diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | 44252-0.txt | 5328 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 44252-h.zip | bin | 199791 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 44252-h/44252-h.htm | 424 |
3 files changed, 5331 insertions, 421 deletions
diff --git a/44252-0.txt b/44252-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1ba71b6 --- /dev/null +++ b/44252-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5328 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44252 *** + + RICHELIEU, + + A TALE OF FRANCE. + + VOL. I. + + LONDON: + + PRINTED BY S. AND R. BENTLEY, + + Dorset Street, Fleet Street. + + + + + RICHELIEU, + + A TALE OF FRANCE. + + I advise you that you read + The Cardinal's malice and his potency + Together: to consider further, that + What his high hatred would effect, wants not + A minister in his power. + SHAKSPEARE. + + + IN THREE VOLUMES. + + VOL. I. + + LONDON: + + HENRY COLBURN, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. + + 1829. + + + + +DEDICATION. + + +TO + +MY DEAR SIR, + +YOUR name is too great a one to be trifled with, and therefore, I do not +put it at the head of this page. Should your anticipations in favour of +this work be realized, and its success be equal to my utmost hopes, I +dedicate it to you in testimony both of my gratitude for your kindness, +and my admiration for your genius; but should the hand of criticism cut +it short hereafter, or the frost of neglect wither it in the bud, I take +a humbler tone, and beg you only to accept my thanks for your good +wishes and kind encouragement. If it should succeed, you will, I am +sure, receive the work with some pleasure on my account;--if it fail, +you will still accept it as the only means I have of expressing my +feeling of obligation towards you; and, at all events, you will +understand my motive for not prefixing your name to the Dedication of a +book, the fate of which is yet doubtful. + +THE AUTHOR. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +DEARLY BELOVED READER, + +ALTHOUGH I call the following pages _mine_, and upon the strength of +them write myself Author, yet I must in truth confess, that I have very +little to do with them, and still less to do with the story they record; +and therefore I am fain to treat the world with something of my own +exclusive composition, in the shape of a preface. The facts of the case +are as follow: I one day possessed myself of a bundle of manuscript +notes--no matter when or how, so that they were honestly come by, for +that is all that you, or I, or Sir Richard Birnie, have to do with the +matter. Now I say they were honestly come by, and the _onus probandi_ +must rest upon the other party. So no more of that. + +My dear Mr. Colburn, where was I? I quite forget--Oh, now I have it! +Having one day possessed myself of a bundle of manuscript +notes,--honestly come by,--I proceeded to read them, and although the +hand was small and crooked, with all the _k_'s shaped like Laocoons, and +every _g_ like a pair of spectacles, yet there was something in the tale +there written, that made me read it through before I rose off my chair, +although I did not then know, what I have since discovered, that every +word of it was true. Now this is an advantage which you, my dear reader, +have over me in perusing this history for the first time; for +unquestionably even upon my pure _ipse dixit_, you will believe that the +whole of the three volumes which follow, is neither more nor less than a +plain and simple narration of facts. Nevertheless, in case there should +be in the world any person so sceptical as to doubt the assertion, even +of a novelist, I will refer my reader to the well-known authorities of +the day, and merely observe, that though there may be some discrepancy +in the dates and some difference in the names, yet every individual +circumstance recorded in these pages, will be found to be collaterally +verified by contemporary writers of good repute, who, however, did not +know so much of the detail of the events in question as are disclosed in +the old manuscript alluded to, nor were they, like the writer of that +document, acquainted with the real causes of those movements which shook +the whole of France, and which, originating in the heart of the Court, +could only be detected by one who was himself a resident there. To you, +my dear reader, whose confidence in my word I know to be as unbounded as +the conscience of a tailor, or the stomach of an alderman, I have only +to remark, that the Hero of my tale is by no means a fabulous person. + +My story opens with the latter years of the reign of Louis XIII. King of +France--a period memorable in English annals from the civil wars which +then raged between Charles I. and his rebellious Parliament, and no less +memorable in the history of France, as the most terrific portion of +Richelieu's bloody domination. + +At the death of Henry IV. the Regency of the kingdom during her son's +minority, was seized upon by Mary de Medicis, a woman of considerable +talent and of vast ambition, whose primary object seems to have been, so +to secure the sovereign power to herself, that Louis during her life +should remain in a state of tutelage. + +In such projects, but still more in her obstinate partiality for the +celebrated Marechal d'Ancre and his wife, originated a thousand +factions and civil wars, which kept the country in a continual state of +tumult during the King's minority. These factions, and the circumstances +which they engendered, necessarily gave rise to various rapid changes in +the Queen's ministry, and amidst these, for the first time, appeared on +the political stage Richelieu, then Bishop of Luçon. His prospects yet +doubtful, and his ambition still in its infancy, Richelieu made mildness +and courtesy his first steps towards pre-eminence. He contented himself +with an inferior station in the Council: his urbanity and his talents +proved equally agreeable and useful; and no one beheld in the calm and +polished Bishop of Luçon, any promise of the aspiring and remorseless +Cardinal de Richelieu. + +A circumstance, however, occurred almost in the outset of his career, +which had nearly thrown him for ever from the destined scene of his +aggrandizement. This was the fall of the Marechal d'Ancre, and the +arrest of the Queen-mother. + +On the marriage of Louis XIII., the jealous eye of Mary de Medicis soon +perceived her son's first affection towards his young wife, and, fearful +of an influence which might spring up to counteract her own, she found +means to destroy, without remorse, the domestic happiness of her child, +in order to secure her own dominion over him. But while she fomented +every disagreement between Louis and his wife, and watched the least +symptom of reviving affection with the suspicious anxiety of uncertain +power, she blindly suffered near his person a favourite who combined +with the genius to form great designs, the most consummate art to +conceal them. Monsieur de Luynes, it appears, from the first moment of +his intimacy with the King, projected his master's deliverance from the +tyranny of Mary de Medicis; but lest he should be suspected of such +designs, he hid them beneath the mask of levity and thoughtlessness. It +would be little appropriate here to enter more largely into the details +of these proceedings. Suffice it that in the end the Queen's favourite +was shot as he entered the palace of the Louvre, and she herself was +instantly arrested and exiled to Blois. Amongst others of her council +who shared in the fall of the Queen, was Richelieu, and for some time he +remained in exile at Avignon. + +The Queen's party, however, was still strong in France; and in her +misfortunes, the factious and discontented, who had formerly opposed her +measures merely because she held the reins of government, now supported +her against the hand to which those reins had been transferred. A civil +war seemed inevitable, and in order to avert such an event, the King's +advisers found themselves obliged to negociate with the Princess, whom +they had dispossessed; but Mary rejected all intercession, and it was +not till the return of Richelieu that any compromise could be effected. +That minister, however, with the deep diplomatic skill for which he was +conspicuous, instantly availed himself of the weak point in the +character of his mistress, and through the medium of her confessor, won +her to his purpose. A reconciliation was now speedily effected between +Mary and her son, and Richelieu having become the friend of the one and +the confident of the other, saw himself placed more surely than ever in +the road to political eminence. Many circumstances combined to +accelerate his progress. The death of the Duke de Luynes, the religious +wars still raging in the heart of the kingdom, and the renewed +differences between the King and his mother,--all gave the rising +minister the means of increasing his power, and the opportunity of +displaying the vast energies of his extraordinary mind. All was subdued +before him; the Queen-mother was exiled; the Protestants were crushed; +and the King himself became the slave of Richelieu. + +But power so acquired was only to be maintained at the expense of much +blood. Conspiracy after conspiracy was formed to cast off his dominion, +and more than one insurrection burst forth in opposition to his tyranny; +but each in turn was overthrown, and the blood of the conspirators only +served to cement the fabric of his greatness. Usurped power must still +have some object for suspicion, and after having quelled all his more +powerful adversaries, the jealousy of Richelieu turned towards the young +Queen, persecuting her with such uncalled for virulence as to induce +many to believe that his hatred proceeded from some more private and +personal cause than was apparent. + +In the mean time, Louis himself, seldom called upon, except as a state +puppet, to sign some ordonnance, or hold some council under the +direction of Richelieu, lingered on in inactivity, yielding one +privilege after another to the grasping ambition of his minister, +without the dignity of royalty or the peace of private life. It is true +that, on more than one occasion, he was roused by circumstances to put +forth the native energies of his mind, but this was most frequently on +some trifling occurrence. And though the momentary flashes of a vigorous +intellect would show that nature had been originally bountiful to him, +yet he never evinced any steady determination of purpose. Richelieu +spared no pains to secure the power he had acquired; and that he might +leave the King no means of extricating himself, plunged the kingdom in +wars and negociations which he well knew that none but himself could +conduct with success. But here indeed his genius showed itself +resplendent. The government of a world seemed in his hands, and yet he +managed the complicated machine steadily and firmly, with a clear, +discerning eye, and a calm, unshrinking heart. Nevertheless, whether it +was that the multitude of his other avocations diverted his attention +from the minor regulations of the kingdom, or whether, as some believe, +he encouraged a disorganized state of the interior for political +purposes, it must be acknowledged that all contemporary accounts +represent the internal police of France during his administration, as in +a strangely deranged condition--a condition little to have been expected +from the vigour of his government, and the severe exactitude of his +disposition. + +But so it was. The partizans of the various factions which had long been +embodied as armies, were fain, after his measures had dispersed them as +considerable bodies, to take refuge in the less cultivated parts of the +country--the mountains, the forests, or the wastes; and as they had +before lived by anarchy, they now contrived to subsist by plunder. The +nobles being called from their strong holds to expensive cities, and +compelled by Richelieu's jealousy to show themselves continually at his +luxurious Court, could no longer maintain the host of retainers which +had formerly revelled at their expense, and these also were obliged to +join themselves to the various bands of freebooters that infested the +country. Occasionally a merciless execution of some of these banditti +awed the rest for a time, but upon examining history, even to the end of +Richelieu's life, we find that while he governed the nobles with a rod +of iron, saw every attempt at conspiracy with a prophet's foresight, and +repressed it with a giant's strength, he overlooked or forgave those +crimes which did not affect his political situation. + +Such was the state of France at the opening of the following history: +and now having attempted to prepare my reader's mind for what is to +follow, I have only farther to refer him to the notes at the end of the +third volume, in confirmation of my assertion, that this tale is +entirely true. The manuscript from which it is rendered in its present +form, possessed that air of fact which from the first left very little +doubt on my mind that the narrative was authentic; but not content with +this, I examined the best authorities, and had the pleasure of finding +that every material circumstance was perfectly unquestionable, and from +the acquaintance of the original writer with all the most minute points, +I cannot now divest myself of the idea that he must have been, in some +degree, an actor in what he narrates. + +Be that as it may, I feel sure that whoever peruses it to the end will +be perfectly convinced of its truth; and in the hope that many will do +so, I leave them to commence their journey, wishing them all a safe and +happy arrival at its conclusion. + + + + +ERRATA. + + +VOL. I. + + Page 49, line 5, _for_ 'illuminated,' _read_ 'illumined.' + -- 115, -- 16, _for_ 'shas hent,' _read_ 'has sent.' + -- 182, -- 15, _for_ 'the side,' _read_ 'your side.' + + +VOL. II. + + Page 65, line 5, _for_ 'end,' _read_ 'beginning.' + -- 185, -- 15, _for_ 'whom,' _read_ 'as.' + + +VOL. III. + + Page 216, line 18, _for_ 'wave,' _read_ 'waive.' + -- 342, -- 17, _for_ 'laid,' _read_ 'lain.' + + + + +RICHELIEU. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + Which shows what a French forest was in the year of our Lord 1642, + and by whom it was inhabited. + + +The vast Sylva Lida, which in the days of Charlemagne stretched far +along the banks of the Seine, and formed a woody screen round the infant +city of Paris, has now dwindled to a few thousand acres in the +neighbourhood of St. Germain en Laye. Not so in the time of Louis the +Thirteenth. It was then one of the most magnificent forests of France, +and extending as far as the town of Mantes, took indifferently the name +of the Wood of Mantes, or the Forest of Laye. That portion to the North +of St. Germain has been long cut down: yet there were persons living, +not many years since, who remembered some of the old trees still +standing, bare, desolate, and alone, like parents who had seen the +children of their hopes die around them in their prime. + +Although much improvement in all the arts of life, and much increase of +population had taken place during the latter years of Henry the Fourth, +and under the regency of Mary de Medicis; yet at the time of their son +Louis the Thirteenth, the country was still but thinly peopled, and far +different from the gay, thronged land, that it appears to-day. For +besides that it was in earlier days, there had been many a bitter and a +heavy war, not only of France against her enemies, but of France against +her children. Religious and political differences had caused disunion +between man and man, had banished mutual confidence and social +intercourse, and raised up those feuds and hatreds, which destroy +domestic peace, and retard public improvement. Amidst general distrust +and civil wars, industry had received no encouragement; and where stand +at present many a full hamlet and busy village, where the vineyard +yields its abundance, and the peasant gathers in peace the bounty of +Nature, were then the green copses of the forest, the haunt of the wild +boar and the deer. The savage tenants of the wood, however, did not +enjoy its shelter undisturbed; for, in those days of suspicion, hunting +was a safer sport than conversation, and the boughs of the oak a more +secure covering than the gilded ceilings of the saloon. + +To our pampered countrymen, long nurtured in that peculiar species of +luxury called comfort, the roads of France even now must seem but rude +and barbarous constructions, when compared with the smooth, joltless +causeways over which they are borne in their own land; but in the time +of Louis the Thirteenth, when all works of the kind were carried on by +the Seigneur through whose estates they passed, few but the principal +roads between one great town and another were even passable for a +carriage. Those, however, which traversing the wood of Mantes, served as +means of access to the royal residence of St. Germain, were of a +superior kind, and would have been absolutely good, had the nature of +the soil afforded a steady foundation: but this was not always to be +found in the forest, and the engineer had shown no small ingenuity in +taking advantage of all the most solid parts of the land, and in +avoiding those places where the marshy or sandy quality of the ground +offered no secure basis. By these circumstances, however, he was obliged +to deviate sadly from those principles of direct progression, so dear to +all Frenchmen; and the road from St. Germain to Mantes, as well as that +which branched off from it to join the high-road to Chartres, instead of +being one interminable, monotonous, straight line, with a long row of +trees, like a file of grenadiers, on each side, went winding in and out +with a thousand turnings amongst the old oaks of the forest, that seemed +to stand forward, and stretch their broad branches across it, as if +willing to shelter it from the obtrusive rays of the sun. Sometimes, +climbing the side of a hill, it would suddenly display a wide view over +the leafy ocean below, till the eye caught the towers and spires of +distant cities breaking the far grey line of the horizon. Sometimes, +descending into the depths of the forest, it would almost seem to lose +itself amongst the wild groves and savannas, being itself the only trace +of man's laborious hand amidst the wilderness around. + +In the heart of the wood, at that point where the two roads (which I +have mentioned) divaricated from each other, stood the hut of a Woodman, +and the _abreuvoir_ where many a gay lord of the Court would stop when +his hunting was over, and give his horse time to drink. There, too, many +a traveller would pause to ask his way through the forest; so that +Philip, the woodman, and his young family, were known to almost all whom +business or pleasure brought through the wood of Mantes; and although +during the course of this true history, princes and heroes may become +the subjects of discourse, it is with Philip that we must commence our +tale. + +It was at that season of the year, when the first leaves of summer begin +to leave the branches from which they sprang, like the bright and tender +hopes of early years, that fade and fall before the autumn of life has +fully commenced. The sun had abated but little of his force, and the +days scarcely seemed to have contracted their span. + +The time of day, too, was like the period of the year, "falling gently +into the sear," so that it was only a scarce perceptible shadow, +stealing over the landscape, which told that the great power of light +was quitting that quarter of the globe, to bestow the equal blessing of +his smile on other nations and on distant climes. That shadow had been +the signal for Philip the woodman to return towards his home, and he +issued forth from one of the forest paths, near his dwelling, singing +as he came the old hunting-song of _Le bon roi Dagobert_.[A] + + "King Dagobert in days of yore + Put on his hose wrong side before. + Says St. Eloi, the king's old squire, + 'I would not offend, most gracious Sire, + But may your slave be soundly switch'd, + If your Majesty is not oddly breech'd,' + For you've got the wrong side before.' + Says the King, 'I do not care a groat; + One's breeches are scarcely worth a thought; + A beggar's a king when he's at his ease, + So turn them about which way you please, + And be quick, you s----" + +[A] This song of _Le bon roi Dagobert_ is in the original very long, +and contains a great deal of witty ribaldry, unfit to be inserted here. +The above is a somewhat free translation of the first verse, which +stands thus in the French: + + "Le bon roy Dagobert + Mettoit ses culottes à renvers. + Le bon St. Eloi + Lui dit, Oh mon Roy! + Que votre Majesté + Est bien mal culotté. + Eh bien, dit ce bon Roy, + Je consens qu'on les mête à l'endroit." + + + +Now St. Hubert, in all probability, is the only person who correctly +knows how it happened, that the very unmeaning and inapplicable ditty of +_Le bon roi Dagobert_, should have been appropriated exclusively to the +noble exercise of hunting, to which it has no reference whatever; but so +it has been, and even to the present day where is the chasseur who +cannot, as he returns from the chace, blow the notes, or sing the words +of _Le bon roi Dagobert_? + +Philip, as woodman, had heard it echoed and re-echoed through the forest +from his very infancy; and now, without even knowing that he did so, he +sang it as a matter of habit, although his mind was occupied upon +another subject: as men are always naturally inclined to employ their +corporeal faculties on some indifferent object, when their mental ones +are intensely engaged in things of deeper interest. + +Philip advanced slowly along the road, with his brow knit in such a +manner as to evince that his light song had no part in his thoughts. He +was a man perhaps nearly fifty, still hale and athletic, though a life +of labour had changed the once dark locks of his hair to grey. His +occupation was at once denoted by his dress, which consisted simply of a +long-bodied blue coat of coarse cloth, covered over, except the arms, +with what is called in Britanny, a _Peau de bicque_, or goat-skin: a +pair of leather breeches, cut off above the knee, with thick gaiters to +defend his legs from the thorns, completed his dress below; and a round +broad-brimmed hat was brought far over his eyes, to keep them from the +glare of the declining sun. His apparel was girded round him by a broad +buff belt, in the left of which hung his woodman's knife; in the right +he had placed the huge axe, which he had been using in his morning's +occupation: and thus accoutred, Philip would have been no insignificant +opponent, had he met with any of those lawless rovers, who occasionally +frequented the forest. + +As he approached his dwelling, he suddenly stopped, broke off his song, +and turning round, listened for a moment attentively; but the only +noise to be heard was the discordant cry of the jay in the trees round +about; and the only living things visible were a few wild birds +overhead, slowly winging their flight from the distant fields and +vineyards towards their forest home. + +Philip proceeded, but he sang no more; and opening the cottage door, he +spoke without entering. "Charles," demanded he, "has the young gentleman +returned, who passed by this morning to hunt?" + +"No, father," answered the boy coming forward; "nobody has passed since +you went--I am sure no one has, for I sat on the old tree all the +morning, carving you a sun-dial out of the willow branch you brought +home yesterday;" and he drew forth one of those ingenious little +machines, by means of which the French shepherds tell the time. + +"Thou art a good boy," said his father, laying his hand on his head, +"thou art a good boy." But still, as the Woodman spoke, his mind seemed +occupied by some anxiety, for again he looked up the road and listened. +"There are strange faces in the forest," said Philip, not exactly +soliloquizing, for his son was present, but certainly speaking more to +himself than to the boy. "There are strange faces in the forest, and I +fear me some ill deed is to be done. But here they come, thank God!--No! +what is this?" + +As he spoke, there appeared, just where the road turned into the wood, a +sort of procession, which would have puzzled any one of later days, more +than it did the Woodman. It consisted of four men on horseback, and four +on foot, escorting a vehicle, the most elegant and tasteful that the age +produced. The people of that day had doubtless very enlarged notions, +and certainly the carriage I speak of would have contained any three of +modern construction (always excepting that in which his most gracious +Majesty the King of England appears on state occasions, and also that of +the Lord Mayor of London City.) + +Indeed the one in question was more like a state carriage than any +other; broad at the top, low in the axle, all covered over with painting +and gilding, with long wooden shafts for the horses, and green taffeta +curtains to the windows: and in this guise it came on, swaying and +swaggering about over the ruts in the road, not unlike the bloated Dutch +pug of some over-indulgent dame, waddling slowly on, with its legs far +apart, and its belly almost trailing on the ground. + +When the carriage arrived at the _abreuvoir_, by the side of which +Philip had placed himself, the footmen took the bridles from the horses' +mouths to give them drink, and a small white hand, from within, drew +back the taffeta curtain, displaying to the Woodman one of the loveliest +faces he had ever beheld. The lady looked round for a moment at the +forest scene, in the midst of whose wild ruggedness they stood, and then +raised her eyes towards the sky, letting them roam over the clear +deepening expanse of blue, as if to satisfy herself how much daylight +still remained for their journey. + +"How far is it to St. Germain, good friend?" said she, addressing the +Woodman, as she finished her contemplations; and her voice sounded to +Philip like the warble of a bird, notwithstanding a slight peculiarity +of intonation, which more refined ears would instantly have decided as +the accent of Roussillon, or some adjacent province: the lengthening of +the _i_, and the swelling roundness of the Spanish _u_, sounding very +differently from the sharp precision peculiar to the Parisian +pronunciation. + +"I wish, Pauline, that you would get over that bad habit of softening +all your syllables," said an old lady who sat beside her in the +carriage. "Your French is scarcely comprehensible." + +"Dear Mamma!" replied the young lady playfully, "am not I descended +lineally from Clemence Isaure, the patroness of song and chivalry? And I +should be sorry to speak aught but my own _langue d'oc_--the tongue of +the first knights and first poets of France.---- But hark! what is that +noise in the wood?" + +"Now help, for the love of God!" cried the Woodman, snatching forth his +axe, and turning to the horsemen who accompanied the carriage; "murder +is doing in the forest. Help, for the love of God!" + +But as he spoke, the trampling of a horse's feet was heard, and in a +moment after, a stout black charger came down the road like lightning; +the dust springing up under his feet, and the foam dropping from his +bit. + +Half falling from the saddle, half supported by the reins, appeared the +form of a gallant young Cavalier; his naked sword still clasped in his +hand, but now fallen powerless and dragging by the side of the horse; +his head uncovered and thrown back, as if consciousness had almost left +him, and the blood flowing from a deep wound in his forehead, and +dripping amongst the thick curls of his dark brown hair. + +The charger rushed furiously on; but the Woodman caught the bridle as he +passed, and with some difficulty reined him in; while one of the +footmen lifted the young gentleman to the ground, and placed him at the +foot of a tree. + +The two ladies had not beheld this scene unconcerned; and were +descending from the carriage, when four or five servants in hunting +livery were seen issuing from the wood at the turn of the road, +contending with a very superior party of horsemen, whose rusty +equipments and wild anomalous sort of apparel, bespoke them free of the +forest by not the most honourable franchise. + +"Ride on, ride on!" cried the young lady to those who had come with her: +"Ride on and help them;" and she herself advanced to give aid to the +wounded Cavalier, whose eyes seemed now closed for ever. + +He was as handsome a youth as one might look upon: one of those forms +which we are fond to bestow upon the knights and heroes that we read of +in our early days, when unchecked fancy is always ready to give her +bright conceptions "a local habitation and a name." The young lady, +whose heart had never been taught to regulate its beatings by the +frigid rules of society, or the sharp scourge of disappointment, now +took the wounded man's head upon her knee, and gazed for an instant upon +his countenance, the deadly paleness of which appeared still more +ghastly from the red streams that trickled over it from the wound in his +forehead. She then attempted to staunch the blood, but the trembling of +her hands defeated her purpose, and rendered her assistance of but +little avail. + +The elder lady had hitherto been giving her directions to the footmen, +who remained with the carriage, while those on horseback rode on towards +the fray. "Stand to your arms, Michel!" cried she. "You take heed to the +coach. You three, draw up across the road, each with his arquebuse ready +to fire. Let none but the true men pass.--Fie! Pauline; I thought you +had a firmer heart." She continued, approaching the young lady, "Give me +the handkerchief.--That is a bad cut in his head, truly; but here is a +worse stab in his side." And she proceeded to unloose the gold loops of +his hunting-coat, that she might reach the wound. But that action +seemed to recall, in a degree, the senses of the wounded Cavalier. + +"Never! never!" he exclaimed, clasping his hand upon his side, and +thrusting her fingers away from him, with no very ceremonious +courtesy,--"never, while I have life." + +"I wish to do you no harm, young Sir, but good," replied the old +lady;--"I seek but to stop the bleeding of your side, which is draining +your heart dry." + +The wounded man looked faintly round, his senses still bewildered, +either by weakness from loss of blood, or from the stunning effects of +the blow on his forehead. He seemed, however, to have caught and +comprehended some of the words which the old lady addressed to him, and +answered them by a slight inclination of the head, but still kept his +hand upon the breast of his coat, as if he had some cause for wishing it +not to be opened. + +The time which had thus elapsed more than sufficed to bring the +horsemen, who had accompanied the carriage, (and who, as before stated, +had ridden on before) to the spot where the servants of the Cavalier +appeared contending with a party, not only greater in number, but +superior in arms. + +The reinforcement which thus arrived, gave a degree of equality to the +two parties, though the freebooters might still have retained the +advantage, had not one of their companions commanded them, in rather a +peremptory manner, to quit the conflict. This personage, we must remark, +was very different, in point of costume, from the forest gentry with +whom he herded for the time. His dress was a rich livery suit of Isabel +and silver; and indeed he might have been confounded with the other +party, had not his active co-operation with the banditti (or whatever +they might be) placed the matter beyond a doubt. + +Their obedience, also, to his commands showed, that if he were not the +instigator of the violence we have described, at least his influence +over his lawless companions was singularly powerful; for at a word from +him they drew off from a combat in which they were before engaged with +all the hungry fury of wolves eager for their prey; and retreated in +good order up the road, till its windings concealed them from the view +of the servants to whom they had been opposed. + +These last did not attempt to follow, but turning their horses, together +with those who had brought them such timely aid, galloped up to the spot +where their master lay. When they arrived, he had again fallen into a +state of apparent insensibility, and they all flocked round him with +looks of eager anxiety, which seemed to speak more heartfelt interest +than generally existed between the murmuring vassal and his feudal lord. + +One sprightly boy, who appeared to be his page, sprang like lightning +from the saddle, and kneeling by his side, gazed intently on his face, +as if to seek some trace of animation. "They have killed him!" he cried +at length, "I fear me they have killed him!" + +"No, he is not dead," answered the old lady; "but I wish, Sir Page, that +you would prevail on your master to open his coat, that we may staunch +that deep wound in his side." + +"No, no! that must not be," cried the boy quickly; "but I will tie my +scarf round the wound." So saying, he unloosed the rich scarf of blue +and gold, that passing over his right shoulder crossed his bosom till it +nearly reached the hilt of his sword, where forming a large knot it +covered the bucklings of his belt. This he bound tightly over the spot +in his master's side from whence the blood flowed; and then asked +thoughtfully, without raising his eyes, "But how shall we carry him to +St. Germain?" + +"In our carriage," said the young lady; "we are on our way thither, even +now." + +The sound of her voice made the Page start, for since his arrival on the +spot, he had scarcely noticed any one but his master, whose dangerous +situation seemed to occupy all his thoughts: but now there was something +in that sweet voice, with its soft Languedocian accent, which awakened +other ideas, and he turned his full sunny face towards the lady who +spoke. + +"Good heavens!" exclaimed she, as that glance showed her a countenance +not at all unfamiliar to her memory: "Is not this Henry de La Mothe, son +of our old farmer Louis?" + +"No other indeed, Mademoiselle Pauline," replied the boy; "though, +truly, I neither hoped nor expected to see you at such a moment as +this." + +"Then who"--demanded the young lady, clasping her hands with a look of +impatient anxiety--"in the name of heaven, tell me who is this!" + +For an instant, and but for an instant, a look of arch meaning played +over the boy's countenance; but it was like a flash of lightning on a +dark cloud, lost as quickly as it appeared, leaving a deep gloom behind +it, as his eye fell upon the inanimate form of his master. "That, +Madam," said he, while something glistened brightly, but sadly, in his +eye, "that is Claude Count de Blenau." + +Pauline spoke not, but there was a deadly paleness come upon her face, +which very plainly showed, how secondary a feeling is general +benevolence, compared with personal interest. + +"Is it possible?" exclaimed the elder lady, her brow darkening +thoughtfully. "Well, something must be done for him." + +The Page did not seem particularly well pleased with the tone in which +the lady spoke, and, in truth, it had betrayed more pride than +compassion. + +"The best thing that can be done for him, Madame la Marquise," answered +he, "is to put him in the carriage and convey him to St. Germain as soon +as possible, if you should not consider it too much trouble." + +"Trouble!" exclaimed Pauline; "trouble! Henry de La Mothe, do you think +that my mother or myself would find any thing a trouble, that could +serve Claude de Blenau, in such a situation?" + +"Hush, Pauline!" said her mother. "Of course we shall be glad to serve +the Count--Henry, help Michel and Regnard to place your master in the +carriage.--Michel, give me your arquebuse; I will hold it till you have +done.--Henry, support your master's head." + +But Pauline took that post upon herself, notwithstanding a look from the +Marchioness, if not intended to forbid, at least to disapprove. The +young lady, however, was too much agitated with all that had occurred to +remark her mother's looks, and following the first impulse of her +feelings, while the servants carried him slowly to the carriage, she +supported the head of the wounded Cavalier on her arm, though the blood +continued to flow from the wound in his forehead, and dripped amidst the +rich slashing of her Spanish sleeves, dabbling the satin with which it +was lined. + +"Oh Mademoiselle!" said the Page, when their task was accomplished, +"this has been a sad day's hunting. But if I might advise," he +continued, turning to the Marchioness, "the drivers must be told to go +with all speed." + +"Saucy as a page!" said the old lady, "is a proverb, and a good one. +Now, Monsieur La Mothe, I do not think the drivers must go with all +speed; for humbly deferring to your better opinion, it would shake your +master to death." + +The Page bit his lip, and his cheek grew somewhat red, in answer to the +high dame's rebuke, but he replied calmly, "You have seen, Madam, what +has happened to-day, and depend on it, if we be not speedy in getting +out of this accursed forest, we shall have the same good gentry upon us +again, and perhaps in greater numbers. Though they have wounded the +Count, they have not succeeded in their object; for he has still about +him that which they would hazard all to gain." + +"You are in the right, boy," answered the lady: "I was over-hasty. Go +in, Pauline. Henry, your master's horse must carry one of my footmen, of +whom the other three can mount behind the carriage--thus we shall go +quicker. You, with the Count's servants, mix with my horsemen, and keep +close round the coach; and now bid them, on, with all speed." Thus +saying, she entered the vehicle; and the rest having disposed +themselves according to her orders, the whole cavalcade was soon in +motion on the road to St. Germain. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + In which new characters are brought upon the stage, and some dark + hints given respecting them. + + +The sun had long gone down, and the large clear autumn moon had risen +high in his stead, throwing a paler, but a gentler light upon the wood +of Laye, and the rich wild forest-scenery bordering the road from St. +Germain to Mantes. The light, unable to pierce the deeper recesses of +the wood, fell principally upon those old and majestic trees, the +aristocracy of the forest, which, raising their heads high above their +brethren of more recent growth, seemed to look upon the beam in which +they shone, as the right of elder birth, and due alone to their aspiring +height. The deep shadows of their branches fell in long sombre shapes +across the inequalities of the road, leaving but glimpses every now and +then, to light the footsteps of whatever being might wander there at +that hour of silence. + +On one of those spots where the full beams fell, stood the cottage of +Philip, the woodman: and the humble hut with its straw thatch, the open +space of ground before it, with a felled oak which had lain there +undisturbed till a coat of soft green moss had grown thick over its +rugged bark, the little stream dammed up to afford a sufficient supply +of water for the horses, and the large square block of stone to aid the +traveller in mounting, all were displayed in the clear moonlight as +plainly as if the full day had shone upon them. + +Yet, however fair might be the night, there were very few who would have +chosen the beams of the moon to light them across the wood of Mantes. In +sooth, in those days sunshine was the best safeguard to travellers. For +France swarmed with those who gathered in their harvest at night, and +who (to use their own phrase) had turned their swords into +reaping-hooks. + +Two grand objects fully occupied the mind of that famous minister, the +Cardinal de Richelieu (who then governed the kingdom with almost +despotic sway): the prosecution of those mighty schemes of foreign +policy, which at the time shook many a throne, and in after years +changed more than one dynasty; and the establishment of his own power at +home, which, threatened by factions, and attacked by continual +conspiracies, was supported alone by the terror of his name, and the +favour of a weak and irresolute monarch. These more immediate calls upon +his attention gave him but little time to regulate the long-neglected +police of the country; and indeed it was whispered, that Richelieu not +only neglected, but knowingly tolerated many of the excesses of the +times; the perpetrators of which were often called upon to do some of +those good services which statesmen occasionally require of their less +circumspect servants. It was said too, that scarce a forest in France +but sheltered a band of these free rovers, who held themselves in +readiness to merit pardon for their other offences, by offending in the +State's behalf whenever it should be demanded, and in the mean time took +very sufficient care to do those things on their own account for which +they might be pardoned hereafter. + +We may suppose then, it rarely happened that travellers chose that hour +for passing through the wood of Mantes, and that those who did so were +seldom of the best description. But on the night I speak of, two +horsemen wound slowly along the road towards the cottage of the Woodman, +with a sort of sauntering, idle pace, as if thoughtless of danger, and +entirely occupied in their own conversation. + +They were totally unattended also, although their dress bespoke a high +station in society, and by its richness might have tempted a robber to +inquire farther into their circumstances. Both were well armed with +pistol, sword, and dagger, and appeared as stout cavaliers as ever +mounted horse, having, withal, that air of easy confidence, which is +generally the result of long familiarity with urgent and perilous +circumstances. + +Having come near the _abreuvoir_, one of the two gave his horse to drink +without dismounting, while the other alighted, and taking out the bit, +let his beast satisfy its thirst at liberty. As he did so, his eye +naturally glanced over the ground at the foot of the tree. Something +caught his attention; and stooping down to examine more closely, "Here +is blood, Chavigni!" he exclaimed; "surely, they have never been stupid +enough to do it here, within sight of this cottage." + +"I hope they have not done it at all, Lafemas," replied the other. "I +only told them to tie him, and search him thoroughly; but not to give +him a scratch, if they could avoid it." + +"Methinks, thou hast grown mighty ceremonious of late, and somewhat +merciful, Master Chavigni," replied his companion; "I remember the time, +when you were not so scrupulous. Would it not have been the wiser way, +to have quieted this young plotter at once, when your men had him in +their hands?" + +"Thou wert born in the Fauxbourg St. Antoine, I would swear, and served +apprenticeship to a butcher," replied Chavigni. "Why, thou art as fond +of blood, Lafemas, as if thou hadst sucked it in thy cradle! Tell me, +when thou wert an infant Hercules, didst thou not stick sheep, instead +of strangling serpents?" + +"Not more than yourself, lying villain!" answered the other in a quick +deep voice, making his hand sound upon the hilt of his sword. "Chavigni, +you have taunted me all along the road; you have cast in my teeth things +that you yourself caused me to do. Beware of yourself! Urge me not too +far, lest you leave your bones in the forest!" + +"Pshaw, man! pshaw!" cried Chavigni, laughing: "Here's a cool-headed +judge! Here's the calm placid Lafemas! Here's the Cardinal's gentle +hangman, who can condemn his dearest friends to the torture with the +same meek look that he puts on to say grace over a Beccafico, suddenly +metamorphosed into a bully and a bravo in the wood of Mantes.--But hark +ye, Sir Judge!" he added, in a prouder tone, tossing back the plumes of +his hat, which before hung partly over his face, and fixing his full +dark eye upon his companion, who still stood scowling upon him with +ill-repressed passion--"Hark ye, Sir Judge! Use no such language towards +me, if you seek not to try that same sharp axe you have so often ordered +for others. Suffice it for you to know, in the present instance, that it +was not the Cardinal's wish that the young man should be injured. _We_ +do not desire blood, but when the necessity of the State requires it to +be shed. Besides, man," and he gradually fell into his former jeering +tone--"besides, in future, under your gentle guidance, and a touch or +two of the _peine forte et dure_, this young nightingale may be taught +to sing, and, in short, be forced to tell us all he knows. Now do you +understand?" + +"I do, I do," replied Lafemas. "I thought that there was some deep, +damnable wile that made you spare him; and as to the rest, I did not +mean to offend you. But when a man condemns his own soul to serve you, +you should not taunt him, for it is hard to bear." + +"Peace! peace!" cried Chavigni, in a sharp tone; "let me hear no more in +this strain. Who raised you to what you are? We use you as you deserve; +we pay you for your services; we despise you for your meanness; and as +to your soul," he added with a sneer, "if you have any fears on that +head--why you shall have absolution. Are you not our dog, who worries +the game for us? We house and feed you, and you must take the lashes +when it suits us to give them. Remember, Sir, that your life is in my +hand! One word respecting the affair of Chalais mentioned to the +Cardinal, brings your head to the block! And now let us see what is this +blood you speak of?" + +So saying, he sprang from his horse, while Lafemas, as he had been +depicted by his companion, hung his head like a cowed hound, and in +sullen silence pointed out the blood, which had formed a little pool at +the foot of the tree, and stained the ground in several places round +about. + +Chavigni gazed at it with evident symptoms of displeasure and +uneasiness; for although, when he imagined that the necessities of the +State required the severest infliction on any offender, no one was more +ruthless than himself as to the punishment, no one more unhesitating as +to the means--although, at those times, no bond of amity, no tie of +kindred, would have stayed his hand, or restrained him in what he +erroneously considered his political duty; yet Chavigni was far from +naturally cruel; and, as his after life showed, even too susceptible of +the strongest and deepest affections of human nature. + +In his early youth, the Cardinal de Richelieu had remarked in him a +strong and penetrating mind; but above all, an extraordinary power of +governing and even subduing the ardent passions by which he was at times +excited. As son to the Count de Bouthilliers, one of the oldest members +of the Privy Council, the road to political preferment was open to +Chavigni; and Richelieu, ever fearful of aught that might diminish his +power, and careful to strengthen it by every means, resolved to bind the +young Count to his cause by the sure ties of early habit and mutual +interest. With this view he took him entirely under his own protection, +educated him in his own line of policy, instilled into him, as +principles, the deep stern maxims of his own mighty and unshrinking +mind, and having thus moulded him to his wish, called him early to the +council-table, and intrusted him with a greater share of his power and +confidence than he would have yielded to any other man. + +Chavigni repaid the Cardinal with heartfelt gratitude, with firm +adherence, and uncompromising service. In private life, he was +honourable, generous, and kind; but it was his axiom, that all must +yield to State necessity, or (as he said) in other words, to the good of +his country; and upon the strength of this maxim, which, in fact, was +the cause of every stain that rests upon his memory, he fancied himself +a patriot! + +Between Chavigni and the Judge Lafemas, who was the Jeffreys of his +country, and had received the name of _Le Bourreau du Cardinal_, existed +a sort of original antipathy; so that the Statesman, though often +obliged to make use of the less scrupulous talents of the Judge, and +even occasionally to associate with him, could never refrain for any +length of time from breaking forth into those bitter taunts which often +irritated Lafemas almost to frensy. The hatred of the Judge, on his +part, was not less strong, even at the times it did not show itself; and +he still brooded over the hope of exercising his ungentle functions upon +him who was at present, in a degree, his master. + +But to return, Chavigni gazed intently on the spot to which Lafemas +pointed. "I believe it is blood, indeed," said he, after a moment's +hesitation, as if the uncertainty of the light had made him doubt it at +first: "they shall rue the day that they shed it contrary to my +command. It is blood surely, Lafemas: is it not?" + +"Without a doubt," said Lafemas; "and it has been shed since mid-day." + +"You are critical in these things, I know," replied the other with a +cool sneer; "but we must hear more of this, Sir Judge, and ascertain +what news is stirring, before we go farther. Things might chance, which +would render it necessary that one or both of us should return to the +Cardinal. We will knock at this cottage and inquire.--Our story must +run, that we have lost our way in the wood, and need both rest and +direction." + +So saying, he struck several sharp blows with the hilt of his sword +against the door, whose rickety and unsonorous nature returned a +grumbling indistinct sound, as if it too had shared the sleep of the +peaceable inhabitants of the cottage, and loved not to be disturbed by +such nocturnal visitations. "So ho!" cried Chavigni; "will no one hear +us poor travellers, who have lost our way in this forest!" + +In a moment after, the head of Philip, the woodman, appeared at the +little casement by the side of the door, examining the strangers, on +whose figures fell the full beams of the moon, with quite sufficient +light to display the courtly form and garnishing of their apparel, and +to show that they were no dangerous guests. "What would ye, Messieurs?" +demanded he, through the open window: "it is late for travellers." + +"We have lost our way in your wood," replied Chavigni, "and would fain +have a little rest, and some direction for our farther progress. We will +pay thee well, good man, for thy hospitality." + +"There is no need of payment, Sir," said the Woodman, opening the door. +"Come in, I pray, Messieurs.--Charles!" he added, calling to his son, +"get up and tend these gentlemen's horses. Get up, I say, Sir Sluggard!" + +The boy crept sleepily out of the room beyond, and went to give some of +the forest-hay to the beasts which had borne the strangers thither, and +which gave but little signs of needing either rest or refreshment. In +the mean while, his father drew two large yew-tree seats to the +fire-side, soon blew the white ashes on the hearth into a flame, and +having invited his guests to sit, and lighted the old brazen lamp that +hung above the chimney, he bowed low, asking how he could serve them +farther; but as he did so, his eye ran over their persons with a +half-satisfied and inquiring glance, which made Lafemas turn away his +head. But Chavigni answered promptly to his offer of service: "Why now, +good friend, if thou couldst give us a jug of wine, 'twould be well and +kindly done, for we have ridden far." + +"This is no inn, Sir," replied Philip, "and you will find my wine but +thin: nevertheless, such as it is, most welcomely shall you taste." + +From whatever motive it proceeded, Philip's hospitality was but lukewarm +towards the strangers; and the manner in which he rinsed out the +tankard, drew the wine from a _barrique_ standing in one corner of the +room, half covered with a wolf-skin, and placed it on a table by the +side of Chavigni, bespoke more churlish rudeness than good-will. But the +Statesman heeded little either the quality of his reception or of his +wine, provided he could obtain the information he desired; so, carrying +the tankard to his lips, he drank, or seemed to drink, as deep a draught +as if its contents had been the produce of the best vineyard in Medoc. +"It is excellent," said he, handing it to Lafemas, "or my thirst does +wonders. Now, good friend, if we had some venison-steaks to broil on +your clear ashes, our supper were complete." + +"Such I have not to offer, Sir," replied Philip, "or to that you should +be welcome too." + +"Why, I should have thought," said Chavigni, "the hunters who ran down a +stag at your door to-day, should have left you a part, as the woodman's +fee." + +"Do you know those hunters, Sir?" demanded Philip, with some degree of +emphasis. + +"Not I, in truth," replied Chavigni; though the colour rose in his +cheek, notwithstanding his long training to courtly wile and political +intrigue, and he thanked his stars that the lamp gave but a faint and +glimmering light: "Not I, in truth; but whoever ran him down got a good +beast, for he bled like a stag of ten. I suppose they made the _curée_ +at your door?" + +"Those hunters, Sir," replied Philip, "give no woodman's fees; and as to +the stag, he is as fine a one as ever brushed the forest dew, but he has +escaped them this time." + +"How! did he get off with his throat cut?" demanded Chavigni, "for there +is blood enough at the foot of yon old tree, to have drained the +stoutest stag that ever was brought to bay." + +"Oh! but that is not stag's blood!" interrupted Charles, the woodman's +son, who had by this time not only tended the strangers' horses, but +examined every point of the quaint furniture with which it was the +fashion of the day to adorn them. "That is not stag's blood; that is the +blood of the young Cavalier, who was hurt by the robbers, and taken away +by--" + +At this moment the boy's eye caught the impatient expression of his +father's countenance. + +"The truth is, Messieurs," said Philip, taking up the discourse, "there +was a gentleman wounded in the forest this morning. I never saw him +before, and he was taken away in a carriage by some ladies, whose faces +were equally strange to me." + +"You have been somewhat mysterious upon this business, Sir Woodman," +said Chavigni, his brow darkening as he spoke; "why were you so tardy in +giving us this forest news, which imports all strangers travelling +through the wood to know?" + +"I hold it as a rule," replied Philip boldly, "to mind my own business, +and never to mention any thing I see; which in this affair I shall do +more especially, as one of the robbers had furniture of Isabel and +silver;" and as he spoke he glanced his eye to the scarf of Chavigni, +which was of that peculiar mixture of colours then called Isabel, +bordered by a rich silver fringe. + +"Fool!" muttered Chavigni between his teeth; "Fool! what need had he to +show himself?" + +Lafemas, who had hitherto been silent, now came to the relief of his +companion: taking up the conversation in a mild and easy tone, "Have you +many of these robbing fraternity in your wood?" said he; "if so, I +suppose we peril ourselves in crossing it alone." And, without waiting +for any answer, he proceeded, "Pray, who was the cavalier they +attacked?" + +"He was a stranger from St. Germain," answered the Woodman; "and as to +the robbers, I doubt that they will show themselves again, for fear of +being taken." + +"They did not rob him then?" said the Judge. Now nothing that Philip had +said bore out this inference; but Lafemas possessed in a high degree the +talent of cross-examination, and was deeply versed in all the thousand +arts of entangling a witness, or leading a prisoner to condemn himself. +But there was a stern reserve about the Woodman which baffled the +Judge's cunning: "I only saw the last part of the fray," replied Philip, +"and therefore know not what went before." + +"Where was he hurt?" asked Lafemas; "for he lost much blood." + +"On the head and in the side," answered the Woodman. + +"Poor youth!" cried the Judge in a pitiful tone. "And when you opened +his coat, was the wound a deep one?" + +"I cannot judge," replied Philip, "being no surgeon." + +It was in vain that Lafemas tried all his wiles on the Woodman, and that +Chavigni, who soon joined in the conversation, questioned him more +boldly. Philip was in no communicative mood, and yielded them but little +information respecting the events of the morning. + +At length, weary of this fruitless interrogation, Chavigni started +up--"Well, friend!" said he, "had there been danger in crossing the +forest, we might have stayed with thee till daybreak; but, as thou +sayest there is none, we will hence upon our way." So saying he strode +towards the door, the flame-shaped mullets of his gilded spurs jingling +over the brick-floor of Philip's dwelling, and calling the Woodman's +attention to the knightly rank of his departing guest. In a few minutes +all was prepared for their departure, and having mounted their horses, +the Statesman drew forth a small silk purse tied with a loop of gold, +and holding it forth to Philip, bade him accept it for his services. The +Woodman bowed, repeating that he required no payment. + +"I am not accustomed to have my bounty refused," said Chavigni proudly; +and dropping the purse to the ground, he spurred forward his horse. + +"Now, Lafemas," said he, when they had proceeded so far as to be beyond +the reach of Philip's ears, "what think you of this?" + +"Why, truly," replied the Judge, "I deem that we are mighty near as wise +as we were before." + +"Not so," said Chavigni. "It is clear enough these fellows have failed, +and De Blenau has preserved the packet: I understand it all. His +Eminence of Richelieu, against my advice, has permitted Madame de +Beaumont and her daughter Pauline to return to the Queen, after an +absence of ten years. The fact is, that when the Cardinal banished them +the Court, and ordered the Marchioness to retire to Languedoc, his views +were not so extended as they are now, and he had laid out in his own +mind a match between one of his nieces and this rich young Count de +Blenau; which, out of the royal family, was one of the best alliances in +France. The boy, however, had been promised, and even, I believe, +affianced by his father, to this Pauline de Beaumont; and accordingly +his Eminence sent away the girl and her mother, with the same +_sangfroid_ that a man drives a strange dog out of his court-yard; at +the same time he kept the youth at Court, forbidding all communication +with Languedoc: but now that the Cardinal can match his niece to the +Duke D'Enghien, De Blenau may look for a bride where he lists, and the +Marquise and her daughter have been suffered to return. To my knowledge, +they passed through Chartres yesterday morning on their way to St. +Germain." + +"But what have these to do with the present affair?" demanded Lafemas. + +"Why thus has it happened," continued Chavigni. "The youth has been +attacked. He has resisted, and been wounded. Just then, up come these +women, travelling through the forest with a troop of servants, who join +with the Count, and drive our poor friends to cover. This is what I have +drawn from the discourse of yon surly Woodman." + +"You mean, from your own knowledge of the business," replied Lafemas, +"for he would confess nothing." + +"Confess, man!" exclaimed Chavigni.--"Why he did not know that he was +before a confessor, and still less before a Judge, though thou wouldest +fain have put him to the question. I saw your lip quivering with anxiety +to order him the torture; rack, and thumb-screw, and _oubliette_ were +in your eye, every sullen answer he gave." + +"Were it not as well to get him out of the way?" demanded Lafemas. "He +remarked your livery, Chavigni, and may blab." + +"Short-sighted mole!" replied his companion. "The very sulkiness of +humour which has called down on him thy rage, will shield him from my +fears--which might be quite as dangerous. He that is so close in one +thing, depend upon it, will be close in another. Besides, unless he +tells it to the trees, or the jays, or the wild boars, whom should he +tell it to? I would bet a thousand crowns against the Prince de Conti's +brains, or the Archbishop Coadjutor's religion, or Madame de +Chevreuse's--reputation, or against any thing else that is worth +nothing, that this good Woodman sees no human shape for the next ten +years, and then all that passes between them will be, "Good day, +Woodman!'--'Good day, Sir!'--and he mimicked the deep voice of him of +whom they spoke. But, notwithstanding this appearance of gaiety, +Chavigni was not easy; and even while he spoke, he rode on with no small +precipitation, till, turning into a narrow forest path, the light of the +moon, which had illuminated the greater part of the high road, was cut +off entirely by the trees, and the deep gloom obliged them to be more +cautious in proceeding. At length, however, they came to a little +savanna, surrounded by high oaks, where Chavigni entirely reined in his +horse, and blew a single note on his horn, which was soon answered by a +similar sound at some distance. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + Which shows what a French forest was at night, and who inhabited + it. + + +Those whom either the love of sylvan sports, or that calm meditative +charm inherent to wood scenery, has tempted to explore the deeper +recesses of the forest, must be well aware that many particular glades +and coverts will often lie secret and undiscovered, amidst the mazes of +the leafy labyrinth, even to the eyes of those long accustomed to +investigate its most intricate windings. In those countries where forest +hunting is a frequent sport, I have more than once found myself led on +into scenes completely new, when I had fancied that long experience had +made me fully acquainted with every rood of the woodland round about, +and have often met with no small trouble in retracing the spot, although +I took all pains to observe the way thither, and fix its distinctive +marks in my memory. + +In the heart of the forest of St. Germain, at a considerable distance +from any of the roads, or even by-paths of the wood, lay a deep dingle +or dell, which probably had been a gravel-pit many centuries before, and +might have furnished forth sand to strew the halls of Charlemagne, for +aught I know to the contrary. However, so many ages had elapsed since it +had been employed for such purpose, that many a stout oak had sprung, +and flourished, and withered round about it, and had left the ruins of +their once princely forms crumbling on its brink. At the time I speak +of, a considerable part of the dell itself was filled up with tangled +brush-wood, which a long hot season had stripped and withered; and over +the edge hung a quantity of dry shrubs and stunted trees, forming a +thick screen over the wild recess below. + +One side, and one side only, was free of access, and this was by means +of a small sandy path winding down into the bottom of the dell, between +two deep banks, which assumed almost the appearance of cliffs as the +road descended. This little footway conducted, it is true, into the most +profound part of the hollow, but then immediately lost itself in the +thick underwood, through which none but a very practised eye would have +discovered the means of entering a deep lair of ground, sheltered by the +steep bank and its superincumbent trees on one side, and concealed by a +screen of wood on every other. + +On the night I have mentioned, this well concealed retreat was tenanted +by a group of men, whose wild attire harmonized perfectly with the +rudeness of the scene around. The apparel of almost every class was +discernible among them, but each vesture plainly showed, that it had +long passed that epoch generally termed "better days;" and indeed, the +more costly had been their original nature, the greater was their +present state of degradation. So that what had once been the suit of +some gay cavalier of the court, and which doubtless had shone as such in +the circles of the bright and the fair, having since passed through the +hands of the page, who had perhaps used it to personate his master, and +the _fripier_, who had tried hard to restore it to a degree of lustre, +and the poor petitioner who had bought it and borne it second-hand to +court, and lost both his labour and his money--having passed through +these, and perhaps a thousand other hands, it had gradually acquired +that sort of undefinable tint, which ought properly to be called old-age +colour, and at present served, and only served, to keep its owner from +the winds of heaven. At the same time the buff jerkin which covered the +broad shoulders of another hard by, though it had never boasted much +finery, had escaped with only a few rusty stains from its former +intimacy with a steel cuirass, and a slight greasy gloss upon the left +side, which indicated its owner's habit of laying his hand upon his +sword. + +Here, too, every sort of offensive weapon was to be met with. The long +Toledo blade with its basket hilt and black scabbard tipped with steel; +the double-handed heavy sword, which during the wars of the League had +often steaded well the troops of Henry the Fourth, when attacked by the +superior cavalry of the Dukes of Guise and Mayenne, and which had been +but little used since; the poniard, the stiletto, the heavy petronel, or +horse pistol, and the smaller girdle pistol, which had been but lately +introduced, were all to be seen, either as accompaniments to the dress +of some of the party, or scattered about on the ground, where they had +been placed for greater convenience. + +The accoutrements of these denizens of the forest were kept in +countenance by every other accessory circumstance of appearance; and a +torch stuck in the sand in the midst, glared upon features which +Salvator might have loved to trace. It was not alone the negligence of +personal appearance, shown in their long dishevelled hair and untrimmed +beards, which rendered them savagely picturesque, but many a furious +passion had there written deep traces of its unbounded sway, and marked +them with that wild undefinable expression, which habitual vice and +lawless licence are sure to leave behind in their course. + +At the moment I speak of, wine had been circulating very freely amongst +the robbers; for such indeed they were. Some were sleeping, either with +their hands clasped over their knees and their heads drooping down to +meet them, or stretched more at their ease under the trees, snoring loud +in answer to the wind, that whistled through the branches. Some sat +gazing with a wise sententious look on the empty gourds, many of which, +fashioned into bottles, lay scattered about upon the ground: and two or +three, who had either drunk less of the potent liquor, or whose heads +were better calculated to resist its effects than the rest, sat +clustered together singing and chatting by turns, arrived exactly at +that point of ebriety, where a man's real character shows itself, +notwithstanding all his efforts to conceal it. + +The buff jerkin we have spoken of, covered the shoulders of one among +this little knot of choice spirits, who still woke to revel after sleep +had laid his leaden mace upon their companions; and it may be remarked, +that a pair of broader shoulders are rarely to be seen than those so +covered. + +Wouvermans is said to have been very much puzzled by a figure in one of +his pictures, which, notwithstanding all his efforts, he could never +_keep down_ (as painters express it). Whatever he did, that one figure +was always salient, and more prominent than the artist intended; nor was +it till he had half blotted it out, that he discovered its original +defect was being too large. Something like Wouvermans' figure, the +freebooter I speak of, stood conspicuous amongst the others, from the +Herculean proportion of his limbs; but he had, in addition, other +qualities to distinguish him from the rest. His brow was broad, and of +that peculiar form to which physiognomists have attached the idea of a +strong determined spirit; at the same time, the clear sparkle of his +blue Norman eye bespoke an impetuous, but not a depraved mind. + +A deep scar was apparent on his left cheek; and the wound which had been +its progenitor, was most probably the cause of a sneering turn in the +corner of his mouth, which, with a bold expression of daring confidence, +completed the mute history that his face afforded, of a life spent in +arms, or well, or ill, as circumstances prompted,--an unshrinking heart, +which dared every personal evil, and a bright but unprincipled mind, +which followed no dictates but the passions of the moment. + +He was now in his gayest mood, and holding a horn in his hand, trolled +forth an old French ditty, seeming confident of pleasing, or perhaps +careless whether he pleased or not. + + "Thou'rt an ass, Robin, thou'rt an ass, + To think that great men be + More gay than I that lie on the grass + Under the greenwood tree. + I tell thee no, I tell thee no, + The Great are slaves to their gilded show. + + Now tell me, Robin, tell me, + Are the ceilings of gay saloons + So richly wrought as yon sky we see, + Or their glitter so bright as the moon's? + I tell thee no, I tell thee no, + The Great are slaves to their gilded show. + + Say not nay, Robin, say not nay! + There is never a heart so free, + In the vest of gold, and the palace gay, + As in buff 'neath the forest tree. + I tell thee yea, I tell thee yea, + The Great were made for the poor man's prey." + +So sang the owner of the buff jerkin, and his song met with more or less +applause from his companions, according to the particular humour of +each. One only amongst the freebooters seemed scarcely to participate in +the merriment. He had drunk as deeply as the rest, but he appeared +neither gay, nor stupid, nor sleepy; and while the tall Norman sang, he +cast, from time to time, a calm sneering glance upon the singer, which +showed no especial love, either for the music, or musician. + +"You sing about prey," said he, as the other concluded the last stanza +of his ditty--"You sing about prey, and yet you are no great falcon, +after all; if we may judge from to-day." + +"And why not, Monsieur Pierrepont Le Blanc?" demanded the Norman, +without displaying aught of ill-humour in his countenance: "though they +ought to have called you Monsieur Le Noir--Mr. Black, not Mr. +White.--Nay, do not frown, good comrade; I speak but of your beard, not +of your heart. What, art thou still grumbling, because we did not cut +the young Count's throat outright?" + +"Nay, not for that," answered the other, "but because we have lost the +best man amongst us, for want of his being well seconded." + +"You lie, Parbleu!" cried the Norman, drawing his sword, and fixing his +thumb upon a stain, about three inches from the point. "Did not I lend +the youth so much of my iron toothpick? and would have sent it through +him, if his horse had not carried him away. But I know you, Master +Buccaneer--You would have had me stab him behind, while Mortagne slashed +his head before. That would have been a fit task for a Norman +gentleman, and a soldier! I whose life he saved too!" + +"Did you not swear, when you joined our troop," demanded the other, "to +forget every thing that went before?" + +The Norman hesitated; he well remembered his oath, against which the +better feelings of his heart were perhaps sometimes rebellious. He felt, +too, confused at the direct appeal the other had made to it; and to pass +it by, he caught at the word forget, answering with a stave of the +song-- + + "Forget! forget! let slaves forget + The pangs and chains they bear; + The brave remember every debt + To honour, and the fair. + For these are bonds that bind us more, + Yet leave us freer than before. + +"Yes, let those that can do so, forget: but I very well remember, at the +battle at Perpignan, I had charged with the advance guard, when the fire +of the enemy's musketeers, and a masked battery which began to enfilade +our line, soon threw our left flank into disorder, and a charge of +cavalry drove back De Coucy's troop. Mielleraye's standard was in the +hands of the enemy, when I and five others rallied to rescue it. A +gloomy old Spaniard fired his petronel and disabled my left arm, but +still I held the standard-pole with my right, keeping the standard +before me; but my Don drew his long Toledo, and had got the point to my +breast, just going to run it through me and standard and all, as I've +often spitted a duck's liver and a piece of bacon on a skewer; when, +turning round my head, to see if no help was near, I perceived this +young Count de Blenau's banderol, coming like lightning over the field, +and driving all before it; and blue and gold were then the best colours +that ever I saw, for they gave me new heart, and wrenching the +standard-pole round--But hark, there is the horn!" + +As he spoke, the clear full note of a hunting-horn came swelling from +the south-west; and in a moment after, another, much nearer to them, +seemed to answer the first. Each, after giving breath to one solitary +note, relapsed into silence; and such of the robbers as were awake, +having listened till the signal met with a reply, bestirred themselves +to rouse their sleeping companions, and to put some face of order upon +the disarray which their revels had left behind. + +"Now, Sir Norman," cried he that they distinguished by the name of Le +Blanc; "we shall see how Monseigneur rates your slackness in his cause. +Will you tell him your long story of the siege of Perpignan?" + +"Pardie!" cried the other, "I care no more for him, than I do for you. +Every man that stands before me on forest ground is but a man, and I +will treat him as such." + +"Ha! ha! ha!" exclaimed his companion; "it were good to see thee bully a +privy counsellor; why, thou darest as soon take a lion by the beard." + +"I dare pass my sword through his heart, were there need," answered the +Norman; "but here they come,--stand you aside and let me deal with him." + +Approaching steps, and a rustling sound in the thick screen of wood +already mentioned, as the long boughs were forced back by the passage +of some person along the narrow pathway, announced the arrival of those +for whom the robbers had been waiting. + +"Why, it is as dark as the pit of Acheron!" cried a deep voice amongst +the trees. "Are we never to reach the light I saw from above? Oh, here +it is.--Chauvelin, hold back that bough, it has caught my cloak." As the +speaker uttered the last words, an armed servant, in Isabel and silver, +appeared at the entrance of the path, holding back the stray branches, +while Chavigni himself advanced into the circle of robbers, who stood +grouped around in strange picturesque attitudes, some advancing boldly, +as if to confront the daring stranger that thus intruded on their +haunts, some gazing with a kind of curiosity upon the being so different +from themselves, who had thus placed himself in sudden contact with +them, some lowering upon him with bended heads, like wolves when they +encounter a nobler beast of prey. + +The Statesman himself advanced in silence; and, with something of a +frown upon his brow, glanced his eye firmly over every face around, nor +was there an eye amongst them that did not sink before the stern +commanding fire of his, as it rested for a moment upon the countenance +of each, seeming calmly to construe the expression of the features, and +read into the soul beneath, as we often see a student turn over the +pages of some foreign book, and collect their meaning at a glance. + +"Well, Sirs," said he at length, "my knave tells me, that ye have failed +in executing my commands." + +The Norman we have somewhat minutely described heretofore, now began to +excuse himself and his fellows; and was proceeding to set forth that +they had done all which came within their power and province to do, and +was also engaged in stating, that no man could do more, when Chavigni +interrupted him. "Silence!" cried he, with but little apparent respect +for these lords of the forest, "I blame ye not for not doing more than +ye could do; but how dare ye, mongrel bloodhounds, to disobey my strict +commands? and when I bade ye abstain from injuring the youth, how is it +ye have mangled him like a stag torn by the wolves?" + +The Norman turned with a look of subdued triumph towards him who had +previously censured his forbearance. "Speak, speak, Le Blanc!" cried he; +"answer Monseigneur.--Well," continued he, as the other drew back, "the +truth is this, Sir Count: we were divided in opinion with respect to the +best method of fulfilling your commands, so we called a council of +war--" + +"A council of war!" repeated Chavigni, his lip curling into an ineffable +sneer. "Well, proceed, proceed! You are a Norman, I presume--and +braggart, I perceive.--Proceed, Sir, proceed!" + +Be it remarked, that by this time the influence of Chavigni's first +appearance had greatly worn away from the mind of the Norman. The +commanding dignity of the Statesman, though it still, in a degree, +overawed, had lost the effect of novelty; and the bold heart of the +freebooter began to reproach him for truckling to a being who was +inferior to himself, according to his estimate of human dignities--an +estimate formed not alone on personal courage, but also on personal +strength. + +However, as we have said, he was, in some measure, overawed; and though +he would have done much to prove his daring in the sight of his +companions, his mind was not yet sufficiently wrought up to shake off +all respect, and he answered boldly, but calmly, "Well, Sir Count, give +me your patience, and you shall hear. But my story must be told my own +way, or not at all. We called a council of war, then, where every man +gave his opinion, and my voice was for shooting Monsieur de Blenau's +horse as he rode by, and then taking advantage of the confusion among +his lackeys, to seize upon his person, and carrying him into St. +Herman's brake, which lies between Le Croix de bois and the river--You +know where I mean, Monseigneur?" + +"No, truly," answered the Statesman; "but, as I guess, some deep part of +the forest, where you could have searched him at your ease--The plan +was a good one. Why went it not forward?" + +"You shall hear in good time," answered the freebooter, growing somewhat +more familiar in his tone. "As you say, St. Herman's brake is deep +enough in the forest--and if we had once housed him there, we might have +searched him from top to toe for the packet--ay, and looked in his +mouth, if we found it no where else. But the first objection was, that +an arquebuse, though a very pretty weapon, and pleasant serviceable +companion in broad brawl and battle, talks too loud for secret service, +and the noise thereof might put the Count's people on their guard before +we secured his person. However, they say '_a Norman cow can always get +over a stile_,' so I offered to do the business with yon arbalete;" and +he pointed to a steel cross-bow lying near, of that peculiar shape which +seems to unite the properties of the cross-bow and gun, propelling the +ball or bolt by means of the stiff arched spring and cord, by which +little noise is made, while the aim is rendered more certain by a long +tube similar to the barrel of a musket, through which the shot passes. + +"When was I ever known to miss my aim?" continued the Norman. "Why, I +always shoot my stags in the eye, for fear of hurting the skin. However, +Mortagne--your old friend, Monsieur de Chavigni--who was a sort of band +captain amongst us, loved blood, as you know, like an unreclaimed +falcon; besides, he had some old grudge against the Count, who turned +him out of the Queen's anteroom, when he was Ancient in the Cardinal's +guard. He it was who over-ruled my proposal. He would have shot him +willingly enough, but your gentleman would not hear of that; so we +attacked the Count's train, at the turn of the road--boldly, and in the +face. Mortagne was lucky enough to get a fair cut at his head, which +slashed through his beaver, and laid his skull bare, but went no +farther, only serving to make the youth as savage as a hurt boar; for I +had only time to see his hand laid upon his sword, when its cross was +knocking against Mortagne's ribs before, and the point shining out +between his blade-bones behind. It was done in the twinkling of an eye." + +"He is a gallant youth," said Chavigni; "he always was from a boy; but +where is your wounded companion?" + +"Wounded!" cried the Norman. "Odds life! he's dead. It was enough to +have killed the Devil. There he lies, poor fellow, wrapped in his cloak. +Will you please to look upon him, Sir Counsellor?" and snatching up one +of the torches, he approached the spot where the dead man lay, under a +bank covered with withered brush-wood and stunted trees. + +Chavigni followed with a slow step and gloomy brow, the robbers drawing +back at his approach; for though they held high birth in but little +respect, the redoubted name and fearless bearing of the Statesman had +power over even their ungoverned spirits. He, however, who had been +called Pierrepont Le Blanc by the tall Norman, twitched his companion by +the sleeve as he lighted Chavigni on. "A cowed hound, Norman!" +whispered he--"thou hast felt the lash--a cowed hound!" + +The Norman glanced on him a look of fire, but passing on in silence, he +disengaged the mantle from the corpse, and displayed the face of his +dead companion, whose calm closed eyes and unruffled features might have +been supposed to picture quiet sleep, had not the ashy paleness of his +cheek, and the drop of the under-jaw, told that the soul no longer +tenanted its earthly dwelling. The bosom of the unfortunate man remained +open, in the state in which his comrades had left it, after an +ineffectual attempt to give him aid; and in the left side appeared a +small wound, where the weapon of his opponent had found entrance, so +trifling in appearance, that it seemed a marvel how so little a thing +could overthrow the prodigious strength which those limbs announced, and +rob them of that hardy spirit which animated them some few hours before. + +Chavigni gazed upon him, with his arms crossed upon his breast, and for +a moment his mind wandered far into those paths, to which such a sight +naturally directs the course of our ideas, till, his thoughts losing +themselves in the uncertainty of the void before them, by a sudden +effort he recalled them to the business in which he was immediately +engaged. + +"Well, he has bitterly expiated the disobedience of my commands; but +tell me," he said, turning to the Norman, who still continued to hold +the torch over the dead man, "how is it ye have dared to force my +servant to show himself, and my liveries, in this attack, contrary to my +special order?" + +"That is easily told," answered the Norman, assuming a tone equally bold +and peremptory with that of the Statesman. "Thus it stands, Sir Count: +you men of quality often employ us nobility of the forest to do what you +either cannot, or dare not do for yourselves; then, if all goes well, +you pay us scantily for our pains; if it goes ill, you hang us for your +own doings. But we will have none of that. If we are to be falcons for +your game, we will risk the stroke of the heron's bill, but we will not +have our necks wrung after we have struck the prey. When your lackey was +present, it was your deed. Mark ye that, Sir Counsellor?" + +"Villain, thou art insolent!" cried Chavigni, forgetting, in the height +of passion, the fearful odds against him, in case of quarrel at such a +moment. "How dare you, slave, to--" + +"Villain! and slave!" cried the Norman, interrupting him, and laying his +hand on his sword. "Know, proud Sir, that I dare any thing. You are now +in the green forest, not at council-board, to prate of daring." + +Chavigni's dignity, like his prudence, became lost in his anger. +"Boasting Norman coward!" cried he, "who had not even courage, when he +saw his leader slain before his face--" + +The Norman threw the torch from his hand, and drew his weapon; but +Chavigni's sword sprang in a moment from the scabbard. He was, perhaps, +the best swordsman of his day; and before his servant (who advanced, +calling loudly to Lafemas to come forth from the wood where he had +remained from the first) could approach, or the robbers could show any +signs of taking part in the fray, the blades of the statesman and the +freebooter had crossed, and, maugre the Norman's vast strength, his +weapon was instantly wrenched from his hand, and, flying over the heads +of his companions, struck against the bank above. + +Chavigni drew back, as if to pass his sword through the body of his +opponent; but the one moment he had been thus engaged, gave time for +reflection on the imprudence of his conduct, and calmly returning his +sword to its sheath, "Thou art no coward, after all," said he, +addressing the Norman in a softened tone of voice; "but trust me, +friend, that boasting graces but little a brave man. As for the rest, it +is no disgrace to have measured swords with Chavigni." + +The Norman was one of those men so totally unaccustomed to command their +passions, that, like slaves who have thrown off their chains, each +struggles for the mastery, obtains it for a moment, and is again +deprived of power by some one more violent still. + +The dignity of the Statesman's manner, the apparent generosity of his +conduct, and the degree of gentleness with which he spoke, acted upon +the feelings of the Norman, like the waves of the sea when they meet the +waters of the Dordogne, driving them back even to their very source with +irresistible violence. An unwonted tear trembled in his eye. +"Monseigneur, I have done foul wrong," said he, "in thus urging you, +when you trusted yourself amongst us. But you have punished me more by +your forbearance, than if you had passed your sword through my body." + +"Ha! such thoughts in a freebooter!" cried Chavigni. "Friend, this is +not thy right trade. But what means all this smoke that gathers round +us?--Surely those bushes are on fire;--see the sparks how they rise!" + +His remark called the eyes of all upon that part of the dingle, into +which the Norman had incautiously thrown his torch, on drawing his +sword upon the Statesman. Continued sparks, mingled with a thick cloud +of smoke, were rising quickly from it, showing plainly that the fire had +caught some of the dry bushes thereabout; and in a moment after a bright +flame burst forth, speedily communicating itself to the old withered +oaks round the spot, and threatening to spread destruction into the +heart of the forest. + +In an instant all the robbers were engaged in the most strenuous +endeavours to extinguish the fire; but the distance, to which the vast +strength of the Norman had hurled the torch among the bushes, rendered +all access extremely difficult. No water was to be procured, and the +means they employed, that of cutting down the smaller trees and bushes +with their swords and axes, instead of opposing any obstacle to the +flames, seemed rather to accelerate their progress. From bush to bush, +from tree to tree, the impetuous element spread on, till, finding +themselves almost girt in by the fire, the heat and smoke of which were +becoming too intense for endurance, the robbers abandoned their useless +efforts to extinguish it, and hurried to gather up their scattered arms +and garments, before the flames reached the spot of their late revels. + +The Norman, however, together with Chavigni and his servant, still +continued their exertions; and even Lafemas, who had come forth from his +hiding-place, gave some awkward assistance; when suddenly the Norman +stopped, put his hand to his ear, to aid his hearing amidst the cracking +of the wood and the roaring of the flames, and exclaimed, "I hear horse +upon the hill--follow me, Monseigneur. St. Patrice guide us! this is a +bad business:--follow me!" So saying, three steps brought him to the +flat below, where his companions were still engaged in gathering +together all they had left on the ground. + +"Messieurs!" he cried to the robbers, "leave all useless lumber; I hear +horses coming down the hill. It must be a lieutenant of the forest, and +the _gardes champétres_, alarmed by the fire--Seek your horses, +quick!--each his own way. We meet at St. Herman's brake--You, +Monseigneur, follow me, I will be your guide; but dally not, Sir, if, +as I guess, you would rather be deemed in the Rue St. Honoré, than in +the Forest of St. Germain." + +So saying, he drew aside the boughs, disclosing a path somewhat to the +right of that by which Chavigni had entered their retreat, and which +apparently led to the high sand-cliff which flanked it on the north. The +Statesman, with his servant and Lafemas, followed quickly upon his +steps, only lighted by the occasional gleam of the flames, as they +flashed and flickered through the foliage of the trees. + +Having to struggle every moment with the low branches of the hazel and +the tangled briars that shot across the path, it was some time ere they +reached the bank, and there the footway they had hitherto followed +seemed to end. "Here are steps," said the Norman, in a low voice; "hold +by the boughs, Monseigneur, lest your footing fail. Here is the first +step." + +The ascent was not difficult, and in a few minutes they had lost sight +of the dingle and the flames by which it was surrounded; only every now +and then, where the branches opened, a broad red light fell upon their +path, telling that the fire still raged with unabated fury. A moment or +two after, they could perceive that the track entered upon a small +savanna, on which the moon was still shining, her beams showing with a +strange sickly light, mingled as they were with the fitful gleams of the +flames and the red reflection of the sky. The whole of this small plain, +however, was quite sufficiently illuminated to allow Chavigni and his +companion to distinguish two horses fastened by their bridles to a tree +hard by; and a momentary glance convinced the Statesman, that the spot +where he and Lafemas had left their beasts, was again before him, +although he had arrived there by another and much shorter path than that +by which he had been conducted to the rendezvous. + +"We have left all danger behind us, Monseigneur," said the robber, after +having carefully examined the savanna, to ascertain that no spy lurked +amongst the trees around. "The flies are all swarming round the flames. +There stand your horses--mount, and good speed attend you! Your servant +must go with me, for our beasts are not so nigh." + +Chavigni whispered a word in the robber's ear, who in return bowed low, +with an air of profound respect. "I will attend your Lordship--" replied +he, "--and without fear." + +"You may do so in safety," said the Statesman, and mounting his horse, +after waiting a moment for the Judge, he took his way once more towards +the high road to St. Germain. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + In which the learned reader will discover that it is easy to raise + suspicions without any cause, and that royalty is not patent + against superstition. + + +We must now return to the principal personage of our history, and +accompany him on his way towards St. Germain, whither he was wending +when last we left him. + +There are some authors fond of holding their readers in suspense, of +bringing them into unexpected situations, and surprising them into +applause. All such things are extremely appropriate in a novel or +romance; but as this is a true and authentic history, and as eke I +detest what theatrical folks call "claptrap," I shall proceed to record +the facts in the order in which they took place, as nearly as it is +possible to do so, and will, like our old friend Othello, "a round +unvarnished tale deliver." + +The distance to St. Germain was considerable, and naturally appeared +still longer than it really was, to persons unacquainted with one step +of the road before them, and apprehensive of a thousand occurrences both +likely and unlikely. Nothing, however, happened to interrupt them on the +way; and their journey passed over, not only in peace, but pretty much +in silence also. Both the ladies who occupied the inside of the +carriage, seemed to be very sufficiently taken up with their own +thoughts, and no way disposed to loquacity, so that the only break to +the melancholy stillness which hung over them, was now and then a +half-formed sentence, proceeding from what was rapidly passing in the +mind of each, or the complaining creak of the heavy wheels, as they +ground their unwilling way through the less practicable parts of the +forest road. + +At times, too, a groan from the lips of their wounded companion +interrupted the silence, as the roughness of the way jolted the +ponderous vehicle in which he was carried, and re-awakened him to a +sense of pain. + +Long ere they had reached St. Germain, night had fallen over their road, +and nothing could be distinguished by those within the carriage, but the +figures of the two horsemen who kept close to the windows. The interior +was still darker, and it was only a kind of inarticulate sob from the +other side, which made the Marchioness inquire, "Pauline! you are not +weeping?" + +The young lady did not positively say whether she was so or not, but +replied in a voice which showed her mother's conjecture to be well +founded. + +"It was not thus, Mamma," she said, "that I had hoped to arrive at +St-Germain." + +"Fie, fie! Pauline," replied the old lady; "I have long tried to make +you feel like a woman, and you are still a child, a weak child. These +accidents, and worse than these, occur to every one in the course of +life, and they must be met with fortitude. Have you flattered yourself +that _you_ would be exempt from the common sorrows of humanity?" + +"But if he should die?" said Pauline, with the tone of one who longs to +be soothed out of their fears. The old lady, however, applied no such +unction to the wound in her daughter's heart. Madame de Beaumont had +herself been reared in the school of adversity; and while her mind and +principles had been thus strengthened and confirmed, her feelings had +not been rendered more acute. In the present instance, whether she spoke +it heedlessly, or whether she intended to destroy one passion by +exciting another, to cure Pauline's grief by rousing her anger, her +answer afforded but little consolation. "If he dies," said she dryly, +"why I suppose the fair lady, whose picture he has in his bosom, would +weep, and you----" + +A deep groan from their wounded companion broke in upon her speech, and +suggested to the Marchioness that he might not be quite so insensible +as he seemed. Such an answer, too, was not so palatable to Pauline as to +induce her to urge the conversation any farther; so that Silence again +resumed her empire over the party, remaining undisturbed till the old +lady, drawing back the curtain, announced that they were entering St. +Germain. + +A few minutes more brought them to the lodging of the Count de Blenau; +and here the Marchioness descending, gave all the necessary directions +in order that the young gentleman might be carried to his +sleeping-chamber in the easiest and most convenient method, while +Pauline, without proffering any aid, sat back in a dark corner of the +carriage. Nor would any thing have shown that she was interested in what +passed around her, but when the light of a torch glared into the +vehicle, discovering a handkerchief pressed over her eyes to hide the +tears she could not restrain. + +As soon as the Count was safely lodged in his own dwelling, the carriage +proceeded towards the palace, which showed but little appearance of +regal state. However the mind of Pauline might have been accustomed to +picture a court in all the gay and splendid colouring which youthful +imagination lends to anticipated pleasure, her thoughts were now far too +fully occupied, to admit of her noticing the lonely and deserted +appearance of the scene. But to Madame de Beaumont it was different. +She, who remembered St. Germain in other days, looked in vain for the +lights flashing from every window of the palace; for the servants +hurrying along the different avenues, the sentinels parading before +every entrance, and the gay groups of courtiers and ladies, in all the +brilliant costume of the time, which used to crowd the terrace and +gardens to enjoy the cool of the evening after the sun had gone down. + +All that she remembered had had its day; and nothing remained but +silence and solitude. A single sentry, at the principal gate, was all +that indicated the dwelling of a king; and it was not till the carriage +had passed under the archway, that even an attendant presented himself +to inquire who were the comers at that late hour. + +The principal domestic of Madame de Beaumont, who had already descended +from his horse, gave the name of his lady with all ceremony, and also +tendered a card (as he had been instructed by the Marchioness), on which +her style and title were fully displayed. The royal servant bowed low, +saying that the Queen, his mistress, had expected the Marchioness +before; and seizing the rope of a great bell, which hung above the +staircase, he rang such a peal that the empty galleries of the palace +returned a kind of groaning echo to the rude clang which seemed to mock +their loneliness. + +Two or three more servants appeared, in answer to the bell's noisy +summons; yet such was still the paucity of attendants, that Madame de +Beaumont, even while she descended from her carriage, and began to +ascend the "grand escalier," had need to look, from time to time, at the +splendid fresco paintings which decorated the walls, and the crowns and +fleurs-de-lis with which all the cornices were ornamented, before she +could satisfy herself that she really was in the royal chateau of St. +Germain. + +Pauline's eyes, fixed on the floor, wandered little to any of the +objects round, yet, perhaps, the vast spaciousness of the palace, +contrasted with the scarcity of its inhabitants, might cast even an +additional degree of gloom over her mind, saddened, as it already was, +by the occurrences of the day. Doubtless, in the remote parts of +Languedoc, where Pauline de Beaumont had hitherto dwelt, gay visions of +a court had come floating upon imagination like the lamps which the +Hindoos commit to the waters of the Ganges, casting a wild and uncertain +light upon the distant prospect; and it is probable, that even if St. +Germain had possessed all its former splendour, Pauline would still have +been disappointed, for youthful imagination always outrivals plain +reality; and besides, there is an unpleasing feeling of solitude +communicated by the aspect of a strange place, which detracts greatly +from the first pleasure of novelty. Thus there were a thousand reasons +why Mademoiselle de Beaumont, as she followed the attendant through the +long empty galleries and vacant chambers of the palace, towards the +apartments prepared for her mother and herself, felt none of those happy +sensations which she had anticipated from her arrival at court; nor was +it till, on entering the antechamber of their suite of rooms, she beheld +the gay smiling face of her Lyonaise waiting-maid, that she felt there +was any thing akin to old recollections within those cold and pompous +walls, which seemed to look upon her as a stranger. + +The soubrette had been sent forward the day before with a part of the +Marchioness de Beaumont's equipage; and now, having endured a whole +day's comparative silence with the patience and fortitude of a martyr, +she advanced to the two ladies with loquacity in her countenance, as if +resolved to make up, as speedily as possible, for the restraint under +which her tongue had laboured during her short sojourn in the palace; +but the deep gravity of Madame de Beaumont, and the melancholy air of +her daughter, checked Louise in full career; so that, having kissed her +mistress on both cheeks, she paused, while her lip, like an overfilled +reservoir whose waters are trembling on the very brink, seemed ready to +pour forth the torrent of words which she had so long suppressed. + +Pauline, as she passed through the anteroom, wiped the last tears from +her eyes, and on entering the saloon, advanced towards a mirror which +hung between the windows, as if to ascertain what traces they had left +behind. The soubrette did not fail to advance, in order to adjust her +young lady's dress, and finding herself once more in the exercise of her +functions, the right of chattering seemed equally restored; for she +commenced immediately, beginning in a low and respectful voice, but +gradually increasing as the thought of her mistress was swallowed up in +the more comprehensive idea of herself. + +"Oh, dear Mademoiselle," said she, "I am so glad you are come at last. +This place is so sad and so dull! Who would think it was a court? Why, +I expected to see it all filled with lords and ladies, and instead of +that, I have seen nothing but dismal-looking men, who go gliding about +in silence, seeming afraid to open their lips, as if that cruel old +Cardinal, whom they all tremble at, could hear every word they say. I +did see one fine-looking gentleman this morning, to be sure, with his +servants all in beautiful liveries of blue and gold, and horses as if +there were fire coming out of their very eyes; but he rode away to hunt, +after he had been half an hour with the Queen and Mademoiselle de +Hauteford, as they call her." + +"Mademoiselle who?" exclaimed Pauline, quickly, as if startled from her +reverie by something curious in the name. "Who did you say, Louise?" + +"Oh, such a pretty young lady!" replied the waiting-woman. "Mademoiselle +de Hauteford is her name. I saw her this morning as she went to the +Queen's levee. She has eyes as blue as the sky, and teeth like pearls +themselves; but withal she looks as cold and as proud as if she were +the Queen's own self." + +While the soubrette spoke, Pauline raised her large dark eyes to the +tall Venetian mirror which stood before her, and which had never +reflected any thing lovelier than herself, as hastily she passed her +fair small hand across her brow, brushing back the glossy ringlets that +hung clustering over her forehead. But she was tired and pale with +fatigue and anxiety; her eyes, too, bore the traces of tears, and with a +sigh and look of dissatisfaction, she turned away from the mirror, +which, like every other invention of human vanity, often procures us +disappointment as well as gratification. + +Madame de Beaumont's eyes had been fixed upon Pauline; and translating +her daughter's looks with the instinctive acuteness of a mother, she +approached with more gentleness than was her wont. "You are beautiful +enough, my Pauline," said she, pressing a kiss upon her cheek; "you are +beautiful enough. Do not fear." + +"Nay, Mamma," replied Pauline, "I have nothing to fear, either from +possessing or from wanting beauty." + +"Thou art a silly girl, Pauline," continued her mother, "and take these +trifles far too much to heart. Perhaps I was wrong concerning this same +picture. It was but a random guess. Besides, even were it true, where +were the mighty harm? These men are all alike, Pauline--Like +butterflies, they rest on a thousand flowers before they settle on any +one. We all fancy that our own lover is different from his fellows; but, +believe me, my child, the best happiness a woman can boast, is that of +being most carefully deceived." + +"Then no such butterfly love for me, Mamma," replied Pauline, her cheek +slightly colouring as she spoke. "I would rather not know this sweet +poison--love. My heart is still free, though my fancy may have--have--" + +"May have what, Pauline?" demanded her mother, with a doubtful smile. +"My dear child, thy heart, and thy fancy, I trow, have not been so +separate as thou thinkest." + +"Nay, Mamma," answered Pauline, "my fancy, like an insect, may have been +caught in the web of a spider; but the enemy has not yet seized me, and +I will break through while I can." + +"But, first, let us be sure that we are right," said Madame de Beaumont. +"For as every rule has its exception, there be some men, whose hearts +are even worthy the acceptance of a squeamish girl, who, knowing nothing +of the world, expects to meet with purity like her own. At all events, +love, De Blenau is the soul of honour, and will not stoop to deceit. In +justice, you must not judge without hearing him." + +"But," said Pauline, not at all displeased with the refutation of her +own ideas, and even wishing, perhaps, to afford her mother occasion to +combat them anew,--"but--" + +The sentence, however, was never destined to be concluded; for, as she +spoke, the door of the apartment opened, and a form glided in, the +appearance of which instantly arrested the words on Pauline's lips, and +made her draw back with an instinctive feeling of respect. + +The lady who entered had passed that earlier period of existence when +beauties and graces succeed each other without pause, like the flowers +of spring, that go blooming on from the violet to the rose. She was in +the summer of life, but it was the early summer, untouched by autumn; +and her form, though it possessed no longer the airy lightness of youth, +had acquired in dignity a degree of beauty which compensated for the +softer loveliness that years had stolen away. Her brown hair fell in a +profusion of large curls round a face, which, if not strictly handsome, +was highly pleasing: and even many sorrows and reverses, by mingling an +expression of patient melancholy with the gentle majesty of her +countenance, produced a greater degree of interest than the features +could have originally excited. + +Those even who sought for mere beauty of feature, would have perceived +that her eyes were quick and fine; that her skin was of the most +delicate whiteness, except where it was disfigured by the use of rouge; +and that her small mouth might have served as model to a statuary, +especially while her lips arched with a warm smile of pleasure and +affection, as advancing into the apartment, she pressed Madame de +Beaumont to her bosom, who on her part, bending low, received the +embrace of Anne of Austria with the humble deference of a respectful +subject towards the condescension of their sovereign. + +"Once more restored to me, my dear Madame de Beaumont!" said the Queen. +"His Eminence of Richelieu does indeed give me back one of the best of +my friends--And this is your Pauline."--She added, turning to +Mademoiselle de Beaumont, "You were but young, my fair Demoiselle, when +last I saw you. You have grown up a lovely flower from a noble root; but +truly you will never be spoiled by splendour at our court." + +As she spoke, her mind seemed naturally to return to other days, and her +eye fixed intently on the ground, as if engaged in tracing out the plan +of her past existence, running over all the lines of sorrow, danger and +disappointed hope, till the task became too bitter, and she turned to +the Marchioness with one of those long deep sighs, that almost always +follow a review of the days gone by, forming a sort of epitaph to the +dreams, the wishes, and the joys, that once were dear, and are now no +more. + +"When you met me, De Beaumont," said the Queen, "with the proud Duke of +Guise on the banks of the Bidasoa--quitting the kingdom of my father, +and entering the kingdom of my husband--with an army for my escort, and +princes kneeling at my feet--little, little did ever you or I think, +that Anne of Austria, the wife of a great king, and daughter of a long +line of monarchs, would, in after years, be forced to dwell at St. +Germain, without guards, without court, without attendants, but such as +the Cardinal de Richelieu chooses to allow her.--The Cardinal de +Richelieu!" she proceeded thoughtfully; "the servant of my +husband!--but no less the master of his master, and the king of his +king." + +"I can assure your Majesty," replied Madame de Beaumont, with a deep +tone of feeling which had no hypocrisy in it, for her whole heart was +bound by habit, principle, and inclination, to her royal mistress--"I +can assure your Majesty, that many a tear have I shed over the sorrows +of my Queen; and when his Eminence drove me from the court, I regretted +not the splendour of a palace, I regretted not the honour of serving my +sovereign, I regretted not the friends I left behind, or the hopes I +lost, but I regretted that I could not be the sharer of my mistress's +misfortunes.--But your Majesty has now received a blessing from Heaven," +she continued, willing to turn the conversation from the troubled course +of memory to the more agreeable channels of hope--"a blessing which we +scarcely dreamed of, a consolation under all present sorrows, and a +bright prospect for the years to come. + +"Oh, yes, my little Louis, you would say," replied the Queen, her face +lightening with all a mother's joy as she spoke of her son. "He is +indeed a cherub; and sure am I, that if God sends him years, he will +redress his mother's wrongs by proving the greatest of his race." + +She spoke of the famous Louis the Fourteenth, and some might have +thought she prophesied. But it was only the fervour of a mother's hope, +an ebullition of that pure feeling, which alone, of all the affections +of the heart, the most sordid poverty cannot destroy, and the proudest +rank can hardly check. + +"He is indeed a cherub," continued the Queen; "and such was your Pauline +to you, De Beaumont, when the Cardinal drove you from my side: a +consolation not only in your exile, but also in your mourning for your +noble lord. Come near, young lady; let me see if thou art like thy +father." + +Pauline approached; and the Queen laying her hand gently upon her arm, +ran her eye rapidly over her face and figure, every now and then pausing +for a moment, and seeming to call memory to her aid, in the comparison +she was making between the dead and the living. But suddenly she +started back, "_Sainte Vierge!_" cried she, crossing herself, "your +dress is all dabbled with blood. What bad omen is this?" + +"May it please your Majesty," said the Marchioness, half smiling at the +Queen's superstition, for her own strong mind rejected many of the +errors of the day, "that blood is only an omen of Pauline's charitable +disposition; for in the forest hard by, we came up with a wounded +cavalier, and, like a true _demoiselle errante_, Pauline rendered him +personal aid, even at the expense of her robe." + +"Nay, nay, De Beaumont," said the Queen, "it matters not how it came; it +is a bad omen: some misfortune is about to happen. I remember the day +before my father died, the Conde de Saldaña came to court with a spot of +blood upon the lace of his cardinal; and on that fatal day which----" + +The door of the apartment at this moment opened, and Anne of Austria, +filled with her own peculiar superstition, stopped in the midst of her +speech and turned her eye anxiously towards it, as if she expected the +coming of some ghastly apparition. The figure that entered, however, +though it possessed a dignity scarcely earthly, and a calm still +grace--an almost inanimate composure, rarely seen in beings agitated by +human passions, was, nevertheless, no form calculated to inspire alarm. + +"Oh, Mademoiselle de Hauteford!" cried the Queen, her face brightening +as she spoke, "De Beaumont, you will love her, for that she is one of my +firmest friends." + +At the name of De Hauteford, Pauline drew up her slight elegant figure +to its full height, with a wild start, like a deer suddenly frightened +by some distant sound, and drawing her hand across her forehead, brushed +back the two or three dark curls which had again fallen over her clear +fair brow. + +"De Hauteford!" cried Anne of Austria as the young lady advanced, "what +has happened? You look pale--some evil is abroad." + +"I would not have intruded on your Majesty, or on these ladies," said +Mademoiselle de Hauteford with a graceful but cold inclination of the +head towards the strangers, "had it not been that Monsieur Seguin, your +Majesty's Surgeon, requests the favour of an audience immediately. Nor +does he wish to be seen by the common attendants; in truth, he has +followed me to the antechamber, where he waits your Majesty's pleasure." + +"Admit him, admit him!" cried the Queen. "What can he want at this +hour?" + +The surgeon was instantly brought into the presence of the Queen by +Mademoiselle de Hauteford; but, after approaching his royal mistress +with a profound bow, he remained in silence glancing his eye towards the +strangers who stood in the apartment, in such a manner as to intimate +that his communication required to be made in private. + +"Speak, speak, Seguin!" cried the Queen, translating his look and +answering it at once; "these are all friends, old and dear friends." + +"If such be your Majesty's pleasure," replied the Surgeon, with that +sort of short dry voice, which generally denotes a man of few words. "I +must inform you at once, that young Count de Blenau has been this +morning attacked by robbers, while hunting in the forest, and is +severely hurt." + +While Seguin communicated this intelligence, Pauline (she scarce knew +why) fixed her eye upon Mademoiselle de Hauteford, whose clear pale +cheek, ever almost of the hue of alabaster, showed that it could become +still paler. The Queen too, though the rouge she wore concealed any +change of complexion, appeared manifestly agitated. "I told you so, De +Beaumont," she exclaimed--"that blood foreboded evil: I never knew the +sign to fail. This is bad news truly, Seguin," she continued. "Poor De +Blenau! surely he will not die." + +"I hope not, Madam," replied the Surgeon; "I see every chance of his +recovery." + +"But speak more freely," said the Queen. "Have you learnt any thing from +him? These are all friends, I tell you." + +"The Count is very weak, Madam," answered Seguin, "both from loss of +blood and a stunning blow on the head; but he desired me to tell your +Majesty, that though the wound is in his side, his heart is uninjured!" + +"Oh, I understand, I understand," exclaimed the Queen. "De Blenau is one +out of a thousand; I must write him a note; follow me, Seguin. Good +night, dear Madame de Beaumont. Farewell, Pauline!--Come to my levee +to-morrow, and we will talk over old stories and new hopes.--But have a +care, Pauline--No more blood upon your robe. It is a bad sign in the +house of Austria." + +The moment the Queen was gone, Pauline pleaded fatigue, and retired to +her chamber, followed by her maid Louise, who, be it remarked, had +remained in the room during the Royal visit. + +"This is a strange place, this St. Germain," said the waiting-woman, as +she undressed her mistress. + +"It is indeed!" replied Pauline. "I wish I had never seen it. But of +one thing let me warn you, Louise, before it is too late. Never repeat +any thing you may see or hear, while you are at the court; for if you +do, your life may answer for it." + +"My life! Mademoiselle Pauline," exclaimed the soubrette, as if she +doubted her ears. + +"Yes indeed, your life!" replied the young lady: "So beware." + +"Then I wish I had never seen the place either," rejoined the maid; "for +what is the use of seeing and hearing things, if one may not talk about +them?--and who can be always watching one's tongue?" + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + A Chapter of mighty import, which may be read or not, as the Reader + thinks fit, the Book being quite as well without it. + + +With the happy irregularity of all true stories, we must return, for a +moment, to a very insignificant person,--the Woodman of Mantes. Indeed, +I have to beg my reader's pardon for saying so much about any one under +the rank of a Chevalier at least; but all through this most untractable +of all histories, I have been pestered with a set of shabby fellows in +very indifferent circumstances. Woodcutters, robbers, gentlemen's +servants, and the like, who make themselves so abominably useful, that +though we wish them at the Devil all the time, we can no way do without +them. Let the sin not be attributed to me; for I declare, upon my +conscience, that when first I undertook to record this tale, I attempted +a thorough reform; I superseded a great number of subordinate +characters, put others upon the retired list, and dismissed a great many +as useless sinecurists; but when I had done, all was in confusion; and +then, after considering matters for half an hour, and turning over a +page or two in the book of Nature, I found, that the most brilliant +actions and the greatest events were generally brought about from the +meanest motives and most petty causes: I perceived, that women and +valets de-chambre govern the world: I found that saur-kraut had +disagreed with Sarah Duchess of Marlborough, made her insolent to Queen +Anne, made Queen Anne threaten to box her ears, made England resign her +advantages over France--placed the Bourbon dynasty on the throne of +Spain, and changed the face of Europe even to the present day. So, if +saur-kraut did all this, surely I may return to Philip, the woodman of +Mantes. + +Chavigni, as we have seen, cast his purse upon the ground, and rode +away from the cottage of the Woodman, little heeding what so +insignificant an agent might do or say. Yet Philip's first thought was +one which would have procured him speedy admission to the Bastille, had +Chavigni been able to divine its nature. "The young Count shall know all +about it," said Philip to himself. "That's a great rogue in Isabel and +silver, for all his fine clothes, or I'm much mistaken." + +His next object of attention was the purse; and after various _pros_ and +_cons_, Inclination, the best logician in the world, reasoned him into +taking it. "For," said Philip, "dirty fingers soil no gold;" and having +carefully put it into his pouch, the Woodman laid his finger upon the +side of his nose, and plunged headlong into a deep meditation concerning +the best and least suspicious method of informing the young Count de +Blenau of all he had seen, heard, or suspected. We will not follow the +course of this cogitation, which, as it doubtless took place in the +French tongue, must necessarily suffer by translation, but taking a +short cut straight through all the zig-zags of Philip's mind, arrive +directly at the conclusion, or rather at the consequences, which were +these. In the first place, he commanded his son Charles to load the mule +with wood, notwithstanding the boy's observation, that no one would buy +wood at that time of the morning, or rather the night; for, to make use +of Shakspeare's language, the Morn, far from being yet clad in any +russet mantle, was snugly wrapped up in the blanket of the dark, and +snoring away, fast asleep, like her betters. + +Precisely in the same situation as Aurora, that is to say, soundly +sleeping, till her ordinary hour of rising, was Joan, the Woodman's +wife. Philip, however, by sundry efforts, contrived to awaken her to a +sense of external things; and perceiving that, after various yawns and +stretches, her mind had arrived at the point of comprehending a simple +proposition, "Get up, Joan, get up!" cried he. "I want you to write a +letter for me; writing being a gift that, by the blessing of God, I do +not possess." + +The wife readily obeyed; for Philip, though as kind as the air of +spring, had a high notion of marital privileges, and did not often +suffer his commands to be disputed within his little sphere of dominion. +However, it seemed a sort of tenure by which his sway was held, that +Joan, his wife, should share in all his secrets; and accordingly, in the +present instance, the good Woodman related in somewhat prolix style, not +only all that had passed between Chavigni and Lafemas in the house, but +much of what they had said before they even knocked at his door. + +"For you must know, Joan," said he, "that I could not sleep for thinking +of all this day's bad work; and, as I lay awake, I heard horses stop at +the water, and people speaking, and very soon what they said made me +wish to hear more, which I did, as I have told you. And now, Joan, I +think it right, as a Christian and a man, to let this young cavalier +know what they are plotting against him. So sit thee down; here is a pen +and ink, and a plain sheet out of the boy's holy catechism,--God +forgive me! But it could not go to a better use." + +It matters not much to tell all the various considerations which were +weighed and discussed by Philip and his wife in the construction of this +epistle. Suffice it to say, that like two unskilful players at +battledoor and shuttlecock, they bandied backwards and forwards the same +objections a thousand times between them, for ever letting them drop, +and taking them up again anew, till such time as day was well risen +before they finished. Neither would it much edify the world, in all +probability, to know the exact style and tenor of the composition when +it was complete, although Philip heard his wife read it over with no +small satisfaction, and doubtless thought it as pretty a piece of +oratory as ever was penned. + +It is now unfortunately lost to the public, and all that can be +satisfactorily vouched upon the subject is, that it was calculated to +convey to the Count de Blenau all the information which the Woodcutter +possessed, although that information might be clothed in homely +language, without much perfection, either in writing or orthography. + +When it had been read, and re-read, and twisted up according to the best +conceit of the good couple, it was intrusted to Charles, the Woodman's +boy, with many a charge and direction concerning its delivery, For his +part, glad of a day's sport, he readily undertook the task, and driving +the laden mule before him, set out, whistling on his way to St. +Germain's. He had not, however, proceeded far, when he was overtaken by +Philip with new directions; the principal one being to say, if any one +should actually see him deliver the note, and make inquiries, that it +came from a lady. "For," said Philip,--and he thought the observation +was a shrewd one,--"so handsome a youth as the young Count must have +many ladies who write to him." + +Charles did not very well comprehend what it was all about, but he was +well enough contented to serve the young Count, who had given him many +a kind word and a piece of silver, when the hunting-parties of the court +had stopped to water their horses at the _abreuvoir_. The boy was +diligent and active, and soon reached St. Germain. His next task was to +find out the lodging of the Count de Blenau: and, after looking about +for some time, he addressed himself, for information, to a stout, +jovial-looking servant, who was sauntering down the street, gazing about +at the various hotels, with a look of easy _nonchalance_, as if idleness +was his employment. + +"Why do you ask, my boy?" demanded the man, without answering his +question. + +"I want to sell my wood," replied the Woodman's son, remembering that +his errand was to be private. "Where does he lodge, good Sir?" + +"Why, the Count does not buy wood in this hot weather," rejoined the +other. + +"I should suppose the Count does not buy wood, himself, at all," replied +the boy, putting the question aside with all the shrewdness of a French +peasant; "but, perhaps, his cook will." + +"Suppose I buy your wood, my man," said the servant. + +"Why, you are very welcome, Sir," answered Charles; "but if you do not +want it, I pray you, in honesty, show me which is the Count de Blenau's +hotel." + +"Well, I will show thee," said the servant; "I am e'en going thither +myself, on the part of the Marquise de Beaumont, to ask after the young +Count's health." + +"Oh, then, you are one of those who were with the carriage yesterday, +when he was wounded in the wood," exclaimed the boy. "Now I remember +your colours. Were you not one of those on horseback?" + +"Even so," answered the man; "and if I forget not, thou art the +Woodman's boy. But come, prithee, tell us what is thy real errand with +the Count. We are all his friends, you know; and selling him the wood is +all a tale." + +Charles thought for a moment, to determine whether he should tell the +man all he knew or not; but remembering the answer his father had +furnished him with, he replied, "The truth then is, I carry him a note +from a lady." + +"Oh, ho! my little Mercury!" cried the servant; "so you are as close +with your secrets as if you were an older politician. This is the way +you sell wood, is it?" + +"I do not know what you mean by Mercury," rejoined the boy. + +"Why he was a great man in his day," replied the servant, "and, as I +take it, used to come and go between the gods and goddesses; +notwithstanding which, Monsieur Rubens, who is the greatest painter that +ever lived, has painted this same Mercury as one of the late Queen's[A] +council, but nevertheless he was a carrier of messages, and so forth." + +[A] Alluding, no doubt, to the picture of the reconciliation of Mary de +Medicis and her son Louis XIII. in which Mercury seems hand in glove +with the cardinals and statesmen of the day. + +"Why, then, thou art more Mercury than I, for thou carriest a message, +and I a letter," answered Charles, as they approached the hotel of the +Count, towards which they had been bending their steps during this +conversation. Their proximity to his dwelling, in all probability, saved +Charles from an angry answer; for his companion did not seem at all +pleased with having the name of Mercury retorted upon himself; and +intending strongly to impress upon the Woodman's boy that he was a +person of far too great consequence to be jested with, he assumed a tone +of double pomposity towards the servant who appeared on the steps of the +hotel. "Tell Henry de La Mothe, the Count's page," said the servant, +"that the Marquise de Beaumont has sent to inquire after his master's +health." + +The servant retired with the message, and in a moment after Henry de La +Mothe himself appeared, and informed the messenger that his master was +greatly better. He had slept well, he said, during the night; and his +surgeons assured him that the wounds which he had received were likely +to produce no farther harm than the weakness naturally consequent upon +so great a loss of blood as that which he had sustained. Having given +this message on his master's account, Henry, on his own, began to +question the servant concerning many little particulars of his own +family; his father being, as already said, _Fermier_ to Madame de +Beaumont. + +Charles, the Woodman's son, perceiving that the conversation had turned +to a subject too interesting soon to be discussed, glided past the +Marchioness's servant, placed the note he carried in the hand of the +Count's Page, pressed his finger on his lip, in sign that it was to be +given privately, and detaching himself from them, without waiting to be +questioned, drove back his mule through the least known parts of the +forest, and rendered an account to his father of the success of his +expedition. + +"Who can that note be from?" said the Marchioness de Beaumont's servant +to Henry de La Mothe. "The boy told me, it came from a lady." + +"From Mademoiselle de Hauteford, probably," replied the Page, +thoughtfully. "I must give it to my master without delay, if he be +strong enough to read it. We will talk more another day, good +friend;"--and he left him. + +"From Mademoiselle de Hauteford!" said the man. "Oh, ho!"--and he went +home to tell all he knew to Louise, the soubrette. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + The Marquis de Cinq Mars, the Count de Fontrailles, and King Louis + the Thirteenth, all making fools of themselves in their own way. + + +There are some spots on the earth which seem marked out as the scene of +extraordinary events, and which, without any peculiar beauty, or other +intrinsic quality to recommend them, acquire a transcendent interest, as +the theatre of great actions. Such is Chantilly, the history of whose +walls might furnish many a lay to the poet, and many a moral to the +sage; and even now, by its magnificence and its decay, it offers a new +comment on the vanity of splendour, and proves, by the forgotten +greatness of its lords, how the waves of time are the true waters of +oblivion. + +Be that as it may, Montmorency, Conde, are names so woven in the web of +history, that nothing can tear them out, and these were the lords of +Chantilly. But amongst all that its roof has sheltered, no one, perhaps, +is more worthy of notice than Louis the Thirteenth: the son of Henry the +Fourth and Mary de Medicis, born to an inheritance of high talents and +high fortune, with the inspiring incitement of a father's glory, and the +powerful support of a people's love. + +It is sad that circumstance--that stumbling block of great minds--that +confounder of deep-laid schemes--that little, mighty, unseen controller +of all man's actions, should find pleasure in bending to its will, that +which Nature originally seemed to place above its sway. Endued with all +the qualities a throne requires, brave, wise, clear-sighted, and +generous; with his mother's talents and his father's courage, the events +of his early life quelled every effort of Louis's mind, and left him but +the slave of an ambitious minister! a monarch but in name! the shadow +of a King! How it was so, matters not to this history--it is recorded on +a more eloquent page. But at the time of my tale, the brighter part of +life had passed away from King Louis; and now that it had fallen into +the sear, he seemed to have given it up as unworthy a farther effort. He +struggled not even for that appearance of Royal state which his proud +Minister was unwilling to allow him; and, retired at Chantilly, passed +his time in a thousand weak amusements, which but served to hurry by the +moments of a void and weary existence. + +It was at this time, that the first news of the Cardinal de Richelieu's +illness began to be noised abroad. His health had long been declining; +but so feared was that redoubtable Minister, that though many remarked +the increased hollowness of his dark eye, and the deepening lines upon +his pale cheek, no one dared to whisper what many hoped--that the tyrant +of both King and people was falling under the sway of a still stronger +hand. + +The morning was yet in its prime. The grey mist had hardly rolled away +from the old towers and battlements of the Chateau of Chantilly, which, +unlike the elegant building afterwards erected on the same spot, offered +then little but strong fortified walls and turrets.--The heavy night-dew +lay still sparkling upon the long grass in the avenues of the Park, when +two gentlemen were observed walking near the Palace, turning up and down +the alley, then called the Avenue de Luzarches, with that kind of +sauntering pace which indicated their conversation to be of no very +interesting description. + +Perhaps, in all that vast variety of shapes which Nature has bestowed +upon mankind, and in all those innate differences by which she has +distinguished man's soul, no two figures or two minds could have been +found more opposite than those of the two men thus keeping a willing +companionship--the Count de Fontrailles, and the Marquis de Cinq Mars, +Grand Ecuyer, or, as it may be best translated, Master of the Horse. + +Cinq Mars, though considerably above the common height of men, was +formed in the most finished and elegant proportion, and possessed a +native dignity of demeanour, which characterized even those wild +gesticulations in which the excess of a bright and enthusiastic mind +often led him to indulge. + +On the other hand, Fontrailles, short in stature, and mean in +appearance, was in countenance equally unprepossessing. He had but one +redeeming feature, in the quick grey eye, that, with the clear keenness +of its light, seemed to penetrate the deepest thoughts of those upon +whom it was turned. + +Such is the description that history yields of these two celebrated men; +and I will own that my hankering after physiognomy has induced me to +transcribe it here, inasmuch as the mind of each was like his person. + +In the heart of Cinq Mars dwelt a proud nobility of spirit, which, +however he might be carried away by the fiery passions of his nature, +ever dignified his actions with something of great and generous. But the +soul of Fontrailles, ambitious, yet mean, wanted all the wild ardour of +his companion, but wanted also all his better qualities; possessing +alone that clear, piercing discernment, which, more like instinct than +judgment, showed him always the exact moment of danger, and pointed out +the means of safety. + +And yet, though not friends, they were often (as I have said) +companions; for Cinq Mars was too noble to suspect, and Fontrailles too +wary to be known--besides, in the present instance, he had a point to +carry, and therefore was doubly disguised. + +"You have heard the news, doubtless, Cinq Mars," said Fontrailles, +leading the way from the great Avenue de Luzarches into one of the +smaller alleys, where they were less liable to be watched; for he well +knew that the conversation he thus broached would lead to those wild +starts and gestures in his companion, which might call upon them some +suspicion, if observed. Cinq Mars made no reply, and he proceeded. "The +Cardinal is ill!" and he fixed his eye upon the Master of the Horse, as +if he would search his soul. But Cinq Mars still was silent, and, +apparently deeply busied with other thoughts, continued beating the +shrubs on each side of the path with his sheathed sword, without even a +glance towards his companion. After a moment or two, however, he raised +his head with an air of careless abstraction: "What a desert this place +has become!" said he; "look how all these have grown up, between the +trees. One might really be as well in a forest as a royal park +now-a-days." + +"But you have made me no answer," rejoined Fontrailles, returning +perseveringly to the point on which his companion seemed unwilling to +touch: "I said, the Cardinal is ill." + +"Well, well! I hear," answered Cinq Mars, with a peevish start, like a +restive horse forced forward on a road he is unwilling to take. "What is +it you would have me say?--That I am sorry for it? Well, be it so--I am +sorry for it--sorry that a trifling sickness, which will pass away in a +moon, should give France hopes of that liberation, which is yet far +off." + +"But, nevertheless, you would be sorry were this great man to die," said +Fontrailles, putting it half as a question, half as an undoubted +proposition, and looking in the face of the Marquis, with an appearance +of hesitating uncertainty. + +Cinq Mars could contain himself no more. "What!" cried he vehemently, +"sorry for the peace of the world!--sorry for the weal of my +country!--sorry for the liberty of my King! Why, I tell thee, +Fontrailles, should the Cardinal de Richelieu die, the people of France +would join in pulling down the scaffolds and the gibbets, to make +bonfires of them!" + +"Who ever dreamed of hearing _you_ say so?" said his companion. "All +France agrees with you, no doubt; but we all thought that the Marquis de +Cinq Mars either loved the Cardinal, or feared him, too much to see his +crimes." + +"Fear him!" exclaimed Cinq Mars, the blood mounting to his cheek, as if +the very name of fear wounded his sense of honour. He then paused, +looked into his real feelings, shook his head mournfully, and after a +moment's interval of bitter silence added, "True! true! Who is there +that does not fear him? Nevertheless, it is impossible to see one's +country bleeding for the merciless cruelty of one man, the prisons +filled with the best and bravest of the land to quiet his suspicions, +and the King held in worse bondage than a slave to gratify the daring +ambition of this insatiate churchman, and not to wish that Heaven had +sent it otherwise." + +"It is not Heaven's fault, Sir," replied Fontrailles; "it is our own, +that we do suffer it. Had we one man in France who, with sufficient +courage, talent, and influence, had the true spirit of a patriot, our +unhappy country might soon be freed from the bondage under which she +groans." + +"But where shall we find such a man?" asked the Master of the Horse, +either really not understanding the aim of Fontrailles, or wishing to +force him to a clearer explanation of his purpose. "Such an undertaking +as you hint at," he continued, "must be well considered, and well +supported, to have any effect. It must be strengthened by wit--by +courage--and by illustrious names.--It must have the power of wealth, +and the power of reputation.--It must be the rousing of the lion with +all his force, to shake off the toils by which he is encompassed." + +"But still there must be some one to rouse him," said Fontrailles, +fixing his eyes on Cinq Mars with a peculiar expression, as if to denote +that he was the man alluded to. "Suppose this were France," he +proceeded, unbuckling his sword from the belt, and drawing a few lines +on the ground with the point of the sheath: "show me a province or a +circle that will not rise at an hour's notice to cast off the yoke of +this hated Cardinal. Here is Normandy, almost in a state of +revolt;--here is Guienne, little better;--here is Sedan, our own;--here +are the Mountains of Auvergne, filled with those whom his tyranny has +driven into their solitude for protection; and here is Paris and its +insulted Parliament, waiting but for opportunity." + +"And here," said Cinq Mars, with a melancholy smile, following the +example of his companion, and pointing out with his sword, as if on a +map, the supposed situations of the various places to which he +referred--"And here is Peronne, and Rouen, and Havre, and Lyons, and +Tours, and Brest, and Bordeaux, and every town or fortress in France, +filled with his troops and governed by his creatures; and here is +Flanders, with Chaunes and Mielleray, and fifteen thousand men, at his +disposal; and here is Italy, with Bouillon, and as many more, ready to +march at his command!" + +"But suppose I could show," said Fontrailles, laying his hand on his +companion's arm, and detaining him as he was about to walk on--"but +suppose I could show, that Mielleray would not march,--that Bouillon +would declare for us,--that England would aid us with money, and Spain +would put five thousand men at our command,--that the King's own +brother--" + +Cinq Mars waved his hand: "No! no! no!" said he, in a firm, bitter tone: +"Gaston of Orleans has led too many to the scaffold already. The weak, +wavering Duke is ever the executioner of his friends. Remember poor +Montmorency!" + +"Let me proceed," said Fontrailles; "hear me to an end, and then judge. +I say, suppose that the King's own brother should give us his name and +influence, and the King himself should yield us his consent." + +"Ha!" exclaimed Cinq Mars, pausing abruptly.--The idea of gaining the +King had never occurred to him; and now it came like a ray of sunshine +through a cloud, brightening the prospect which had been before in +shadow. "Think you the King would consent?" + +"Assuredly!" replied his companion. "Does he not hate the Cardinal as +much as any one? Does not his blood boil under the bonds he cannot +break? And would he not bless the man who gave him freedom? Think, Cinq +Mars!" he continued, endeavouring to throw much energy into his manner, +for he knew that the ardent mind of his companion wanted but the spark +of enthusiasm to inflame--"think, what a glorious object! to free alike +the people and their sovereign, and to rescue the many victims even now +destined to prove the tyrant's cruelty!--Think, think of the glorious +reward, the thanks of a King, the gratitude of a nation, and the +blessings of thousands saved from dungeons and from death!" + +It worked as he could have wished. The enthusiasm of his words had their +full effect on the mind of his companion. As the other went on, the eye +of Cinq Mars lightened with all the wild ardour of his nature; and +striking his hand upon the hilt of his sword, as if longing to draw it +in the inspiring cause of his Country's liberty, "Glorious indeed!" he +exclaimed,--"glorious indeed!" + +But immediately after, fixing his glance upon the ground, he fell into +meditation of the many circumstances of the times; and as his mind's +eye ran over the difficulties and dangers which surrounded the +enterprise, the enthusiasm which had beamed in his eye, like the last +flash of an expiring fire, died away, and he replied with a sigh, "What +you have described, Sir, is indeed a glorious form--But it is dead--it +wants a soul. The King, though every thing great and noble, has been too +long governed now to act for himself. The Duke of Orleans is weak and +undecided as a child. Bouillon is far away--" + +"And where is Cinq Mars?" demanded Fontrailles,--"where is the man whom +the King really loves? If Cinq Mars has forgot his own powers, so has +not France; and she now tells him--though by so weak a voice as +mine--that he is destined to be the soul of this great body to animate +this goodly frame, to lead this conspiracy, if that can be so called +which has a King at its head, and Princes for its support." + +In these peaceable days, when we are taught to pray against privy +conspiracy, both as a crime and misfortune, the very name is startling +to all orthodox ears; but at the time I speak of, it had no such effect. +Indeed, from the commencement of the wars between Henri Quatre and the +League, little else had existed but a succession of conspiracies, which +one after another had involved every distinguished person in the +country, and brought more than one noble head to the block. Men's minds +had become so accustomed to the sound, that the explosion of a new plot +scarcely furnished matter for a day's wonder, as the burghers of a +besieged city at length hardly hear the roaring of the cannon against +their walls; and so common had become the name of conspirator, that +there were very few men in the realm who had not acquired a just title +to such an appellation. + +The word "conspiracy," therefore, carried nothing harsh or disagreeable +to the mind of Cinq Mars. What Fontrailles proposed to him, bore a +plausible aspect. It appeared likely to succeed; and, if it did so, +offered him that reward for which, of all others, his heart +beat--Glory! But there was one point on which he paused: "You forget," +said he,--"you forget that I owe all to Richelieu,--you forget that, +however he may have wronged this country, he has not wronged me; and +though I may wish that such a being did not exist, it is not for me to +injure him." + +"True, most true!" replied his wily companion, who knew that the +appearance of frank sincerity would win more from Cinq Mars than aught +else: "if he has done as you say, be still his friend. Forget your +country in your gratitude--though in the days of ancient virtue +patriotism was held paramount. We must not hope for such things now--so +no more of that. But if I can show that this proud Minister has never +served you; if I can prove that every honour which of late has fallen +upon you, far from being a bounty of the Cardinal, has proceeded solely +from the favour of the King, and has been wrung from the hard Churchman +as a mere concession to the Monarch's whim; if it can be made clear that +the Marquis Cinq Mars would now have been a Duke and Constable of +France, had not his kind friend the Cardinal whispered he was unfit for +such an office:--then will you have no longer the excuse of friendship, +and your Country's call must and shall be heard." + +"I can scarce credit your words, Fontrailles," replied Cinq Mars. "You +speak boldly,--but do you speak truly?" + +"Most truly, on my life!" replied Fontrailles. "Think you, Cinq Mars, if +I did not well know that I could prove each word I have said, that thus +I would have placed my most hidden thoughts in the power of a man who +avows himself the friend of Richelieu?" + +"Prove to me,--but prove to me, that I am not bound to him in +gratitude," cried Cinq Mars vehemently,--"take from me the bonds by +which he has chained my honour, and I will hurl him from his height of +power, or die in the attempt." + +"Hush!" exclaimed Fontrailles, laying his finger on his lip as they +turned into another alley, "we are no longer alone. Govern yourself, +Cinq Mars, and I will prove every tittle of what I have advanced ere we +be two hours older." + +This was uttered in a low tone of voice; for there was indeed another +group in the same avenue with themselves. The party, which was rapidly +approaching, consisted of three persons, of whom one was a step in +advance, and, though in no degree superior to the others in point of +dress, was distinguished from them by that indescribable something which +constitutes the idea of dignity. He was habited in a plain suit of black +silk with buttons of jet, and every part of his dress, even to the +sheath and hilt of his _couteau de chasse_, corresponding. On his right +hand he wore a thick glove, of the particular kind generally used by the +sportsmen of the period, but more particularly by those who employed +themselves in the then fashionable sport of bird-catching; and the nets +and snares of various kinds carried by the other two, seemed to evince +that such had been the morning's amusement of the whole party. + +The King, for such was the person who approached, was rather above the +middle height, and of a spare habit. His complexion was very pale; and +his hair, which had one time been of the richest brown, was now mingled +throughout with grey. But still there was much to interest, both in his +figure and countenance. There was a certain air of easy self-possession +in all his movements; and even when occupied with the most trivial +employment, which was often the case, there was still a degree of +dignity in his manner, that seemed to show his innate feeling of their +emptiness, and his own consciousness of how inferior they were, both to +his situation and his talents. His features at all times appeared +handsome, but more especially when any sudden excitement called up the +latent animation of his dark-brown eye, recalling to the minds of those +who remembered the days gone before, that young and fiery Prince who +could not brook the usurped sway even of his own highly talented mother, +but who had now become the slave of her slave. The consciousness of his +fallen situation, and of his inability to call up sufficient energy of +mind to disengage himself, generally cast upon him an appearance of +profound sadness: occasionally, however, flashes of angry irritability +would break across the cloud of melancholy which hung over him, and show +the full expression of his countenance, which at other times displayed +nothing but the traces of deep and bitter thought, or a momentary +sparkle of weak, unthinking merriment. So frequent, however, were the +changes to be observed in the depressed Monarch, that some persons even +doubted whether they were not assumed to cover deeper intentions. It +might be so, or it might not; but at all events, between the intervals +of these natural or acquired appearances, would often shine out strong +gleams of his mother's unyielding spirit, or his father's generous +heart. + +The rapid pace with which he always proceeded, soon brought the King +close to Cinq Mars and Fontrailles. "Good-morrow, Monsieur de +Fontrailles," said he, as the Count bowed low at his approach. "Do not +remain uncovered. 'Tis a fine day for forest sports, but not for bare +heads; though I have heard say, that if you were in the thickest mist of +all Holland, you would see your way through it.--What! _mon Grand +Ecuyer_," he continued, turning to Cinq Mars; "as sad as if thou hadst +been plotting, and wert dreaming even now of the block and axe?" And +with a kind and familiar air, he laid his hand upon his favourite's arm: +who on his part started, as if the Monarch had read his thoughts and +foretold his doom. + +A single word has sometimes lost or won an empire. Even less than a +single word, if we may believe the history of Darius's horse, who, being +a less loquacious animal than Balaam's ass, served his master without +speaking. However, Fontrailles fixed his eye on Cinq Mars, and seeing +plainly the effect of Louis's speech, he hastened to wipe it away. "To +calculate petty dangers in a great undertaking," said he, "were as weak +as to think over all the falls one may meet with in the chase, before +we get on horseback." + +Both Cinq Mars and the King were passionately fond of the noble forest +sport, so that the simile of Fontrailles went directly home, more +especially to the King, who, following the idea thus called up, made a +personal application of it to him who introduced it. "Jesu, that were +folly indeed!" he exclaimed, in answer to the Count's observation. "But +you are not fond of the chase either, Monsieur de Fontrailles, if I +think right; I never saw you follow boar or stag, that I can call to +mind." + +"More my misfortune than my fault, Sire," replied Fontrailles. "Had I +ever been favoured with an invitation to follow the royal hounds, your +Majesty would have found me as keen of the sport as even St. Hubert is +said to have been of yore." + +"Blessed be his memory!" cried the King. "But we will hunt to-day; we +will see you ride, Monsieur de Fontrailles. What say you, Cinq Mars? +The parties who went out to turn a stag last night (I remember now) +presented this morning, that in the _bosquet_ at the end of the forest, +near Argenin, is quartered a fat stag of ten, and another by Boisjardin; +but that by Argenin will be the best, for he has but one _refuite_ by +the long alley.--Come, gentlemen, seek your boots,--seek your boots; and +as our _Grand Veneur_ is not at Chantilly, you, Cinq Mars, shall +superintend the chase. Order the _Maitre valet de chiens_ to assemble +the old pack and the _relais_ at the _Carrefour d'Argenin_, and then we +will quickly to horse." So saying, he turned away to prepare for his +favourite sport; but scarcely had gone many paces ere he slackened his +pace, and allowed the two gentlemen to rejoin him. "What think you, +friend?" said he, addressing Cinq Mars; "they tell me, the Cardinal is +sick. Have you heard of it?" + +"I have heard a vague report of the kind," replied Cinq Mars, watching +his master's countenance, "but as yet nothing certain. May I crave what +information your Majesty possesses?" + +"Why, he is sick, very sick," replied Louis, "and perchance may die. May +his soul find mercy! Perchance he may die, and then--" And the King fell +into deep thought. + +It is possible that at that moment his mind was engaged in calculating +all that such an event as the death of Richelieu would produce; for, +gradually, as if he dreamed of ruling for himself, and as hope spread +out before him many a future year of power and greatness, his air became +more dignified, his eye flashed with its long repressed fire, and his +step acquired a new degree of firmness and majesty. + +Fontrailles watched the alteration of the King's countenance, and, +skilful at reading the mind's workings by the face, he added, as if +finishing the sentence which Louis had left unconcluded,--but taking +care to blend what he said with an air of raillery towards the Master of +the Horse, lest he should offend the irritable Monarch--"And then," said +he, "Cinq Mars shall be a Duke. Is it not so, Sire?" + +Louis started. His thoughts had been engaged in far greater schemes; +and yet rewarding his friends and favourites, always formed a great part +of the pleasure he anticipated in power, and he replied, without anger, +"Most likely it will be so--Indeed," he added, "had my wishes, as a man, +been followed,"--and he turned kindly towards the Master of the +Horse,--"it should have been so long ago, Cinq Mars. But Kings, you +know, are obliged to yield their private inclinations to what the State +requires." + +Fontrailles glanced his eye towards the Grand Ecuyer, as if desiring him +to remark the King's words. Cinq Mars bent his head, in token that he +comprehended, and replied to the King: "I understand your Majesty; but, +believe me, Sire, no honour or distinction could more bind Cinq Mars to +his King, than duty, gratitude, and affection do at this moment." + +"I believe thee, friend,--I believe thee, from my soul," said Louis. +"God forgive us that we should desire the death of any man! and surely +do not I that of the Cardinal, for he is a good Minister, and a man of +powerful mind. But, withal, we may wish that he was more gentle and +forgiving. Nevertheless, he is a great man. See how he thwarts and rules +half the Kings in Europe--See how he presses the Emperor, and our good +brother-in-law, Philip of Spain; while the great Gustavus, this northern +hero, is little better than his general." + +"He is assuredly a great man, Sire," replied Cinq Mars. "But permit me +to remark, that a great bad man is worse than one of less talents, for +he has the extended capability of doing harm; and perhaps, Sire, if this +Minister contented himself with thwarting Kings abroad, he would do +better than by opposing the will of his own Sovereign at home." + +The time, however, was not yet come for Louis to make even an attempt +toward liberating himself from the trammels to which he had been so long +accustomed. Habit in this had far more power over his mind than even the +vast and aspiring talents of Richelieu. No man in France, perhaps, more +contemned or hated the Cardinal than the royal slave whom he had so +long subjugated to his burdensome sway. Yet Louis, amidst all his dreams +for the future, looked with dread upon losing the support of a man whom +he detested, but upon whose counsels and abilities he had been +accustomed to rely with confidence and security. + +Cinq Mars saw plainly the state of his master's mind; and as he entered +the Palace, he again began to doubt whether he should at all lend +himself to the bold and dangerous measures which Fontrailles had +suggested. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + In which is shown how a great King hunted a great beast, and what + came of the hunting. + + +While the King's mind, as he returned to the Chateau de Chantilly, was +agitated by vague hopes and fears, which, like the forms that we trace +in the clouds, rolled into a thousand strange and almost palpable shapes +before his mind's eye, and yet were but a vapour after all; and while +the thoughts of Cinq Mars ran over all the difficulties and dangers of +the future prospect, reverted to the obligations Richelieu had once +conferred upon him, or scanned the faults and crimes of the Minister, +till the struggle of patriotism and gratitude left nothing but doubt +behind: the imagination of Fontrailles was very differently occupied. +It was not that he pondered the means of engaging more firmly the +wavering mind of Cinq Mars. No, for he had marked him for his own; and, +from that morning's conversation, felt as sure of his companion as the +ant-lion does of the insect he sees tremble on the edge of his pit. +Neither did he revolve the probable issue of the dangerous schemes in +which he was engaging both himself and others; for he was confident in +his powers of disentangling himself, when it should become necessary to +his own safety so to do, and he was not a man to distress himself for +the danger of his friends. The occupation of his mind as they approached +the Castle, was of a more personal nature. The truth is, that so far +from discomposing himself upon the score of distant evils, the sole +trouble of his thoughts was the hunting-party into which he had +entrapped himself. Being by no means a good horseman, and caring not one +_sous_ for a pastime which involved far too much trouble and risk to +accord in any degree with his idea of pleasure, Fontrailles had +professed himself fond of hunting, merely to please the King, without +ever dreaming that he should be called upon to give farther proof of his +veneration for the Royal sport. + +He saw plainly, however, that his case admitted of no remedy. Go he +must; and, having enough philosophy in his nature to meet inevitable +evils with an unshrinking mind, he prepared to encounter all the horrors +of the chase, as if they were his principal delight. + +He accordingly got into his boots with as much alacrity as their nature +permitted, for, each weighing fully eight pounds, they were somewhat +ponderous and unmanageable. He then hastily loaded his pistols, stuck +his _couteau de chasse_ in his belt, and throwing the feather from his +hat, was the first ready to mount in the court-yard. + +"Why, how is this, Monsieur de Fontrailles?" said the King, who in a few +minutes joined him in the area where the horses were assembled. "The +first at your post! You are, indeed, keen for the sport. Some one, see +for Cinq Mars.--Oh! here he comes: Mount, gentlemen, mount! Our +Ordinaries of the chase, and Lieutenants, await us at the _Carrefour +d'Argenin_,--Mount, gentlemen, mount! Ha! have you calculated your falls +for to-day, Monsieur de Fontrailles, as you spoke of this morning?" And +the King's eyes glistened with almost childish eagerness for his +favourite pastime. + +In the mean while, Cinq Mars had approached with a slow step and a +gloomy countenance, showing none of the alacrity of Fontrailles, or the +enthusiastic ardour of the King. "There are other dangers than falls to +be met with in chase, my liege," said the Master of the Horse, with a +bitter expression of displeasure in his manner; "and that Claude de +Blenau could inform your Majesty." + +"I know not what you mean, Cinq Mars," answered the King. "De Blenau is +a gallant cavalier; as staunch to his game as a beagle of the best; and +though he shows more service to our Queen than to ourself, he is no +less valued for that." + +"He is one cavalier out of ten thousand--" replied Cinq Mars, warmly: +"my dearest companion and friend; and whilst Cinq Mars has a sword to +wield, De Blenau shall never want one to second his quarrel." + +"Why, what ails thee, Cinq Mars?" demanded the King with some surprise. +"Thou art angry,--what is it now?" + +"It is, Sire," replied the Master of the Horse, "that I have just had a +courier from St. Germain, who bears me word, that, three days since +past, the Count, as your Majesty and I have often done, was hunting in +the neighbourhood of Mantes, and was there most treacherously attacked +by an armed band, in which adventure he suffered two wounds that nearly +drained his good heart of blood. Shall this be tolerated, Sire?" + +"No, indeed! no, indeed!" replied the King with much warmth. "This shall +be looked to. Our kingdom must not be overrun with robbers and +brigands." + +"Robbers!" exclaimed Cinq Mars, indignantly. "I know not--they may have +been robbers; but my letters say, that one of them wore colours of +Isabel and silver." + +"Those are the colours of Chavigni's livery," replied the King, who knew +the most minute difference in the bearing of every family in the +kingdom, with wonderful precision. "This must be looked to, and it +_shall_, or I am not deserving of my name. But now mount, gentlemen, +mount! we are waited for at the rendezvous." + +The _Carrefour d'Argenin_, at which the King and his attendants soon +arrived, was a large open space in the forest, where four roads crossed. +Each of these, but one, cut into a long straight avenue through the +wood, opened a view of the country beyond, forming a separate landscape, +as it were, framed, or to use the French term, _encadré_, by the +surrounding trees. The sun had not yet risen sufficiently to shine upon +any of these forest roads; but the sweeping hills and dales beyond, were +to be seen through the apertures, richly lighted up by the clear beams +of the morning; though occasionally a soft wreath of mist, lingering in +the bosom of some of the hollows, would roll a transient shadow over the +prospect. Louis had chosen this spot for the rendezvous, perhaps as much +on account of its picturesque beauty, as for any other reason. Deprived, +as he was, of courtly splendour and observance, his mind, unperverted by +the giddy show and tinsel pomp that generally surrounds a royal station, +regarded with a degree of enthusiasm the real loveliness of Nature; and +now it was some time before even the preparations for his favourite +sport could call his attention from the picturesque beauty of the spot. + +The policy of Richelieu, which had led him to deprive the King of many +of the external marks of sovereignty, as well as of the real power, +taught him also to encourage all those sports which might at once occupy +Louis's mind, and place him at a distance from the scene of government. +Thus, the hunting equipage of the King was maintained in almost more +than royal luxury. + +The first objects that presented themselves, in the _Carrefour +d'Argenin_, were a multitude of dogs and horses, grouped together with +the lieutenants of the forest, and the various officers of the hunt, +under those trees which would best afford them shade as the sun got up. +Various _piqueurs_ and valets were seen about the ground, some holding +the horses, some laying out the table for the royal _dejeûné_, and some +busily engaged in cutting long straight wands from the more pliable sort +of trees, and peeling off the bark for a certain distance, so as to +leave a sort of handle or hilt still covered, while the rest of the +stick, about three feet in length, remained bare. These, called "batons +de chasse," were first presented to the King, who, having chosen one, +directed the rest to be distributed among his friends and attendants, +for the purpose of guarding their heads from the boughs, which in the +rapidity of the chase, while it continued in the forest, often inflicted +serious injuries. + +The _Maître valet de chiens_, and his ordinaries, each armed with a +portentous-looking horn, through the circles of which were passed a +variety of dog couples, were busily occupied in distributing the hounds +into their different relays, and the grooms and other attendants were +seen trying the girths of the heavy hunting saddles, loading the +pistols, or placing them in the holsters, and endeavouring to +distinguish themselves fully as much by their bustle as by their +activity. + +However, it was an animated scene, and those who saw it could not wonder +that Louis preferred the gay excitement of such sports, to the sombre +monotony of a palace without a court, and royalty without its splendour. + +After examining the preparations with a critical eye, and inquiring into +the height, age, size, and other distinctive signs of the stag which was +to be hunted, Louis placed himself at the breakfast-table which had +been prepared in the midst of the green, and motioning Cinq Mars and +Fontrailles to be seated, entered into a lively discussion concerning +the proper spots for placing the relays of horses and dogs. At length it +was determined that six hounds and four hunters should be stationed at +about two leagues and a half on the high road; that twelve dogs and four +_piqueurs_, with an ordinary of the chase, should take up a position +upon the side of a hill under which the stag was likely to pass; and +that another relay should remain at a spot called _Le Croix de bois_, +within sight of which the hunt would be obliged to come, if the animal, +avoiding the open country, made for the other extremity of the forest. + +It fell upon Cinq Mars to communicate these directions to the officers +of the hunt, which he did in that sort of jargon, which the sports of +the field had made common in those days, but which would now be hardly +intelligible. He was engaged in giving general orders, that the horses +should be kept in the shade and ready to be mounted at a moment's +notice, in case the King, or any of his suite should require them, and +that the ordinary should by no means let slip any of the dogs of the +relay upon the stag, even if it passed his station, without especial +orders from the _piqueurs_ of the principal hunt--when suddenly he +stopped, and pointing with his hand, a man was discovered standing in +one of the avenues, apparently watching the Royal party. + +The circumstance would have passed without notice, had it not been for +the extraordinary stature of the intruder, who appeared fully as tall as +Cinq Mars himself. Attention was farther excited by his disappearing as +soon as he was observed; and some grooms were sent to bring him before +the King, but their search was in vain, and the matter was soon +forgotten. + +The minute relation of a Royal hunt in France, anno 1642, would afford +very little general interest. Enough has been said to show how different +were the proceedings of that time from our method of conducting such +things in the present day; and those who want farther information on +the subject may find it in a very erudite treatise, "De la Chasse, &c." +by Le Mercier, in the year fifty-six of the same century. We must, +however, in a more general manner, follow the King over the field, +though without attempting to describe all the minute occurrences of the +day, or the particulars of etiquette usual on such occasions. + +The stag, poor silly beast, who had been dozing away his time in a +thicket at about half a mile distance, was soon roused by the very +unwished appearance of the huntsmen, and taking his path down the +principal avenue, bounded away towards the open country, calculating, +more wisely than the beast recorded by our old friend Æsop, that the +boughs might encumber his head gear. The horns sounded loud, the couples +were unloosed, the dogs slipped, and away went man and beast in the +pursuit. For a moment or two, the forest was filled with clang, and cry, +and tumult:--as the hunt swept away, it grew fainter and fainter, till +the sound, almost lost in the indistinct distance, left the deep glades +of the wood to resume their original silence. + +They did not, however, long appear solitary, for in a few minutes after +the hunt had quitted the forest, the same tall figure, whose apparition +had interrupted Cinq Mars in his oratory concerning the relays, emerged +from one of the narrower paths, leading a strong black horse, whose +trappings were thickly covered with a variety of different figures in +brass, representing the signs of the zodiac, together with sundry +triangles, crescents, and other shapes, such as formed part of the +astrological quackery of that day. The appearance of the master was not +less singular in point of dress than that of the horse. He wore a long +black robe, somewhat in the shape of that borne by the order of Black +Friars, but sprinkled with silver signs. This, which made him look truly +gigantic, was bound round his waist by a broad girdle of white leather, +traced all over with strange characters, that might have been called +hieroglyphics, had they signified any thing; but which were, probably, +as unmeaning as the science they were intended to dignify. + +To say the truth, the wearer did not seem particularly at his ease in +his habiliments; for when, after having looked cautiously around, he +attempted to mount his horse, the long drapery of his gown got entangled +round his feet at every effort, and it was not till he had vented +several very ungodly execrations, and effected a long rent in the back +of his robe, that he accomplished the ascent into the saddle. Once +there, however, the dexterity of his horsemanship, and his bearing +altogether, made him appear much more like the captain of a band of +heavy cavalry than an astrologer, notwithstanding the long snowy beard +which hung down to his girdle, and the profusion of white locks that, +escaping from his fur cap, floated wildly over his face, and concealed +the greater part of its features. + +The horseman paused for a moment, seemingly immersed in thought, while +his horse, being a less considerate beast than himself, kept pawing the +ground, eager to set off. "Let me see," said the horseman; "the stag +will soon be turned on the high road by the carriers for Clermont, and +must come round under the hill, and then I would take the world to a +_chapon de Maine_, that that fool Andrieu lets slip his relay, and +drives the beast to water. If so, I have them at the _Croix de bois_. At +all events, one must try." And thus speaking, he struck his horse hard +with a thick kind of truncheon he held in his hand, and soon was out of +the forest. + +In the mean while the King and his suite followed close upon the hounds; +the Monarch and Cinq Mars, animated by the love of the chase, and +Fontrailles risking to break his neck rather than be behind. The road +for some way was perfectly unobstructed, and as long as it remained so, +the stag followed it without deviation; but at length a train of +carriers' waggons appeared, wending their way towards Clermont. The +jingling of the bells on the yokes of the oxen, and the flaunting of the +red and white ribbons on their horns, instantly startled the stag, who, +stopping short in his flight, stood at gaze for a moment, and then +darting across the country, entered a narrow track of that unproductive +sandy kind of soil, called in France _landes_, which bordered the +forest. It so happened,--unfortunately, I was going to say, but +doubtless the stag thought otherwise--that a large herd of his horned +kindred were lying out in this very track, enjoying the morning +sunshine, and regaling themselves upon the first fruits that fell from +some chesnut-trees, which in that place skirted the forest. + +Now the stag, remembering an old saying, which signalizes the solace of +"company in distress," proceeded straight into the midst of the herd; +who being fat burghers of the wood, and like many other fat burghers +somewhat selfish withal, far from compassionating his case, received him +with scanty courtesy, and, in short, wished him at the devil. However, +no time was to be lost; the dogs were close upon his steps; "_sauve qui +peut!_" was the word among the stags, and away they all went, flying in +every direction. + +The hunters had as little cause to be pleased with this manoeuvre as +the stags; for the hounds being young, were deceived by a strong family +likeness between one of the herd and the one they had so long followed, +and all of the dogs but four, yielding up the real object of pursuit, +gave chase to the strange stag, who, darting off to the left, took his +way towards the river. Cinq Mars and most of the _piqueurs_, misled by +seeing the young hounds have so great a majority, followed also. It was +in vain the King called to him to come back, that he was hunting the +wrong beast, and was as great a fool as a young hound; he neither heeded +nor heard, and soon was out of sight. + +"_Sa christi!_" cried Louis, "there they go, just like the world, +quitting the true pursuit to follow the first fool that runs, and +priding themselves on being in the right, when they are most in error; +but come, Monsieur de Fontrailles, we will follow the true stag of the +hunt." + +But Fontrailles too was gone. The separation of the hounds had afforded +an opportunity of quitting the sport not to be neglected, and he had +slunk away towards the Palace by the nearest road, which, leading +through a narrow dell, skirted the side of the hill opposite to that +over which the King's stag had taken his course. However, he still heard +from time to time the dogs give tongue, and the hunting cry of the King; +who, without considering that no one followed, gave the exact number of +_mots_ on his horn, followed by the haloo, and the "_Il dit vrai! il dit +vrai!_" which the _piqueurs_ ordinarily give out, to announce that the +dog who cried was upon the right scent. Still Fontrailles pursued his +way, when suddenly he perceived the stag, who, having distanced the +King, was brought to bay under the bank over which his road lay. + +At that season of the year, the stag is peculiarly dangerous, but +Fontrailles did not want personal courage, and, dismounting from his +horse, he sprang to the bottom of the bank; where, drawing his _couteau +de chasse_, he prepared to run in upon the beast; but remembering at the +moment that the King could not be far distant, he paused, and waiting +till Louis came up, held the stirrup and offered his weapon to the +Monarch, who instantly running in, presented the knife with all the +dexterity of an experienced sportsman, and in a moment laid the stag +dead at his feet. + +It was now the task of Fontrailles to keep off the hounds, while the +King, anxious to have all the honours of the day to himself, began what +is called in France the "_section_" and "_curée aux chiens_" without +waiting for _piqueurs_ or ordinaries. Nevertheless, he had only time to +make the longitudinal division of the skin, and one of the transverse +sections from the breast to the knee, when the sound of a horse's feet +made him raise his head from his somewhat unkingly occupation, thinking +that some of the other hunters must be now come up. + +"_Que Diable!_" cried the King, viewing the strange figure of the +Astrologer we have already noticed in this profound chapter. "_Je veux +dire, Vive Dieu!_ What do you want? and who are you?" + +"A friend to the son of Henri Quatre," replied the stranger, advancing +his horse closer to the King, who stood gazing on him with no small +degree of awe--for be it remembered, that the superstitious belief in +all sorts of necromancy was at its height both in England and France. + +"A friend to the son of Henri Quatre! and one who comes to warn him of +near-approaching dangers." + +"What are they, friend?" demanded the King, with a look of credulous +surprise: "Let me know whence they arise and how they may be avoided, +and your reward is sure." + +"I seek no reward," replied the stranger, scornfully. "Can all the gold +of France change the star of my destiny? No! Monarch, I come uncalled, +and I will go unrewarded. The planets are still doubtful over your +house, and therefore I forewarn you ere it be too late--A Spaniard is +seeking your overthrow, and a woman is plotting your ruin--A Prince is +scheming your destruction, and a Queen is betraying your trust. + +"How!" exclaimed Louis. "Am I to believe--" + +"Ask me no questions," cried the stranger, who heard the trampling of +horses' feet approaching the scene of conference. "In this roll is +written the word of fate. Read it, O King! and timely guard against the +evil that menaces." So saying, he threw a scroll of parchment before the +King, and spurred on his horse to depart; but at that moment, the figure +of Cinq Mars, who by this time had run down the stag he had followed, +presented itself in his way, "What mumming is this?" cried the Master of +the Horse, regarding the stranger. + +"Stop him! Cinq Mars," cried Fontrailles, who foresaw that the +stranger's predictions might derange all his schemes. "He is an +impostor: do not let him pass!" And at the same time he laid his hand +upon the Astrologer's bridle. But in a moment, the stranger spurring on +his charger, overturned Fontrailles, shivered the hunting sword, which +Cinq Mars had drawn against him, to atoms with one blow of his +truncheon, and scattering the grooms and huntsmen like a flock of sheep, +was soon out of reach of pursuit. + +"What means all this?" exclaimed Cinq Mars;--"explain Fontrailles! Sire, +shall we follow yon impostor?" + +But Louis's eyes were fixed with a strained gaze upon the scroll, which +he held in his hand, and which seemed to absorb every faculty of his +soul. At length he raised them, mounted his horse in silence, and still +holding the parchment tight in his hand, rode on, exclaiming, "To +Chantilly." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + Showing how the green-eyed monster got hold of a young lady's + heart, and what he did with it. + + +Who is there that has not dreamed and had their dream broken? Who is +there that has not sighed to see spring flowers blighted, or summer +sunshine yield to wintry clouds; or bright hopes change to dark sorrows, +and gay joys pass away like sudden meteors, that blaze for one splendid +moment, and then drop powerless into the dark bosom of the night? + +If memory, instead of softening all the traces, gave us back the +original lines of life in their native harshness, who could live on to +old age? for the catalogue of broken hopes, and disappointed wishes, +and pleasures snatched from us never to return, would be more than any +human mind could bear. It would harden the heart to marble, or break it +in its youth. It is happy too, that in early years our mind has greater +power of resistance, for the novelty of sorrow gives it a double sting. + +The fatigues of her journey had long worn off, and left Pauline de +Beaumont all the glow of wild youthful beauty, which had adorned her in +her native hills. Her cheek had recovered its fine soft blush in all its +warmth, and her eyes all their dark brilliancy. But the cheerful gaiety +which had distinguished her, the light buoyancy of spirit, that seemed +destined to rise above all the sorrows of the world, had not come back +with the rose of her cheek, or the lustre of her eye. She loved to be +alone, and instead of regretting the gloom and stillness which prevailed +in the court of Anne of Austria, she often seemed to find its gaiety too +much for her, and would retire to the suite of apartments appropriated +to her mother and herself, to enjoy the solitude of her own thoughts. + +At first, Madame de Beaumont fancied that the melancholy of her daughter +was caused by the sudden change from many loved scenes, endeared by all +the remembrances of infancy, to others in which, as yet, she had +acquired no interest. But as a second week followed the first, after +their arrival at St. Germain's, and the same depression of spirits still +continued, the Marchioness began to fear that Pauline had some more +serious cause of sorrow; and her mind reverted to the suspicions of De +Blenau's constancy, which she had been the first to excite in her +daughter's bosom. + +The coming time is filled with things that we know not, and chance calls +forth so many unexpected events, that the only way in life is to wait +for Fate, and seize the circumstances of the day; by the errors of the +past to correct our actions at present, and to leave the future to a +wiser judgment and a stronger hand. Madame de Beaumont took no notice of +her daughter's melancholy, resolving to be guided in her conduct by +approaching circumstances; for clouds were gathering thickly on the +political horizon of France, which, like a thunder-storm depending on +the fickle breath of the wind, might break in tempests over their head, +or be wafted afar, and leave them still in peace. + +It was one of those still evenings, when the world, as if melancholy at +the sun's decline, seems to watch in silence the departure of his latest +beams. All had sunk into repose, not a cloud passed over the clear +expanse of sky, not a noise was stirring upon earth; and Pauline felt a +sensation of quiet, pensive melancholy steal over all her thoughts, +harmonizing them with the calmness of the scene, as it lay tranquilly +before her, extending far away to the glowing verge of heaven, +unawakened by a sound, unruffled by a breath of air. + +The window at which she sat looked towards St. Denis, where lay the +bones of many a race of Kings, who had, in turn, worn that often +contested diadem, which to the winner had generally proved a crown of +thorns. But her thoughts were not of them. The loss of early hopes, the +blight of only love, was the theme on which her mind brooded, like a +mother over the tomb of her child. The scene before her--its vast +extent--the dying splendour of the sun--the deep pureness of the evening +sky--the sublimity of the silence--all wrought upon her mind; and while +she thought of all the fairy hopes she had nourished from her youth, +while she dreamed, over again, all the dreams she had indulged of one on +whose fame, on whose honour, on whose truth, she had fondly, rashly, +raised every wish of her future life; and while new-born fears and +doubts came sweeping away the whole,--the tears rose glistening in her +eyes, and rolled, drop after drop, down her cheeks. + +"Pauline!" said a voice close behind her. She started, turned towards +the speaker, and with an impulse stronger than volition, held out her +hand to Claude de Blenau. "Pauline," said he, printing a warm kiss on +the soft white hand that he held in his, "dear, beautiful Pauline, we +have met at last." + +From the moment he had spoken, Pauline resolved to believe him as +immaculate as any human being ever was since the first meeting of Adam +and Eve; but still she wanted him to tell her so. It was not coquetry; +but she was afraid that after what she had seen, and what she had heard, +she ought not to be satisfied. Common propriety, she thought, required +that she should be jealous till such time as he proved to her that she +had no right to be so. She turned pale, and red, and drew back her hand +without reply. + +De Blenau gazed on her for a moment in silent astonishment; for, young, +and ardent, and strongly tinged with that romantic spirit of gallantry +which Anne of Austria had introduced from Spain into the court of +France, the whole enthusiasm of his heart had been turned towards +Pauline de Beaumont; and he had thought of her the more, perhaps, +because forbid to think of her. Nor had the romance he had worked up in +his own mind admitted a particle of the cold ceremonies of courtly +etiquette; he had loved to figure it as something apart from the world. +A life with her he loved, of ardour, and passion, and sunshiny hours, +unclouded by a regret, unchilled by a reserve, but all boundless +confidence, and unrestrained affection--Such had been the purport of his +letters to Pauline de Beaumont, and such had been the colouring of her +replies to him. And who is there that has not dreamed so once? + +De Blenau gazed on her for a moment in silence. "Do you not speak to me, +Pauline?" said he at length. "Or is it that you do not know me? True, +true! years work a great change at our time of life. But I had +fancied--perhaps foolishly fancied--that Pauline de Beaumont would know +Claude de Blenau wheresoever they met, as well as De Blenau would know +her." + +While he spoke, Pauline knew not well what to do with her eyes; so she +turned them towards the terrace, and they fell upon Mademoiselle de +Hauteford, who was walking slowly along before the Palace. Less things +than that have caused greater events in this world than a renewal of all +Pauline's doubts. Doubts did I call them? Before Mademoiselle de +Hauteford, with all the graceful dignity for which she was conspicuous, +had taken three steps along the terrace, Pauline's doubts had become +almost certainties; and turning round, with what she fancied to be great +composure, she replied, "I have the pleasure of knowing you perfectly, +Monsieur de Blenau; I hope you have recovered entirely from your late +wounds." + +"Monsieur de Blenau!--The pleasure of knowing me!" exclaimed the Count. +"Good God, is this my reception? Not three months have gone, since your +letters flattered me with the title of 'Dear Claude.'--My wounds are +better, Mademoiselle de Beaumont, but you seem inclined to inflict +others of a more painful nature." + +Pauline strove to be composed, and strove to reply, but it was all in +vain; Nature would have way, and she burst into tears and sobbed aloud. +"Pauline, dearest Pauline!" cried De Blenau, catching her to his bosom +unrepulsed: "This must be some mistake--calm yourself, dear girl, and, +in the name of Heaven, tell me, what means this conduct to one who loves +you as I do?" + +"One who loves me, Claude!" replied Pauline, wiping the tears from her +eyes; "Oh no, no--But what right had I to think that you would love me? +None, none, I will allow. Separated from each other so long, I had no +title to suppose that you would ever think of the child to whom you were +betrothed, but of whom you were afterwards commanded not to entertain a +remembrance--would think of her, after those engagements were broken by +a power you could not choose but obey. But still, De Blenau, you should +not have written those letters filled with professions of regard, and +vows to retain the engagements your father had formed for you, +notwithstanding the new obstacles which had arisen. You should not, +indeed, unless you had been very sure of your own heart; for it was +cruelly trifling with mine," and she gently disengaged herself from his +arms.--"I only blame you," she added, "for ever trying to gain my +affection, and not for now being wanting in love to a person you have +never seen since she was a child." + +"Never seen you!" replied De Blenau with a smile: "Pauline, you are as +mistaken in that, as in any doubt you have of me. A year has not passed +since last we met. Remember that summer sunset on the banks of the +Rhone: remember the masked Cavalier who gave you the ring now on your +finger: remember the warm hills of Languedoc, glowing with a blush only +equalled by your cheek, when he told you that that token was sent by one +who loved you dearly, and would love you ever--that it came from Claude +de Blenau, who had bid him place the ring on your finger, and a kiss on +your hand, and renew the vow that he had long before pledged to +you.--Pauline, Pauline, it was himself." + +"But why, dear Claude," demanded Pauline eagerly, forgetting coldness, +and pride, and suspicion, in the memory his words called up, "why did +you not tell me? why did you not let me know that it was you?" + +"Because if I had been discovered," answered the Count, "it might have +cost me my life, years of imprisonment in the Bastille, or worse--the +destruction of her I loved? The slightest cry of surprise from you might +have betrayed me." + +"But how did you escape, without your journey being known?" demanded +Pauline; "they say in Languedoc, that the Cardinal has bribed the evil +spirits of the air to be his spies on men's actions." + +"It is difficult indeed to say how he acquires his information," replied +De Blenau; "but, however, I passed undiscovered. It was thus it +happened: I had gone as a volunteer to the siege of Perpignan, or +rather, as one of the _Arrière-ban_ of Languedoc, which was led by the +young and gallant Duc d'Enghien, to whom, after a long resistance, that +city delivered its keys. As soon as the place had surrendered, I asked +permission to absent myself for a few days. His Highness granted it +immediately, and I set out.--For what think you, Pauline? what, but to +visit that spot, round which all the hopes of my heart, all the dreams +of my imagination, had hovered for many a year.--But to proceed, taking +the two first stages of my journey towards Paris, I suddenly changed my +course, and embarking on the Rhone, descended as far as the Chateau de +Beaumont. You remember, that my page, Henry La Mothe, is the son of your +mother's _fermier_, old La Mothe, and doubtless know full well his house +among the oaks, on the borders of the great wood. It was here I took up +my abode, and formed a thousand plans of seeing you undiscovered. At +length, fortune favoured me. Oh! how my heart beat as, standing by one +of the trees in the long avenue, Henry first pointed out to me two +figures coming slowly down the path from the Chateau--yourself and your +mother,--and as, approaching towards me, they gradually grew more and +more distinct, my impatience almost overpowered me, and I believe I +should have started forward to meet you, had not Henry reminded me of +the danger. You passed close by.--O Pauline! I had indulged many a +waking dream. I had let fancy deck you in a thousand imaginary +charms--but at that moment, I found all I had imagined, or dreamed, a +thousand times excelled. I found the beautiful girl, that had been torn +from me so many years before, grown into woman's most surpassing +loveliness; and the charms which fancy and memory had scattered from +their united stores, faded away before the reality, like stars on the +rising of the sun. But this was not enough. I watched my opportunity. I +saw you, as you walked alone on the terrace, by the side of the +glittering Rhone,--I spoke to you,--I heard the tones of a voice to be +remembered for many an after hour, and placing the pledge of my +affection on your hand, I tore myself away." + +De Blenau paused. Insensibly, whilst he was speaking, Pauline had +suffered his arm again to glide round her waist. Her hand somehow became +clasped in his, and as he told the tale of his affection, the tears of +many a mingled emotion rolled over the dark lashes of her eye, and +chasing one another down her cheek, fell upon the lip of her lover, as +he pressed a kiss upon the warm sunny spot which those drops bedewed. + +De Blenau saw that those tears were not tears of sorrow, and had love +been with him an art, he probably would have sought no farther; for in +the whole economy of life, but more especially in that soft passion +Love, holds good the homely maxim, to let _well_ alone. But De Blenau +was not satisfied; and like a foolish youth, he teased Pauline to know +why she had at first received him coldly. In good truth, she had by this +time forgotten all about it; but as she was obliged to answer, she soon +again conjured up all her doubts and suspicions. She hesitated, drew her +hand from that of the Count, blushed deeper and deeper, and twice began +to speak without ending her sentence. + +"I know not what to think," said she at length, "De Blenau: I would fain +believe you to be all you seem,--I would fain reject every doubt of what +you say." + +Her coldness, her hesitation, her embarrassment, alarmed De Blenau's +fears, and he too began to be suspicious. + +"On what can you rest a doubt?" demanded he, with a look of bitter +mortification; and perceiving that she still paused, he added sadly, but +coldly, "Mademoiselle de Beaumont, you are unkind. Can it be that you +are attached to another? Say, am I so unhappy?" + +"No, De Blenau, no!" replied Pauline, struggling for firmness: "but +answer me one question, explain to me but this one thing, and I am +satisfied." + +"Ask me any question, propose to me any doubts," answered the Count, +"and I will reply truly, upon my honour." + +"Then tell me," said Pauline,---- But just as she was about to proceed, +she felt some difficulty in proposing her doubts. She had a thousand +times before convinced herself they were very serious and well founded; +but all jealous suspicions look so very foolish in black and white, or +what is quite as good, in plain language, though they may seem very +respectable when seen through the twilight of passion, that Pauline knew +not very well how to give utterance to hers. "Then tell me," said +Pauline, with no small hesitation--"then tell me, what was the reason +you would suffer no one to open your hunting coat, when you were wounded +in the forest--no, not even to staunch the bleeding of the side?" + +"There was a reason, certainly," replied De Blenau, not very well +perceiving the connexion between his hunting-coat and Pauline's +coldness; "there was a reason certainly; but how in the name of Heaven +does that affect you, Pauline?" + +"You shall see by my next question," answered she. "Have you or have you +not received a letter, privately conveyed to you from a lady? and has +not Mademoiselle de Hauteford visited you secretly during your illness?" + +It was now De Blenau's turn to become embarrassed; he faltered, and +looked confused, and for a moment his cheek, which had hitherto been +pale with the loss of blood, became of the deepest crimson, while he +replied, "I did not know that I was so watched." + +"It is enough, Monsieur de Blenau," said Pauline rising, her doubts +almost aggravated to certainties. "To justify myself, Sir, I will tell +you that you have not been watched. Pauline de Beaumont would consider +that man unworthy of her affection, whose conduct would require +watching. What I know, has come to my ears by mere accident. In fact," +and her voice trembled the more, perhaps, that she strove to preserve +its steadiness--"in fact, I have become acquainted with a painful truth +through my too great kindness for you, in sending my own servant to +inquire after your health, and not to watch you, Monsieur de Blenau." + +"Stop, stop, Pauline! in pity, stop," cried De Blenau, seeing her about +to depart. "Your questions place me in the most embarrassing of +situations. But, on my soul, I have never suffered a thought to stray +from you, and you yourself will one day do me justice. But at present, +on this point, I am bound by every principle of duty and honour, not to +attempt an exculpation." + +"None is necessary, Monsieur de Blenau," replied Pauline. "It is much +better to understand each other at once. I have no right to any control +over you. You are of course free, and at liberty to follow the bent of +your own inclinations. Adieu! I shall always wish your welfare." And she +was quitting the apartment, but De Blenau still detained her, though she +gently strove to withdraw her hand. + +"Yet one moment, Pauline," said he. "You were once kind, you were once +generous, you have more than once assured me of your affection. Now, +tell me, did you bestow that affection on a man destitute of honour? on +a man who would sully his fame by pledging his faith to what was +false?" Pauline's hand remained in his without an effort, and he went +on. "I now pledge you my faith, and give you my honour, however strange +it may appear that a lady should visit me in private, I have never loved +or sought any but yourself. Pauline, do you doubt me now?" + +Her eyes were fixed upon the ground, and she did not reply, but there +was a slight motion in the hand he held, as if it would fain have +returned his pressure had she dared. "I could," he continued, "within an +hour obtain permission to explain it all. But oh, Pauline, how much +happier would it make me to find, that you trust alone to my word, that +you put full confidence in a heart that loves you!" + +"I do! I do!" exclaimed Pauline, with all her own wild energy, at the +same time placing her other hand also on his, and raising her eyes to +his face: "Say no more, De Blenau. I believe I have been wrong; at all +events, I cannot, I will not doubt, what makes me so happy to believe." +And her eyes, which again filled with tears, were hidden on his bosom. + +De Blenau pressed her to his heart, and again and again thanked the lips +that had spoken such kind words, in the way that such lips may best be +thanked.--"Dearest Pauline," said De Blenau, after enjoying a moment or +two of that peculiar happiness which shines but once or twice even in +the brightest existence, giving a momentary taste of heaven, and then +losing itself, either in human cares, or less vivid joys.--The heart is +a garden, and youth is its spring, and hope is its sunshine, and love is +a thorny plant, that grows up and bears one bright flower, which has +nothing like it in all the earth-- + +"Dearest Pauline," said De Blenau, "I leave you for a time, that I may +return and satisfy every doubt. Within one hour all shall be explained." + +As he spoke, the door of the apartment opened, and one of the servants +of the Palace entered, with a face of some alarm. "Monsieur de Blenau," +said he, "I beg a thousand pardons for intruding, but there have been, +but now, at the Palace gate, two men of the Cardinal's guard inquiring +for you: so I told them that you were most likely at the other side of +the Park, for--for--" and after hesitating a moment, he added, "They are +the same who arrested Monsieur de Vitry." + +De Blenau started. "Fly, fly, Claude!" exclaimed Pauline, catching him +eagerly by the arm--"Oh fly, dear Claude, while there is yet time. I am +sure they seek some evil towards you." + +"You have done well," said De Blenau to the attendant. "I will speak to +you as I come down.--Dearest Pauline," he continued when the man was +gone--"I must see what these gentlemen want. Nay, do not look +frightened; you are mistaken about their errand. I have nothing to fear, +believe me. Some trifling business, no doubt. In the mean time, I shall +not neglect my original object. In half an hour all your doubts shall be +satisfied." + +"I have none, Claude," replied Pauline; "indeed I have none, but about +these men." + +De Blenau endeavoured to calm her, and assured her again and again that +there was no danger. But Pauline was not easy, and the Count himself had +more suspicions concerning their object than he would suffer to appear. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + Containing a great deal that would not have been said had it not + been necessary. + + +In front of the Palace of St. Germain's, but concealed from the park and +terrace by an angle of the building, stood the Count de Chavigni, +apparently engaged in the very undignified occupation of making love to +a pretty-looking soubrette, no other than Louise, the waiting-maid of +Mademoiselle de Beaumont. But, notwithstanding the careless nonchalance +with which he affected to address her, it was evident that he had some +deeper object in view than the trifling of an idle hour. + +"Well, _ma belle_," said he, after a few words of a more tender nature, +"you are sure the Surgeon said, though the wound is in his side, his +heart is uninjured?" + +"Yes, exactly," said Louise, "word for word; and the Queen answered, 'I +understand you.' But I cannot think why you are so curious about it." + +"Because I take an interest in the young Count," replied Chavigni. "But, +his heart must be very hard if it can resist such eyes as yours." + +"He never saw them," said Louise, "for I was not with my Lady when they +picked him up wounded in the forest." + +"So much the better," replied Chavigni, "for that is he turning that +angle of the Palace: I must speak to him; so farewell, _belle Louise_, +and remember the signal.--Go through that door, and he will not see +you." + +Speaking thus, Chavigni left her, and a few steps brought him up to De +Blenau, who at that moment traversed the angle in which he had been +standing with Louise, and was hurrying on with a rapid pace in search of +the Queen. + +"Good morrow, Monsieur de Blenau," said Chavigni: "you seem in haste." + +"And am so, Sir," replied De Blenau proudly; and added, after a moment's +pause, "Have you any commands for me?" for Chavigni stood directly in +his way. + +"None in particular," answered the other with perfect composure--"only +if you are seeking the Queen, I will go with you to her Majesty; and as +we go, I will tell you a piece of news you may perhaps like to hear." + +"Sir Count de Chavigni, I beg you would mark me," replied De Blenau. +"You are one of the King's Council--a gentleman of good repute, and so +forth; but there is not that love between us that we should be seen +taking our evening's walk together, unless, indeed, it were for the +purpose of using our weapons more than our tongues." + +"Indeed, Monsieur de Blenau," rejoined Chavigni, his lip curling into a +smile which partook more of good humour than scorn, though, perhaps, +mingled somewhat of each--"indeed you do not do me justice; I love you +better than you know, and may have an opportunity of doing you a good +turn some day, whether you will or not. So with your leave I walk with +you, for we both seek the Queen." + +De Blenau was provoked. "Must I tell you, Sir," exclaimed he, "that your +company is disagreeable to me?--that I do not like the society of men +who herd with robbers and assassins?" + +"Psha!" exclaimed Chavigni, somewhat peevishly. "Captious boy, you'll +get yourself into the Bastille some day, where you would have been long +ago, had it not been for me." + +"When you tell me, Sir, how such obligations have been incurred," +answered the Count, "I shall be happy to acknowledge them." + +"Why, twenty times, Monsieur de Blenau, you have nearly been put there," +replied Chavigni, with that air of candour which it is very difficult to +affect when it is not genuine. "Your hot and boiling spirit, Sir, is +always running you into danger. Notwithstanding all your late wounds, a +little bleeding, even now, would not do you any harm. Here the first +thing you do is to quarrel with a man who has served you, is disposed to +serve you, and of whose service you may stand in need within five +minutes. + +"But to give you proof at once that what I advance is more than a mere +jest--Do you think that your romantic expedition to Languedoc escaped +me? Monsieur de Blenau, you start, as if you dreamed that in such a +country as this, and under such an administration, any thing could take +place without being known to some member of the government. No, no, Sir! +there are many people in France, even now, who think they are acting in +perfect security, because no notice is apparently taken of the plans +they are forming, or the intrigues they are carrying on; while, in +reality, the hundred eyes of Policy are upon their every action, and the +sword is only suspended over their heads, that it may eventually fall +with more severity." + +"You surprise me, I own," replied De Blenau, "by showing me that you +are acquainted with an adventure, which I thought buried in my own +bosom, or only confided to one equally faithful to me." + +"You mean your Page," said Chavigni, with the same easy tone in which he +had spoken all along. "You have no cause to doubt him. He has never +betrayed you (at least to my knowledge). But these things come about +very simply, without treachery on any part. The stag never flies so +fast, nor the hare doubles so often, but they leave a scent behind them +for the dogs to follow,--and so it is with the actions of man; conceal +them as he will, there is always some trace by which they may be +discovered; and it is no secret to any one, now-a-days, that there are +people in every situation of life, in every town of France, paid to give +information of all that happens; so that the schemes must be well +concealed indeed, which some circumstance does not discover. I see, you +shake your head, as if you disapproved of the principle. + +"De Blenau, you and I are engaged in different parties. You act firmly +convinced of the rectitude of your own cause--Do me the justice to +believe that I do the same. You hate the Minister--I admire him, and +feel fully certain that all he does is for the good of the State. On the +other hand, I applaud your courage, your devotion to the cause you have +espoused, and your proud unbending spirit--and I would bring you to the +scaffold to-morrow, if I thought it would really serve the party to +which I am attached." + +The interesting nature of his conversation, and the bold candour it +displayed, had made De Blenau tolerate Chavigni's society longer than he +had intended, and even his dislike to the Statesman had in a degree worn +away before the easy dignity and frankness of his manner. But still, he +did not like to be seen holding any kind of companionship with one of +the Queen's professed enemies; and taking advantage of the first pause, +he replied-- + +"You are frank, Monsieur de Chavigni, but my head is well where it is. +And now may I ask to what does all this tend?" + +"You need not hurry the conversation to a conclusion," replied Chavigni. +"You see that we are in direct progress towards that part of the Park +where her Majesty is most likely to be found." But seeing that De Blenau +seemed impatient of such reply, he proceeded: "However, as you wish to +know to what my conversation tends, I will tell you. If you please, it +tends to your own good. The Cardinal wishes to see you----" + +He paused, and glanced his eye over the countenance of his companion, +from which, however, he could gather no reply, a slight frown being all +the emotion that was visible. + +Chavigni then proceeded. "The Cardinal wishes to see you. He entertains +some suspicion of you. If you will take my advice, you will set out for +Paris immediately, wait upon his Eminence, and be frank with him--Nay, +do not start! I do not wish you to betray any one's secrets, or violate +your own honour. But be wise, set out instantly." + +"I suspected something of this," replied De Blenau, "when I heard that +there were strangers inquiring for me. But whatever I do, I must first +see the Queen:" and observing that Chavigni was about to offer some +opposition, he added decidedly, "It is absolutely necessary--on business +of importance." + +"May I ask," said Chavigni, "is it of importance to her Majesty or +yourself?" + +"I have no objection to answer that at once," replied De Blenau: "it +concerns myself alone." + +"Stop a moment," cried Chavigni, laying his hand on the Count's arm, and +pausing in the middle of the avenue, at the farther extremity of which a +group of three or four persons was seen approaching. "No business can be +of more importance than that on which I advise you to go.--Monsieur de +Blenau, I would save you pain. Let me, once more, press you to set out +without having any farther conversation with her Majesty than the mere +_etiquette_ of taking leave for a day." + +De Blenau well knew the danger which he incurred, but still he could not +resolve to go, without clearing the doubts of Pauline, which five +minutes' conversation with the Queen would enable him to do. "It is +impossible," replied he, thoughtfully; "besides, let the Cardinal send +for me. I do not see why I should walk with my eyes open into the den of +a lion." + +"Well then, Sir," answered Chavigni, with somewhat more of coldness in +his manner, "I must tell you, his Eminence has sent for you, and that, +perhaps, in a way which may not suit the pride of your disposition. Do +you see those three men that are coming down the avenue? they are not +here without an object.--Come, once more, what say you, Monsieur le +Comte? Go with me, to take leave of the Queen, for I must suffer no +private conversation. Let us then mount our horses, and ride as friends +to Paris. There, pay your respects to the Cardinal, and take Chavigni's +word, that, unless you suffer the heat of your temper to betray you into +any thing unbecoming, you shall return safe to St. Germain's before +to-morrow evening. If not, things must take their course." + +"You offer me fair, Sir," replied the Count, "if I understand you +rightly, that the Cardinal has sent to arrest me; and of course, I +cannot hesitate to accept your proposal. I have no particular partiality +for the Bastille, I can assure you." + +"Then you consent?" said Chavigni. De Blenau bowed his head. "Well then, +I will speak to these gentlemen," he added, "and they will give us their +room." + +By this time the three persons, who had continued to advance down the +avenue, had approached within the distance of a few paces of Chavigni +and the Count. Two of them were dressed in the uniform of the Cardinal's +guard; one as a simple trooper, the other being the Lieutenant who bore +the _lettre de cachet_ for the arrest of De Blenau. The third, we have +had some occasion to notice in the wood of Mantes, being no other than +the tall Norman, who on that occasion was found in a rusty buff jerkin, +consorting with the banditti. His appearance, however, was now very much +changed for the better. The neat trimming of his beard and mustaches, +the smart turn of his broad beaver, the flush newness of his +long-waisted blue silk vest, and even the hanging of his sword, which +instead of offering its hilt on the left hip, ever ready for the hand, +now swung far behind, with the tip of the scabbard striking against the +right calf,--all denoted a change of trade and circumstances, from the +poor bravo who won his daily meal at the sword's point, to the well-paid +bully, who fattened at his lord's second table, on the merit of services +more real than apparent. + +De Blenau's eye fixed full upon the Norman, certain that he had seen him +somewhere before, but the change of dress and circumstances embarrassed +his recollection. + +In the mean while, Chavigni advanced to the Cardinal's officer. +"Monsieur Chauville," said he, "favour me by preceding me to his +Eminence of Richelieu. Offer him my salutation, and inform him, that +Monsieur le Comte de Blenau and myself intend to wait upon him this +afternoon." + +Chauville bowed, and passed on, while the Norman, uncovering his head to +Chavigni, instantly brought back to the mind of De Blenau the +circumstances under which he had first seen him. + +"You have returned, I see," said Chavigni. "Have you found an occasion +of fulfilling my orders?" + +"To your heart's content, Monseigneur," replied the Norman; "never was +such an Astrologer, since the days of Intrim of Blois." + +"Hush!" said Chavigni, for the other spoke aloud. "If you have done it, +that is enough. But for a time, keep yourself to Paris, and avoid the +Court, as some one may recognise you, even in these fine new feathers." + +"Oh, I defy them," replied the Norman, in a lower tone than he had +formerly spoken, but still so loud that De Blenau could not avoid +hearing the greater part of what he said--"I defy them; for I was so +wrapped up in my black robes and my white beard, that the Devil himself +would not know me for the same mortal in the two costumes. But I hope, +Monsieur le Comte, that my reward may be equal to the risk I have run, +for they sought to stop me, and had I not been too good a necromancer +for them, I suppose I should have been roasting at a stake by this time. +But one wave of my magic wand sent the sword of Monsieur de Cinq Mars +out of his hand, and opened me a passage to the wood; otherwise I should +have fared but badly amongst them." + +"You must not exact too much, Monsieur Marteville," replied Chavigni. +"But we will speak of this to-night. I shall be in Paris in a few hours; +at present, you see, I am occupied;" and leaving the Norman, he rejoined +De Blenau, and proceeded in search of the Queen. + +"If my memory serves me right, Monsieur de Chavigni," said De Blenau, in +a tone of some bitterness, "I have seen that gentleman before, and with +his sword shining at my breast." + +"It is very possible," answered Chavigni, with the most indifferent +calmness. "I have seen him in the same situation with respect to +myself." + +"Indeed!" rejoined De Blenau, with some surprise; "but probably not with +the same intention," he added. + +"I do not know," replied the Statesman, with a smile. "His intentions in +my favour were to run me through the body." + +"And is it possible, then," exclaimed De Blenau, "that with such a +knowledge of his character and habits, you can employ and patronize +him?" + +"Certainly," answered Chavigni, "I wanted a bold villain. Such men are +very necessary in a State. Now, I could not have better proof that this +man had the qualities required, than his attempting to cut my throat. +But you do him some injustice; he is better than you suppose--is not +without feeling--and has his own ideas of honour." + +De Blenau checked the bitter reply which was rising to his lips, and +letting the conversation drop, they proceeded, in silence, in search of +the Queen. They had not gone much farther, when they perceived her +leaning familiarly on the arm of Madame de Beaumont, and seemingly +occupied in some conversation of deep interest. However, her eye fell +upon the Count and Chavigni as they came up, and, surprised to see them +together, she abruptly paused in what she was saying. + +"Look there, De Beaumont," said she: "something is not right. I have +seen more than one of these creatures of the Cardinal hanging about the +Park to-day. I fear for poor De Blenau. He has been too faithful to his +Queen to escape long." + +"I salute your Majesty," said Chavigni, as soon as they had come within +a short distance of the Queen, and not giving De Blenau the time to +address her: "I have been the bearer of a message from his Eminence of +Richelieu to Monsieur de Blenau, your Majesty's Chamberlain, requesting +the pleasure of entertaining him for a day in Paris. The Count has +kindly accepted the invitation; and I have promised that the Cardinal +shall not press his stay beyond to-morrow. We only now want your +Majesty's permission and good leave, which in his Eminence's name I +humbly crave for Monsieur de Blenau." + +"His Eminence is too condescending," replied the Queen. "He knows that +his will is law; and we, humble Kings and Queens, as in duty, do him +reverence. I doubt not that his intentions towards our Chamberlain are +as mild and amiable, as his general conduct towards our self." + +"The truth is, your Majesty," said De Blenau, "the Cardinal has sent for +me, and (however Monsieur de Chavigni's politeness may colour it) in a +way that compels my attendance." + +"I thought so," exclaimed the Queen, dropping the tone of irony which +she had assumed towards Chavigni, and looking with mingled grief and +kindness upon the young Cavalier, whose destruction she deemed +inevitable from the moment that Richelieu had fixed the serpent eyes of +his policy upon him--"I thought so. Alas, my poor De Blenau! all that +attach themselves to me seem devoted to persecution." + +"Not so, your Majesty," said Chavigni, with some degree of feeling; "I +can assure you, Monsieur de Blenau goes at perfect liberty. He is under +no arrest; and, unless he stays by his own wish, will return to your +Majesty's court to-morrow night. The Cardinal is far from wishing to +give unnecessary pain." + +"Talk not to me, Sir Counsellor," replied the Queen, angrily: "Do I not +know him? I, who of all the world have best cause to estimate his +baseness? Have I not under his own hand, the proof of his criminal +ambition? but no more of that--" And breaking off into Spanish, as was +frequently her custom when angry, she continued, "No sè si es la misma +vanidad, la sobervia, ó la arrogancia. Que todo esto, segun creo es el +Cardenal." + +"It is useless, Madam," said De Blenau, as soon as the Queen paused in +her angry vituperation of the Minister, "to distress you farther with +this conversation. I know not what the Cardinal wants, but he may rest +assured that De Blenau's heart is firm, and that no human means shall +induce him to swerve from his duty; and thus I humbly take my leave." + +"Go then, De Blenau," said the Queen: "Go, and whether we ever meet +again or not, your faithful services and zealous friendship shall ever +have my warmest gratitude; and Anne of Austria has no other reward to +bestow." Thus saying, she held out her hand to him. De Blenau in silence +bent his head respectfully over it, and turned away. Chavigni bowed low, +and followed the Count, to whose hotel they proceeded, in order to +prepare for their departure. + +In the orders which De Blenau gave on their arrival, he merely commanded +the attendance of his Page. + +"Pardon me, Monsieur de Blenau, if I observe upon your arrangements," +said Chavigni, when he heard this order. "But let me remind you, once +more, that you are not going to a prison, and that it might be better if +your general train attended you, as a gentleman of high station about to +visit the Prime Minister of his Sovereign. They will find plenty of +accommodation in the Hotel de Bouthiliers." + +"Be it so, then," replied De Blenau, scarcely able to assume even the +appearance of civility towards his companion. "Henry de La Mothe," he +proceeded, "order a dozen of my best men to attend me, bearing my full +colours in their sword-knots and scarfs. Trick out my horses gaily, as +if I were going to a wedding, for Claude de Blenau is about to visit the +Cardinal; and remember," he continued, his anger at the forced journey +he was taking overcoming his prudence, "that there be saddled for my +own use the good black barb that carried me so stoutly when I was +attacked by assassins in the wood of Mantes;" and as he spoke, his eye +glanced towards the Statesman, who sitting in the window seat, had taken +up the Poems of Rotrou, and apparently inattentive to all that was +passing, read on with as careless and easy an air, as if no more +important interest occupied his thoughts, and no contending passions +struggled in his breast. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + Shows how the Count de Blenau supped in a place that he little + expected. + + +Though the attendants of the Count de Blenau did not expend much time in +preparing to accompany their master, the evening was nevertheless too +far spent, before they could proceed, to permit the hope of reaching +Paris ere the night should have set in. It was still quite light enough, +however, to show all the preparations for the Count's departure to the +boys of St. Germain's, who had not beheld for many a good day such a gay +cavalcade enliven the streets of that almost deserted town. + +Chavigni and De Blenau mounted their horses together; and the four or +five servants which the Statesman had brought with him from Paris, +mingling with those of De Blenau, followed the two gentlemen as they +rode from the gate. Having the privilege of the Park, Chavigni took his +way immediately under the windows of the Palace, thereby avoiding a +considerable circuit, which would have occupied more time than they +could well spare at that late hour of the evening. + +The moment Pauline de Beaumont had seen her lover depart, the tears, +which she had struggled to repress in his presence, flowed rapidly down +her cheeks. The noble, candid manner of De Blenau had nearly quelled all +suspicion in her mind. The graces of his person, the tone of his voice, +the glance of his eye, had realized the day-dreams which she had +nourished from her youth. + +Fame had long before told her that he was brave, high-spirited, +chivalrous; and his picture, as well as memory, had shown him as +strikingly handsome; but still it did not speak, it did not move; and +though Pauline had often sat with it in her hand, and imagined the +expressions of his various letters as coming from those lips, or tried +in fancy to animate the motionless eyes of the portrait, still the hero +of her romance, like the figure of Prometheus ere he had robbed the Sun +of light to kindle it into active being, wanted the energy of real life. +But at length they had met, and whether it was so in truth, or whether +she imagined it, matters not, but every bright dream of her fancy seemed +fulfilled in De Blenau; and now that she had cause to fear for his +safety, she upbraided herself for having entertained a suspicion. + +She wept then--but her tears were from a very different cause to that +which had occasioned them to flow before. However, her eyes were still +full, when a servant entered to inform her that the Queen desired her +society with the other ladies of her scanty Court. Pauline endeavoured +to efface the marks which her weeping had left, and slowly obeyed the +summons, which being usual at that hour, she knew was on no business of +import; but on entering the closet, she perceived that tears had also +been in the bright eyes of Anne of Austria. + +The circle, which consisted of Madame de Beaumont, Mademoiselle de +Hauteford, and another Lady of honour, had drawn round the window at +which her Majesty sat, and which, thrown fully open, admitted the breeze +from the Park. + +"Come hither, Pauline," said the Queen as she saw her enter, "What! have +you been weeping too? Nay, do not blush, sweet girl; for surely a +subject need not be ashamed of doing _once_ what a Queen is obliged to +do every day. Why, it is the only resource that we women have. But come +here: there seems a gay cavalcade entering the Park gates. These are the +toys with which we are taught to amuse ourselves. Who are they, I +wonder? Come near, Pauline, and see if your young eyes can tell." + +Pauline approached the window, and took her station by the side of the +Queen, who, rising from her seat, placed her arm kindly through that of +Mademoiselle de Beaumont, and leaning gently upon her, prevented the +possibility of her retiring from the spot where she stood. + +In the mean while the cavalcade approached. The gay trappings of the +horses, and the rich suits of their riders, with their silk scarfs and +sword-knots of blue and gold, soon showed to the keen eyes of the +Queen's ladies that the young Count de Blenau was one of the party; +while every now and then a horseman in Isabel and silver appearing +amongst the rest, told them, to their no small surprise, that he was +accompanied by the Count de Chavigni, the sworn friend of Richelieu, and +one of the principal leaders of the Cardinal's party. The Queen, +however, evinced no astonishment, and her attendants of course did not +attempt to express the wonder they felt at such a companionship. + +The rapid pace at which the two gentlemen proceeded, soon brought them +near the Palace; and Chavigni, from whose observant eye nothing passed +without notice, instantly perceived the Queen and her party at the +window, and marked his salutation with a profound inclination, low +almost to servility, while De Blenau raised his high-plumed hat and +bowed, with the dignity of one conscious that he had deserved well of +all who saw him. + +Chavigni led the way to Marly, and thence to Ruel, where night began to +come heavily upon the twilight; and long before they entered Paris, all +objects were lost in darkness. "You must be my guest for to-night, +Monsieur de Blenau," said Chavigni, as they rode on down the Rue St. +Honoré, "for it will be too late to visit the Cardinal this evening." + +However, as they passed the Palais Royal (then called the Palais +Cardinal), the blaze of light, which proceeded from every window of the +edifice, told that on that night the superb Minister entertained the +Court;--a Court, of which he had deprived his King, and which he had +appropriated to himself. De Blenau drew a deep sigh as he gazed upon the +magnificent edifice, and compared the pomp and luxury which every thing +appertaining to it displayed, with the silent, desolate melancholy which +reigned in the royal palaces of France. + +Passing on down the Rue St. Honoré, and crossing the Rue St. Martin, +they soon reached the Place Royale, in which Chavigni had fixed his +residence. Two of De Blenau's servants immediately placed themselves at +the head of his horse, and held the bridle short, while Henry de La +Mothe sprang to the stirrup. But at that moment a gentleman who seemed +to have been waiting the arrival of the travellers, issued from the +Hotel de Bouthiliers, and prevented them from dismounting. + +"Do not alight, gentlemen," exclaimed he; "his Eminence the Cardinal de +Richelieu has sent me to request that Messieurs De Blenau and Chavigni +will partake a small collation at the Palais Cardinal, without the +ceremony of changing their dress." + +De Blenau would fain have excused himself, alleging that the habit which +he wore was but suited to the morning, and also was soiled with the +dust of their long ride. But the Cardinal's officer overbore all +opposition, declaring that his Eminence would regard it as a higher +compliment, if the Count would refrain from setting foot to the ground +till he entered the gates of his Palace. + +"Then we must go back," said Chavigni. "We are honoured by the +Cardinal's invitation. Monsieur de Blenau, pardon me for having brought +you so far wrong. Go in, Chatenay," he added, turning to one of his own +domestics, "and order flambeaux." + +In a few moments all was ready; and preceded by half a dozen +torch-bearers on foot, they once more turned towards the dwelling of the +Minister. As they did so, De Blenau's feelings were not of the most +agreeable nature, but he acquiesced in silence, for to have refused his +presence would have been worse than useless. + +The Palais Royal, which, as we have said, was then called the Palais +Cardinal, was a very different building when occupied by the haughty +Minister of Louis the Thirteenth, from that which we have seen it in our +days. The unbounded resources within his power gave to Richelieu the +means of lavishing on the mansion which he erected for himself, all that +art could produce of elegant, and all that wealth could supply of +magnificent. For seven years the famous Le Mercier laboured to perfect +it as a building; and during his long administration, the Cardinal +himself never ceased to decorate it with every thing rare or luxurious. +The large space which it occupied was divided into an outer and an inner +court, round which, on every side, the superb range of buildings, +forming the Palace, was placed in exact and beautiful proportion, +presenting every way an external and internal front, decorated with all +the splendour of architectural ornament. + +The principal façade lay towards the Rue St. Honoré, and another of +simpler, but perhaps more correct design, towards the gardens, which +last were themselves one of the wonders of Paris at the time. Extending +over the space now occupied by the Rue de Richelieu, the Rue de Valois, +and several other streets, they contained, within themselves, many acres +of ground, and were filled with every plant and flower that Europe then +possessed, scattered about amongst the trees, which, being planted long +before the formality of the Dutch taste was introduced in France, had in +general been allowed to fall into natural groups, unperverted into the +long avenues and straight alleys which disfigure so many of the royal +parks and gardens on the Continent. + +The right wing of the first court was principally occupied by that +beautiful Theatre, so strongly connected with every classic remembrance +of the French stage, in which the first tragedies of Rotrou and +Corneille were produced,--in which many of the inimitable comedies of +Molière were first given to the world, and in which he himself acted +till his death. + +In the wing immediately opposite, was the Chapel, built in the Ionic +order, and ornamented in that pure and simple manner which none knew +better how to value than the Cardinal de Richelieu. + +The two courts were divided from each other by a massive pile of +building, containing the grand saloon, the audience-chamber, and the +cabinet of the high council. On the ground-floor was the banqueting-room +and its antechamber; and a great part of the building fronting the +gardens was occupied by the famous gallery of portraits, which Richelieu +had taken care should comprise the best pictures that could be procured +of all the greatest characters in French history. + +The rest of the Palace was filled with various suites of apartments, +generally decorated and furnished in the most sumptuous manner. Great +part of these the Cardinal reserved either for public entertainments, or +for his own private use; but what remained was nevertheless fully large +enough to contain that host of officers and attendants by which he was +usually surrounded. + +On the evening in question almost every part of that immense building +was thrown open to receive the multitude that interest and fear gathered +round the powerful and vindictive Minister. Almost all that was gay, +almost all that was beautiful, had been assembled there. All to whom +wealth gave something to secure--all to whom rank gave something to +maintain--all whom wit rendered anxious for distinction--all whom talent +prompted to ambition. Equally those that Richelieu feared or loved, +hated or admired, were brought there by some means, and for some reason. + +The scene which met the eyes of De Blenau and Chavigni, as they ascended +the grand staircase and entered the saloon, can only be qualified by the +word princely. The blaze of jewels, the glare of innumerable lights, the +splendid dresses of the guests, and the magnificent decorations of the +apartments themselves, all harmonized together, and formed a +_coup-d'oeil_ of surpassing brilliancy. + +The rooms were full, but not crowded; for there were attendants +stationed in various parts for the purpose of requesting the visitors +to proceed, whenever they observed too many collected in one spot. Yet +care was taken that those who were thus treated with scant ceremony +should be of the inferior class admitted to the Cardinal's fête. Each +officer of the Minister's household was well instructed to know the just +value of every guest, and how far he was to be courted, either for his +mind or influence. + +To render to all the highest respect, was the general order, but some +were to be distinguished. Care was also taken that none should be +neglected, and an infinite number of servants were seen gliding through +the apartments, offering the most costly and delicate refreshments to +every individual of the mixed assembly. + +De Blenau followed Chavigni through the grand saloon, where many an eye +was turned upon the elegant and manly figure of him, who on that night +of splendour and finery, presumed to show himself in a suit, rich indeed +and well-fashioned, but evidently intended more for the sports of the +morning than for the gay evening circle in which he then stood. Yet it +was remarked, that none of the ladies drew back as the Cavalier passed +them, notwithstanding his riding-dress and his dusty boots; and one fair +demoiselle, whose rank would have sanctioned it, had it been done on +purpose, was unfortunate enough to entangle her train on his spurs. The +Count de Coligni stepped forward to disengage it, but De Blenau himself +had already bent one knee to the ground, and easily freeing the spur +from the robe of Mademoiselle de Bourbon, he remained for a moment in +the same attitude. "It is but just," said he, "that I should kneel, at +once to repair my awkwardness, and sue for pardon." + +"It was my sister's own fault, De Blenau," said the Duke d'Enghien, +approaching them, and embracing the young Count. "We have not met, dear +friend, since the rendering of Perpignan. But what makes you here? Does +your proud spirit bend at last to ask a grace of my Lord Uncle +Cardinal?" + +"No, your Highness," replied De Blenau; "no farther grace have I to +ask, than leave to return to St. Germain's as soon as I may." + +"What!" said the Duke, in the abrupt heedless manner in which he always +spoke, "does he threaten you too with that cursed bugbear of a Bastille? +a bugbear, that makes one man fly his country, and another betray it; +that makes one man run his sword into his heart, and another +marry;"--alluding without ceremony to his own compelled espousal of the +Cardinal's niece. "But there stands Chavigni," he continued, "waiting +for you, I suppose. Go on, go on; there is no stopping when once you +have got within the Cardinal's magic circle--Go on, and God speed your +suit; for the sooner you are out of that same circle the better." + +Quitting the young hero, who had already, on more than one occasion, +displayed that valour and conduct which in after-years procured for him +the immortal name of the Great Condé, the Count de Blenau passed another +group, consisting of the beautiful Madame de Montbazon and her avowed +lover, the Duke of Longueville, who soon after, notwithstanding his +unconcealed passion for another, became the husband of Mademoiselle de +Bourbon. For be it remarked, in those days a bitter quarrel existed +between Love and Marriage, and they were seldom seen together in the +same society. It is said indeed, that in France, a coolness remains +between them to this day. Here also was the Duke of Guise, who +afterwards played so conspicuous a part in the revolution of Naples, and +by his singular adventures, his gallantry and chivalrous courage, +acquired the name of _l'Hero de la Fable_, as Condé had been called +_l'Hero de l'Histoire_. Still passing on, De Blenau rejoined Chavigni, +who waited for him at the entrance of the next chamber. + +It was the great hall of audience, and at the farther extremity stood +the Cardinal de Richelieu himself, leaning for support against a gilt +railing, which defended from any injurious touch the beautiful picture +of Raphael, so well known by the title of "La Belle Jardiniere." He was +dressed in the long purple robes of his order, and wore the peculiar +hat of a Cardinal; the bright colour of which made the deadly hue of his +complexion look still more ghastly. But the paleness of his countenance, +and a certain attenuation of feature, was all that could be discerned of +the illness from which he suffered. The powerful mind within seemed to +conquer the feebleness of the body. His form was erect and dignified, +his eye beaming with that piercing sagacity and haughty confidence in +his own powers, which so distinguished his policy; and his voice clear, +deep, and firm, but of that peculiar quality of sound, that it seemed to +spread all round, and to come no one knew from whence, like the wind +echoing through an empty cavern. + +It was long since De Blenau had seen the Cardinal; and on entering the +audience-chamber, the sound of that voice made him start. Its clear +hollow tone seemed close to him, though Richelieu was conversing with +some of his immediate friends at the farther end of the room. + +As the two cavaliers advanced, De Blenau had an opportunity of +observing the manner in which the Minister treated those around him: but +far from telling aught of dungeons and of death, his conversation seemed +cheerful, and his demeanour mild and placid. "And can this be the man," +thought the Count, "the fabric of whose power is cemented by blood and +torture?" + +They had now approached within a few paces of the spot where the +Cardinal stood; and the figure of Chavigni catching his eye, he advanced +a step, and received him with unaffected kindness. Towards De Blenau, +his manner was full of elegant politeness. He did not embrace him as he +had done Chavigni; but he held him by the hand for a moment, gazing on +him with a dignified approving smile. Those who did not well know the +heart of the subtle Minister, would have called that smile benevolent, +especially when it was accompanied by many kind inquiries respecting the +young nobleman's views and pursuits. De Blenau had been taught to judge +by actions, not professions; and the Cardinal had taken care to imprint +his deeds too deeply in the minds of men to be wiped out with soft +words. To dissemble was not De Blenau's forte; and yet he knew, that to +show a deceiver he cannot deceive, is to make him an open enemy for +ever. He replied, therefore, calmly and politely; neither repulsed the +Cardinal's advances, nor courted his regard; and after a few more +moments of desultory conversation, prepared to pursue his way through +the various apartments. + +"There are some men, Monsieur le Comte," said the Cardinal, seeing him +about to pass on, "whom I might have scrupled to invite to such a scene +as this, in their riding-dress. But the Count de Blenau is not to be +mistaken." + +"I felt no scruple," answered De Blenau, "in presenting myself thus, +when your Eminence desired it; for the dress in which the Cardinal de +Richelieu thought fit to receive me, could not be objected to by any of +his circle." + +The Cardinal bowed; and De Blenau adding, that he would not intrude +farther at that moment, took his way through the suite of apartments to +Richelieu's left hand. Chavigni was about to follow, but a sign from the +Cardinal stopped him, and the young Count passed on alone. + +Each of the various rooms he entered was thronged with its own peculiar +groups. In one, was an assembly of famous artists and sculptors; in +another, a close convocation of philosophers, discussing a thousand +absurd theories of the day; and in the last he came to, was a buzzing +hive of poets and _beaux esprits_; each trying to distinguish himself, +each jealous of the other, and all equally vain and full of themselves. + +In one corner was Scuderi, haranguing upon the nature of tragedy, of +which he knew nothing. In another place, Voiture, throwing off little +empty couplets and bon-mots, like a child blowing bubbles from a +tobacco-pipe; and farther on was Rotrou, surrounded by a select party +more silent than the rest, to whom he recited some of his unpublished +poems, marking strongly the verse, and laying great emphasis upon the +rhyme. De Blenau stopped for a moment to listen while the poet +proceeded:-- + + "L'aube desia se lève, et le mignard Zephire, + Parfumant l'horizon du doux air qu'il respire, + Va d'un son agréable esveiller les oiseaux + Pour saluer le jour qui paroist sur les eaux." + +But though the verses he recited were highly poetic, the extravagant +affectation of his manner soon neutralized their effect upon De Blenau; +and passing on down a broad flight of steps, De Blenau found himself in +the gardens of the Palace. These, as well as the whole front of the +building, were illuminated in every direction. Bands of musicians were +dispersed in the different walks, and a multitude of servants were +busily engaged in laying out tables for supper with all the choicest +viands of the season, and in trimming the various lamps and tapers which +hung from the branches of the trees or were displayed on fanciful frames +of wood, so placed as to give the fullest light to the banquets which +were situated near them. + +Scattered about in various parts of the garden, but more especially near +the Palace, were different groups of gentlemen, all speaking of plays, +assemblies, or fêtes, and all taking care to make their conversation +perfectly audible, lest the jealous suspicion ever attendant on usurped +power, should attribute to them schemes which, it is probable, fear +alone prevented them from attempting. + +Nevertheless, the gardens, as we have said, containing several acres of +ground, there were many parts comparatively deserted. It was towards +these more secluded spots that De Blenau directed his steps, wishing +himself many a league away from the Palais Cardinal and all its +splendour. Just as he had reached a part where few persons were to be +seen, some one struck him slightly on the arm, and turning round, he +perceived a man who concealed the lower part of his face with his cloak, +and tendered him what seemed to be a billet. + +At the first glance De Blenau thought he recognised the Count de +Coligni, a reputed lover of Mademoiselle de Bourbon, and imagined that +the little piece of gallantry he had shown that lady on his first +entrance, might have called upon him the wrath of the jealous Coligni. +But no sooner had he taken the piece of paper, than the other darted +away amongst the trees, giving him no time to observe more, either of +his person or his dress. + +Approaching a spot where the number of lamps gave him sufficient light +to read, De Blenau opened the note, which contained merely these words. +"Beware of Chavigni;--they will seek to draw something from you which +may criminate you hereafter." + +As he read, De Blenau heard a light step advancing, and hastily +concealing the note, turned to see who approached. The only person near +was a lady, who had thrown a thick veil over her head, which not only +covered her face, but the upper part of her figure. She passed close by +him, but without turning her head, or by any other motion seeming to +notice him; but as she did so, De Blenau heard a low voice from under +the veil, desiring him to follow. Gliding on, without pausing for a +moment, the lady led the way to the very extreme of the garden. De +Blenau followed quick upon her steps, and as he did so, endeavoured to +call to mind where he had seen that graceful and dignified figure +before. At length the lady stopped, looked round for a moment, and +raising her veil, discovered the lovely countenance of Mademoiselle de +Bourbon. + +"Monsieur de Blenau," said the Princess, "I have but one moment to tell +you, that the Cardinal and Chavigni are plotting the ruin of the Queen; +and they wish to force or persuade you to betray her. After you had left +the Cardinal, by chance I heard it proposed to arrest you even to-night; +but Chavigni said, that he had given his word that you should return to +St. Germain's to-morrow. Take care, therefore, of your conduct while +here, and if you have any cause to fear, escape the moment you are at +liberty. Fly to Flanders, and place yourself under the protection of Don +Francisco de Mello." + +"I have to return your Highness a thousand thanks," replied De Blenau; +"but as far as innocence can give security, I have no reason to fear." + +"Innocence is nothing here," rejoined the lady. "But you are the best +judge, Monsieur de Blenau. I sent Coligni to warn you, and taking an +opportunity of escaping from the supper-table, came to request that you +will offer my humble duty to the Queen, and assure her that Marie de +Bourbon is ever hers. But here is some one coming--Good God, it is +Chavigni!" + +As she spoke, Chavigni came rapidly upon them. Mademoiselle de Bourbon +drew down her veil, and De Blenau placed himself between her and the +Statesman, who, affecting an excess of gaiety, totally foreign to his +natural character, began to rally the Count upon what he termed his +gallantry. "So, Monsieur de Blenau," cried he, "already paying your +devoirs to our Parisian dames. Nay, I must offer my compliments to your +fair lady on her conquest;" and he endeavoured to pass the Count towards +Mademoiselle de Bourbon. + +De Blenau drew his sword. "Stand off, Sir," exclaimed he, "or by Heaven +you are a dead man!" And the point came flashing so near Chavigni's +breast, that he was fain to start back a step or two. The lady seized +the opportunity to pass him, for the palisade of the garden had +prevented her escaping the other way. Chavigni attempted to follow, but +De Blenau caught his arm, and held him with a grasp of iron. + +"Not one step, Sir!" cried he. "Monsieur de Chavigni, you have strangely +forgot yourself. How is it you presume, Sir, to interrupt my +conversation with any one? And let me ask, what affair it is of yours, +if a lady chose to give me five minutes of her company even here! You +have slackened your gallantry not a little." + +"But was the Cardinal's garden a place fitted for such love stories?" +demanded Chavigni, feeling, at the same time, very sure that the +conversation he had interrupted had not been of love; for in those days +politics and faction divided the heart of a Frenchwoman with gallantry, +and, instead of quarrelling for the empire of her breast, these +apparently opposite passions went hand in hand together; and exempt from +the more serious dangers incurred by the other sex in similar +enterprises, women were often the most active agents and zealous +partisans in the factions and conspiracies of the times. + +It had been Chavigni's determination, on accompanying De Blenau to the +Palais Cardinal, not to lose sight of his companion for a moment, in +order that no communication might take place between him and any of the +Queen's party till such time as the Cardinal had personally interrogated +him concerning the correspondence which they supposed that Anne of +Austria carried on with her brother, Philip of Spain. Chavigni, however, +had been stopped, as we have seen, by the Cardinal himself, and detained +for some time in conversation, the principal object of which was, the +Count de Blenau himself, and the means of either persuading him by +favour, or of driving him by fear, not only to abandon, but to betray +the party he had espoused. The Cardinal thought ambition would do all; +Chavigni said that it would not move De Blenau; and thus the discussion +was considerably prolonged. + +As soon as Chavigni could liberate himself, he had hastened after the +Count, and found him as we have described. To have ascertained who was +his companion, Chavigni would have risked his life; but now that she had +escaped him, the matter was past recall; and willing again to throw De +Blenau off his guard, he made some excuses for his intrusion, saying he +had thought that the lady was not unknown to him. + +"Well, well, let it drop," replied De Blenau, fully more desirous of +avoiding farther inquiries than Chavigni was of relinquishing them. "But +the next time you come across me on such an occasion, beware of your +heart's blood, Monsieur de Chavigni." And thus saying, he thrust back +his sword into the scabbard. + +Chavigni, however, was resolved not to lose sight of him again, and +passing his arm through that of the Count, "You are still too hot, +Monsieur de Blenau," said he; "but nevertheless let us be friends +again." + +"As far as we ever were friends, Sir," replied De Blenau. "The open +difference of our principles in every respect, must always prevent our +greatly assimilating." + +Chavigni, however, kept to his purpose, and did not withdraw his arm +from that of De Blenau, nor quit him again during the whole evening. + +Whether the Statesman suspected Mademoiselle de Bourbon or not, matters +little; but on entering the banquet-room, where the principal guests +were preparing to take their seats, they passed that lady with her +brother and the Count de Coligni, and the eye of Chavigni glanced from +the countenance of De Blenau to hers. But they were both upon their +guard, and not a look betrayed that they had met since De Blenau's spur +had been entangled in her train. + +At that moment the Master of the ceremonies exclaimed with a loud voice, +"Place au Comte de Blenau," and was conducting him to a seat higher than +his rank entitled him to take, when his eye fell upon the old Marquis de +Brion; and with the deference due not only to his station but to his +high military renown, De Blenau drew back to give him precedence. + +"Go on, go on, _mon cher De Blenau_," said the old soldier; and lowering +his voice to a whisper, he added, "honest men like you and I are all out +of place here; so go on, and never mind. If it were in the field, we +would strive which should be first; but here there is no knowing which +end of the table is most honourable." + +"Wherever it were, I should always be happy to follow Monsieur de +Brion," replied De Blenau; "but as you will have it, so let it be." And +following the Master of the ceremonies, he was soon placed amongst the +most distinguished guests, and within four or five seats of the +Cardinal. Like the spot before a heathen altar, it was always the place +either of honour or sacrifice; and De Blenau scarcely knew which was to +be his fate. At all events, the distinction which he met with, was by no +means pleasing to him, and he remained in silence during greater part of +the banquet. + +Every thing in the vast hall where they sat was magnificent beyond +description. It was like one of those scenes in fairy romance, where +supernatural powers lend their aid to dignify some human festival. All +the apartment was as fully illuminated as if the broad sun had shone +into it in his fullest splendour; yet not a single light was to be seen. +Soft sounds of music also occasionally floated through the air, but +never so loud as to interrupt the conversation. + +At the table all was glitter, and splendour, and luxury; and from the +higher end at which De Blenau sat, the long perspective of the hall, +decked out with all a mighty kingdom's wealth and crowded with the gay, +the bright, and the fair, offered an interminable view of beauty and +magnificence. + +I might describe the passing of the banquet, and the bright smiles that +were given, and the bright things that were said. I might enlarge upon +the crowd of domestics, the activity of the seneschals and officers, and +tell of the splendour of the decorations. I might even introduce the +famous court fool, L'Angeli, who stood behind the chair of his young +lord the Duke d'Enghien. But no--a master's hand has given to the world +so many splendid pictures of such scenes, that mine would seem but a +feeble imitation. Let such things rest with Scott, whose magic wand has +had power to call up the spirit of the past with as much truth, as if it +were again substantially in being. + +To pursue our theme, however. The Cardinal de Richelieu, who held in his +hand the fate of all who sat around him, yielded to his guests the most +marked attention, treating them with the profound humility of great +pride; trying to quell the fire of his eye, till it should become +nothing but affability; and to soften the deep tones of his voice, from +the accent of command to an expression of gentle courtesy; but +notwithstanding all his efforts, a degree of that haughtiness with which +the long habit of despotic rule had tinged his manners, would +occasionally appear, and still show that it was the lord entertaining +his vassals. His demeanour towards De Blenau, however, was all suavity +and kindness. He addressed him several times in the most marked manner +during the course of the banquet, and listened to his reply with one of +those approving smiles, so sweet upon the lips of power. + +De Blenau was not to be deceived, it is true. Yet though he knew that +kindness to be assumed on purpose to betray, and the smile to be as +false as Hell, there was a fascination in the distinction shown him, +against which he could not wholly guard his heart. His brow unbent of +its frown, and he entered into the gay conversation which was going on +around; but at that moment he observed the Cardinal glance his eye +towards Chavigni with a meaning smile. + +De Blenau marked it. "So," thought he, "my Lord Cardinal, you deem me +your own." And as the guests rose, De Blenau took his leave, and +returned with Chavigni to the Place Royale. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + Containing a Conference, which ends much as it began. + + +The music of the Cardinal's fête rang in De Blenau's ears all night, and +the lights danced in his eyes, and the various guests flitted before his +imagination, like the figures in some great phantasmagoria. One time he +seemed wandering in the gardens with Pauline de Beaumont, and offering +up all the dearest treasures of his heart, when suddenly the lady raised +her veil, and it was Mademoiselle de Bourbon. Then again he was seated +on the Cardinal's right hand, who poured out for him a cup of wine: he +raised it to his lips, and was about to drink, when some one dashed it +from his hand, exclaiming, "It is poison!" then, turning round to see +who had thus interposed, he beheld a figure without a head, and the +overthrown cup poured forth a stream of blood. The next moment it was +all the Cardinal's funeral, and the fool L'Angeli appeared as chief +mourner. At length, however, towards the approach of morning, the uneasy +visions died away, and left him in deep sleep, from which he rose +refreshed, and prepared to encounter the events of a new day. + +Alas! that man should still rise to sorrow and to danger, and that the +kindest gift of Heaven should be the temporary forgetfulness of +existence. Sorrow! how is it that thy coarse thread is so intimately +mingled with the web of life, that he who would tear thee out must rend +the whole fabric? Oh life, thou long sad dream! when shall we rise from +all thy phantom agonies to that bright waking which we fondly hope? + +De Blenau prepared his mind, as a man arming for a battle; and sent to +notify to Chavigni, that he was about to visit the Cardinal. In a few +minutes after, the Statesman himself appeared, and courteously conducted +the young Count to his horse, but did not offer to accompany him to the +Minister. "Monsieur de Blenau," said he, "it is better you should go +alone. After your audience, you will doubtless be in haste to return to +St. Germain's; but if you will remain to take your noon meal at my poor +table, I shall esteem myself honoured." + +De Blenau thanked him for his courtesy, but declined, stating that he +was anxious to return home before night, if he were permitted to do so +at all. "My word is passed for your safety," replied Chavigni; "so have +no doubt on that head. But take my counsel, Monsieur le Comte: moderate +your proud bearing towards the Cardinal. Those who play with a lion, +must take good care not to irritate him." + +On arriving at the Palais Cardinal, De Blenau left his attendants in the +outer court, and following an officer of the household, proceeded +through a long suite of apartments to a large saloon, where he found +several others waiting the leisure of the Minister, who was at that +moment engaged in conference with the Ambassador from Sweden. + +De Blenau's own feelings were not of the most comfortable nature; but on +looking round the room, he guessed, from the faces of all those with +whom it was tenanted, that such sensations were but too common there. +One had placed himself at a window, and gazed upon the stones of the +court-yard with as much earnestness as if they had inspired him with the +deepest interest. Another walked up and down his own corner with +irregular steps and downcast look. Another leaned back in his seat, with +his chin resting on his breast, and regarded intently a door in the +other side of the saloon. And another sat bending his hat into so many +shapes, that he left it, in the end, of no shape at all. But all were +marked, by the knitted brow and anxious eye, for men whose fate was +hanging on the breath of another. + +There was nothing consolatory in their looks, and De Blenau turned to +the portraits which covered the walls of the saloon. The first that his +eye fell upon was that of the famous Montmorency. He was represented as +armed in steel, with the head uncovered; and from his apparent age it +seemed that the picture had not been painted long before the unfortunate +conspiracy, which, by its failure, brought him to the scaffold. There +was also an expression of grave sadness in the countenance, as if he had +presaged his approaching fate. De Blenau turned to another; but it so +happened that each picture in the room represented some one of the many +whom Richelieu's unsparing vengeance had overtaken. Whether they were +placed in that waiting-room in order to overawe those whom the Minister +wished to intimidate; or whether it was that the famous gallery, which +the Cardinal had filled with portraits of all the principal historical +characters of France, would contain no more, and that in consequence the +pictures of the later dates had been placed in this saloon, without any +deeper intent, matters not; but at all events they offered no very +pleasant subject of contemplation. + +De Blenau, however, was not long kept in suspense; for, in a few +minutes, the door on the other side of the room opened, and the Swedish +Ambassador passed out. The door shut behind him, but in a moment after +an attendant entered, and although several others had been waiting +before him, De Blenau was the first summoned to the presence of the +Cardinal. + +He could not help feeling as if he wronged those he left still in doubt +as to their fate: but following the officer through an ante-room, he +entered the audience closet, and immediately perceived Richelieu seated +at a table, over which were strewed a multitude of papers of different +dimensions, some of which he was busily engaged in examining;--reading +them he was not, for his eye glanced so rapidly over their contents, +that his knowledge of each could be but general. He paused for a moment +as De Blenau entered, bowed his head, pointed to a seat, and resumed his +employment. When he had done, he signed the papers, and gave them to a +dull-looking personage, in a black silk pourpoint, who stood behind his +chair. + +"Take these three death-warrants," said he, "to Monsieur Lafemas, and +then these others to Poterie at the Bastille. But no--stop," he +continued after a moment's thought; "you had better go to the Bastille +first, for Poterie can put Caply to the torture, while you are gone to +Lafemas; and you can bring me back his confession as you return." + +De Blenau shuddered at the _sang froid_ with which the Minister +commanded those things that make one's blood curdle even to imagine. But +the attendant was practised in such commissions; and taking the packets, +as a mere matter of course, he bowed in silence, and disappearing by a +door on the other side, left De Blenau alone with the Cardinal. + +"Well, Monsieur de Blenau," said Richelieu, looking up with a frank +smile, "your pardon for having detained you. There are many things upon +which I have long wished to speak to you, and this caused me to desire +your company. But I have no doubt that we shall part perfectly satisfied +with each other." + +The Cardinal paused, as if for a reply. "I hope so too, my Lord," said +De Blenau. "I can, of course, have no cause to be dissatisfied with your +Eminence; and for my own part, I feel my bosom to be clear." + +"I doubt it not, Monsieur le Comte," replied the Minister, with a +gracious inclination of the head--"I doubt it not; I know your spirit to +be too frank and noble to mingle in petty faction and treasonable cabal. +No one more admires your brave and independent bearing than myself. You +must remember that I have marked you from your youth. You have been +educated, as it were, under my own eye; and were it now necessary to +trust the welfare of the State to the honour of any one man, I would +confide it to the honour of De Blenau." + +"To what, in the name of Heaven, can this lead?" thought De Blenau; but +he bowed without reply, and the Cardinal proceeded. + +"I have, for some time past," he continued, "been thinking of placing +you in one of those high stations, to which your rank and consideration +entitle you to aspire. At present, none are vacant; but as a forerunner +to such advancement, I propose to call you to the Council, and to give +you the government of Poitou." + +De Blenau was now, indeed, astonished. The Cardinal was not a man to +jest: and yet what he proposed, as a mere preliminary, was an offer that +the first noble in France might have accepted with gladness. The Count +was about to speak. But Richelieu paused only for a moment, to observe +the effect of what he said upon his auditor; and perhaps over-rating the +ambition of De Blenau, he proceeded more boldly. + +"I do not pretend to say, notwithstanding my sense of your high merit, +and my almost parental feelings towards you, that I am wholly moved to +this by my individual regard; but the truth is, that the State requires, +at this moment, the services of one, who joins to high talents a +thorough knowledge of the affairs of Spain." + +"So!" thought De Blenau, "I have it now. The government of Poitou, and a +seat at the Council, provided I betray the Queen and sell my own +honour." Richelieu seemed to wait an answer, and De Blenau replied: "If +your Eminence means to attribute such knowledge to me, some one must +have greatly misled you. I possess no information on the affairs of +Spain whatever, except from the common reports and journals of the +time." + +This reply did not seem to affect Richelieu's intentions. "Well, well, +Monsieur de Blenau," said he, with a smile, "you will take your seat at +the Council, and will, of course, as a good subject and an honourable +man, communicate to us whatever information you possess, on those points +which concern the good of the State. We do not expect all at once; and +every thing shall be done to smooth your way, and facilitate your views. +Then, perhaps, if Richelieu live to execute the plans he has formed, +you, Monsieur de Blenau, following his path, and sharing his confidence, +may be ready to take his place, when death shall at length call him +from it." + +The Cardinal counted somewhat too much on De Blenau's ambition, and not +sufficiently on his knowledge of the world; and imagining that he had, +the evening before, discovered the weak point in the character of the +young Count, he thought to lead him to any thing, by holding out to him +extravagant prospects of future greatness. The dish, however, was +somewhat too highly flavoured; and De Blenau replied, with a smile,-- + +"Your Eminence is exceeding good to think at all of me, in the vast and +more important projects which occupy your mind. But, alas! my Lord, De +Blenau would prove but a poor successor to Richelieu.--No, my Lord +Cardinal," he continued, "I have no ambition; that is a passion which +should be reserved for such great and comprehensive minds as yours. I am +contented as I am. High stations are always stations of danger." + +"I had heard that the Count de Blenau was no way fearful," said +Richelieu, fixing on him a keen and almost scornful glance. "Was the +report a mistake? or is it lately he has become afraid of danger?" + +De Blenau was piqued, and lost temper. "Of personal danger, my Lord, I +am never afraid," replied he. "But when along with risk to myself is +involved danger to my friends, danger to my country, danger to my +honour, and danger to my soul," and he returned the Cardinal's glance +full as proudly as it had been given, "then, my Lord Cardinal, I would +say, it were no cowardice, but true courage to fly from such +peril--unless," he added, remembering the folly of opposing the +irritable and unscrupulous Minister, and thinking that his words had, +perhaps, been already too warm--"unless, indeed, one felt within one's +breast the mind of a Richelieu." + +While De Blenau spoke, the Cardinal's brow knitted into a frown. A flush +too came over his cheek; and untying the ribbon which served as a +fastening, he took off the velvet cap he generally wore, as if to give +himself air. He heard him, however, to the end, and then answered drily, +"You speak well, Monsieur de Blenau, and, I doubt not, feel what you +say. But am I to understand you, that you refuse to aid us at the +Council with your information and advice?" + +"So far, your Eminence is right," replied the Count, who saw that the +storm was now about to break upon his head; "I must, indeed, decline the +honours which you offer with so bountiful a hand. But do not suppose +that I do so from unwillingness to yield you any information; for, +truly, I have none to give. I have never meddled with politics. I have +never turned my attention to State affairs; and therefore still less +could I yield you any advice. Your Eminence would be woefully +disappointed, when you expected to find a man well acquainted with the +arts of government, and deep read in the designs of foreign states, to +meet with one, whose best knowledge is to range a battalion, or to +pierce a boar; a soldier, and not a diplomatist; a hunter, and not a +statesman. And as to the government of Poitou, my Lord, its only good +would be the emolument, and already my revenues are far more than +adequate to my wants." + +"You refuse my kindness, Sir," replied the Cardinal, with an air of deep +determined haughtiness, very different from the urbanity with which he +had at first received De Blenau; "I must now speak to you in another +tone. And let me warn you to beware of what you say; for be assured, +that I already possess sufficient information to confound you if you +should prevaricate." + +"My Lord Cardinal," replied De Blenau, somewhat hastily, "I am not +accustomed to prevaricate. Ask any questions you please, and, so long as +my honour and my duty go with them, I will answer you." + +"Then there are questions," said the Cardinal, "that you would think +against your duty to answer?" + +"I said not so, your Eminence," replied De Blenau. "In the examination +I find I am to undergo, give my words their full meaning, if you please, +but no more than their meaning." + +"Well then, Sir, answer me as a man of honour and a French noble," said +the Cardinal--"Are you not aware of a correspondence that has been, and +is now, carried on between Anne of Austria and Don Francisco de Mello, +Governor of the Low Countries?" + +"I know not whom you mean, Sir, by Anne of Austria," replied De Blenau. +"If it be her Majesty, your Queen and mine, that you so designate, I +reply at once that I know of no such correspondence, nor do I believe +that it exists." + +"Do you mean to say, Monsieur de Blenau," demanded the Cardinal, fixing +his keen sunken eyes upon the young Count with that basilisk glance for +which he was famous--"Do you mean to say, that you yourself have not +forwarded letters from the Queen to Madame de Chevreuse, and Don +Francisco de Mello, by a private channel?--Pause, Monsieur de Blenau, +before you answer, and be well assured that I am acquainted with every +particular of your conduct." + +"Your Eminence is, no doubt, acquainted with much more intricate +subjects than any of my actions," replied the Count. "With regard to +Madame de Chevreuse, her Majesty has no need to conceal a correspondence +with her, which has been fully permitted and sanctioned, both by your +Eminence and the still higher authority of the King; and I may add, that +to my certain knowledge, letters have gone to that lady by your own +courier. On the other point, I have answered already; and have only to +say once more, that I know of no such correspondence, nor would I, +assuredly, lend myself to any such measures, which I should conceive to +be treasonable." + +"I have always hitherto supposed you to be a man of honour," said the +Cardinal coolly; "but what must I conceive now, Monsieur le Comte, when +I tell you that I have those very letters in my possession?" + +"You may conceive what you please, Sir," replied De Blenau, giving way +to his indignation; "but I will dare any man to lay before me a letter +from her Majesty to the person you mention, which has passed through the +hands of De Blenau." + +The Cardinal did not reply, but opening an ebony cabinet, which stood on +his right hand, he took from one of the compartments a small bundle of +papers, from which he selected one, and laid it on the table before the +Count, who had hitherto looked on with no small wonder and expectation. +"Do you know that writing, Sir?" demanded the Cardinal, still keeping +his hand upon the paper, in such a manner as to allow only a word or two +to be visible. + +De Blenau examined the line which the Cardinal suffered to appear, and +replied--"From what little I can see, I should imagine it to be the +hand-writing of her Majesty. But that does not show that I have any +thing to do with it." + +"But there is that in it which does," answered Richelieu, folding down +a line or two of the letter, and pointing out to the Count a sentence +which said, "This will be conveyed to you by the Count de Blenau, who +you know never fails." + +"Now, Sir!" continued the Cardinal, "once more let me advise you to give +me all you possess upon this subject. From a feeling of personal regard, +I have had too much patience with you already." + +"All I can reply to your Eminence," answered the Count, not a little +embarrassed, "is, that no letter whatever has been conveyed by me, +knowingly, to the Governor of the Low Countries." + +De Blenau's eyes naturally fixed on the paper, which still lay on the +table, and from which the Cardinal had by this time withdrawn his hand; +and feeling that both life and honour depended upon that document, he +resolved to ascertain its authenticity, of which he entertained some +doubt. + +"Stop," said he hastily, "let me look at the superscription," and +before Richelieu could reply, he had raised it from the table and turned +to the address. One glance was enough to satisfy him, and he returned it +to the Cardinal with a cool and meaning smile, repeating the words--"To +Madame de Chevreuse." + +At first the Cardinal had instinctively stretched out his hand to stop +De Blenau in his purpose, but he instantly recovered himself, nor did +his countenance betray the least change of feeling. "Well, Sir," replied +he, "you said that you would dare any one to lay before you a letter +from the Queen to the person I mentioned. Did I not mention Madame de +Chevreuse, and is not there the letter?" + +"Your Eminence has mistaken me," replied De Blenau, bowing his head, and +smiling at the Minister's art; "I meant, Don Francisco de Mello. I had +answered what you said in regard to Madame de Chevreuse, before." + +"I did mistake you then, Sir," said the Cardinal; "but it was from the +ambiguity of your own words. However, passing over your boldness, in +raising that letter without my permission; I will show you that I know +more of your proceedings than you suspect. I will tell you the very +terms of the message you sent to the Queen, after you were wounded in +the wood of Mantes, conveying to her, that you had not lost the packet +with which you were charged. Did not Seguin tell her, on your part, that +though the wound was in your side, your heart was not injured?" + +"I dare say he did, my Lord," replied De Blenau, coolly; "and the event +has proved that he was quite right, for your Eminence must perceive that +I am quite recovered, which, of course, could not have been the case, +had any vital part been hurt. But I hope, your Eminence, that there is +no offence, in your eyes, either in having sent the Queen, my mistress, +an account of my health, or in having escaped the attack of assassins." + +A slight flush passed over Richelieu's cheek. "You may chance to fall +into less scrupulous hands than even their's," replied he. "I am +certainly informed, Sir, that you, on the part of the Queen, have been +carrying on a treasonable intercourse with Spain--a country at war with +France, to whose crown you are a born subject and vassal; and I have to +tell you, that the punishment of such a crime is death. Yes, Sir, you +may knit your brow. But no consideration shall stay me from visiting, +with the full severity of the law, such as do so offend; and though the +information I want be but small, depend upon it, I shall not hesitate to +employ the most powerful means to wring it from you." + +De Blenau had no difficulty in comprehending the nature of those means, +to which the Cardinal alluded; but his mind was made up to suffer the +worst. "My Lord Cardinal," replied he, "what your intentions are, I know +not; but be sure, that to whatever extremes you may go, you can wring +nothing from me but what you have already heard. I once more assure you, +that I know of no treasonable correspondence whatsoever; and firm in my +own innocence, I equally despise all attempts to bribe or to intimidate +me." + +"Sir, you are insolent!" replied the Cardinal rising: "Use no such +language to me!--Are you not an insect I can sweep from my path in an +instant? Ho, a guard there without! We shall soon see, whether you know +aught of Philip of Spain." + +Had the Cardinal's glance been directed towards De Blenau, he would have +seen, that at the name of Philip of Spain, a degree of paleness came +over his cheek; but another object had caught Richelieu's eye, and he +did not observe it. It was the entrance of the attendant whom he had +despatched with the death-warrants, which now drew his notice; and well +pleased to show De Blenau the dreadful means he so unscrupulously +employed to extort confession from those he suspected, he eagerly +demanded, "What news?" + +"May it please your Eminence," said the attendant, "Caply died under the +torture. In truth, it was soon over with him, for he did not bear it +above ten minutes." + +"But the confession, the confession!" exclaimed Richelieu. "Where is the +_procès verbal_?" + +"He made no confession, Sir," replied the man. "He protested, to the +last, his innocence, and that he knew nothing." + +"Pshaw!" said Richelieu; "they let him die too soon; they should have +given him wine to keep him up. Foolish idiot," he continued, as if +meditating over the death of his victim; "had he but told what he was +commanded, he would have saved himself from a death of horror. Such is +the meed of obstinacy." + +"Such," thought De Blenau, "is, unhappily, often the reward of firmness +and integrity. But such a death is honourable in itself." + +No one could better read in the face what was passing in the mind than +Richelieu, and it is probable that he easily saw in the countenance of +De Blenau, the feelings excited by what had just passed. He remembered +also the promise given by Chavigni; and if, when he called the Guard, +he had ever seriously proposed to arrest De Blenau, he abandoned his +intention for the moment. Not that the high tone of the young Count's +language was either unfelt, or forgiven, for Richelieu never pardoned; +but it was as easy to arrest De Blenau at St. Germain's as in Paris; and +the wily Minister calculated, that by giving him a little liberty, and +throwing him off his guard, he might be tempted to do those things which +would put him more completely in the power of the government, and give +the means of punishing him for his pride and obstinacy, as it was +internally termed by a man long unaccustomed to any opposition. + +De Blenau was principally obnoxious to the Cardinal, as the confidant of +the Queen, and from being the chief of her adherents both by his rank, +wealth, and reputation. Anne of Austria having now become the only +apparent object which could cloud the sky of Richelieu's political +power, he had resolved either to destroy her, by driving her to some +criminal act, or so to entangle her in his snares, as to reduce her to +become a mere instrument in his hands and for his purposes. To arrest De +Blenau would put the Queen upon her guard; and therefore, the Minister, +without hesitation, resolved to dissemble his resentment, and allow the +Count to depart in peace; reserving for another time the vengeance he +had determined should overtake him at last. Nor was his dissembling of +that weak nature which those employ, who have all the will to deceive, +without the art of deceiving. + +Richelieu walked rapidly up and down the closet for a moment, as if +striving to repress some strong emotion, then stopped, and turning to De +Blenau with some frankness of manner, "Monsieur le Comte," said he, "I +will own that you have heated me,--perhaps I have given way to it too +much. But you ought to be more careful of your words, Sir, and remember +that with men whose power you cannot resist, it is sometimes dangerous +even to be in the right, much more to make them feel it rudely. +However, it is all past, and I will now detain you no longer; trusting +to your word, that the information which I have received, is without +foundation. Let me only add, that you might have raised yourself this +day to a height which few men in France would not struggle to attain. +But that is past also, and may, perhaps, never return." + +"I am most grateful, believe me," replied De Blenau, "for all the +favours your Eminence intended me; and I have no doubt, that you will +soon find some other person, on whom to bestow them, much more worthy of +them than myself." + +Richelieu bowed low, and fixed his eyes upon the Count without reply--a +signal that the audience was over, which was not lost upon De Blenau, +who very gladly took his leave of the Minister, hoping most devoutly +never to see his face again. The ambiguity of his last sentence, +however, had not escaped the Cardinal. + +"So, Monsieur de Blenau!" said he, as soon as the Count had left him, +"you can make speeches with a double meaning also! Can you so? You may +rue it though, for I will find means to bend your proud spirit, or to +break it; and that before three days be over. Is every thing prepared +for my passage to Chantilly?" he continued, turning to the attendant. + +"All is prepared, please your Eminence," replied the man; "and as I +passed, I saw Monsieur de Chavigni getting into his chaise to set out." + +"We will let him be an hour or two in advance," said the Cardinal. "Send +in the Marquis de Goumont;" and he again applied himself to other +affairs. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + "An entire new comedy, with new scenery, dresses, and decorations." + + +The little village of Mesnil St. Loup, all insignificant as it is, was +at the time of my tale a place of even less consequence than it appears +now-a-days, when nine people out of ten have scarcely ever heard of its +existence. + +It was, nevertheless, a pretty-looking place; and had its little +_auberge_, on the same scale and in the same style as the village to +which it belonged,--small, neat, and picturesque, with its high pole +before the door, crowned with a gay garland of flowers, which served +both for sign and inscription to the inn; being fully as comprehensible +an intimation to the peasantry of the day, that "Bon vin et bonne +chère" were to be obtained within, as the most artful flourish of a +modern sign-painter. + +True it is, that the little cabaret of Mesnil St. Loup was seldom +troubled with the presence of a traveller; but there the country people +would congregate after the labours of the day, and enjoy their simple +sports with a relish that luxury knows not. The high road from Paris to +Troyes passed quite in another direction; and a stranger in Mesnil St. +Loup was a far greater stranger than he could possibly have been +anywhere else, except perhaps in newly discovered America. For there was +nothing to excite either interest or curiosity; except it were the +little church, which had seen many a century pass over its primitive +walls, remaining still unaltered, while five or six old trees, which had +been its companions for time out of mind, began to show strong signs of +decay, in their rifted bark and falling branches, but still formed a +picturesque group, with a great stone cross and fountain underneath +them, and a seat for the weary traveller to rest himself in their shade. + +Thus, Mesnil St. Loup was little known to strangers, for its simplicity +had no attractions for the many. Nevertheless, on one fine evening, +somewhere about the beginning of September, the phenomenon of a new face +showed itself at Mesnil St. Loup. The personage to whom it appertained, +was a horseman of small mean appearance, who, having passed by the +church, rode through the village to the auberge, and having raised his +eyes to the garland over the door, he divined from it, that he himself +would find there good Champagne wine, and his horse would meet with +entertainment equally adapted to his peculiar taste. Thereupon, the +stranger alighted and entered the place of public reception, without +making any of that bustle about himself, which the landlord seemed well +inclined to do for him; but on the contrary sat himself down in the most +shady corner, ordered his bottle of wine, and inquired what means the +house afforded of satisfying his hunger, in a low quiet tone of voice, +which reached no farther than the person he addressed. + +"As for wine," the host replied, "Monsieur should have such wine that +the first merchant of Epernay might prick his ears at it; and in regard +to eatables, what could be better than stewed eels, out of the river +hard by, and a _civet de lievre_?--Monsieur need not be afraid," he +added; "it was a real hare he had snared that morning himself, in the +forest under the hill. Some dishonourable innkeepers," he +observed--"innkeepers unworthy of the name, would dress up cats and +rats, and such animals, in the form of hares and rabbits; even as the +Devil had been known to assume the appearance of an Angel of light; but +he scorned such practices, and could not only show his hare's skin, but +his hare in the skin. Farther, he would give Monsieur an ortolan in a +vine leaf, and a dish of stewed sorrel." + +The stranger underwent the innkeeper's oration with most exemplary +patience, signified his approbation of the proposed dinner, without +attacking the hare's reputation; and when at length it was placed before +him, he ate his meal and drank his wine, in profound silence, without a +word of praise or blame to either one or the other. The landlord, with +all his sturdy loquacity, failed in more than one attempt to draw him +into conversation; and the hostess, though none of the oldest or +ugliest, could scarce win a syllable from his lips, even by asking if he +were pleased with his fare. The taciturn stranger merely bowed his head, +and seemed little inclined to exert his oratorical powers, more than by +the simple demand of what he wanted; so that both mine host and hostess +gave him up in despair--the one concluding that he was "an odd one," and +the other declaring that he was as stupid as he was ugly. + +This lasted some time, till one villager after another, having exhausted +every excuse for staying to hear whether the stranger would open his +lips, dropped away in his turn, and left the apartment vacant. It was +then, and not till then, that mine host was somewhat surprised, by +hearing the silent traveller pronounce in a most audible and imperative +manner, "Gaultier, come here." The first cause of astonishment was to +hear him speak at all; and the next to find his own proper name of +Gaultier so familiar to the stranger, forgetting that it had been +vociferated at least one hundred times that night in his presence. +However, Gaultier obeyed the summons with all speed, and approaching the +stranger with a low reverence, begged to know his good will and +pleasure. + +"Your wine is good, Gaultier," said the stranger, raising his clear grey +eyes to the rosy round of Gaultier's physiognomy. Even an innkeeper is +susceptible of flattery; and Gaultier bent his head down towards the +ground, as if he were going to do kou-tou. + +"Gaultier, bring me another bottle," said the stranger. This phrase was +better than the former; that sort of substantial flattery that goes +straight to an innkeeper's heart. Truly, it is a pity that innkeepers +are such selfish beings. And yet it is natural too;--so rapidly does +mankind pass by them, that theirs can be, at best, but a stage-coach +sort of affection for their fellow-creatures--The coachman shuts the +door--Drive on!--and it is all over. Thus, my dear Sir, the gaieties, +the care, and the bustle in which you and I live, render our hearts but +as an inn, where many a traveller stays for an hour, pays his score, and +is forgotten.--I am resolved to let mine upon lease.---- + +The bottle of wine was not long in making its appearance; and as +Gaultier set it on the table before the stranger, he asked if he could +serve him farther. + +"Can you show me the way to the old Chateau of St. Loup?" demanded the +stranger. + +"Surely, I can, Sir," replied the innkeeper; "that is to say, as far as +knowing where it is. But I hope Monsieur does not mean to-night." + +"Indeed do I," answered the stranger; "and pray why not? The night is +the same as the day to an honest man." + +"No doubt, no doubt!" exclaimed Gaultier, with the greatest doubt in the +world in his own mind.--"No doubt! But, Holy Virgin! Jesu preserve +us!"--and he signed the cross most devoutly--"we all know that there are +spirits, and demons, and astrologers, and the Devil, and all those sort +of things; and I would not go through the Grove where old Père Le Rouge, +the sorcerer, was burnt alive, not to be prime minister, or the Cardinal +de Richelieu, or any other great man,--that is to say, after nightfall. +In the day I would go anywhere, or do any thing,--I am no coward, +Sir,--I dare do any thing. My father served in the blessed League +against the cursed Huguenots--so I am no coward;--but bless you, Sir, I +will tell you how it happened, and then you will see--" + +"I know all about it," replied the stranger, in a voice that made the +innkeeper start, and look over his left shoulder; "I know all about it; +but sit down and drink with me, to keep your spirits up, for you must +show me the way this very night. Père Le Rouge was a dear friend of +mine, and before he was burnt for a sorcerer, we had made a solemn +compact to meet once every ten years. Now, if you remember aright, it +is just ten years, this very day, since he was executed; and there is no +bond in Hell fast enough to hold him from meeting me to-night at the old +chateau. So sit you down and drink!"--And he poured out a full cup of +wine for the innkeeper, who looked aghast at the portentous compact +between the stranger and Père Le Rouge. However, whether it was that +Gaultier was too much afraid to refuse, or had too much _esprit de +corps_ not to drink with any one who would drink with him, can hardly be +determined now; but so it was, that sitting down, according to the +stranger's desire, he poured the whole goblet of wine over his throat at +one draught, and, as he afterwards averred, could not help thinking that +the stranger must have enchanted the liquor, for no sooner had he +swallowed it, than all his fears of Père Le Rouge began to die away, +like morning dreams. However, when the goblet was drained, Gaultier +began more justly to estimate the danger of drinking with a sorcerer; +and that the stranger was such, a Champenois _aubergiste_ of 1642 could +never be supposed to doubt, after the diabolical compact so +unscrupulously confessed. Under this impression, he continued rolling +his empty cup about upon the table, revolving at the same time his own +critical situation, and endeavouring to determine what might be his duty +to his King and Country under such perilous circumstances. Rolling the +cup to the right--he resolved instantly to denounce this malignant +enchanter to the proper authorities, and have him forthwith burnt alive, +and sent to join Père Le Rouge in the other world, by virtue of the +humane and charitable laws in that case especially made and provided. +Then rolling the cup to the other side--his eye glanced towards the +stranger's bottle, and resting upon the vacuum which their united thirst +had therein occasioned, his heart over-flowed with the milk of human +kindness, and he pitied from his soul that perverted taste which could +lead any human being from good liquor, comfortable lodging, and the +society of an innkeeper, to a dark wood and a ruined castle, an old +roasted sorcerer, and the Devil perhaps into the bargain. + +"Would you choose another bottle, Sir?" demanded Gaultier; and as his +companion nodded his head in token of assent, was about to proceed on +this errand--with the laudable intention also of sharing all his newly +arisen doubts and fears with his gentle help-mate, who, for her part, +was busily engaged in the soft domestic duties of scolding the +stable-boy and boxing the maid's ears. But the stranger stopped him, +perhaps divining, and not very much approving, the aforesaid +communication. He exclaimed, "_La Bourgeoise!_" in a tone of voice which +overpowered all other noises: the abuse of the dame herself--the tears +of the maid--the exculpation of the stable-boy--the cackle of the cocks +and hens, which were on a visit in the parlour--and the barking of a +prick-eared cur included. The fresh bottle soon stood upon the table; +and while the hostess returned to her former tender avocations, the +stranger, whose clear grey eye seemed reading deeply into Gaultier's +heart, continued to drink from the scanty remains of his own bottle, +leaving mine host to fill from that which was hitherto uncontaminated by +any other touch than his own. This Gaultier did not fail to do, till +such time as the last rays of the sun, which had continued to linger +fondly amidst a flight of light feathery clouds overhead, had entirely +left the sky, and all was grey. + +At that moment the stranger drew forth his purse, let it fall upon the +table with a heavy sort of clinking sound, showing that the louis-d'ors +within had hardly room to jostle against each other. It was a sound of +comfortable plenty, which had something in it irresistibly attractive to +the ears of Gaultier; and as he stood watching while the stranger +insinuated his finger and thumb into the little leathern bag, drawing +forth first one broad piece and then another, so splendid did the +stranger's traffic with the Devil begin to appear in the eyes of the +innkeeper, that he almost began to wish that he had been brought up a +sorcerer also. + +The stranger quietly pushed the two pieces of gold across the table till +they got within the innkeeper's sphere of attraction, when they became +suddenly hurried towards him, with irresistible velocity, and were +plunged into the abyss of a large pocket on his left side, close upon +his heart. + +The stranger looked on with philosophic composure, as if considering +some natural phenomenon, till such time as the operation was complete. +"Now, Gaultier," cried he, "put on your beaver, and lead to the +beginning of the Grove. I will find my way through it alone. But hark +ye, say no word to your wife." + +Gaultier was all complaisance, and having placed his hat on his head, he +opened the door of the auberge, and brought forth the stranger's horse, +fancying that what with a bottle of wine, and two pieces of gold, he +could meet Beelzebub himself, or any other of those gentlemen of the +lower house, with whom the Curé used to frighten the little boys and +girls when they went to their first communion. However, the stranger had +scarcely passed the horse's bridle over his arm, and led him a step or +two on the way, when the cool air and reflection made the innkeeper +begin to think differently of the Devil, and be more inclined to keep at +a respectful distance from so grave and antique a gentleman. A few steps +more made him as frightened as ever; and before they had got to the end +of the village, Gaultier fell hard to work, crossing himself most +laboriously, and trembling every time he remembered that he was +conducting one sorcerer to meet another, long dead and delivered over in +form, with fire and fagot, into the hands of Satan. + +It is probable that he would have run, but the stranger was close +behind, and cut off his retreat. + +At about a mile and a half from the little village of Mesnil, stood the +old Chateau of St. Loup, situated upon an abrupt eminence, commanding a +view of almost all the country round. The valley at its foot, and the +slope of the hill up to its very walls, were covered with thick wood, +through which passed the narrow deserted road from Mesnil, winding in +and out with a thousand turns and divarications, and twice completely +encircling the hill itself, before it reached the castle gate, which +once, in the hospitable pride of former days, had rested constantly open +for the reception equally of the friend and the stranger, but which now +only gave entrance to the winds and tempests--rude guests, that +contributed, even more than Time himself, the great destroyer, to bring +ruin and desolation on the deserted mansion. Hard by, in a little +cemetery, attached to the Chapel, lay many of the gay hearts that had +once beat there, now quiet in the still cold earth. There, mouldering +like the walls that overshadowed them, were the last sons of the brave +and noble race of Mesnil, without one scion left to dwell in the halls +of their forefathers, or to grieve over the desolation of their +heritage. There, too, lay the vassals, bowed to the will of a sterner +Lord, and held in the surer bondage of the tomb; and yet perhaps, in +life, they had passed on, happier than their chief, without his proud +anxiety and splendid cares; and now, in death, his bed was surely made +as low, and the equal wind that whispered over the grave of the one, +offered no greater flattery to the monument of the other. But, beyond +all these, and removed without the precincts of consecrated ground, was +a heap of shards and flints--the Sorcerer's grave! Above it, some pious +hand had raised the symbol of salvation--a deed of charity, truly, in +those days, when eternal mercy was farmed by the Church, like a turnpike +on the high road, and none could pass but such as paid toll. But, +however, there it rose,--a tall white cross, standing, as that symbol +should always stand, high above every surrounding object, and full in +view of all who sought it. + +As the _aubergiste_ and his companion climbed the hill, which, leading +from the village of Mesnil, commanded a full prospect of the rich woody +valley below, and overhung that spot which, since the tragedy of poor +Père Le Rouge, had acquired the name of the Sorcerer's Grove, it was +this tall white cross that first caught their attention. It stood upon +the opposite eminence, distinctly marked on the back-ground of the +evening sky, catching every ray of light that remained, while behind it, +pile upon pile, lay the thick clouds of a coming storm. + +"There, Monsieur," cried Gaultier, "there is the cross upon the +Sorcerer's grave!" And the fear which agitated him while he spoke, made +the stranger's lip curl into a smile of bitter contempt. But as they +turned the side of the hill, which had hitherto concealed the castle +itself from their sight, the teeth of Gaultier actually chattered in his +head, when he beheld a bright light shining from several windows of the +deserted building. + +"There!" exclaimed the stranger, "there, you see how well Père Le Rouge +keeps his appointment. I am waited for, and want you no farther. I can +now find my way alone. I would not expose you, my friend, to the dangers +of that Grove." + +The innkeeper's heart melted at the stranger's words, and he was filled +with compassionate zeal upon the occasion. "Pray don't go," cried +Gaultier, almost blubbering betwixt fear and tender-heartedness; "pray +don't go! Have pity upon your precious soul! You'll go to the Devil, +indeed you will!--or at least to purgatory for a hundred thousand years, +and be burnt up like an overdone rabbit. You are committing murder, and +conspiracy, and treason,"--the stranger started, but Gaultier went +on--"and heresy, and pleurisy, and sorcery, and you will go to the +Devil, indeed you will--and then you'll remember what I told you." + +"What is fated, is fated!" replied the stranger, in a solemn voice, +though Gaultier's speech had produced that sort of tremulous tone, +excited by an inclination either to laugh or to cry. "I have promised, +and I must go. But let me warn you," he continued, sternly, "never to +mention one word of what has passed to-night, if you would live till I +come again. For if you reveal one word, even to your wife, the ninth +night after you have done so, Père Le Rouge will stand on one side of +your bed, and I on the other, and Satan at your feet, and we will carry +you away body and soul, so that you shall never be heard of again." + +When he had concluded, the stranger waited for no reply, but sprang upon +his horse, and galloped down into the wood. + +In the mean time, the landlord climbed to a point of the hill, from +whence he could see both his own village, and the ruins of the castle. +There, the sight of the church steeple gave him courage, and he paused +to examine the extraordinary light which proceeded from the ruin. In a +few minutes, he saw several figures flit across the windows, and cast a +momentary obscurity over the red glare which was streaming forth from +them upon the darkness of the night. "There they are!" cried he, "Père +Le Rouge, and his pot companion!--and surely the Devil must be with +them, for I see more than two, and one of them has certainly a +tail--Lord have mercy upon us!" + +As he spoke, a vivid flash of lightning burst from the clouds, followed +instantly by a tremendous peal of thunder. The terrified innkeeper +startled at the sound, and more than ever convinced that man's enemy was +on earth, took to his heels, nor ceased running till he reached his own +door, and met his better angel of a wife, who boxed his ears for his +absence, and vowed he had been gallanting. + + END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. + + LONDON: + PRINTED BY S. AND R. BENTLEY, + Dorset Street, Fleet Street. + + * * * * * + +Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: + +shas ent to inquire=> has sent to inquire {pg 115} + +Frontrailles=> Fontrailles {pg 163} + +Gualtier=> Gaultier {pg 283} + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Richelieu, v. 1/3, by G. P. R. James + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44252 *** diff --git a/44252-h.zip b/44252-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 89c366d..0000000 --- a/44252-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/44252-h/44252-h.htm b/44252-h/44252-h.htm index 3805cd1..787fe93 100644 --- a/44252-h/44252-h.htm +++ b/44252-h/44252-h.htm @@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en" xml:lang="en"> <head> <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> -<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> <title> The Project Gutenberg eBook of Richelieu, A Tale Of France. Vol. I., by G. P. R. James. @@ -77,45 +77,7 @@ display: inline-block; text-align: left;} </style> </head> <body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Richelieu, v. 1/3, by G. P. R. James - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Richelieu, v. 1/3 - A Tale of France - -Author: G. P. R. James - -Release Date: November 21, 2013 [EBook #44252] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RICHELIEU, V. 1/3 *** - - - - -Produced by sp1nd, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - -</pre> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44252 ***</div> <hr class="full" /> @@ -5444,386 +5406,6 @@ style="padding:2%;border:3px dotted gray;"> <hr class="full" /> - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Richelieu, v. 1/3, by G. P. R. James - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RICHELIEU, V. 1/3 *** - -***** This file should be named 44252-h.htm or 44252-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/2/5/44252/ - -Produced by sp1nd, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, -set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to -copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to -protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project -Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you -charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you -do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the -rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose -such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and -research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do -practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is -subject to the trademark license, especially commercial -redistribution. - - - -*** START: FULL LICENSE *** - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project -Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at -http://gutenberg.org/license). - - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy -all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. -If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the -terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or -entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement -and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" -or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the -collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an -individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are -located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from -copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative -works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg -are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project -Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by -freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of -this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with -the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by -keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project -Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in -a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check -the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement -before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or -creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project -Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning -the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United -States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate -access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently -whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, -copied or distributed: - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived -from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is -posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied -and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees -or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work -with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the -work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 -through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the -Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or -1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional -terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked -to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the -permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any -word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or -distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than -"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version -posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), -you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a -copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon -request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other -form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided -that - -- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is - owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he - has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the - Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments - must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you - prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax - returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and - sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the - address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to - the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." - -- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or - destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium - and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of - Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any - money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days - of receipt of the work. - -- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set -forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from -both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael -Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the -Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm -collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain -"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or -corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual -property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a -computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by -your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with -your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with -the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a -refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity -providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to -receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy -is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further -opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER -WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO -WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. -If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the -law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be -interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by -the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any -provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance -with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, -promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, -harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, -that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do -or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm -work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any -Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. - - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers -including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists -because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from -people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. -To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 -and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive -Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at -http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent -permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. -Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered -throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at -809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email -business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact -information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official -page at http://pglaf.org - -For additional contact information: - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To -SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any -particular state visit http://pglaf.org - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. -To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate - - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm -concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared -with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project -Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. - - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. -unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily -keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. - - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: - - http://www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - - -</pre> - +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44252 ***</div> </body> </html> |