Under her bed he found a box, which he seized and +sealed; then he went back to her, and gave the order to start. + +When the marquise saw the box in the hands of Desgrais, she at first +appeared stunned; quickly recovering, she claimed a paper inside it +which contained her confession. Desgrais refused, and as he turned round +for the carriage to come forward, she tried to choke herself by +swallowing a pin. One of the archers, called Claude, Rolla, perceiving +her intention, contrived to get the pin out of her mouth. After this, +Desgrais commanded that she should be doubly watched. + +They stopped for supper. An archer called Antoine Barbier was present at +the meal, and watched so that no knife or fork should be put on the +table, or any instrument with which she could wound or kill herself. The +marquise, as she put her glass to her mouth as though to drink, broke a +little bit off with her teeth; but the archer saw it in time, and forced +her to put it out on her plate. Then she promised him, if he would save +her, that she would make his fortune. He asked what he would have to do +for that. She proposed that he should cut Desgrais' throat; but he +refused, saying that he was at her service in any other way. So she +asked him for pen and paper, and wrote this letter: + +"DEAR THERIA,--I am in the hands of Desgrais, who is taking me by road +from Liege to Paris. Come quickly and save me." + +Antoine Barbier took the letter, promising to deliver it at the right +address; but he gave it to Desgrais instead. The next day, finding that +this letter had not been pressing enough, she wrote him another, saying +that the escort was only eight men, who could be easily overcome by four +or five determined assailants, and she counted on him to strike this +bald stroke. But, uneasy when she got no answer and no result from her +letters, she despatched a third missive to Theria. In this she implored +him by his own salvation, if he were not strong enough to attack her +escort and save her, at least to kill two of the four horses by which +she was conveyed, and to profit by the moment of confusion to seize the +chest and throw it into the fire; otherwise, she declared, she was lost. +Though Theria received none of these letters, which were one by one +handed over by Barbier to Desgrais, he all the same did go to +Maestricht, where the marquise was to pass, of his own accord. There he +tried to bribe the archers, offering much as 10,000 livres, but they +were incorruptible. At Rocroy the cortege met M. Palluau, the +councillor, whom the Parliament had sent after the prisoner, that he +might put questions to her at a time when she least expected them, and +so would not have prepared her answers. Desgrais told him all that had +passed, and specially called his attention to the famous box, the object +of so much anxiety and so many eager instructions. M. de Palluau opened +it, and found among other things a paper headed "My Confession." This +confession was a proof that the guilty feel great need of discovering +their crimes either to mankind or to a merciful God. Sainte-Croix, we +know, had made a confession that was burnt, and here was the marquise +equally imprudent. The confession contained seven articles, and began +thus, "I confess to God, and to you, my father," and was a complete +avowal, of all the crimes she had committed. + +In the first article she accused herself of incendiarism; + +In the second, of having ceased to be a virgin at seven years of age; + +In the third of having poisoned her father; + +In the fourth, of having poisoned her two brothers; + +In the fifth, that she had tried to poison her sister, a Carmelite nun. + +The two other articles were concerned with the description of strange +and unnatural sins. In this woman there was something of Locusta and +something of Messalina as well: antiquity could go no further. + + M. de Palluau, fortified by his knowledge of this important document, + began his examination forthwith. We give it verbatim, rejoicing + that we may substitute an official report for our own narrative. + +Asked why she fled to Liege, she replied that she left France on account +of some business with her sister-in-law. + +Asked if she had any knowledge of the papers found in the box, she +replied that in the box there were several family papers, and among them +a general confession which she desired to make; when she wrote it, +however, her mind was disordered; she knew not what she had said or +done, being distraught at the time, in a foreign country, deserted by +her relatives, forced to borrow every penny. + +Asked as to the first article, what house it was she had burnt, she +replied that she had not burnt anything, but when she wrote that she was +out of her senses. + +Asked about the six other articles she replied that she had no +recollection of them. + +Asked if she had not poisoned her father and brothers, she replied that +she knew nothing at all about it. + +Asked if it were not Lachaussee who poisoned her brothers, she replied +that she knew nothing about it. + +Asked if she did not know that her sister could not live long, having +been poisoned, she said that she expected her sister to die, because she +suffered in the same way as her brothers; that she had lost all memory +of the time when she wrote this confession; admitted that she left +France by the advice of her relations. + +Asked why her relations had advised her thus, she replied that it was in +connection with her brothers' affairs; admitted seeing Sainte-Croix +since his release from the Bastille. + +Asked if Sainte-Croix had not persuaded her to get rid of her father, +she replied that she could not remember; neither did she remember if +Sainte-Croix had given her powders or other drugs, nor if Sainte-Croix +had told her he knew how to make her rich. + +Eight letters having been produced, asked to whom she had written them, +she replied that she did not remember. + +Asked why she had promised to pay 30,000 livres to Sainte-Croix, she +replied that she intended to entrust this sum to his care, so that she +might make use of it when she wanted it, believing him to be her friend; +she had not wished this to be known, by reason of her creditors; that +she had an acknowledgment from Sainte-Croix, but had lost it in her +travels; that her husband knew nothing about it. + +Asked if the promise was made before or after the death of her brothers, +she replied that she could not remember, and it made no difference. + +Asked if she knew an apothecary called Glazer, she replied that she had +consulted him three times about inflammation. + +Asked why she wrote to Theria to get hold of the box, she replied that +she did not understand. + +Asked why, in writing to Theria, she had said she was lost unless he got +hold of the box, she replied that she could not remember. + +Asked if she had seen during the journey with her father the first +symptoms of his malady, she replied that she had not noticed that her +father was ill on the journey, either going or coming back in 1666. + +Asked if she had not done business with Penautier, she replied that +Penautier owed her 30,000 livres. + +Asked how this was, she replied that she and her husband had lent +Penautier 10,000 crowns, that he had paid it back, and since then they +had had no dealings with him. + +The marquise took refuge, we see, in a complete system of denial: +arrived in Paris, and confined in the Conciergerie, she did the same; +but soon other terrible charges were added, which still further +overwhelmed her. + +The sergeant Cluet deposed: that, observing a lackey to M. d'Aubray, the +councillor, to be the man Lachaussee, whom he had seen in the service of +Sainte-Croix, he said to the marquise that if her brother knew that +Lachaussee had been with Sainte-Croix he would not like it, but that +Madame de Brinvilliers exclaimed, "Dear me, don't tell my brothers; they +would give him a thrashing, no doubt, and he may just as well get his +wages as any body else." He said nothing to the d'Aubrays, though he saw +Lachaussee paying daily visits to Sainte-Croix and to the marquise, who +was worrying Sainte-Croix to let her have her box, and wanted her bill +for two or three thousand pistoles. Other wise she would have had him +assassinated. She often said that she was very anxious that no one +should see the contents of the box; that it was a very important matter, +but only concerned herself. After the box was opened, the witness added, +he had told the marquise, that the commissary Picard said to Lachaussee +that there were strange things in it; but the lady blushed, and changed +the subject. He asked her if she were not an accomplice. She said, +"What! I?" but then muttered to herself: "Lachaussee ought to be sent +off to Picardy." The witness repeated that she had been after +Sainte-Croix along time about the box, and if she had got it she would +have had his throat cut. The witness further said that when he told +Briancourt that Lachaussee was taken and would doubtless confess all, +Briancourt, speaking of the marquise, remarked, "She is a lost woman." +That d'Aubray's daughter had called Briancourt a rogue, but Briancourt +had replied that she little knew what obligations she was under to him; +that they had wanted to poison both her and the lieutenant's widow, and +he alone had hindered it. He had heard from Briancourt that the marquise +had often said that there are means to get rid of people one dislikes, +and they can easily be put an end to in a bowl of soup. + +The girl Edme Huet, a woman of Brescia, deposed that Sainte-Croix went +to see the marquise every day, and that in a box belonging to that lady +she had seen two little packets containing sublimate in powder and in +paste: she recognised these, because she was an apothecary's daughter. +She added that one day Madame de Brinvilliers, after a dinner party, in +a merry mood, said, showing her a little box, "Here is vengeance on +one's enemies: this box is small, but holds plenty of successsions!" +That she gave back the box into her hands, but soon changing from her +sprightly mood, she cried, "Good heavens, what have I said? Tell +nobody." That Lambert, clerk at the palace, told her he had brought the +packets to Madame from Sainte-Croix; that Lachaussee often went to see +her; and that she herself, not being paid ten pistoles which the +marquise owed her, went to complain to Sainte-Croix, threatening to tell +the lieutenant what she had seen; and accordingly the ten pistoles were +paid; further, that the marquise and Sainte-Croix always kept poison +about them, to make use of, in case of being arrested. + +Laurent Perrette, living with Glazer, said that he had often seen a lady +call on his mistress with Sainte-Croix; that the footman told him she +was the Marquise de Brinvilliers; that he would wager his head on it +that they came to Glazer's to make poison; that when they came they used +to leave their carriage at the Foire Saint-Germain. + +Marie de Villeray, maid to the marquise, deposed that after the death of +M. d'Aubray the councillor, Lachaussee came to see the lady and spoke +with her in private; that Briancourt said she had caused the death of a +worthy men; that Briancourt every day took some electuary for fear of +being poisoned, and it was no doubt due to this precaution that he was +still alive; but he feared he would be stabbed, because she had told him +the secret about the poisoning; that d'Aubray's daughter had to be +warned; and that there was a similar design against the tutor of M. de +Brinvillier's children. Marie de Villeray added that two days after the +death of the councillor, when Lachaussee was in Madame's bedroom, +Couste, the late lieutenant's secretary, was announced, and Lachaussee +had to be hidden in the alcove by the bed. Lachaussee brought the +marquise a letter from Sainte-Croix. + +Francois Desgrais, officer, deposed that when he was given the king's +orders he arrested the marquise at Liege; that he found under her bed a +box which he sealed; that the lady had demanded a paper which was in it, +containing her confession, but he refused it; that on the road to Paris +the marquise had told him that she believed it was Glazer who made the +poisons for Sainte-Croix; that Sainte-Croix, who had made a rendezvous +with her one day at the cross Saint-Honore, there showed her four little +bottles, saying, "See what Glazer has sent me." She asked him for one, +but Sainte-Croix said he would rather die than give it up. He added that +the archer Antoine Barbier had given him three letters written by the +marquise to Theria; that in the first she had told him to come at once +and snatch her from the hands of the soldiers; that in the second she +said that the escort was only composed of eight persons, who could he +worsted by five men; that in the third she said that if he could not +save her from the men who were taking her away, he should at least +approach the commissary, and killing his valet's horse and two other +horses in his carriage, then take the box, and burn it; otherwise she +was lost. + +Laviolette, an archer, deposed that on the evening of the arrest, the +marquise had a long pin and tried to put it in her mouth; that he +stopped her, and told her that she was very wicked; that he perceived +that people said the truth and that she had poisoned all her family; to +which she replied, that if she had, it was only through following bad +advice, and that one could not always be good. + +Antoine Barbier, an archer, said that the marquise at table took up a +glass as though to drink, and tried to swallow a piece of it; that he +prevented this, and she promised to make his fortune if only he would +save her; that she wrote several letters to Theria; that during the +whole journey she tried all she could to swallow pins, bits of glass, +and earth; that she had proposed that he should cut Desgrais' throat, +and kill the commissary's valet; that she had bidden him get the box and +burn it, and bring a lighted torch to burn everything; that she had +written to Penautier from the Conciergerie; that she gave him, the +letter, and he pretended to deliver it. + +Finally, Francoise Roussel deposed that she had been in the service of +the marquise, and the lady had one day given her some preserved +gooseberries; that she had eaten some on the point of her knife, and at +once felt ill. She also gave her a slice of mutton, rather wet, which +she ate, afterwards suffering great pain in the stomach, feeling as +though she had been pricked in the heart, and for three years had felt +the same, believing herself poisoned. + +It was difficult to continue a system of absolute denial in face of +proofs like these. The marquise persisted, all the same, that she was in +no way guilty; and Maitre Nivelle, one of the best lawyers of the +period, consented to defend her cause. + +He combated one charge after another, in a remarkably clever way, owning +to the adulterous connection of the marquise with Sainte-Croix, but +denying her participation in the murders of the d'Aubrays, father and +sons: these he ascribed entirely to the vengeance desired by +Sainte-Croix. As to the confession, the strongest and, he maintained, +the only evidence against Madame de Brinvilliers, he attacked its +validity by bringing forward certain similar cases, where the evidence +supplied by the accused against themselves had not been admitted by +reason of the legal action: 'Non auditur perire volens'. He cited three +instances, and as they are themselves interesting, we copy them verbatim +from his notes. + +FIRST CASE + +Dominicus Soto, a very famous canonist and theologian, confessor to +Charles V, present at the first meetings of the Council of Trent under +Paul III, propounds a question about a man who had lost a paper on which +he had written down his sins. It happened that this paper fell into the +hands of an ecclesiastical judge, who wished to put in information +against the writer on the strength of this document. Now this judge was +justly punished by his superior, because confession is so sacred that +even that which is destined to constitute the confession should be +wrapped in eternal silence. In accordance with this precedent, the +following judgment, reported in the 'Traite des Confesseurs', was given +by Roderic Acugno. A Catalonian, native of Barcelona, who was condemned +to death for homicide and owned his guilt, refused to confess when the +hour of punishment arrived. However strongly pressed, he resisted, and +so violently, giving no reason, that all were persuaded that his mind +was unhinged by the fear of death. Saint-Thomas of Villeneuve, +Archbishop of Valencia, heard of his obstinacy. Valencia was the place +where his sentence was given. The worthy prelate was so charitable as to +try to persuade the criminal to make his confession, so as not to lose +his soul as well as his body. Great was his surprise, when he asked the +reason of the refusal, to hear the doomed man declare that he hated +confessors, because he had been condemned through the treachery of his +own priest, who was the only person who knew about the murder. In +confession he had admitted his crime and said where the body was buried, +and all about it; his confessor had revealed it all, and he could not +deny it, and so he had been condemned. He had only just learned, what he +did not know at the time he confessed, that his confessor was the +brother of the man he had killed, and that the desire for vengeance had +prompted the bad priest to betray his confession. Saint-Thomas, hearing +this, thought that this incident was of more importance than the trial, +which concerned the life of only one person, whereas the honour of +religion was at stake, with consequences infinitely more important. He +felt he must verify this statement, and summoned the confessor. When he +had admitted the breach of faith, the judges were obliged to revoke +their sentence and pardon the criminal, much to the gratification of the +public mind. The confessor was adjudged a very severe penance, which +Saint-Thomas modified because of his prompt avowal of his fault, and +still more because he had given an opportunity for the public exhibition +of that reverence which judges themselves are bound to pay to +confessions. + +SECOND CASE + +In 1579 an innkeeper at Toulouse killed with his own hand, unknown to +the inmates of his house, a stranger who had come to lodge with him, and +buried him secretly in the cellar. The wretch then suffered from +remorse, and confessed the crime with all its circumstances, telling his +confessor where the body was buried. The relations of the dead man, +after making all possible search to get news of him, at last proclaimed +through the town a large reward to be given to anyone who would discover +what had happened to him. The confessor, tempted by this bait, secretly +gave word that they had only to search in the innkeeper's cellar and +they would find the corpse. And they found it in the place indicated. +The innkeeper was thrown into prison, was tortured, and confessed his +crime. But afterwards he always maintained that his confessor was the +only person who could have betrayed him. Then the Parliament, indignant +with such means of finding out the truth, declared him innocent, failing +other proof than what came through his confessor. The confessor was +himself condemned to be hanged, and his body was burnt. So fully did the +tribunal in its wisdom recognise the importance of securing the sanctity +of a sacrament that is indispensable to salvation. + +THIRD CASE + +An Armenian woman had inspired a violent passion in a young Turkish +gentleman, but her prudence was long an obstacle to her lover's desires. +At last he went beyond all bounds, and threatened to kill both her and +her husband if she refused to gratify him. Frightened by this threat, +which she knew too well he would carry out, she feigned consent, and +gave the Turk a rendezvous at her house at an hour when she said her +husband would be absent; but by arrangement the husband arrived, and +although the Turk was armed with a sabre and a pair of pistols, it so +befell that they were fortunate enough to kill their enemy, whom they +buried under their dwelling unknown to all the world. But some days +after the event they went to confess to a priest of their nation, and +revealed every detail of the tragic story. This unworthy minister of the +Lord supposed that in a Mahommedan country, where the laws of the +priesthood and the functions of a confessor are either unknown or +disapproved, no examination would be made into the source of his +information, and that his evidence would have the same weight as any +other accuser's. So he resolved to make a profit and gratify his own +avarice. Several times he visited the husband and wife, always borrowing +considerable sums, and threatening to reveal their crime if they refused +him. The first few times the poor creatures gave in to his exactions; +but the moment came at last when, robbed of all their fortune, they were +obliged to refuse the sum he demanded. Faithful to his threat, the +priest, with a view to more reward, at once denounced them to the dead +man's father. He, who had adored his son, went to the vizier, told him +he had identified the murderers through their confessor, and asked for +justice. But this denunciation had by no means the desired effect. The +vizier, on the contrary, felt deep pity for the wretched Armenians, and +indignation against the priest who had betrayed them. He put the accuser +into a room which adjoined the court, and sent for the Armenian bishop +to ask what confession really was, and what punishment was deserved by a +priest who betrayed it, and what was the fate of those whose crimes were +made known in this fashion. The bishop replied that the secrets of +confession are inviolable, that Christians burn the priest who reveals +them, and absolve those whom he accuses, because the avowal made by the +guilty to the priest is proscribed by the Christian religion, on pain of +eternal damnation. The vizier, satisfied with the answer, took the +bishop into another room, and summoned the accused to declare all the +circumstances: the poor wretches, half dead, fell at the vizier's feet. +The woman spoke, explaining that the necessity of defending life and +honour had driven them to take up arms to kill their enemy. She added +that God alone had witnessed their crime, and it would still be unknown +had not the law of the same God compelled them to confide it to the ear +of one of His ministers for their forgiveness. Now the priest's +insatiable avarice had ruined them first and then denounced them. The +vizier made them go into a third room, and ordered the treacherous +priest to be confronted with the bishop, making him again rehearse the +penalties incurred by those who betray confessions. Then, applying this +to the guilty priest, he condemned him to be burnt alive in a public +place;--in anticipation, said he, of burning in hell, where he would +assuredly receive the punishment of his infidelity and crimes. The +sentence was executed without delay. + +In spite of the effect which the advocate intended to produce by these +three cases, either the judges rejected them, or perhaps they thought +the other evidence without the confession was enough, and it was soon +clear to everyone, by the way the trial went forward, that the marquise +would be condemned. Indeed, before sentence was pronounced, on the +morning of July 16th, 1676, she saw M. Pirot, doctor of the Sorbonne, +come into her prison, sent by the chief president. This worthy +magistrate, foreseeing the issue, and feeling that one so guilty should +not be left till the last moment, had sent the good priest. The latter, +although he had objected that the Conciergerie had its own two +chaplains, and added that he was too feeble to undertake such a task, +being unable even to see another man bled without feeling ill, accepted +the painful mission, the president having so strongly urged it, on the +ground that in this case he needed a man who could be entirely trusted. +The president, in fact, declared that, accustomed as he was to dealing +with criminals, the strength of the marquise amazed him. The day before +he summoned M. Pirot, he had worked at the trial from morning to night, +and for thirteen hours the accused had been confronted with Briancourt, +one of the chief witnesses against her. On that very day, there had been +five hours more, and she had borne it all, showing as much respect +towards her judges as haughtiness towards the witness, reproaching him +as a miserable valet, given to drink, and protesting that as he had been +dismissed for his misdemeanours, his testimony against her ought to go +for nothing. So the chief president felt no hope of breaking her +inflexible spirit, except by the agency of a minister of religion; for +it was not enough to put her to death, the poisons must perish with her, +or else society would gain nothing. The doctor Pirot came to the +marquise with a letter from her sister, who, as we know, was a nun +bearing the name of Sister Marie at the convent Saint-Jacques. Her +letter exhorted the marquise, in the most touching and affectionate +terms, to place her confidence in the good priest, and look upon him not +only as a helper but as a friend. + +When M. Pirot came before the marquise, she had just left the dock, +where she had been for three hours without confessing anything, or +seeming in the least touched by what the president said, though he, +after acting the part of judge, addressed her simply as a Christian, and +showing her what her deplorable position was, appearing now for the last +time before men, and destined so soon to appear before God, spoke to her +such moving words that he broke down himself, and the oldest and most +obdurate judges present wept when they heard him. When the marquise +perceived the doctor, suspecting that her trial was leading her to +death, she approached him, saying: + +"You have come, sir, because----" + +But Father Chavigny, who was with M. Pirot; interrupted her, saying: + +"Madame, we will begin with a prayer." + +They all fell on their knees invoking the Holy Spirit; then the marquise +asked them to add a prayer to the Virgin, and, this prayer finished, she +went up to the doctor, and, beginning afresh, said: + +"Sir, no doubt the president has sent you to give me consolation: with +you I am to pass the little life I have left. I have long been eager to +see you." + +"Madame," the doctor replied, "I come to render you any spiritual office +that I can; I only wish it were on another occasion." + +"We must have resolution, sir," said she, smiling, "for all things." + +Then turning to Father Chavigny, she said: + +"My father, I am very grateful to you for bringing the doctor here, and +for all the other visits you have been willing to pay me. Pray to God +for me, I entreat you; henceforth I shall speak with no one but the +doctor, for with him I must speak of things that can only be discussed +tete-a-tete. Farewell, then, my father; God will reward you for the +attention you have been willing to bestow upon me." + +With these words the father retired, leaving the marquise alone with the +doctor and the two men and one woman always in attendance on her. They +were in a large room in the Montgomery tower extending, throughout its +whole length. There was at the end of the room a bed with grey curtains +for the lady, and a folding-bed for the custodian. It is said to have +been the same room where the poet Theophile was once shut up, and near +the door there were still verses in his well-known style written by his +hand. + +As soon as the two men and the woman saw for what the doctor had come, +they retired to the end of the room, leaving the marquise free to ask +for and receive the consolations brought her by the man of God. Then the +two sat at a table side by side. The marquise thought she was already +condemned, and began to speak on that assumption; but the doctor told +her that sentence was not yet given, and he did not know precisely when +it would be, still less what it would be; but at these words the +marquise interrupted him. + +"Sir," she said, "I am not troubled about the future. If my sentence is +not given yet, it soon will be. I expect the news this morning, and I +know it will be death: the only grace I look for from the president is a +delay between the sentence and its execution; for if I were executed +to-day I should have very little time to prepare, and I feel I have need +for more." + +The doctor did not expect such words, so he was overjoyed to learn what +she felt. In addition to what the president had said, he had heard from +Father Chavigny that he had told her the Sunday before that it was very +unlikely she would escape death, and indeed, so far as one could judge +by reports in the town, it was a foregone conclusion. When he said so, +at first she had appeared stunned, and said with an air of great terror, +"Father, must I die?" And when he tried to speak words of consolation, +she had risen and shaken her head, proudly replying-- + +"No, no, father; there is no need to encourage me. I will play my part, +and that at once: I shall know how to die like a woman of spirit." + +Then the father had told her that we cannot prepare for death so quickly +and so easily; and that we have to be in readiness for a long time, not +to be taken by surprise; and she had replied that she needed but a +quarter of an hour to confess in, and one moment to die. + +So the doctor was very glad to find that between Sunday and Thursday her +feelings had changed so much. + +"Yes," said she, "the more I reflect the more I feel that one day would +not be enough to prepare myself for God's tribunal, to be judged by Him +after men have judged me." + +"Madame," replied the doctor, "I do not know what or when your sentence +will be; but should it be death, and given to-day, I may venture to +promise you that it will not be carried out before to-morrow. But +although death is as yet uncertain, I think it well that you should be +prepared for any event." + +"Oh, my death is quite certain," said she, "and I must not give way to +useless hopes. I must repose in you the great secrets of my whole life; +but, father, before this opening of my heart, let me hear from your lips +the opinion you have formed of me, and what you think in my present +state I ought to do." + +"You perceive my plan," said the doctor, "and you anticipate what I was +about to say. Before entering into the secrets of your conscience, +before opening the discussion of your affairs with God, I am ready, +madame, to give you certain definite rules. I do not yet know whether +you are guilty at all, and I suspend my judgment as to all the crimes +you are accused of, since of them I can learn nothing except through +your confession. Thus it is my duty still to doubt your guilt. But I +cannot be ignorant of what you are accused of: this is a public matter, +and has reached my ears; for, as you may imagine, madame, your affairs +have made a great stir, and there are few people who know nothing about +them." + +"Yes," she said, smiling, "I know there has been a great deal of talk, +and I am in every man's mouth." + +"Then," replied the doctor, "the crime you are accused of is poisoning. +If you are guilty, as is believed, you cannot hope that God will pardon +you unless you make known to your judges what the poison is, what is its +composition and what its antidote, also the names of your accomplices. +Madame, we must lay hands on all these evil-doers without exception; for +if you spared them, they would be able to make use of your poison, and +you would then be guilty of all the murders committed by them after your +death, because you did not give them over to the judges during your +life; thus one might say you survive yourself, for your crime survives +you. You know, madame, that a sin in the moment of death is never +pardoned, and that to get remission for your crimes, if crimes you have, +they must die when you die: for if you slay them not, be very sure they +will slay you." + +"Yes, I am sure of that," replied the marquise, after a moment of silent +thought; "and though I will not admit that I am guilty, I promise, if I +am guilty, to weigh your words. But one question, sir, and pray take +heed that an answer is necessary. Is there not crime in this world that +is beyond pardon? Are not some people guilty of sins so terrible and so +numerous that the Church dares not pardon them, and if God, in His +justice, takes account of them, He cannot for all His mercy pardon them? +See, I begin with this question, because, if I am to have no hope, it is +needless for me to confess." + +"I wish to think, madame," replied the doctor, in spite of himself half +frightened at the marquise, "that this your first question is only put +by way of a general thesis, and has nothing to do with your own state. I +shall answer the question without any personal application. No, madame, +in this life there are no unpardonable sinners, terrible and numerous +howsoever their sins may be. This is an article of faith, and without +holding it you could not die a good Catholic. Some doctors, it is true, +have before now maintained the contrary, but they have been condemned as +heretics. Only despair and final impenitence are unpardonable, and they +are not sins of our life but in our death." + +"Sir," replied the marquise, "God has given me grace to be convinced by +what you say, and I believe He will pardon all sins--that He has often +exercised this power. Now all my trouble is that He may not deign to +grant all His goodness to one so wretched as I am, a creature so +unworthy of the favours already bestowed on her." + +The doctor reassured her as best he could, and began to examine her +attentively as they conversed together. "She was," he said, "a woman +naturally courageous and fearless; naturally gentle and good; not easily +excited; clever and penetrating, seeing things very clearly in her mind, +and expressing herself well and in few but careful words; easily finding +a way out of a difficulty, and choosing her line of conduct in the most +embarrassing circumstances; light-minded and fickle; unstable, paying no +attention if the same thing were said several times over. For this +reason," continued the doctor, "I was obliged to alter what I had to say +from time to time, keeping her but a short time to one subject, to +which, however, I would return later, giving the matter a new appearance +and disguising it a little. She spoke little and well, with no sign of +learning and no affectation, always, mistress of herself, always +composed and saying just what she intended to say. No one would have +supposed from her face or from her conversation that she was so wicked +as she must have been, judging by her public avowal of the parricide. It +is surprising, therefore--and one must bow down before the judgment of +God when He leaves mankind to himself--that a mind evidently of some +grandeur, professing fearlessness in the most untoward and unexpected +events, an immovable firmness and a resolution to await and to endure +death if so it must be, should yet be so criminal as she was proved to +be by the parricide to which she confessed before her judges. She had +nothing in her face that would indicate such evil. She had very abundant +chestnut hair, a rounded, well-shaped face, blue eyes very pretty and +gentle, extraordinarily white skin, good nose, and no disagreeable +feature. Still, there was nothing unusually attractive in the face: +already she was a little wrinkled, and looked older than her age. +Something made me ask at our first interview how old she was. +'Monsieur,' she said, 'if I were to live till Sainte-Madeleine's day I +should be forty-six. On her day I came into the world, and I bear her +name. I was christened Marie-Madeleine. But near to the day as we now +are, I shall not live so long: I must end to-day, or at latest +to-morrow, and it will be a favour to give me the one day. For this +kindness I rely on your word.' Anyone would have thought she was quite +forty-eight. Though her face as a rule looked so gentle, whenever an +unhappy thought crossed her mind she showed it by a contortion that +frightened one at first, and from time to time I saw her face twitching +with anger, scorn, or ill-will. I forgot to say that she was very little +and thin. Such is, roughly given, a description of her body and mind, +which I very soon came to know, taking pains from the first to observe +her, so as to lose no time in acting on what I discovered." + +As she was giving a first brief sketch of her life to her confessor, the +marquise remembered that he had not yet said mass, and reminded him +herself that it was time to do so, pointing out to him the chapel of the +Conciergerie. She begged him to say a mass for her and in honour of Our +Lady, so that she might gain the intercession of the Virgin at the +throne of God. The Virgin she had always taken for her patron saint, and +in the midst of her crimes and disorderly life had never ceased in her +peculiar devotion. As she could not go with the priest, she promised to +be with him at least in the spirit. He left her at half-past ten in the +morning, and after four hours spent alone together, she had been induced +by his piety and gentleness to make confessions that could not be wrung +from her by the threats of the judges or the fear of the question. The +holy and devout priest said his mass, praying the Lord's help for +confessor and penitent alike. After mass, as he returned, he learned +from a librarian called Seney, at the porter's lodge, as he was taking a +glass of wine, that judgment had been given, and that Madame de +Brinvilliers was to have her hand cut off. This severity--as a fact, +there was a mitigation of the sentence--made him feel yet more interest +in his penitent, and he hastened back to her side. + +As soon as she saw the door open, she advanced calmly towards him, and +asked if he had truly prayed for her; and when he assured her of this, +she said, "Father, shall I have the consolation of receiving the +viaticum before I die?" + +"Madame," replied the doctor, "if you are condemned to death, you must +die without that sacrament, and I should be deceiving you if I let you +hope for it. We have heard of the death of the constable of Saint-Paul +without his obtaining this grace, in spite of all his entreaties. He was +executed in sight of the towers of Notre-Dame. He offered his own +prayer, as you may offer yours, if you suffer the same fate. But that is +all: God, in His goodness, allows it to suffice." + +"But," replied the marquise, "I believe M. de Cinq-Mars and M. de Thou +communicated before their death." + +"I think not, madame," said the doctor; "for it is not so said in the +pages of Montresor or any other book that describes their execution." + +"But M. de Montmorency?" said she. + +"But M. de Marillac?" replied the doctor. + +In truth, if the favour had been granted to the first, it had been +refused to the second, and the marquise was specially struck thereby, +for M. de Marillac was of her own family, and she was very proud of the +connection. No doubt she was unaware that M. de Rohan had received the +sacrament at the midnight mass said for the salvation of his soul by +Father Bourdaloue, for she said nothing about it, and hearing the +doctor's answer, only sighed. + +"Besides," he continued, "in recalling examples of the kind, madame, you +must not build upon them, please: they are extraordinary cases, not the +rule. You must expect no privilege; in your case the ordinary laws will +be carried out, and your fate will not differ from the fate of other +condemned persons. How would it have been had you lived and died before +the reign of Charles VI? Up to the reign of this prince, the guilty died +without confession, and it was only by this king's orders that there was +a relaxation of this severity. Besides, communion is not absolutely +necessary to salvation, and one may communicate spiritually in reading +the word, which is like the body; in uniting oneself with the Church, +which is the mystical substance of Christ; and in suffering for Him and +with Him, this last communion of agony that is your portion, madame, and +is the most perfect communion of all. If you heartily detest your crime +and love God with all your soul, if you have faith and charity, your +death is a martyrdom and a new baptism." + +"Alas, my God," replied the marquise, "after what you tell me, now that +I know the executioner's hand was necessary to my salvation, what should +I have become had I died at Liege? Where should I have been now? And +even if I had not been taken, and had lived another twenty years away +from France, what would my death have been, since it needed the scaffold +for my purification? Now I see all my wrong-doings, and the worst of all +is the last--I mean my effrontery before the judges. But all is not yet +lost, God be thanked; and as I have one last examination to go through, +I desire to make a complete confession about my whole life. You, Sir, I +entreat specially to ask pardon on my behalf of the first president; +yesterday, when I was in the dock, he spoke very touching words to me, +and I was deeply moved; but I would not show it, thinking that if I made +no avowal the evidence would not be sufficiently strong to convict me. +But it has happened otherwise, and I must have scandalised my judges by +such an exhibition of hardihood. Now I recognise my fault, and will +repair it. Furthermore, sir, far from feeling angry with the president +for the judgment he to-day passes against me, far from complaining of +the prosecutor who has demanded it, I thank them both most humbly, for +my salvation depends upon it." + +The doctor was about to answer, encouraging her, when the door opened: +it was dinner coming in, for it was now half-past one. The marquise +paused and watched what was brought in, as though she were playing +hostess in her own country house. She made the woman and the two men who +watched her sit down to the table, and turning to the doctor, said, +"Sir, you will not wish me to stand on ceremony with you; these good +people always dine with me to keep me company, and if you approve, we +will do the same to-day. This is the last meal," she added, addressing +them, "that I shall take with you." Then turning to the woman, "Poor +Madame du Rus," said she, "I have been a trouble to you for a long time; +but have a little patience, and you will soon be rid of me. To-morrow +you can go to Dravet; you will have time, for in seven or eight hours +from now there will be nothing more to do for me, and I shall be in the +gentleman's hands; you will not be allowed near me. After then, you can +go away for good; for I don't suppose you will have the heart to see me +executed." All this she said quite calmly, but not with pride. From time +to time her people tried to hide their tears, and she made a sign of +pitying them. Seeing that the dinner was on the table and nobody eating, +she invited the doctor to take some soup, asking him to excuse the +cabbage in it, which made it a common soup and unworthy of his +acceptance. She herself took some soup and two eggs, begging her +fellow-guests to excuse her for not serving them, pointing out that no +knife or fork had been set in her place. + +When the meal was almost half finished, she begged the doctor to let her +drink his health. He replied by drinking hers, and she seemed to be +quite charmed by, his condescension. "To-morrow is a fast day," said +she, setting down her glass, "and although it will be a day of great +fatigue for me, as I shall have to undergo the question as well as +death, I intend to obey the orders of the Church and keep my fast." + +"Madame," replied the doctor, "if you needed soup to keep you up, you +would not have to feel any scruple, for it will be no self-indulgence, +but a necessity, and the Church does not exact fasting in such a case." + +"Sir," replied the marquise, "I will make no difficulty about it, if it +is necessary and if you order it; but it will not be needed, I think: if +I have some soup this evening for supper, and some more made stronger +than usual a little before midnight, it will be enough to last me +through to-morrow, if I have two fresh eggs to take after the question." + +"In truth," says the priest in the account we give here, "I was alarmed +by this calm behaviour. I trembled when I heard her give orders to the +concierge that the soup was to be made stronger than usual and that she +was to have two cups before midnight. When dinner was over, she was +given pen and ink, which she had already asked for, and told me that she +had a letter to write before I took up my pen to put down what she +wanted to dictate." The letter, she explained, which was difficult to +write, was to her husband. She would feel easier when it was written. +For her husband she expressed so much affection, that the doctor, +knowing what had passed, felt much surprised, and wishing to try her, +said that the affection was not reciprocated, as her husband had +abandoned her the whole time of the trial. The marquise interrupted him: + +"My father, we must not judge things too quickly or merely by +appearances. M. de Brinvilliers has always concerned himself with me, +and has only failed in doing what it was impossible to do. Our +interchange of letters never ceased while I was out of the kingdom; do +not doubt but that he would have come to Paris as soon as he knew I was +in prison, had the state of his affairs allowed him to come safely. But +you must know that he is deeply in debt, and could not appear in Paris +without being arrested. Do not suppose that he is without feeling for +me." + +She then began to write, and when her letter was finished she handed it +to the doctor, saying, "You, sir, are the lord and master of all my +sentiments from now till I die; read this letter, and if you find +anything that should be altered, tell me." + +This was the letter-- + +"When I am on the point of yielding up my soul to God, I wish to assure +you of my affection for you, which I shall feel until the last moment of +my life. I ask your pardon for all that I have done contrary to my duty. +I am dying a shameful death, the work of my enemies: I pardon them with +all my heart, and I pray you to do the same. I also beg you to forgive +me for any ignominy that may attach to you herefrom; but consider that +we are only here for a time, and that you may soon be forced to render +an account to God of all your actions, and even your idle words, just as +I must do now. Be mindful of your worldly affairs, and of our children, +and give them a good example; consult Madame Marillac and Madame Couste. +Let as many prayers as possible be said for me, and believe that in my +death I am still ever yours, D'AUBRAY." + +The doctor read this letter carefully; then he told her that one of her +phrases was not right--the one about her enemies. "For you have no other +enemies," said he, "than your own crimes. Those whom you call your +enemies are those who love the memory of your father and brothers, whom +you ought to have loved more than they do." + +"But those who have sought my death," she replied, "are my enemies, are +they not, and is it not a Christian act to forgive them?" + +"Madame," said the doctor, "they are not your enemies, but you are the +enemy of the human race: nobody can think without, horror of your +crimes." + +"And so, my father," she replied, "I feel no resentment towards them, +and I desire to meet in Paradise those who have been chiefly +instrumental in taking me and bringing me here." + +"Madame," said the doctor, "what mean you by this? Such words are used +by some when they desire people's death. Explain, I beg, what you mean." + +"Heaven forbid," cried the marquise, "that you should understand me +thus! Nay, may God grant them long prosperity in this world and infinite +glory in the next! Dictate a new letter, and I will write just what you +please." + +When a fresh letter had been written, the marquise would attend to +nothing but her confession, and begged the doctor to take the pen for +her. "I have done so many wrong thing's," she said, "that if I only gave +you a verbal confession, I should never be sure I had given a complete +account." + +Then they both knelt down to implore the grace of the Holy Spirit. They +said a 'Veni Creator' and a 'Salve Regina', and the doctor then rose and +seated himself at a table, while the marquise, still on her knees, began +a Confiteor and made her whole confession. At nine o'clock, Father +Chavigny, who had brought Doctor Pirot in the morning, came in again. +The marquise seemed annoyed, but still put a good face upon it. "My +father," said she, "I did not expect to see you so late; pray leave me a +few minutes longer with the doctor." He retired. "Why has he come?" +asked the marquise. + +"It is better for you not to be alone," said the doctor. + +"Then do you mean to leave me?" cried the marquise, apparently +terrified. + +"Madame, I will do as you wish," he answered; "but you would be acting +kindly if you could spare me for a few hours. I might go home, and +Father Chavigny would stay with you." + +"Ah!" she cried, wringing her hands, "you promised you would not leave +me till I am dead, and now you go away. Remember, I never saw you before +this morning, but since then you have become more to me than any of my +oldest friends." + +"Madame," said the good doctor, "I will do all I can to please you. If I +ask for a little rest, it is in order that I may resume my place with +more vigour to-morrow, and render you better service than I otherwise +could. If I take no rest, all I say or do must suffer. You count on the +execution for tomorrow; I do not know if you are right; but if so, +to-morrow will be your great and decisive day, and we shall both need +all the strength we have. We have already been working for thirteen or +fourteen hours for the good of your salvation; I am not a strong man, +and I think you should realise, madame, that if you do not let me rest a +little, I may not be able to stay with you to the end." + +"Sir," said the marquise, "you have closed my mouth. To-morrow is for me +a far more important day than to-day, and I have been wrong: of course +you must rest to-night. Let us just finish this one thing, and read over +what we have written." + +It was done, and the doctor would have retired; but the supper came in, +and the marquise would not let him go without taking something. She told +the concierge to get a carriage and charge it to her. She took a cup of +soup and two eggs, and a minute later the concierge came back to say the +carriage was at the door. Then the marquise bade the doctor good-night, +making him promise to pray for her and to be at the Conciergerie by six +o'clock the next morning. This he promised her. + +The day following, as he went into the tower, he found Father Chavigny, +who had taken his place with the marquise, kneeling and praying with +her. The priest was weeping, but she was calm, and received the doctor +in just the same way as she had let him go. When Father Chavigny saw +him, he retired. The marquise begged Chavigny to pray for her, and +wanted to make him promise to return, but that he would not do. She then +turned to the doctor, saying, "Sir, you are punctual, and I cannot +complain that you have broken your promise; but oh, how the time has +dragged, and how long it has seemed before the clock struck six!" + +"I am here, madame," said the doctor; "but first of all, how have you +spent the night?" + +"I have written three letters," said the marquise, "and, short as they +were, they took a long time to write: one was to my sister, one to +Madame de Marillac, and the third to M. Couste. I should have liked to +show them to you, but Father Chavigny offered to take charge of them, +and as he had approved of them, I could not venture to suggest any +doubts. After the letters were written, we had some conversation and +prayer; but when the father took up his breviary and I my rosary with +the same intention, I felt so weary that I asked if I might lie on my +bed; he said I might, and I had two good hours' sleep without dreams or +any sort of uneasiness; when I woke we prayed together, and had just +finished when you came back." + +"Well, madame," said the doctor, "if you will, we can pray again; kneel +down, and let us say the 'Veni Sancte Spiritus'." + +She obeyed, and said the prayer with much unction and piety. The prayer +finished, M. Pirot was about to take up the pen to go on with the +confession, when she said, "Pray let me submit to you one question which +is troubling me. Yesterday you gave me great hope of the mercy of God; +but I cannot presume to hope I shall be saved without spending a long +time in purgatory; my crime is far too atrocious to be pardoned on any +other conditions; and when I have attained to a love of God far greater +than I can feel here, I should not expect to be saved before my stains +have been purified by fire, without suffering the penalty that my sins +have deserved. But I have been told that the flames of purgatory where +souls are burned for a time are just the same as the flames of hell +where those who are damned burn through all eternity tell me, then, how +can a soul awaking in purgatory at the moment of separation from this +body be sure that she is not really in hell? how can she know that the +flames that burn her and consume not will some day cease? For the +torment she suffers is like that of the damned, and the flames wherewith +she is burned are even as the flames of hell. This I would fain know, +that at this awful moment I may feel no doubt, that I may know for +certain whether I dare hope or must despair." + +"Madame," replied the doctor, "you are right, and God is too just to add +the horror of uncertainty to His rightful punishments. At that moment +when the soul quits her earthly body the judgment of God is passed upon +her: she hears the sentence of pardon or of doom; she knows whether she +is in the state of grace or of mortal sin; she sees whether she is to be +plunged forever into hell, or if God sends her for a time to purgatory. +This sentence, madame, you will learn at the very instant when the +executioner's axe strikes you; unless, indeed, the fire of charity has +so purified you in this life that you may pass, without any purgatory at +all, straight to the home of the blessed who surround the throne of the +Lord, there to receive a recompense for earthly martyrdom." + +"Sir," replied the marquise, "I have such faith in all you say that I +feel I understand it all now, and I am satisfied." + +The doctor and the marquise then resumed the confession that was +interrupted the night before. The marquise had during the night +recollected certain articles that she wanted to add. So they continued, +the doctor making her pause now and then in the narration of the heavier +offences to recite an act of contrition. + +After an hour and a half they came to tell her to go down. The registrar +was waiting to read her the sentence. She listened very calmly, +kneeling, only moving her head; then, with no alteration in her voice, +she said, "In a moment: we will have one word more, the doctor and I, +and then I am at your disposal." She then continued to dictate the rest +of her confession. When she reached the end, she begged him to offer a +short prayer with her, that God might help her to appear with such +becoming contrition before her judges as should atone for her scandalous +effrontery. She then took up her cloak, a prayer-book which Father +Chavigny had left with her, and followed the concierge, who led her to +the torture chamber, where her sentence was to be read. + +First, there was an examination which lasted five hours. The marquise +told all she had promised to tell, denying that she had any accomplices, +and affirming that she knew nothing of the composition of the poisons +she had administered, and nothing of their antidotes. When this was +done, and the judges saw that they could extract nothing further, they +signed to the registrar to read the sentence. She stood to hear it: it +was as follows: + +"That by the finding of the court, d'Aubray de Brinvilliers is convicted +of causing the death by poison of Maitre Dreux d'Aubray, her father, and +of the two Maitres d'Aubray, her brothers, one a civil lieutenant, the +other a councillor to the Parliament, also of attempting the life of +Therese d'Aubray, her sister; in punishment whereof the court has +condemned and does condemn the said d'Aubray de Brinvilliers to make the +rightful atonement before the great gate of the church of Paris, whither +she shall be conveyed in a tumbril, barefoot, a rope on her neck, +holding in her hands a burning torch two pounds in weight; and there on +her knees she shall say and declare that maliciously, with desire for +revenge and seeking their goods, she did poison her father, cause to be +poisoned her two brothers, and attempt the life of her sister, whereof +she doth repent, asking pardon of God, of the king, and of the judges; +and when this is done, she shall be conveyed and carried in the same +tumbril to the Place de Greve of this town, there to have her head cut +off on a scaffold to be set up for the purpose at that place; afterwards +her body to be burnt and the ashes scattered; and first she is to be +subjected to the question ordinary and extraordinary, that she may +reveal the names of her accomplices. She is declared to be deprived of +all successions from her said father, brothers, and sister, from the +date of the several crimes; and all her goods are confiscated to the +proper persons; and the sum of 4000 livres shall be paid out of her +estate to the king, and 400 livres to the Church for prayers to be said +on behalf of the poisoned persons; and all the costs shall be paid, +including those of Amelin called Lachaussee. In Parliament, 16th July +1676." + +The marquise heard her sentence without showing any sign of fear or +weakness. When it was finished, she said to the registrar, "Will you, +sir, be so kind as to read it again? I had not expected the tumbril, and +I was so much struck by that that I lost the thread of what followed." + +The registrar read the sentence again. From that moment she was the +property of the executioner, who approached her. She knew him by the +cord he held in his hands, and extended her own, looking him over coolly +from head to foot without a word. The judges then filed out, disclosing +as they did so the various apparatus of the question. The marquise +firmly gazed upon the racks and ghastly rings, on which so many had been +stretched crying and screaming. She noticed the three buckets of water + +[Note: The torture with the water was thus administered. There were +eight vessels, each containing 2 pints of water. Four of these were +given for the ordinary, and eight for the extraordinary. The executioner +inserted a horn into the patient's mouth, and if he shut his teeth, +forced him to open them by pinching his nose with the finger and thumb.] + +prepared for her, and turned to the registrar--for she would not address +the executioner--saying, with a smile, "No doubt all this water is to +drown me in? I hope you don't suppose that a person of my size could +swallow it all." The executioner said not a word, but began taking off +her cloak and all her other garments, until she was completely naked. He +then led her up to the wall and made her sit on the rack of the ordinary +question, two feet from the ground. There she was again asked to give +the names of her accomplices, the composition of the poison and its +antidote; but she made the same reply as to the doctor, only adding, "If +you do not believe me, you have my body in your hands, and you can +torture me." + +The registrar signed to the executioner to do his duty. He first +fastened the feet of the marquise to two rings close together fixed to a +board; then making her lie down, he fastened her wrists to two other +rings in the wall, distant about three feet from each other. The head +was at the same height as the feet, and the body, held up on a trestle, +described a half-curve, as though lying over a wheel. To increase the +stretch of the limbs, the man gave two turns to a crank, which pushed +the feet, at first about twelve inches from the rings, to a distance of +six inches. And here we may leave our narrative to reproduce the +official report. + +"On the small trestle, while she was being stretched, she said several +times, 'My God! you are killing me! And I only spoke the truth.' + +"The water was given: she turned and twisted, saying, 'You are killing +me!' + +"The water was again given. + +"Admonished to name her accomplices, she said there was only one man, +who had asked her for poison to get rid of his wife, but he was dead. + +"The water was given; she moved a little, but would not say anything. + +"Admonished to say why, if she had no accomplice, she had written from +the Conciergerie to Penautier, begging him to do all he could for her, +and to remember that his interests in this matter were the same as her +own, she said that she never knew Penautier had had any understanding +with Sainte-Croix about the poisons, and it would be a lie to say +otherwise; but when a paper was found in Sainte-Croix's box that +concerned Penautier, she remembered how often she had seen him at the +house, and thought it possible that the friendship might have included +some business about the poisons; that, being in doubt on the point, she +risked writing a letter as though she were sure, for by doing so she was +not prejudicing her own case; for either Penautier was an accomplice of +Sainte-Croix or he was not. If he was, he would suppose the marquise +knew enough to accuse him, and would accordingly do his best to save +her; if he was not, the letter was a letter wasted, and that was all. + +"The water was again given; she turned and twisted much, but said that +on this subject she had said all she possibly could; if she said +anything else, it would be untrue." + +The ordinary question was at an end. The marquise had now taken half the +quantity of water she had thought enough to drown her. The executioner +paused before he proceeded to the extraordinary question. Instead of the +trestle two feet and a half high on which she lay, they passed under her +body a trestle of three and a half feet, which gave the body a greater +arch, and as this was done without lengthening the ropes, her limbs were +still further stretched, and the bonds, tightly straining at wrists and +ankles, penetrated the flesh and made the blood run. The question began +once more, interrupted by the demands of the registrar and the answers +of the sufferer. Her cries seemed not even to be heard. + +"On the large trestle, during the stretching, she said several times, 'O +God, you tear me to, pieces! Lord, pardon me! Lord, have mercy upon me!' + +"Asked if she had nothing more to tell regarding her accomplices, she +said they might kill her, but she would not tell a lie that would +destroy her soul. + +"The water was given, she moved about a little, but would not speak. + +"Admonished that she should tell the composition of the poisons and +their antidotes, she said that she did not know what was in them; the +only thing she could recall was toads; that Sainte-Croix never revealed +his secret to her; that she did not believe he made them himself, but +had them prepared by Glazer; she seemed to remember that some of them +contained nothing but rarefied arsenic; that as to an antidote, she knew +of no other than milk; and Sainte-Croix had told her that if one had +taken milk in the morning, and on the first onset of the poison took +another glassful, one would have nothing to fear. + +"Admonished to say if she could add anything further, she said she had +now told everything; and if they killed her, they could not extract +anything more. + +"More water was given; she writhed a little, and said she was dead, but +nothing more. + +"More water was given; she writhed more violently, but would say no +more. + +"Yet again water was given; writhing and twisting, she said, with a deep +groan, 'O my God, I am killed!' but would speak no more." + +Then they tortured her no further: she was let down, untied, and placed +before the fire in the usual manner. While there, close to the fire, +lying on the mattress, she was visited by the good doctor, who, feeling +he could not bear to witness the spectacle just described, had asked her +leave to retire, that he might say a mass for her, that God might grant +her patience and courage. It is plain that the good priest had not +prayed in vain. + +"Ah," said the marquise, when she perceived him, "I have long been +desiring to see you again, that you might comfort me. My torture has +been very long and very painful, but this is the last time I shall have +to treat with men; now all is with God for the future. See my hands, +sir, and my feet, are they not torn and wounded? Have not my +executioners smitten me in the same places where Christ was smitten?" + +"And therefore, madame," replied the priest, "these sufferings now are +your happiness; each torture is one step nearer to heaven. As you say, +you are now for God alone; all your thoughts and hopes must be fastened +upon Him; we must pray to Him, like the penitent king, to give you a +place among His elect; and since nought that is impure can pass thither, +we must strive, madame, to purify you from all that might bar the way to +heaven." + +The marquise rose with the doctor's aid, for she could scarcely stand; +tottering, she stepped forward between him and the executioner, who took +charge of her immediately after the sentence was read, and was not +allowed to leave her before it was completely carried out. They all +three entered the chapel and went into the choir, where the doctor and +the marquise knelt in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. At that moment +several persons appeared in the nave, drawn by curiosity. They could not +be turned out, so the executioner, to save the marquise from being +annoyed, shut the gate of the choir, and let the patient pass behind the +altar. There she sat down in a chair, and the doctor on a seat opposite; +then he first saw, by the light of the chapel window, how greatly +changed she was. Her face, generally so pale, was inflamed, her eyes +glowing and feverish, all her body involuntarily trembling. The doctor +would have spoken a few words of consolation, but she did not attend. +"Sir," she said, "do you know that my sentence is an ignominious one? Do +you know there is fire in the sentence?" + +The doctor gave no answer; but, thinking she needed something, bade the +gaoler to bring her wine. A minute later he brought it in a cup, and the +doctor handed it to the marquise, who moistened her lips and then gave +it back. She then noticed that her neck was uncovered, and took out her +handkerchief to cover it, asking the gaoler for a pin to fasten it with. +When he was slow in finding a pin, looking on his person for it, she +fancied that he feared she would choke herself, and shaking her head, +said, with a smile, "You have nothing to fear now; and here is the +doctor, who will pledge his word that I will do myself no mischief." + +"Madame," said the gaoler, handing her the pin she wanted, "I beg your +pardon for keeping you waiting. I swear I did not distrust you; if +anyone distrusts you, it is not I." + +Then kneeling before her, he begged to kiss her hand. She gave it, and +asked him to pray to God for her. "Ah yes," he cried, sobbing, "with all +my heart." She then fastened her dress as best she could with her hands +tied, and when the gaoler had gone and she was alone with the doctor, +said:-- + +"Did you not hear what I said, sir? I told you there was fire in my +sentence. And though it is only after death that my body is to be burnt, +it will always be a terrible disgrace on my memory. I am saved the pain +of being burnt alive, and thus, perhaps, saved from a death of despair, +but the shamefulness is the same, and it is that I think of." + +"Madame," said the doctor, "it in no way affects your soul's salvation +whether your body is cast into the fire and reduced to ashes or whether +it is buried in the ground and eaten by worms, whether it is drawn on a +hurdle and thrown upon a dung-heap, or embalmed with Oriental perfumes +and laid in a rich man's tomb. Whatever may be your end, your body will +arise on the appointed day, and if Heaven so will, it will come forth +from its ashes more glorious than a royal corpse lying at this moment in +a gilded casket. Obsequies, madame, are for those who survive, not for +the dead." + +A sound was heard at the door of the choir. The doctor went to see what +it was, and found a man who insisted on entering, all but fighting with +the executioner. The doctor approached and asked what was the matter. +The man was a saddler, from whom the marquise had bought a carriage +before she left France; this she had partly paid for, but still owed him +two hundred livres. He produced the note he had had from her, on which +was a faithful record of the sums she had paid on account. The marquise +at this point called out, not knowing what was going on, and the doctor +and executioner went to her. "Have they come to fetch me already?" said +she. "I am not well prepared just at this moment; but never mind, I am +ready." + +The doctor reassured her, and told her what was going on. "The man is +quite right," she said to the executioner; "tell him I will give orders +as far as I can about the money." Then, seeing the executioner retiring, +she said to the doctor, "Must I go now, sir? I wish they would give me a +little more time; for though I am ready, as I told you, I am not really +prepared. Forgive me, father; it is the question and the sentence that +have upset me it is this fire burning in my eyes like hell-flames. + +"Had they left me with you all this time, there would now be better hope +of my salvation." + +"Madame," said the doctor, "you will probably have all the time before +nightfall to compose yourself and think what remains for you to do." + +"Ah, sir," she replied, with a smile, "do not think they will show so +much consideration for a poor wretch condemned to be burnt. That does +not depend on ourselves; but as soon as everything is ready, they will +let us know, and we must start." + +"Madame," said the doctor, "I am certain that they will give you the +time you need." + +"No, no," she replied abruptly and feverishly, "no, I will not keep them +waiting. As soon as the tumbril is at this door, they have only to tell +me, and I go down." + +"Madame," said he, "I would not hold you back if I found you prepared to +stand before the face of God, for in your situation it is right to ask +for no time, and to go when the moment is come; but not everyone is so +ready as Christ was, who rose from prayer and awaked His disciples that +He might leave the garden and go out to meet His enemies. You at this +moment are weak, and if they come for you just now I should resist your +departure." + +"Be calm; the time is not yet come," said the executioner, who had heard +this talk. He knew his statement must be believed, and wished as far as +possible to reassure the marquise. "There is no hurry, and we cannot +start for another two of three hours." + +This assurance calmed the marquise somewhat, and she thanked the man. +Then turning to the doctor, she said, "Here is a rosary that I would +rather should not fall into this person's hands. Not that he could not +make good use of it; for, in spite of their trade, I fancy that these +people are Christians like ourselves. But I should prefer to leave this +to somebody else." + +"Madame," said the doctor, "if you will tell me your wishes in this +matter, I will see that they are carried out." + +"Alas!" she said, "there is no one but my sister; and I fear lest she, +remembering my crime towards her, may be too horrified to touch anything +that belonged to me. If she did not mind, it would be a great comfort to +me to think she would wear it after my death, and that the sight of it +would remind her to pray for me; but after what has passed, the rosary +could hardly fail to revive an odious recollection. My God, my God! I am +desperately wicked; can it be that you will pardon me?" + +"Madame," replied the doctor, "I think you are mistaken about Mlle, +d'Aubray. You may see by her letter what are her feelings towards you, +and you must pray with this rosary up to the very end. Let not your +prayers be interrupted or distracted, for no guilty penitent must cease +from prayer; and I, madame, will engage to deliver the rosary where it +will be gladly received." + +And the marquise, who had been constantly distracted since the morning, +was now, thanks to the patient goodness of the doctor, able to return +with her former fervour to her prayers. She prayed till seven o'clock. +As the clock struck, the executioner without a word came and stood +before her; she saw that her moment had come, and said to the doctor, +grasping his arm, "A little longer; just a few moments, I entreat." + +"Madame," said the doctor, rising, "we will now adore the divine blood +of the Sacrament, praying that you may be thus cleansed from all soil +and sin that may be still in your heart. Thus shall you gain the respite +you desire." + +The executioner then tied tight the cords round her hands that he had +let loose before, and she advanced pretty firmly and knelt before the +altar, between the doctor and the chaplain. The latter was in his +surplice, and chanted a 'Veni Creator, Salve Regina, and Tantum ergo'. +These prayers over, he pronounced the blessing of the Holy Sacrament, +while the marquise knelt with her face upon the ground. The executioner +then went forward to get ready a shirt, and she made her exit from the +chapel, supported on the left by the doctor's arm, on the right by the +executioner's assistant. Thus proceeding, she first felt embarrassment +and confusion. Ten or twelve people were waiting outside, and as she +suddenly confronted them, she made a step backward, and with her hands, +bound though they were, pulled the headdress down to cover half her +face. She passed through a small door, which was closed behind her, and +then found herself between the two doors alone, with the doctor and the +executioner's man. Here the rosary, in consequence of her violent +movement to cover her face, came undone, and several beads fell on the +floor. She went on, however, without observing this; but the doctor +stopped her, and he and the man stooped down and picked up all the +beads, which they put into her hand. Thanking them humbly for this +attention, she said to the man, "Sir, I know I have now no worldly +possessions, that all I have upon me belongs to you, and I may not give +anything away without your consent; but I ask you kindly to allow me to +give this chaplet to the doctor before I die: you will not be much the +loser, for it is of no value, and I am giving it to him for my sister. +Kindly let me do this." + +"Madame," said the man, "it is the custom for us to get all the property +of the condemned; but you are mistress of all you have, and if the thing +were of the very greatest value you might dispose of it as you pleased." + +The doctor, whose arm she held, felt her shiver at this gallantry, which +for her, with her natural haughty disposition, must have been the worst +humiliation imaginable; but the movement was restrained, and her face +gave no sign. She now came to the porch of the Conciergerie, between the +court and the first door, and there she was made to sit down, so as to +be put into the right condition for making the 'amende honorable'. Each +step brought her nearer to the scaffold, and so did each incident cause +her more uneasiness. Now she turned round desperately, and perceived the +executioner holding a shirt in his hand. The door of the vestibule +opened, and about fifty people came in, among them the Countess of +Soissons, Madame du Refuge, Mlle. de Scudery, M. de Roquelaure, and the +Abbe de Chimay. At the sight the marquise reddened with shame, and +turning to the doctor, said, "Is this man to strip me again, as he did +in the question chamber? All these preparations are very cruel; and, in +spite of myself, they divert my thoughts, from God." + +Low as her voice was, the executioner heard, and reassured her, saying +that they would take nothing off, only putting the shirt over her other +clothes. + +He then approached, and the marquise, unable to speak to the doctor with +a man on each side of her, showed him by her looks how deeply she felt +the ignominy of her situation. Then, when the shirt had been put on, for +which operation her hands had to be untied, the man raised the headdress +which she had pulled down, and tied it round her neck, then fastened her +hands together with one rope and put another round her waist, and yet +another round her neck; then, kneeling before her, he took off her shoes +and stockings. Then she stretched out her hands to the doctor. + +"Oh, sir," she cried, "in God's name, you see what they have done to me! +Come and comfort me." + +The doctor came at once, supporting her head upon his breast, trying to +comfort her; but she, in a tone of bitter lamentation, gazing at the +crowd, who devoured her with all their eyes, cried, "Oh, sir, is not +this a strange, barbarous curiosity?" + +"Madame," said he, the tears in his eyes, "do not look at these eager +people from the point of view of their curiosity and barbarity, though +that is real enough, but consider it part of the humiliation sent by God +for the expiation of your crimes. God, who was innocent, was subject to +very different opprobrium, and yet suffered all with joy; for, as +Tertullian observes, He was a victim fattened on the joys of suffering +alone." + +As the doctor spoke these words, the executioner placed in the +marquise's hands the lighted torch which she was to carry to Notre-Dame, +there to make the 'amende honorable', and as it was too heavy, weighing +two pounds, the doctor supported it with his right hand, while the +registrar read her sentence aloud a second time. The doctor did all in +his power to prevent her from hearing this by speaking unceasingly of +God. Still she grew frightfully pale at the words, "When this is done, +she shall be conveyed on a tumbril, barefoot, a cord round her neck, +holding in her hands a burning torch two pounds in weight," and the +doctor could feel no doubt that in spite of his efforts she had heard. +It became still worse when she reached the threshold of the vestibule +and saw the great crowd waiting in the court. Then her face worked +convulsively, and crouching down, as though she would bury her feet in +the earth, she addressed the doctor in words both plaintive and wild: +"Is it possible that, after what is now happening, M. de Brinvilliers +can endure to go on living?" + +"Madame," said the doctor, "when our Lord was about to leave His +disciples, He did not ask God to remove them from this earth, but to +preserve them from all sin. 'My Father,' He said, 'I ask not that You +take them from the world, but keep them safe from evil.' If, madame, you +pray for M. de Brinvilliers, let it be only that he may be kept in +grace, if he has it, and may attain to it if he has it not." + +But the words were useless: at that moment the humiliation was too great +and too public; her face contracted, her eyebrows knit, flames darted +from her eyes, her mouth was all twisted. Her whole appearance was +horrible; the devil was once more in possession. During this paroxysm, +which lasted nearly a quarter of an hour, Lebrun, who stood near, got +such a vivid impression of her face that the following night he could +not sleep, and with the sight of it ever before his eyes made the fine +drawing which--is now in the Louvre, giving to the figure the head of a +tiger, in order to show that the principal features were the same, and +the whole resemblance very striking. + +The delay in progress was caused by the immense crowd blocking the +court, only pushed aside by archers on horseback, who separated the +people. The marquise now went out, and the doctor, lest the sight of the +people should completely distract her, put a crucifix in her hand, +bidding her fix her gaze upon it. This advice she followed till they +gained the gate into the street where the tumbril was waiting; then she +lifted her eyes to see the shameful object. It was one of the smallest +of carts, still splashed with mud and marked by the stones it had +carried, with no seat, only a little straw at the bottom. It was drawn +by a wretched horse, well matching the disgraceful conveyance. + +The executioner bade her get in first, which she did very rapidly, as if +to escape observation. There she crouched like a wild beast, in the left +corner, on the straw, riding backwards. The doctor sat beside her on the +right. Then the executioner got in, shutting the door behind him, and +sat opposite her, stretching his legs between the doctor's. His man, +whose business it was to guide the horse, sat on the front, back to back +with the doctor and the marquise, his feet stuck out on the shafts. Thus +it is easy to understand how Madame de Sevigne, who was on the Pont +Notre-Dame, could see nothing but the headdress of the marquise as she +was driven to Notre-Dame. + +The cortege had only gone a few steps, when the face of the marquise, +for a time a little calmer, was again convulsed. From her eyes, fixed +constantly on the crucifix, there darted a flaming glance, then came a +troubled and frenzied look which terrified the doctor. He knew she must +have been struck by something she saw, and, wishing to calm her, asked +what it was. + +"Nothing, nothing," she replied quickly, looking towards him; "it was +nothing." + +"But, madame," said he, "you cannot give the lie to your own eyes; and a +minute ago I saw a fire very different from the fire of love, which only +some displeasing sight can have provoked. What may this be? Tell me, +pray; for you promised to tell me of any sort of temptation that might +assail you." + +"Sir," she said, "I will do so, but it is nothing." Then, looking +towards the executioner, who, as we know, sat facing the doctor, she +said, "Put me in front of you, please; hide that man from me." And she +stretched out her hands towards a man who was following the tumbril on +horseback, and so dropped the torch, which the doctor took, and the +crucifix, which fell on the floor. The executioner looked back, and then +turned sideways as she wished, nodding and saying, "Oh yes, I +understand." The doctor pressed to know what it meant, and she said, "It +is nothing worth telling you, and it is a weakness in me not to be able +to bear the sight of a man who has ill-used me. The man who touched the +back of the tumbril is Desgrais, who arrested me at Liege, and treated +me so badly all along the road. When I saw him, I could not control +myself, as you noticed." + +"Madame," said the doctor, "I have heard of him, and you yourself spoke +of him in confession; but the man was sent to arrest you, and was in a +responsible position, so that he had to guard you closely and +rigorously; even if he had been more severe, he would only have been +carrying out his orders. Jesus Christ, madame, could but have regarded +His executioners as ministers of iniquity, servants of injustice, who +added of their own accord every indignity they could think of; yet all +along the way He looked on them with patience and more than patience, +and in His death He prayed for them." + +In the heart of the marquise a hard struggle was passing, and this was +reflected on her face; but it was only for a moment, and after a last +convulsive shudder she was again calm and serene; then she said:-- + +"Sir, you are right, and I am very wrong to feel such a fancy as this: +may God forgive me; and pray remember this fault on the scaffold, when +you give me the absolution you promise, that this too may be pardoned +me." Then she turned to the executioner and said, "Please sit where you +were before, that I may see M. Desgrais." The man hesitated, but on a +sign from the doctor obeyed. The marquise looked fully at Desgrais for +some time, praying for him; then, fixing her eyes on the crucifix, began +to pray for herself: this incident occurred in front of the church of +Sainte-Genevieve des Ardents. + +But, slowly as it moved, the tumbril steadily advanced, and at last +reached the place of Notre-Dame. The archers drove back the crowding +people, and the tumbril went up to the steps, and there stopped. The +executioner got down, removed the board at the back, held out his arms +to the marquise, and set her down on the pavement. The doctor then got +down, his legs quite numb from the cramped position he had been in since +they left the Conciergerie. He mounted the church steps and stood behind +the marquise, who herself stood on the square, with the registrar on her +right, the executioner on her left, and a great crowd of people behind +her, inside the church, all the doors being thrown open. She was made to +kneel, and in her hands was placed the lighted torch, which up to that +time the doctor had helped to carry. Then the registrar read the 'amende +honorable' from a written paper, and she began to say it after him, but +in so low a voice that the executioner said loudly, "Speak out as he +does; repeat every word. Louder, louder!" Then she raised her voice, and +loudly and firmly recited the following apology. + +"I confess that, wickedly and for revenge, I poisoned my father and my +brothers, and attempted to poison my sister, to obtain possession of +their goods, and I ask pardon of God, of the king, and of my country's +laws." + +The 'amende honorable' over, the executioner again carried her to the +tumbril, not giving her the torch any more: the doctor sat beside her: +all was just as before, and the tumbril went on towards La Greve. From +that moment, until she arrived at the scaffold, she never took her eyes +off the crucifix, which the doctor held before her the whole time, +exhorting her with religious words, trying to divert her attention from +the terrible noise which the people made around the car, a murmur +mingled with curses. + +When they reached the Place de Greve, the tumbril stopped at a little +distance from the scaffold. Then the registrar M. Drouet, came up on +horseback, and, addressing the marquise, said, "Madame, have you nothing +more to say? If you wish to make any declaration, the twelve +commissaries are here at hand, ready to receive it." + +"You see, madame," said the doctor, "we are now at the end of our +journey, and, thank God, you have not lost your power of endurance on +the road; do not destroy the effect of all you have suffered and all you +have yet to suffer by concealing what you know, if perchance you do know +more than you have hitherto said." + +"I have told all I know," said the marquise, "and there is no more I can +say." + +"Repeat these words in a loud voice," said the doctor, "so that +everybody may hear." + +Then in her loudest voice the marquise repeated-- + +"I have told all I know, and there is no more I can say." + +After this declaration, they were going to drive the tumbril nearer to +the scaffold, but the crowd was so dense that the assistant could not +force a way through, though he struck out on every side with his whip. +So they had to stop a few paces short. The executioner had already got +down, and was adjusting the ladder. In this terrible moment of waiting, +the marquise looked calmly and gratefully at the doctor, and when she +felt that the tumbril had stopped, said, "Sir, it is not here we part: +you promised not to leave me till my head is cut off. I trust you will +keep your word." + +"To be sure I will," the doctor replied; "we shall not be separated +before the moment of your death: be not troubled about that, for I will +never forsake you." + +"I looked for this kindness," she said, "and your promise was too solemn +for you to think for one moment of failing me. Please be on the scaffold +and be near me. And now, sir, I would anticipate the final +farewell,--for all the things I shall have to do on the scaffold may +distract me,--so let me thank you here. If I am prepared to suffer the +sentence of my earthly judge, and to hear that of my heavenly judge, I +owe it to your care for me, and I am deeply grateful. I can only ask +your forgiveness for the trouble I have given you." Tears choked the +doctor's speech, and he could not reply. "Do you not forgive me?" she +repeated. At her words, the doctor tried to reassure her; but feeling +that if he opened his mouth he must needs break into sobs, he still kept +silent. The marquise appealed to him a third time. "I entreat you, sir, +forgive me; and do not regret the time you have passed with me. You will +say a De Profundus at the moment of my death, and a mass far me +to-morrow: will you not promise?" + +"Yes, madame," said the doctor in a choking voice; "yes, yes, be calm, +and I will do all you bid me." + +The executioner hereupon removed the board, and helped the marquise out +of the tumbril; and as they advanced the few steps towards the scaffold, +and all eyes were upon them, the doctor could hide his tears for a +moment without being observed. As he was drying his eyes, the assistant +gave him his hand to help him down. Meanwhile the marquise was mounting +the ladder with the executioner, and when they reached the platform he +told her to kneel down in front of a block which lay across it. Then the +doctor, who had mounted with a step less firm than hers, came and knelt +beside her, but turned in the other direction, so that he might whisper +in her ear--that is, the marquise faced the river, and the doctor faced +the Hotel de Ville. Scarcely had they taken their place thus when the +man took down her hair and began cutting it at the back and at the +sides, making her turn her head this way and that, at times rather +roughly; but though this ghastly toilet lasted almost half an hour, she +made no complaint, nor gave any sign of pain but her silent tears. When +her hair was cut, he tore open the top of the shirt, so as to uncover +the shoulders, and finally bandaged her eyes, and lifting her face by +the chin, ordered her to hold her head erect. She obeyed, unresisting, +all the time listening to the doctor's words and repeating them from +time to time, when they seemed suitable to her own condition. Meanwhile, +at the back of the scaffold, on which the stake was placed, stood the +executioner, glancing now and again at the folds of his cloak, where +there showed the hilt of a long, straight sabre, which he had carefully +concealed for fear Madame de Brinvilliers might see it when she mounted +the scaffold. When the doctor, having pronounced absolution, turned his +head and saw that the man was not yet armed, he uttered these prayers, +which she repeated after him: "Jesus, Son of David and Mary, have mercy +upon me; Mary, daughter of David and Mother of Jesus, pray for me; my +God, I abandon my body, which is but dust, that men may burn it and do +with it what they please, in the firm faith that it shall one day arise +and be reunited with my soul. I trouble not concerning my body; grant, O +God, that I yield up to Thee my soul, that it may enter into Thy rest; +receive it into Thy bosom; that it may dwell once more there, whence it +first descended; from Thee it came, to Thee returns; Thou art the source +and the beginning; be thou, O God, the centre and the end!" + +The marquise had said these words when suddenly the doctor heard a dull +stroke like the sound of a chopper chopping meat upon a block: at that +moment she ceased to speak. The blade had sped so quickly that the +doctor had not even seen a flash. He stopped, his hair bristling, his +brow bathed in sweat; for, not seeing the head fall, he supposed that +the executioner had missed the mark and must needs start afresh. But his +fear was short-lived, for almost at the same moment the head inclined to +the left, slid on to the shoulder, and thence backward, while the body +fell forward on the crossway block, supported so that the spectators +could see the neck cut open and bleeding. Immediately, in fulfilment of +his promise, the doctor said a De Profundis. + +When the prayer was done and the doctor raised his head, he saw before +him the executioner wiping his face. "Well, sir," said he, "was not that +a good stroke? I always put up a prayer on these occasions, and God has +always assisted me; but I have been anxious for several days about this +lady. I had six masses said, and I felt strengthened in hand and heart." +He then pulled out a bottle from under his cloak, and drank a dram; and +taking the body under one arm, all dressed as it was, and the head in +his other hand, the eyes still bandaged, he threw both upon the faggots, +which his assistant lighted. + +"The next day," says Madame de Sevigne, "people were looking for the +charred bones of Madame de Brinvilliers, because they said she was a +saint." + +In 1814, M. d'Offemont, father of the present occupier of the castle +where the Marquise de Brinvilliers poisoned her father, frightened at +the approach of all the allied troops, contrived in one of the towers +several hiding-places, where he shut up his silver and such other +valuables as were to be found in this lonely country in the midst of the +forest of Laigue. The foreign troops were passing backwards and forwards +at Offemont, and after a three months' occupation retired to the farther +side of the frontier. + +Then the owners ventured to take out the various things that had been +hidden; and tapping the walls, to make sure nothing had been overlooked, +they detected a hollow sound that indicated the presence of some +unsuspected cavity. With picks and bars they broke the wall open, and +when several stones had come out they found a large closet like a +laboratory, containing furnaces, chemical instruments, phials +hermetically sealed full of an unknown liquid, and four packets of +powders of different colours. Unluckily, the people who made these +discoveries thought them of too much or too little importance; and +instead of submitting the ingredients to the tests of modern science, +they made away with them all, frightened at their probably deadly +nature. + +Thus was lost this great opportunity--probably the last--for finding and +analysing the substances which composed the poisons of Sainte-Croix and +Madame de Brinvilliers. + + + + +*VANINKA* + + +About the end of the reign of the Emperor Paul I--that is to say, +towards the middle of the first year of the nineteenth century--just as +four o'clock in the afternoon was sounding from the church of St. Peter +and St. Paul, whose gilded vane overlooks the ramparts of the fortress, +a crowd, composed of all sorts and conditions of people, began to gather +in front of a house which belonged to General Count Tchermayloff, +formerly military governor of a fair-sized town in the government of +Pultava. The first spectators had been attracted by the preparations +which they saw had been made in the middle of the courtyard for +administering torture with the knout. One of the general's serfs, he who +acted as barber, was to be the victim. + +Although this kind of punishment was a common enough sight in St. +Petersburg, it nevertheless attracted all passers-by when it was +publicly administered. This was the occurrence which had caused a crowd, +as just mentioned, before General Tchermayloff's house. + +The spectators, even had they been in a hurry, would have had no cause +to complain of being kept waiting, for at half-past four a young man of +about five-and-twenty, in the handsome uniform of an aide-de-camp, his +breast covered with decorations, appeared on the steps at the farther +end of the court-yard in front of the house. These steps faced the large +gateway, and led to the general's apartments. + +Arrived on the steps, the young aide-de-camp stopped a moment and fixed +his eyes on a window, the closely drawn curtains of which did not allow +him the least chance of satisfying his curiosity, whatever may have been +its cause. Seeing that it was useless and that he was only wasting time +in gazing in that direction, he made a sign to a bearded man who was +standing near a door which led to the servants' quarters. The door was +immediately opened, and the culprit was seen advancing in the middle of +a body of serfs and followed by the executioner. The serfs were forced +to attend the spectacle, that it might serve as an example to them. The +culprit was the general's barber, as we have said, and the executioner +was merely the coachman, who, being used to the handling of a whip, was +raised or degraded, which you will, to the office of executioner every +time punishment with the knout was ordered. This duty did not deprive +him of either the esteem or even the friendship of his comrades, for +they well knew that it was his arm alone that punished them and that his +heart was not in his work. As Ivan's arm as well as the rest of his body +was the property of the general, and the latter could do as he pleased +with it, no one was astonished that it should be used for this purpose. +More than that, correction administered by Ivan was nearly always +gentler than that meted out by another; for it often happened that Ivan, +who was a good-natured fellow, juggled away one or two strokes of the +knout in a dozen, or if he were forced by those assisting at the +punishment to keep a strict calculation, he manoeuvred so that the tip +of the lash struck the deal plank on which the culprit was lying, thus +taking much of the sting out of the stroke. Accordingly, when it was +Ivan's turn to be stretched upon the fatal plank and to receive the +correction he was in the habit of administering, on his own account, +those who momentarily played his part as executioner adopted the same +expedients, remembering only the strokes spared and not the strokes +received. This exchange of mutual benefits, therefore, was productive of +an excellent understanding between Ivan and his comrades, which was +never so firmly knit as at the moment when a fresh execution was about +to take place. It is true that the first hour after the punishment was +generally so full of suffering that the knouted was sometimes unjust to +the knouter, but this feeling seldom out-lasted the evening, and it was +rare when it held out after the first glass of spirits that the operator +drank to the health of his patient. + +The serf upon whom Ivan was about to exercise his dexterity was a man of +five or six-and-thirty, red of hair and beard, a little above average +height. His Greek origin might be traced in his countenance, which even +in its expression of terror had preserved its habitual characteristics +of craft and cunning. + +When he arrived at the spot where the punishment was to take place, the +culprit stopped and looked up at the window which had already claimed +the young aide-de-camp's attention; it still remained shut. With a +glance round the throng which obstructed the entrance leading to the +street, he ended by gazing, with a horror-stricken shudder upon the +plank on which he was to be stretched. The shudder did not escape his +friend Ivan, who, approaching to remove the striped shirt that covered +his shoulders, took the opportunity to whisper under his breath-- + +"Come, Gregory, take courage!" + +"You remember your promise?" replied the culprit, with an indefinable +expression of entreaty. + +"Not for the first lashes, Gregory; do not count on that, for during the +first strokes the aide-de-camp will be watching; but among the later +ones be assured I will find means of cheating him of some of them." + +"Beyond everything you will take care of the tip of the lash?" + +"I will do my best, Gregory, I will do my best. Do you not know that I +will?" + +"Alas! yes," replied Gregory. + +"Now, then!" said the aide-de-camp. + +"We are ready, noble sir," replied Ivan. + +"Wait, wait one moment, your high origin," cried poor Gregory, +addressing the young captain as though he had been a colonel, "Vache +Vousso Korodie," in order to flatter him. "I believe that the lady +Vaninka's window is about to open!" + +The young captain glanced eagerly towards the spot which had already +several times claimed his attention, but not a fold of the silken +curtains, which could be seen through the panes of the window, had +moved. + +"You are mistaken, you rascal," said the aide-de-camp, unwillingly +removing his eyes from the window, as though he also had hoped to see it +open, "you are mistaken; and besides, what has your noble mistress to do +with all this?" + +"Pardon, your excellency," continued Gregory, gratifying the +aide-de-camp with yet higher rank,--"pardon, but it is through her +orders I am about to suffer. Perhaps she might have pity upon a wretched +servant!" + +"Enough, enough; let us proceed," said the captain in an odd voice, as +though he regretted as well as the culprit that Vaninka had not shown +mercy. + +"Immediately, immediately, noble sir," said Ivan; then turning to +Gregory, he continued, "Come, comrade; the time has come." + +Gregory sighed heavily, threw a last look up at the window, and seeing +that everything remained the same there, he mustered up resolution +enough to lie down on the fatal plank. At the same time two other serfs, +chosen by Ivan for assistants, took him by the arms and attached his +wrists to two stakes, one at either side of him, so that it appeared as +though he were stretched on a cross. Then they clamped his neck into an +iron collar, and seeing that all was in readiness and that no sign +favourable to the culprit had been made from the still closely shut +window, the young aide-de-camp beckoned with his hand, saying, "Now, +then, begin!" + +"Patience, my lord, patience," said Ivan, still delaying the whipping, +in the hope that some sign might yet be made from the inexorable window. +"I have a knot in my knout, and if I leave it Gregory will have good +right to complain." + +The instrument with which the executioner was busying himself, and which +is perhaps unknown to our readers, was a species of whip, with a handle +about two feet long. A plaited leather thong, about four feet long and +two inches broad, was attached to this handle, this thong terminating in +an iron or copper ring, and to this another band of leather was +fastened, two feet long, and at the beginning about one and a half +inches thick: this gradually became thinner, till it ended in a point. +The thong was steeped in milk and then dried in the sun, and on account +of this method of preparation its edge became as keen and cutting as a +knife; further, the thong was generally changed at every sixth stroke, +because contact with blood softened it. + +However unwillingly and clumsily Ivan set about untying the knot, it had +to come undone at last. Besides, the bystanders were beginning to +grumble, and their muttering disturbed the reverie into which the young +aide-de-camp had fallen. He raised his head, which had been sunk on his +breast, and cast a last look towards the window; then with a peremptory +sign; and in a voice which admitted of no delay, he ordered the +execution to proceed. + +Nothing could put it off any longer: Ivan was obliged to obey, and he +did not attempt to find any new pretext for delay. He drew back two +paces, and with a spring he returned to his place, and standing on +tiptoe, he whirled the knout above his head, and then letting it +suddenly fall, he struck Gregory with such dexterity that the lash +wrapped itself thrice round his victim's body, encircling him like a +serpent, but the tip of the thong struck the plank upon which Gregory +was lying. Nevertheless, in spite of this precaution, Gregory uttered a +loud shriek, and Ivan counted "One." + +At the shriek, the young aide-de-camp again turned towards the window; +but it was still shut, and mechanically his eyes went back to the +culprit, and he repeated the word "One." + +The knout had traced three blue furrows on Gregory's shoulders. Ivan +took another spring, and with the same skill as before he again +enveloped the culprit's body with the hissing thong, ever taking care +that the tip of it should not touch him. Gregory uttered another shriek, +and Ivan counted "Two." The blood now began to colour the skin. + +At the third stroke several drops of blood appeared; at the fourth the +blood spurted out; at the fifth some drops spattered the young officer's +face; he drew back, and wiped them away with his handkerchief. Ivan +profited by his distraction, and counted seven instead of six: the +captain took no notice. At the ninth stroke Ivan stopped to change the +lash, and in the hope that a second fraud might pass off as luckily as +the first, he counted eleven instead of ten. + +At that moment a window opposite to Vaninka's opened, and a man about +forty-five or fifty in general's uniform appeared. He called out in a +careless tone, "Enough, that will do," and closed the window again. + +Immediately on this apparition the young aide-de-camp had turned towards +his general, saluting, and during the few seconds that the general was +present he remained motionless. When the window had been shut again, he +repeated the general's words, so that the raised whip fell without +touching the culprit. + +"Thank his excellency, Gregory," said Ivan, rolling the knout's lash +round his hand, "for having spared you two strokes;" and he added, +bending down to liberate Gregory's hand, "these two with the two I was +able to miss out make a total of eight strokes instead of twelve. Come, +now, you others, untie his other hand." + +But poor Gregory was in no state to thank anybody; nearly swooning with +pain, he could scarcely stand. + +Two moujiks took him by the arms and led him towards the serfs' +quarters, followed by Ivan. Having reached the door, however, Gregory +stopped, turned his head, and seeing the aide-de-camp gazing pitifully +at him, "Oh sir," he cried, "please thank his excellency the general for +me. As for the lady Vaninka," he added in a low tone, "I will certainly +thank her myself." + +"What are you muttering between your teeth?" cried the young officer, +with an angry movement; for he thought he had detected a threatening +tone in Gregory's voice. + +"Nothing, sir, nothing," said Ivan. "The poor fellow is merely thanking +you, Mr. Foedor, for the trouble you have taken in being present at his +punishment, and he says that he has been much honoured, that is all." + +"That is right," said the young man, suspecting that Ivan had somewhat +altered the original remarks, but evidently not wishing to be better +informed. "If Gregory wishes to spare me this trouble another time, let +him drink less vodka; or else, if he must get drunk, let him at least +remember to be more respectful." + +Ivan bowed low and followed his comrades, Foedor entered the house +again, and the crowd dispersed, much dissatisfied that Ivan's trickery +and the general's generosity had deprived them of four strokes of the +knout--exactly a third of the punishment. + +Now that we have introduced our readers to some of the characters in +this history, we must make them better acquainted with those who have +made their appearance, and must introduce those who are still behind the +curtain. + +General Count Tchermayloff, as we have said, after having been governor +of one of the most important towns in the environs of Pultava, had been +recalled to St. Petersburg by the Emperor Paul, who honoured him with +his particular friendship. The general was a widower, with one daughter, +who had inherited her mother's fortune, beauty, and pride. Vaninka's +mother claimed descent from one of the chieftains of the Tartar race, +who had invaded Russia, under the leadership of D'Gengis, in the +thirteenth century. Vaninka's naturally haughty disposition had been +fostered by the education she had received. His wife being dead, and not +having time to look after his daughter's education himself, General +Tchermayloff had procured an English governess for her. This lady, +instead of suppressing her pupil's scornful propensities, had encouraged +them, by filling her head with those aristocratic ideas which have made +the English aristocracy the proudest in the world. Amongst the different +studies to which Vaninka devoted herself, there was one in which she was +specially interested, and that one was, if one may so call it, the +science of her own rank. She knew exactly the relative degree of +nobility and power of all the Russian noble families--those that were a +grade above her own, and those of whom she took precedence. She could +give each person the title which belonged to their respective rank, no +easy thing to do in Russia, and she had the greatest contempt for all +those who were below the rank of excellency. As for serfs and slaves, +for her they did not exist: they were mere bearded animals, far below +her horse or her dog in the sentiments which they inspired in her; and +she would not for one instant have weighed the life of a serf against +either of those interesting animals. + +Like all the women of distinction in her nation, Vaninka was a good +musician, and spoke French, Italian, German, and English equally well. + +Her features had developed in harmony with her character. Vaninka was +beautiful, but her beauty was perhaps a little too decided. Her large +black eyes, straight nose, and lips curling scornfully at the corners, +impressed those who saw her for the first time somewhat unpleasantly. +This impression soon wore off with her superiors and equals, to whom she +became merely an ordinary charming woman, whilst to subalterns and such +like she remained haughty and inaccessible as a goddess. At seventeen +Vaninka's education was finished, and her governess who had suffered in +health through the severe climate of St. Petersburg, requested +permission to leave. This desire was granted with the ostentatious +recognition of which the Russian nobility are the last representatives +in Europe. Thus Vaninka was left alone, with nothing but her father's +blind adoration to direct her. She was his only daughter, as we have +mentioned, and he thought her absolutely perfect. + +Things were in this state in the-general's house when he received a +letter, written on the deathbed of one of the friends of his youth. +Count Romayloff had been exiled to his estates, as a result of some +quarrel with Potemkin, and his career had been spoilt. Not being able to +recover his forfeited position, he had settled down about four hundred +leagues from St. Petersburg; broken-hearted, distressed probably less on +account of his own exile and misfortune than of the prospects of his +only son, Foedor. The count feeling that he was leaving this son alone +and friendless in the world, commended the young man, in the name of +their early friendship, to the general, hoping that, owing to his being +a favourite with Paul I, he would be able to procure a lieutenancy in a +regiment for him. The general immediately replied to the count that his +son should find a second father in himself; but when this comforting +message arrived, Romayloff was no more, and Foedor himself received the +letter and carried it back with him to the general, when he went to tell +him of his loss and to claim the promised protection. So great was the +general's despatch, that Paul I, at his request, granted the young man a +sub-lieutenancy in the Semonowskoi regiment, so that Foedor entered on +his duties the very next day after his arrival in St. Petersburg. + +Although the young man had only passed through the general's house on +his way to the barracks, which were situated in the Litenoi quarter, he +had remained there long enough for him to have seen Vaninka, and she had +produced a great impression upon him. Foedor had arrived with his heart +full of primitive and noble feelings; his gratitude to his protector, +who had opened a career for him, was profound, and extended to all his +family. These feelings caused him perhaps to have an exaggerated idea of +the beauty of the young girl who was presented to him as a sister, and +who, in spite of this title, received him with the frigidity and hauteur +of a queen. Nevertheless, her appearance, in spite of her cool and +freezing manner, had left a lasting impression upon the young man's +heart, and his arrival in St. Petersburg had been marked by feelings +till then never experienced before in his life. + +As for Vaninka, she had hardly noticed Foedor; for what was a young +sub-lieutenant, without fortune or prospects, to her? What she dreamed +of was some princely alliance, that would make her one of the most +powerful ladies in Russia, and unless he could realise some dream of the +Arabian Nights, Foedor could not offer her such a future. + +Some time after this first interview, Foedor came to take leave of the +general. His regiment was to form part of a contingent that +Field-Marshal Souvarow was taking to Italy, and Foedor was about to die, +or show himself worthy of the noble patron who had helped him to a +career. + +This time, whether on account of the elegant uniform that heightened +Foedor's natural good looks, or because his imminent departure, glowing +with hope and enthusiasm, lent a romantic interest to the young man, +Vaninka was astonished at the marvellous change in him, and deigned, at +her father's request, to give him her hand when he left. This was more +than Foedor had dared to hope. He dropped upon his knee, as though in +the presence of a queen, and took Vaninka's between his own trembling +hands, scarcely daring to touch it with his lips. Light though the kiss +had been, Vaninka started as though she had been burnt; she felt a +thrill run through her, and she blushed violently. She withdrew her hand +so quickly, that Foedor, fearing this adieu, respectful though it was, +had offended her, remained on his knees, and clasping his hands, raised +his eyes with such an expression of fear in them, that Vaninka, +forgetting her hauteur, reassured him with a smile. Foedor rose, his +heart filled with inexplicable joy, and without being able to say what +had caused this feeling, he only knew that it had made him absolutely +happy, so that, although he was just about to leave Vaninka, he had +never felt greater happiness in his life. + +The young man left dreaming golden dreams; for his future, be it gloomy +or bright, was to be envied. If it ended in a soldier's grave, he +believed he had seen in Vaninka's eyes that she would mourn him; if his +future was glorious, glory would bring him back to St. Petersburg in +triumph, and glory is a queen, who works miracles for her favourites. + +The army to which the young officer belonged crossed Germany, descended +into Italy by the Tyrolese mountains, and entered Verona on the 14th of +April 1799. Souvarow immediately joined forces with General Melas, and +took command of the two armies. General Chasteler next day suggested +that they should reconnoitre. Souvarow, gazing at him with astonishment, +replied, "I know of no other way of reconnoitring the enemy than by +marching upon him and giving him battle." + +As a matter of fact Souvarow was accustomed to this expeditious sort of +strategy: through it he had defeated the Turks at Folkschany and +Ismailoff; and he had defeated the Poles, after a few days' campaign, +and had taken Prague in less than four hours. Catherine, out of +gratitude, had sent her victorious general a wreath of oak-leaves, +intertwined with precious stones, and worth six hundred thousand +roubles, a heavy gold field-marshal's baton encrusted with diamonds; and +had created him a field-marshal, with the right of choosing a regiment +that should bear his name from that time forward. Besides, when he +returned to Russia, she gave him leave of absence, that he might take a +holiday at a beautiful estate she had given him, together with the eight +thousand serfs who lived upon it. + +What a splendid example for Foedor! Souvarow, the son of a humble +Russian officer, had been educated at the ordinary cadets' training +college, and had left it as a sub-lieutenant like himself. Why should +there not be two Souvarows in the same century? + +Souvarow arrived in Italy preceded by an immense reputation; religious, +strenuous, unwearied, impassible, loving with the simplicity of a Tartar +and fighting with the fury of a Cossack, he was just the man required to +continue General Melas's successes over the soldiers of the Republic, +discouraged as they had been by the weak vacillations of Scherer. + +The Austro-Russian army of one hundred thousand men was opposed by only +twenty-nine or thirty thousand French. Souvarow began as usual with a +thundering blow. On 20th April he appeared before Brescia, which made a +vain attempt at resistance; after a cannonade of about half an hour's +duration, the Preschiera gate was forced, and the Korsakow division, of +which Foedor's regiment formed the vanguard, charged into the town, +pursuing the garrison, which only consisted of twelve hundred men, and +obliged them to take refuge in the citadel. Pressed with an impetuosity +the French were not accustomed to find in their enemies, and seeing that +the scaling ladders were already in position against the ramparts, the +captain Boucret wished to come to terms; but his position was too +precarious for him to obtain any conditions from his savage conquerors, +and he and his soldiers were made prisoners of war. + +Souvarow was experienced enough to know how best to profit by victory; +hardly master of Brescia, the rapid occupation of which had discouraged +our army anew, he ordered General Kray to vigorously press on the siege +of Preschiera. General Kray therefore established his headquarters at +Valeggio, a place situated at an equal distance between Preschiera and +Mantua, and he extended from the Po to the lake of Garda, on the banks +of the Mencio, thus investing the two cities at the same time. + +Meanwhile the commander-in-chief had advanced, accompanied by the larger +part of his forces, and had crossed the Oglio in two columns: he +launched one column, under General Rosenberg, towards Bergamo, and the +other, with General Melas in charge, towards the Serio, whilst a body of +seven or eight thousand men, commanded by General Kaim and General +Hohenzollern, were directed towards Placentia and Cremona, thus +occupying the whole of the left bank of the Po, in such a manner that +the Austro-Russian army advanced deploying eighty thousand men along a +front of forty-five miles. + +In view of the forces which were advancing, and which were three times +as large as his own, Scherer beat a retreat all along the line. He +destroyed the bridges over the Adda, as he did not consider that he was +strong enough to hold them, and, having removed his headquarters to +Milan, he awaited there the reply to a despatch which he had sent to the +Directory, in which, tacitly acknowledging his incapacity, he tendered +his resignation. As the arrival of his successor was delayed, and as +Souvarow continued to advance, Scherer, more and more terrified by the +responsibility which rested upon him, relinquished his command into the +hands of his most able lieutenant. The general chosen by him was Moreau, +who was again about to fight those Russians in whose ranks he was +destined to die at last. + +Moreau's unexpected nomination was proclaimed amidst the acclamation of +the soldiers. He had been called the French Fabius, on account of his +magnificent campaign on the Rhine. He passed his whole army in review, +saluted by the successive acclamations of its different divisions, which +cried, "Long live Moreau! Long live the saviour of the army of Italy!" +But however great this enthusiasm, it did not blind Moreau to the +terrible position in which he found himself. At the risk of being +out-flanked, it was necessary for him to present a parallel line to that +of the Russian army, so that, in order to face his enemy, he was obliged +to extend his line from Lake Lecco to Pizzighitone--that is to say, a +distance of fifty miles. It is true that he might have retired towards +Piedmont and concentrated his troops at Alexandria, to await there the +reinforcements the Directory had promised to send him. But if he had +done this, he would have compromised the safety of the army at Naples, +and have abandoned it, isolated as it was, to the mercy of the enemy. He +therefore resolved to defend the passage of the Adda as long as +possible, in order to give the division under Dessolles, which was to be +despatched to him by Massena, time to join forces with him and to defend +his left, whilst Gauthier, who had received orders to evacuate Tuscany +and to hasten with forced marches to his aid, should have time to arrive +and protect his right. Moreau himself took the centre, and personally +defended the fortified bridge of Cassano; this bridge was protected by +the Ritorto Canal, and he also defended it with a great deal of +artillery and an entrenched vanguard. Besides, Moreau, always as prudent +as brave, took every precaution to secure a retreat, in case of +disaster, towards the Apennines and the coast of Genoa. Hardly were his +dispositions completed before the indefatigable Souvarow entered +Triveglio. At the same time as the Russian commander-in-chief arrived at +this last town, Moreau heard of the surrender of Bergamo and its castle, +and on 23rd April he saw the heads of the columns of the allied army. + +The same day the Russian general divided his troops into three strong +columns, corresponding to the three principal points in the French line, +each column numerically more than double the strength of those to whom +they were opposed. The right column, led by General Wukassowich, +advanced towards Lake Lecco, where General Serrurier awaited it. The +left column, under the command of Melas, took up its position in front +of the Cassano entrenchments; and the Austrian division, under Generals +Zopf and Ott, which formed the centre, concentrated at Canonia, ready at +a given moment to seize Vaprio. The Russian and Austrian troops +bivouacked within cannon-shot of the French outposts. + +That evening, Foedor, who with his regiment formed part of Chasteler's +division, wrote to General Tchermayloff: + +"We are at last opposite the French, and a great battle must take place +to-morrow morning; tomorrow evening I shall be a lieutenant or a +corpse." + +Next morning, 26th April, cannon resounded at break of day from the +extremities of the lines; on our left Prince Bagration's grenadiers +attacked us, on our right General Seckendorff, who had been detached +from the camp of Triveglio, was marching on Crema. + +These two attacks met with very different success. Bagration's +grenadiers were repulsed with terrible loss, whilst Seckendorff, on the +contrary, drove the French out of Crema, and pushed forward towards the +bridge of Lodi. Foedor's predictions were falsified: his portion of the +army did nothing the whole day; his regiment remained motionless, +waiting for orders that did not come. + +Souvarow's arrangements were not yet quite complete, the night was +needed for him to finish them. During the night, Moreau, having heard of +Seckendorff's success on his extreme right, sent an order to Serrurier +commanding him to leave at Lecco, which was an easy post to defend, the +18th light brigade and a detachment of dragoons only, and to draw back +with the rest of his troops towards the centre. Serrurier received this +order about two o'clock in the morning, and executed it immediately. + +On their side the Russians had lost no time, profiting by the darkness +of the night. General Wukassowich had repaired the bridge at Brevio, +which had been destroyed by the French, whilst General Chasteler had +built another bridge two miles below the castle of Trezzo. These two +bridges had been, the one repaired and the other built, without the +French outposts having the slightest suspicion of what was taking place. + +Surprised at two o'clock in the morning by two Austrian divisions, +which, concealed by the village of San Gervasio, had reached the right +bank of the Adda without their being discovered, the soldiers defending +the castle of Trezzo abandoned it and beat a retreat. The Austrians +pursued them as far as Pozzo, but there the French suddenly halted and +faced about, for General Serrurier was at Pozzo, with the troops he had +brought from Lecco. He heard the cannonade behind him, immediately +halted, and, obeying the first law of warfare, he marched towards the +noise and smoke. It was therefore through him that the garrison of +Trezzo rallied and resumed the offensive. Serrurier sent an aide-de-Camp +to Moreau to inform him of the manoeuvre he had thought proper to +execute. + +The battle between the French and Austrian troops raged with incredible +fury. Bonaparte's veterans, during their first Italian campaigns, had +adopted a custom which they could not renounce: it was to fight His +Imperial Majesty's subjects wherever they found them. Nevertheless, so +great was the numerical superiority of the allies, that our troops had +begun to retreat, when loud shouts from the rearguard announced that +reinforcements had arrived. It was General Grenier, sent by Moreau, who +arrived with his division at the moment when his presence was most +necessary. + +One part of the new division reinforced the centre column, doubling its +size; another part was extended upon the left to envelop the enemy. The +drums beat afresh down the whole line, and our grenadiers began again to +reconquer this battle field already twice lost and won. But at this +moment the Austrians were reinforced by the Marquis de Chasteler and his +division, so that the numerical superiority was again with the enemy. +Grenier drew back his wing to strengthen the centre, and Serrurier, +preparing for retreat in case of disaster, fell back on Pozzo, where he +awaited the enemy. It was here that the battle raged most fiercely: +thrice the village of Pozzo was taken and re-taken, until at last, +attacked for the fourth time by a force double their own in numbers, the +French were obliged to evacuate it. In this last attack an Austrian +colonel was mortally wounded, but, on the other hand, General Beker, who +commanded the French rearguard, refused to retreat with his soldiers, +and maintained his ground with a few men, who were slain as they stood; +he was at length obliged to give up his sword to a young Russian officer +of the Semenofskoi regiment, who, handing over his prisoner to his own +soldiers, returned immediately to the combat. + +The two French generals had fixed on the village of Vaprio as a +rallying-place, but at the moment when our troops were thrown into +disorder through the evacuation of Pozzo, the Austrian cavalry charged +heavily, and Serrurier, finding himself separated from his colleague, +was obliged to retire with two thousand five hundred men to Verderio, +whilst Grenier, having reached the appointed place, Vaprio, halted to +face the enemy afresh. + +During this time a terrible fight was taking place in the centre. Melas +with eighteen to twenty thousand men had attacked the fortified posts at +the head of the bridge of Cassano and the Ritorto Canal. About seven +o'clock in the morning, when Moreau had weakened himself by despatching +Grenier and his division, Melas, leading three battalions of Austrian +grenadiers, had attacked the fortifications, and for two hours there was +terrible carnage; thrice repulsed, and leaving more than fifteen hundred +men at the base of the fortifications, the Austrians had thrice returned +to the attack, each time being reinforced by fresh troops, always led on +and encouraged by Melas, who had to avenge his former defeats. At +length, having been attacked for the fourth time, forced from their +entrenchments, and contesting the ground inch by inch, the French took +shelter behind their second fortifications, which defended the entrance +to the bridge itself: here they were commanded by Moreau in person. +There, for two more hours, a hand-to-hand struggle took place, whilst +the terrible artillery belched forth death almost muzzle to muzzle. At +last the Austrians, rallying for a last time, advanced at the point of +the bayonet, and; lacking either ladders or fascines, piled the bodies +of their dead comrades against the fortifications, and succeeded in +scaling the breastworks. There was not a moment to be lost. Moreau +ordered a retreat, and whilst the French were recrossing the Adda, he +protected their passage in person with a single battalion of grenadiers, +of whom at the end of half an hour not more than a hundred and twenty +men remained; three of his aides-de-camp were killed at his side. This +retreat was accomplished without disorder, and then Moreau himself +retired, still fighting the enemy, who set foot on the bridge as soon as +he reached the other bank. The Austrians immediately rushed forward to +capture him, when suddenly a terrible noise was heard rising above the +roar of the artillery; the second arch of the bridge was blown into the +air, carrying with it all those who were standing on the fatal spot. The +armies recoiled, and into the empty space between them fell like rain a +debris of stones and human beings. But at this moment, when Moreau had +succeeded in putting a momentary obstacle between himself and Melas, +General Grenier's division arrived in disorder, after having been forced +to evacuate Vaprio, pursued by the Austro-Russians under Zopf, Ott, and +Chasteler. Moreau ordered a change of front, and faced this new enemy, +who fell upon him when he least expected them; he succeeded in rallying +Grenier's troops and in re-establishing the battle. But whilst his back +was turned Melas repaired the bridge and crossed the river; thus Moreau +found himself attacked frontally, in the rear, and on his two flanks, by +forces three times larger than his own. It was then that all the +officers who surrounded him begged him to retreat, for on the +preservation of his person depended the preservation of Italy for +France. Moreau refused for some time, for he knew the awful consequences +of the battle he had just lost, and he did not wish to survive it, +although it had been impossible for him to win it. At last a chosen band +surrounded him, and, forming a square, drew back, whilst the rest of the +army sacrificed themselves to cover his retreat; for Moreau's genius was +looked upon as the sole hope that remained to them. + +The battle lasted nearly three hours longer, during which the rearguard +of the army performed prodigies of valour. At length Melas, seeing that +the enemy had escaped him, and believing that his troops, tired by the +stubborn fight, needed rest, gave orders that the fighting should cease. +He halted on the left bank of the Adda, encamping his army in the +villages of Imago, Gorgonzola, and Cassano, and remained master of the +battlefield, upon which we had left two thousand five hundred dead, one +hundred pieces of cannon, and twenty howitzers. + +That night Souvarow invited General Becker to supper with him, and asked +him by whom he had been taken prisoner. Becker replied that it was a +young officer belonging to the regiment which had first entered Pozzo. +Souvarow immediately inquired what regiment this was, and discovered +that it was the Semenofskoi; he then ordered that inquiries should be +made to ascertain the young officer's name. Shortly afterwards +Sub-Lieutenant Foedor Romayloff was announced. He presented General +Becker's sword to Souvarow, who invited him to remain and to have supper +with his prisoner. + +Next day Foedor wrote to his protector: "I have kept my word. I am a +lieutenant, and Field-Marshal Souvarow has requested his Majesty Paul I +to bestow upon me the order of Saint Vladimir." + +On 28th of April, Souvarow entered Milan, which Moreau had just +abandoned in order to retreat beyond Tesino. The following proclamation +was by his order posted on all the walls of the capital; it admirably +paints the spirit of the Muscovite: + +"The victorious army of the Apostolical and Roman Emperor is here; it +has fought solely for the restoration of the Holy Faith,--the clergy, +nobility, and ancient government of Italy. People, join us for God and +the Faith, for we have arrived with an army at Milan and Placentia to +assist you!" + +The dearly bought victories of Trebia and Novi succeeded that of +Cassano, and left Souvarow so much weakened that he was unable to profit +by them. Besides, just when the Russian general was about to resume his +march, a new plan of campaign arrived, sent by the Aulic Council at +Vienna. The Allied Powers had decided upon the invasion of France, and +had fixed the route each general must follow in order to accomplish this +new project. It way decided that Souvarow should invade France by +Switzerland, and that the arch-duke should yield him his positions and +descend on the Lower Rhine. + +The troops with which Souvarow was to operate against Massena from this +time were the thirty thousand Russians he had with him, thirty thousand +others detached from the reserve army commanded by Count Tolstoy in +Galicia, who were to be led to join him in Switzerland by General +Korsakoff, about thirty thousand Austrians under General Hotze, and +lastly, five or six thousand French emigrants under the Prince de Conde +in all, an army of ninety or ninety-five thousand men. The Austrians +were to oppose Moreau and Macdonald. + +Foedor had been wounded when entering Novi, but Souvarow had rewarded +him with a second cross, and the rank of captain hastened his +convalescence, so that the young officer, more happy than proud of the +new rank he had received, was in a condition to follow the army, when on +13th September it moved towards Salvedra and entered the valley of +Tesino. + +So far all had gone well, and as long as they remained in the rich and +beautiful Italian plains, Suovarow had nothing but praise for the +courage and devotion of his soldiers. But when to the fertile fields of +Lombardy, watered by its beautiful river, succeeded the rough ways of +the Levantine, and when the lofty summits of the St. Gothard, covered +with the eternal snows, rose before them, their enthusiasm was quenched, +their energy disappeared, and melancholy forebodings filled the hearts +of these savage children of the North. + +Unexpected grumblings ran through the ranks; then suddenly the vanguard +stopped, and declared that it would go no farther. In vain Foedor, who +commanded a company, begged and entreated his own men to set an example +by continuing the march: they threw down their arms, and lay down beside +them. Just as they had given this proof of insubordination, fresh +murmurs, sounding like an approaching storm, rose from the rear of the +army: they were caused by the sight of Souvarow, who was riding from the +rear to the vanguard, and who arrived at the front accompanied by this +terrible proof of mutiny and insubordination. When he reached the head +of the column, the murmurings had developed into imprecations. + +Then Souvarow addressed his soldiers with that savage eloquence to which +he owed the miracles he had effected with them, but cries of "Retreat! +Retreat!" drowned his voice. Then he chose out the most mutinous, and +had them thrashed until they were overcome by this shameful punishment: +But the thrashings had no more influence than the exhortation, and the +shouts continued. Souvarow saw that all was lost if he did not employ +some powerful and unexpected means of regaining the mutineers. He +advanced towards Foedor. "Captain," said he, "leave these fools here, +take eight non-commissioned officers and dig a grave." Foedor, +astonished, gazed at his general as though demanding an explanation of +this strange order. "Obey orders," said Souvarow. + +Foedor obeyed, and the eight men set to work; and ten minutes later the +grave was dug, greatly to the astonishment of the whole army, which had +gathered in a semicircle on the rising slopes of the two hills which +bordered the road, standing as if on the steps of a huge amphitheatre. + +Souvarow dismounted from his horse, broke his sword in two and threw it +into the grave, detached his epaulets one by one and threw them after +his sword, dragged off the decorations which covered his breast and cast +these after the sword and epaulets, and then, stripping himself naked, +he lay down in the grave himself, crying in a loud voice-- + +"Cover me with earth! Leave your general here. You are no longer my +children, and I am no longer your father; nothing remains to me but +death." + +At these strange words, which were uttered in so powerful a voice that +they were heard by the whole army, the Russian grenadiers threw +themselves weeping into the grave, and, raising their general, asked +pardon of him, entreating him to lead them again against the enemy. + +"At last," cried Souvarow, "I recognise my children again. To the +enemy!" + +Not cries but yells of joy greeted his words. Souvarav dressed himself +again, and whilst he was dressing the leaders of the mutiny crept in the +dust to kiss his feet. Then, when his epaulets were replaced on his +shoulders, and when his decorations again shone on his breast, he +remounted his horse, followed by the army, the soldiers swearing with +one voice that they would all die rather than abandon their father. + +The same day Souvarow attacked Aerolo; but his luck had turned: the +conqueror of Cassano, Trebia, and Novi had left his good-fortune behind +in the plains of Italy. For twelve hours six hundred French opposed +three thousand Russian grenadiers beneath the walls of the town, and so +successfully that night fell without Souvarow being able to defeat them. +Next day he marched the whole of his troops against this handful of +brave men, but the sky clouded over and the wind blew a bitter rain into +the faces of the Russians; the French profited by this circumstance to +beat a retreat, evacuating the valley of Ursern, crossing the Reuss, and +taking up their position on the heights of the Furka and Grimsel. One +portion of the Russian army's design had been achieved, they were +masters of the St. Gothard. It is true that as soon as they marched +farther on, the French would retake it and cut off their retreat; but +what did this matter to Souvarow? Did he not always march forward? + +He marched on, then, without worrying about that which was behind him, +reached Andermatt, cleared Trou d'Ury, and found Lecourbe guarding the +defile of the Devil's Bridge with fifteen hundred men. There the +struggle began again; for three days fifteen hundred Frenchmen kept +thirty thousand Russians at bay. Souvarow raged like a lion trapped in a +snare, for he could not understand this change of fortune. At last, on +the fourth day, he heard that General Korsakoff, who had preceded him +and who was to rejoin him later, had been beaten by Molitor, and that +Massena had recaptured Zurich and occupied the canton of Glaris. +Souvarow now gave up the attempt to proceed up the valley of the Reuss, +and wrote to Korsakoff and Jallachieh, "I hasten to retrieve your +losses; stand firm as ramparts: you shall answer to me with your heads +for every step in retreat that you take." The aide-de-camp was also +charged to communicate to the Russian and Austrian generals a verbal +plan of battle. Generals Linsken and Jallachieh were to attack the +French troops separately and then to join the forces in the valley of +Glaris, into which Souvarow himself was to descend by the Klon-Thal, +thus hemming Molitor in between two walls of iron. + +Souvarow was so sure that this plan would be successful, that when he +arrived on the borders of the lake of Klon-Thal, he sent a bearer with a +flag of truce, summoning Molitor to surrender, seeing that he was +surrounded on every side. + +Molitor replied, to the field-marshal that his proposed meeting with his +generals had failed, as he had beaten them one after the other, and +driven them back into the Grisons, and that moreover, in retaliation, as +Massena was advancing by Muotta, it was he, Souvarow, who was between +two fires, and therefore he called upon him to lay down his arms +instead. + +On hearing this strange reply, Souvarow thought that he must be +dreaming, but soon recovering himself and realising the danger of his +position in the defiles, he threw himself on General Molitor, who +received him at the point of the bayonet, and then closing up the pass +with twelve hundred men, the French succeeded in holding fifteen to +eighteen thousand Russians in check for eight hours. At length night +came, and Molitor evacuated the Klon Thal, and retired towards the +Linth, to defend the bridges of Noefels and Mollis. + +The old field-marshal rushed like a torrent over Glaris and Miltodi; +there he learnt that Molitor had told him the truth, and that Jallachieh +and Linsken had been beaten and dispersed, that Massena was advancing on +Schwitz, and that General Rosenberg, who had been given the defence of +the bridge of Muotta, had been forced to retreat, so that he found +himself in the position in which he had hoped to place Molitor. + +No time was to be lost in retreating. Souvarow hurried through the +passes of Engi, Schwauden, and Elm. His flight was so hurried that he +was obliged to abandon his wounded and part of his artillery. +Immediately the French rushed in pursuit among the precipices and +clouds. One saw whole armies passing over places where chamois-hunters +took off their shoes and walked barefoot, holding on by their hands to +prevent themselves from falling. Three nations had come from three +different parts to a meeting-place in the home of the eagles, as if to +allow those nearest God to judge the justice of their cause. There were +times when the frozen mountains changed into volcanoes, when cascades +now filled with blood fell into the valleys, and avalanches of human +beings rolled down the deepest precipices. Death reaped such a harvest +there where human life had never been before, that the vultures, +becoming fastidious through the abundance, picked out only the eyes of +the corpses to carry to their young--at least so says the tradition of +the peasants of these mountains. + +Souvarow was able to rally his troops at length in the neighbourhood of +Lindau. He recalled Korsakoff, who still occupied Bregenz; but all his +troops together did not number more than thirty thousand men-all that +remained of the eighty thousand whom Paul had furnished as his +contingent in the coalition. In fifteen days Massena had defeated three +separate armies, each numerically stronger than his own. Souvarow, +furious at having been defeated by these same Republicans whom he had +sworn to exterminate, blamed the Austrians for his defeat, and declared +that he awaited orders from his emperor, to whom he had made known the +treachery of the allies, before attempting anything further with the +coalition. + +Paul's answer was that he should immediately return to Russia with his +soldiers, arriving at St. Petersburg as soon as possible, where a +triumphal entry awaited them. + +The same ukase declared that Souvarow should be quartered in the +imperial palace for the rest of his life, and lastly that a monument +should be raised to him in one of the public places of St. Petersburg. + +Foedor was thus about to see Vaninka once more. Throughout the campaign, +where there was a chance of danger, whether in the plains of Italy, in +the defiles of Tesino, or on the glaciers of Mount Pragal, he was the +first to throw himself into it, and his name had frequently been +mentioned as worthy of distinction. Souvarow was too brave himself to be +prodigal of honours where they were not merited. Foedor was returning, +as he had promised, worthy of his noble protector's friendship, and who +knows, perhaps worthy of Vaninka's love. Field-Marshal Souvarow had made +a friend of him, and none could know to what this friendship might not +lead; for Paul honoured Souvarow like one of the ancient heroes. + +But no one could rely upon Paul, for his character was made up of +extreme impulses. Without having done anything to offend his master, and +without knowing the cause of his disgrace, Souvarow, on arriving at +Riga, received a private letter which informed him, in the emperor's +name, that, having tolerated an infraction of the laws of discipline +among his soldiers, the emperor deprived him of all the honours with +which he had been invested, and also forbade him to appear before him. + +Such tidings fell like a thunderbolt upon the old warrior, already +embittered by his reverses: he was heart-broken that such storm-clouds +should tarnish the end of his glorious day. + +In consequence of this order, he assembled all his officers in the +market-place of Riga, and took leave of them sorrowfully, like a father +taking leave of his family. Having embraced the generals and colonels, +and having shaken hands with the others, he said good-bye to them once +more, and left them free to continue their march to their destination. + +Souvarow took a sledge, and, travelling night and day, arrived incognito +in the capital, which he was to have entered in triumph, and was driven +to a distant suburb, to the house of one of his nieces, where he died of +a broken heart fifteen days afterwards. + +On his own account, Foedor travelled almost as rapidly as his general, +and entered St. Petersburg without having sent any letter to announce +his arrival. As he had no parent in the capital, and as his entire +existence was concentrated in one person, he drove direct to the +general's house, which was situated in the Prospect of Niewski, at an +angle of the Catherine Canal. + +Having arrived there, he sprang out of his carriage, entered the +courtyard, and bounded up the steps. He opened the ante-chamber door, +and precipitated himself into the midst of the servants and subordinate +household officers. They cried out with surprise upon seeing him: he +asked them where the general was; they replied by pointing to the door +of the dining-room; he was in there, breakfasting with his daughter. + +Then, through a strange reaction, Foedor felt his knees failing him, and +he was obliged to lean against a wall to prevent himself from falling. +At this moment, when he was about to see Vaninka again, this soul of his +soul, for whom alone he had done so much, he dreaded lest he should not +find her the same as when he had left her. Suddenly the dining-room door +opened, and Vaninka appeared. Seeing the young man, she uttered a cry, +and, turning to the general, said, "Father, it is Foedor"; and the +expression of her voice left no doubt of the sentiment which inspired +it. + +"Foedor!" cried the general, springing forward and holding out his arms. + +Foedor did not know whether to throw himself at the feet of Vaninka or +into the arms of her father. He felt that his first recognition ought to +be devoted to respect and gratitude, and threw himself into the +general's arms. Had he acted otherwise, it would have been an avowal of +his love, and he had no right to avow this love till he knew that it was +reciprocated. + +Foedor then turned, and as at parting, sank on his knee before Vaninka; +but a moment had sufficed for the haughty girl to banish the feeling she +had shown. The blush which had suffused her cheek had disappeared, and +she had become again cold and haughty like an alabaster statue-a +masterpiece of pride begun by nature and finished by education. Foedor +kissed her hand; it was trembling but cold he felt his heart sink, and +thought he was about to die. + +"Why, Vaninka," said the general--"why are you so cool to a friend who +has caused us so much anxiety and yet so much pleasure? Come, Fordor, +kiss my daughter." + +Foedor rose entreatingly, but waited motionless, that another permission +might confirm that of the general. + +"Did you not hear my father?" said Vaninka, smiling, but nevertheless +possessing sufficient self-control to prevent the emotion she was +feeling from appearing in her voice. + +Foedor stooped to kiss Vaninka, and as he held her hands it seemed to +him that she lightly pressed his own with a nervous, involuntary +movement. A feeble cry of joy nearly escaped him, when, suddenly looking +at Vaninka, he was astonished at her pallor: her lips were as white as +death. + +The general made Foedor sit down at the table: Vaninka took her place +again, and as by chance she was seated with her back to the light, the +general noticed nothing. + +Breakfast passed in relating and listening to an account of this strange +campaign which began under the burning sun of Italy and ended in the +glaciers of Switzerland. As there are no journals in St. Petersburg +which publish anything other than that which is permitted by the +emperor, Souvarow's successes were spread abroad, but his reverses were +ignored. Foedor described the former with modesty and the latter with +frankness. + +One can imagine, the immense interest the general took in Foedor's +story. His two captain's epaulets and the decorations on his breast +proved that the young man had modestly suppressed his own part in the +story he had told. But the general, too courageous to fear that he might +share in Souvarow's disgrace, had already visited the dying +field-marshal, and had heard from him an account of his young protege's +bravery. Therefore, when Foedor had finished his story, it was the +general's turn to enumerate all the fine things Foedor had done in a +campaign of less than a year. Having finished this enumeration, he added +that he intended next day to ask the emperor's permission to take the +young captain for his aide-de-camp. Foedor hearing this wished to throw +himself at the general's feet, but he received him again in his arms, +and to show Foedor how certain he was that he would be successful in his +request, he fixed the rooms that the young man was to occupy in the +house at once. + +The next day the general returned from the palace of St. Michel with the +pleasant news that his request had been granted. + +Foedor was overwhelmed with joy: from this time he was to form part of +the general's family. Living under the same roof as Vaninka, seeing her +constantly, meeting her frequently in the rooms, seeing her pass like an +apparition at the end of a corridor, finding himself twice a day at the +same table with her, all this was more than Foedor had ever dared hope, +and he thought for a time that he had attained complete happiness. + +For her part, Vaninka, although she was so proud, at the bottom of her +heart took a keen interest in Foedor. He had left her with the certainty +that he loved her, and during his absence her woman's pride had been +gratified by the glory he had acquired, in the hope of bridging the +distance which separated them. So that, when she saw him return with +this distance between them lessened, she felt by the beating of her +heart that gratified pride was changing into a more tender sentiment, +and that for her part she loved Foedor as much as it was possible for +her to love anyone. + +She had nevertheless concealed these feelings under an appearance of +haughty indifference, for Vaninka was made so: she intended to let +Foedor know some day that she loved him, but until the time came when it +pleased her to reveal it, she did not wish the young man to discover her +love. Things went on in this way for several months, and the +circumstances which had at first appeared to Foedor as the height of +happiness soon became awful torture. + +To love and to feel his heart ever on the point of avowing its love, to +be from morning till night in the company of the beloved one, to meet +her hand at the table, to touch her dress in a narrow corridor, to feel +her leaning on his arm when they entered a salon or left a ballroom, +always to have ceaselessly to control every word, look, or movement +which might betray his feelings, no human power could endure such a +struggle. + +Vaninka saw that Foedor could not keep his secret much longer, and +determined to anticipate the avowal which she saw every moment on the +point of escaping his heart. + +One day when they were alone, and she saw the hopeless efforts the young +man was making to hide his feelings from her, she went straight up to +him, and, looking at him fixedly, said: + +"You love me!" + +"Forgive me, forgive me," cried the young man, clasping his hands. + +"Why should you ask me to forgive you, Foedor? Is not your love +genuine?" + +"Yes, yes, genuine but hopeless." + +"Why hopeless? Does not my father love you as a son?" said Vaninka. + +"Oh, what do you mean?" cried Foedor. "Do you mean that if your father +will bestow your hand upon me, that you will then consent--?" + +"Are you not both noble in heart and by birth, Foedor? You are not +wealthy, it is true, but then I am rich enough for both." + +"Then I am not indifferent to you?" + +"I at least prefer you to anyone else I have met." + +"Vaninka!" The young girl drew herself away proudly. + +"Forgive me!" said Foedor. "What am I doing? You have but to order: I +have no wish apart from you. I dread lest I shall offend you. Tell me +what to do, and I will obey." + +"The first thing you must do, Foedor, is to ask my father's consent." + +"So you will allow me to take this step?" + +"Yes, but on one condition." + +"What is it? Tell me." + +"My father, whatever his answer, must never know that I have consented +to your making this application to him; no one must know that you are +following my instructions; the world must remain ignorant of the +confession I have just made to you; and, lastly, you must not ask me, +whatever happens, to help you in any other way than with my good +wishes." + +"Whatever you please. I will do everything you wish me to do. Do you not +grant me a thousand times more than I dared hope, and if your father +refuses me, do I not know myself that you are sharing my grief?" cried +Foedor. + +"Yes; but that will not happen, I hope," said Vaninka, holding out her +hand to the young officer, who kissed it passionately. + +"Now be hopeful and take courage;" and Vaninka retired, leaving the +young man a hundred times more agitated and moved than she was herself, +woman though she was. + +The same day Foedor asked for an interview with the general. The general +received his aide-de-camp as usual with a genial and smiling +countenance, but with the first words Foedor uttered his face darkened. +However, when he heard the young man's description of the love, so true, +constant, and passionate, that he felt for Vaninka, and when he heard +that this passion had been the motive power of those glorious deeds he +had praised so often, he held out his hand to Foedor, almost as moved as +the young soldier. + +And then the general told him, that while he had been away, and ignorant +of his love for Vaninka, in whom he had observed no trace of its being +reciprocated, he had, at the emperor's desire, promised her hand to the +son of a privy councillor. The only stipulation that the general had +made was, that he should not be separated from his daughter until she +had attained the age of eighteen. Vaninka had only five months more to +spend under her father's roof. Nothing more could be said: in Russia the +emperor's wish is an order, and from the moment that it is expressed, no +subject would oppose it, even in thought. However, the refusal had +imprinted such despair on the young man's face, that the general, +touched by his silent and resigned sorrow, held out his arms to him. +Foedor flung himself into them with loud sobs. + +Then the general questioned him about his daughter, and Foedor answered, +as he had promised, that Vaninka was ignorant of everything, and that +the proposal came from him alone, without her knowledge. This assurance +calmed the general: he had feared that he was making two people +wretched. + +At dinner-time Vaninka came downstairs and found her father alone. +Foedor had not enough courage to be present at the meal and to meet her +again, just when he had lost all hope: he had taken a sleigh, and driven +out to the outskirts of the city. + +During the whole time dinner lasted Vaninka and the general hardly +exchanged a word, but although this silence was so expressive, Vaninka +controlled her face with her usual power, and the general alone appeared +sad and dejected. + +That evening, just when Vaninka was going downstairs, tea was brought to +her room, with the message that the general was fatigued and had +retired. Vaninka asked some questions about the nature of his +indisposition, and finding that it was not serious, she told the servant +who had brought her the message to ask her father to send for her if he +wanted anything. The general sent to say that he thanked her, but he +only required quiet and rest. Vaninka announced that she would retire +also, and the servant withdrew. + +Hardly had he left the room when Vaninka ordered Annouschka, her +foster-sister, who acted as her maid, to be on the watch for Foedor's +return, and to let her know as soon as he came in. + +At eleven o'clock the gate of the mansion opened: Foedor got out of his +sleigh, and immediately went up to his room. He threw himself upon a +sofa, overwhelmed by his thoughts. About midnight he heard someone +tapping at the door: much astonished, he got up and opened it. It was +Annouschka, who came with a message from her mistress, that Vaninka +wished to see him immediately. Although he was astonished at this +message, which he was far from expecting, Foedor obeyed. + +He found Vaninka seated, dressed in a white robe, and as she was paler +than usual he stopped at the door, for it seemed to him that he was +gazing at a marble statue. + +"Come in," said Vaninka calmly. + +Foedor approached, drawn by her voice like steel to a magnet. Annouschka +shut the door behind him. + +"Well, and what did my father say?" said Vaninka. + +Foedor told her all that had happened. The young girl listened to his +story with an unmoved countenance, but her lips, the only part of her +face which seemed to have any colour, became as white as the +dressing-gown she was wearing. Foedor, on the contrary, was consumed by +a fever, and appeared nearly out of his senses. + +"Now, what do you intend to do?" said Vaninka in the same cold tone in +which she had asked the other questions. + +"You ask me what I intend to do, Vaninka? What do you wish me to do? +What can I do, but flee from St. Petersburg, and seek death in the first +corner of Russia where war may break out, in order not to repay my +patron's kindness by some infamous baseness?" + +"You are a fool," said Vaninka, with a mixed smile of triumph and +contempt; for from that moment she felt her superiority over Foedor, and +saw that she would rule him like a queen for the rest of her life. + +"Then order me--am I not your slave?" cried the young soldier. + +"You must stay here," said Vaninka. + +"Stay here?" + +"Yes; only women and children will thus confess themselves beaten at the +first blow: a man, if he be worthy of the name, fights." + +"Fight!--against whom?--against your father? Never!" + +"Who suggested that you should contend against my father? It is against +events that you must strive; for the generality of men do not govern +events, but are carried away by them. Appear to my father as though you +were fighting against your love, and he will think that you have +mastered yourself. As I am supposed to be ignorant of your proposal, I +shall not be suspected. I will demand two years' more freedom, and I +shall obtain them. Who knows what may happen in the course of two years? +The emperor may die, my betrothed may die, my father--may God protect +him!--my father himself may die--!" + +"But if they force you to marry?" + +"Force me!" interrupted Vaninka, and a deep flush rose to her cheek and +immediately disappeared again. "And who will force me to do anything? +Father? He loves me too well. The emperor? He has enough worries in his +own family, without introducing them into another's. Besides, there is +always a last resource when every other expedient fails: the Neva only +flows a few paces from here, and its waters are deep." + +Foedor uttered a cry, for in the young girl's knit brows and tightly +compressed lips there was so much resolution that he understood that +they might break this child but that they would not bend her. But +Foedor's heart was too much in harmony with the plan Vaninka had +proposed; his objections once removed, he did not seek fresh ones. +Besides, had he had the courage to do so; Vaninka's promise to make up +in secret to him for the dissimulation she was obliged to practise in +public would have conquered his last scruples. + +Vaninka, whose determined character had been accentuated by her +education, had an unbounded influence over all who came in contact with +her; even the general, without knowing why, obeyed her. Foedor submitted +like a child to everything she wished, and the young girl's love was +increased by the wishes she opposed and by a feeling of gratified pride. + +It was some days after this nocturnal decision that the knouting had +taken place at which our readers have assisted. It was for some slight +fault, and Gregory had been the victim; Vaninka having complained to her +father about him. Foedor, who as aide-de-camp had been obliged to +preside over Gregory's punishment, had paid no more attention to the +threats the serf had uttered on retiring. + +Ivan, the coachman, who after having been executioner had become +surgeon, had applied compresses of salt and water to heal up the scarred +shoulders of his victim. Gregory had remained three days in the +infirmary, and during this time he had turned over in his mind every +possible means of vengeance. Then at the end of three days, being +healed, he had returned to his duty, and soon everyone except he had +forgotten the punishment. If Gregory had been a real Russian, he would +soon have forgotten it all; for this punishment is too familiar to the +rough Muscovite for him to remember it long and with rancour. Gregory, +as we have said, had Greek blood in his veins; he dissembled and +remembered. Although Gregory was a serf, his duties had little by little +brought him into greater familiarity with the general than any of the +other servants. Besides, in every country in the world barbers have +great licence with those they shave; this is perhaps due to the fact +that a man is instinctively more gracious to another who for ten minutes +every day holds his life in his hands. Gregory rejoiced in the immunity +of his profession, and it nearly always happened that the barber's daily +operation on the general's chin passed in conversation, of which he bore +the chief part. + +One day the general had to attend a review: he sent for Gregory before +daybreak, and as the barber was passing the razor as gently as possible +over his master's cheek, the conversation fell, or more likely was led, +on Foedor. The barber praised him highly, and this naturally caused his +master to ask him, remembering the correction the young aide-decamp had +superintended, if he could not find some fault in this model of +perfection that might counterbalance so many good qualities. Gregory +replied that with the exception of pride he thought Foedor +irreproachable. + +"Pride?" asked the astonished general. "That is a failing from which I +should have thought him most free." + +"Perhaps I should have said ambition," replied Gregory. + +"Ambition!" said the general. "It does not seem to me that he has given +much proof of ambition in entering my service; for after his +achievements in the last campaign he might easily have aspired to the +honour of a place in the emperor's household." + +"Oh yes, he is ambitious," said Gregory, smiling. "One man's ambition is +for high position, another's an illustrious alliance: the former will +owe everything to himself, the latter will make a stepping-stone of his +wife, then they raise their eyes higher than they should." + +"What do you mean to suggest?" said the general, beginning to see what +Gregory was aiming at. + +"I mean, your excellency," replied Gregory, "there are many men who, +owing to the kindness shown them by others, forget their position and +aspire to a more exalted one; having already been placed so high, their +heads are turned." + +"Gregory," cried the general, "believe me, you are getting into a +scrape; for you are making an accusation, and if I take any notice of +it, you will have to prove your words." + +"By St. Basilius, general, it is no scrape when you have truth on your +side; for I have said nothing I am not ready to prove." + +"Then," said the general, "you persist in declaring that Foedor loves my +daughter?" + +"Ah! I have not said that: it is your excellency. I have not named the +lady Vaninka," said Gregory, with the duplicity of his nation. + +"But you meant it, did you not? Come, contrary to your custom, reply +frankly." + +"It is true, your excellency; it is what I meant." + +"And, according to you, my daughter reciprocates the passion, no doubt?" + +"I fear so, your excellency." + +"And what makes you think this, say?" + +"First, Mr. Foedor never misses a chance of speaking to the lady +Vaninka." + +"He is in the same house with her, would you have him avoid her?" + +"When the lady Vaninka returns late, and when perchance Mr. Foedor has +not accompanied you, whatever the hour Mr. Foedor is there, ready, to +help her out of the carriage." + +"Foedor attends me, it is his duty," said the general, beginning to +believe that the serf's suspicions were founded on slight grounds. "He +waits for me," he, continued, "because when I return, at any hour of the +day or night, I may have orders to give him." + +"Not a day passes without Mr. Foedor going into my lady Vaninka's room, +although such a favour is not usually granted to a young man in a house +like that of your excellency." + +"Usually it is I who send him to her," said the general. + +"Yes, in the daytime," replied Gregory, "but at night?" + +"At night!" cried the general, rising to his feet, and turning so pale +that, after a moment, he was forced to lean for support on a table. + +"Yes, at night, your excellency," answered Gregory quietly; "and since, +as you say, I have begun to mix myself up in a bad business, I must go +on with it; besides, even if there were to result from it another +punishment for me, even more terrible than that I have already endured, +I should not allow so good, a master to be deceived any longer." + +"Be very careful about what you are going to say, slave; for I know the +men of your nation. Take care, if the accusation you are making by way +of revenge is not supported by visible, palpable, and positive proofs, +you shall be punished as an infamous slanderer." + +"To that I agree," said Gregory. + +"Do you affirm that you have seen Foedor enter my daughter's chamber at +night?" + +"I do not say that I have seen him enter it, your excellency. I say that +I have seen him come out." + +"When was that?" + +"A quarter of an hour ago, when I was on my way to your excellency." + +"You lie!" said the general, raising his fist. + +"This is not our agreement, your excellency," said the slave, drawing +back. "I am only to be punished if I fail to give proofs." + +"But what are your proofs?" + +"I have told you." + +"And do you expect me to believe your word alone?" + +"No; but I expect you to believe your own eyes." + +"How?" + +"The first time that Mr. Foedor is in my lady Vaninka's room after +midnight, I shall come to find your excellency, and then you can judge +for yourself if I lie; but up to the present, your excellency, all the +conditions of the service I wish to render you are to my disadvantage." + +"In what way?" + +"Well, if I fail to give proofs, I am to be treated as an infamous +slanderer; but if I give them, what advantage shall I gain?" + +"A thousand roubles and your freedom." + +"That is a bargain, then, your excellency," replied Gregory quietly, +replacing the razors on the general's toilet-table, "and I hope that +before a week has passed you will be more just to me than you are now." + +With these words the slave left the room, leaving the general convinced +by his confidence that some dreadful misfortune threatened him. + +From this time onward, as might be expected, the general weighed every +word and noticed every gesture which passed between Vaninka and Foedor +in his presence; but he saw nothing to confirm his suspicions on the +part of the aide-de-camp or of his daughter; on the contrary, Vaninka +seemed colder and more reserved than ever. + +A week passed in this way. About two o'clock in the morning of the ninth +day, someone knocked at the general's door. It was Gregory. + +"If your excellency will go into your daughter's room," said Gregory, +"you will find Mr. Foedor there." + +The general turned pale, dressed himself without uttering a word, and +followed the slave to the door of Vaninka's room. Having arrived there, +with a motion of his hand he dismissed the informer, who, instead of +retiring in obedience to this mute command, hid himself in the corner of +the corridor. + +When the general believed himself to be alone, he knocked once; but all +was silent. This silence, however, proved nothing; for Vaninka might be +asleep. He knocked a second time, and the young girl, in a perfectly +calm voice, asked, "Who is there?" + +"It is I," said the general, in a voice trembling with emotion. + +"Annouschka!" said the girl to her foster-sister, who slept in the +adjoining room, "open the door to my father. Forgive me, father," she +continued; "but Annouschka is dressing, and will be with you in a +moment." + +The general waited patiently, for he could discover no trace of emotion +in his daughter's voice, and he hoped that Gregory had been mistaken. + +In a few moments the door opened, and the general went in, and cast a +long look around him; there was no one in this first apartment. + +Vaninka was in bed, paler perhaps than usual, but quite calm, with the +loving smile on her lips with which she always welcomed her father. + +"To what fortunate circumstance," asked the young girl in her softest +tones, "do I owe the pleasure of seeing you at so late an hour?" + +"I wished to speak to you about a very important matter," said the +general, "and however late it was, I thought you would forgive me for +disturbing you." + +"My father will always be welcome in his daughter's room, at whatever +hour of the day or night he presents himself there." + +The general cast another searching look round, and was convinced that it +was impossible for a man to be concealed in the first room--but the +second still remained. + +"I am listening," said Vaninka, after a moment of silence. + +"Yes, but we are not alone," replied the general, "and it is important +that no other ears should hear what I have to say to you." + +"Annauschka, as you know, is my foster-sister," said Vaninka. + +"That makes no difference," said the general, going candle in hand into +the next room, which was somewhat smaller than his daughter's. +"Annouschka," said he, "watch in the corridor and see that no one +overhears us." + +As he spoke these words, the general threw the same scrutinizing glance +all round the room, but with the exception of the young girl there was +no one there. + +Annouschka obeyed, and the general followed her out, and, looking +eagerly round for the last time, re-entered his daughter's room, and +seated himself on the foot of her bed. Annouschka, at a sign from her +mistress, left her alone with her father. The general held out his hand +to Vaninka, and she took it without hesitation. + +"My child," said the general, "I have to speak to you about a very +important matter." + +"What is it, father?" said Vaninka. + +"You will soon be eighteen," continued the general, "and that is the age +at which the daughters of the Russian nobility usually marry." The +general paused for a moment to watch the effect of these words upon +Vaninka, but her hand rested motionless in his. "For the last year your +hand has been engaged by me," continued the general. + +"May I know to whom?" asked Vaninka coldly. + +"To the son of the Councillor-in-Ordinary," replied the general. "What +is your opinion of him?" + +"He is a worthy and noble young man, I am told, but I can have formed no +opinion except from hearsay. Has he not been in garrison at Moscow for +the last three months?" + +"Yes," said the general, "but in three months' time he should return." + +Vaninka remained silent. + +"Have you nothing to say in reply?" asked the general. + +"Nothing, father; but I have a favour to ask of you." + +"What is it?" + +"I do not wish to marry until I am twenty years old." + +"Why not?" + +"I have taken a vow to that effect." + +"But if circumstances demanded the breaking of this vow, and made the +celebration of this marriage imperatively necessary?" + +"What circumstances?" asked Vaninka. + +"Foedor loves you," said the general, looking steadily at Vaninka. + +"I know that," said Vaninka, with as little emotion as if the question +did not concern her. + +"You know that!" cried the general. + +"Yes; he has told me so." + +"When?" + +"Yesterday." + +"And you replied--?" + +"That he must leave here at once." + +"And he consented?" + +"Yes, father." + +"When does he go?" + +"He has gone." + +"How can that be?" said the general: "he only left me at ten o'clock." + +"And he left me at midnight," said Vaninka. + +"Ah!" said the general, drawing a deep breath of relief, "you are a +noble girl, Vaninka, and I grant you what you ask-two years more. But +remember it is the emperor who has decided upon this marriage." + +"My father will do me the justice to believe that I am too submissive a +daughter to be a rebellious subject." + +"Excellent, Vaninka, excellent," said the general. "So, then, poor +Foedor has told you all?" + +"Yes," said Vaninka. + +"You knew that he addressed himself to me first?" + +"I knew it." + +"Then it was from him that you heard that your hand was engaged?" + +"It was from him." + +"And he consented to leave you? He is a good and noble young man, who +shall always be under my protection wherever he goes. Oh, if my word had +not been given, I love him so much that, supposing you did not dislike +him, I should have given him your hand." + +"And you cannot recall your promise?" asked Vaninka. + +"Impossible," said the general. + +"Well, then, I submit to my father's will," said Vaninka. + +"That is spoken like my daughter," said the general, embracing her. +"Farewell, Vaninka; I do not ask if you love him. You have both done +your duty, and I have nothing more to exact." + +With these words, he rose and left the room. Annouschka was in the +corridor; the general signed to her that she might go in again, and went +on his way. At the door of his room he found Gregory waiting for him. + +"Well, your excellency?" he asked. + +"Well," said the general, "you are both right and wrong. Foedor loves my +daughter, but my daughter does not love him. He went into my daughter's +room at eleven o'clock, but at midnight he left her for ever. No matter, +come to me tomorrow, and you shall have your thousand roubles and your +liberty." + +Gregory went off, dumb with astonishment. + +Meanwhile, Annouschka had re-entered her mistress's room, as she had +been ordered, and closed the door carefully behind her. + +Vaninka immediately sprang out of bed and went to the door, listening to +the retreating footsteps of the general. When they had ceased to be +heard, she rushed into Annouschka's room, and both began to pull aside a +bundle of linen, thrown down, as if by accident, into the embrasure of a +window. Under the linen was a large chest with a spring lock. Annouschka +pressed a button, Vaninka raised the lid. The two women uttered a loud +cry: the chest was now a coffin; the young officer, stifled for want of +air, lay dead within. + +For a long time the two women hoped it was only a swoon. Annouschka +sprinkled his face with water; Vaninka put salts to his nose. All was in +vain. During the long conversation which the general had had with his +daughter, and which had lasted more than half an hour, Foedor, unable to +get out of the chest, as the lid was closed by a spring, had died for +want of air. The position of the two girls shut up with a corpse was +frightful. Annouschka saw Siberia close at hand; Vaninka, to do her +justice, thought of nothing but Foedor. Both were in despair. However, +as the despair of the maid was more selfish than that of her mistress, +it was Annouschka who first thought of a plan of escaping from the +situation in which they were placed. + +"My lady," she cried suddenly, "we are saved." Vaninka raised her head +and looked at her attendant with her eyes bathed in tears. + +"Saved?" said she, "saved? We are, perhaps, but Foedor!" + +"Listen now," said Annouschka: "your position is terrible, I grant that, +and your grief is great; but your grief could be greater and your +position more terrible still. If the general knew this." + +"What difference would it make to me?" said Vaninka. "I shall weep for +him before the whole world." + +"Yes, but you will be dishonoured before the whole world! To-morrow your +slaves, and the day after all St. Petersburg, will know that a man died +of suffocation while concealed in your chamber. Reflect, my lady: your +honour is the honour of your father, the honour of your family." + +"You are right," said Vaninka, shaking her head, as if to disperse the +gloomy thoughts that burdened her brain,--"you are right, but what must +we do?" + +"Does my lady know my brother Ivan?" + +"Yes." + +"We must tell him all." + +"Of what are you thinking?" cried Vaninka. "To confide in a man? A man, +do I say? A serf! a slave!" + +"The lower the position of the serf and slave, the safer will our secret +be, since he will have everything to gain by keeping faith with us." + +"Your brother is a drunkard," said Vaninka, with mingled fear and +disgust. + +"That is true," said Annouschka; "but where will you find a slave who is +not? My brother gets drunk less than most, and is therefore more to be +trusted than the others. Besides, in the position in which we are we +must risk something." + +"You are right," said Vaninka, recovering her usual resolution, which +always grew in the presence of danger. "Go and seek your brother." + +"We can do nothing this morning," said Annouschka, drawing back the +window curtains. "Look, the dawn is breaking." + +"But what can we do with the body of this unhappy man?" cried Vaninka. + +"It must remain hidden where it is all day, and this evening, while you +are at the Court entertainment, my brother shall remove it." + +"True," murmured Vaninka in a strange tone, "I must go to Court this +evening; to stay away would arouse suspicion. Oh, my God! my God!" + +"Help me, my lady," said Annouschka; "I am not strong enough alone." + +Vaninka turned deadly pale, but, spurred on by the danger, she went +resolutely up to the body of her lover; then, lifting it by the +shoulders, while her maid raised it by the legs, she laid it once more +in the chest. Then Annouschka shut down the lid, locked the chest, and +put the key into her breast. Then both threw back the linen which had +hidden it from the eyes of the general. Day dawned, as might be +expected, ere sleep visited the eyes of Vaninka. + +She went down, however, at the breakfast hour; for she did not wish to +arouse the slightest suspicion in her father's mind. Only it might have +been thought from her pallor that she had risen from the grave, but the +general attributed this to the nocturnal disturbance of which he had +been the cause. + +Luck had served Vaninka wonderfully in prompting her to say that Foedor +had already gone; for not only did the general feel no surprise when he +did not appear, but his very absence was a proof of his daughter's +innocence. The general gave a pretext for his aide-de-camp's absence by +saying that he had sent him on a mission. As for Vaninka, she remained +out of her room till it was time to dress. A week before, she had been +at the Court entertainment with Foedor. + +Vaninka might have excused herself from accompanying her father by +feigning some slight indisposition, but two considerations made her fear +to act thus: the first was the fear of making the general anxious, and +perhaps of making him remain at home himself, which would make the +removal of the corpse more difficult; the second was the fear of meeting +Ivan and having to blush before a slave. She preferred, therefore, to +make a superhuman effort to control herself; and, going up again into +her room, accompanied by her faithful Annouschka, she began to dress +with as much care as if her heart were full of joy. When this cruel +business was finished, she ordered Annouschka to shut the door; for she +wished to see Foedor once more, and to bid a last farewell to him who +had been her lover. Annouschka obeyed; and Vaninka, with flowers in her +hair and her breast covered with jewels, glided like a phantom into her +servant's room. + +Annouschka again opened the chest, and Vaninka, without shedding a tear, +without breathing a sigh, with the profound and death-like calm of +despair, leant down towards Foedor and took off a plain ring which the +young man had on his finger, placed it on her own, between two +magnificent rings, then kissing him on the brow, she said, "Goodbye, my +betrothed." + +At this moment she heard steps approaching. It was a groom of the +chambers coming from the general to ask if she were ready. Annouschka +let the lid of the chest fall, and Vaninka going herself to open the +door, followed the messenger, who walked before her, lighting the way. + +Such was her trust in her foster-sister that she left her to accomplish +the dark and terrible task with which she had burdened herself. + +A minute later, Annouschka saw the carriage containing the general and +his daughter leave by the main gate of the hotel. + +She let half an hour go by, and then went down to look for Ivan. She +found him drinking with Gregory, with whom the general had kept his +word, and who had received the same day one thousand roubles and his +liberty. Fortunately, the revellers were only beginning their +rejoicings, and Ivan in consequence was sober enough for his sister to +entrust her secret to him without hesitation. + +Ivan followed Annouschka into the chamber of her mistress. There she +reminded him of all that Vaninka, haughty but generous, had allowed his +sister to do for him. The, few glasses of brandy Ivan had already +swallowed had predisposed him to gratitude (the drunkenness of the +Russian is essentially tender). Ivan protested his devotion so warmly +that Annouschka hesitated no longer, and, raising the lid of the chest, +showed him the corpse of Foedor. At this terrible sight Ivan remained an +instant motionless, but he soon began to calculate how much money and +how many benefits the possession of such a secret would bring him. He +swore by the most solemn oaths never to betray his mistress, and +offered, as Annouschka had hoped, to dispose of the body of the +unfortunate aide-decamp. + +The thing was easily done. Instead of returning to drink with Gregory +and his comrades, Ivan went to prepare a sledge, filled it with straw, +and hid at the bottom an iron crowbar. He brought this to the outside +gate, and assuring himself he was not being spied upon, he raised the +body of the dead man in his arms, hid it under the straw, and sat down +above it. He had the gate of the hotel opened, followed Niewski Street +as far as the Zunamenie Church, passed through the shops in the +Rejestwenskoi district, drove the sledge out on to the frozen Neva, and +halted in the middle of the river, in front of the deserted church of +Ste. Madeleine. There, protected by the solitude and darkness, hidden +behind the black mass of his sledge, he began to break the ice, which +was fifteen inches thick, with his pick. When he had made a large enough +hole, he searched the body of Foedor, took all the money he had about +him, and slipped the body head foremost through the opening he had made. +He then made his way back to the hotel, while the imprisoned current of +the Neva bore away the corpse towards the Gulf of Finland. An hour +after, a new crust of ice had formed, and not even a trace of the +opening made by Ivan remained. + +At midnight Vaninka returned with her father. A hidden fever had been +consuming her all the evening: never had she looked so lovely, and she +had been overwhelmed by the homage of the most distinguished nobles and +courtiers. When she returned, she found Annouschka in the vestibule +waiting to take her cloak. As she gave it to her, Vaninka sent her one +of those questioning glances that seem to express so much. "It is done," +said the girl in a low voice. Vaninka breathed a sigh of relief, as if a +mountain had been removed from her breast. Great as was her +self-control, she could no longer bear her father's presence, and +excused herself from remaining to supper with him, on the plea of the +fatigues of the evening. Vaninka was no sooner in her room, with the +door once closed, than she tore the flowers from her hair, the necklace +from her throat, cut with scissors the corsets which suffocated her, and +then, throwing herself on her bed, she gave way to her grief. Annouschka +thanked God for this outburst; her mistress's calmness had frightened +her more than her despair. The first crisis over, Vaninka was able to +pray. She spent an hour on her knees, then, yielding to the entreaties +of her faithful attendant, went to bed. Annouschka sat down at the foot +of the bed. + +Neither slept, but when day came the tears which Vaninka had shed had +calmed her. + +Annouschka was instructed to reward her brother. Too large a sum given +to a slave at once might have aroused suspicion, therefore Annouschka +contented herself with telling Ivan that when he had need of money he +had only to ask her for it. + +Gregory, profiting by his liberty and wishing to make use of his +thousand roubles, bought a little tavern on the outskirts of the town, +where, thanks to his address and to the acquaintances he had among the +servants in the great households of St. Petersburg, he began to develop +an excellent business, so that in a short time the Red House (which was +the name and colour of Gregory's establishment) had a great reputation. +Another man took over his duties about the person of the general, and +but for Foedor's absence everything returned to its usual routine in the +house of Count Tchermayloff. + +Two months went by in this way, without anybody having the least +suspicion of what had happened, when one morning before the usual +breakfast-hour the general begged his daughter to come down to his room. +Vaninka trembled with fear, for since that fatal night everything +terrified her. She obeyed her father, and collecting all her strength, +made her way to his chamber, The count was alone, but at the first +glance Vaninka saw she had nothing to fear from this interview: the +general was waiting for her with that paternal smile which was the usual +expression of his countenance when in his daughter's presence. + +She approached, therefore, with her usual calmness, and, stooping down +towards the general, gave him her forehead to kiss. + +He motioned to her to sit down, and gave her an open letter. Vaninka +looked at him for a moment in surprise, then turned her eyes to the +letter. + +It contained the news of the death of the man to whom her hand had been +promised: he had been killed in a duel. + +The general watched the effect of the letter on his daughter's face, and +great as was Vaninka's self-control, so many different thoughts, such +bitter regret, such poignant remorse assailed her when she learnt that +she was now free again, that she could not entirely conceal her emotion. +The general noticed it, and attributed it to the love which he had for a +long time suspected his daughter felt for the young aide-de-camp. + +"Well," he said, smiling, "I see it is all for the best." + +"How is that, father?" asked Vaninka. + +"Doubtless," said the general. "Did not Foedor leave because he loved +you?" + +"Yes," murmured the young girl. + +"Well, now he may return," said the general. + +Vaninka remained silent, her eyes fixed, her lips trembling. + +"Return!" she said, after a moment's silence. + +"Yes, certainly return. We shall be most unfortunate," continued the +general, smiling, "if we cannot find someone in the house who knows +where he is. Come, Vaninka, tell me the place of his exile, and I will +undertake the rest." + +"Nobody knows where Foedor is," murmured Vaninka in a hollow voice; +"nobody but God, nobody!" + +"What!" said the general, "he has sent you no news since the day he +left?" + +Vaninka shook her head in denial. She was so heart-broken that she could +not speak. + +The general in his turn became gloomy. "Do you fear some misfortune, +then?" said he. + +"I fear that I shall never be happy again on earth," cried Vaninka, +giving way under the pressure of her grief; then she continued at once, +"Let me retire, father; I am ashamed of what I have said." + +The general, who saw nothing in this exclamation beyond regret for +having allowed the confession of her love to escape her, kissed his +daughter on the brow and allowed her to retire. He hoped that, in spite +of the mournful way in which Vaninka had spoken of Foedor, that it would +be possible to find him. The same day he went to the emperor and told +him of the love of Foedor for his daughter, and requested, since death +had freed her from her first engagement, that he might dispose of her +hand. The emperor consented, and the general then solicited a further +favour. Paul was in one of his kindly moods, and showed himself disposed +to grant it. The general told him that Foedor had disappeared for two +months; that everyone, even his daughter, was ignorant of his +whereabouts, and begged him to have inquiries made. The emperor +immediately sent for the chief of police, and gave him the necessary +orders. + +Six weeks went by without any result. Vaninka, since the day when the +letter came, was sadder and more melancholy than ever. Vainly from time +to time the general tried to make her more hopeful. Vaninka only shook +her head and withdrew. The general ceased to speak, of Foedor. + +But it was not the same among the household. The young aide-de-camp had +been popular with the servants, and, with the exception of Gregory, +there was not a soul who wished him harm, so that, when it became known +that he had not been sent on a mission, but had disappeared, the matter +became the constant subject of conversation in the antechamber, the +kitchen, and the stables. There was another place where people busied +themselves about it a great deal--this was the Red House. + +From the day when he heard of Foedor's mysterious departure Gregory had +his suspicions. He was sure that he had seen Foedor enter Vaninka's +room, and unless he had gone out while he was going to seek the general, +he did not understand why the latter had not found him in his daughter's +room. Another thing occupied his mind, which it seemed to him might +perhaps have some connection with this event--the amount of money Ivan +had been spending since that time, a very extraordinary amount for a +slave. This slave, however, was the brother of Vaninka's cherished +foster-sister, so that, without being sure, Gregory already suspected +the source from whence this money came. Another thing confirmed him in +his suspicions, which was that Ivan, who had not only remained his most +faithful friend, but had become one of his best customers, never spoke +of Foedor, held his tongue if he were mentioned in his presence, and to +all questions, however pressing they were, made but one answer: "Let us +speak of something else." + +In the meantime the Feast of Kings arrived. This is a great day in St. +Petersburg, for it is also the day for blessing the waters. + +As Vaninka had been present at the ceremony, and was fatigued after +standing for two hours on the Neva, the general did not go out that +evening, and gave Ivan leave to do so. Ivan profited by the permission +to go to the Red House. + +There was a numerous company there, and Ivan was welcomed; for it was +known that he generally came with full pockets. This time he did not +belie his reputation, and had scarcely arrived before he made the +sorok-kopecks ring, to the great envy of his companions. + +At this warning sound Gregory hastened up with all possible deference, a +bottle of brandy in each hand; for he knew that when Ivan summoned him +he gained in two ways, as innkeeper and as boon companion. Ivan did not +disappoint these hopes, and Gregory was invited to share in the +entertainment. The conversation turned on slavery, and some of the +unhappy men, who had only four days in the year of respite from their +eternal labour, talked loudly of the happiness Gregory had enjoyed since +he had obtained his freedom. + +"Bah!" said Ivan, on whom the brandy had begun to take effect, "there +are some slaves who are freer than their masters." + +"What do you mean?" said Gregory, pouring him out another glass of +brandy. + +"I meant to say happier," said Ivan quickly. + +"It is difficult to prove that," said Gregory doubtingly. + +"Why difficult? Our masters, the moment they are born, are put into the +hands of two or three pedants, one French, another German, and a third +English, and whether they like them or not, they must be content with +their society till they are seventeen, and whether they wish to or not, +must learn three barbarous languages, at the expense of our noble +Russian tongue, which they have sometimes completely forgotten by the +time the others are acquired. Again, if one of them wishes for some +career, he must become a soldier: if he is a sublieutenant, he is the +slave of the lieutenant; if he is a lieutenant, he is the slave of the +captain, and the captain of the major, and so on up to the emperor, who +is nobody's slave, but who one fine day is surprised at the table, while +walking, or in his bed, and is poisoned, stabbed, or strangled. If he +chooses a civil career, it is much the same. He marries a wife, and does +not love her; children come to him he knows not how, whom he has to +provide for; he must struggle incessantly to provide for his family if +he is poor, and if he is rich to prevent himself being robbed by his +steward and cheated by his tenants. Is this life? While we, gentlemen, +we are born, and that is the only pain we cost our mothers--all the rest +is the master's concern. He provides for us, he chooses our calling, +always easy enough to learn if we are not quite idiots. Are we ill? His +doctor attends us gratis; it is a loss to him if we die. Are we well? We +have our four certain meals a day, and a good stove to sleep near at +night. Do we fall in love? There is never any hindrance to our marriage, +if the woman loves us; the master himself asks us to hasten our +marriage, for he wishes us to have as many children as possible. And +when the children are born, he does for them in their turn all he has +done for us. Can you find me many great lords as happy as their slaves?" + +"All this is true," said Gregory, pouring him out another glass of +brandy; "but, after all, you are not free." + +"Free to do what?" asked Ivan. + +"Free to go where you will and when you will." + +"I am as free as the air," replied Ivan. + +"Nonsense!" said Gregory. + +"Free as air, I tell you; for I have good masters, and above all a good +mistress," continued Ivan, with a significant smile, "and I have only to +ask and it is done." + +"What! if after having got drunk here to-day, you asked to come back +to-morrow to get drunk again?" said Gregory, who in his challenge to +Ivan did not forget his own interests,--"if you asked that?" + +"I should come back again," said Ivan. + +"To-morrow?" said Gregory. + +"To-morrow, the day after, every day if I liked...." + +"The fact is, Ivan is our young lady's favourite," said another of the +count's slaves who was present, profiting by his comrade Ivan's +liberality. + +"It is all the same," said Gregory; "for supposing such permission were +given you, money would soon run short." + +"Never!" said Ivan, swallowing another glass of brandy, "never will Ivan +want for money as long as there is a kopeck in my lady's purse." + +"I did not find her so liberal," said Gregory bitterly. + +"Oh, you forget, my friend; you know well she does not reckon with her +friends: remember the strokes of the knout." + +"I have no wish to speak about that," said Gregory. "I know that she is +generous with blows, but her money is another thing. I have never seen +the colour of that." + +"Well, would you like to see the colour of mine?" said Ivan, getting +more and more drunk. "See here, here are kopecks, sorok-kopecks, blue +notes worth five roubles, red notes worth twenty five roubles, and +to-morrow, if you like, I will show you white notes worth fifty roubles. +A health to my lady Vaninka!" And Ivan held out his glass again, and +Gregory filled it to the brim. + +"But does money," said Gregory, pressing Ivan more and more,--"does +money make up for scorn?" + +"Scorn!" said Ivan,--"scorn! Who scorns me? Do you, because you are +free? Fine freedom! I would rather be a well-fed slave than a free man +dying of hunger." + +"I mean the scorn of our masters," replied Gregory. + +"The scorn of our masters! Ask Alexis, ask Daniel there, if my lady +scorns me." + +"The fact is," said the two slaves in reply, who both belonged to the +general's household, "Ivan must certainly have a charm; for everyone +talks to him as if to a master." + +"Because he is Annouschka's brother," said Gregory, "and Annouschka is +my lady's foster-sister." + +"That may be so," said the two slaves. + +"For that reason or for some other," said Ivan; "but, in short, that is +the case." + +"Yes; but if your sister should die?" said Gregory. "Ah!" + +"If my sister should die, that would be a pity, for she is a good girl. +I drink to her health! But if she should die, that would make no +difference. I am respected for myself; they respect me because they fear +me." + +"Fear my lord Ivan!" said Gregory, with a loud laugh. "It follows, then, +that if my lord Ivan were tired of receiving orders, and gave them in +his turn, my lord Ivan would be obeyed." + +"Perhaps," said Ivan. + +"He said 'perhaps,' repeated Gregory," laughing louder than ever,--"he +said 'perhaps.' Did you hear him?" + +"Yes," said the slaves, who had drunk so much that they could only +answer in monosyllables. + +"Well, I no longer say 'perhaps,' I now say 'for certain.'" + +"Oh, I should like to see that," said Gregory; "I would give something +to see that." + +"Well, send away these fellows, who are getting drunk like pigs, and for +nothing, you will find." + +"For nothing?" said Gregory. "You are jesting. Do you think I should +give them drink for nothing?" + +"Well, we shall see. How much would be their score, for your atrocious +brandy, if they drank from now till midnight, when you are obliged to +shut up your tavern?" + +"Not less than twenty roubles." + +"Here are thirty; turn there out, and let us remain by ourselves." + +"Friends," said Gregory, taking out his watch as if to look at the time, +"it is just upon midnight; you know the governor's orders, so you must +go." The men, habituated like all Russians to passive obedience, went +without a murmur, and Gregory found himself alone with Ivan and the two +other slaves of the general. + +"Well, here we are alone," said Gregory. "What do you mean to do?" + +"Well, what would you say," replied Ivan, "if in spite of the late hour +and the cold, and in spite of the fact that we are only slaves, my lady +were to leave her father's house and come to drink our healths?" + +"I would say that you ought to take advantage of it," said Gregory, +shrugging his shoulders, "and tell her to bring at the same time a +bottle of brandy. There is probably better brandy in the general's +cellar than in mine." + +"There is better," said Ivan, as if he was perfectly sure of it, "and my +lady shall bring you a bottle of it." + +"You are mad!" said Gregory. + +"He is mad!" repeated the other two slaves mechanically. + +"Oh, I am mad?" said Ivan. "Well, will you take a wager?" + +"What will you wager?" + +"Two hundred roubles against a year of free drinking in your inn." + +"Done!" said Gregory. + +"Are your comrades included?" said the two moujiks. + +"They are included," said Ivan, "and in consideration of them we will +reduce the time to six months. Is that agreed?" + +"It is agreed," said Gregory. + +The two who were making the wager shook hands, and the agreement was +perfected. Then, with an air of confidence, assumed to confound the +witnesses of this strange scene, Ivan wrapped himself in the fur coat +which, like a cautious man, he had spread on the stove, and went out. + +At the end of half an hour he reappeared. + +"Well!" cried Gregory and the two slaves together. + +"She is following," said Ivan. + +The three tipplers looked at one another in amazement, but Ivan quietly +returned to his place in the middle of them, poured out a new bumper, +and raising his glass, cried-- + +"To my lady's health! It is the least we can do when she is kind enough +to come and join us on so cold a night, when the snow is falling fast." + +"Annouschka," said a voice outside, "knock at this door and ask Gregory +if he has not some of our servants with him." + +Gregory and the two other slaves looked at one another, stupefied: they +had recognised Vaninka's voice. As for Ivan, he flung himself back in +his chair, balancing himself with marvellous impertinence. + +Annouschka opened the door, and they could see, as Ivan had said, that +the snow was falling heavily. + +"Yes, madam," said the girl; "my brother is there, with Daniel and +Alexis." + +Vaninka entered. + +"My friends," said she, with a strange smile, "I am told that you were +drinking my health, and I have come to bring you something to drink it +again. Here is a bottle of old French brandy which I have chosen for you +from my father's cellar. Hold out your glasses." + +Gregory and the slaves obeyed with the slowness and hesitation of +astonishment, while Ivan held out his glass with the utmost effrontery. + +Vaninka filled them to the brim herself, and then, as they hesitated to +drink, "Come, drink to my health, friends," said she. + +"Hurrah!" cried the drinkers, reassured by the kind and familiar tone of +their noble visitor, as they emptied their glasses at a draught. + +Vaninka at once poured them out another glass; then putting the bottle +on the table, "Empty the bottle, my friends," said she, "and do not +trouble about me. Annouschka and I, with the permission 2668 of the +master of the house, will sit near the stove till the storm is over." + +Gregory tried to rise and place stools near the stove, but whether he +was quite drunk or whether some narcotic had been mixed with the brandy, +he fell back on his seat, trying to stammer out an excuse. + +"It is all right," said Vaninka: "do not disturb yourselves; drink, my +friends, drink." + +The revellers profited by this permission, and each emptied the glass +before him. Scarcely had Gregory emptied his before he fell forward on +the table. + +"Good!" said Vaninka to her maid in a low voice: "the opium is taking +effect." + +"What do you mean to do?" said Annouschka. + +"You will soon see," was the answer. + +The two moujiks followed the example of the master of the house, and +fell down side by side on the ground. Ivan was left struggling against +sleep, and trying to sing a drinking song; but soon his tongue refused +to obey him, his eyes closed in spite of him, and seeking the tune that +escaped him, and muttering words he was unable to pronounce, he fell +fast asleep near his companions. + +Immediately Vaninka rose, fixed them with flashing eyes, and called them +by name one after another. There was no response. + +Then she clapped her hands and cried joyfully, "The moment has come!" +Going to the back of the room, she brought thence an armful of straw, +placed it in a corner of the room, and did the same in the other +corners. She then took a flaming brand from the stove and set fire in +succession to the four corners of the room. + +"What are you doing?" said Annouschka, wild with terror, trying to stop +her. + +"I am going to bury our secret in the ashes of this house," answered +Vaninka. + +"But my brother, my poor brother!" said the girl. + +"Your brother is a wretch who has betrayed me, and we are lost if we do +not destroy him." + +"Oh, my brother, my poor brother!" + +"You can die with him if you like," said Vaninka, accompanying the +proposal with a smile which showed she would not have been sorry if +Annouschka had carried sisterly affection to that length. + +"But look at the fire, madam--the fire!" + +"Let us go, then," said Vaninka; and, dragging out the heart-broken +girl, she locked the door behind her and threw the key far away into the +snow. + +"In the name of Heaven," said Annouschka, "let us go home quickly: I +cannot gaze upon this awful sight!" + +"No, let us stay here!" said Vaninka, holding her back with a grasp of +almost masculine strength. "Let us stay until the house falls in on +them, so that we may be certain that not one of them escapes." + +"Oh, my God!" cried Annouschka, falling on her knees, "have mercy upon +my poor brother, for death will hurry him unprepared into Thy presence." + +"Yes, yes, pray; that is right," said Vaninka. "I wish to destroy their +bodies, not their souls." + +Vaninka stood motionless, her arms crossed, brilliantly lit up by the +flames, while her attendant prayed. The fire did not last long: the +house was wooden, with the crevices filled with oakum, like all those of +Russian peasants, so that the flames, creeping out at the four corners, +soon made great headway, and, fanned by the wind, spread rapidly to all +parts of the building. Vaninka followed the progress of the fire with +blazing eyes, fearing to see some half-burnt spectral shape rush out of +the flames. At last the roof fell in, and Vaninka, relieved of all fear, +then at last made her way to the general's house, into which the two +women entered without being seen, thanks to the permission Annouschka +had to go out at any hour of the day or night. + +The next morning the sole topic of conversation in St. Petersburg was +the fire at the Red House. Four half-consumed corpses were dug out from +beneath the ruins, and as three of the general's slaves were missing, he +had no doubt that the unrecognisable bodies were those of Ivan, Daniel, +and Alexis: as for the fourth, it was certainly that of Gregory. + +The cause of the fire remained a secret from everyone: the house was +solitary, and the snowstorm so violent that nobody had met the two women +on the deserted road. Vaninka was sure of her maid. Her secret then had +perished with Ivan. But now remorse took the place of fear: the young +girl who was so pitiless and inflexible in the execution of the deed +quailed at its remembrance. It seemed to her that by revealing the +secret of her crime to a priest, she would be relieved of her terrible +burden. She therefore sought a confessor renowned for his lofty charity, +and, under the seal of confession, told him all. The priest was +horrified by the story. Divine mercy is boundless, but human forgiveness +has its limits. He refused Vaninka the absolution she asked. This +refusal was terrible: it would banish Vaninka from the Holy Table; this +banishment would be noticed, and could not fail to be attributed to some +unheard-of and secret crime. Vaninka fell at the feet of the priest, and +in the name of her father, who would be disgraced by her shame, begged +him to mitigate the rigour of this sentence. + +The confessor reflected deeply, then thought he had found a way to +obviate such consequences. It was that Vaninka should approach the Holy +Table with the other young girls; the priest would stop before her as +before all the others, but only say to her, "Pray and weep"; the +congregation, deceived by this, would think that she had received the +Sacrament like her companions. This was all that Vaninka could obtain. + +This confession took place about seven o'clock in the evening, and the +solitude of the church, added to the darkness of night, had given it a +still more awful character. The confessor returned home, pale and +trembling. His wife Elizabeth was waiting for him alone. She had just +put her little daughter Arina, who was eight years old, to bed in an +adjoining room. When she saw her husband, she uttered a cry of terror, +so changed and haggard was his appearance. The confessor tried to +reassure her, but his trembling voice only increased her alarm. She +asked the cause of his agitation; the confessor refused to tell her. +Elizabeth had heard the evening before that her mother was ill; she +thought that her husband had received some bad news. The day was Monday, +which is considered an unlucky day among the Russians, and, going out +that day, Elizabeth had met a man in mourning; these omens were too +numerous and too strong not to portend misfortune. + +Elizabeth burst into tears, and cried out, "My mother is dead!" + +The priest in vain tried to reassure her by telling her that his +agitation was not due to that. The poor woman, dominated by one idea, +made no response to his protestations but this everlasting cry, "My +mother is dead!" + +Then, to bring her to reason, the confessor told her that his emotion +was due to the avowal of a crime which he had just heard in the +confessional. But Elizabeth shook her head: it was a trick, she said, to +hide from her the sorrow which had fallen upon her. Her agony, instead +of calming, became more violent; her tears ceased to flow, and were +followed by hysterics. The priest then made her swear to keep the +secret, and the sanctity of the confession was betrayed. + +Little Arina had awakened at Elizabeth's cries, and being disturbed and +at the same time curious as to what her parents were doing, she got up, +went to listen at the door, and heard all. + +The day for the Communion came; the church of St. Simeon was crowded. +Vaninka came to kneel at the railing of the choir. Behind her was her +father and his aides-de-camp, and behind them their servants. + +Arina was also in the church with her mother. The inquisitive child +wished to see Vaninka, whose name she had heard pronounced that terrible +night, when her father had failed in the first and most sacred of the +duties imposed on a priest. While her mother was praying, she left her +chair and glided among the worshippers, nearly as far as the railing. + +But when she had arrived there, she was stopped by the group of the +general's servants. But Arina had not come so far to be, stopped so +easily: she tried to push between them, but they opposed her; she +persisted, and one of them pushed her roughly back. The child fell, +struck her head against a seat, and got up bleeding and crying, "You are +very proud for a slave. Is it because you belong to the great lady who +burnt the Red House?" + +These words, uttered in a loud voice, in the midst of the silence which +preceded, the sacred ceremony, were heard by everyone. They were +answered by a shriek. Vaninka had fainted. The next day the general, at +the feet of Paul, recounted to him, as his sovereign and judge, the +whole terrible story, which Vaninka, crushed by her long struggle, had +at last revealed to him, at night, after the scene in the church. + +The emperor remained for a moment in thought at the end of this strange +confession; then, getting up from the chair where he had been sitting +while the miserable father told his story, he went to a bureau, and +wrote on a sheet of paper the following sentence: + +"The priest having violated what should have been inviolable, the +secrets of the confessional, is exiled to Siberia and deprived of his +priestly office. His wife will follow him: she is to be blamed for not +having respected his character as a minister of the altar. The little +girl will not leave her parents. + +"Annouschka, the attendant, will also go to Siberia for not having made +known to her master his daughter's conduct. + +"I preserve all my esteem for the general, and I mourn with him for the +deadly blow which has struck him. + +"As for Vaninka, I know of no punishment which can be inflicted upon +her. I only see in her the daughter of a brave soldier, whose whole life +has been devoted to the service of his country. Besides, the +extraordinary way in which the crime was discovered, seems to place the +culprit beyond the limits of my severity. I leave her punishment in her +own hands. If I understand her character, if any feeling of dignity +remains to her, her heart and her remorse will show her the path she +ought to follow." + +Paul handed the paper open to the general, ordering him to take it to +Count Pahlen, the governor of St. Petersburg. + +On the following day the emperor's orders were carried out. + +Vaninka went into a convent, where towards the end of the same year she +died of shame and grief. + +The general found the death he sought on the field of Austerlitz. + + + + +*THE MARQUISE DE GANGES--1657* + + +Toward the close of the year 1657, a very plain carriage, with no arms +painted on it, stopped, about eight o'clock one evening, before the door +of a house in the rue Hautefeuille, at which two other coaches were +already standing. A lackey at once got down to open the carriage door; +but a sweet, though rather tremulous voice stopped him, saying, "Wait, +while I see whether this is the place." + +Then a head, muffled so closely in a black satin mantle that no feature +could be distinguished, was thrust from one of the carriage windows, and +looking around, seemed to seek for some decisive sign on the house +front. The unknown lady appeared to be satisfied by her inspection, for +she turned back to her companion. + +"It is here," said she. "There is the sign." + +As a result of this certainty, the carriage door was opened, the two +women alighted, and after having once more raised their eyes to a strip +of wood, some six or eight feet long by two broad, which was nailed +above the windows of the second storey, and bore the inscription, +"Madame Voison, midwife," stole quickly into a passage, the door of +which was unfastened, and in which there was just so much light as +enabled persons passing in or out to find their way along the narrow +winding stair that led from the ground floor to the fifth story. + +The two strangers, one of whom appeared to be of far higher rank than +the other, did not stop, as might have been expected, at the door +corresponding with the inscription that had guided them, but, on the +contrary, went on to the next floor. + +Here, upon the landing, was a kind of dwarf, oddly dressed after the +fashion of sixteenth-century Venetian buffoons, who, when he saw the two +women coming, stretched out a wand, as though to prevent them from going +farther, and asked what they wanted. + +"To consult the spirit," replied the woman of the sweet and tremulous +voice. + +"Come in and wait," returned the dwarf, lifting a panel of tapestry and +ushering the two women into a waiting-room. + +The women obeyed, and remained for about half an hour, seeing and +hearing nothing. At last a door, concealed by the tapestry, was suddenly +opened; a voice uttered the word "Enter," and the two women were +introduced into a second room, hung with black, and lighted solely by a +three-branched lamp that hung from the ceiling. The door closed behind +them, and the clients found themselves face to face with the sibyl. + +She was a woman of about twenty-five or twenty-six, who, unlike other +women, evidently desired to appear older than she was. She was dressed +in black; her hair hung in plaits; her neck, arms, and feet were bare; +the belt at her waist was clasped by a large garnet which threw out +sombre fires. In her hand she held a wand, and she was raised on a sort +of platform which stood for the tripod of the ancients, and from which +came acrid and penetrating fumes; she was, moreover, fairly handsome, +although her features were common, the eyes only excepted, and these, by +some trick of the toilet, no doubt, looked inordinately large, and, like +the garnet in her belt, emitted strange lights. + +When the two visitors came in, they found the soothsayer leaning her +forehead on her hand, as though absorbed in thought. Fearing to rouse +her from her ecstasy, they waited in silence until it should please her +to change her position. At the end of ten minutes she raised her head, +and seemed only now to become aware that two persons were standing +before her. + +"What is wanted of me again?" she asked, "and shall I have rest only in +the grave?" + +"Forgive me, madame," said the sweet-voiced unknown, "but I am wishing +to know----" + +"Silence!" said the sibyl, in a solemn voice. "I will not know your +affairs. It is to the spirit that you must address yourself; he is a +jealous spirit, who forbids his secrets to be shared; I can but pray to +him for you, and obey his will." + +At these words, she left her tripod, passed into an adjoining room, and +soon returned, looking even paler and more anxious than before, and +carrying in one hand a burning chafing dish, in the other a red paper. +The three flames of the lamp grew fainter at the same moment, and the +room was left lighted up only by the chafing dish; every object now +assumed a fantastic air that did not fail to disquiet the two visitors, +but it was too late to draw back. + +The soothsayer placed the chafing dish in the middle of the room, +presented the paper to the young woman who had spoken, and said to her-- + +"Write down what you wish to know." + +The woman took the paper with a steadier hand than might have been +expected, seated herself at a table, and wrote:-- + +"Am I young? Am I beautiful? Am I maid, wife, or widow? This is for the +past. + +"Shall I marry, or marry again? Shall I live long, or shall I die young? +This is for the future." + +Then, stretching out her hand to the soothsayer, she asked-- + +"What am I to do now with this?" + +"Roll that letter around this ball," answered the other, handing to the +unknown a little ball of virgin wax. "Both ball and letter will be +consumed in the flame before your eyes; the spirit knows your secrets +already. In three days you will have the answer." + +The unknown did as the sibyl bade her; then the latter took from her +hands the ball and the paper in which it was wrapped, and went and threw +both into the chafing pan. + +"And now all is done as it should be," said the soothsayer. "Comus!" + +The dwarf came in. + +"See the lady to her coach." + +The stranger left a purse upon the table, and followed Comus. He +conducted her and her companion, who was only a confidential maid, down +a back staircase, used as an exit, and leading into a different street +from that by which the two women had come in; but the coachman, who had +been told beforehand of this circumstance, was awaiting them at the +door, and they had only to step into their carriage, which bore them +rapidly away in the direction of the rue Dauphine. + +Three days later, according to the promise given her, the fair unknown, +when she awakened, found on the table beside her a letter in an +unfamiliar handwriting; it was addressed "To the beautiful Provencale," +and contained these words-- + +"You are young; you are beautiful; you are a widow. This is for the +present. + +"You will marry again; you will die young, and by a violent death. This +is for the future. + +"THE SPIRIT." + +The answer was written upon a paper like that upon which the questions +had been set down. + +The marquise turned pale and uttered a faint cry of terror; the answer +was so perfectly correct in regard to the past as to call up a fear that +it might be equally accurate in regard to the future. + +The truth is that the unknown lady wrapped in a mantle whom we have +escorted into the modern sibyl's cavern was no other than the beautiful +Marie de Rossan, who before her marriage had borne the name of +Mademoiselle de Chateaublanc, from that of an estate belonging to her +maternal grandfather, M. Joannis de Nocheres, who owned a fortune of +five to six hundred thousand livres. At the age of thirteen--that is to +say, in 1649--she had married the Marquis de Castellane, a gentleman of +very high birth, who claimed to be descended from John of Castille, the +son of Pedro the Cruel, and from Juana de Castro, his mistress. Proud of +his young wife's beauty, the Marquis de Castellane, who was an officer +of the king's galleys, had hastened to present her at court. Louis XIV, +who at the time of her presentation was barely twenty years old, was +struck by her enchanting face, and to the great despair of the famous +beauties of the day danced with her three times in one evening. Finally, +as a crowning touch to her reputation, the famous Christina of Sweden, +who was then at the French court, said of her that she had never, in any +of the kingdoms through which she had passed, seen anything equal to +"the beautiful Provencale." This praise had been so well received, that +the name of "the beautiful Provencale" had clung to Madame de +Castellane, and she was everywhere known by it. + +This favour of Louis XIV and this summing up of Christina's had been +enough to bring the Marquise de Castellane instantly into fashion; and +Mignard, who had just received a patent of nobility and been made +painter to the king, put the seal to her celebrity by asking leave to +paint her portrait. That portrait still exists, and gives a perfect +notion of the beauty which it represents; but as the portrait is far +from our readers' eyes, we will content ourselves by repeating, in its +own original words, the one given in 1667 by the author of a pamphlet +published at Rouen under the following title: True and Principal +Circumstances of the Deplorable Death of Madame the Marquise de Ganges: + +[Note: It is from this pamphlet, and from the Account of the Death of +Madame the Marquise de Ganges, formerly Marquise de Castellane, that we +have borrowed the principal circumstances of this tragic story. To these +documents we must add--that we may not be constantly referring our +readers to original sources--the Celebrated Trials by Guyot de Pitaval, +the Life of Marie de Rossan, and the Lettres galantes of Madame +Desnoyers.] + +"Her complexion, which was of a dazzling whiteness, was illumined by not +too brilliant a red, and art itself could not have arranged more +skilfully the gradations by which this red joined and merged into the +whiteness of the complexion. The brilliance of her face was heightened +by the decided blackness of her hair, growing, as though drawn by a +painter of the finest taste, around a well proportioned brow; her large, +well opened eyes were of the same hue as her hair, and shone with a soft +and piercing flame that rendered it impossible to gaze upon her +steadily; the smallness, the shape, the turn of her mouth, and, the +beauty of her teeth were incomparable; the position and the regular +proportion of her nose added to her beauty such an air of dignity, as +inspired a respect for her equal to the love that might be inspired by +her beauty; the rounded contour of her face, produced by a becoming +plumpness, exhibited all the vigour and freshness of health; to complete +her charms, her glances, the movements of her lips and of her head, +appeared to be guided by the graces; her shape corresponded to the +beauty of her face; lastly, her arms, her hands, her bearing, and her +gait were such that nothing further could be wished to complete the +agreeable presentment of a beautiful woman." + +[Note: All her contemporaries, indeed, are in agreement as to her +marvellous beauty; here is a second portrait of the marquise, delineated +in a style and manner still more characteristic of that period:-- + +"You will remember that she had a complexion smoother and finer than a +mirror, that her whiteness was so well commingled with the lively blood +as to produce an exact admixture never beheld elsewhere, and imparting +to her countenance the tenderest animation; her eyes and hair were +blacker than jet; her eyes, I say, of which the gaze could scarce, from +their excess of lustre, be supported, which have been celebrated as a +miracle of tenderness and sprightliness, which have given rise, a +thousand times, to the finest compliments of the day, and have been the +torment of many a rash man, must excuse me, if I do not pause longer to +praise them, in a letter; her mouth was the feature of her face which +compelled the most critical to avow that they had seen none of equal +perfection, and that, by its shape, its smallness, and its brilliance, +it might furnish a pattern for all those others whose sweetness and +charms had been so highly vaunted; her nose conformed to the fair +proportion of all her features; it was, that is to say, the finest in +the world; the whole shape of her face was perfectly round, and of so +charming a fullness that such an assemblage of beauties was never before +seen together. The expression of this head was one of unparalleled +sweetness and of a majesty which she softened rather by disposition than +by study; her figure was opulent, her speech agreeable, her step noble, +her demeanour easy, her temper sociable, her wit devoid of malice, and +founded upon great goodness of heart."] + +It is easy to understand that a woman thus endowed could not, in a court +where gallantry was more pursued than in any other spot in the world, +escape the calumnies of rivals; such calumnies, however, never produced +any result, so correctly, even in the absence of her husband, did the +marquise contrive to conduct herself; her cold and serious conversation, +rather concise than lively, rather solid than brilliant, contrasted, +indeed, with the light turn, the capricious and fanciful expressions +employed by the wits of that time; the consequence was that those who +had failed to succeed with her, tried to spread a report that the +marquise was merely a beautiful idol, virtuous with the virtue of a +statue. But though such things might be said and repeated in the absence +of the marquise, from the moment that she appeared in a drawing-room, +from the moment that her beautiful eyes and sweet smile added their +indefinable expression to those brief, hurried, and sensible words that +fell from her lips, the most prejudiced came back to her and were forced +to own that God had never before created anything that so nearly touched +perfection. + +She was thus in the enjoyment of a triumph that backbiters failed to +shake, and that scandal vainly sought to tarnish, when news came of the +wreck of the French galleys in Sicilian waters, and of the death of the +Marquis de Castellane, who was in command. The marquise on this +occasion, as usual, displayed the greatest piety and propriety: although +she had no very violent passion for her husband, with whom she had spent +scarcely one of the seven years during which their marriage had lasted, +on receipt of the news she went at once into retreat, going to live with +Madame d'Ampus, her mother-in-law, and ceasing not only to receive +visitors but also to go out. + +Six months after the death of her husband, the marquise received letters +from her grandfather, M. Joannis de Nocheres, begging her to come and +finish her time of mourning at Avignon. Having been fatherless almost +from childhood, Mademoiselle de Chateaublanc had been brought up by this +good old man, whom she loved dearly; she hastened accordingly to accede +to his invitation, and prepared everything for her departure. + +This was at the moment when la Voisin, still a young woman, and far from +having the reputation which she subsequently acquired, was yet beginning +to be talked of. Several friends of the Marquise de Castellane had been +to consult her, and had received strange predictions from her, some of +which, either through the art of her who framed them, or through some +odd concurrence of circumstances, had come true. The marquise could not +resist the curiosity with which various tales that she had heard of this +woman's powers had inspired her, and some days before setting out for +Avignon she made the visit which we have narrated. What answer she +received to her questions we have seen. + +The marquise was not superstitious, yet this fatal prophecy impressed +itself upon her mind and left behind a deep trace, which neither the +pleasure of revisiting her native place, nor the affection of her +grandfather, nor the fresh admiration which she did not fail to receive, +could succeed in removing; indeed, this fresh admiration was a weariness +to the marquise, and before long she begged leave of her grandfather to +retire into a convent and to spend there the last three months of her +mourning. + +It was in that place, and it was with the warmth of these poor +cloistered maidens, that she heard a man spoken of for the first time, +whose reputation for beauty, as a man, was equal to her own, as a woman. +This favourite of nature was the sieur de Lenide, Marquis de Ganges, +Baron of Languedoc, and governor of Saint-Andre, in the diocese of Uzes. +The marquise heard of him so often, and it was so frequently declared to +her that nature seemed to have formed them for each other, that she +began to allow admission to a very strong desire of seeing him. +Doubtless, the sieur de Lenide, stimulated by similar suggestions, had +conceived a great wish to meet the marquise; for, having got M. de +Nocheres who no doubt regretted her prolonged retreat--to entrust him +with a commission for his granddaughter, he came to the convent parlour +and asked for the fair recluse. She, although she had never seen him, +recognised him at the first glance; for having never seen so handsome a +cavalier as he who now presented himself before her, she thought this +could be no other than the Marquis de Ganges, of whom people had so +often spoken to her. + +That which was to happen, happened: the Marquise de Castellane and the +Marquis de Ganges could not look upon each other without loving. Both +were young, the marquis was noble and in a good position, the marquise +was rich; everything in the match, therefore, seemed suitable: and +indeed it was deferred only for the space of time necessary to complete +the year of mourning, and the marriage was celebrated towards the +beginning of the year 1558. The marquis was twenty years of age, and the +marquise twenty-two. + +The beginnings of this union were perfectly happy; the marquis was in +love for the first time, and the marquise did not remember ever to have +been in love. A son and a daughter came to complete their happiness. The +marquise had entirely forgotten the fatal prediction, or, if she +occasionally thought of it now, it was to wonder that she could ever +have believed in it. Such happiness is not of this world, and when by +chance it lingers here a while, it seems sent rather by the anger than +by the goodness of God. Better, indeed, would it be for him who +possesses and who loses it, never to have known it. + +The Marquis de Ganges was the first to weary of this happy life. Little +by little he began to miss the pleasures of a young man; he began to +draw away from the marquise and to draw nearer to his former friends. On +her part, the marquise, who for the sake of wedded intimacy had +sacrificed her habits of social life, threw herself into society, where +new triumphs awaited her. These triumphs aroused the jealousy of the +marquis; but he was too much a man of his century to invite ridicule by +any manifestation; he shut his jealousy into his soul, and it emerged in +a different form on every different occasion. To words of love, so sweet +that they seemed the speech of angels, succeeded those bitter and biting +utterances that foretell approaching division. Before long, the marquis +and the marquise only saw each other at hours when they could not avoid +meeting; then, on the pretext of necessary journeys, and presently +without any pretext at all, the marquis would go away for three-quarters +of a year, and once more the marquise found herself widowed. Whatever +contemporary account one may consult, one finds them all agreeing to +declare that she was always the same--that is to say, full of patience, +calmness, and becoming behaviour--and it is rare to find such a +unanimity of opinion about a young and beautiful woman. + +About this time the marquis, finding it unendurable to be alone with his +wife during the short spaces of time which he spent at home, invited his +two brothers, the chevalier and the abbe de Ganges, to come and live +with him. He had a third brother, who, as the second son, bore the title +of comte, and who was colonel of the Languedoc regiment, but as this +gentleman played no part in this story we shall not concern ourselves +with him. + +The abbe de Ganges, who bore that title without belonging to the Church, +had assumed it in order to enjoy its privileges: he was a kind of wit, +writing madrigals and 'bouts-rimes' [Bouts-rimes are verses written to a +given set of rhymes.] on occasion, a handsome man enough, though in +moments of impatience his eyes would take a strangely cruel expression; +as dissolute and shameless to boot, as though he had really belonged to +the clergy of the period. + +The chevalier de Ganges, who shared in some measure the beauty so +profusely showered upon the family, was one of those feeble men who +enjoy their own nullity, and grow on to old age inapt alike for good and +evil, unless some nature of a stronger stamp lays hold on them and drags +them like faint and pallid satellites in its wake. This was what befell +the chevalier in respect of his brother: submitted to an influence of +which he himself was not aware, and against which, had he but suspected +it, he would have rebelled with the obstinacy of a child, he was a +machine obedient to the will of another mind and to the passions of +another heart, a machine which was all the more terrible in that no +movement of instinct or of reason could, in his case, arrest the impulse +given. + +Moreover, this influence which the abbe had acquired over the chevalier +extended, in some degree also, to the marquis. Having as a younger son +no fortune, having no revenue, for though he wore a Churchman's robes he +did not fulfil a Churchman's functions, he had succeeded in persuading +the marquis, who was rich, not only in the enjoyment of his own fortune, +but also in that of his wife, which was likely to be nearly doubled at +the death of M. de Nocheres, that some zealous man was needed who would +devote himself to the ordering of his house and the management of his +property; and had offered himself for the post. The marquis had very +gladly accepted, being, as we have said, tired by this time of his +solitary home life; and the abbe had brought with him the chevalier, who +followed him like his shadow, and who was no more regarded than if he +had really possessed no body. + +The marquise often confessed afterwards that when she first saw these +two men, although their outward aspect was perfectly agreeable, she felt +herself seized by a painful impression, and that the fortune-teller's +prediction of a violent death, which she had so long forgotten, gashed +out like lightning before her eyes. The effect on the two brothers was +not of the same kind: the beauty of the marquise struck them both, +although in different ways. The chevalier was in ecstasies of +admiration, as though before a beautiful statue, but the impression that +she made upon him was that which would have been made by marble, and if +the chevalier had been left to himself the consequences of this +admiration would have been no less harmless. Moreover, the chevalier did +not attempt either to exaggerate or to conceal this impression, and +allowed his sister-in-law to see in what manner she struck him. The +abbe, on the contrary, was seized at first sight with a deep and violent +desire to possess this woman--the most beautiful whom he had ever met; +but being as perfectly capable of mastering his sensations as the +chevalier was incapable, he merely allowed such words of compliment to +escape him as weigh neither with him who utters nor her who hears them; +and yet, before the close of this first interview, the abbe had decided +in his irrevocable will that this woman should be his. + +As for the marquise, although the impression produced by her two +brothers-in-law could never be entirely effaced, the wit of the abbe, to +which he gave, with amazing facility, whatever turn he chose, and the +complete nullity of the chevalier brought her to certain feelings of +less repulsion towards them: for indeed the marquise had one of those +souls which never suspect evil, as long as it will take the trouble to +assume any veil at all of seeming, and which only recognise it with +regret when it resumes its true shape. + +Meanwhile the arrival of these two new inmates soon spread a little more +life and gaiety through the house. Furthermore; greatly to the +astonishment of the marquise, her husband, who had so long been +indifferent to her beauty, seemed to remark afresh that she was too +charming to be despised; his words accordingly began little by little to +express an affection that had long since gradually disappeared from +them. The marquise had never ceased to love him; she had suffered the +loss of his love with resignation, she hailed its return with joy, and +three months elapsed that resembled those which had long ceased to be +more to the poor wife than a distant and half-worn-out memory. + +Thus she had, with the supreme facility of youth, always ready to be +happy, taken up her gladness again, without even asking what genius had +brought back to her the treasure which she had thought lost, when she +received an invitation from a lady of the neighbourhood to spend some +days in her country house. Her husband and her two brothers-in-law, +invited with her, were of the party, and accompanied her. A great +hunting party had been arranged beforehand, and almost immediately upon +arriving everyone began to prepare for taking part in it. + +The abbe, whose talents had made him indispensable in every company, +declared that for that day he was the marquise's cavalier, a title which +his sister-in-law, with her usual amiability, confirmed. Each of the +huntsmen, following this example, made choice of a lady to whom to +dedicate his attentions throughout the day; then, this chivalrous +arrangement being completed, all present directed their course towards +the place of meeting. + +That happened which almost always happens the dogs hunted on their own +account. Two or three sportsmen only followed the dogs; the rest got +lost. The abbe, in his character of esquire to the marquise, had not +left her for a moment, and had managed so cleverly that he was alone +with her--an opportunity which he had been seeking for a month +previously with no less care--than the marquise had been using to avoid +it. No sooner, therefore, did the marquise believe herself aware that +the abbe had intentionally turned aside from the hunt than she attempted +to gallop her horse in the opposite direction from that which she had +been following; but the abbe stopped her. The marquise neither could nor +would enter upon a struggle; she resigned herself, therefore, to hearing +what the abbe had to say to her, and her face assumed that air of +haughty disdain which women so well know how to put on when they wish a +man to understand that he has nothing to hope from them. There was an +instant's silence; the abbe was the first to break it. + +"Madame," said he, "I ask your pardon for having used this means to +speak to you alone; but since, in spite of my rank of brother-in-law, +you did not seem inclined to grant me that favour if I had asked it, I +thought it would be better for me, to deprive you of the power to refuse +it me." + +"If you have hesitated to ask me so simple a thing, monsieur," replied +the marquise, "and if you have taken such precautions to compel me to +listen to you, it must, no doubt, be because you knew beforehand that +the words you had to say to me were such as I could not hear. Have the +goodness, therefore, to reflect, before you open this conversation, that +here as elsewhere I reserve the right--and I warn you of it--to +interrupt what you may say at the moment when it may cease to seem to me +befitting." + +"As to that, madame," said the abbe, "I think I can answer for it that +whatever it may please me to say to you, you will hear to the end; but +indeed the matters are so simple that there is no need to make you +uneasy beforehand: I wished to ask you, madame, whether you have +perceived a change in the conduct of your husband towards you." + +"Yes, monsieur," replied the marquise, "and no single day has passed in +which I have not thanked Heaven for this happiness." + +"And you have been wrong, madame," returned the abbe, with one of those +smiles that were peculiar to himself; "Heaven has nothing to do with it. +Thank Heaven for having made you the most beautiful and charming of +women, and that will be enough thanksgiving without despoiling me of +such as belong to my share." + +"I do not understand you, monsieur," said the marquise in an icy tone. + +"Well, I will make myself comprehensible, my dear sister-in-law. I am +the worker of the miracle for which you are thanking Heaven; to me +therefore belongs your gratitude. Heaven is rich enough not to rob the +poor." + +"You are right, monsieur: if it is really to you that I owe this return, +the cause of which I did not know, I will thank you in the first place; +and then afterwards I will thank Heaven for having inspired you with +this good thought." + +"Yes," answered the abbe, "but Heaven, which has inspired me with a good +thought, may equally well inspire me with a bad one, if the good thought +does not bring me what I expect from it." + +"What do you mean, monsieur?" + +"That there has never been more than one will in the family, and that +will is mine; that the minds of my two brothers turn according to the +fancy of that will like weathercocks before the wind, and that he who +has blown hot can blow cold." + +"I am still waiting for you to explain yourself, monsieur." + +"Well, then, my dear sister-in-law, since you are pleased not to +understand me, I will explain myself more clearly. My brother turned +from you through jealousy; I wished to give you an idea of my power over +him, and from extreme indifference I have brought him back, by showing +him that he suspected you wrongly, to the ardours of the warmest love. +Well, I need only tell him that I was mistaken, and fix his wandering +suspicions upon any man whatever, and I shall take him away from you, +even as I have brought him back. I need give you no proof of what I say; +you know perfectly well that I am speaking the truth." + +"And what object had you, in acting this part?" + +"To prove to you, madame, that at my will I can cause you to be sad or +joyful, cherished or neglected, adored or hated. Madame, listen to me: I +love you." + +"You insult me, monsieur!" cried the marquise, trying to withdraw the +bridle of her horse from the abbe's hands. + +"No fine words, my dear sister-in-law; for, with me, I warn you, they +will be lost. To tell a woman one loves her is never an insult; only +there are a thousand different ways of obliging her to respond to that +love. The error is to make a mistake in the way that one employs--that +is the whole of the matter." + +"And may I inquire which you have chosen?" asked the marquise, with a +crushing smile of contempt. + +"The only one that could succeed with a calm, cold, strong woman like +you, the conviction that your interest requires you to respond to my +love." + +"Since you profess to know me so well," answered the marquise, with +another effort, as unsuccessful as the former, to free the bridle of her +horse, "you should know how a woman like me would receive such an +overture; say to yourself what I might say to you, and above all, what I +might say to my husband." + +The abbe smiled. + +"Oh, as to that," he returned, "you can do as you please, madame. Tell +your husband whatever you choose; repeat our conversation word for word; +add whatever your memory may furnish, true or false, that may be most +convincing against me; then, when you have thoroughly given him his cue, +when you think yourself sure of him, I will say two words to him, and +turn him inside out like this glove. That is what I had to say to you, +madame I will not detain you longer. You may have in me a devoted friend +or a mortal enemy. Reflect." + +At these words the abbe loosed his hold upon the bridle of the +marquise's horse and left her free to guide it as she would. The +marquise put her beast to a trot, so as to show neither fear nor haste. +The abbe followed her, and both rejoined the hunt. + +The abbe had spoken truly. The marquise, notwithstanding the threat +which she had made, reflected upon the influence which this man had over +her husband, and of which she had often had proof she kept silence, +therefore, and hoped that he had made himself seem worse than he was, to +frighten her. On this point she was strangely mistaken. + +The abbe, however, wished to see, in the first place, whether the +marquise's refusal was due to personal antipathy or to real virtue. The +chevalier, as has been said, was handsome; he had that usage of good +society which does instead of mind, and he joined to it the obstinacy of +a stupid man; the abbe undertook to persuade him that he was in love +with the marquise. It was not a difficult matter. We have described the +impression made upon the chevalier by the first sight of Madame de +Ganges; but, owing beforehand the reputation of austerity that his +sister-in-law had acquired, he had not the remotest idea of paying court +to her. Yielding, indeed, to the influence which she exercised upon all +who came in contact with her, the chevalier had remained her devoted +servant; and the marquise, having no reason to mistrust civilities which +she took for signs of friendliness, and considering his position as her +husband's brother, treated him with less circumspection than was her +custom. + +The abbe sought him out, and, having made sure they were alone, said, +"Chevalier, we both love the same woman, and that woman is our brother's +wife; do not let us thwart each other: I am master of my passion, and +can the more easily sacrifice it to you that I believe you are the man +preferred; try, therefore, to obtain some assurance of the love which I +suspect the marquise of having for you; and from the day when you reach +that point I will withdraw, but otherwise, if you fail, give up your +place civilly to me, that I may try, in my turn, whether her heart is +really impregnable, as everybody says." + +The chevalier had never thought of the possibility of winning the +marquise; but from the moment in which his brother, with no apparent +motive of personal interest, aroused the idea that he might be beloved, +every spark of passion and of vanity that still existed in this +automaton took fire, and he began to be doubly assiduous and attentive +to his sister-in-law. She, who had never suspected any evil in this +quarter, treated the chevalier at first with a kindliness that was +heightened by her scorn for the abbe. But, before long, the chevalier, +misunderstanding the grounds of this kindliness, explained himself more +clearly. The marquise, amazed and at first incredulous, allowed him to +say enough to make his intentions perfectly clear; then she stopped him, +as she had done the abbe, by some of those galling words which women +derive from their indifference even more than from their virtue. + +At this check, the chevalier, who was far from possessing his brother's +strength and determination, lost all hope, and came candidly to own to +the latter the sad result of his attentions and his love. This was what +the abbe had awaited, in the first place for the satisfaction of his own +vanity, and in the second place for the means of carrying out his +schemes. He worked upon the chevalier's humiliation until he had wrought +it into a solid hatred; and then, sure of having him for a supporter and +even for an accomplice, he began to put into execution his plan against +the marquise. + +The consequence was soon shown in a renewal of alienation on the part of +M. de Ganges. A young man whom the marquise sometimes met in society, +and to whom, on account of his wit, she listened perhaps a little more +willingly than to others, became, if not the cause, at least the excuse +of a fresh burst of jealousy. This jealousy was exhibited as on previous +occasions, by quarrels remote from the real grievance; but the marquise +was not deceived: she recognised in this change the fatal hand of her +brother-in-law. But this certainty, instead of drawing her towards him, +increased her repulsion; and thenceforward she lost no opportunity of +showing him not only that repulsion but also the contempt that +accompanied it. + +Matters remained in this state for some months. Every day the marquise +perceived her husband growing colder, and although the spies were +invisible she felt herself surrounded by a watchfulness that took note +of the most private details of her life. As to the abbe and the +chevalier, they were as usual; only the abbe had hidden his hate behind +a smile that was habitual, and the chevalier his resentment behind that +cold and stiff dignity in which dull minds enfold themselves when they +believe themselves injured in their vanity. + +In the midst of all this, M. Joannis de Nocheres died, and added to the +already considerable fortune of his granddaughter another fortune of +from six to seven hundred thousand livres. + +This additional wealth became, on accruing to the marquise, what was +then called, in countries where the Roman law prevailed, a 'paraphernal' +estate that is to say that, falling in, after marriage? it was not +included in the dowry brought by the wife, and that she could dispose +freely both of the capital and the income, which might not be +administered even by her husband without a power of attorney, and of +which she could dispose at pleasure, by donation or by will. And in +fact, a few days after the marquise had entered into possession of her +grandfather's estate, her husband and his brothers learned that she had +sent for a notary in order to be instructed as to her rights. This step +betokened an intention of separating this inheritance from the common +property of the marriage; for the behaviour of the marquis towards his +wife--of which within himself he often recognised the injustice--left +him little hope of any other explanation. + +About this time a strange event happened. At a dinner given by the +marquise, a cream was served at dessert: all those who partook of this +cream were ill; the marquis and his two brothers, who had not touched +it, felt no evil effects. The remainder of this cream, which was +suspected of having caused illness to the guests, and particularly to +the marquise, who had taken of it twice, was analysed, and the presence +of arsenic in it demonstrated. Only, having been mixed with milk, which +is its antidote, the poison had lost some of its power, and had produced +but half the expected effect. As no serious disaster had followed this +occurrence, the blame was thrown upon a servant, who was said to have +mistaken arsenic for sugar, and everybody forgot it, or appeared to +forget it. + +The marquis, however, seemed to be gradually and naturally drawing +nearer again to his wife; but this time Madame de Ganges was not +deceived by his returning kindness. There, as in his alienation, she saw +the selfish hand of the abbe: he had persuaded his brother that seven +hundred thousand livres more in the house would make it worth while to +overlook some levities of behaviour; and the marquis, obeying the +impulse given, was trying, by kind dealing, to oppose his wife's still +unsettled intention of making a will. + +Towards the autumn there was talk of going to spend that season at +Ganges, a little town situated in Lower Languedoc, in the diocese of +Montpellier, seven leagues from that town, and nineteen from Avignon. +Although this was natural enough, since the marquis was lord of the town +and had a castle there, the marquise was seized by a strange shudder +when she heard the proposal. Remembrance of the prediction made to her +returned immediately to her mind. The recent and ill explained attempt +to poison her, too, very naturally added to her fears. + +Without directly and positively suspecting her brothers-in-law of that +crime, she knew that in them she had two implacable enemies. This +journey to a little town, this abode in a lonely castle, amid new, +unknown neighbours, seemed to her of no good omen; but open opposition +would have been ridiculous. On what grounds, indeed, could she base +resistance? The marquise could only own her terrors by accusing her +husband and her brothers-in-law. And of what could she accuse them? The +incident of the poisoned cream was not a conclusive proof. She resolved +accordingly to lock up all her fears in her heart, and to commit herself +to the hands of God. + +Nevertheless, she would not leave Avignon without signing the will which +she had contemplated making ever since M. de Nocheres' death. A notary +was called in who drew up the document. The Marquise de Ganges made her +mother, Madame de Rossan, her sole inheritor, and left in her charge the +duty of choosing between the testatrix's two children as to which of +them should succeed to the estate. These two children were, one a boy of +six years old, the other a girl of five. But this was not enough for the +marquise, so deep was her impression that she would not survive this +fatal journey; she gathered together, secretly and at night, the +magistrates of Avignon and several persons of quality, belonging to the +first families of the town, and there, before them, verbally at first, +declared that, in case of her death, she begged the honourable witnesses +whom she had assembled on purpose, not to recognise as valid, voluntary, +or freely written anything except the will which she had signed the day +before, and affirmed beforehand that any later will which might be +produced would be the effect of fraud or of violence. Then, having made +this verbal declaration, the marquise repeated it in writing, signed the +paper containing it, and gave the paper to be preserved by the honour of +those whom she constituted its guardians. Such a precaution, taken with +such minute detail, aroused the lively curiosity of her hearers. Many +pressing questions were put to the marquise, but nothing could be +extracted from her except that she had reasons for her action which she +could not declare. The cause of this assemblage remained a secret, and +every person who formed part of it promised the marquise not to reveal +it. + +On the next day, which was that preceding her departure for Ganges, the +marquise visited all the charitable institutions and religious +communities in Avignon; she left liberal alms everywhere, with the +request that prayers and masses should be said for her, in order to +obtain from God's grace that she should not be suffered to die without +receiving the sacraments of the Church. In the evening, she took leave +of all her friends with the affection and the tears of a person +convinced that she was bidding them a last farewell; and finally she +spent the whole night in prayer, and the maid who came to wake her found +her kneeling in the same spot where she, had left her the night before. + +The family set out for Ganges; the journey was performed without +accident. On reaching the castle, the marquise found her mother-in-law +there; she was a woman of remarkable distinction and piety, and her +presence, although it was to be but temporary, reassured the poor +fearful marquise a little. Arrangements had been made beforehand at the +old castle, and the most convenient and elegant of the rooms had been +assigned to the marquise; it was on the first floor, and looked out upon +a courtyard shut in on all sides by stables. + +On the first evening that she was to sleep here, the marquise explored +the room with the greatest attention. She inspected the cupboards, +sounded the walls, examined the tapestry, and found nothing anywhere +that could confirm her terrors, which, indeed, from that time began to +decrease. At the end of a certain time; however, the marquis's mother +left Ganges to return to Montpellier. Two, days after her departure, the +marquis talked of important business which required him to go back to +Avignon, and he too left the castle. The marquise thus remained alone +with the abbe, the chevalier, and a chaplain named Perette, who had been +attached for five-and-twenty years to the family of the marquis. The +rest of the household consisted of a few servants. + +The marquise's first care, on arriving at the castle, had been to +collect a little society for herself in the town. This was easy: not +only did her rank make it an honour to belong to her circle, her kindly +graciousness also inspired at first-sight the desire of having her for a +friend. The marquise thus endured less dulness than she had at first +feared. This precaution was by no means uncalled for; instead of +spending only the autumn at Ganges, the marquise was obliged, in +consequence of letters from her husband, to spend the winter there. +During the whole of this time the abbe and the chevalier seemed to have +completely forgotten their original designs upon her, and had again +resumed the conduct of respectful, attentive brothers. But with all +this, M. de Ganges remained estranged, and the marquise, who had not +ceased to love him, though she began to lose her fear, did not lose her +grief. + +One day the abbe entered her room suddenly enough to surprise her before +she had time to dry her tears; the secret being thus half surprised, he +easily obtained a knowledge of the whole. The marquise owned to him that +happiness in this world was impossible for her so long as her husband +led this separate and hostile life. The abbe tried to console her; but +amid his consolations he told her that the grief which she was suffering +had its source in herself; that her husband was naturally wounded by her +distrust of him--a distrust of which the will, executed by her, was a +proof, all the more humiliating because public, and that, while that +will existed, she could expect no advances towards reconciliation from +her husband. For that time the conversation ended there. + +Some days later, the abbe came into the marquise's room with a letter +which he had just received from his brother. This letter, supposed +confidential, was filled with tender complaints of his wife's conduct +towards him, and showed, through every sentence, a depth of affection +which only wrongs as serious as those from which the marquis considered +himself to be feeling could counterbalance. The marquise was, at first, +very much touched by this letter; but having soon reflected that just +sufficient time had elapsed since the explanation between herself and +the abbe for the marquis to be informed of it, she awaited further and +stronger proofs before changing her mind. + +From day to day, however, the abbe, under the pretext of reconciling the +husband and wife, became more pressing upon the matter of the will, and +the marquise, to whom this insistence seemed rather alarming, began to +experience some of her former fears. Finally, the abbe pressed her so +hard as to make her reflect that since, after the precautions which she +had taken at Avignon, a revocation could have no result, it would be +better to seem to yield rather than irritate this man, who inspired her +with so great a fear, by constant and obstinate refusals. The next time +that he returned to the subject she accordingly replied that she was +ready to offer her husband this new proof of her love if it would bring +him back to her, and having ordered a notary to be sent for, she made a +new will, in the presence of the abbe and the chevalier, and constituted +the marquis her residuary legatee. This second instrument bore date the +5th of May 1667. The abbe and the chevalier expressed the greatest joy +that this subject of discord was at last removed, and offered themselves +as guarantees, on their brother's behalf, of a better future. Some days +were passed in this hope, which a letter from the marquis came to +confirm; this letter at the same time announced his speedy return to +Ganges. + +On the 16th of May; the marquise, who for a month or two had not been +well, determined to take medicine; she therefore informed the chemist of +what she wanted, and asked him to make her up something at his +discretion and send it to her the next day. Accordingly, at the agreed +hour in the morning, the draught was brought to the marquise; but it +looked to her so black and so thick that she felt some doubt of the +skill of its compounder, shut it up in a cupboard in her room without +saying anything of the matter, and took from her dressing-case some +pills, of a less efficacious nature indeed, but to which she was +accustomed, and which were not so repugnant to her. + +The hour in which the marquise was to take this medicine was hardly over +when the abbe and the chevalier sent to know how she was. She replied +that she was quite well, and invited them to a collation which she was +giving about four o'clock to the ladies who made up her little circle. +An hour afterwards the abbe and the chevalier sent a second time to +inquire after her; the marquise, without paying particular attention to +this excessive civility, which she remembered afterwards, sent word as +before that she was perfectly well. The marquise had remained in bed to +do the honours of her little feast, and never had she felt more +cheerful. At the hour named all her guests arrived; the abbe and the +chevalier were ushered in, and the meal was served. Neither one nor the +other would share it; the abbe indeed sat down to table, but the +chevalier remained leaning on the foot of the bed. The abbe appeared +anxious, and only roused himself with a start from his absorption; then +he seemed to drive away some dominant idea, but soon the idea, stronger +than his will, plunged him again into a reverie, a state which struck +everyone the more particularly because it was far from his usual temper. +As to the chevalier, his eyes were fixed constantly upon his +sister-in-law, but in this there was not, as in his brother's behaviour, +anything surprising, since the marquise had never looked so beautiful. + +The meal over, the company took leave. The abbe escorted the ladies +downstairs; the chevalier remained with the marquise; but hardly had the +abbe left the room when Madame de Ganges saw the chevalier turn pale and +drop in a sitting position--he had been standing on the foot of the bed. +The marquise, uneasy, asked what was the matter; but before he could +reply, her attention was called to another quarter. The abbe, as pale +and as disturbed as the chevalier, came back into the room, carrying in +his hands a glass and a pistol, and double-locked the door behind him. +Terrified at this spectacle, the marquise half raised herself in her +bed, gazing voiceless and wordless. Then the abbe approached her, his +lips trembling; his hair bristling and his eyes blazing, and, presenting +to her the glass and the pistol, "Madame," said he, after a moment of +terrible silence, "choose, whether poison, fire, or"--he made a sign to +the chevalier, who drew his sword--"or steel." + +The marquise had one moment's hope: at the motion which she saw the +chevalier make she thought he was coming to her assistance; but being +soon undeceived, and finding herself between two men, both threatening +her, she slipped from her bed and fell on her knees. + +"What have I done," she cried, "oh, my God? that you should thus decree +my death, and after having made yourselves judges should make yourselves +executioners? I am guilty of no fault towards you except of having been +too faithful in my duty to my husband, who is your brother." + +Then seeing that it was vain to continue imploring the abbe, whose looks +and gestures spoke a mind made up, she turned towards the chevalier. + +"And you too, brother," said she, "oh, God, God! you, too! Oh, have pity +on me, in the name of Heaven!" + +But he, stamping his foot and pressing the point of his sword to her +bosom, answered-- + +"Enough, madam, enough; take your choice without delay; for if you do +not take it, we will take it for you." + +The marquise turned once again to the abbe, and her forehead struck the +muzzle of the pistol. Then she saw that she must die indeed, and +choosing of the three forms of death that which seemed to her the least +terrible, "Give me the poison, then," said she, "and may God forgive you +my death!" + +With these words she took the glass, but the thick black liquid of which +it was full aroused such repulsion that she would have attempted a last +appeal; but a horrible imprecation from the abbe and a threatening +movement from his brother took from her the very last gleam of hope. She +put the glass to her lips, and murmuring once more, "God! Saviour! have +pity on me!" she swallowed the contents. + +As she did so a few drops of the liquid fell upon her breast, and +instantly burned her skin like live coals; indeed, this infernal draught +was composed of arsenic and sublimate infused in aqua-fortis; then, +thinking that no more would be required of her, she dropped the glass. + +The marquise was mistaken: the abbe picked it up, and observing that all +the sediment had remained at the bottom, he gathered together on a +silver bodkin all that had coagulated on the sides of the glass and all +that had sunk to the bottom, and presenting this ball, which was about +the size of a nut, to the marquise, on the end of the bodkin, he said, +"Come, madame, you must swallow the holy-water sprinkler." + +The marquise opened her lips, with resignation; but instead of doing as +the abbe commanded, she kept this remainder of the poison in her mouth, +threw herself on the bed with a scream, and clasping the pillows, in her +pain, she put out the poison between the sheets, unperceived by her +assassins; and then turning back to them, folded her hands in entreaty +and said, "In the name of God, since you have killed my body, at least +do not destroy my soul, but send me a confessor." + +Cruel though the abbe and the chevalier were, they were no doubt +beginning to weary of such a scene; moreover, the mortal deed was +accomplished--after what she had drunk, the marquise could live but a +few minutes; at her petition they went out, locking the door behind +them. But no sooner did the marquise find herself alone than the +possibility of flight presented itself to her. She ran to the window: +this was but twenty-two feet above the ground, but the earth below was +covered with stones and rubbish. The marquise, being only in her +nightdress, hastened to slip on a silk petticoat; but at the moment when +she finished tying it round her waist she heard a step approaching her +room, and believing that her murderers were returning to make an end of +her, she flew like a madwoman to the window. At the moment of her +setting foot on the window ledge, the door opened: the marquise, ceasing +to consider anything, flung herself down, head first. + +Fortunately, the new-comer, who was the castle chaplain, had time to +reach out and seize her skirt. The skirt, not strong enough to bear the +weight of the marquise, tore; but its resistance, slight though it was, +sufficed nevertheless to change the direction of her body: the marquise, +whose head would have been shattered on the stones, fell on her feet +instead, and beyond their being bruised by the stones, received no +injury. Half stunned though she was by her fall, the marquise saw +something coming after her, and sprang aside. It was an enormous pitcher +of water, beneath which the priest, when he saw her escaping him, had +tried to crush her; but either because he had ill carried out his +attempt or because the marquise had really had time to move away, the +vessel was shattered at her feet without touching her, and the priest, +seeing that he had missed his aim, ran to warn the abbe and the +chevalier that the victim was escaping. + +As for the marquise, she had hardly touched the ground, when with +admirable presence of mind she pushed the end of one of her long plaits +so far down her throat as to provoke a fit of vomiting; this was the +more easily done that she had eaten heartily of the collation, and +happily the presence of the food had prevented the poison from attacking +the coats of the stomach so violently as would otherwise have been the +case. Scarcely had she vomited when a tame boar swallowed what she had +rejected, and falling into a convulsion, died immediately. + +As we have said, the room looked upon an enclosed courtyard; and the +marquise at first thought that in leaping from her room into this court +she had only changed her prison; but soon perceiving a light that +flickered from an upper window of ore of the stables, she ran thither, +and found a groom who was just going to bed. + +"In the name of Heaven, my good man," said she to him, "save me! I am +poisoned! They want to kill me! Do not desert me, I entreat you! Have +pity on me, open this stable for me; let me get away! Let me escape!" + +The groom did not understand much of what the marquise said to him; but +seeing a woman with disordered hair, half naked, asking help of him, he +took her by the arm, led her through the stables, opened a door for her, +and the marquise found herself in the street. Two women were passing; +the groom put her into their hands, without being able to explain to +them what he did not know himself. As for the marquise, she seemed able +to say nothing beyond these words: "Save me! I am poisoned! In the name +of Heaven, save me!" + +All at once she escaped from their hands and began to run like a mad +woman; she had seen, twenty steps away, on the threshold of the door by +which she had come, her two murderers in pursuit of her. + +Then they rushed after her; she shrieking that she was poisoned, they +shrieking that she was mad; and all this happening amid a crowd which, +not knowing what part to take, divided and made way for the victim and +the murderers. Terror gave the marquise superhuman strength: the woman +who was accustomed to walk in silken shoes upon velvet carpets, ran with +bare and bleeding feet over stocks and stones, vainly asking help, which +none gave her; for, indeed, seeing her thus, in mad flight, in a +nightdress, with flying hair, her only garment a tattered silk +petticoat, it was difficult not to--think that this woman was, as her +brothers-in-law said, mad. + +At last the chevalier came up with her, stopped her, dragged her, in +spite of her screams, into the nearest house, and closed the door behind +them, while the abbe, standing at the threshold with a pistol in his +hand, threatened to blow out the brains of any person who should +approach. + +The house into which the chevalier and the marquise had gone belonged to +one M. Desprats, who at the moment was from home, and whose wife was +entertaining several of her friends. The marquise and the chevalier, +still struggling together, entered the room where the company was +assembled: as among the ladies present were several who also visited the +marquise, they immediately arose, in the greatest amazement, to give her +the assistance that she implored; but the chevalier hastily pushed them +aside, repeating that the marquise was mad. To this reiterated +accusation--to which, indeed, appearances lent only too great a +probability--the marquise replied by showing her burnt neck and her +blackened lips, and wringing her hands in pain, cried out that she was +poisoned, that she was going to die, and begged urgently for milk, or at +least for water. Then the wife of a Protestant minister, whose name was +Madame Brunel, slipped into her hand a box of orvietan, some pieces of +which she hastened to swallow, while another lady gave her a glass of +water; but at the instant when she was lifting it to her mouth, the +chevalier broke it between her teeth, and one of the pieces of glass cut +her lips. At this, all the women would have flung themselves upon the +chevalier; but the marquise, fearing that he would only become more +enraged, and hoping to disarm him, asked, on the contrary, that she +might be left alone with him: all the company, yielding to her desire, +passed into the next room; this was what the chevalier, on his part, +too, asked. + +Scarcely were they alone, when the marquise, joining her hands, knelt to +him and said in the gentlest and most appealing voice that it was +possible to use, "Chevalier, my dear brother, will you not have pity +upon me, who have always had so much affection for you, and who, even +now, would give my blood for your service? You know that the things I am +saying are not merely empty words; and yet how is it you are treating +me, though I have not deserved it? And what will everyone say to such +dealings? Ah, brother, what a great unhappiness is mine, to have been so +cruelly treated by you! And yet--yes, brother--if you will deign to have +pity on me and to save my life, I swear, by my hope of heaven, to keep +no remembrance of what has happened; and to consider you always as my +protector and my friend." + +All at once the marquise rose with a great cry and clasped her hand to +her right side. While she was speaking, and before she perceived what he +was doing, the chevalier had drawn his sword, which was very short, and +using it as a dagger, had struck her in the breast; this first blow was +followed by a second, which came in contact with the shoulder blade, and +so was prevented from going farther. At these two blows the marquise +rushed towards the door, of the room into which the ladies had retired, +crying, "Help! He is killing me!" + +But during the time that she took to cross the room the chevalier +stabbed her five times in the back with his sword, and would no doubt +have done more, if at the last blow his sword had not broken; indeed, he +had struck with such force that the fragment remained embedded in her +shoulder, and the marquise fell forward on the floor, in a pool of her +blood, which was flowing all round her and spreading through the room. + +The chevalier thought he had killed her, and hearing the women running +to her assistance, he rushed from the room. The abbe was still at the +door, pistol in hand; the chevalier took him by the arm to drag him +away, and as the abbe hesitated to follow, he said:-- + +"Let us go, abbe; the business is done." + +The chevalier and the abbe had taken a few steps in the street when a +window opened and the women who had found the marquise expiring called +out for help: at these cries the abbe stopped short, and holding back +the chevalier by the arm, demanded-- + +"What was it you said, chevalier? If they are calling help, is she not +dead, after all?" + +"'Ma foi', go and see for yourself," returned the chevalier. "I have +done enough for my share; it is your turn now." + +"'Pardieu', that is quite my opinion," cried the abbe; and rushing back +to the house, he flung himself into the room at the moment when the +women, lifting the marquise with great difficulty, for she was so weak +that she could no longer help herself, were attempting to carry her to +bed. The abbe pushed them away, and arriving at the marquise, put his +pistol to her heart; but Madame Brunel, the same who had previously +given the marquise a box of orvietan, lifted up the barrel with her +hand, so that the shot went off into the air, and the bullet instead of +striking the marquise lodged in the cornice of the ceiling. The abbe +then took the pistol by the barrel and gave Madame Brunet so violent a +blow upon the head with the butt that she staggered and almost fell; he +was about to strike her again, but all the women uniting against him, +pushed him, with thousands of maledictions, out of the room, and locked +the door behind him. The two assassins, taking advantage of the +darkness, fled from Ganges, and reached Aubenas, which is a full league +away, about ten in the evening. + +Meanwhile the women were doing all they could for the marquise. Their +first intention, as we have already said, was to put her to bed, but the +broken sword blade made her unable to lie down, and they tried in vain +to pull it out, so deeply had it entered the bone. Then the marquise +herself showed Madame Brunei what method to take: the operating lady was +to sit on the bed, and while the others helped to hold up the marquise, +was to seize the blade with both hands, and pressing her--knees against +the patient's back, to pull violently and with a great jerk. This plan +at last succeeded, and the marquise was able to get to bed; it was nine +in the evening, and this horrible tragedy had been going on for nearly +three hours. + +The magistrates of Ganges, being informed of what had happened, and +beginning to believe that it was really a case of murder, came in +person, with a guard, to the marquise. As soon as she saw them come in +she recovered strength, and raising herself in bed, so great was her +fear, clasped her hands and besought their protection; for she always +expected to see one or the other of her murderers return. The +magistrates told her to reassure herself, set armed men to guard all the +approaches to the house, and while physicians and surgeons were, +summoned in hot haste from Montpellier, they on their part sent word to +the Baron de Trissan, provost of Languedoc, of the crime that had just +been committed, and gave him the names and the description of the +murderers. That official at once sent people after them, but it was +already too late: he learned that the abbe and the chevalier had slept +at Aubenas on the night of the murder, that there they had reproached +each other for their unskilfulness, and had come near cutting each +other's throats, that finally they had departed before daylight, and had +taken a boat, near Agde, from a beach called the "Gras de Palaval." + +The Marquis de Ganges was at Avignon, where he was prosecuting a servant +of his who had robbed him of two hundred crowns; when he heard news of +the event. He turned horribly pale as he listened to the messenger's +story, then falling into a violent fury against his brothers, he swore +that they should have no executioners other than himself. Nevertheless, +though he was so uneasy about the marquise's condition, he waited until +the next day in the afternoon before setting forth, and during the +interval he saw some of his friends at Avignon without saying anything +to them of the matter. He did not reach Ganges until four days after the +murder, then he went to the house of M. Desprats and asked to see his +wife, whom some kind priests had already prepared for the meeting; and +the marquise, as soon as she heard of his arrival, consented to receive +him. The marquis immediately entered the room, with his eyes full of +tears, tearing his hair, and giving every token of the deepest despair. + +The marquise receivers her husband like a forgiving wife and a dying +Christian. She scarcely even uttered some slight reproaches about the +manner in which he had deserted her; moreover, the marquis having +complained to a monk of these reproaches, and the monk having reported +his complaints to the marquise, she called her husband to her bedside, +at a moment when she was surrounded by people, and made him a public +apology, begging him to attribute the words that seemed to have wounded +him to the effect of her sufferings, and not to any failure in her +regard for him. The marquis, left alone with his wife, tried to take +advantage of this reconciliation to induce her to annul the declaration +that she had made before the magistrates of Avignon; for the vice-legate +and his officers, faithful to the promises made to the marquise, had +refused to register the fresh donation which she had made at Ganges, +according to the suggestions of the abbe, and which the latter had sent +off, the very moment it was signed, to his brother. But on this point +the marquise was immovably resolute, declaring that this fortune was +reserved for her children and therefore sacred to her, and that she +could make no alteration in what had been done at Avignon, since it +represented her genuine and final wishes. Notwithstanding this +declaration, the marquis did not cease to--remain beside his wife and to +bestow upon her every care possible to a devoted and attentive husband. + +Two days later than the Marquis de Ganges arrived Madame de Rossan great +was her amazement, after all the rumours that were already in +circulation about the marquis, at finding her daughter in the hands of +him whom she regarded as one of her murderers. But the marquise, far +from sharing that opinion, did all she could, not only to make her +mother feel differently, but even to induce her to embrace the marquis +as a son. This blindness on the part of the marquise caused Madame de +Rossan so much grief that notwithstanding her profound affection for her +daughter she would only stay two days, and in spite of the entreaties +that the dying woman made to her, she returned home, not allowing +anything to stop her. This departure was a great grief to the marquise, +and was the reason why she begged with renewed entreaties to be taken to +Montpellier. The very sight of the place where she had been so cruelly +tortured continually brought before her, not only the remembrance of the +murder, but the image of the murderers, who in her brief moments of +sleep so haunted her that she sometimes awoke suddenly, uttering shrieks +and calling for help. Unfortunately, the physician considered her too +weak to bear removal, and declared that no change of place could be made +without extreme danger. + +Then, when she heard this verdict, which had to be repeated to her, and +which her bright and lively complexion and brilliant eyes seemed to +contradict, the marquise turned all her thoughts towards holy things, +and thought only of dying like a saint after having already suffered +like a martyr. She consequently asked to receive the last sacrament, and +while it was being sent for, she repeated her apologies to her husband +and her forgiveness of his brothers, and this with a gentleness that, +joined to her beauty, made her whole personality appear angelic. When, +however, the priest bearing the viaticum entered, this expression +suddenly changed, and her face presented every token of the greatest +terror. She had just recognised in the priest who was bringing her the +last consolations of Heaven the infamous Perette, whom she could not but +regard as an accomplice of the abbe and the chevalier, since, after +having tried to hold her back, he had attempted to crush her beneath the +pitcher of water which he had thrown at her from the window, and since, +when he saw her escaping, he had run to warn her assassins and to set +them on her track. She recovered herself quickly, however, and seeing +that the priest, without any sign of remorse, was drawing near to her +bedside, she would not cause so great a scandal as would have been +caused by denouncing him at such a moment. Nevertheless, bending towards +him, she said, "Father, I hope that, remembering what has passed, and in +order to dispel fears that--I may justifiably entertain, you will make +no difficulty of partaking with me of the consecrated wafer; for I have +sometimes heard it said that the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, while +remaining a token of salvation, has been known to be made a principle of +death." + +The priest inclined his head as a sign of assent. + +So the marquise communicated thus, taking a sacrament that she shared +with one of her murderers, as an evidence that she forgave this one like +the others and that she prayed God to forgive them as she herself did. + +The following days passed without any apparent increase in her illness, +the fever by which she was consumed rather enhancing her beauties, and +imparting to her voice and gestures a vivacity which they had never had +before. Thus everybody had begun to recover hope, except herself, who, +feeling better than anyone else what was her true condition, never for a +moment allowed herself any illusion, and keeping her son, who was seven +years old, constantly beside her bed, bade him again and again look well +at her, so that, young as he was, he might remember her all his life and +never forget her in his prayers. The poor child would burst into tears +and promise not only to remember her but also to avenge her when he was +a man. At these words the marquise gently reproved him, telling him that +all vengeance belonged to the king and to God, and that all cares of the +kind must be left to those two great rulers of heaven and of earth. + +On the 3rd of June, M. Catalan, a councillor, appointed as a +commissioner by the Parliament of Toulouse, arrived at Ganges, together +with all the officials required by his commission; but he could not see +the marquise that night, for she had dozed for some hours, and this +sleep had left a sort of torpor upon her mind, which might have impaired +the lucidity of her depositions. The next morning, without asking +anybody's opinion, M. Catalan repaired to the house of M. Desprats, and +in spite of some slight resistance on the part of those who were in +charge of her, made his way to the presence of the marquise. The dying +woman received him with an admirable presence of mind, that made M. +Catalan think there had been an intention the night before to prevent +any meeting between him and the person whom he was sent to interrogate. +At first the marquise would relate nothing that had passed, saying that +she could not at the same time accuse and forgive; but M. Catalan +brought her to see that justice required truth from her before all +things, since, in default of exact information, the law might go astray, +and strike the innocent instead of the guilty. This last argument +decided the marquise, and during the hour and a half that he spent alone +with her she told him all the details of this horrible occurrence. On +the morrow M. Catalan was to see her again; but on the morrow the +marquise was, in truth, much worse. He assured himself of this by his +own eyes, and as he knew almost all that he wished to know, did not +insist further, for fear of fatiguing her. + +Indeed, from that day forward, such atrocious sufferings laid hold upon +the marquise, that notwithstanding the firmness which she had always +shown, and which she tried to maintain to the end, she could not prevent +herself from uttering screams mingled with prayers. In this manner she +spent the whole day of the 4th and part of the 5th. At last, on that +day, which was a Sunday, towards four o'clock in the afternoon, she +expired. + +The body was immediately opened, and the physicians attested that the +marquise had died solely from the power of the poison, none of the seven +sword cuts which she had received being, mortal. They found the stomach +and bowels burned and the brain blackened. However, in spite of that +infernal draught, which, says the official report, "would have killed a +lioness in a few hours," the marquise struggled for nineteen days, so +much, adds an account from which we have borrowed some of these details, +so much did nature lovingly defend the beautiful body that she had taken +so much trouble to make. + + M. Catalan, the very moment he was informed of the marquise's death, + having with him twelve guards belonging to the governor, ten + archers, and a poqueton,--despatched them to the marquis's castle + with orders to seize his person, that of the priest, and those of + all the servants except the groom who had assisted the marquise in + her flight. The officer in command of this little squad found the + marquis walking up and down, melancholy and greatly disturbed, in + the large hall of the castle, and when he signified to him the + order of which he was the bearer, the marquis, without making any + resistance, and as though prepared for what was happening to him, + replied that he was ready to obey, and that moreover he had always + intended to go before the Parliament to accuse the murderers of his + wife. He was asked for the key of his cabinet, which he gave up, + and the order was given to conduct him, with the other persons + accused, to the prisons of Montpellier. As soon as the marquis came + into that town, the report of his arrival spread with incredible + rapidity from street to street. Then, as it was dark, lights came + to all the windows, and people corning out with torches formed a + torchlight procession, by means of which everybody could see him. + He, like the priest, was mounted on a sorry hired horse, and + entirely surrounded by archers, to whom, no doubt, he owed his life + on this occasion; for the indignation against him was so great that + everyone was egging on his neighbours to tear him limb from limb, + which would certainly have come to pass had he not been so + carefully defended and guarded. + +Immediately upon receiving news of her daughter's death, Madame de +Rossan took possession of all her property, and, making herself a party +to the case, declared that she would never desist from her suit until +her daughter's death was avenged. M. Catalan began the examination at +once, and the first interrogation to which he submitted the marquis +lasted eleven hours. Then soon afterwards he and the other persons +accused were conveyed from the prisons of Montpellier to those of +Toulouse. A crushing memorial by Madame de Rossan followed them, in +which she demonstrated with absolute clearness that the marquis had +participated in the crime of his two brothers, if not in act, in +thought, desire, and intention. + +The marquis's defence was very simple: it was his misfortune to have had +two villains for brothers, who had made attempts first upon the honour +and then upon the life of a wife whom he loved tenderly; they had +destroyed her by a most atrocious death, and to crown his evil fortune, +he, the innocent, was accused of having had a hand in that death. And, +indeed, the examinations in the trial did not succeed in bringing any +evidence against the marquis beyond moral presumptions, which, it +appears, were insufficient to induce his judges to award a sentence of +death. + +A verdict was consequently given, upon the 21st of August, 1667, which +sentenced the abbe and the chevalier de Ganges to be broken alive on the +wheel, the Marquis de Ganges to perpetual banishment from the kingdom, +his property to be confiscated to the king, and himself to lose his +nobility and to become incapable of succeeding to the property of his +children. As for the priest Perette, he was sentenced to the galleys for +life, after having previously been degraded from his clerical orders by +the ecclesiastical authorities. + +This sentence made as great a stir as the murder had done, and gave +rise, in that period when "extenuating circumstances" had not been +invented, to long and angry discussions. Indeed, the marquis either was +guilty of complicity or was not: if he was not, the punishment was too +cruel; if he was, the sentence was too light. Such was the opinion of +Louis XIV., who remembered the beauty of the Marquis de Ganges; for, +some time afterwards, when he was believed to have forgotten this +unhappy affair, and when he was asked to pardon the Marquis de la Douze, +who was accused of having poisoned his wife, the king answered, "There +is no need for a pardon, since he belongs to the Parliament of Toulouse, +and the Marquis de Ganges did very well without one." + +It may easily be supposed that this melancholy event did not pass +without inciting the wits of the day to write a vast number of verses +and bouts-rimes about the catastrophe by which one of the most beautiful +women of the country was carried off. Readers who have a taste for that +sort of literature are referred to the journals and memoirs of the +times. + +Now, as our readers, if they have taken any interest at all in the +terrible tale just narrated, will certainly ask what became of the +murderers, we will proceed to follow their course until the moment when +they disappeared, some into the night of death, some into the darkness +of oblivion. + +The priest Perette was the first to pay his debt to Heaven: he died at +the oar on the way from Toulouse to Brest. + +The chevalier withdrew to Venice, took service in the army of the Most +Serene Republic, then at war with Turkey, and was sent to Candia, which +the Mussulmans had been besieging for twenty years; he had scarcely +arrived there when, as he was walking on the ramparts of the town with +two other officers, a shell burst at their feet, and a fragment of it +killed the chevalier without so much as touching his companions, so that +the event was regarded as a direct act of Providence. + +As for the abbe, his story is longer and stranger. He parted from the +chevalier in the neighbourhood of Genoa, and crossing the whole of +Piedmont, part of Switzerland, and a corner of Germany, entered Holland +under the name of Lamartelliere. After many hesitations as to the place +where he would settle, he finally retired to Viane, of which the Count +of Lippe was at that time sovereign; there he made the acquaintance of a +gentleman who presented him to the count as a French religious refugee. + +The count, even in this first conversation, found that the foreigner who +had come to seek safety in his dominions possessed not only great +intelligence but a very solid sort of intelligence, and seeing that the +Frenchman was conversant with letters and with learning, proposed that +he should undertake the education of his son, who at that time was nine +years old. Such a proposal was a stroke of fortune for the abbe de +Ganges, and he did not dream of refusing it. + +The abbe de Ganges was one of those men who have great mastery over +themselves: from the moment when he saw that his interest, nay, the very +safety of his life required it, he concealed with extreme care whatever +bad passions existed within him, and only allowed his good qualities to +appear. He was a tutor who supervised the heart as sharply as the mind, +and succeeded in making of his pupil a prince so accomplished in both +respects, that the Count of Lippe, making use of such wisdom and such +knowledge, began to consult the tutor upon all matters of State, so that +in course of time the so-called Lamartelliere, without holding any +public office, had become the soul of the little principality. + +The countess had a young relation living with her, who though without +fortune was of a great family, and for whom the countess had a deep +affection; it did not escape her notice that her son's tutor had +inspired this poor young girl with warmer feelings than became her high +station, and that the false Lamartelliere, emboldened by his own growing +credit, had done all he could to arouse and keep up these feelings. The +countess sent for her cousin, and having drawn from her a confession of +her love, said that she herself had indeed a great regard for her son's +governor, whom she and her husband intended to reward with pensions and +with posts for the services he had rendered to their family and to the +State, but that it was too lofty an ambition for a man whose name was +Lamartelliere, and who had no relations nor family that could be owned, +to aspire to the hand of a girl who was related to a royal house; and +that though she did not require that the man who married her cousin +should be a Bourbon, a Montmorency, or a Rohan, she did at least desire +that he should be somebody, though it were but a gentleman of Gascony or +Poitou. + +The Countess of Lippe's young kinswoman went and repeated this answer, +word for word, to her lover, expecting him to be overwhelmed by it; but, +on the contrary, he replied that if his birth was the only obstacle that +opposed their union, there might be means to remove it. In fact, the +abbe, having spent eight years at the prince's court, amid the strongest +testimonies of confidence and esteem, thought himself sure enough of the +prince's goodwill to venture upon the avowal of his real name. + +He therefore asked an audience of the countess, who immediately granted +it. Bowing to her respectfully, he said, "Madame, I had flattered myself +that your Highness honoured me with your esteem, and yet you now oppose +my happiness: your Highness's relative is willing to accept me as a +husband, and the prince your son authorises my wishes and pardons my +boldness; what have I done to you, madame, that you alone should be +against me? and with what can you reproach me during the eight years +that I have had the honour of serving your Highness?" + +"I have nothing to reproach you with, monsieur," replied the countess: +"but I do not wish to incur reproach on my own part by permitting such a +marriage: I thought you too sensible and reasonable a man to need +reminding that, while you confined yourself to suitable requests and +moderate ambitions, you had reason to be pleased with our gratitude. Do +you ask that your salary shall be doubled? The thing is easy. Do you +desire important posts? They shall be given you; but do not, sir, so far +forget yourself as to aspire to an alliance that you cannot flatter +yourself with a hope of ever attaining." + +"But, madame," returned the petitioner, "who told you that my birth was +so obscure as to debar me from all hope of obtaining your consent?" + +"Why, you yourself, monsieur, I think," answered the countess in +astonishment; "or if you did not say so, your name said so for you." + +"And if that name is not mine, madame?" said the abbe, growing bolder; +"if unfortunate, terrible, fatal circumstances have compelled me to take +that name in order to hide another that was too unhappily famous, would +your Highness then be so unjust as not to change your mind?" + +"Monsieur," replied the countess, "you have said too much now not to go +on to the end. Who are you? Tell me. And if, as you give me to +understand, you are of good birth, I swear to you that want of fortune +shall not stand in the way." + +"Alas, madame," cried the abbe, throwing himself at her feet, "my name, +I am sure, is but too familiar to your Highness, and I would willingly +at this moment give half my blood that you had never heard it uttered; +but you have said it, madame, have gone too far to recede. Well, then, I +am that unhappy abbe de Ganges whose crimes are known and of whom I have +more than once heard you speak." + +"The abbe de Ganges!" cried the countess in horror,--"the abbe de +Ganges! You are that execrable abbe de Ganges whose very name makes one +shudder? And to you, to a man thus infamous, we have entrusted the +education of our only son? Oh, I hope, for all our sakes, monsieur, that +you are speaking falsely; for if you were speaking the truth I think I +should have you arrested this very instant and taken back to France to +undergo your punishment. The best thing you can do, if what you have +said to me is true, is instantly to leave not only the castle, but the +town and the principality; it will be torment enough for the rest of my +life whenever I think that I have spent seven years under the same roof +with you." + +The abbe would have replied; but the countess raised her voice so much, +that the young prince, who had been won over to his tutor's interests +and who was listening at his mother's door, judged that his protege's +business was taking an unfavourable turn; and went in to try and put +things right. He found his mother so much alarmed that she drew him to +her by an instinctive movement, as though to put herself under his +protection, and beg and pray as he might; he could only obtain +permission for his tutor to go away undisturbed to any country of the +world that he might prefer, but with an express prohibition of ever +again entering the presence of the Count or the Countess of Lippe. + +The abbe de Ganges withdrew to Amsterdam, where he became a teacher of +languages, and where his lady-love soon after came to him and married +him: his pupil, whom his parents could not induce, even when they told +him the real name of the false Lamartelliere, to share their horror of +him, gave him assistance as long as he needed it; and this state of +things continued until upon his wife attaining her majority he entered +into possession of some property that belonged to her. His regular +conduct and his learning, which had been rendered more solid by long and +serious study, caused him to be admitted into the Protestant consistory; +there, after an exemplary life, he died, and none but God ever knew +whether it was one of hypocrisy or of penitence. + +As for the Marquis de Ganges, who had been sentenced, as we have seen, +to banishment and the confiscation of his property, he was conducted to +the frontier of Savoy and there set at liberty. After having spent two +or three years abroad, so that the terrible catastrophe in which he had +been concerned should have time to be hushed up, he came back to France, +and as nobody--Madame de Rossan being now dead--was interested in +prosecuting him, he returned to his castle at Ganges, and remained +there, pretty well hidden. M. de Baville, indeed, the Lieutenant of +Languedoc, learned that the marquis had broken from his exile; but he +was told, at the same time, that the marquis, as a zealous Catholic, was +forcing his vassals to attend mass, whatever their religion might be: +this was the period in which persons of the Reformed Church were being +persecuted, and the zeal of the marquis appeared to M. de Baville to +compensate and more than compensate for the peccadillo of which he had +been accused; consequently, instead of prosecuting him, he entered into +secret communication with him, reassuring him about his stay in France, +and urging on his religious zeal; and in this manner twelve years passed +by. + +During this time the marquise's young son, whom we saw at his mother's +deathbed, had reached the age of twenty, and being rich in his father's +possessions--which his uncle had restored to him--and also by his +mother's inheritance, which he had shared with his sister, had married a +girl of good family, named Mademoiselle de Moissac, who was both rich +and beautiful. Being called to serve in the royal army, the count +brought his young wife to the castle of Ganges, and, having fervently +commended her to his father, left her in his charge. + +The Marquis de Ganges was forty-two veers old, and scarcely seemed +thirty; he was one of the handsomest men living; he fell in love with +his daughter-in-law and hoped to win her love, and in order to promote +this design, his first care was to separate from her, under the excuse +of religion, a maid who had been with her from childhood and to whom she +was greatly attached. + +This measure, the cause of which the young marquise did not know, +distressed her extremely. It was much against her will that she had come +to live at all in this old castle of Ganges, which had so recently been +the scene of the terrible story that we have just told. She inhabited +the suite of rooms in which the murder had been committed; her +bedchamber was the same which had belonged to the late marquise; her bed +was the same; the window by which she had fled was before her eyes; and +everything, down to the smallest article of furniture, recalled to her +the details of that savage tragedy. But even worse was her case when she +found it no longer possible to doubt her father-in-law's intentions; +when she saw herself beloved by one whose very name had again and again +made her childhood turn pale with terror, and when she was left alone at +all hours of the day in the sole company of the man whom public rumour +still pursued as a murderer. Perhaps in any other place the poor lonely +girl might have found some strength in trusting herself to God; but +there, where God had suffered one of the fairest and purest creatures +that ever existed to perish by so cruel a death, she dared not appeal to +Him, for He seemed to have turned away from this family. + +She waited, therefore, in growing terror; spending her days, as much as +she could, with the women of rank who lived in the little town of +Ganges, and some of whom, eye-witnesses of her mother-in-law's murder, +increased her terrors by the accounts which they gave of it, and which +she, with the despairing obstinacy of fear, asked to hear again and +again. As to her nights, she spent the greater part of them on her +knees, and fully dressed, trembling at the smallest sound; only +breathing freely as daylight came back, and then venturing to seek her +bed for a few hours' rest. + +At last the marquis's attempts became so direct and so pressing, that +the poor young woman resolved to escape at all costs from his hands. Her +first idea was to write to her father, explain to him her position and +ask help; but her father had not long been a Catholic, and had suffered +much on behalf of the Reformed religion, and on these accounts it was +clear that her letter would be opened by the marquis on pretext of +religion, and thus that step, instead of saving, might destroy her. She +had thus but one resource: her husband had always been a Catholic; her +husband was a captain of dragoons, faithful in the service of the king +and faithful in the service of God; there could be no excuse for opening +a letter to him; she resolved to address herself to him, explained the +position in which she found herself, got the address written by another +hand, and sent the letter to Montpellier, where it was posted. + +The young marquis was at Metz when he received his wife's missive. At +that instant all his childish memories awoke; he beheld himself at his +dying mother's bedside, vowing never to forget her and to pray daily for +her. The image presented itself of this wife whom he adored, in the same +room, exposed to the same violence, destined perhaps to the same fate; +all this was enough to lead him to take positive action: he flung +himself into a post-chaise, reached Versailles, begged an audience of +the king, cast himself, with his wife's letter in his hand, at the feet +of Louis XIV, and besought him to compel his father to return into +exile, where he swore upon has honour that he would send him everything +he could need in order to live properly. + +The king was not aware that the Marquis do Ganges had disobeyed the +sentence of banishment, and the manner in which he learned it was not +such as to make him pardon the contradiction of his laws. In consequence +he immediately ordered that if the Marquis de Ganges were found in +France he should be proceeded against with the utmost rigour. + +Happily for the marquis, the Comte de Ganges, the only one of his +brothers who had remained in France, and indeed in favour, learned the +king's decision in time. He took post from Versailles, and making the +greatest haste, went to warn him of the danger that was threatening; +both together immediately left Ganges, and withdrew to Avignon. The +district of Venaissin, still belonging at that time to the pope and +being governed by a vice-legate, was considered as foreign territory. +There he found his daughter, Madame d'Urban, who did all she could to +induce him to stay with her; but to do so would have been to flout Louis +XIV's orders too publicly, and the marquis was afraid to remain so much +in evidence lest evil should befall him; he accordingly retired to the +little village of l'Isle, built in a charming spot near the fountain of +Vaucluse; there he was lost sight of; none ever heard him spoken of +again, and when I myself travelled in the south of France in 1835, I +sought in vain any trace of the obscure and forgotten death which closed +so turbulent and stormy an existence. + +As, in speaking of the last adventures of the Marquis de Ganges, we have +mentioned the name of Madame d'Urban, his daughter, we cannot exempt +ourselves from following her amid the strange events of her life, +scandalous though they may be; such, indeed, was the fate of this +family, that it was to occupy the attention of France through well-nigh +a century, either by its crimes or by its freaks. + +On the death of the marquise, her daughter, who was barely six years +old, had remained in the charge of the dowager Marquise de Ganges, who, +when she had attained her twelfth year, presented to her as her husband +the Marquis de Perrant, formerly a lover of the grandmother herself. The +marquis was seventy years of age, having been born in the reign of Henry +IV; he had seen the court of Louis XIII and that of Louis XIV's youth, +and he had remained one of its most elegant and favoured nobles; he had +the manners of those two periods, the politest that the world has known, +so that the young girl, not knowing as yet the meaning of marriage and +having seen no other man, yielded without repugnance, and thought +herself happy in becoming the Marquise de Perrant. + +The marquis, who was very rich, had quarrelled With his younger brother, +and regarded him with such hatred that he was marrying only to deprive +his brother of the inheritance that would rightfully accrue to him, +should the elder die childless. Unfortunately, the marquis soon +perceived that the step which he had taken, however efficacious in the +case of another man, was likely to be fruitless in his own. He did not, +however, despair, and waited two or three years, hoping every day that +Heaven would work a miracle in his favour; but as every day diminished +the chances of this miracle, and his hatred for his brother grew with +the impossibility of taking revenge upon him, he adopted a strange and +altogether antique scheme, and determined, like the ancient Spartans, to +obtain by the help of another what Heaven refused to himself. + +The marquis did not need to seek long for the man who should give him +his revenge: he had in his house a young page, some seventeen or +eighteen years old, the son of a friend of his, who, dying without +fortune, had on his deathbed particularly commended the lad to the +marquis. This young man, a year older than his mistress, could not be +continually about her without falling passionately in love with her; and +however much he might endeavour to hide his love, the poor youth was as +yet too little practised in dissimulation to succeed iii concealing it +from the eyes of the marquis, who, after having at first observed its +growth with uneasiness, began on the contrary to rejoice in it, from the +moment when he had decided upon the scheme that we have just mentioned. + +The marquis was slow to decide but prompt to execute. Having taken his +resolution, he summoned his page, and, after having made him promise +inviolable secrecy, and having undertaken, on that condition, to prove +his gratitude by buying him a regiment, explained what was expected of +him. The poor youth, to whom nothing could have been more unexpected +than such a communication, took it at first for a trick by which the +marquis meant to make him own his love, and was ready to throw himself +at his feet and declare everything; but the marquis seeing his +confusion, and easily guessing its cause, reassured him completely by +swearing that he authorised him to take any steps in order to attain the +end that the marquis had in view. As in his inmost heart the aim of the +young man was the same, the bargain was soon struck: the page bound +himself by the most terrible oaths to keep the secret; and the marquis, +in order to supply whatever assistance was in his power, gave him money +to spend, believing that there was no woman, however virtuous, who could +resist the combination of youth, beauty, and fortune: unhappily for the +marquis, such a woman, whom he thought impossible, did exist, and was +his wife. + +The page was so anxious to obey his master, that from that very day his +mistress remarked the alteration that arose from the permission given +him--his prompt obedience to her orders and his speed in executing them, +in order to return a few moments the sooner to her presence. She was +grateful to him, and in the simplicity of her heart she thanked him. Two +days later the page appeared before her splendidly dressed; she observed +and remarked upon his improved appearance, and amused herself in conning +over all the parts of his dress, as she might have done with a new doll. +All this familiarity doubled the poor young man's passion, but he stood +before his mistress, nevertheless, abashed and trembling, like Cherubino +before his fair godmother. Every evening the marquis inquired into his +progress, and every evening the page confessed that he was no farther +advanced than the day before; then the marquis scolded, threatened to +take away his fine clothes, to withdraw his own promises, and finally to +address himself to some other person. At this last threat the youth +would again call up his courage, and promise to be bolder to-morrow; and +on the morrow would spend the day in making a thousand compliments to +his mistress's eyes, which she, in her innocence, did not understand. At +last, one day, Madame de Perrant asked him what made him look at her +thus, and he ventured to confess his love; but then Madame de Perrant, +changing her whole demeanour, assumed a face of sternness and bade him +go out of her room. + +The poor lover obeyed, and ran, in despair, to confide his grief to the +husband, who appeared sincerely to share it, but consoled him by saying +that he had no doubt chosen his moment badly; that all women, even the +least severe, had inauspicious hours in which they would not yield to +attack, and that he must let a few days pass, which he must employ in +making his peace, and then must take advantage of a better opportunity, +and not allow himself to be rebuffed by a few refusals; and to these +words the marquis added a purse of gold, in order that the page might, +if necessary, win over the marquise's waiting-woman. + +Guided thus by the older experience of the husband, the page began to +appear very much ashamed and very penitent; but for a day or two the +marquise, in spite of his apparent humility, kept him at a distance: at +last, reflecting no doubt, with the assistance of her mirror and of her +maid, that the crime was not absolutely unpardonable, and after having +reprimanded the culprit at some length, while he stood listening with +eyes cast down, she gave a him her hand, forgave him, and admitted him +to her companionship as before. + +Things went on in this way for a week. The page no longer raised his +eyes and did not venture to open his mouth, and the marquise was +beginning to regret the time in which he used to look and to speak, +when, one fine day while she was at her toilet, at which she had allowed +him to be present, he seized a moment when the maid had left her alone, +to cast himself at her feet and tell her that he had vainly tried to +stifle his love, and that, even although he were to die under the weight +of her anger, he must tell her that this love was immense, eternal, +stronger than his life. The marquise upon this wished to send him away, +as on the former occasion, but instead of obeying her, the page, better +instructed, took her in his arms. The marquise called, screamed, broke +her bell-rope; the waiting-maid, who had been bought over, according to +the marquis's advice, had kept the other women out of the way, and was +careful not to come herself. Then the marquise, resisting force by +force, freed herself from the page's arms, rushed to her husband's room, +and there, bare-necked, with floating hair, and looking lovelier than +ever, flung herself into his arms and begged his protection against the +insolent fellow who had just insulted her. But what was the amazement of +the marquise, when, instead of the anger which she expected to see break +forth, the marquis answered coldly that what she was saying was +incredible, that he had always found the young man very well behaved, +and that, no doubt, having taken up some frivolous ground of resentment +against him, she was employing this means to get rid of him; but, he +added, whatever might be his love for her, and his desire to do +everything that was agreeable to her, he begged her not to require this +of him, the young man being his friend's son, and consequently his own +adopted child. It was now the marquise who, in her turn, retired +abashed, not knowing what to make of such a reply, and fully resolving, +since her husband's protection failed her, to keep herself well guarded +by her own severity. + +Indeed, from that moment the marquise behaved to the poor youth with so +much prudery, that, loving her as he did, sincerely, he would have died +of grief, if he had not had the marquis at hand to encourage and +strengthen him. Nevertheless, the latter himself began to despair, and +to be more troubled by the virtue of his wife than another man might +have been by the levity of his. Finally, he resolved, seeing that +matters remained at the same point and that the marquise did not relax +in the smallest degree, to take extreme measures. He hid his page in a +closet of his wife's bedchamber, and, rising during her first sleep, +left empty his own place beside her, went out softly, double-locked the +door, and listened attentively to hear what would happen. + +He had not been listening thus for ten minutes when he heard a great +noise in the room, and the page trying in vain to appease it. The +marquis hoped that he might succeed, but the noise increasing, showed +him that he was again to be disappointed; soon came cries for help, for +the marquise could not ring, the bell-ropes having been lifted out of +her reach, and no one answering her cries, he heard her spring from her +high bed, run to the door, and finding it locked rush to the window, +which she tried to open: the scene had come to its climax. + +The marquis decided to go in, lest some tragedy should happen, or lest +his wife's screams should reach some belated passer-by, who next day +would make him the talk of the town. Scarcely did the marquise behold +him when she threw herself into his arms, and pointing to the page, +said:-- + +"Well, monsieur, will you still hesitate to free me from this insolent +wretch?" + +"Yes, madame," replied the marquis; "for this insolent wretch has been +acting for the last three months not only with my sanction but even by +my orders." + +The marquise remained stupefied. Then the marquis, without sending away +the page, gave his wife an explanation of all that had passed, and +besought her to yield to his desire of obtaining a successor, whom he +would regard as his own child, so long as it was hers; but young though +she was, the marquise answered with a dignity unusual at her age, that +his power over her had the limits that were set to it by law, and not +those that it might please him to set in their place, and that however +much she might wish to do what might be his pleasure, she would yet +never obey him at the expense of her soul and her honour. + +So positive an answer, while it filled her husband with despair, proved +to him that he must renounce the hope of obtaining an heir; but since +the page was not to blame for this, he fulfilled the promise that he had +made, bought him a regiment, and resigned himself to having the most +virtuous wife in France. His repentance was not, however, of long +duration; he died at the end of three months, after having confided to +his friend, the Marquis d'Urban, the cause of his sorrows. + +The Marquis d'Urban had a son of marriageable age; he thought that he +could find nothing more suitable for him than a wife whose virtue had +come triumphantly through such a trial: he let her time of mourning +pass, and then presented the young Marquis d'Urban, who succeeded in +making his attentions acceptable to the beautiful widow, and soon became +her husband. More fortunate than his predecessor, the Marquis d'Urban +had three heirs to oppose to his collaterals, when, some two years and a +half later, the Chevalier de Bouillon arrived at the capital of the +county of Venaissin. + +The Chevalier de Bouillon was a typical rake of the period, handsome, +young, and well-grown; the nephew of a cardinal who was influential at +Rome, and proud of belonging to a house which had privileges of +suzerainty. The chevalier, in his indiscreet fatuity, spared no woman; +and his conduct had given some scandal in the circle of Madame de +Maintenon, who was rising into power. One of his friends, having +witnessed the displeasure exhibited towards him by Louis XIV, who was +beginning to become devout, thought to do him a service by warning him +that the king "gardait une dent" against him. [ Translator's +note.--"Garder une dent," that is, to keep up a grudge, means literally +"to keep a tooth" against him.] + +"Pardieu!" replied the chevalier, "I am indeed unlucky when the only +tooth left to him remains to bite me." + +This pun had been repeated, and had reached Louis XIV, so that the +chevalier presently heard, directly enough this time, that the king +desired him to travel for some years. He knew the danger of +neglecting--such intimations, and since he thought the country after all +preferable to the Bastille, he left Paris, and arrived at Avignon, +surrounded by the halo of interest that naturally attends a handsome +young persecuted nobleman. + +The virtue of Madame d'Urban was as much cried up at Avignon as the +ill-behaviour of the chevalier had been reprobated in Paris. A +reputation equal to his own, but so opposite in kind, could not fail to +be very offensive to him, therefore he determined immediately upon +arriving to play one against the other. + +Nothing was easier than the attempt. M. d'Urban, sure of his wife's +virtue, allowed her entire liberty; the chevalier saw her wherever he +chose to see her, and every time he saw her found means to express a +growing passion. Whether because the hour had come for Madame d'Urban, +or whether because she was dazzled by the splendour of the chevalier's +belonging to a princely house, her virtue, hitherto so fierce, melted +like snow in the May sunshine; and the chevalier, luckier than the poor +page, took the husband's place without any attempt on Madame d'Urban's +part to cry for help. + +As all the chevalier desired was public triumph, he took care to make +the whole town acquainted at once with his success; then, as some +infidels of the neighbourhood still doubted, the chevalier ordered one +of his servants to wait for him at the marquise's door with a lantern +and a bell. At one in the morning, the chevalier came out, and the +servant walked before him, ringing the bell. At this unaccustomed sound, +a great number of townspeople, who had been quietly asleep, awoke, and, +curious to see what was happening, opened their windows. They beheld the +chevalier, walking gravely behind his servant, who continued to light +his master's way and to ring along the course of the street that lay +between Madame d'Urban's house and his own. As he had made no mystery to +anyone of his love affair, nobody took the trouble even to ask him +whence he came. However, as there might possibly be persons still +unconvinced, he repeated this same jest, for his own satisfaction, three +nights running; so that by the morning of the fourth day nobody had any +doubts left. + +As generally happens in such cases, M. d'Urban did not know a word of +what was going on until the moment when his friends warned him that he +was the talk of the town. Then he forbade his wife to see her lover +again. The prohibition produced the usual results: on the morrow, as, +soon as M. d'Urban had gone out, the marquise sent for the chevalier to +inform him of the catastrophe in which they were both involved; but she +found him far better prepared than herself for such blows, and he tried +to prove to her, by reproaches for her imprudent conduct, that all this +was her fault; so that at last the poor woman, convinced that it was she +who had brought these woes upon them, burst into tears. Meanwhile, M. +d'Urban, who, being jealous for the first time, was the more seriously +so, having learned that the chevalier was with his wife, shut the doors, +and posted himself in the ante-chamber with his servants, in order to +seize him as he came out. But the chevalier, who had ceased to trouble +himself about Madame d'Urban's tears, heard all the preparations, and, +suspecting some ambush, opened the window, and, although it was one +o'clock in the afternoon and the place was full of people, jumped out of +the window into the street, and did not hurt himself at all, though the +height was twenty feet, but walked quietly home at a moderate pace. + +The same evening, the chevalier, intending to relate his new adventure +in all its details, invited some of his friends to sup with him at the +pastrycook Lecoq's. This man, who was a brother of the famous Lecoq of +the rue Montorgueil, was the cleverest eating-house-keeper in Avignon; +his own unusual corpulence commended his cookery, and, when he stood at +the door, constituted an advertisement for his restaurant. The good man, +knowing with what delicate appetites he had to deal, did his very best +that evening, and that nothing might be wanting, waited upon his guests +himself. They spent the night drinking, and towards morning the +chevalier and his companions, being then drunk, espied their host +standing respectfully at the door, his face wreathed in smiles. The +chevalier called him nearer, poured him out a glass of wine and made him +drink with them; then, as the poor wretch, confused at such an honour, +was thanking him with many bows, he said:-- + +"Pardieu, you are too fat for Lecoq, and I must make you a capon." + +This strange proposition was received as men would receive it who were +drunk and accustomed by their position to impunity. The unfortunate +pastry-cook was seized, bound down upon the table, and died under their +treatment. The vice-legate being informed of the murder by one of the +waiters, who had run in on hearing his master's shrieks, and had found +him, covered with blood, in the hands of his butchers, was at first +inclined to arrest the chevalier and bring him conspicuously to +punishment. But he was restrained by his regard for the Cardinal de +Bouillon, the chevalier's uncle, and contented himself with warning the +culprit that unless he left the town instantly he would be put into the +hands of the authorities. The chevalier, who was beginning to have had +enough of Avignon, did not wait to be told twice, ordered the wheels of +his chaise to be greased and horses to be brought. In the interval +before they were ready the fancy took him to go and see Madame d'Urban +again. + +As the house of the marquise was the very last at which, after the +manner of his leaving it the day before, the chevalier was expected at +such an hour, he got in with the greatest ease, and, meeting a +lady's-maid, who was in his interests, was taken to the room where the +marquise was. She, who had not reckoned upon seeing the chevalier again, +received him with all the raptures of which a woman in love is capable, +especially when her love is a forbidden one. But the chevalier soon put +an end to them by announcing that his visit was a visit of farewell, and +by telling her the reason that obliged him to leave her. The marquise +was like the woman who pitied the fatigue of the poor horses that tore +Damien limb from limb; all her commiseration was for the chevalier, who +on account of such a trifle was being forced to leave Avignon. At last +the farewell had to be uttered, and as the chevalier, not knowing what +to say at the fatal moment, complained that he had no memento of her, +the marquise took down the frame that contained a portrait of herself +corresponding with one of her husband, and tearing out the canvas, +rolled, it up and gave it to the chevalier. The latter, so far from +being touched by this token of love, laid it down, as he went away, upon +a piece of furniture, where the marquise found it half an hour later. +She imagined that his mind being so full of the original, he had +forgotten the copy, and representing to herself the sorrow which the +discovery of this forgetfulness would cause him, she sent for a servant, +gave him the picture, and ordered him to take horse and ride after the +chevalier's chaise. The man took a post-horse, and, making great speed, +perceived the fugitive in the distance just as the latter had finished +changing horses. He made violent signs and shouted loudly, in order to +stop the postillion. But the postillion having told his fare that he saw +a man coming on at full speed, the chevalier supposed himself to be +pursued, and bade him go on as fast as possible. This order was so well +obeyed that the unfortunate servant only came up with the chaise a +league and a half farther on; having stopped the postillion, he got off +his horse, and very respectfully presented to the chevalier the picture +which he had been bidden to bring him. But the chevalier, having +recovered from his first alarm, bade him go about his business, and take +back the portrait--which was of no use to him--to the sender. The +servant, however, like a faithful messenger, declared that his orders +were positive, and that he should not dare go back to Madame d'Urban +without fulfilling them. The chevalier, seeing that he could not conquer +the man's determination, sent his postillion to a farrier, whose house +lay on the road, for a hammer and four nails, and with his own hands +nailed the portrait to the back of his chaise; then he stepped in again, +bade the postillion whip up his horses, and drove away, leaving Madame +d'Urban's messenger greatly astonished at the manner in which the +chevalier had used his mistress's portrait. + +At the next stage, the postillion, who was going back, asked for his +money, and the chevalier answered that he had none. The postillion +persisted; then the chevalier got out of his chaise, unfastened Madame +d'Urban's portrait, and told him that he need only put it up for sale in +Avignon and declare how it had come into his possession, in order to +receive twenty times the price of his stage; the postillion, seeing that +nothing else was to be got out of the chevalier, accepted the pledge, +and, following his instructions precisely, exhibited it next morning at +the door of a dealer in the town, together with an exact statement of +the story. The picture was bought back the same day for twenty-five +Louis. + +As may be supposed, the adventure was much talked of throughout the +town. Next day, Madame d'Urban disappeared, no one knew whither, at the +very time when the relatives of the marquis were met together and had +decided to ask the king for a 'lettre-de-cachet'. One of the gentlemen +present was entrusted with the duty of taking the necessary steps; but +whether because he was not active enough, or whether because he was in +Madame d'Urban's interests, nothing further was heard in Avignon of any +consequences ensuing from such steps. In the meantime, Madame d'Urban, +who had gone to the house of an aunt, opened negotiations with her +husband that were entirely successful, and a month after this adventure +she returned triumphantly to the conjugal roof. + +Two hundred pistoles, given by the Cardinal de Bouillon, pacified the +family of the unfortunate pastry-cook, who at first had given notice of +the affair to the police, but who soon afterwards withdrew their +complaint, and gave out that they had taken action too hastily on the +strength of a story told in joke, and that further inquiries showed +their relative to have died of an apoplectic stroke. + +Thanks--to this declaration, which exculpated the Chevalier de Bouillon +in the eyes of the king, he was allowed, after travelling for two years +in Italy and in Germany, to return undisturbed to France. + +Thus ends, not the family of Ganges, but the commotion which the family +made in the world. From time to time, indeed, the playwright or the +novelist calls up the pale and bloodstained figure of the marquise to +appear either on the stage or in a book; but the evocation almost always +ceases at her, and many persons who have written about the mother do not +even know what became of the children. Our intention has been to fill +this gap; that is why we have tried to tell what our predecessors left +out, and try offer to our readers what the stage--and often the actual +world--offers; comedy after melodrama. + + + + + ---- + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CELEBRATED CRIMES, COMPLETE, BY +ALEXANDRE DUMAS, PERE *** + + + + +A Word from Project Gutenberg + + +We will update this book if we find any errors. + +This book can be found under: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2760 + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one +owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and +you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission +and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the +General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and +distributing Project Gutenberg(tm) electronic works to protect the +Project Gutenberg(tm) concept and trademark. 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