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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3948.txt b/3948.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..00b1939 --- /dev/null +++ b/3948.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2406 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Cinq Mars, by Alfred de Vigny, v2 +#35 in our series The French Immortals Crowned by the French Academy +#2 in our series by Octave Feuillet + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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Some irrepressible cries +had been uttered, but simultaneously, so that no man could accuse his +neighbor. But when the people were left to themselves, there was an +explosion of clamorous sentences. + +There was at this period enough of primitive simplicity among the lower +classes for them to be persuaded by the mysterious tales of the political +agents who were deluding them; so that a large portion of the throng in +the hall of trial, not venturing to change their judgment, though upon +the manifest evidence just given them, awaited in painful suspense the +return of the judges, interchanging with an air of mystery and inane +importance the usual remarks prompted by imbecility on such occasions. + +"One does not know what to think, Monsieur?" + +"Truly, Madame, most extraordinary things have happened." + +"We live in strange times!" + +"I suspected this; but, i' faith, it is not wise to say what one thinks." + +"We shall see what we shall see," and so on--the unmeaning chatter of the +crowd, which merely serves to show that it is at the command of the first +who chooses to sway it. Stronger words were heard from the group in +black. + +"What! shall we let them do as they please, in this manner? What! dare +to burn our letter to the King!" + +"If the King knew it!" + +"The barbarian impostors! how skilfully is their plot contrived! What! +shall murder be committed under our very eyes? Shall we be afraid of +these archers?" + +"No, no, no!" rang out in trumpet-like tones. + +Attention was turned toward the young advocate, who, standing on a +branch, began tearing to pieces a roll of paper; then he cried: + +"Yes, I tear and scatter to the winds the defence I had prepared for the +accused. They have suppressed discussion; I am not allowed to speak for +him. I can only speak to you, people; I rejoice that I can do so. You +heard these infamous judges. Which of them can hear the truth? Which of +them is worthy to listen to an honest man? Which of them will dare to +meet his gaze? But what do I say? They all know the truth. They carry +it in their guilty breasts; it stings their hearts like a serpent. They +tremble in their lair, where doubtless they are devouring their victim; +they tremble because they have heard the cries of three deluded women. +What was I about to do? I was about to speak in behalf of Urbain +Grandier! But what eloquence could equal that of those unfortunates? +What words could better have shown you his innocence? Heaven has taken +up arms for him in bringing them to repentance and to devotion; Heaven +will finish its work--" + +"Vade retro, Satanas," was heard through a high window in the hall. + +Fournier stopped for a moment, then said: + +"You hear these voices parodying the divine language? If I mistake not, +these instruments of an infernal power are, by this song, preparing some +new spell." + +"But," cried those who surrounded him, "what shall we do? What have they +done with him?" + +"Remain here; be immovable, be silent," replied the young advocate. +"The inertia of a people is all-powerful; that is its true wisdom, that +its strength. Observe them closely, and in silence; and you will make +them tremble." + +"They surely will not dare to appear here again," said the Comte du Lude. + +"I should like to look once more at the tall scoundrel in red," said +Grand-Ferre, who had lost nothing of what had occurred. + +"And that good gentleman, the Cure," murmured old Father Guillaume +Leroux, looking at all his indignant parishioners, who were talking +together in a low tone, measuring and counting the archers, ridiculing +their dress, and beginning to point them out to the observation of the +other spectators. + +Cinq-Mars, still leaning against the pillar behind which he had first +placed himself, still wrapped in his black cloak, eagerly watched all +that passed, lost not a word of what was said, and filled his heart with +hate and bitterness. Violent desires for slaughter and revenge, a vague +desire to strike, took possession of him, despite himself; this is the +first impression which evil produces on the soul of a young man. Later, +sadness takes the place of fury, then indifference and scorn, later +still, a calculating admiration for great villains who have been +successful; but this is only when, of the two elements which constitute +man, earth triumphs over spirit. + +Meanwhile, on the right of the hall near the judges' platform, a group of +women were watching attentively a child about eight years old, who had +taken it into his head to climb up to a cornice by the aid of his sister +Martine, whom we have seen the subject of jest with the young soldier, +Grand-Ferre. The child, having nothing to look at after the court had +left the hall, had climbed to a small window which admitted a faint +light, and which he imagined to contain a swallow's nest or some other +treasure for a boy; but after he was well established on the cornice, his +hands grasping the bars of an old shrine of Jerome, he wished himself +anywhere else, and cried out: + +"Oh, sister, sister, lend me your hand to get down!" + +"What do you see there?" asked Martine. + +"Oh, I dare not tell; but I want to get down," and he began to cry. + +"Stay there, my child; stay there!" said all the women. "Don't be +afraid; tell us all that you see." + +"Well, then, they've put the Cure between two great boards that squeeze +his legs, and there are cords round the boards." + +"Ah! that is the rack," said one of the townsmen. "Look again, my +little friend, what do you see now?" + +The child, more confident, looked again through the window, and then, +withdrawing his head, said: + +"I can not see the Cure now, because all the judges stand round him, and +are looking at him, and their great robes prevent me from seeing. There +are also some Capuchins, stooping down to whisper to him." + +Curiosity attracted more people to the boy's perch; every one was silent, +waiting anxiously to catch his words, as if their lives depended on them. + +"I see," he went on, "the executioner driving four little pieces of wood +between the cords, after the Capuchins have blessed the hammer and nails. +Ah, heavens! Sister, how enraged they seem with him, because he will not +speak. Mother! mother! give me your hand, I want to come down!" + +Instead of his mother, the child, upon turning round, saw only men's +faces, looking up at him with a mournful eagerness, and signing him to go +on. He dared not descend, and looked again through the window, +trembling. + +"Oh! I see Father Lactantius and Father Barre themselves forcing in more +pieces of wood, which squeeze his legs. Oh, how pale he is! he seems +praying. There, his head falls back, as if he were dying! Oh, take me +away!" + +And he fell into the arms of the young Advocate, of M. du Lude, and of +Cinq-Mars, who had come to support him. + +"Deus stetit in synagoga deorum: in medio autem Deus dijudicat--" chanted +strong, nasal voices, issuing from the small window, which continued in +full chorus one of the psalms, interrupted by blows of the hammer--an +infernal deed beating time to celestial songs. One might have supposed +himself near a smithy, except that the blows were dull, and manifested to +the ear that the anvil was a man's body. + +"Silence!" said Fournier, "He speaks. The chanting and the blows stop." + +A weak voice within said, with difficulty, "Oh, my fathers, mitigate the +rigor of your torments, for you will reduce my soul to despair, and I +might seek to destroy myself!" + +At this the fury of the people burst forth like an explosion, echoing +along the vaulted roofs; the men sprang fiercely upon the platform, +thrust aside the surprised and hesitating archers; the unarmed crowd +drove them back, pressed them, almost suffocated them against the walls, +and held them fast, then dashed against the doors which led to the +torture chamber, and, making them shake beneath their blows, threatened +to drive them in; imprecations resounded from a thousand menacing voices +and terrified the judges within. + +"They are gone; they have taken him away!" cried a man who had climbed +to the little window. + +The multitude at once stopped short, and changing the direction of their +steps, fled from this detestable place and spread rapidly through the +streets, where an extraordinary confusion prevailed. + +Night had come on during the long sitting, and the rain was pouring in +torrents. The darkness was terrifying. The cries of women slipping on +the pavement or driven back by the horses of the guards; the shouts of +the furious men; the ceaseless tolling of the bells which had been +keeping time with the strokes of the question; + + [Torture ('Question') was regulated in scrupulous detail by Holy + Mother The Church: The ordinary question was regulated for minor + infractions and used for interrogating women and children. For more + serious crimes the suspect (and sometimes the witnesses) were put to + the extraordinary question by the officiating priests. D.W.] + +the roll of distant thunder--all combined to increase the disorder. If +the ear was astonished, the eyes were no less so. A few dismal torches +lighted up the corners of the streets; their flickering gleams showed +soldiers, armed and mounted, dashing along, regardless of the crowd, to +assemble in the Place de St. Pierre; tiles were sometimes thrown at them +on their way, but, missing the distant culprit, fell upon some +unoffending neighbor. The confusion was bewildering, and became still +more so, when, hurrying through all the streets toward the Place de St. +Pierre, the people found it barricaded on all sides, and filled with +mounted guards and archers. Carts, fastened to the posts at each corner, +closed each entrance, and sentinels, armed with arquebuses, were +stationed close to the carts. In the centre of the Place rose a pile +composed of enormous beams placed crosswise upon one another, so as to +form a perfect square; these were covered with a whiter and lighter wood; +an enormous stake arose from the centre of the scaffold. A man clothed +in red and holding a lowered torch stood near this sort of mast, which +was visible from a long distance. A huge chafing-dish, covered on +account of the rain, was at his feet. + +At this spectacle, terror inspired everywhere a profound silence; for an +instant nothing was heard but the sound of the rain, which fell in +floods, and of the thunder, which came nearer and nearer. + +Meanwhile, Cinq-Mars, accompanied by MM. du Lude and Fournier and all the +more important personages of the town, had sought refuge from the storm +under the peristyle of the church of Ste.-Croix, raised upon twenty stone +steps. The pile was in front, and from this height they could see the +whole of the square. The centre was entirely clear, large streams of +water alone traversed it; but all the windows of the houses were +gradually lighted up, and showed the heads of the men and women who +thronged them. + +The young D'Effiat sorrowfully contemplated this menacing preparation. +Brought up in sentiments of honor, and far removed from the black +thoughts which hatred and ambition arouse in the heart of man, he could +not conceive that such wrong could be done without some powerful and +secret motive. The audacity of such a condemnation seemed to him so +enormous that its very cruelty began to justify it in his eyes; a secret +horror crept into his soul, the same that silenced the people. He almost +forgot the interest with which the unhappy Urbain had inspired him, in +thinking whether it were not possible that some secret correspondence +with the infernal powers had justly provoked such excessive severity; +and the public revelations of the nuns, and the statement of his +respected tutor, faded from his memory, so powerful is success, even in +the eyes of superior men! so strongly does force impose upon men, +despite the voice of conscience! + +The young traveller was asking himself whether it were not probable that +the torture had forced some monstrous confession from the accused, when +the obscurity which surrounded the church suddenly ceased. Its two great +doors were thrown open; and by the light of an infinite number of +flambeaux, appeared all the judges and ecclesiastics, surrounded by +guards. Among them was Urbain, supported, or rather carried, by six men +clothed as Black Penitents--for his limbs, bound with bandages saturated +with blood, seemed broken and incapable of supporting him. It was at +most two hours since Cinq-Mars had seen him, and yet he could hardly +recognize the face he had so closely observed at the trial. All color, +all roundness of form had disappeared from it; a livid pallor covered a +skin yellow and shining like ivory; the blood seemed to have left his +veins; all the life that remained within him shone from his dark eyes, +which appeared to have grown twice as large as before, as he looked +languidly around him; his long, chestnut hair hung loosely down his neck +and over a white shirt, which entirely covered him--or rather a sort of +robe with large sleeves, and of a yellowish tint, with an odor of sulphur +about it; a long, thick cord encircled his neck and fell upon his breast. +He looked like an apparition; but it was the apparition of a martyr. + +Urbain stopped, or, rather, was set down upon the peristyle of the +church; the Capuchin Lactantius placed a lighted torch in his right hand, +and held it there, as he said to him, with his hard inflexibility: + +"Do penance, and ask pardon of God for thy crime of magic." + +The unhappy man raised his voice with great difficulty, and with his eyes +to heaven said: + +"In the name of the living God, I cite thee, Laubardemont, false judge, +to appear before Him in three years. They have taken away my confessor, +and I have been fain to pour out my sins into the bosom of God Himself, +for my enemies surround me. I call that God of mercy to witness I never +have dealt in magic. I have known no mysteries but those of the Catholic +religion, apostolic and Roman, in which I die; I have sinned much against +myself, but never against God and our Lord--" + +"Cease!" cried the Capuchin, affecting to close his mouth ere he could +pronounce the name of the Saviour. "Obdurate wretch, return to the demon +who sent thee!" + +He signed to four priests, who, approaching with sprinklers in their +hands, exorcised with holy water the air the magician breathed, the earth +he touched, the wood that was to burn him. During this ceremony, the +judge-Advocate hastily read the decree, dated the 18th of August, 1639, +declaring Urbain Grandier duly attainted and convicted of the crime of +sorcery, witchcraft, and possession, in the persons of sundry Ursuline +nuns of Loudun, and others, laymen, etc. + +The reader, dazzled by a flash of lightning, stopped for an instant, +and, turning to M. de Laubardemont, asked whether, considering the awful +weather, the execution could not be deferred till the next day. + +"The decree," coldly answered Laubardemont, "commands execution within +twenty-four hours. Fear not the incredulous people; they will soon be +convinced." + +All the most important persons of the town and many strangers were under +the peristyle, and now advanced, Cinq-Mars among them. + +"The magician never has been able to pronounce the name of the Saviour, +and repels his image." + +Lactantius at this moment issued from the midst of the Penitents, with an +enormous iron crucifix in his hand, which he seemed to hold with +precaution and respect; he extended it to the lips of the sufferer, who +indeed threw back his head, and collecting all his strength, made a +gesture with his arm, which threw the cross from the hands of the +Capuchin. + +"You see," cried the latter, "he has thrown down the cross!" + +A murmur arose, the meaning of which was doubtful. + +"Profanation!" cried the priests. + +The procession moved toward the pile. + +Meanwhile, Cinq-Mars, gliding behind a pillar, had eagerly watched all +that passed; he saw with astonishment that the cross, in falling upon the +steps, which were more exposed to the rain than the platform, smoked and +made a noise like molten lead when thrown into water. While the public +attention was elsewhere engaged, he advanced and touched it lightly with +his bare hand, which was immediately scorched. Seized with indignation, +with all the fury of a true heart, he took up the cross with the folds of +his cloak, stepped up to Laubardemont, and, striking him with it on the +forehead, cried: + +"Villain, I brand thee with the mark of this red-hot iron!" + +The crowd heard these words and rushed forward. + +"Arrest this madman!" cried the unworthy magistrate. + +He was himself seized by the hands of men who cried, "Justice! justice, +in the name of the King!" + +"We are lost!" said Lactantius; "to the pile, to the pile!" + +The Penitents dragged Urbain toward the Place, while the judges and +archers reentered the church, struggling with the furious citizens; the +executioner, having no time to tie up the victim, hastened to lay him on +the wood, and to set fire to it. But the rain still fell in torrents, +and each piece of wood had no sooner caught the flame than it became +extinguished. In vain did Lactantius and the other canons themselves +seek to stir up the fire; nothing could overcome the water which fell +from heaven. + +Meanwhile, the tumult which had begun in the peristyle of the church +extended throughout the square. The cry of "Justice!" was repeated and +circulated, with the information of what had been discovered; two +barricades were forced, and despite three volleys of musketry, the +archers were gradually driven back toward the centre of the square. In +vain they spurred their horses against the crowd; it overwhelmed them +with its swelling waves. Half an hour passed in this struggle, the +guards still receding toward the pile, which they concealed as they +pressed closer upon it. + +"On! on!" cried a man; "we will deliver him; do not strike the soldiers, +but let them fall back. See, Heaven will not permit him to die! The +fire is out; now, friend, one effort more! That is well! Throw down +that horse! Forward! On!" + +The guard was broken and dispersed on all sides. The crowd rushed to the +pile, but no more light was there: all had disappeared, even the +executioner. They tore up and threw aside the beams; one of them was +still burning, and its light showed under a mass of ashes and ensanguined +mire a blackened hand, preserved from the fire by a large iron bracelet +and chain. A woman had the courage to open it; the fingers clasped a +small ivory cross and an image of St. Magdalen. + +"These are his remains," she said, weeping. + +"Say, the relics of a martyr!" exclaimed a citizen, baring his head. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE DREAM + +Meanwhile, Cinq-Mars, amid the excitement which his outbreak had +provoked, felt his left arm seized by a hand as hard as iron, which, +drawing him from the crowd to the foot of the steps, pushed him behind +the wall of the church, and he then saw the dark face of old Grandchamp, +who said to him in a sharp voice: + +"Sir, your attack upon thirty musketeers in a wood at Chaumont was +nothing, because we were near you, though you knew it not, and, moreover, +you had to do with men of honor; but here 'tis different. Your horses +and people are at the end of the street; I request you to mount and leave +the town, or to send me back to Madame la Marechale, for I am responsible +for your limbs, which you expose so freely." + +Cinq-Mars was somewhat astonished at this rough mode of having a service +done him, was not sorry to extricate himself thus from the affair, having +had time to reflect how very awkward it might be for him to be +recognized, after striking the head of the judicial authority, the agent +of the very Cardinal who was to present him to the King. He observed +also that around him was assembled a crowd of the lowest class of people, +among whom he blushed to find himself. He therefore followed his old +domestic without argument, and found the other three servants waiting for +him. Despite the rain and wind he mounted, and was soon upon the +highroad with his escort, having put his horse to a gallop to avoid +pursuit. + +He had, however, hardly left Loudun when the sandy road, furrowed by deep +ruts completely filled with water, obliged him to slacken his pace. The +rain continued to fall heavily, and his cloak was almost saturated. He +felt a thicker one thrown over his shoulders; it was his old valet, who +had approached him, and thus exhibited toward him a maternal solicitude. + +"Well, Grandchamp," said Cinq-Mars, "now that we are clear of the riot, +tell me how you came to be there when I had ordered you to remain at the +Abbe's." + +"Parbleu, Monsieur!" answered the old servant, in a grumbling tone, +"do you suppose that I should obey you any more than I did Monsieur le +Marechal? When my late master, after telling me to remain in his tent, +found me behind him in the cannon's smoke, he made no complaint, because +he had a fresh horse ready when his own was killed, and he only scolded +me for a moment in his thoughts; but, truly, during the forty years I +served him, I never saw him act as you have in the fortnight I have been +with you. Ah!" he added with a sigh, "things are going strangely; and +if we continue thus, there's no knowing what will be the end of it." + +"But knowest thou, Grandchamp, that these scoundrels had made the +crucifix red hot?--a thing at which no honest man would have been less +enraged than I." + +"Except Monsieur le Marechal, your father, who would not have done at all +what you have done, Monsieur." + +"What, then, would he have done?" + +"He would very quietly have let this cure be burned by the other cures, +and would have said to me, 'Grandchamp, see that my horses have oats, and +let no one steal them'; or, 'Grandchamp, take care that the rain does not +rust my sword or wet the priming of my pistols'; for Monsieur le Marechal +thought of everything, and never interfered in what did not concern him. +That was his great principle; and as he was, thank Heaven, alike good +soldier and good general, he was always as careful of his arms as a +recruit, and would not have stood up against thirty young gallants with a +dress rapier." + +Cinq-Mars felt the force of the worthy servitor's epigrammatic scolding, +and feared that he had followed him beyond the wood of Chaumont; but he +would not ask, lest he should have to give explanations or to tell a +falsehood or to command silence, which would at once have been taking him +into confidence on the subject. As the only alternative, he spurred his +horse and rode ahead of his old domestic; but the latter had not yet had +his say, and instead of keeping behind his master, he rode up to his left +and continued the conversation. + +"Do you suppose, Monsieur, that I should allow you to go where you +please? No, Monsieur, I am too deeply impressed with the respect I owe +to Madame la Marquise, to give her an opportunity of saying to me: +'Grandchamp, my son has been killed with a shot or with a sword; why were +you not before him?' Or, 'He has received a stab from the stiletto of an +Italian, because he went at night beneath the window of a great princess; +why did you not seize the assassin?' This would be very disagreeable to +me, Monsieur, for I never have been reproached with anything of the kind. +Once Monsieur le Marechal lent me to his nephew, Monsieur le Comte, to +make a campaign in the Netherlands, because I know Spanish. I fulfilled +the duty with honor, as I always do. When Monsieur le Comte received a +bullet in his heart, I myself brought back his horses, his mules, his +tent, and all his equipment, without so much as a pocket-handkerchief +being missed; and I can assure you that the horses were as well dressed +and harnessed when we reentered Chaumont as if Monsieur le Comte had been +about to go a-hunting. And, accordingly, I received nothing but +compliments and agreeable things from the whole family, just in the way +I like." + +"Well, well, my friend," said Henri d'Effiat, "I may some day, perhaps, +have these horses to take back; but in the mean time take this great +purse of gold, which I have well-nigh lost two or three times, and thou +shalt pay for me everywhere. The money wearies me." + +"Monsieur le Marechal did not so, Monsieur. He had been superintendent +of finances, and he counted every farthing he paid out of his own hand. +I do not think your estates would have been in such good condition, or +that you would have had so much money to count yourself, had he done +otherwise; have the goodness, therefore, to keep your purse, whose +contents, I dare swear, you do not know." + +"Faith, not I." + +Grandchamp sent forth a profound sigh at his master's disdainful +exclamation. + +"Ah, Monsieur le Marquis! Monsieur le Marquis! When I think that the +great King Henri, before my eyes, put his chamois gloves into his pocket +to keep the rain from spoiling them; when I think that Monsieur de Rosni +refused him money when he had spent too much; when I think--" + +"When thou dost think, thou art egregiously tedious, my old friend," +interrupted his master; "and thou wilt do better in telling me what that +black figure is that I think I see walking in the mire behind us." + +"It looks like some poor peasant woman who, perhaps, wants alms of us. +She can easily follow us, for we do not go at much of a pace in this +sand, wherein our horses sink up to the hams. We shall go to the Landes +perhaps some day, Monsieur, and you will see a country all the same as +this sandy road, and great, black firs all the way along. It looks like +a churchyard; this is an exact specimen of it. Look, the rain has +ceased, and we can see a little ahead; there is nothing but furze-bushes +on this great plain, without a village or a house. I don't know where we +can pass the night; but if you will take my advice, you will let us cut +some boughs and bivouac where we are. You shall see how, with a little +earth, I can make a hut as warm as a bed." + +"I would rather go on to the light I see in the horizon," said Cinq-Mars; +"for I fancy I feel rather feverish, and I am thirsty. But fall back, I +would ride alone; rejoin the others and follow." + +Grandchamp obeyed; he consoled himself by giving Germain, Louis, and +Etienne lessons in the art of reconnoitring a country by night. + +Meanwhile, his young master was overcome with fatigue. The violent +emotions of the day had profoundly affected his mind; and the long +journey on horseback, the last two days passed almost without +nourishment, owing to the hurried pressure of events, the heat of the sun +by day, the icy coldness of the night, all contributed to increase his +indisposition and to weary his delicate frame. For three hours he rode +in silence before his people, yet the light he had seen in the horizon +seemed no nearer; at last he ceased to follow it with his eyes, and his +head, feeling heavier and heavier, sank upon his breast. He gave the +reins to his tired horse, which of its own accord followed the high-road, +and, crossing his arms, allowed himself to be rocked by the monotonous +motion of his fellow-traveller, which frequently stumbled against the +large stones that strewed the road. The rain had ceased, as had the +voices of his domestics, whose horses followed in the track of their +master's. The young man abandoned himself to the bitterness of his +thoughts; he asked himself whether the bright object of his hopes would +not flee from him day by day, as that phosphoric light fled from him in +the horizon, step by step. Was it probable that the young Princess, +almost forcibly recalled to the gallant court of Anne of Austria, would +always refuse the hands, perhaps royal ones, that would be offered to +her? What chance that she would resign herself to renounce a present +throne, in order to wait till some caprice of fortune should realize +romantic hopes, or take a youth almost in the lowest rank of the army and +lift him to the elevation she spoke of, till the age of love should be +passed? How could he be certain that even the vows of Marie de Gonzaga +were sincere? + +"Alas!" he said, "perhaps she has blinded herself as to her own +sentiments; the solitude of the country had prepared her soul to receive +deep impressions. I came; she thought I was he of whom she had dreamed. +Our age and my love did the rest. But when at court, she, the companion +of the Queen, has learned to contemplate from an exalted position the +greatness to which I aspire, and which I as yet see only from a very +humble distance; when she shall suddenly find herself in actual +possession of the future she aims at, and measures with a more correct +eye the long road I have to travel; when she shall hear around her vows +like mine, pronounced by lips which could undo me with a word, with a +word destroy him whom she awaits as her husband, her lord--oh, madman +that I have been!--she will see all her folly, and will be incensed at +mine." + +Thus did doubt, the greatest misery of love, begin to torture his unhappy +heart; he felt his hot blood rush to his head and oppress it. Ever and +anon he fell forward upon the neck of his horse, and a half sleep weighed +down his eyes; the dark firs that bordered the road seemed to him +gigantic corpses travelling beside him. He saw, or thought he saw, the +same woman clothed in black, whom he had pointed out to Grandchamp, +approach so near as to touch his horse's mane, pull his cloak, and then +run off with a jeering laugh; the sand of the road seemed to him a river +running beneath him, with opposing current, back toward its source. This +strange sight dazzled his worn eyes; he closed them and fell asleep on +his horse. + +Presently, he felt himself stopped, but he was numbed with cold and could +not move. He saw peasants, lights, a house, a great room into which they +carried him, a wide bed, whose heavy curtains were closed by Grandchamp; +and he fell asleep again, stunned by the fever that whirred in his ears. + +Dreams that followed one another more rapidly than grains of sand before +the wind rushed through his brain; he could not catch them, and moved +restlessly on his bed. Urbain Grandier on the rack, his mother in tears, +his tutor armed, Bassompierre loaded with chains, passed before him, +making signs of farewell; at last, as he slept, he instinctively put his +hand to his head to stay the passing dream, which then seemed to unfold +itself before his eyes like pictures in shifting sands. + +He saw a public square crowded with a foreign people, a northern people, +who uttered cries of joy, but they were savage cries; there was a line of +guards, ferocious soldiers--these were Frenchmen. "Come with me," said +the soft voice of Marie de Gonzaga, who took his hand. "See, I wear a +diadem; here is thy throne, come with me." And she hurried him on, the +people still shouting. He went on, a long way. "Why are you sad, if +you are a queen?" he said, trembling. But she was pale, and smiled and +spoke not. She ascended, step after step, up to a throne, and seated +herself. "Mount!" said she, forcibly pulling his hand. But, at every +movement, the massive stairs crumbled beneath his feet, so that he could +not ascend. "Give thanks to love," she continued; and her hand, now more +powerful, raised him to the throne. The people still shouted. He bowed +low to kiss that helping hand, that adored hand; it was the hand of the +executioner! + +"Oh, heavens!" exclaimed Cinq-Mars, as, heaving a deep sigh, he opened +his eyes. A flickering lamp lighted the ruinous chamber of the inn; he +again closed his eyes, for he had seen, seated on his bed, a woman, a +nun, young and beautiful! He thought he was still dreaming, but she +grasped his hand firmly. He opened his burning eyes, and fixed them upon +her. + +"Is it you, Jeannede Belfiel? The rain has drenched your veil and your +black hair! Why are you here, unhappy woman?" + +"Hark! awake not my Urbain; he sleeps there in the next room. Ay, my +hair is indeed wet, and my feet--see, my feet that were once so white, +see how the mud has soiled them. But I have made a vow--I will not wash +them till I have seen the King, and until he has granted me Urbain's +pardon. I am going to the army to find him; I will speak to him as +Grandier taught me to speak, and he will pardon him. And listen, I will +also ask thy pardon, for I read it in thy face that thou, too, art +condemned to death. Poor youth! thou art too young to die, thy curling +hair is beautiful; but yet thou art condemned, for thou hast on thy brow +a line that never deceives. The man thou hast struck will kill thee. +Thou hast made too much use of the cross; it is that which will bring +evil upon thee. Thou hast struck with it, and thou wearest it round thy +neck by a hair chain. Nay, hide not thy face; have I said aught to +afflict thee, or is it that thou lovest, young man? Ah, reassure +thyself, I will not tell all this to thy love. I am mad, but I am +gentle, very gentle; and three days ago I was beautiful. Is she also +beautiful? Ah! she will weep some day! Yet, if she can weep, she will +be happy!" + +And then suddenly Jeanne began to recite the service for the dead in a +monotonous voice, but with incredible rapidity, still seated on the bed, +and turning the beads of a long rosary. + +Suddenly the door opened; she looked up, and fled through another door in +the partition. + +"What the devil's that-an imp or an angel, saying the funeral service +over you, and you under the clothes, as if you were in a shroud?" + +This abrupt exclamation came from the rough voice of Grandchamp, who was +so astonished at what he had seen that he dropped the glass of lemonade +he was bringing in. Finding that his master did not answer, he became +still more alarmed, and raised the bedclothes. Cinq-Mars's face was +crimson, and he seemed asleep, but his old domestic saw that the blood +rushing to his head had almost suffocated him; and, seizing a jug full of +cold water, he dashed the whole of it in his face. This military remedy +rarely fails to effect its purpose, and Cinq-Mars returned to himself +with a start. + +"Ah! it is thou, Grandchamp; what frightful dreams I have had!" + +"Peste! Monsieur le Marquis, your dreams, on the contrary, are very +pretty ones. I saw the tail of the last as I came in; your choice is not +bad." + +"What dost mean, blockhead?" + +"Nay, not a blockhead, Monsieur; I have good eyes, and I have seen what I +have seen. But, really ill as you are, Monsieur le Marechal would +never--" + +"Thou art utterly doting, my friend; give me some drink, I am parched +with thirst. Oh, heavens! what a night! I still see all those women." + +"All those women, Monsieur? Why, how many are here?" + +"I am speaking to thee of a dream, blockhead. Why standest there like a +post, instead of giving me some drink?" + +"Enough, Monsieur; I will get more lemonade." And going to the door, he +called over the staircase, "Germain! Etienne! Louis!" + +The innkeeper answered from below: "Coming, Monsieur, coming; they have +been helping me to catch the madwoman." + +"What mad-woman?" said Cinq-Mars, rising in bed. + +The host entered, and, taking off his cotton cap, said, respectfully: +"Oh, nothing, Monsieur le Marquis, only a madwoman that came here last +night on foot, and whom we put in the next room; but she has escaped, and +we have not been able to catch her." + +"Ah!" exclaimed Cinq-Mars, returning to himself and putting his hand to +his eyes, "it was not a dream, then. And my mother, where is she? and +the Marechal, and--Ah! and yet it is but a fearful dream! Leave me." + +As he said this, he turned toward the wall, and again pulled the clothes +over his head. + +The innkeeper, in amazement, touched his forehead three times with his +finger, looking at Grandchamp as if to ask him whether his master were +also mad. + +Grandchamp motioned him away in silence, and in order to watch the rest +of the night by the side of Cinq-Mars, who was in a deep sleep, he seated +himself in a large armchair, covered with tapestry, and began to squeeze +lemons into a glass of water with an air as grave and severe as +Archimedes calculating the condensing power of his mirrors. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE CABINET + + Men have rarely the courage to be wholly good or wholly bad. + MACHIAVELLI. + +Let us leave our young traveller sleeping; he will soon pursue a long and +beautiful route. Since we are at liberty to turn to all points of the +map, we will fix our eyes upon the city of Narbonne. + +Behold the Mediterranean, not far distant, washing with its blue waters +the sandy shores. Penetrate into that city resembling Athens; and to +find him who reigns there, follow that dark and irregular street, mount +the steps of the old archiepiscopal palace, and enter the first and +largest of its apartments. + +This was a very long salon, lighted by a series of high lancet windows, +of which the upper part only retained the blue, yellow, and red panes +that shed a mysterious light through the apartment. A large round table +occupied its entire breadth, near the great fireplace; around this table, +covered with a colored cloth and scattered with papers and portfolios, +were seated, bending over their pens, eight secretaries copying letters +which were handed to them from a smaller table. Other men quietly +arranged the completed papers in the shelves of a bookcase, partly filled +with books bound in black. + +Notwithstanding the number of persons assembled in the room, one might +have heard the movements of the wings of a fly. The only interruption to +the silence was the sound of pens rapidly gliding over paper, and a +shrill voice dictating, stopping every now and then to cough. This voice +proceeded from a great armchair placed beside the fire, which was +blazing, notwithstanding the heat of the season and of the country. +It was one of those armchairs that you still see in old castles, and +which seem made to read one's self to sleep in, so easy is every part of +it. The sitter sinks into a circular cushion of down; if the head leans +back, the cheeks rest upon pillows covered with silk, and the seat juts +out so far beyond the elbows that one may believe the provident +upholsterers of our forefathers sought to provide that the book should +make no noise in falling so as to awaken the sleeper. + +But we will quit this digression, and speak of the man who occupied the +chair, and who was very far from sleeping. He had a broad forehead, +bordered with thin white hair, large, mild eyes, a wan face, to which a +small, pointed, white beard gave that air of subtlety and finesse +noticeable in all the portraits of the period of Louis XIII. His mouth +was almost without lips, which Lavater deems an indubitable sign of an +evil mind, and it was framed in a pair of slight gray moustaches and a +'royale'--an ornament then in fashion, which somewhat resembled a comma +in form. The old man wore a close red cap, a large 'robe-dechambre', +and purple silk stockings; he was no less a personage than Armand +Duplessis, Cardinal de Richelieu. + +Near him, around the small table, sat four youths from fifteen to twenty +years of age; these were pages, or domestics, according to the term then +in use, which signified familiars, friends of the house. This custom was +a relic of feudal patronage, which still existed in our manners. +The younger members of high families received wages from the great lords, +and were devoted to their service in all things, challenging the first +comer at the wish of their patron. The pages wrote letters from the +outline previously given them by the Cardinal, and after their master had +glanced at them, passed them to the secretaries, who made fair copies. +The Duke, for his part, wrote on his knee private notes upon small slips +of paper, inserting them in almost all the packets before sealing them, +which he did with his own hand. + +He had been writing a short time, when, in a mirror before him, he saw +the youngest of his pages writing something on a sheet of paper much +smaller than the official sheet. He hastily wrote a few words, and then +slipped the paper under the large sheet which, much against his +inclination, he had to fill; but, seated behind the Cardinal, he hoped +that the difficulty with which the latter turned would prevent him from +seeing the little manoeuvre he had tried to exercise with much dexterity. +Suddenly Richelieu said to him, dryly, "Come here, Monsieur Olivier." + +These words came like a thunder-clap on the poor boy, who seemed about +sixteen. He rose at once, however, and stood before the minister, his +arms hanging at his side and his head lowered. + +The other pages and the secretaries stirred no more than soldiers when a +comrade is struck down by a ball, so accustomed were they to this kind of +summons. The present one, however, was more energetic than usual. + +"What were you writing?" + +"My lord, what your Eminence dictated." + +"What!" + +"My lord, the letter to Don Juan de Braganza." + +"No evasions, Monsieur; you were writing something else." + +"My lord," said the page, with tears in his eyes, "it was a letter to one +of my cousins." + +"Let me see it." + +The page trembled in every limb and was obliged to lean against the +chimney-piece, as he said, in a hardly audible tone, "It is impossible." + +"Monsieur le Vicomte Olivier d'Entraigues," said the minister, without +showing the least emotion, "you are no longer in my service." The page +withdrew. He knew that there was no reply; so, slipping his letter into +his pocket, and opening the folding-doors just wide enough to allow his +exit, he glided out like a bird escaped from the cage. + +The minister went on writing the note upon his knee. + +The secretaries redoubled their silent zeal, when suddenly the two wings +of the door were thrown back and showed, standing in the opening, a +Capuchin, who, bowing, with his arms crossed over his breast, seemed +waiting for alms or for an order to retire. He had a dark complexion, +and was deeply pitted with smallpox; his eyes, mild, but somewhat +squinting, were almost hidden by his thick eyebrows, which met in the +middle of his forehead; on his mouth played a crafty, mischievous, and +sinister smile; his beard was straight and red, and his costume was that +of the order of St. Francis in all its repulsiveness, with sandals on his +bare feet, that looked altogether unfit to tread upon carpet. + +Such as he was, however, this personage appeared to create a great +sensation throughout the room; for, without finishing the phrase, the +line, or even the word begun, every person rose and went out by the door +where he was still standing--some saluting him as they passed, others +turning away their heads, and the young pages holding their fingers to +their noses, but not till they were behind him, for they seemed to have a +secret fear of him. When they had all passed out, he entered, making a +profound reverence, because the door was still open; but, as soon as it +was shut, unceremoniously advancing, he seated himself near the Cardinal, +who, having recognized him by the general movement he created, saluted +him with a dry and silent inclination of the head, regarding him fixedly, +as if awaiting some news and unable to avoid knitting his brows, as at +the aspect of a spider or some other disagreeable creature. + +The Cardinal could not resist this movement of displeasure, because he +felt himself obliged, by the presence of his agent, to resume those +profound and painful conversations from which he had for some days been +free, in a country whose pure air, favorable to him, had somewhat soothed +the pain of his malady; that malady had changed to a slow fever, but its +intervals were long enough to enable him to forget during its absence +that it must return. Giving, therefore, a little rest to his hitherto +indefatigable mind, he had been awaiting, for the first time in his life +perhaps, without impatience, the return of the couriers he had sent in +all directions, like the rays of a sun which alone gave life and movement +to France. He had not expected the visit he now received, and the sight +of one of those men, whom, to use his own expression, he "steeped in +crime," rendered all the habitual disquietudes of his life more present +to him, without entirely dissipating the cloud of melancholy which at +that time obscured his thoughts. + +The beginning of his conversation was tinged with the gloomy hue of his +late reveries; but he soon became more animated and vigorous than ever, +when his powerful mind had reentered the real world. + +His confidant, seeing that he was expected to break the silence, did so +in this abrupt fashion: + +"Well, my lord, of what are you thinking?" + +"Alas, Joseph, of what should we all think, but of our future happiness +in a better life? For many days I have been reflecting that human +interests have too much diverted me from this great thought; and I repent +me of having spent some moments of my leisure in profane works, such as +my tragedies, 'Europe' and 'Mirame,' despite the glory they have already +gained me among our brightest minds--a glory which will extend unto +futurity." + +Father Joseph, full of what he had to say, was at first surprised at this +opening; but he knew his master too well to betray his feelings, and, +well skilled in changing the course of his ideas, replied: + +"Yes, their merit is very great, and France will regret that these +immortal works are not followed by similar productions." + +"Yes, my dear Joseph; but it is in vain that such men as Boisrobert, +Claveret, Colletet, Corneille, and, above all, the celebrated Mairet, +have proclaimed these tragedies the finest that the present or any past +age has produced. I reproach myself for them, I swear to you, as for a +mortal sin, and I now, in my hours of repose, occupy myself only with my +'Methode des Controverses', and my book on the 'Perfection du Chretien.' +I remember that I am fifty-six years old, and that I have an incurable +malady." + +"These are calculations which your enemies make as precisely as your +Eminence," said the priest, who began to be annoyed with this +conversation, and was eager to talk of other matters. + +The blood mounted to the Cardinal's face. + +"I know it! I know it well!" he said; "I know all their black villainy, +and I am prepared for it. But what news is there?" + +"According to our arrangement, my lord, we have removed Mademoiselle +d'Hautefort, as we removed Mademoiselle de la Fayette before her. So far +it is well; but her place is not filled, and the King--" + +"Well!" + +"The King has ideas which he never had before." + +"Ha! and which come not from me? 'Tis well, truly," said the minister, +with an ironic sneer. + +"What, my lord, leave the place of the favorite vacant for six whole +days? It is not prudent; pardon me for saying so." + +"He has ideas--ideas!" repeated Richelieu, with a kind of terror; "and +what are they?" + +"He talks of recalling the Queen-mother," said the Capuchin, in a low +voice; "of recalling her from Cologne." + +"Marie de Medicis!" cried the Cardinal, striking the arms of his chair +with his hands. "No, by Heaven, she shall not again set her foot upon +the soil of France, whence I drove her, step by step! England has not +dared to receive her, exiled by me; Holland fears to be crushed by her; +and my kingdom to receive her! No, no, such an idea could not have +originated with himself! To recall my enemy! to recall his mother! +What perfidy! He would not have dared to think of it." + +Then, having mused for a moment, he added, fixing a penetrating look +still full of burning anger upon Father Joseph: + +"But in what terms did he express this desire? Tell me his precise +words." + +"He said publicly; and in the presence of Monsieur: 'I feel that one of +the first duties of a Christian is to be a good son, and I will resist no +longer the murmurs of my conscience.'" + +"Christian! conscience! these are not his expressions. It is Father +Caussin--it is his confessor who is betraying me," cried the Cardinal. +"Perfidious Jesuit! I pardoned thee thy intrigue with La Fayette; but I +will not pass over thy secret counsels. I will have this confessor +dismissed, Joseph; he is an enemy to the State, I see it clearly. +But I myself have acted with negligence for some days past; I have not +sufficiently hastened the arrival of the young d'Effiat, who will +doubtless succeed. He is handsome and intellectual, they say. What a +blunder! I myself merit disgrace. To leave that fox of a Jesuit with +the King, without having given him my secret instructions, without a +hostage, a pledge, or his fidelity to my orders! What neglect! Joseph, +take a pen, and write what I shall dictate for the other confessor, whom +we will choose better. I think of Father Sirmond." + +Father Joseph sat down at the large table, ready to write, and the +Cardinal dictated to him those duties, of a new kind, which shortly +afterward he dared to have given to the King, who received them, +respected them, and learned them by heart as the commandments of the +Church. They have come down to us, a terrible monument of the empire +that a man may seize upon by means of circumstances, intrigues, and +audacity: + + "I. A prince should have a prime minister, and that minister three + qualities: (1) He should have no passion but for his prince; (2) He + should be able and faithful; (3) He should be an ecclesiastic. + + "II. A prince ought perfectly to love his prime minister. + + "III. Ought never to change his prime minister. + + "IV. Ought to tell him all things. + + "V. To give him free access to his person. + + "VI. To give him sovereign authority over his people. + + "VII. Great honors and large possessions. + + "VIII. A prince has no treasure more precious than his prime + minister. + + "IX. A prince should not put faith in what people say against his + prime minister, nor listen to any such slanders. + + "X. A prince should reveal to his prime minister all that is said + against him, even though he has been bound to keep it secret. + + "XI. A prince should prefer not only the well-being of the State, + but also his prime minister, to all his relations." + + +Such were the commandments of the god of France, less astonishing in +themselves than the terrible naivete which made him bequeath them to +posterity, as if posterity also must believe in him. + +While he dictated his instructions, reading them from a small piece of +paper, written with his own hand, a deep melancholy seemed to possess him +more and more at each word; and when he had ended, he fell back in his +chair, his arms crossed, and his head sunk on his breast. + +Father Joseph, dropping his pen, arose and was inquiring whether he were +ill, when he heard issue from the depths of his chest these mournful and +memorable words: + +"What utter weariness! what endless trouble! If the ambitious man could +see me, he would flee to a desert. What is my power? A miserable +reflection of the royal power; and what labors to fix upon my star that +incessantly wavering ray! For twenty years I have been in vain +attempting it. I can not comprehend that man. He dare not flee me; +but they take him from me--he glides through my fingers. What things +could I not have done with his hereditary rights, had I possessed them? +But, employing such infinite calculation in merely keeping one's balance, +what of genius remains for high enterprises? I hold Europe in my hand, +yet I myself am suspended by a trembling hair. What is it to me that I +can cast my eyes confidently over the map of Europe, when all my +interests are concentrated in his narrow cabinet, and its few feet of +space give me more trouble to govern than the whole country besides? +See, then, what it is to be a prime minister! Envy me, my guards, if you +can." + +His features were so distorted as to give reason to fear some accident; +and at the same moment he was seized with a long and violent fit of +coughing, which ended in a slight hemorrhage. He saw that Father Joseph, +alarmed, was about to seize a gold bell that stood on the table, and, +suddenly rising with all the vivacity of a young man, he stopped him, +saying: + +"'Tis nothing, Joseph; I sometimes yield to these fits of depression; but +they do not last long, and I leave them stronger than before. As for my +health, I know my condition perfectly; but that is not the business in +hand. What have you done at Paris? I am glad to know the King has +arrived in Bearn, as I wished; we shall be able to keep a closer watch +upon him. How did you induce him to come away?" + +"A battle at Perpignan." + +"That is not bad. Well, we can arrange it for him; that occupation will +do as well as another just now. But the young Queen, what says she?" + +"She is still furious against you; her correspondence discovered, the +questioning to which you had subjected her--" + +"Bah! a madrigal and a momentary submission on my part will make her +forget that I have separated her from her house of Austria and from the +country of her Buckingham. But how does she occupy herself?" + +"In machinations with Monsieur. But as we have his entire confidence, +here are the daily accounts of their interviews." + +"I shall not trouble myself to read them; while the Duc de Bouillon +remains in Italy I have nothing to fear in that quarter. She may have as +many petty plots with Gaston in the chimney-corner as she pleases; he +never got beyond his excellent intentions, forsooth! He carries nothing +into effect but his withdrawal from the kingdom. He has had his third +dismissal; I will manage a fourth for him whenever he pleases; he is not +worth the pistol-shot you had the Comte de Soissons settled with, and yet +the poor Comte had scarce more energy than he." + +And the Cardinal, reseating himself in his chair, began to laugh gayly +enough for a statesman. + +"I always laugh when I think of their expedition to Amiens. They had me +between them, Each had fully five hundred gentlemen with him, armed to +the teeth, and all going to despatch me, like Concini; but the great +Vitry was not there. They very quietly let me talk for an hour with them +about the hunt and the Fete Dieu, and neither of them dared make a sign +to their cut-throats. I have since learned from Chavigny that for two +long months they had been waiting that happy moment. For myself, indeed, +I observed nothing, except that little villain, the Abbe de Gondi,-- +[Afterward Cardinal de Retz.]--who prowled near me, and seemed to have +something hidden under his sleeve; it was he that made me get into the +coach." + +"Apropos of the Abbe, my lord, the Queen insists upon making him +coadjutor." + +"She is mad! he will ruin her if she connects herself with him; he's a +musketeer in canonicals, the devil in a cassock. Read his 'Histoire de +Fiesque'; you may see himself in it. He will be nothing while I live." + +"How is it that with a judgment like yours you bring another ambitious +man of his age to court?" + +"That is an entirely different matter. This young Cinq-Mars, my friend, +will be a mere puppet. He will think of nothing but his ruff and his +shoulder-knots; his handsome figure assures me of this. I know that he +is gentle and weak; it was for this reason I preferred him to his elder +brother. He will do whatever we wish." + +"Ah, my lord," said the monk, with an expression of doubt, "I never place +much reliance on people whose exterior is so calm; the hidden flame is +often all the more dangerous. Recollect the Marechal d'Effiat, his +father." + +"But I tell you he is a boy, and I shall bring him up; while Gondi is +already an accomplished conspirator, an ambitious knave who sticks at +nothing. He has dared to dispute Madame de la Meilleraie with me. Can +you conceive it? He dispute with me! A petty priestling, who has no +other merit than a little lively small-talk and a cavalier air. +Fortunately, the husband himself took care to get rid of him." + +Father Joseph, who listened with equal impatience to his master when he +spoke of his 'bonnes fortunes' or of his verses, made, however, a grimace +which he meant to be very sly and insinuating, but which was simply ugly +and awkward; he fancied that the expression of his mouth, twisted about +like a monkey's, conveyed, "Ah! who can resist your Eminence?" But his +Eminence only read there, "I am a clown who knows nothing of the great +world"; and, without changing his voice, he suddenly said, taking up a +despatch from the table: + +"The Duc de Rohan is dead, that is good news; the Huguenots are ruined. +He is a lucky man. I had him condemned by the Parliament of Toulouse to +be torn in pieces by four horses, and here he dies quietly on the +battlefield of Rheinfeld. But what matters? The result is the same. +Another great head is laid low! How they have fallen since that of +Montmorency! I now see hardly any that do not bow before me. We have +already punished almost all our dupes of Versailles; assuredly they have +nothing with which to reproach me. I simply exercise against them the +law of retaliation, treating them as they would have treated me in the +council of the Queen-mother. The old dotard Bassompierre shall be doomed +for perpetual imprisonment, and so shall the assassin Marechal de Vitry, +for that was the punishment they voted me. As for Marillac, who +counselled death, I reserve death for him at the first false step he +makes, and I beg thee, Joseph, to remind me of him; we must be just to +all. The Duc de Bouillon still keeps up his head proudly on account of +his Sedan, but I shall make him yield. Their blindness is truly +marvellous! They think themselves all free to conspire, not perceiving +that they are merely fluttering at the ends of the threads that I hold in +my hand, and which I lengthen now and then to give them air and space. +Did the Huguenots cry out as one man at the death of their dear duke?" + +"Less so than at the affair of Loudun, which is happily concluded." + +"What! Happily? I hope that Grandier is dead?" + +"Yes; that is what I meant. Your Eminence may be fully satisfied. All +was settled in twenty-four hours. He is no longer thought of. Only +Laubardemont committed a slight blunder in making the trial public. This +caused a little tumult; but we have a description of the rioters, and +measures have been taken to seek them out." + +"This is well, very well. Urbain was too superior a man to be left +there; he was turning Protestant. I would wager that he would have ended +by abjuring. His work against the celibacy of priests made me conjecture +this; and in cases of doubt, remember, Joseph, it is always best to cut +the tree before the fruit is gathered. These Huguenots, you see, form a +regular republic in the State. If once they had a majority in France, +the monarchy would be lost, and they would establish some popular +government which might be durable." + +"And what deep pain do they daily cause our holy Father the Pope!" said +Joseph. + +"Ah," interrupted the Cardinal, "I see; thou wouldst remind me of his +obstinacy in not giving thee the hat. Be tranquil; I will speak to-day +on the subject to the new ambassador we are sending, the Marechal +d'Estrees, and he will, on his arrival, doubtless obtain that which +has been in train these two years--thy nomination to the cardinalate. +I myself begin to think that the purple would become thee well, for it +does not show blood-stains." + +And both burst into laughter--the one as a master, overwhelming the +assassin whom he pays with his utter scorn; the other as a slave, +resigned to all the humiliation by which he rises. + +The laughter which the ferocious pleasantry of the old minister had +excited had hardly subsided, when the door opened, and a page announced +several couriers who had arrived simultaneously from different points. +Father Joseph arose, and, leaning against the wall like an Egyptian +mummy, allowed nothing to appear upon his face but an expression of +stolid contemplation. Twelve messengers entered successively, attired in +various disguises; one appeared to be a Swiss soldier, another a sutler, +a third a master-mason. They had been introduced into the palace by a +secret stairway and corridor, and left the cabinet by a door opposite +that at which they had entered, without any opportunity of meeting one +another or communicating the contents of their despatches. Each laid a +rolled or folded packet of papers on the large table, spoke for a moment +with the Cardinal in the embrasure of a window and withdrew. Richelieu +had risen on the entrance of the first messenger, and, careful to do all +himself, had received them all, listened to all, and with his own hand +had closed the door upon all. When the last was gone, he signed to +Father Joseph, and, without speaking, both proceeded to unfold, or, +rather, to tear open, the packets of despatches, and in a few words +communicated to each other the substance of the letters. + +"The Due de Weimar pursues his advantage; the Duc Charles is defeated. +Our General is in good spirits; here are some of his lively remarks at +table. Good!" + +"Monseigneur le Vicomte de Turenne has retaken the towns of Lorraine; and +here are his private conversations--" + +"Oh! pass over them; they can not be dangerous. He is ever a good and +honest man, in no way mixing himself up with politics; so that some one +gives him a little army to play at chess with, no matter against whom, +he is content. We shall always be good friends." + +"The Long Parliament still endures in England. The Commons pursue their +project; there are massacres in Ireland. The Earl of Strafford is +condemned to death." + +"To death! Horrible!" + +"I will read: 'His Majesty Charles I has not had the courage to sign the +sentence, but he has appointed four commissioners.'" + +"Weak king, I abandon thee! Thou shalt have no more of our money. Fall, +since thou art ungrateful! Unhappy Wentworth!" + +A tear rose in the eyes of Richelieu as he said this; the man who had but +now played with the lives of so many others wept for a minister abandoned +by his prince. The similarity between that position and his own affected +him, and it was his own case he deplored in the person of the foreign +minister. He ceased to read aloud the despatches that he opened, and his +confidant followed his example. He examined with scrupulous attention +the detailed accounts of the most minute and secret actions of each +person of any importance-accounts which he always required to be added to +the official despatches made by his able spies. All the despatches to +the King passed through his hands, and were carefully revised so as to +reach the King amended to the state in which he wished him to read them. +The private notes were all carefully burned by the monk after the +Cardinal had ascertained their contents. The latter, however, seemed by +no means satisfied, and he was walking quickly to and fro with gestures +expressive of anxiety, when the door opened, and a thirteenth courier +entered. This one seemed a boy hardly fourteen years old; he held under +his arm a packet sealed with black for the King, and gave to the Cardinal +only a small letter, of which a stolen glance from Joseph could collect +but four words. The Cardinal started, tore the billet into a thousand +pieces, and, bending down to the ear of the boy, spoke to him for a long +time; all that Joseph heard was, as the messenger went out: + +"Take good heed to this; not until twelve hours from this time." + +During this aside of the Cardinal, Joseph was occupied in concealing an +infinite number of libels from Flanders and Germany, which the minister +always insisted upon seeing, however bitter they might be to him. In +this respect, he affected a philosophy which he was far from possessing, +and to deceive those around him he would sometimes pretend that his +enemies were not wholly wrong, and would outwardly laugh at their +pleasantries; but those who knew his character better detected bitter +rage lurking under this apparent moderation, and knew that he was never +satisfied until he had got the hostile book condemned by the parliament +to be burned in the Place de Greve, as "injurious to the King, in the +person of his minister, the most illustrious Cardinal," as we read in the +decrees of the time, and that his only regret was that the author was not +in the place of his book--a satisfaction he gave himself whenever he +could, as in the case of Urbain Grandier. + +It was his colossal pride which he thus avenged, without avowing it even +to himself--nay, laboring for a length of time, sometimes for a whole +twelvemonth together, to persuade himself that the interest of the State +was concerned in the matter. Ingenious in connecting his private affairs +with the affairs of France, he had convinced himself that she bled from +the wounds which he received. Joseph, careful not to irritate his ill- +temper at this moment, put aside and concealed a book entitled 'Mystres +Politiques du Cardinal de la Rochelle'; also another, attributed to a +monk of Munich, entitled 'Questions quolibetiques, ajustees au temps +present, et Impiete Sanglante du dieu Mars'. The worthy advocate Aubery, +who has given us one of the most faithful histories of the most eminent +Cardinal, is transported with rage at the mere title of the first of +these books, and exclaims that "the great minister had good reason to +glorify himself that his enemies, inspired against their will with the +same enthusiasm which conferred the gift of rendering oracles upon the +ass of Balaam, upon Caiaphas and others, who seemed most unworthy of the +gift of prophecy, called him with good reason Cardinal de la Rochelle, +since three years after their writing he reduced that town; thus Scipio +was called Africanus for having subjugated that PROVINCE!" Very little +was wanting to make Father Joseph, who had necessarily the same feelings, +express his indignation in the same terms; for he remembered with +bitterness the ridiculous part he had played in the siege of Rochelle, +which, though not a province like Africa, had ventured to resist the most +eminent Cardinal, and into which Father Joseph, piquing himself on his +military skill, had proposed to introduce the troops through a sewer. +However, he restrained himself, and had time to conceal the libel in the +pocket of his brown robe ere the minister had dismissed his young courier +and returned to the table. + +"And now to depart, Joseph," he said. "Open the doors to all that court +which besieges me, and let us go to the King, who awaits me at Perpignan; +this time I have him for good." + +The Capuchin drew back, and immediately the pages, throwing open the +gilded doors, announced in succession the greatest lords of the period, +who had obtained permission from the King to come and salute the +minister. Some, even, under the pretext of illness or business, had +departed secretly, in order not to be among the last at Richelieu's +reception; and the unhappy monarch found himself almost as alone as other +kings find themselves on their deathbeds. But with him, the throne +seemed, in the eyes of the court, his dying couch, his reign a continual +last agony, and his minister a threatening successor. + +Two pages, of the first families of France, stood at the door, where the +ushers announced each of the persons whom Father Joseph had found in the +ante room. The Cardinal, still seated in his great arm chair, remained +motionless as the common couriers entered, inclined his head to the more +distinguished, and to princes alone put his hands on the elbows of his +chair and slightly rose; each person, having profoundly saluted him, +stood before him near the fireplace, waited till he had spoken to him, +and then, at a wave of his hand, completed the circuit of the room, and +went out by the same door at which he had entered, paused for a moment to +salute Father Joseph, who aped his master, and who for that reason had +been named "his Gray Eminence," and at last quitted the palace, unless, +indeed, he remained standing behind the chair, if the minister had +signified that he should, which was considered a token of very great +favor. + +He allowed to pass several insignificant persons, and many whose merits +were useless to him; the first whom he stopped in the procession was the +Marechal d'Estrees, who, about to set out on an embassy to Rome, came to +make his adieux; those behind him stopped short. This circumstance +warned the courtiers in the anteroom that a longer conversation than +usual was on foot, and Father Joseph, advancing to the threshold, +exchanged with the Cardinal a glance which seemed to say, on the one +side, "Remember the promise you have just made me," on the other, "Set +your mind at rest." At the same time, the expert Capuchin let his master +see that he held upon his arm one of his victims, whom he was forming +into a docile instrument; this was a young gentleman who wore a very +short green cloak, a pourpoint of the same color, close-fitting red +breeches, with glittering gold garters below the knee-the costume of the +pages of Monsieur. Father Joseph, indeed, spoke to him secretly, but not +in the way the Cardinal imagined; for he contemplated being his equal, +and was preparing other connections, in case of defection on the part of +the prime minister. + +"Tell Monsieur not to trust in appearances, and that he has no servant +more faithful than I. The Cardinal is on the decline, and my conscience +tells me to warn against his faults him who may inherit the royal power +during the minority. To give your great Prince a proof of my faith, tell +him that it is intended to arrest his friend, Puy-Laurens, and that he +had better be kept out of the way, or the Cardinal will put him in the +Bastille." + +While the servant was thus betraying his master, the master, not to be +behindhand with him, betrayed his servant. His self-love, and some +remnant of respect to the Church, made him shudder at the idea of seeing +a contemptible agent invested with the same hat which he himself wore as +a crown, and seated as high as himself, except as to the precarious +position of minister. Speaking, therefore, in an undertone to the +Marechal d'Estrees, he said: + +"It is not necessary to importune Urbain VIII any further in favor of the +Capuchin you see yonder; it is enough that his Majesty has deigned to +name him for the cardinalate. One can readily conceive the repugnance of +his Holiness to clothe this mendicant in the Roman purple." + +Then, passing on to general matters, he continued: + +"Truly, I know not what can have cooled the Holy Father toward us; what +have we done that was not for the glory of our Holy Mother, the Catholic +Church?" + +"I myself said the first mass at Rochelle, and you see for yourself, +Monsieur le Marechal, that our habit is everywhere; and even in your +armies, the Cardinal de la Vallette has commanded gloriously in the +palatinate." + +"And has just made a very fine retreat," said the Marechal, laying a +slight emphasis upon the word. + +The minister continued, without noticing this little outburst of +professional jealousy, and raising his voice, said: + +"God has shown that He did not scorn to send the spirit of victory upon +his Levites, for the Duc de Weimar did not more powerfully aid in the +conquest of Lorraine than did this pious Cardinal, and never was a naval +army better commanded than by our Archbishop of Bordeaux at Rochelle." + +It was well known that at this very time the minister was incensed +against this prelate, whose haughtiness was so overbearing, and whose +impertinent ebullitions were so frequent as to have involved him in two +very disagreeable affairs at Bordeaux. Four years before, the Duc +d'Epernon, then governor of Guyenne, followed by all his train and by his +troops, meeting him among his clergy in a procession, had called him an +insolent fellow, and given him two smart blows with his cane; whereupon +the Archbishop had excommunicated him. And again, recently, despite this +lesson, he had quarrelled with the Marechal de Vitry, from whom he had +received "twenty blows with a cane or stick, which you please," wrote the +Cardinal Duke to the Cardinal de la Vallette, "and I think he would like +to excommunicate all France." In fact, he did excommunicate the +Marechal's baton, remembering that in the former case the Pope had +obliged the Duc d'Epernon to ask his pardon; but M. Vitry, who had caused +the Marechal d'Ancre to be assassinated, stood too high at court for +that, and the Archbishop, in addition to his beating, got well scolded by +the minister. + +M. d'Estrees thought, therefore, sagely that there might be some irony in +the Cardinal's manner of referring to the warlike talents of the +Archbishop, and he answered, with perfect sang-froid: + +"It is true, my lord, no one can say that it was upon the sea he was +beaten." + +His Eminence could not restrain a smile at this; but seeing that the +electrical effect of that smile had created others in the hall, as well +as whisperings and conjectures, he immediately resumed his gravity, and +familiarly taking the Marechal's arm, said: + +"Come, Monsieur l'Ambassadeur, you are ready at repartee. With you I +should not fear Cardinal Albornos, or all the Borgias in the world--no, +nor all the efforts of their Spain with the Holy Father." + +Then, raising his voice, and looking around, as if addressing himself to +the silent, and, so to speak, captive assembly, he continued: + +"I hope that we shall no more be reproached, as formerly, for having +formed an alliance with one of the greatest men of our day; but as +Gustavus Adolphus is dead, the Catholic King will no longer have any +pretext for soliciting the excommunication of the most Christian King. +How say you, my dear lord?" addressing himself to the Cardinal de la +Vallette, who now approached, fortunately without having heard the late +allusion to himself. "Monsieur d'Estrees, remain near our chair; we have +still many things to say to you, and you are not one too many in our +conversations, for we have no secrets. Our policy is frank and open to +all men; the interest of his Majesty and of the State--nothing more." + +The Marechal made a profound bow, fell back behind the chair of the +minister, and gave place to the Cardinal de la Vallette, who, incessantly +bowing and flattering and swearing devotion and entire obedience to the +Cardinal, as if to expiate the obduracy of his father, the Duc d'Epernon, +received in return a few vague words, to no meaning or purpose, the +Cardinal all the while looking toward the door, to see who should follow. +He had even the mortification to find himself abruptly interrupted by the +minister, who cried at the most flattering period of his honeyed +discourse: + +"Ah! is that you at last, my dear Fabert? How I have longed to see you, +to talk of the siege!" + +The General, with a brusque and awkward manner, saluted the Cardinal- +Generalissimo, and presented to him the officers who had come from the +camp with him. He talked some time of the operations of the siege, and +the Cardinal seemed to be paying him court now, in order to prepare him +afterward for receiving his orders even on the field of battle; he spoke +to the officers who accompanied him, calling them by their names, and +questioning them about the camp. + +They all stood aside to make way for the Duc d'Angouleme--that Valois, +who, having struggled against Henri IV, now prostrated himself before +Richelieu. He solicited a command, having been only third in rank at the +siege of Rochelle. After him came young Mazarin, ever supple and +insinuating, but already confident in his fortune. + +The Duc d'Halluin came after them; the Cardinal broke off the compliments +he was addressing to the others, to utter, in a loud voice: + +"Monsieur le Duc, I inform you with pleasure that the King has made you a +marshal of France; you will sign yourself Schomberg, will you not, at +Leucate, delivered, as we hope, by you? But pardon me, here is Monsieur +de Montauron, who has doubtless something important to communicate." + +"Oh, no, my lord, I would only say that the poor young man whom you +deigned to consider in your service is dying of hunger." + +"Pshaw! at such a moment to speak of things like this! Your little +Corneille will not write anything good; we have only seen 'Le Cid' and +'Les Horaces' as yet. Let him work, let him work! it is known that he +is in my service, and that is disagreeable. However, since you interest +yourself in the matter, I give him a pension of five hundred crowns on my +privy purse." + +The Chancellor of the Exchequer retired, charmed with the liberality of +the minister, and went home to receive with great affability the +dedication of Cinna, wherein the great Corneille compares his soul to +that of Augustus, and thanks him for having given alms 'a quelques +Muses'. + +The Cardinal, annoyed by this importunity, rose, observing that the day +was advancing, and that it was time to set out to visit the King. + +At this moment, and as the greatest noblemen present were offering their +arms to aid him in walking, a man in the robe of a referendary advanced +toward him, saluting him with a complacent and confident smile which +astonished all the people there, accustomed to the great world, seeming +to say: "We have secret affairs together; you shall see how agreeable he +makes himself to me. I am at home in his cabinet." His heavy and +awkward manner, however, betrayed a very inferior being; it was +Laubardemont. + +Richelieu knit his brows when he saw him, and cast a glance at Joseph; +then, turning toward those who surrounded him, he said, with bitter +scorn: + +"Is there some criminal about us to be apprehended?" + +Then, turning his back upon the discomfited Laubardemont, the Cardinal +left him redder than his robe, and, preceded by the crowd of personages +who were to escort him in carriages or on horseback, he descended the +great staircase of the palace. + +All the people and the authorities of Narbonne viewed this royal +departure with amazement. + +The Cardinal entered alone a spacious square litter, in which he was to +travel to Perpignan, his infirmities not permitting him to go in a coach, +or to perform the journey on horseback. This kind of moving chamber +contained a bed, a table, and a small chair for the page who wrote or +read for him. This machine, covered with purple damask, was carried by +eighteen men, who were relieved at intervals of a league; they were +selected among his guards, and always performed this service of honor +with uncovered heads, however hot or wet the weather might be. The Duc +d'Angouleme, the Marechals de Schomberg and d'Estrees, Fabert, and other +dignitaries were on horseback beside the litter; after them, among the +most prominent were the Cardinal de la Vallette and Mazarin, with +Chavigny, and the Marechal de Vitry, anxious to avoid the Bastille, with +which it was said he was threatened. + +Two coaches followed for the Cardinal's secretaries, physicians, and +confessor; then eight others, each with four horses, for his gentlemen, +and twenty-four mules for his luggage. Two hundred musketeers on foot +marched close behind him, and his company of men-at-arms of the guard and +his light-horse, all gentlemen, rode before and behind him on splendid +horses. + +Such was the equipage in which the prime minister proceeded to Perpignan; +the size of the litter often made it necessary to enlarge the roads, and +knock down the walls of some of the towns and villages on the way, into +which it could not otherwise enter, "so that," say the authors and +manuscripts of the time, full of a sincere admiration for all this +luxury--"so that he seemed a conqueror entering by the breach. "We have +sought in vain with great care in these documents, for any account of +proprietors or inhabitants of these dwellings so making room for his +passage who shared in this admiration; but we have been unable to find +any mention of such. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE INTERVIEW + +The pompous cortege of the Cardinal halted at the beginning of the camp. +All the armed troops were drawn up in the finest order; and amid the +sound of cannon and the music of each regiment the litter traversed a +long line of cavalry and infantry, formed from the outermost tent to that +of the minister, pitched at some distance from the royal quarters, and +which its purple covering distinguished at a distance. Each general of +division obtained a nod or a word from the Cardinal, who at length +reaching his tent and, dismissing his train, shut himself in, waiting for +the time to present himself to the King. But, before him, every person +of his escort had repaired thither individually, and, without entering +the royal abode, had remained in the long galleries covered with striped +stuff, and arranged as became avenues leading to the Prince. The +courtiers walking in groups, saluted one another and shook hands, +regarding each other haughtily, according to their connections or the +lords to whom they belonged. Others whispered together, and showed signs +of astonishment, pleasure, or anger, which showed that something +extraordinary had taken place. Among a thousand others, one singular +dialogue occurred in a corner of the principal gallery. + +"May I ask, Monsieur l'Abbe, why you look at me so fixedly?" + +"Parbleu! Monsieur de Launay, it is because I'm curious to see what you +will do. All the world abandons your Cardinal-Duke since your journey +into Touraine; if you do not believe it, go and ask the people of +Monsieur or of the Queen. You are behind-hand ten minutes by the watch +with the Cardinal de la Vallette, who has just shaken hands with +Rochefort and the gentlemen of the late Comte de Soissons, whom I shall +regret as long as I live." + +"Monsieur de Gondi, I understand you; is it a challenge with which you +honor me?" + +"Yes, Monsieur le Comte," answered the young Abbe, saluting him with all +the gravity of the time; "I sought an occasion to challenge you in the +name of Monsieur d'Attichi, my friend, with whom you had something to do +at Paris." + +"Monsieur l'Abbe, I am at your command. I will seek my seconds; do you +the same." + +"On horseback, with sword and pistol, I suppose?" added Gondi, with the +air of a man arranging a party of pleasure, lightly brushing the sleeve +of his cassock. + +"If you please," replied the other. And they separated for a time, +saluting one another with the greatest politeness, and with profound +bows. + +A brilliant crowd of gentlemen circulated around them in the gallery. +They mingled with it to procure friends for the occasion. All the +elegance of the costumes of the day was displayed by the court that +morning-small cloaks of every color, in velvet or in satin, embroidered +with gold or silver; crosses of St. Michael and of the Holy Ghost; the +ruffs, the sweeping hat-plumes, the gold shoulder-knots, the chains by +which the long swords hung: all glittered and sparkled, yet not so +brilliantly as did the fiery glances of those warlike youths, or their +sprightly conversation, or their intellectual laughter. Amid the +assembly grave personages and great lords passed on, followed by their +numerous gentlemen. + +The little Abbe de Gondi, who was very shortsighted, made his way through +the crowd, knitting his brows and half shutting his eyes, that he might +see the better, and twisting his moustache, for ecclesiastics wore them +in those days. He looked closely at every one in order to recognize his +friends, and at last stopped before a young man, very tall and dressed in +black from head to foot; his sword, even, was of quite dark, bronzed +steel. He was talking with a captain of the guards, when the Abbe de +Gondi took him aside. + +"Monsieur de Thou," said he, "I need you as my second in an hour, on +horseback, with sword and pistol, if you will do me that honor." + +"Monsieur, you know I am entirely at your service on all occasions. +Where shall we meet?" + +"In front of the Spanish bastion, if you please." + +"Pardon me for returning to a conversation that greatly interests me. +I will be punctual at the rendezvous." + +And De Thou quitted him to rejoin the Captain. He had said all this in +the gentlest of voices with unalterable coolness, and even with somewhat +of an abstracted manner. + +The little Abbe squeezed his hand with warm satisfaction, and continued +his search. + +He did not so easily effect an agreement with the young lords to whom he +addressed himself; for they knew him better than did De Thou, and when +they saw him coming they tried to avoid him, or laughed at him openly, +and would not promise to serve him. + +"Ah, Abbe! there you are hunting again; I'll swear it's a second you +want," said the Duc de Beaufort. + +"And I wager," added M. de la Rochefoucauld, "that it's against one of +the Cardinal-Duke's people." + +"You are both right, gentlemen; but since when have you laughed at +affairs of honor?" + +"The saints forbid I should," said M. de Beaufort. "Men of the sword +like us ever reverence tierce, quarte, and octave; but as for the folds +of the cassock, I know nothing of them." + +"Pardieu! Monsieur, you know well enough that it does not embarrass my +wrist, as I will prove to him who chooses; as to the gown itself, I +should like to throw it into the gutter." + +"Is it to tear it that you fight so often?" asked La Rochefoucauld. +"But remember, my dear Abbe, that you yourself are within it." + +Gondi turned to look at the clock, wishing to lose no more time in such +sorry jests; but he had no better success elsewhere. Having stopped two +gentlemen in the service of the young Queen, whom he thought ill-affected +toward the Cardinal, and consequently glad to measure weapons with his +creatures, one of them said to him very gravely: + +"Monsieur de Gondi, you know what has just happened; the King has said +aloud, 'Whether our imperious Cardinal wishes it or not, the widow of +Henri le Grand shall no longer remain in exile.' Imperious! the King +never before said anything so strong as that, Monsieur l'Abbe, mark that. +Imperious! it is open disgrace. Certainly no one will dare to speak to +him; no doubt he will quit the court this very day." + +"I have heard this, Monsieur, but I have an affair--" + +"It is lucky for you he stopped short in the middle of your career." + +"An affair of honor--" + +"Whereas Mazarin is quite a friend of yours." + +"But will you, or will you not, listen to me?" + +"Yes, a friend indeed! your adventures are always uppermost in his +thoughts. Your fine duel with Monsieur de Coutenan about the pretty +little pin-maker,--he even spoke of it to the King. Adieu, my dear +Abbe, we are in great haste; adieu, adieu!" And, taking his friend's +arm, the young mocker, without listening to another word, walked rapidly +down the gallery and disappeared in the throng. + +The poor Abbe was much mortified at being able to get only one second, +and was watching sadly the passing of the hour and of the crowd, when he +perceived a young gentleman whom he did not know, seated at a table, +leaning on his elbow with a pensive air; he wore mourning which indicated +no connection with any great house or party, and appeared to await, +without any impatience, the time for attending the King, looking with a +heedless air at those who surrounded him, and seeming not to notice or to +know any of them. + +Gondi looked at him a moment, and accosted him without hesitation: + +"Monsieur, I have not the honor of your acquaintance, but a fencing-party +can never be unpleasant to a man of honor; and if you will be my second, +in a quarter of an hour we shall be on the ground. I am Paul de Gondi; +and I have challenged Monsieur de Launay, one of the Cardinal's clique, +but in other respects a very gallant fellow." + +The unknown, apparently not at all surprised at this address, replied, +without changing his attitude: "And who are his seconds?" + +"Faith, I don't know; but what matters it who serves him? We stand no +worse with our friends for having exchanged a thrust with them." + +The stranger smiled nonchalantly, paused for an instant to pass his hand +through his long chestnut hair, and then said, looking idly at a large, +round watch which hung at his waist: + +"Well, Monsieur, as I have nothing better to do, and as I have no friends +here, I am with you; it will pass the time as well as anything else." + +And, taking his large, black-plumed hat from the table, he followed the +warlike Abbe, who went quickly before him, often running back to hasten +him on, like a child running before his father, or a puppy that goes +backward and forward twenty times before it gets to the end of a street. + +Meanwhile, two ushers, attired in the royal livery, opened the great +curtains which separated the gallery from the King's tent, and silence +reigned. The courtiers began to enter slowly, and in succession, the +temporary dwelling of the Prince. He received them all gracefully, and +was the first to meet the view of each person introduced. + +Before a very small table surrounded with gilt armchairs stood Louis +XIII, encircled by the great officers of the crown. His dress was very +elegant: a kind of fawn-colored vest, with open sleeves, ornamented with +shoulder-knots and blue ribbons, covered him down to the waist. Wide +breeches reached to the knee, and the yellow-and-red striped stuff of +which they were made was ornamented below with blue ribbons. His riding- +boots, reaching hardly more than three inches above the ankle, were +turned over, showing so lavish a lining of lace that they seemed to hold +it as a vase holds flowers. A small mantle of blue velvet, on which was +embroidered the cross of the Holy Ghost, covered the King's left arm, +which rested on the hilt of his sword. + +His head was uncovered, and his pale and noble face was distinctly +visible, lighted by the sun, which penetrated through the top of the +tent. The small, pointed beard then worn augmented the appearance of +thinness in his face, while it added to its melancholy expression. By +his lofty brow, his classic profile, his aquiline nose, he was at once +recognized as a prince of the great race of Bourbon. He had all the +characteristic traits of his ancestors except their penetrating glance; +his eyes seemed red from weeping, and veiled with a perpetual drowsiness; +and the weakness of his vision gave him a somewhat vacant look. + +He called around him, and was attentive to, the greatest enemies of the +Cardinal, whom he expected every moment; and, balancing himself with one +foot over the other, an hereditary habit of his family, he spoke quickly, +but pausing from time to time to make a gracious inclination of the head, +or a gesture of the hand, to those who passed before him with low +reverences. + +The court had been thus paying its respects to the King for two hours +before the Cardinal appeared; the whole court stood in close ranks behind +the Prince, and in the long galleries which extended from his tent. +Already longer intervals elapsed between the names of the courtiers who +were announced. + +"Shall we not see our cousin the Cardinal?" said the King, turning, and +looking at Montresor, one of Monsieur's gentlemen, as if to encourage him +to answer. + +"He is said to be very ill just now, Sire," was the answer. + +"And yet I do not see how any but your Majesty can cure him," said the +Duc de Beaufort. + +"We cure nothing but the king's evil," replied Louis; "and the complaints +of the Cardinal are always so mysterious that we own we can not +understand them." + +The Prince thus essayed to brave his minister, gaining strength in jests, +the better to break his yoke, insupportable, but so difficult to remove. +He almost thought he had succeeded in this, and, sustained by the joyous +air surrounding him, he already privately congratulated himself on having +been able to assume the supreme empire, and for the moment enjoyed all +the power of which he fancied himself possessed. An involuntary +agitation in the depth of his heart had warned him indeed that, the hour +passed, all the burden of the State would fall upon himself alone; but he +talked in order to divert the troublesome thought, and, concealing from +himself the doubt he had of his own inability to reign, he set his +imagination to work upon the result of his enterprises, thus forcing +himself to forget the tedious roads which had led to them. Rapid phrases +succeeded one another on his lips. + +"We shall soon take Perpignan," he said to Fabert, who stood at some +distance. + +"Well, Cardinal, Lorraine is ours," he added to La Vallette. Then, +touching Mazarin's arm: + +"It is not so difficult to manage a State as is supposed, eh?" + +The Italian, who was not so sure of the Cardinal's disgrace as most of +the courtiers, answered, without compromising himself: + +"Ah, Sire, the late successes of your Majesty at home and abroad prove +your sagacity in choosing your instruments and in directing them, and--" + +But the Duc de Beaufort, interrupting him with that self-confidence, +that loud voice and overbearing air, which subsequently procured him the +surname of Important, cried out, vehemently: + +"Pardieu! Sire, it needs only to will. A nation is driven like a horse, +with spur and bridle; and as we are all good horsemen, your Majesty has +only to choose among us." + +This fine sally had not time to take effect, for two ushers cried, +simultaneously, "His Eminence!" + +The King's face flushed involuntarily, as if he had been surprised en +flagrant delit. But immediately gaining confidence, he assumed an air of +resolute haughtiness, which was not lost upon the minister. + +The latter, attired in all the pomp of a cardinal, leaning upon two young +pages, and followed by his captain of the guards and more than five +hundred gentlemen attached to his house, advanced toward the King slowly +and pausing at each step, as if forced to it by his sufferings, but in +reality to observe the faces before him. A glance sufficed. + +His suite remained at the entrance of the royal tent; of all those within +it, not one was bold enough to salute him, or to look toward him. Even +La Vallette feigned to be occupied in a conversation with Montresor; and +the King, who desired to give him an unfavorable reception, greeted him +lightly and continued a private conversation in a low voice with the Duc +de Beaufort. + +The Cardinal was therefore forced, after the first salute, to stop and +pass to the side of the crowd of courtiers, as if he wished to mingle +with them, but in reality to test them more closely; they all recoiled as +at the sight of a leper. Fabert alone advanced toward him with the +frank, brusque air habitual with him, and, making use of the terms +belonging to his profession, said: + +"Well, my lord, you make a breach in the midst of them like a cannon- +ball; I ask pardon in their name." + +"And you stand firm before me as before the enemy," said the Cardinal; +"you will have no cause to regret it in the end, my dear Fabert." + +Mazarin also approached the Cardinal, but with caution, and, giving to +his mobile features an expression of profound sadness, made him five or +six very low bows, turning his back to the group gathered around the +King, so that in the latter quarter they might be taken for those cold +and hasty salutations which are made to a person one desires to be rid +of, and, on the part of the Duke, for tokens of respect, blended with a +discreet and silent sorrow. + +The minister, ever calm, smiled disdainfully; and, assuming that firm +look and that air of grandeur which he always wore in the hour of danger, +he again leaned upon his pages, and, without waiting for a word or a +glance from his sovereign, he suddenly resolved upon his line of conduct, +and walked directly toward him, traversing the whole length of the tent. +No one had lost sight of him, although all affected not to observe him. +Every one now became silent, even those who were conversing with the +King. All the courtiers bent forward to see and to hear. + +Louis XIII turned toward him in astonishment, and, all presence of mind +totally failing him, remained motionless and waited with an icy glance- +his sole force, but a force very effectual in a prince. + +The Cardinal, on coming close to the monarch, did not bow; and, without +changing his attitude, with his eyes lowered and his hands placed on the +shoulders of the two boys half bending, he said: + +"Sire, I come to implore your Majesty at length to grant me the +retirement for which I have long sighed. My health is failing; I feel +that my life will soon be ended. Eternity approaches me, and before +rendering an account to the eternal King, I would render one to my +earthly sovereign. It is eighteen years, Sire, since you placed in my +hands a weak and divided kingdom; I return it to you united and powerful. +Your enemies are overthrown and humiliated. My work is accomplished. +I ask your Majesty's permission to retire to Citeaux, of which I am +abbot, and where I may end my days in prayer and meditation." + +The King, irritated by some haughty expressions in this address, showed +none of the signs of weakness which the Cardinal had expected, and which +he had always seen in him when he had threatened to resign the management +of affairs. On the contrary, feeling that he had the eyes of the whole +court upon him, Louis looked upon him with the air of a king, and coldly +replied: + +"We thank you, then, for your services, Monsieur le Cardinal, and wish +you the repose you desire." + +Richelieu was deeply moved, but no indication of his anger appeared upon +his countenance. "Such was the coldness with which you left Montmorency +to die," he said to himself; "but you shall not escape me thus." He then +continued aloud, bowing at the same time: + +"The only recompense I ask for my services is that your Majesty will +deign to accept from me, as a gift, the Palais-Cardinal I have erected +at my own expense in Paris." + +The King, astonished, bowed his assent. A murmur of surprise for a +moment agitated the attentive court. + +"I also throw myself at your Majesty's feet, to beg that you will grant +me the revocation of an act of rigor, which I solicited (I publicly +confess it), and which I perhaps regarded too hastily beneficial to the +repose of the State. Yes, when I was of this world, I was too forgetful +of my early sentiments of personal respect and attachment, in my +eagerness for the public welfare; but now that I already enjoy the +enlightenment of solitude, I see that I have done wrong, and I repent." + +The attention of the spectators was redoubled, and the uneasiness of the +King became visible. + +"Yes, there is one person, Sire, whom I have always loved, despite her +wrong toward you, and the banishment which the affairs of the kingdom +forced me to bring about for her; a person to whom I have owed much, and +who should be very dear to you, notwithstanding her armed attempts +against you; a person, in a word, whom I implore you to recall from +exile--the Queen Marie de Medicis, your mother!" + +The King uttered an involuntary exclamation, so little did he expect to +hear that name. A repressed agitation suddenly appeared upon every face. +All waited in silence the King's reply. Louis XIII looked for a long +time at his old minister without speaking, and this look decided the fate +of France; in that instant he called to mind all the indefatigable +services of Richelieu, his unbounded devotion, his wonderful capacity, +and was surprised at himself for having wished to part with him. He felt +deeply affected at this request, which had probed for the exact cause of +his anger at the bottom of his heart, and uprooted it, thus taking from +his hands the only weapon he had against his old servant. Filial love +brought words of pardon to his lips and tears into his eyes. Rejoicing +to grant what he desired most of all things in the world, he extended his +hands to the Duke with all the nobleness and kindliness of a Bourbon. +The Cardinal bowed and respectfully kissed it; and his heart, which +should have burst with remorse, only swelled in the joy of a haughty +triumph. + +The King, deeply touched, abandoning his hand to him, turned gracefully +toward his court and said, with a trembling voice: + +"We often deceive ourselves, gentlemen, and especially in our knowledge +of so great a politician as this." + +"I hope he will never leave us, since his heart is as good as his head." + +Cardinal de la Vallette instantly seized the sleeve of the King's mantle, +and kissed it with all the ardor of a lover, and the young Mazarin did +much the same with Richelieu himself, assuming, with admirable Italian +suppleness, an expression radiant with joy and tenderness. Two streams +of flatterers hastened, one toward the King, the other toward the +minister; the former group, not less adroit than the second, although +less direct, addressed to the Prince thanks which could be heard by the +minister, and burned at the feet of the one incense which was intended +for the other. As for Richelieu, bowing and smiling to right and left, +he stepped forward and stood at the right hand of the King as his natural +place. A stranger entering would rather have thought, indeed, that it +was the King who was on the Cardinal's left hand. The Marechal +d'Estrees, all the ambassadors, the Duc d'Angouleme, the Due d'Halluin +(Schomberg), the Marechal de Chatillon, and all the great officers of the +crown surrounded him, each waiting impatiently for the compliments of the +others to be finished, in order to pay his own, fearing lest some one +else should anticipate him with the flattering epigram he had just +improvised, or the phrase of adulation he was inventing. + +As for Fabert, he had retired to a corner of the tent, and seemed to have +paid no particular attention to the scene. He was chatting with +Montresor and the gentlemen of Monsieur, all sworn enemies of the +Cardinal, because, out of the throng he avoided, he had found none but +these to speak to. This conduct would have seemed extremely tactless in +one less known; but although he lived in the midst of the court, he was +ever ignorant of its intrigues. It was said of him that he returned from +a battle he had gained, like the King's hunting-horse, leaving the dogs +to caress their master and divide the quarry, without seeking even to +remember the part he had had in the triumph. + +The storm, then, seemed entirely appeased, and to the violent agitations +of the morning succeeded a gentle calm. A respectful murmur, varied with +pleasant laughter and protestations of attachment, was all that was heard +in the tent. The voice of the Cardinal arose from time to time: "The +poor Queen! We shall, then, soon again see her! I never had dared to +hope for such happiness while I lived!" The King listened to him with +full confidence, and made no attempt to conceal his satisfaction. "It +was assuredly an idea sent to him from on high," he said; "this good +Cardinal, against whom they had so incensed me, was thinking only of the +union of my family. Since the birth of the Dauphin I have not tasted +greater joy than at this moment. The protection of the Holy Virgin is +manifested over our kingdom." + +At this moment, a captain of the guards came up and whispered in the +King's ear. + +"A courier from Cologne?" said the King; "let him wait in my cabinet." + +Then, unable to restrain his impatience, "I will go! I will go!" he +said, and entered alone a small, square tent attached to the larger one. +In it he saw a young courier holding a black portfolio, and the curtains +closed upon the King. + +The Cardinal, left sole master of the court, concentrated all its homage; +but it was observed that he no longer received it with his former +presence of mind. He inquired frequently what time it was, and exhibited +an anxiety which was not assumed; his hard, unquiet glances turned toward +the smaller tent. It suddenly opened; the King appeared alone, and +stopped on the threshold. He was paler than usual, and trembled in every +limb; he held in his hand a large letter with five black seals. + +"Gentlemen," said he, in a loud but broken voice, "the Queen has just +died at Cologne; and I perhaps am not the first to hear of it," he added, +casting a severe look toward the impassible Cardinal, "but God knows all! +To horse in an hour, and attack the lines! Marechals, follow me." And +he turned his back abruptly, and reentered his cabinet with them. + +The court retired after the minister, who, without giving any sign of +sorrow or annoyance, went forth as gravely as he had entered, but now a +victor. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Doubt, the greatest misery of love +Never interfered in what did not concern him +So strongly does force impose upon men +The usual remarks prompted by imbecility on such occasions + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Cinq Mars, v2 +by Alfred de Vigny + diff --git a/3948.zip b/3948.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c503d9d --- /dev/null +++ b/3948.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b7ff921 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #3948 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3948) |